Chapter 153

Nadia's POV

Lilo, the man, was riffling around the house. Another man and a woman had walked in a few minutes after he had tied her up on her knees and left her next to the wall, and now Lilo and the woman were trying to find whatever it was they wanted while the other, new man was 'watching' her.

He was actually on his phone and didn't seem to be paying attention. He was man-splaying his legs so wide Nadia would have usually asked if he was hurting himself, but he had a massive assault rifle on his back and it kept her very quiet.

Her main thoughts were of three things. Firstly, that Valkyrie was alright. She and her brothers were on a major mission and although Lilo hadn't really indicated if he and his friends were maybe doing something to interfere with that, she had a little feeling that it was connected. At the least, she hoped they were just using the opportunity to steal things while the Dead Men were gone. She suspected that wasn't what was happening but thinking of anything else would make her panic so she tried not to.

Secondly, she was worried about Tanith and Laila. Again, no one had mentioned them at all, so she hoped they were alright, but she had no way of checking. They had put duct tape over her mouth anyway. She was more worried that Tanith would walk through the door any second now with her little baby strapped to her chest, completely exhausted, and be able to do nothing to protect herself and get away. Tanith was tough, but Nadia was keenly aware of how much Tanith was struggling from the damage pregnancy had caused to her body as she was the one that did the things Tanith couldn't while they were stuck in the house together.

And lastly was her and Myra. Something was bugging her about that. She hadn't heard a peep from up the stairs. She didn't think anyone had been up there, but she also couldn't be sure they hadn't used magic to check. Did they just think a mortal couldn't fight back? She'd thought, at first, that maybe Myra could hide and call for help, but every five or so minutes that past just made this nagging feeling in her head intensify. Why hadn't Myra done anything? Why hadn't she heard a sound? Why hadn't these invaders gone to check for more people? She'd heard them say 'teleporter' several times, so they knew about Fletcher staying here – so surely they'd know about his mortal girlfriend.

Something wasn't sitting right about that, but there was hardly anything she could do. Or, maybe she was overreacting because she was tied up, had duct tape over her mouth and was surrounded by people that would more than certainly kill her if she attempted to do anything. Myra might have heard the commotion of her fighting when Lilo had tried to tie her up and hidden away and the invaders just didn't care about a mortal. She needed to find a way to help them, or at least herself if her gut was right, before something drastic happened.

How was she meant to do that exactly?

.*****.

Tanith's POV

"Tanith!" Myra gasped out. "I need to talk to you! Something happened to Nadia and the others!"

"What's happened?" She asked, eyes narrowing and stalking forwards. The woman she'd been talking to, her name forgotten, watched them.

"I don't know! Some man came into the house and started threatening Nadia, I snuck out the front when he was tying her up. I didn't know what to do, I just ran to find you!" Myra rushed out; her voice high with panic but quiet enough that she wasn't shouting.

Tanith nodded quickly, trying to think of something useful. "Okay, we need to get back there."

"How? Do you know someone who can help?"

"No, but I can deal with it," she said firmly.

Myra stuttered for a moment before pushing out, "But what about Laila? Tanith, this man had a gun, he sounded really horrid. I think he wants to kill us!"

"Then we better get there," she snapped. Tanith turned and looked at the woman she'd been talking to who was now standing ridging, awkward and biting her lip. "Do you know a taxi number?"

"No, but I have Uber?" She tried. "Shouldn't we call the–"

"Get me a ride. Now. Myra, you have to look after the baby," Tanith instructed, pulling the wrap off and just putting Laila and the balled her material into Myra's arms. It hurt, like physically hurt, to leave her baby with a relative stranger, but although she wasn't Myra's biggest fan, she trusted her not to hurt her child. "Go to the toddler group and then go to this woman's house. I'll call you when I have Nadia and busted this guy's ass, okay? Don't go anywhere else, don't answer any calls from unknown numbers, and don't get anyone else involved. I've got this."

She didn't know what else to tell them – she didn't do explanations, she did action – the woman had ordered an Uber and in just a couple of minutes, it had arrived. The woman tried to ask for her address and seemed like she was getting enough of a grip to try and bring up the police again but Tanith snapped at her to go to the toddler group and she shut up. She told at the driver to go and her heart clenched as she watched Myra and the woman walk after the rest of the mothers and kids' group with her baby in Myra's arms.

She took some deep breaths, stretched her arms and core in the back seat and after jumping out of the car a few streets away, she jogged around to the back of the house. This meant jumping over a neighbour's fence, their dogs going wild from their back doors. It took barely a second for her to scale the building by walking up the side. She flattened her hand against her window and the latch clicked. She climbed into her, Nadia's and Valkyrie's bedroom. It was quiet.

In her trainers, leggings and fleece jacket, Tanith snuck across the room and reached under the bed, pulling out her trusted, sharp, glorious sword. She hadn't used it in combat since the night the Remnant's got free. After that, she'd found out she was pregnant and had kept it stored under her bed and in her wardrobe. She was so glad to have it back in her hands, even as she felt the strain in her shoulder and abdomen muscles.

She crept to the door and listened closely. She didn't hear anything and carefully opened the door, having to open it quickly to avoid the squeak it would do if she were slow. No one was there. She looked around the hallway and saw the other doors were closed.

Quietly, Tanith jumped up onto the ceiling and felt more secure in her position. She crawled along the slant down to the ground floor and looked into the living room, seeing Nadia tied up roughly and on her knees under the television on the wall. A man with a large gun was sitting hunched over on the sofa. Nadia was staring at him with wide eyes and didn't see her. Figuring that was best for now, especially as Nadia couldn't say anything and was only going to give her away rather than help, she turned the other way and went through the dining room to the kitchen.

There was a man and a woman looking through the drawers of the dresser and cabinet. They had placed some papers on the table, but Tanith didn't recognise them. The door to Anton's bedroom was open and she could just about see all of his few possessions on the floor and the lamp smashed over them. For whatever reason, this just infuriated her. Anton was a strong, unmovable man, but he was also sweet and loyal. To see his property disrespected like that was just something she didn't like. Thinking that Myra had told her a man had come to the house first, Tanith snuck over the women's head and dropped down, landing on her shoulders and crippling the woman immediately.

The man jumped and swivelled immediately.

"Why are you here?" Tanith whispered her sword already at his throat. He hadn't even gotten to touch his gun. She told him to put his hands up and he did. She repeated her question, still whispering.

"No reason," he whispered back, his voice hoarse from her sword tip pressing into his throat. He even tried a smile.

"Try again, bitch," she growled softly, pressing a little harder.

He winced and Tanith tried not to smile. "We were sent to collect information."

"What information?"

"Anything we could fine."

"On what?"

"On you," he said flatly, his whole face changing. He looked dead inside. "On the Dead Men."

"Who sent you here?"

"We weren't sent. We heard about the Dead Men leaving and decided to come here ourselves," he lied.

"Don't test me," she sneered. "Who sent you? Was it the Spiders? That mafia gang my family is fighting at this moment, or maybe a Sanctuary?"

The man gave no indication. "We came by our own accord."

"That's a rather scripted thing to say," Tanith told him, having every intention of pushing the issue when she heard the sound of tape ripping off skin and then Nadia cry out.

She made the mistake of looking away from the man for barely a glance and then he had a gun on her. She ducked before he fired and slashed at his leg, but he was better than that. He used his magic and flung her across the room with the air before she could see him move his hand and it hurt like hell. She heard Nadia screaming and the man in the other room shout, but her head was swimming too much to see her opponent walk right up to her and kick her in the stomach.

.*****.

Valkyrie's POV

Shivering, Valkyrie huddled closer to her brothers. They had all been stripped down to their underwear and thrown in a small cell. It was big enough to give them room to sit without touching, but the cell was made of stone. In the top corner of the cell was a metal grate, and behind that was a white, plastic air conditioner that was blasting cold air into the small room. There was no bed or even a toilet. There was just a small bucket and the icy floor. They had all awoken slowly, lying in a heap on the floor, their clothes gone and no real recollection of what had made them all pass out or what happened to their clothes.

She and Erskine were pressed up tight to either side of Anton, who was the largest and so the warmest of everyone. Thankfully, although the men were down to just their tighty-whities, they had let Valkyrie keep both her underwear and her sports bra. Not having that would make cuddling a bit weird.

They had remained quiet, trying to listen over the air conditioning, but it had been useless. For hours, they sat there, waiting for any sign that the American's had been captured or gotten away. They hadn't had anyone come to boast. They didn't know where Fletcher was, which she could tell they were all concerned about.

Their only contact had been when a man dressed in black had opened the door, walked straight in, grabbed Saracen by the arm, dragged him out and slammed the door closed so fast none of them had even cried out before he was gone.

That had been a long time ago now.

Valkyrie rested her head on Anton's shoulder.

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