I watched with no small amount of pleasure as Rae steadied herself against the table, finally falling into one of the chairs. Having tasted her blood, I could feel the sheer want that was consuming her, and it was all I could do not to fly back down and take her right then, on that deck. In fact, it had considerably less to do with my self control than the imminent sunrise- so I contented myself by waiting until she went inside to find a place to go to ground. It would have been incredibly convenient if the books had been true and I could track her wherever she went; but the most I would get out of her would be strong emotions. I deemed that insufficient but tolerable, and I was glad it leveled the playing field somewhat. There would be no real hiding with this one, not when she could feel what I was feeling whenever she wished.
Not that I really want to, I thought, swiftly burying myself in the ground. What would be the point? I had no fear of scaring her away, nor any reason to manipulate her. I wanted her, that was for sure; she was beautiful, and her blood exquisite. But she wanted me too, and I was content to let things simply happen with this one- for now.
I decided I would not leave France without seeing her again, and then death overtook me.
I rose the next night and took to the air, barely bothering to brush the dirt out of my hair and clothes. Flying generally did the job for me, and I had at least an hour's flight ahead of me to Lyon. Diana had been expecting me last night, and I could imagine that she was not thrilled that I was late, to put it mildly. That, however, did not bother me. I was older than the French vampire, and was merely answering her call to return a favor she had done me a few centuries back. As my child Gwen was so fond of saying- she would get over it.
The modern saying turned my thoughts back to Rae. It was unbelievable that I had gone one thousand years without knowing of her kind. I prided myself on being observant, as most vampires do, and yet this entire race had somehow gone unnoticed by me and every one I had talked to. They were either highly independent and highly secretive- more so than any other supernaturals I had encountered- or those who did know of them never spoke of them. The answer was likely some of both. Yet if that was the case, why then had Rae been so open with me?
The question continued to bother me even as I landed on Diana's roof, but I shoved it to the back of my mind. The last thing I wanted to do is expose Rae and her kin to Diana. I personally had no need for them, nor any desire to seek them out, but I was sure that Diana would find a way to start a war with these people. And just from the hints that Rae had given me, that was not something that would end well for either side.
The roof guards let me in without question- I assumed that they had been told what to expect. I did not bother with human movements as Diana owned the top few floors of the building, and so found myself in a room with her within seconds. She had her back to me, and was twisting her long blonde hair into a bun.
"Eric, dear, how nice of you to finally join us," she said, her deceptively sweet voice layered with angry undertones.
"Diana," I replied, nodding as she turned to face me. She paused, as if waiting for me to say something more, but I did not indulge her.
"You are late," she prompted, her brown eyes flashing.
"Yes," I replied, meeting her gaze easily. "Since you refused to tell me what exactly you needed me for, I did not know my presence was required so... urgently."
She raised her lip in a snarl, showing her fangs. I immediately matched her face, a low growl rumbling deep in my chest as I took a step toward her. Diana paled and retracted her fangs, backing up a step.
"Just because I am here at your behest does not mean you control me, Diana. Do not make that mistake again," I said, my voice low. I retracted my fangs as well and returned to my place leaning against the wall. "Now, I believe you were going to explain to me why I am here?" She nodded briskly, clearly angry that I had put her in her place.
"Come with me. I'll show you."
I followed her back the way I had come, up to the top floor of the building. My curiosity had been peaked, for there was generally no one on this floor. It was meant as a barrier between the roof and the actual business that went on in the building- or so I had thought.
"The reason I asked you here, Eric, is that I need something valuable to me- and to others- protected, at least until permanent arrangements are made. Your skill as a fighter is legendary, and since you owed me a favor, I assumed you would be up to the task." As Diana finished speaking, she stopped in front of a door that looked and smelled like it had been recently reinforced with iron. I could hear something moving around inside the room, but it had been soundproofed so any sound I caught was muffled.
"So what am I protecting?" I questioned. As much as I appreciated a flair for drama, dragging this situation out would be nothing short of irritating. I had no desire to be around Diana longer than I had to be.
"You are about to see the girl you will be protecting until further notice," Diana said, and opened the door.
I stepped into a dark room with what looked like a one way mirror taking up almost the entire opposite wall. On the other side of that mirror sat a human girl, probably in her late twenties. I took in her cheaply dyed blonde hair, heavy make up, and too-tight clothes in one disgusted glance.
"Diana, my dear, you cannot be serious," I said as I turned to look at her.
"Believe it or not, Northman, she is valuable. She cannot stand us, or any other supernatural creature, but she is worth the trouble." Diana's eyes were almost glowing with excitement as she looked at the girl, who by this time had stood and began to move toward us. I quirked an eyebrow, still unable to believe what she was saying.
"Eric, she can pinpoint the exact location of every supernatural creature within miles of here," Diana explained, turning to face me. "Vampires included." And then I understood.
"With her, I can find the resting place of anyone. No creature will be able to hide- not even during the day." I was barely listening to Diana, my mind already moving to every possible use this girl could have for our race- or more importantly, for me. We were both interrupted, however, by the girl pounding viciously on the glass.
"I can feel you there, you blood sucking fucks! Let me the fuck out of here! I'm gonna hunt you down and kill every last one of you, and all your creepy friends too!" she shrieked, her face contorted and rapidly turning red.
"Oh now that's attractive," I commented, looking back at Diana. The side of her mouth was twitching, and in a second, I realized why.
"I'm sure you understand why we keep her locked up. But she's your problem now, Northman." I glared at her stonily until she swallowed her laugh.
"Well, now that you've seen her, there's one last thing we have to discuss," she said, gesturing that we should go back to her office. I was glad when the door closed on the girl's screaming- her voice would have been irritating to the human ear.
Once back in her office, I folded myself into one of Diana's chairs and waited for her to begin. I wondered what could possibly have her looking so serious when it was clear that she had every opportunity to gloat over my new 'problem'. She sat down across from me, apparently trying to decide how to begin.
"Obviously, I have tried to keep her existence as quiet as possible. But as you know, it is only a matter of time until someone talks. Most other vampires I'm not worried about; you can handle the majority of them, as well as any other supernatural creature." I nodded, both agreeing and acknowledging the compliment. "But there is something that does worry me. There is a creature, here in France, that specializes in finding and killing people- generally for the government." It was here I interrupted her.
"The human government? What could we possibly have to fear from them?" I questioned, centuries of confidence coloring my tone.
"Ironically enough for you, Northman, she calls herself the Valkyrie. And make no mistake, she is lethal. She works for a very secretive sector of the government that knows about the supernatural world and seeks to 'keep the balance'- and so far, she has killed everyone that they have sent her after. She is the biggest reason I called in your favor. I'd much rather lose you than one of my own." I shrugged off Diana's last comment, knowing that I would have done the same thing in her position. Instead I focused on processing the information she had just given me. The government in the United States had a similar sector, which dealt with the problems that had grown as the human population and forensic science had. But for the most part, they left us to ourselves. They knew better, and did not have an enforcer like this... Valkyrie. A smile flickered over my lips unbidden. The irony was simply too much.
"Why do you tolerate this intrusion from the humans? What is this Valkyrie, that the entirety of the French supernatural community fears her?" I asked, unable to comprehend. There were only a few things that a vampire would ever fear, and I couldn't imagine any of them aligning themselves with the humans.
Diana clenched the arms of her chair and made a face that I could only describe as rage-filled, her fangs lengthening just a small amount. I allowed it, knowing her anger was not directed at me.
"Trust me, if we could find them, they would be dead," she snarled. "But we can't. None of us. Faerie, shifter, even vampire... all have tried and failed. As for the Valkyrie, we believe she is a new breed of shifter. No one knows for sure because no one who sees her up close lives to talk about it. And she is not alone. She is sometimes joined by what we think is a very powerful sorcerer. We also assume they are lovers because she's even more vicious when he is around, presumably to protect his identity as well as her own. We haven't been able to find him either. These people might as well be ghosts." The anger turned to disgust as she relaxed back into her chair, her fangs beginning to retract. "And before you say anything- yes, a shifter. Not a normal shifter, otherwise she wouldn't be a match for any of us. But it's the best idea we have."
"So you think this Valkyrie is going to come after your new toy?" I had decided to accept the majority of what Diana was telling me, for lack of any other information.
"Yes, I'm almost sure of it. Lara certainly... disrupts the balance of things. And the only kind of chaos the Valkyrie seems to enjoy is the kind she causes," Diana replied bitterly, looking away from me. I simultaneously saw where this conversation was headed and realized I did not want to go there, especially not with Diana.
"Well, this has certainly been... enlightening, Diana, but is there anything else that requires my presence?" I asked, leaning forward in my chair. She turned her attention back to me and made a gesture with her hand, indicating I could go.
"Find a place you are comfortable sleeping, Northman. Your job will begin tomorrow night." I stood and nodded to her before making my way to the door.
"Au demain, Diana."
