Ingrid patted her hand. “Let me handle that.”

  ***

  Erik was furious.

  He stalked out of Ingrid’s house and took flight immediately, his anger amplifying his native power. He went to Oulo and the cabin that they had rented for their ill-fated holiday. The place was a disaster. Police tape was strung all around the building, and debris was everywhere.

  He ducked under the tape and went inside. He immediately saw the two piles of ash, disturbed but still heaped on the carpeting. He wanted to weep, but his anger dried his tears before they could fall. He scanned the room with every sense at his disposal, catching the scent of dried blood and Ulfen musk. A single Ulfen fang lay in the corner, apparently knocked out during the fight. He picked it up and held it in his hand, staring at it.

  A sound on the porch, soft and almost non-existent, caught his attention, and he turned to face the door. To his surprise, Ardrik stood there, his arms crossed, his dark face locked in a pugnacious glare.

  “I was watching. I thought you’d come back to this place. I’m supposed to parley with you,” the alpha said, his voice a rumble, somewhere between speaking and growling. “But I would much rather slit your throat.”

  “Then we’re agreed on that,” Erik replied. “But there are things you need to know.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the fact that with the exception of the fight against Loki, which I readily admit to, the Draugr raids on the faery settlements have been exclusively performed by the First.” He considered the fang, then held it out to him. “One of yours?”

  Ardrik looked at it, unimpressed. “It’s just a tooth.”

  “I have enough of my own.” He tossed the fang to the alpha, who caught it in midair.

  He pocketed the fang and said, “You’re telling me that these raids have all been done by rogue vampires.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “And which side of the line are you on today? Seems you tiptoed all the way over to marauder not too long ago.”

  Erik flushed in shame. “There were extenuating circumstances.”

  The Ulfen snorted. “Oh, yes. Of course. You were enchanted.” His tone was mocking. “That’s a lame excuse, vampire.”

  “I don’t care what you think, shifter. It’s the truth.” He stepped closer, but stopped when they were still out of arm’s reach of one another. “I’m not proud of it, and I’ll make amends to the trolls if I can.”

  “They want you dead.”

  “That’s one thing they can’t have.” He squared his stance and held his hands at his sides, ready to act if he needed to. He realized with a sinking feeling that he did not have any of his arsenal with him; if there was to be a fight, it would be strictly hand-to-hand.

  “What are you proposing that I take back to the faery?” Ardrik asked. “Your assurances that your boys will stop? That won’t be good enough.”

  “My assurances that I will make them stop, and yes, that the raids will end. What more would they require?”

  “An end to the theft of faery blood for your bottles.”

  Erik nodded. “I can guarantee that will end with the First.”

  “And an end to all Draugr raids on faery settlements.”

  “I’ve already promised that.”

  Ardrik looked at him, his eyes hard. “And the Rune Master as our hostage until you complete your task.”

  Erik barked a humorless laugh. “Out of the question!”

  “Then the war continues,” the alpha told him, “and the next time I see you, it will be with my teeth in your throat.”

  “I can promise you that you have that backwards.”

  This time, it was the Ulfen who laughed. “Are we done here?”

  “Almost.” He paused to confirm that he meant was he was about to say, then continued. “The mastermind behind all of this is the Valtaeigr named Magda. She is the one conducting the bottling operation, and the one who has the most to gain from its continuance. She is using the First as her tools. She is the one you want.”

  “A Valtaeigr?” Ardrik sniffed. “Why would she do something like that?”

  “I suspect she’s part of the Dark Sisterhood.”

  The Ulfen sighed. “Why don’t you help out a poor, dumb wolf and tell me what that is.”

  “The Valtaeigr who serve Hel’s dark aspect are the Dark Sisterhood. They are the witches and the treacherous among the vala.”

  “You Draugr are so in love with your gods and your myths,” he said dismissively. “Your superstitions keep you in the Dark Ages.”

  “Says the creature who lives with his pack in a cave in the woods.”

  Ardrik’s face darkened with restrained anger. “You tell me this Magda person is behind this. Why should I believe you?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t say. That will be between you and your conscience.”

  “I have no conscience.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  “You can’t tell me that you’re any different,” the Ulfen sniffed.

  “I can, and I am.” He folded his arms. “This is my message to your faery overlords. I will stop the First. I will deliver Magda to them for punishment. The raids will end. I will enforce a truce between the Draugr and the faery.”

  “And in return?” Ardrik asked. “There’s never something for nothing.”

  “In return, your pack will stop attacking my people, and the faery will stop their war.”

  He laughed again, but there was no mirth in it. The Ulfen said, “I will take them your message, but I wouldn’t expect a positive response.”

  “It will be as it will be,” Erik said.

  “Very philosophical for a blood drinker.”

  “Your point?”

  Ardrik shifted into his full wolf form. He growled at Erik, baring his teeth, and then loped away into the woods.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Erik returned to Ingrid’s house by the sea, going immediately to the keg of dreyri that his hostess kept in the cellar. Nika followed him, concerned. His expression was steely as he pulled a pint of the enchanted blood, then drank it down in one go. She put her hand on his back.

  “Are you all right?”

  He shook his head. “No. But I will be.” He refilled the mug and emptied it again.

  Ingrid joined them, coming down to sit on the stairs. Erik did not glance back, but he said to her, “I just had that parley you requested.”

  She nodded. “And?”

  “And I told Ardrik that I would end the raids and that I would stop the First from bottling faery blood. I also promised to hand Magda over to them for punishment, since she’s the mastermind behind this whole fiasco.”

  “And in return, what did you ask of them?”

  He filled his mug a third time. “An end to the war, and cessation of hostilities by the Ulfen.”

  “What did he say?” Nika asked.

  “He laughed at me.”

  “That’s not promising.”

  He smiled at her a bit wanly. “No, not really.” He sipped the dreyri and sighed. “This is good, but it’s lacking the life spark. I need to feed from a live human before I go.”

  Nika frowned. “Go where?”

  “To Natasha’s lair to retrieve the book, and to Uppsala to call the Draugr to a conference.” He glanced at Ingrid, and she nodded at him approvingly.

  “Take me with you when you go.”

  “No,” he objected. “It’s too dangerous. I know you can handle yourself, but I need you to be safe.”

  “Won’t I be safe with you?”

  “If I’m concentrating on fighting the First, I won’t be able to protect you. And if I’m worried about protecting you, I won’t be fighting to the best of my abilities.” He put his mug aside. “I’m sorry, Nika. I don’t mean to wrap you in cotton, but I just can’t stand the thought of you going into harm’s way.”

  She set her jaw. “It’s my book. I ought to be the one to get it back.” He looked away from her, and she persisted. “I am not helpless. Why do you think I’ve been learning this magic? I can use it to defend us both. You need me to counter them.”

  Ingrid interjected, “You are susceptible to the Valtaeigr. You always have been. If you have your own vala with you, then perhaps you’ll be better able to keep your wits.”

  Nika was not going to budge on the point, and she could see that he knew it. He sighed. “Fine. Come along if you must.”

  She nodded firmly. “I must.”

  He sighed. “You are a stubborn woman.”

  “Good. That means I can keep up with you, because you’re a stubborn man.”

  Erik’s frown melted into a reluctant smirk, the corner of his mouth turning up. His blue eyes twinkled as he leaned over and kissed her. “I thank the gods we can’t have children, because they’d be too hard-headed to bear.”

  Ingrid chuckled. “Pity me. I have to deal with both of you.”

  Erik put his arm around Nika, and she leaned against him, her hand on his broad chest. “Call your meeting,” he said. “I will play the part you ask of me.”

  The old Valtaeigr stood and bowed to him. “My king….”

  She left them in the basement with the dreyri. Erik’s mouth turned down again. Nika rubbed her palm up and down his sternum, liking the hollow between his pectoral muscles and hoping the stroking would help to calm him. “You’re doing the right thing.”

  “I’m not fit to be anyone’s king.”

  “I disagree. And we’ve already proven that I can out-stubborn you, so you might as well just agree with me and save yourself some time.”

  He kissed her forehead. “If I’m king, that makes you my queen. Are you ready for that?”

  She looked into his eyes. “If I’m with you, I’m ready for anything.”

  She hoped that those wouldn’t prove to be brave last words.

  ***

  In Finland, Olaf stood in the basement beside the vats of faery blood, watching as Magda paced and stormed. “How could you let him get away? And he’s resumed his bond with her. There is no other way she could have had the power of flight. You are incompetent!”

  Mia stood at the center of Magda’s storm. “I’m sorry, mother. I tried to hold him, but his will was too strong.”

  “No man has that strong a will,” she retorted angrily. “No man can resist a Valtaeigr who tries. By Odin’s eye, I taught you better than that!”

  Kjeld finished taking down the corpse of a myling. It had been a slender prize, but a prize nonetheless. “To be fair, he was under her control for a very long time, and he did things he never did even in our mortal days.”

  Magda glared at him. “I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

  Olaf snorted. “You never have to ask him. It’s always available for free.”

  She put her hands on her hips and stopped pacing. “Did you at least get the video sent out?”

  Kjeld nodded. “I texted or e-mailed it to everyone on your client list. And I do mean everyone...mortals included.”

  Olaf raised his eyebrow. “You have mortals on your client list?”

  She looked defensive. “I have pets, and some people pay handsomely for the extended lifespans that the dreyri can give.”

  Dag dragged in another myling, which was sobbing in terror as he affixed its feet to the recently emptied hook above the vat. He slashed its throat with a cold iron dagger and they watched impassively as its life drained out. The twitching lasted longer than Magda would have expected, but then, it was hanging upside down, so the blood was running to its brain, keeping it alive.

  “I want -”

  Her words were cut off by the sound of Ingrid Nilsson’s voice in their heads. The telepathy was strong and undeniable, and they could not have ignored her if they’d tried. All Draugr, she said. Hear me, all Draugr, in every land. The first meeting of the Draugr will be held in Uppsala in four days’ time, at the height of the moon. All Draugr are to attend. We will speak of war.

  Dag looked at Magda. “How can she do that?”

  “Telepathy spell,” she said dismissively. “It’s not that difficult, if you have an appropriate focus.”

  “And yet you still use a cell phone,” Kjeld mocked.

  She drew herself up haughtily. “I make use of modern conveniences to save my magic for more important things.”

  “Things like keeping Thorvald and his woman under wraps?” Olaf asked.

  Dag waggled his dark eyebrows at her. “Whoops.”

  “I hate you all.”

  “Well, then, maybe you don’t want this blood that badly,” Olaf said, pulling a pistol from the waistband of his jeans. He pointed the gun at Magda. “I’m sure I can find some other Dark Sister to enchant this dreyri for me. Maybe it’s time that Snake Eyes was under new management.”

  Mia stepped between them. “Olaf,” she said softly. “Husband. Don’t.”

  “Husband?” Magda echoed, looking from her daughter to the First and back again. “When did this happen?”

  “We’ve lived together for centuries,” he said. “Some things are just assumed after a while.”

  Dag, seemingly unable to resist needling her, asked, “Didn’t you ever come to think of Thorvald as your husband? You gave him three kids.”

  She glowered. “He was never my husband, and I never gave him anything. Everything he ever got from me, he took.”

  Kjeld rubbed his finger and thumb together. “Sad violins are playing for you,” he said. “The saddest and smallest violins in the world.”

  She spat a word of magic, and he was abruptly showered in silver dust that appeared from thin air, both aerosolized and clinging. He choked and sputtered on the toxic gas, his face turning ashen as the poison took effect.

  The other First watched him gag his way into unconsciousness, none of them mustering anything beyond simple curiosity. Mia began to go to him, but Olaf held her back, his massive hand on her shoulder.

  Magda walked to where Kjeld was drowning on dry land. Taking a silver stiletto out of her stylish knee-high boot, she stabbed him in the heart. He burst into ashes and fell, scattered, to the floor.

  She straightened and glared at the assembled vampires. “Get me as much blood as you can. I need to get my stock up.”

  “You don’t order us,” Dag reminded her. “You were once our slave. You could be again.”

  She raised her hand, and the fingertips sparkled with unspent energy. “Do you want to go on the path that your friend just walked?”

  “Him?” He laughed. “He wasn’t a friend. And now we all get a larger share of the profits. Besides, I know that you can only cast one of those spells a day. Isn’t that right, Mia?”

  Magda looked at her daughter, who looked away sheepishly. “That’s right,” she answered.

  Olaf pulled Mia into his body, wrapping one arm over her, his hands grasping at her chest. “Mia has told us many things about being Valtaeigr, haven’t you?” He kissed her ear, then took the delicate upper shell between his teeth. She winced as he bit just hard enough to draw blood. “We find that with the right motivation, she can be quite a teacher.”

  She trembled with rage. “You will regret ever touching her.”

  Olaf continued to fondle her. “Not any time soon, I’ll wager.”

  She met Mia’s eyes, and the younger woman shook her head solemnly, warning her into silence. Magda backed toward the stairs.

  “I will see you in four days,” she said. “Bring all of your weapons to Uppsala. Thorvald and the Rune Master will be there, and we need to kill them both.”

  “We know what to do with them,” Dag told her. “Don’t worry about that.”

  She did not respond. With one last look at Mia, she left the basement and headed back out to her waiting car.

  ***

  Erik stood beside the kitchen table and watched Ingrid packing up the ingredients of her spell. He had come to be very wary of incense, so he stayed well out of the smoke of whatever plant matter she was burning. She extinguished it with a candle snuffer and put it outside the window.

  “Did they hear you?” Nika asked. “Did it work?”

  “Did you hear me?” she asked in return.

  “Well, yes.”

  “Then it worked.” She handed Erik his cell phone. “I took the liberty of taking possession of this when you left in such a hurry.”

  He accepted it. “Thank you.” There was a notification of a missed message, and he opened the app. The video of the troll settlement raid began to play. He immediately turned it off.

  “What was that?” Nika asked.

  “Someone trying to cause trouble.” He looked at the list of recipients and ground his teeth. Not only were most of the Draugr that he knew listed there, but his superiors in the SOG and the Swedish military were also named. Even the personal secretary of the King of Sweden was on the list. “Jesus.”

  Nika raised an eyebrow and took the phone away. “May I?”

  “I wish you wouldn’t, but…” He took a deep breath. “It’s a video of what I did while I was enspelled. It’s not pretty. Please don’t watch it.”

  He could see her warring with herself for a long moment. Finally, she deliberately deleted the message and the hateful video that had come with it.

  “If you don’t want me to see it, I won’t look.”

  He embraced her, relieved. “Thank you, my love.”

  She held him tightly. “We’re in this together, whatever anyone says or does. I don’t care what happened when you were drugged and enchanted. That wasn’t you. Nothing in that video was your fault.”

  “I don’t know if other people will feel the same.” He took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He normally didn’t care what other people thought of him, but in a case like this, where his actions were so heinous and his guilt was so raw, it troubled him. “Nika...I slaughtered faery children. I participated in the gangrape of a Huldra. I was brutal and beastly and…”

  She put her hand over his mouth. “Stop. The First were, and the orders you were given were, but you were not. I will never believe that you were.”

  He pulled away. “Not long ago, you were having trouble trusting me because of my past doing things just like this. Now you ignore it? I don’t understand.”