Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked Read Online Free PDF Page A

her to do things she would never do. Or had she caught a spell? She had to leave at once. “Vow not to tell anyone, and I’ll let you live for now.”
    “ Let me live—?”
    He didn’t finish the sentence, because in the space of three words, she’d collected her sword, then shot behind him to tuck it menacingly between his legs. She’d moved so quickly she was a blur.
    “Yes, let you live,” she hissed at his ear.
    “You are unused to this.” He traced across the room and stood, arms out, a hand on each side of the doorway. “As am I. We will find our way with this together. But you are my Bride.”
    She closed her eyes, struggling for calm. “You’re not my husband. And never will be.”
    “This can’t be random, Kaderin.”
    Enough. As she started for the door, she could sense apprehension building in him. They both knew the sun would protect her. All she had to do was get past him—
    Suddenly, she doubled over as sorrow for Dasha and Rika ripped through her like barbed wire dragged through her veins.
    “Kaderin?” He strode toward her. “Are you hurt?”
    Gulping air, she shoved her hand out to stop him before he reached her, and forced herself to stand. All Valkyrie were related, but she and her two sisters had been born together. Triplets. Inseparable for one thousand years, until two had died in battle. Because of Kaderin’s weakness...
    “Kaderin, just wait—”
    She charged for the door, but he traced back to it and held his ground. She feinted left and ducked right, moving so fast she knew he couldn’t make out her form. As he blinked, she swooped around him, bringing the sword handle crashing back into his chest, deciding at the last minute not to crack his sternum.
    He gave a bellow of fury when she barreled past him. She darted down a rotting landing, toward the three sets of winding stairs, running through massive cobwebs so thick he must have traced through them for centuries.
    Half staggering, half tracing, he was right behind her as she bounded down the stairs. But she pushed a hand on the railing and vaulted over to the next flight of stairs, then once again to the ground floor.
    With a hoarse yell, he leapt down behind her, lunging for her. At the last second, she shimmied out of his grasp, reaching the heavy front doors. She burst through them, wrenching them off their rusted hinges and sending splinters arcing into the air.
    Even outside under the morning sun’s protective watch, she didn’t slow. She raced down the valley toward the village—ragged breaths, leaves crackling beneath her boots, the warmth of the light. Don’t look back.
    Tears blurred her vision as she fought not to sob. The sorrow ached as unbearably as it had when she’d collected and buried the... pieces of her sisters. She ran away as if to forget that last night, as if to leave that memory back at that desolate castle. Don’t look back...
    After the burial, she’d torn at her hair and clawed at her skin, alternately shrieking with fury and grief and yearning for the oblivion of death herself. Exhaustion finally rendered her unconscious, and in that heavy sleep, an unknown power had communicated with her as a voice in her mind, promising surcease from the pain yet deadening all of her emotions.
    Then, as now, the pain was unbearable. Just as she had before, she prayed for mercy.
    But none came. Had Kaderin been forsaken? Had she angered the mysterious power? Don’t look back . But she did.
    The vampire had followed her.

Val Hall Manor, New Orleans,
    Home of the tenth of the twelve Valkyrie covens

    S ometimes Nikolai Wroth really hated his in-laws.
    He exhaled wearily as he accompanied his Bride, Myst the Coveted, to the expansive front porch of her former home. They’d just made it to the front steps when the first shriek sounded.
    He wasn’t surprised, having already learned that his mere vampiric presence would be enough to provoke this nest of Valkyrie.
    Though he was a Forbearer, he was often