ONE
The French Quarter, New Orleans
Present day
“SHE’S . . . near. ”
At his brother’s weak and broken words, Murdoch Wroth’s
eyes narrowed in anger toward the one who’d brought the
proud Nikolai so low.
Myst the Coveted, a female immortal with a vicious heart.
And Nikolai’s fated Bride.
“How can you tell?” Murdoch asked.
“Because I can feel her,” Nikolai said.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Murdoch adjusted Nikolai’s arm, which he’d slung across
his shoulders to help his brother walk as they searched. The
humans milling all around them merely assumed Nikolai
was another drunk.
Proud Nikolai. He was exhausted from consuming too little
blood, his body racked with never-ending need for a mad
Valkyrie who delighted in his pain. Nikolai had lost weight,
his face turning gaunt, his muscles flagging.
“Murdoch, when I find her . . . I want you to trace from
here.”
He shook his head. “I’ll stay until you’ve secured her—”
“No. Don’t want you to . . . see me.” Nikolai’s weary gaze
darted away from Murdoch’s. “I will lose control.”
Which would shame his stalwart older brother as little else
could.
Murdoch couldn’t imagine how Nikolai would react when
he found Myst. Five years ago, she had blooded Nikolai, as
only a Bride could, bringing to life his dead vampire’s
body. She’d made him breathe, made his heart beat, and
stoked his newly reawakened lust with no intention of
slaking it.
That same night, another Valkyrie had shot him through
with arrows and still another had mocked his desires. Myst
had fled with the two, dooming Nikolai.
A blooded vampire could only take release for the first time
while touching his Bride in some way. If she wasn’t
available, then he would remain in a state of constant
sexual readiness, aching indefinitely.
Which she well knew.
“Promise me you’ll leave,” Nikolai grated.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) At length, Murdoch said, “I will.” If Myst was indeed here
tonight, it would make sense that there’d be more Valkyrie
out on these very streets. More of their deceiving,
manipulative, violent kind. “But only to find another one,”
he added.
He could capture one and interrogate her about the Lore,
the world of not-so-mythical beings he and his brother were
now a part of.
Murdoch’s knowledge of the Lore was as limited as that of
any of the vampires in their warrior order of Forbearers.
Their army consisted mostly of turned humans, and the
Lore creatures kept their secrets well guarded from them.
“Don’t underestimate the Valkyrie as I did,” Nikolai rasped.
“Else suffer as I have.”
He suffered because fate had forced this blooding on
Nikolai. As if Nikolai needed another burden.
The blooding process was what Murdoch detested most
about being a vampire, even more than never seeing the sun
again.
Though he’d once been a rake, bedding a new woman each
night, Murdoch hoped it never happened to him. To be
mystically tied to a single woman sounded hellish,
especially to a woman he didn’t choose, and one who could
spurn him, as Myst had Nikolai.
The pain had rendered his brother nearly mindless in his
pursuit of her. Nikolai wanted retribution, but Murdoch
suspected he also simply wanted her. Even after all that
she’d done to him.
“Where will you take her this night?” Murdoch asked. “The
mill?” They’d secured an old renovated sugar mill outside
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) the city, staying there instead of the Forbearer castle while
they’d scoured these streets.
Nikolai shook his head.
“Then back to the castle?”
When Nikolai didn’t answer, Murdoch said, “You wouldn’t
take her to Blachmount?” The ancient Wroth estate—where
most of their family had died in a single night of sickness
and murder. “Why?”
“Because that’s where my Bride belongs.”
Before Murdoch could question his meaning, Nikolai went
still, his eyes briefly sliding shut. Then his head swung up
toward a rooftop. “It’s her.”
Above them, a redhead stood frozen, her lips parting in
shock.
Murdoch had only briefly seen her all those years before,
and now he studied the details of her Valkyrie appearance.
She had delicate fey features—pointed ears and high
cheekbones—but he also spied the tell-tale claws and small
fangs.
At the sight of her, Nikolai stood fully, no longer needing
Murdoch’s aid. “My Myst. ”
Her face paled, no doubt at the sight of Nikolai, who now
looked like the monster she’d sought to make him. His
irises had turned completely black, his fangs descending in
his mouth, dripping from thirst.
Her horrified expression almost made Murdoch pity her,
but she deserved no mercy. Which was good, because
Nikolai would show her none this night.
Their pursuit of half a decade was . . . over. At last.
Just as Nikolai tensed to trace to her, Murdoch slapped him
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) on the back, then teleported away as he’d promised,
disappearing so quickly he went unnoticed in the morass of
drunken tourists. Even if they had seen him vanish, the
humans would think they’d imagined it.
Murdoch materialized in a back alley several blocks away,
then walked to the Quarter’s main thoroughfare, Bourbon
street. As he moved among the crowds, a warm breeze
tripped down the street, dissipating the swampy haze and
the fumes from food vendor stands.
Warm. In February. Good hunting weather.
Yes, Nikolai would be merciless tonight, as would
Murdoch. Now all he needed was to find his prey.
The hunt is on.
I’m being followed.
Daniela the Ice Maiden furtively glanced over her shoulder
once more. Again she spied nothing out of the ordinary—
tourists milling, witches catcalling to human males—but
Danii couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being stalked.
Which begged the question: what creature would be stupid
enough to court a Valkyrie’s wrath?
Maybe she was just spooked by Nïx’s cryptic remarks
tonight. Nucking Futs Nïx, her half sister and the Valkyrie