No Rest for the Wicked Read Online Free PDF Page B

called her, was rarely lucid and had a diabolical sense of humor. And Myst had been warned that Nïx was “in a pissy mood” this evening.
    In fact, all the Valkyrie he’d met were… eccentric. Even his wife, Myst, thought in ways he didn’t understand. And if Nïx was unmatched in Valkyrie madness… ?
    But he had to try. He couldn’t go on any longer wondering if Sebastian and Conrad were alive or dead. The last time he had seen his two youngest brothers, they were just about to leave Blachmount as newly turned vampires. They were both weakened and had gone half mad at the turning. Although three hundred years had passed, Nikolai did not delude himself into thinking that they had forgiven his offenses against them.
    He and Myst gained entrance past the wraiths the only way possible. She offered a lock of her hair as toll, and one swooped down for it. In exchange for the wraiths’ unfailing guard, the Valkyrie proffered their hair, which the wraiths wove into a braid. Once the braid attained a certain length, they could bend all living Valkyrie to their will for a short interval.
    Once inside the darkened manor, they passed the ultramodern movie viewing room. The Valkyrie were obsessed with movies, indeed with anything modern and ever-changing, whether it was technology, slang, fashion, or video games.
    A number had grudgingly accepted him now that he and Myst were married and because he’d helped save the life of Emmaline, a member of their coven. He’d even garnered permission—through blackmail—to enter their home at will, becoming the only vampire alive who’d seen the inside of this legendary place.
    From the viewing room, they crossed to the stairs and up to the second landing. Myst had explained that Val Hall was like a violent Lore version of a sorority house, complete with catfights and clothing thefts. At least twenty Valkyrie lived here at any given time.
    She stopped at a door with a sign painted to read “Nïxie’s Lair, Forget the Dog, Beware of Nïx.” Myst listened at the door, then knocked.
    “Who is it?” came a muffled reply.
    “Aren’t you supposed to know that?” Myst asked, turning the knob when the door was unlocked.
    They entered the room and found it darkened as well, lit only by a computer screen. Nïx stood, her expression inscrutable as she swiftly braided her long black hair. She had on jeans and a small T-shirt that read “I play with my prey.”
    Inside were a massive TV, hundreds of shades of nail polish, and a pinup poster of a man identified as “Jeff Probst” and labeled
    “The Thinking Woman’s Sex Symbol.” On the floor lay piles of shredded books, crashed paper airplanes, and what looked like the remains of a grandfather clock that had been torn apart in a frenzy.
    Myst wasted no time. “We’re searching for his brothers, Nïx, and we need your help.”
    Nïx snared one of the few untouched books from the floor, then sat on her bed. He caught the title—Voodoo Lou’s Office Voodoo Kit: Take Charge of Your Career… with Voodoo! “And why would I assist the leech, hmmm?”
    Myst’s green eyes flashed with anger. She still called other vampires leeches and didn’t care if her sisters did, but, as she’d said to Nikolai, “It’s a double insult to call you one. If you’re a leech and you like to drink from me, what does that make me? A schmuck? A suckah? Do I look like a host to you?”
    Myst leaned back on Jeff Probst and drew a knee up. “You’ll help us because I’m asking you to and you owe me for keeping a juicy secret from the coven.”
    Nïx made a scoffing sound as she ripped her sharp claws through the voodoo book. “What secret?” She yanked up another tome—The Crutch of Modern Mysticism—flexed her claws, then seemed to think better of completely mauling it, instead ripping out several pages, one with the chapter heading “Why It’s Easier to Believe.”
    “Remember the year 1197?” Myst asked.
    “B.C. or A.D.?” Nïx said in a