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No cars.
Not even animals.
It was as if everyone had vanished.
Every muscle in my body coiled and my senses stretched as I walked down the main street to the center of town. Valkyrie instinct said I wasn’t alone.
I halted, a chill running down my spine. Movement on the roof flashed in my periphery, but when I jerked my attention up, nothing was there. I was told to come alone, but I’d be naïve to believe Mother and Garmr were unaccompanied. I continued my path.
It was foolish of me to react so quickly and come alone. Without Aya, the others couldn’t follow. Even though Urd said Diego would come into his own magic, which he was showing signs of, he couldn’t teleport yet.
But lives were at stake. Garmr had no issue with killing me. He’d have no problem killing innocent people. And I knew my mother wouldn’t be much different. Not with what Dad had shared with me about his past life working for Urd. If my mother went through half the shit he had, and also had no qualms murdering her own daughter, she wouldn’t be much better than this nasty wolf shifter.
My fists clenched and unclenched.What am I going to do?I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know the situation enough to even make one.Kill them?Could I? I could say I was capable of it all I wanted, but when faced with that reality, did I have it in me to do so?
My past said I could. My Valkyrie spirit said I had it within me to do what needed to be done.
I could feel them with me, wrapping around me the calmness and strength I needed.
Breathe.
Shut down the emotions.
Don’t be rash.
They encouraged me in ways they knew and experienced. Their experience was my advantage neither of my enemies would see coming.
My mind emptied.
My heart steeled.
My breathing steadied.
Each step I took, power built in me. My magic tingled my fingers and Valkyrie power licked at my mind.
The center square came into view. People stood there. My mother. Garmr. Other people dressed in strange fatigues with their faces covered. My Valkyrie spirit coiled the longer I looked at these unidentifiable enemies. There was something wrong about them. Something about their spirits set me on edge.
People kneeled in front of them. Fury flared in my chest seeing the four people on the ground.
Carrie.
Officer Rory.
Felicity, the sweet cashier at the hardware store.
Ben, the asshole who, even for all his offenses, still wasn’t terrible enough to deserve this.
Prisoners.
Hostages.
They were hostages.
They all were forced to hold their hands up behind their head while someone stood behind them, a gun poised to be used. Rory appeared the calmest of them, which came as no surprise. He was a former soldier, turned cop. He knew how to stay calm. The person who did surprise me was Carrie.
Instead of shaking and barely holding herself together, like poor Felicity, she remained calm. Her eyes tracked the movement of those around her, and her mouth twitched as if she wanted to spew off insults. I didn’t doubt she wanted to. She’d grown back into herself these past few weeks, and she was a force to be reckoned with, mortal or not.
My eyes tracked Garmr. He paced behind the hostages, his face twisted in what I presumed was frustration. A tall, middle-aged woman with red hair watched him, her gray eyes cold. Were they always that color? I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything with her. She betrayed Dad. She betrayed me.
