Immortals After Dark 07 - Kiss of a Demon King

takes no breath, demon. She's gone."
    "No!" Rydstrom roared, clutching Sabine's shoulders shaking her.
    "Rydstrom!" Cadeon gripped his arm. "She's gone, brother. She wants you to let her go."
    "Never!" More shaking . . . "You come back to n Sabine!"
    Sabine's lids twitched, her muscles visibly knotting.
    She lives.
    "No . . . no more," Sabine moaned in despair, real' izing she hadn't died. She gave Rydstrom a look of utter betrayal then fell unconscious in his arms.
    "You've only saved her until the next wave hits," Nix said. "Demon, next time, you must let her go."
    No, there is another way. "There won't be a next time." He narrowed his eyes at the Valkyrie.
    "You knew this would happen. You knew all those nights ago when you asked me if I could pick one, which would' I choose-my kingdom or my queen. And you asked for a reason. I can sacrifice all hope for one to save the other."
    "You answered your kingdom so easily back then. I was amused."
    "Whoa, whoa," Cadeon said. "What the hell are you two talking about?"
    Rydstrom asked Nix, "How do I get to Tornin tonight?"
    "It's being, uh, taken care of."
    "If you've seen all this, then tell me-will she live?"
    Nix gazed at the ceiling, then back. "I don't know about her. But you might want to have a talk with your successor here and let him know what's about to happen."
    Rydstrom nodded, accepting death-or worse.
    "Yeah, let me know what's going on!"
    "I'm going to Omort for the antidote. The sorcerer will likely kill me this time," he said matter-of-factly. "Cadeon, you're my heir. Nix said this was my last chance to claim my crown. She didn't say you had no chance."
    "What - the-fuck?" Cadeon thundered. "No way! No goddamn way!"
    "This will happen, brother," Rydstrom snapped. "I wasn't asking you-I was informing you."
    "Okay, then, so we make this a trap," Cadeon said, plainly wrestling with his temper. "You can't go there without a battle plan."
    "You told me Groot hit at your mental blocks like a sledgehammer. Omort will demand I open my thoughts to his probes. I have to be utterly free of conspiracy, else I risk her."
    Cadeon ran his hand over his face. "If you do this, you'll be committing suicide."
    "I understand. If I can save her from this pain . ." Then mine was a life well lived.
    "Nix! Tell Rydstrom this is a suicide mission."
    She sighed. "If he wants to go all Asian the Lion on us, who are we to stop him ?"
    "I won't let you do this!"
    "It's done," Rydstrom said. "Nix, tell me how to get to Tornin."
    "The way to get to Tornin is already on her way to New Orleans. And she's pissed."
    45
    So how are things with Mike Rowe?" a woman's voice said.
    Consciousness gradually returned to Sabine, and she found herself between waves of pain-in that harrowing lull between remembering agony and anticipating it.
    "Mike Rowe? Who exactly are you talking about, Holly?" another female answered. Is that Nix speaking? Yes. What is she doing in my dream? Or am I waking?
    "The actor?" this Holly said slowly. "From Dirty jobs. Who took out a restraining order against you?"
    A pause, then Nix said, "Ah! Yes, well, Mikey and I broke up after I finally got him to fool around with me."

    "In the week since I saw you last?"
    "Yes, last night if I recall correctly," Nix said. "He was quite adroit for a human, very tempting. But then I had to forget the phone number he pressed on me."
    As if she couldn't help himself, Holly asked, "Why's that?"
    "I remembered I'm a rake."
    Sabine blinked against her hazy sight and spied Nix in the sitting area of the bedroom. Sabine squinted at the Valkyrie's T-shirt. It read, BORN TO BLOSSOM, BLOOM
    TO PERISH-G.S.
    The other female, this Holly, had glasses and a prim demeanor. She looked to be folding clothes?
    "Besides," Nix said, "I needed to break it off with Mikey, since I'm leaving town."
    "What do you mean you're leaving?" Holly-demanded, folding and refolding the same towel.
    "I still don't know my way around this world, and you're taking off-yet again?"
    "Cadeon can show you about."
    "Where do you have to go that's so important you can abandon me?"
    "Auntie Nixies taking a TO. I'm heading to Budapest, to investigate this band of immortal warriors," she explained. "They're called the Lords of the Underworld. If that doesn't make you want to mate ..." She growled and clawed at the air. "Anyway, they're supposed to be excessively hawt."
    "And by investigate, you actually mean do."
    Nix made a scoffing sound. "Holly, how else is one supposed to