Chapter 127
"Don't cause a scene," Valkyrie immediately whispered to her family, walking down the steps with her hand in Nadia's.
"Don't arrest them," Nadia whispered back quickly.
Well that made things more difficult, Valkyrie supposed, but she guessed it should have been obvious. She didn't want to put a strain on her relationship by arresting Nadia's parents, especially when she'd just gotten what she wanted in Nadia moving in.
Coming up to Mr Vinay and Mrs Keena as well as their bodyguards, or Valkyrie assumed they were bodyguards, they stopped a few steps away. Mr Vinay opened his mouth to speak, so Valkyrie took her chance.
"Excuse me, Mr Vinay, Mrs Keena, but your animosity isn't welcome at this peaceful meeting. If you wanted to be a part of the vote, you're too late."
"I'm not here to argue," Mr Vinay said bluntly. "Nadia. We're leaving. Get in the car. Now."
Nadia squeezed Valkyrie's hand tightly. "I'm staying in Ireland, Dad. I'm not leaving."
"Nadia, can you please just do this," Mrs Keena pleaded quietly. "We've found a lovely house, and you can have friends visit us, even Valkyrie can visit us, but this country won't be safe much longer."
"I don't care," Nadia said quite calmly. "I'm old enough and smart enough to decide what I want. I want to stay here with Valkyrie. I want to stay in Ireland. This is my home."
"If you don't come with us yourself I will manhandle you into the car," he father threatened. "You don't get a choice in this. You're a child."
Nadia didn't say anything, and Valkyrie took that as it was. "She's not going anywhere. You need to stay away from that bike, and this gang you've found? It needs to disappear. Immediately. We will charge them with assault if they put a hand on any one of us."
The guards didn't make any movement that they gave a crap, and that worried Valkyrie because that meant they didn't care about their authority or themselves. Valkyrie counted quickly and found there was eight guards, as well as the two parents she wasn't allowed to hurt or arrest. There was herself, Nadia, and her three brothers. They could fight the guards, it was just keeping Nadia with them at the same time.
But Valkyrie knew how the law worked. She gave the signal.
Erskine immediately swept four of the guards off their feet and Dexter barrelled into another. Valkyrie was almost punched and had to grab the fist and put herself in front of Nadia to keep a distance, almost throwing herself to the floor in the process. Struggling with the man's strength, she kicked at him and his elbow bent a little as he buckled, and Valkyrie used that to get in close, elbow him in the nose and before he'd finished crying out, she'd kicked him again between the legs and pushed him to the ground. Two others were on her within a second.
Valkyrie took a step back, pushing Nadia further behind her, and snapped forward like a snake and punched the smaller man in the face hard enough to send him straight to the floor. She heard onlookers oohing and getting excited about the mess, but before she could think a moment more, she got punched in the nose herself.
It knocked her back several steps. Pulling in a gasping breath, she staggered forward and smacked away a second fist before slinking an arm around his neck and flipped the two of them to the floor. It wasn't ideal, but Valkyrie's head was spinning and her nose was surely broken. Using her momentum, Valkyrie got a knee up between them and dug it into the guard's stomach, held his dominant hand down and used her other fist to start pounding his face.
She barely got three hits in before she was thrown off of him by one of the others she'd thrown down already but this time she was on the receiving end of the fists. She struggled desperately, wriggling and making it awkward so he couldn't hit her properly when she heard a small war cry and Nadia shoved the massive man hard enough he fell over.
Valkyrie was so surprised her tiny girlfriend had been able to push the man straight off of her, she blinked several times before making any effort to stand. In that time, the three men attacking her had regrouped and were staring her down.
Valkyrie raised her fists to begin when Nadia shot forward and, with no care whatsoever to the danger she was putting herself in, slapped one of them in the face. Valkyrie looked in awe as the man seized and fell to the floor as if his whole body had locked together from the Shock she'd sent through his body.
The two guards looked at the absolutely furious Nadia with a small amount of wariness this time.
Grinning and deciding this was the most adorable she'd ever seen her girlfriend – the sun had come out and was illuminating the small amount of red in Nadia's black hair, making her look like a very short, incredibly beautiful, incredibly angry angel, enhanced when she clicked her fingers and summoned fire – Valkyrie jumped forward and grabbed the biggest one, turning his attention to her, and shot her palm into his chin which sent him stumbling back. Nadia attacked the smaller one, pushing him with the air followed up with a fireball before turning to look at Valkyrie's large man and jumping on his back, putting her fiery hands onto his neck and holding on like a crazy woman.
Almost laughing, Valkyrie kneed Nadia's smaller one with all her returning strength just as the fire caught onto his clothes and began to envelop him. He grabbed Nadia's wrist and yanked her off of him with a cry of pain, slapping at his neck to stop it spreading, and Nadia felt to the ground. The larger guard didn't waste that moment – he grabbed Nadia and pulled her behind Dexter who was grappling violently with what could have been an alternate, brunette Tanith-esc woman.
Valkyrie jumped over Dexter and kicked the car door closed before the guard could get Nadia into it. Mr Vinay was standing in front of the guard and Nadia with a furious face before Valkyrie could do anything else.
"You need to stop," Mr Vinay growled.
"Let me go!" Nadia screeched.
"Quite, Nadia!" He shouted back, not looking away from Valkyrie. He took a step forward and the guard opened the door. Glancing around, Valkyrie saw that there was no one to help her get Mr Vinay to back down as they were all fighting at least one guard each. "Ever since you've come along, you've only led Nadia down a road to misery and indoctrinated her into thinking she can get away with anything. She believes a war can't kill her for God's sake! This is your fault!"
"Nadia can think for herself," Valkyrie defended. "I'm not letting you take her to India. She doesn't want to go."
"It's not your choice," he growled and Valkyrie got ready when he moved his hand to strike her.
"Anand!" Mrs Keena shouted furiously. Mr Vinay clenched his fist. "Get in the car. We're leaving."
"You're not going anywhere with her," Valkyrie said with forced calm. Nadia screamed like she was being murdered as she was forced towards a second car. Valkyrie went to go to her but Mr Vinay blocked her path and the man roughly shoved Nadia in and slammed the door shut on her. "Let Nadia out and we can talk, we can make a compromise."
"We aren't compromising on the safety of our child," Mrs Keena snapped and got into the same car as Nadia.
Valkyrie lunged and grabbed Mr Vinay by his shirt, using her height to throw him behind her. She heard Dexter grunt as Mr Vinay, she guessed, fell onto him, and before anything more could happen, she had an idea and placed her hands on the bonnet. She gritted her teeth as Mrs Keena and Nadia began screaming at each other, and then Valkyrie found the core of her magic and let it flow through her. She felt a sharpness her Elemental powers never had, a heat her Necromancy had lacked, and a solidity her magic had never had before. When she felt it reach some level inside her, something she instinctually knew was the right limit, she let it go through her hands and into the car, frying the electronics within.
There were bangs and pops within the machine and Mrs Keena didn't mess around staying inside the car, being the first to jump out. She was furious, but without the adorableness Nadia had, and advanced on Valkyrie. Nadia practically fell out of the car behind her.
"Mum!" Nadia screamed. "Stop it!"
Mrs Keena ignored her daughter. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!"
"Nadia!" Erskine called. "Over here!"
Nadia shot off just as a guard went for her, barely escaping his clutches. Valkyrie was reluctant to hurt Nadia's mother, but it looked as if Mrs Keena didn't want a physical fight anyway, so Valkyrie ignored her. Dexter had an unconscious guard next to him, and Mr Vinay was furiously squirming beneath him – which would have been extremely humorous to witness in other circumstances – and the other guards seemed to be unconscious also. Except for the one advancing on Nadia and Erskine.
She didn't need to worry though. As soon as the guard got close enough, Erskine took aim and sent a single punch into the man's neck, effectively sending him to the ground, gagging. Valkyrie grinned at him and he shut the car door for Nadia. She had good brothers.
The crowd seemed somewhat satisfied as well. Now she just had to decide what to do with Mrs Keena and Mr Vinay. Fun.
"You cannot restrain me from my daughter!" Mr Vinay practically frothed at the mouth. "You men are just mercenaries in the Sanctuary's hand, controlling the Grand Mage and young children! You ought to be ashamed."
"That's a little harsh," Valkyrie said. "Nadia's older than me, wouldn't she be manipulating me?"
Mr Vinay spat on her shoes.
"Right, well," Valkyrie said, taking a step back. "Look, the only reason you two aren't being arrested is because Nadia said not to and, honestly, they were absolutely awful bodyguards. Who were they even meant to be? You were trying to fight the Dead Men, you really should have found people more competent. That said, they're getting arrested for the attempted kidnapping of a minor and for attacking without being provoked, and whatever else we can dig up on them. You two can leave, but if you do this again, I'm just going to put you in cells. Do I make myself clear?"
Valkyrie wasn't sure if they had listened because they were shaking so angrily, but it didn't matter. She got onto the bike and Anton grabbed the other helmet for safe keeping so she could ride easy. The others got into the car and at the last minute, Dexter released Mr Vinay. Valkyrie sped off down the street, the car following her, and Dexter went to flirt himself a ride home.
Ta-da! More chapters equals proof I've not abandoned the story. Also, I see new people are reading the story, thank you for your interest!
I'd love your comments on the story, even people without an account can comment and tell me what you want to read in the future chapters :)