Immortals After Dark Book 16 - Page 57

“Oh, that will never happen.”

“Why are you so confident?”

Her eyes flickered, her irises black as night. “Because I’m going to kill her.”

THIRTY-TWO

I admire your optimism, but she trounced you.” Rune hit that flask again. “She amused herself with you.”

“Our next matchup will be different,” Jo a.s.sured him. “I’m ready for it.”

“You are a very, very young vampire who should never pick a fight with a primordial.”

“Relative to you, the big bang is young. And what’s a primordial?”

“Don’t know that either, Forbearer? It’s the firstborn of a particular species, or at least the oldest one living.”

“Are you the primordial dark fey?”

A shadow flashed across his face. “I may never know.”

“Whatever she is—I’ve got this.”

“Say you could somehow prevail over her, why would I give up my kill?”

“Is it personal?” Jo asked.

“It’s important. She’s been playing with forces she’s too young and confused to understand, forces that can throw the entire universe into chaos. She flirts with an apocalypse. I happen to be one among a group that opposes her.”

“What did Nïx mean when she talked of the Møriør?”

“That’s the name of my alliance. I’m a Møriør.”

“But you’re not a nightmare made flesh.” Not a Bringer of Doom. Jo figured Rune would need to keep it in his pants for more than a hot minute to be a doom bringer.

“And you’re not a bomb,” he said. “Can we agree that Nïx alleged ridiculous things?”

The Valkyrie had said she’d kept her eye on Jo and Thad: her nuclear weapons. “Do you share a castle with monsters?”

He ran his hand over his chin. “That part is true. But not material.”

“The h.e.l.l?” Her potential guy lived with monsters? Girlfriend/roommate issues would take on a whole new level.

“We’re speaking about Nïx.”

“Fine.” Jo would address his monsters in the future. “What does she intend with me?” With Thad?

“Depends on what you are. Nïx said you were rare. You’re half vampire, so what’s your other half? The first time we met, you cut me off as soon as I asked you what you are—as if I’d reached the limits of my usefulness. But you do know?” Whatever he saw in her expression made his lips part. “How could you not know? If you were raised by one parent, were you told nothing about the other? You said you were all by your lonesome. The generation before you is gone?”

Jo couldn’t bring herself to share her story yet. If he’d given her just one good reason to trust him . . .

“I’ll have your secrets soon enough, Josephine.”

The second time he’d said that. Why was he so confident?

“Since you can stomach my poison, you could be one of the mystical species,” he said, “like the Sorceri or Wiccae. It’s possible you could be fey. Most fey have magicks in them.”

She recalled her dream of Rune’s first kill. “Maybe you’re enemies with the Wiccae or Sorceri. You’re half fey, but you still might not be a fey fan.” She wondered if he would admit to hating them.

“I despise the fey, but I wouldn’t make you my enemy just because you possessed fey blood. As for the Wiccae, I’ve sworn allegiance to a witch. She’s one of the Møriør. I don’t care about the Sorceri either way.” He took another swig from his flask, his mind on this mystery. “Vampire hybrids are uncommon, but would any of those combinations be enough to attract the attention of a primordial Valkyrie?” He met her gaze. “When I kill Nïx, this information might go to the grave.”

Never to know? “As long as Thad is safe, I don’t care.”

“Then let me deal with her. As I told you, I’m an a.s.sa.s.sin by trade and have been for thousands of years.”

“I need to make sure you don’t accidentally off my brother. I will be watching over him. Either we go together, or I go alone.”

He leaned his shoulder against the hearth mantel, examining his black claws. His silver rings shone in the firelight. “Then I’ll keep you trapped in here.”

“a.s.shole! So I’m back to being a prisoner? And you wonder why I don’t trust you with more information about myself?”

“You need to clean up this mess. And more . . .” He traced away for a split second, returning with a weighty book. He dropped it on his fireside chair. “You can read this and learn about the Lore.”

Lemme get right on that. “What’s in the book?”

“Everything you ever wanted to know about immortals.”

She pursed her lips. Of course it is. The treasure trove she needed most. “No dice, Rune. Nothing matters more to me than keeping my brother safe.”

He smirked. “I’ll do my best not to make him a collateral casualty.”

So arrogant! Rune seemed to take those vows to the Lore seriously. Why not try one? He loved it when she drank from him, so . . . “If we aren’t partners in killing Nïx, if I don’t go everywhere you go when involved in that mission, then I vow to the Lore I won’t drink blood.”

“You did not just say that.” He actually reeled a little. “You will be bound by that vow, compelled by it, even if you later decide differently. You gave few qualifiers—and no time limit.”