Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked

any case, it had hurt like hell. “And when was the last time you lost a body part?”
    Regin gazed up solemnly. “I lost a finger in the Battle of Evermore.”
    “Oh.” Kaderin frowned, then cried, “ ‘The Battle of Evermore’ is a Led Zeppelin song!”
    “Yeah. But wasn’t it written about us?” Regin’s eyes widened. “Hey, speaking of songs, lookit what I made for our snowcat ride.” She pulled out an iPod, careful to keep it rubbed warm. “A snow-trip mix!”
    Kaderin saw red and pounced on her, shoving her into the snow. She ceased when she registered that Regin was too dumbfounded to fight back. The Russians stopped what they were doing, staring, no doubt wondering why two scientists were wrestling in the snow.
    Kaderin stood, giving Regin a hand up, and eked out an unpracticed smile for the Russians.
    “Tetchy,” Regin said, brushing off her clothing. “Seems somebody’s shucking their cursey-wursey.”
    Only ten centuries old. Only ten centuries...
    “It’s not a curse. It was—it is a blessing.” She lifted her chin, not wanting Regin to know she’d begun to feel again—and that she didn’t see that woeful development ending anytime soon. If Kaderin’s coven mates found out, they’d be so happy, making a huge deal out of this. Which, coincidentally, could now embarrass her. “I apologize. The stress of the Hie makes the blessing waver at times—” She broke off when a helicopter flew over, a Canadian flag on the tail. “You said we couldn’t fly!”
    “Wow,” Regin said casually. “They must have an automatic thermoelectric anti-icing system.”
    Just as she was about to destroy Regin, Ivan called out, waving them over to the snowcat. Kaderin pointed at Regin but couldn’t manage words. Regin pointed back with a wink, then turned to grab their gear, including their swords hidden in ski cases.
    Shake it off. Focus.
    After Ivan opened their doors and they climbed in, he pulled down his mask and leaned in close to Regin to say something very earnestly in Russian.
    Regin translated. “He says if a storm blows in or if we’re not back by a certain time, they’ll be forced to leave us.”
    “How much time do we have?”
    “They’ve got enough fuel to keep the rotors creeping for four hours.” Regin tapped her chin with her gloved fingers. “Four hours or possibly forty minutes. I can’t be certain, since my knowledge of Russian really does blow,” she admitted baldly.
    Before Kaderin could say anything, Regin raised her hand and lovingly scrunched Ivan’s cheeks. She waggled his face back and forth, then pushed him back with a forefinger against his lips so she could slam the door shut.
    “Hey, there’s more than one amulet, right?” Regin said when they were alone. “You don’t get extra credit for being there first.”
    Kaderin slid her sword out of the case in the backseat, readying for trouble. “No. But they could set traps.”
    “And how are kobolds going to chopper out here in the first place?” Regin asked. “I just can’t picture the critters at the helipad, you know?”
    “They can turn invisible and stow along. I unknowingly sailed one all the way to Australia in the last Hie,” she said, then added, “Sadly, he had an accident and wasn’t quite up for the return trip.” When Ivan gave them another formal bow, Kaderin frowned. “What type of scientists did you tell them we are, anyway?”
    “Glaciologists from the University of North Dakota studying a sudden massive fissure caught by satellite. I thought there was a certain irony in saying we had to act swiftly about a glacier.”
    “Dakotan glaciologists, huh?”
    “If those guys want to believe two preternaturally foxy Valkyrie—one of whom is sporting disco snow boots—are scientists, who am I to naysay?” Regin blew a bubble, revving the engine. “Let the science commence.”
    Another helicopter banked over them.

14
    A t sunset, when Sebastian traced to find his Bride and his skin flash-froze, he realized the goddess had duped him.
    He’d spent the entire day in Kaderin’s townhouse, having traced from the temple to London, then hailed a cab. Just minutes before dawn, Sebastian had arrived at the address Scribe had finally surrendered, then traced inside.
    In her home, after drawing all the curtains, he’d discovered he could, in fact, “listen out of the corner of his ear” to TV while he speed-read through newspapers. Yet he’d discovered nothing new about Kaderin from