Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

twitched just as Regin said, “Someone’s coming!”
    “Hide everything!”
    “Hey, let’s
don’t
,” Regin said. “I’m sick of sneaking around, being all furtive and guilty like we stole Freya’s car and wrecked the alignment. Let’s hang a lantern on this. Get everyone involved this time.”
    At the idea, Lucia grew nauseated. “You swore, Regin!”
    “For once, I’d like the coven to know I’m a mastermind.” At Lucia’s unbending expression, Regin added, “No. Really. Do you know how bad their heads wouldexplode if they knew we are masterminds? Instead of video-game flunkies?”
    “Regin!”
    Lucia must have looked as aghast as she felt, because she muttered, “Fine. We can act like we’re fuckups idling about. As per our usual. But if we cap a god, I’m telling
everyone
I know! Two words: Press. Conference.”
    As they hastily hid their materials, Lucia said, “It’s probably Annika.” Who would
not
welcome the news Lucia and Regin would have to deliver.
Your foster daughter met a man and told us she’d be home… basically whenever her happy ass felt like it.
    Finished stowing their papers, she and Regin sped to the couch. By the time Annika burst through the door, they were sitting in the great room, painting each other’s toenails while watching a TiVoed episode of
Survivor
.
    With no hint that the two were conspiring—to exterminate a god forever.
    Gasping for breath, Annika asked them, “Is Myst back? Or Daniela?” She weakly hung on the thick door, peering out into the darkness. “Have they returned?”
    Regin said, “We thought they were with you.”
    “Nïx?”
    “Hibernating in her room.”
    “Nïx!” Annika yelled over her shoulder. “Get down here!”
    Lucia wanted to tell her,
Good luck with corralling Nïx.
The soothsayer worked only on Nïx Standard Time.
    Annika slammed shut the front door and bolted it. “Is Emma on her way back yet?” She put her hands to her knees, still catching her breath.
    Lucia and Regin shared a guilty look. “She’s, uh, she’s not coming back right now.”
    “
What
?” Annika shrieked. Aneurism in five, four, three, two…
    Regin offered, “She met some hottie over there—”
    Annika held up her hand. “Got to get out of here.”
    Where was the cataclysmic freakout over Emma? Lucia frowned. “I don’t understand ‘got to.’ Sounds like you want us to leave?”
Or even to flee?
Valkyrie simply didn’t flee—from anything.
Monsters flee from us.
Just as it’d always been.
    You ran from that Lykae.
    Shut up.
    “There’s a plane about to crash, isn’t there?” Regin sighed. “That is
so
gonna hurt.”
    Lucia agreed. “I might run from a crashing plane—”
    “Go… something’s coming,” Annika said. “
Now…”
    “We’re safest here,” Regin said, wriggling her toes and turning her attention back to her painting. “The inscription will keep anyone out.”
    The Valkyrie had bought protection from the House of Witches—their allies. The spell kept most nuisances out of Val Hall.
    Regin quickly glanced up. “But, I, uh, I might not have renewed the inscription spell with the witches.”
    Lucia said, “I thought we were on auto-renewal. They charge our credit—”
    “By Freya,” Annika yelled,
“I—mean—now
!”
    At that, Regin shot to her feet, lunging for her sword. Lucia was right behind her, scrambling for her bow. She’d just strapped on her quiver when the front door burst in.

EIGHT

    As Garreth ran for Val Hall, he began to grow uneasy, his hackles rising. Though Lykae loved to run—they’d traded tearing across the Highland hills and crags for tearing through the swamps and bayous— he took no comfort from the exertion.
    He sensed something wasn’t right but couldn’t pinpoint his disquiet. He frowned when his sat-phone rang in his jeans pocket, then slowed to answer. “What?”
    Munro said, “Can you come back to the compound? There’s some news… possibly.”
    “Have you told anyone about Lousha?”
    “No, I have no’! Where are you?”
    “On my way to Val Hall. Concerned about my mate.”
    “Aye, Garreth, you need to know. Vampires are here, crawling all over the city.”
    Bluidy hell.
“Which faction? Horde or Forbearer?” While the Horde was the Lykae’s oldest and most hated enemy, the Forbearers were relatively new players in the Accession game. They were rumored to
forbear
from taking the flesh, refusing to drink blood directly from others.
    Some in the Lore