No Rest for the Wicked (14 page)

Love” at least eight times. As if they were chugging along fast enough to merit a song like

that. The Cadillac-o-Snowcats redlined at ten miles per hour.

Regin played “Low Rider” just as many times. If Kaderin heard that freaking cowbell one

more time...

When they’d finally crawled to the base of the mountain, it had seemed there was a

parking lot of choppers. But no one could climb faster than Kaderin could, including

Regin, so she’d been left behind, happy to guard the snowcat and “rock out.”

Kaderin had to keep telling herself that she would pass whoever had already started out.

That she hadn’t yet was peculiar.

She slammed one of her ice axes harder than she needed to, and it spiked through ice and

met rock, sending vibrations up her aching arm and numb fingers.

Focus. She was just thirty or so feet from the highest overhang. Get in, get out. Vodka-

laced Russians held her fate in their human hands.

But she was having to work for this one. Though she was only at about twelve thousand

feet, the air at the poles was thinner, making it feel like a much higher altitude, and she

carried a large, unwieldy pack of diverse gear.

Her secret for winning the Hie all these times? Well, besides merciless brutality to all

competitors?

She was always prepared for anything—

A sudden wind howled past the mountain. Katabatic?

She was tossed fully horizontal, gritting her teeth, clinging to her twisting axes.

Sebastian lost his breath when the wind gusted, flinging Kaderin to her side, just below

him.

He traced to her in an instant, seizing her coat, but came back to the ledge empty-handed.

He tried once more, boomeranging back with nothing.

Only on his third attempt did he snatch her back with him.

She evinced little reaction that he’d traced her—or that he was beside her on a different

continent at the bottom of the world.

Her gloved hands still clutched two ice axes, and her sword was sheathed across her

stuffed pack. She had wickedly sharp ice cleats attached to her boots, the front spikes

jutting like a rattlesnake’s fangs.

When the wind died a second later, she briefly looked heavenward. “I had that.”

“Maybe.” His chest was heaving, and he hadn’t shaken his alarm. “Why in the hell

couldn’t I take you back at first?”

Catching her breath, too, she answered, “I had a good grip on my axes.” She stowed them

in string loops on the sides of her pack. “Understand, vampire, if I fight you, you can’t

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) trace me. I’m far too old, and too strong.”

Old and strong? She could not appear less so. He was struck again by how small she was.

Standing a foot shorter than he was, she seemed so fragile, and yet she was laden with that

pack. She looked as if she’d fall backward under the weight, and he didn’t want to let go

of her. She was winded from the climb and miserable, and for what reason? None. He

could have traced her to this summit in the blink of an eye.

“Why did you fight me?” he demanded. “You were about to fall.”

“Only if my axes failed, and I do believe they held out, even when a hulking vampire was

yanking at me.” Between puffs of breath, she asked, “How’d you get here before me?”

But she was already peering around him, demonstrating her true interest. “You were in the

Norwegian helicopter, weren’t you?”

“I’ve never been in a helicopter. I traced to you.”

“Vampires don’t have that ability.”

“I do. I thought of you as my destination. It’s how I found you at the Hie assembly.”

Without any more acknowledgment, she began to pass around him, but he stepped in her

way. “If you had allowed me to help you, I could have accompanied you here. You could

have pointed to the summit and I would have traced you there an instant later.”

As he had done with her competitors, in exchange for information about her.

She shrugged. “I like climbing.”

“Clearly. You look... invigorated.”

At his sarcastic tone, she straightened her hat over her braids, then dropped her hands with

a scowl.

He exhaled heavily. I haven’t insulted her enough in the last day?

“Move out of the way.” She sidled around him, but he blocked her once more. “I don’t

have time for this.”

“No, I have to talk to you. Obviously, you want to win this, for whatever reason. And I

want to provide for you whatever you wish for. So, desist, and let me win this for you.

You know I will give you the prize at the end.” Useless though it might be. He stifled his

irritation that she believed in this so blindly.

“Give me?” Her eyes flashed. “The vampire will give me the prize?”

That was probably not an optimal way of phrasing—

“You don’t even know enough to know how ridiculous I find your words. I am proud and

notoriously malicious, yet you think I’d allow you to make a gift of what I can rightly

take?”

Definitely not going as he’d envisioned.

“Now, stand aside. More are ascending as we speak.”

If she could be ruthless, he could as well—and he had been prepared to be. “There are no

prizes left. I have the last one of the three.”

Her lips parted.

“I suspected there might be problems and that I might need leverage. So I traced the siren

and a ground dweller to the cavern behind us. Now there is one prize available to you—

and it appears you will be accepting it as my gift to you.”

Just then, Lucindeya the siren strolled out with her amulet, holding it above her heart. It

disappeared. And for a moment, the area smelled of fire and damp woods.

“Thanks, vamp. Remember what I said,” she purred, then cast a look of triumph at

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) Kaderin. Lucindeya had confided to him that it would gall Kaderin to be assisted in spots

of trouble. He’d assumed the siren simply didn’t want a vampire helping her competition,

but Lucindeya had said that she would love to see Sebastian win Kaderin, because

“nothing would bring down the high and mighty Kaderin like falling for a leech.”

She’d sworn to the Lore—which she and the kobold seemed to take very seriously—that

the surest way to lose Kaderin would be to help her, especially in a physical contest. So

when Sebastian had first discovered Kaderin climbing, he’d had to stop himself from

tracing her to the top, though he was sweating with fear for her.

Then he’d seen her flung sideways like a rag doll.

Kaderin eyed the siren, then turned to him. “You’d better hope Cindey doesn’t hum you a

tune unless you want to be her lapdog.”

“Please, Valkyrie,” Lucindeya interrupted as she readied for her descent, pulling gear from

her pack. “As if I’d even clear my throat to snare a vampire.” She flashed a smile up at

Sebastian as she hammered her anchor and threaded line. “No offense, vamp.” And then

she began rappelling down.

Once she was out of sight, Kaderin glanced past him, and her eyes widened. Sebastian

turned to spy the kobold shambling down the long ice tunnel, his jaunty whistle echoing

along the couloir.

When Sebastian had asked the kobold if Kaderin was married or had children, the kobold

had revealed that as far as anyone knew, she was single and had not “issued offspring.”

Sebastian didn’t know how much credence he could give to the kobold’s words, since

he’d also sworn that Kaderin didn’t eat or drink—anything.

Sebastian turned back and found Kaderin had gone perfectly still, her eyes locked on the

ground dweller’s every movement as he neared. It was as if a predator had spied prey.

Without glancing away, Kaderin said, “Do you know that I hate kobolds almost as much

as vampires? And Cindey was my stiffest competition at the last Hie.” She finally faced

Sebastian. “So if you wanted to piss me off, you’ve succeeded.”

“Kaderin, that was not my intention.”

A branch of lightning struck in the distance across a cloudless night. He now knew that it

came from her. “You’ve put me in an untenable position.” Removing her gloves, she

neared until she was toe-to-toe with him. “And do you know what else you’ve done?” She

reached up her delicate hand and gently brushed the back of her smooth claws down the

side of his face. Just as he was about to close his eyes, she continued, “You’ve

underestimated a Valkyrie.”

Like a blur, she dropped down to a crouch, one leg straight out, sweeping around to stab

the kobold through the throat with her cleats. As she rocked closer to the trapped

creature, her arm shot out, then she gave her leg a decisive yank back to dislodge the

being.

She was on her feet again in the blink of an eye, amulet in hand. Sebastian couldn’t speak.

Giving him a bored look, she leisurely curled one finger around it at a time and held it over

her heart. Until it was... gone.

The kobold lay writhing, hands clamped to its throat and gushing yellow blood.

When it continued to thrash, she exhaled impatiently—then shuffled her foot at it,

brushing it over the edge to fall thousands of feet. As Sebastian stared in shock, she tilted

her head. Then, as if thinking, While I’m here... , she plucked the siren’s anchor out of the

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) rock. She yanked until she’d dislodged the next one down as well, then let go. A scream

carried on the wind.

Stunned by her sudden viciousness, he snapped, “I was responsible for this. Why not take

the prize I hold?”

“They’d been warned.” She yanked out her ice axes. “But next time, I will take yours. I

promise you.”

Then she simply dropped from the ledge.

He dove for her, reaching out, but she’d disappeared. He caught sight of her as she

snagged a lip with her axes five hundred feet down.

Just as he traced to that ledge, she freed herself with a violent heave and plummeted once

more, before catching with a jerk lower down. A roar of breath left his body, and he

sagged when he saw her reach the base.

With a glare up at him, she tossed the axes and sprinted for her vehicle.

15

K aderin groaned to see the kobold had plunged directly into the roof of the snowcat,

bending it down in a V, and now lay sprawled, unconscious.

Lucindeya? Kaderin had passed her at one thousand feet, hanging on with her fingertips,

cursing her in what humans assumed were dead languages. “I didn’t think you’d start this

early, lightning whore! It’s on!”

“Hey!” Regin called. “What hit the roof? I don’t have comp and collision on this thing.

Hee-hee.”

Kaderin slammed into the cab, gasping after her exertion. “Just go!” She put her hands to

the window and ducked and twisted, scanning for Sebastian through the scratchy glass. It

was only a matter of time.

“Um, shouldn’t we get whatever is up there off the freaking roof? You know, so we’ll be

sveltely aerodynamic again.”

“Kobold,” Kaderin said dismissively, still fighting to catch her breath.

At that, Regin shoved the door open and patted around blindly on the roof. She jerked the

moaning kobold off by his ankle, flinging him far.

“Put this thing in gear!” Kaderin snapped. “And get your swords ready.” Regin’s swords

were more like refined cutlasses, worn crossed over her back in twin sheaths. They were

short enough that she could use them freely in the closed cab.

Regin drew them immediately, glancing around for a foe. “What? Where’s the bogey?”

“Vampire!” Kaderin gasped. “And he’s right—” Kaderin jumped, startled when Sebastian

appeared outside not a foot away. “Here!”

When he traced inside the snowcat compartment to sit in the backseat, Regin tensed,

turning slowly. Any other creature in the Lore would have witnessed her eerie movements

as she prepared to spring and would have known life was over.

Kaderin might not be allowed to kill him, but Regin would do so with glee.

Suddenly, Kaderin didn’t know if she wanted to see this. After all the vampires she had

killed and had seen killed, his imminent death was making her... nervous?

“Kad, baby,” Regin began with a menacing purr, “you brought me a kill? And here I was

getting light on fangs.” Regin’s swords shot out, positioned around his neck like they were

hedge clippers. She wrenched them together.

But at the last second, he’d traced a foot over. Her swords sliced only air and each other

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) with a pure metallic ring. He was either the fastest tracer they’d ever encountered, or he’d

never been fully substantial to begin with.

“You can’t kill a competitor,” Sebastian said to Regin with infuriating calm.

“Not a competitor yet, leech.” Regin’s swords shot out once more and flew together. “I

just drive the boat.”

But he’d nonchalantly traced over again. “You try my patience, creature,” he said to

Regin, then gave Kaderin a last look. “Tonight, Katja.” He disappeared.

“Damn it!” Regin snapped. Then the situation seemed to hit her. Her jaw dropped, and she

swung her face to Kaderin. “Katja?” she cried, pointing a sword.

“Just shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”

“A vampire just called you a nickname! A sexy nickname.”