Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

think you want me to lose this. I’ve got the Valkyrie.”
    “How the hell is that possible? We didn’t know who she was—”
    “She’s my female. Did you know she was one and the same as the target?”
    “That’s impossible. Holly Ashwin’s human.”
    “Not anymore.”
    “You’re sure? And you’re certain she’s the Vessel?”
    “The hall you described is where she teaches math. And she’d already been taken by the Order of Demonaeus. We just got free of them. There were vampires in play as well. They’re trying to kill her.”
    Rydstrom exhaled. “I didn’t know the Vessel would be yours. But the fact is—this changes nothing. We’re out of options.”
    When Cade didn’t answer immediately, Rydstrom said, “Just last week, Nïx asked if you would give up your female to get the kingdom back. You said you would. Did you lie?”
    “I’ll do what I have to do.”
    “If we can’t kill Omort, we lose Rothkalina forever.”
    “Even I can remember that!” Cade snapped. “I’ve had nine centuries to get that into my thick skull.”
    “Good. Now, the airports are hot. We’ll have to drive her out of the city.”
    “To where?”
    “Groot’s compound.”
    “Where the hell is that?”
    “We don’t have the end destination,” Rydstrom said. “There will be three checkpoints in different parts of the country. Each will render information about the next until we have the final directions to the compound. I’ve only got the first checkpoint.”
    “Why the hassle?”
    “Groot wants the Vessel, but he doesn’t want his fortress discovered. He’s taking extra precautions to make sure no one follows us.”
    “You have no idea where it could be?”
    “Somewhere obscure, difficult to get to, with a lot of land. I’ve heard tales of the Yukon. Maybe even Alaska.”
    “I wonder that he trusts us with this at all.”
    “Though your means are questionable, you complete jobs. Hard ones. And he knows how badly we want that sword.”
    “Why doesn’t he meet us?”
    “He never comes out of hiding. Omort would destroy him. Groot’s the only one who has the means to kill him. At least that we know of.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Cade asked, but he knew what his brother was alluding to. They’d had a lead, a vampire who knew of a way to kill the sorcerer. But to save that leech from certain death, Cade had accidentally taken the life of the vampire’s Bride. A young human named Néomi.
    Unbidden, the memory arose of his sword slipping into Néomi’s body…. He blocked it out. Cade was the master of blocking out unwanted realities.
    Even if they had captured the vampire and tortured him for the information, there was nothing they could inflict worse than losing a Bride. That lead had been extinguished.
    Cade’s fault again.
    “Omort probably already knows our intentions,” Rydstrom said. “He won’t take this lying down—he’ll send out everything he’s got to prevent us from getting the Vessel to Groot.”
    “Little ironic that just when I find out my female’s no longer a forbidden human, I have to turn her over.”
    “You can’t be certain that she’s yours. And even if she is, you have to think of your responsibilities. The last time the kingdom depended on you…” He trailed off. “Now you have to do what’s right.”
    At the reminder of his failures, the guilt emerged again, and Cade nudged Holly away from him. She shot upright, seeming embarrassed that she’d still been holding on to him.
    “No need for me to drive back to the house, then,” Rydstrom said. “Just meet me at the gas station north of the lake at eleven o’clock—we’ll start from there.”
    “I’ll be there at eleven.”
    After hanging up with Rydstrom, Cade called Rök—his second-in-command and flatmate. In Demonish, Cade told him, “Tried to ring you for backup earlier. Just before I stormed the Demonaeus lair all by my lonesome.”
    “Did you?” Rök asked in a bored tone. “I was getting a leg over.”
    “When are you not? Need you back to the house.”
    “What’s doing?” Rök asked, then shushed a female voice murmuring, “Come back to bed.”
    Cade quickly relayed the developments, ending with: “Just be there in ten minutes.”
    Once he’d hung up, Cade glanced over at Holly, staring dazedly out the window frame. Her hair had begun drying in unruly reddish-blond curls. He’d been waiting more than a year to see her hair freed from that tight bun she always