How Beauty Saved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight) (15 page)

* * *

Hauk clenched his teeth and sucked each painful breath in between them. Blood pooled underneath his hips from shallow slashes across his abdomen. His left shoulder throbbed from the knife still embedded just below his clavicle. But what scared him was his right hand. Two quick strikes with a hammer, and he couldn’t feel it anymore.

“Stop,” the doctor said. “This isn’t working.”

“We could try fire,” his torturer suggested.

Not
fire
.
Anything
but
fire
. Hauk closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out. Whenever pain shattered through him out of control, he could still control his breath. In and out. Slow as he could keep it.

Please
gods
,
not
fire
.

The doctor clicked his tongue. “He’s never been in fire before when he’s raged. No. I think we need a new tactic.” His blurry form stood over Hauk. “Why don’t you just rage for us? It would make this so much easier on everyone.”

“Go to Helheim, you fuckoff.” He spit blood at the doctor and watched with some satisfaction as the man smeared red across his pristine jacket in an attempt to clean it off. Hauk laid his head back on the table and closed his eyes. “I don’t control it.”

The
schink
of a knife exiting a sheath made his body clench again, but he kept his eyes closed. He’d survived worse than a knife wound.

Besides, it was his hand he was worried about—

“Stop. He’s welcome to his little tantrum. Go get the girl.”

Hauk’s eyes popped open. “Ash?”

The doctor frowned. “Yes, her. If you won’t alter states to save yourself, maybe you’ll do it to save someone else.”

Hauk struggled against the chains. “No. You should’ve let her go.” The chain dug into his wrist, and feeling shot back through his hand in an agonizing rush.

Somewhere, Ashley yelled.

He shoved away thoughts of pain and turned toward the racket. “I came with you. Let her go. She’s not part of this.”

“We both know that’s not true,” the doctor said.

The torturer dragged Ashley in.

She saw Hauk and gasped. “What are you doing to him? My God! Wesley!” She tried to yank away, but the man held her fast. “That’s not—that’s… Let me go!” She burst into tears.

“Now,” the doctor said. “Rage, or we’ll cut open her face.”

“
What
?” Ashley screamed as she struggled in the arms of a sadist.

He raised the knife and slid the blunt end down her cheek. Hauk’s body thrummed with anger as he reached for the strength to stop them.

“You people are crazy!” she yelled.

The blade turned toward her—

B kt speoplelackness.

* * *

Fighting
Fate
may
be
a
losing
war
,
but
I
wage
it
anyway
.
My
soldier’s
subconscious
gives
permission
,
and
I
seize
the
opportunity
to
engage
,
sliding
into
him
like
a
ghost
.

Screams
fill
our
ears
.
We
breathe
the
stench
of
dark
magics
.
Our
hand
is
broken
.
The
cider
of
healing
pours
from
my
spirit
to
his
flesh
.
The
bones
too
-
slowly
knit
.

The
doctor
is
gleeful
.
Kill
him
,
we
shall
.
But
death
goes
first
to
the
one
with
the
knife
.

Our
mouth
moves
in
incantation
.
Our
chains
unlock
.
We
leap
to
standing
.
The
doctor
smiles
no
more
.

Fear
us
,
you
who
worship
Fate
.
We
do
not
submit
.
We
do
not
go
gently
.

Leap
down
.
We
rip
the
boy
away
from
the
one
we
care
about
.
Our
torturer
whimpers
.
We
throw
him
to
the
ground
.
No
mercy
for
cowards
.

Marching
down
the
hall
.
More
soldiers
.
More
sacrifices
in
kan>>
honor
.
Glee
fills
us
.

Magic
bursts
from
a
staff
.

We
will
crumble
their
bones
.
This
time
I
will
not
be
cast
—

* * *

The shredding pain in Hauk’s gut beat out the pounding in his hand for worst sensation. He collapsed to the floor in a mass of agony, just like he’d done the last time his rage had been interrupted with those damn magic sticks.

His chains were gone. He needed to get up, to move, to get him and Ash out. But most of all, he needed to stay conscious, and that took every last bit of strength he had. They were yelling about chains. Had he broken them?

Ash dropped beside him, her hot fingers touching his pounding head. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Hunky—” He sucked in painful breaths. “—fuckin’—”
Just
keep
breathing
, “—dory.”

Except he was going to throw up. He turned to the side and spilled his guts onto the ground.

Ashley patted his back in a fluttering motion and repeated “ohmigod” like a chant. He had to get her safe, and he could barely move.

“What is that?” the torturer said. He rolled up to sitting just a few feet away, his throat bruised and his motions shaky.

Ashley froze. Her hand was snatched off his back.

Hauk put his hands under him and tried to push himself up. The boots of four Hands of Atropos surrounded him, and he accepted the futility of trying anything at the moment. They were too numerous, and he was too weak. It would take a few minutes, but he’d recover enough to do…something. He needed to bide his time.

“It’s a valknut,” the doctor said.

A valknut? Just before shipping out the first time, Hauk had gotten a valknut tattooed on his shoulder. The three interlocking triangles symbolized Valhalla, Odin’s promised afterlife for warriors who died in battle. It had been his first tat. But it hadn’t survived the fire.

And yet the doctor traced a design on his skin right where it had been as he kept talking. “The color’s fading, but when you know where to look, you can see how the scars form the shape.”

Scars had formed in the shape of his old tattoo? How was that possible?

Ashley spoke up. “Wh-what does that mean?”

The doctor sounded thoughtful. “It means…” He snapped his fingers. “It all makes sense. It’s the mark of Odin.”

“Odin? The mythological god? How does that make sense?” Ashley’s panic was turning strangely argumentative for a prisoner. “I know Wesley’s Pagan and all—or, I mean, he was when we were in high school. But you’re talking crazy.”

“Heathen,” Hauk choked out. “I’m not Pagan, I’m Heathen.”

He got ignored. “Don’t you see? It’s the legend of the einherjar, Odin’s chosen warriors,” the doctor sa ktheem">

Although he had a sinking feeling he knew at least some of what the man would say. The thought had crossed his mind long ago, and he’d ignored it like he’d tried to ignore everything else he couldn’t explain since the fire. Everything that smacked of magic.

The doctor kept talking. “Ananke can’t control him because Odin, the head god of Northern tribal Europe, has staked a prior claim. Their mythology is full of stories of men who fight in an altered state, who come out of battles unscathed and
have a hard time telling friend from foe. It was said that Odin possessed them in a battle frenzy, urging them to violent victory. They were the most feared fighters of the Viking era.”

Hauk didn’t feel like much of a feared warrior as he struggled to sit upright. But the doctor clapped his hands gleefully with that creepy, manic joy he never lost.

“Even the releasing of the shackles—it’s a
galdr
, a rune spell known only by Odin’s special forces. I would guess the language he used was Norse. Gentlemen, Wesley Haukon is a barbarian myth come to life. You have at your feet a modern berserker.”

Chapter Twelve

Jolie stared at the same wall she and Hauk had climbed two months ago to rescue her niece. Tally had even given her a copy of Hauk’s nifty rope launcher for this very purpose. Beyond the wall and up the hill, a shining white temple, patterned after the Parthenon, gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. It looked so pristine, so glorious. But underneath was a darker temple dedicated to a goddess who was both whimsical and unrelenting.

Last time she’d been here, even with über-warrior Hauk, things hadn’t gone exactly swimmingly. Hauk was shot. Magic went wonky. It was a lucky hunch on her part that got them out. But for Hauk, she’d go back in.

A
snick
sounded as Mercy checked the clip of her gun. “You ready?” She looked like a total badass, standing so cool with her black hair in a tight French braid and two guns in unconcealed shoulder holsters. They’d decided a small team sneaking in was a better bet than a large-scale assault. Jolie was infinitely glad Mercy had agreed to be her partner. Neither of them was great muscle exactly, but Mercy was a crack shot and at least didn’t cower in a fight. After Hauk, she might be The Underlight’s next best line of defense.

She was risking her job with the Austin Police Department if they got caught, though.

Once more Jolie reviewed the precisely drawn maps Catrina and somebody else had provided then stuffed them in back her pocket. Catrina hadn’t come with them; breaking and entering was not her scene. She was, however, a kick-ass marketing professional who’d been courted by Ananke before they’d made her choose between their promises of success and her dual identities of Carlton and Catrina. Before she’d left them (of her own free will, unlike Hauk), she’d been in the temple complex on the other side of the wall several times. Jolie didn’t know the other mapmaker’s story but was thankful for whatever it was.

She took a deep breath. “Ready or not, we should go. We don’t know what they’re doing to him in there.” And if they were too late? What then? What if Hauk was already Atropos?

She’d never get to tell him how much he meant to her. She had big feelings of, oh, some type she wasn’t ready to define yet. But she had to get in t n*aulthere and get him out so she could tell him she wanted to be more than friends.

With thoughts of Hauk spurring her courage, she shot the rope up. Mercy climbed over first to scout the grounds, and at her signal Jolie followed. Manicured lawns and perfectly aligned rows of olive trees extended out to the temple and federal-style complex beyond. Everything from the buildings to the plants had been arranged in a precise symmetry that reminded Jolie of her immaculately ordered home growing up.

She wrinkled her nose. Some people thought smooth perfection like that was beautiful. She found it stifling. A little rough-and-tumble, a little dirt, made everything feel alive.

Just like Hauk.

She took stock of their location and pointed the closest way in to the science wing. “That’s where they’ll have him if they’re studying his blackouts.”

“Did Catrina know what sort of guards they have?” Mercy asked as they walked. The grounds were fortunately free of people this far from any regular sidewalks or driveways. A bunch of orderly and rule-abiding assassins, those Hands of Atropos were.

“She said they’re mostly just at the front gates and each entrance to the building. Once you’re in, key cards keep the wrong people out of the wrong places. But most of the regulars know each other, so they’d notice strangers wandering about.” Jolie wrinkled her nose. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of them knew my face. We should stay out of sight as much as possible.”

They reached the edge of an olive grove. A hundred yards in front of them, limestone steps led up to a formal entrance with wooden double doors.

“Just inside there is a guard station. Catrina predicted there would be three or four Atropos manning it. They check IDs and help with any problems within entering groups.”

Mercy quirked an eyebrow. “Like dragging kidnapping victims in?”

“Yes, like that.”

Mercy nodded. “I can take two out pretty quickly. More than that, and they’ll have time to raise an alarm. You think you can handle one?”

“What if there’re four?” Jolie asked.

Mercy shrugged. “Got a better idea?”

Jolie scanned the white stone walls. On the second floor, somebody stared listlessly out the window.

Somebody with tumbling waves of blond hair.

Jolie wove her way through the trees until she could get a better view.

“Where are you going!” Mercy stage-whispered after her.

Ashley’s forehead rested against the glass. Tears tracked down her cheeks, marring the newscaster-perfect makeup.

Jolie waved at Mercy to join her.

Once at her side, Mercy stiffened. “Is that that little
puta
who turned on him?”

“Yup,” Jolie answered.

She pulled out her gun.

Somewhat reluctantly, Jolie put a hand on it. “Hauk wouldn’t want that. Even after the shit she pulled.” She nodded up. “I’m going to get her attention. This is going to go really well or really badly, depending.”

“Depending on what?”

“On whether she’s the good person Hauk thinks she is or a bett s isJolie aser actor than I am.” Jolie picked a couple of stones off the ground. “Stay hidden. If she turns on me, too,
then
I vote shoot her.” She made her way to the window, murmuring, “Please, may Hauk be right.”

It only took one pebble against the glass for Ashley to look down. Startled, she cranked the window open. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes. What are you—”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Jolie shot the rope up to the window, and the claw missed Ashley’s hands by inches. The girl yipped and yanked back, giving Jolie a moment of satisfaction. A few seconds of climbing, and Jolie was in an empty office facing the person she hated most. “I’m here risking my ass to fix your fuck-up.”

Stricken, Ashley collapsed into a chair. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

“Have they ‘cured’ the rages?”

“No.”

Relief washed through Jolie so strongly her knees nearly buckled. “Thank God.” She shot Ashley a stern look. “You gonna turn me in?”

Ashley’s eyes widened as she shook her head. “You can’t get him back by yourself. There are too many guards. And he’s…he’s really…”

Jolie leaned out the window, motioning for Mercy to follow her. “I’m not doing it by myself.” Her voice lowered to a growl. “And Hauk’s really what?”

Ashley gulped. “He’s in really bad shape. I can’t believe they did that to him. They said they needed to start a rage and they didn’t know how, but…” She smashed tears off her cheek. “They said they could fix it. They didn’t tell me they didn’t know how. They didn’t say what they were going to do. I didn’t know.”

Mercy appeared over the sill and her gun popped up.

Jolie held out a hand to stop her from shooting and looked back at Ashley. “Question is, then, are you coming with us?”

“What?” Mercy asked, appalled.

Jolie stared hard at Ashley. “I pretty much
hate
you. A lot. But I also believe you didn’t know what they were doing or what these assholes are really about. Now that you know the truth, you have a choice. So which side are you on? Underlight? Or Ananke?”

Ashley blinked furiously, as if she hadn’t been expecting that.

“But make up your mind fast, because we need to get to Hauk and my patience with you is thin.”

Ashley shook her head. “They’re not all like this. This isn’t what Ananke is about. These people—”

“Are
exactly
what Ananke is about.”

Her little chin shot up in defiance. “I don’t believe that. That’s not what I experienced before I got to this hellhole of a city.”

Jolie hissed out a breath.

Ashley clenched her jaw. “And if I’ve been that naïve, I need to see it for myself.”

With a terse nod, Jolie headed for the door. “Don’t turn us in. We’re here for Hauk. Nothing else. I believe saving him might be the only thing we can agree on.”

Ashley pulled something from her pocket and shoved it at Jolie.

Mercy raised her gun. Jolie hopped ba sliey pck. Then looked down.

Ashley was holding out her key card. “First basement. Third door on the left after you exit the stairwell.”

Jolie’s eyebrows shot up, but she took the card. “Can’t they trace this to you?”

Ashley shrugged. “I’ll say you took it from me. Maybe one of you should give me a bruise or a—”

Mercy cocked a fist back. “No problem.”

One punch, and Ashley dropped to the floor, holding her jaw. She glared up at the two of them, venom pumping off of her. “You people are all completely crazy.” As Jolie and Mercy headed for the door, she called after them. “I want Hauk safe because of what we once had. That doesn’t make what he’s doing now right. He’s a killer and a thief.”

Jolie turned back at the doorway as Mercy checked outside. “He’s not a killer, he’s
a soldier. And sometimes doing the right thing requires breaking the rules.” She shook Ashley’s key card at her. “Apparently some part of you knows that. When the rest of you figures it out…” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll still hate you. But at least we’ll be on the same team.”

Mercy nodded the go-ahead and they dashed down the hall and two flights of stairs then stopped before the third door on their right.

Jolie slid the card into the reader. The lock clicked open. “Ready?” she mouthed.

Mercy gave a thumbs-up and raised her gun.

Jolie opened the door.