Rapture (15 page)

Raine’s
teeth ground together. “At least you actually got to know her.”

“Ugh!”
Bree groaned. “Stop changing the subject. Where are your sons?”

Raine
exhaled slowly as the whip slashed against her stomach more times than she’d
been able to count. Instead, she looked up at the ceiling, trying to take her
mind off what was happening. Caleen, Raven, and Odette were watching her from
their cells, horror on each of their faces. She hadn’t been able to look at
them often, their expressions making this far worse. “What’s happened since I
left that’s turned you all into tyrants?” she said, her voice gruff from the
cries that had escaped her in the last few hours.

“You’re
only making this worse—” she cracked the whip “—for yourself. What are their
names? What do they look like? Where are they?”

Raine
had refused to answer, and her marred skin was proof of it. Her wrists were
shackled above her head, and she hung there, unable to move since her ankles
were also bound. “I guess we’ll be here for a while, because I won’t tell you
anything.” She wouldn’t mention that she couldn’t take much more. Her body had
grown weak, both from the battle in
Jersey
and
the hours spent here.

Bree
glared at her and pulled on a lever near the door. The chains released, and
Raine fell to the ground in a heap, coughing as her face hit the hard stone
floor. Bree was on her in an instant, flipping her over to her back as she
pinned her down. The glint of a blade sparkled before her eyes as Bree’s face
inched closer. “Well then, if you don’t talk, maybe I can get one of your
friends to,” she said, gesturing with her chin as her eyes met Raven’s. “Then
we’ll see just how strong you are.” Bree flashed her gaze back to Raine as the
blade pressed against her neck, just under her jawbone. “Or, maybe one of them
will tell me of your vampire. I bet I can get answers from him. One way or
another.”

Raine
shook her head, though she feared what one of her sisters might say. She didn’t
want them injured, but she also couldn’t put her sons and mate in danger’s way.
Bree growled in irritation and the knife sank in, scraping against her jaw.

Raine
squeaked an awful, gurgling sound, feeling every centimeter that the knife
burrowed in. Her heart pounded in her ears, and her vision grew wavy from
tears.

“As
for you,” Bree sneered. “I think it’s time to call in Darla.”

Despite
the pain she was in, and the fact that her body was begging to let darkness
take her over, a flare of panic washed through her. Darla was one of those
Valkyries one never forgot. She was Father’s prized mage who had excelled in
the art of obliterating one’s memory. Raine had seen it countless times over
her years spent in
Valhalla
, helping Valkyries
to forget events, or even to forget their sorrow. But it had been centuries
since she’d even thought of her, and wondered briefly just how much power Darla
held now.

She
blacked out as the hilt pressed against her throat, her last thoughts of the
past she hoped never to forget.

Chapter Thirteen

Tournament
of Legends

Day
Thirteen

“Ughhhh,” Raine grumbled. The godsdamned key was wedged into the
rock much tighter than she’d thought. Maybe if she just hit it more with her
sword, she could break the boulder apart enough to get it free. Pulling her
Hjörr from its sheath, she brought it down against the hard stone. With every
thwack of her sword, she grunted, surprised she wasn’t inflicting more damage.
Had it been a tree in
Valhalla
, she’d have
certainly sawed completely through it by now.

She only had to retrieve this key and one more item before she
could move on to the last treasure. If she didn’t hurry, and anyone else
happened upon her, she’d be forced to take them out. Just like she had thus
far.

During the champion’s meeting six days earlier, each contestant
had been given a pouch with the understanding that no one was to open it until
a siren sounded. In reality, it was enchanted not to open until that siren, so
even if one had wanted to, it would have been nigh impossible. Each bag held a
stone of purple, turquoise, or orange: each color representing one of three
challenges. When the siren sounded, Raine had produced a turquoise stone; Caleen,
an orange one. They had each set off for their respective games, which were
indicated only by a pair of colored flags at each entrance. No one else had
reached the turquoise flags at the same time as Raine, so when she grabbed a
scroll from the basket near one of the flag posts, she took her time in reading
the instructions.

There were seven items to be found: a grappling hook, a rope,
another scroll, a key, a torch, a metal shackle, and a mysterious final
treasure. There was no particular order in which the items had to be found, but
the first six items listed must be in hand before the scroll could be
unraveled, revealing the clues to the final treasure. There was no telling how
many of each item there were, and that was why she’d fought for the items she
now carried. She refused to let anyone walk away with her prize.

“Finally,” she breathed. The boulder at last gave way enough that
she could pry the key free. She slid the object into her bag and hustled off at
the first sound of a twig cracking under someone’s foot. She’d fight if she had
to, but with no knowledge of what lay ahead, or how much energy she’d have to
expend to win this round, there was really no point in fighting unless
absolutely necessary.

Now all she had to find was the torch. She’d kept an eye out for
days, figuring that it and the key would be the hardest to find. Wooden torches
hidden within a forest meant that finding them would be a bitch. The only
reason she had happened upon the key was because she had located a stream and had
stopped for a rest. When she had dropped her pack next to the boulder, the key
glinted in the light, catching her attention. And gods if it hadn’t been hard
to get out of the stone.

Strolling through the forest, she realized there wouldn’t be much
daylight left. She had no idea what trinkets the others had found, or how close
anyone was to locating the final item. How many torches were there? How many of
the unknown item was there? Would there just be one victor, or multiple? No
matter, she wouldn’t leave any of it to chance.

A bird chirped, drawing her attention skyward, and she stopped her
stride, feeling a fool. Why hadn’t she considered it before? All of the items
so far had been on or near the ground, but that didn’t mean that was the case
for everything. And now, realizing that a torch could be literally anywhere in
this heavily forested land, she would keep an eye upward, searching the trees
as she walked. If she were lucky, she’d catch the outline of one in the
sunlight ... if she even had much light left.

Her ears twitched at the sounds of grunting not far away, and she
stealthily made her way toward the scuffle. Thinking better than being caught
hiding within the brush, she whipped out the grappling hook and rope,
connecting the two together. She spun it, releasing the hook as it whizzed
upward and caught a branch. She yanked on the rope, cinching the hook into
place before bracing a foot on the tree trunk. Scaling the tree had been cake,
and after she hastily stored the grapple and rope in her bag, she scooted along
the tree branch until she got a look at the fight taking place below. She
couldn’t see it clearly, not with branches and leaves in the way, but she could
see well enough to tell that it involved three demons. After a few minutes of searching,
she spotted what they were fighting over: another key, there in the trunk of a
tree. It was clear one of them had begun shaving the bark away, working to free
the item, but had been interrupted by at least one of the others. Raine peered
on as they battled it out, admiring their technique and brute strength as they
pummeled one another. Those were things Father had always taught her to admire,
even though she wasn’t supposed to prize them in a male, per se. They punched
and kicked, throwing each other to the ground in a furious battle.

Another being came into view, inching toward the tree that held
the key. She did a once over his form, doing a double take as she realized that
it was Ferox. She brightened at the sight of him and slid off her perch, lowering
herself to the branches below as he set to work on freeing the key. He had it
before she even reached the ground, and he rushed from the scene, colliding
with her as soon as her boots touched ground.

“Raine?” he gawked, surprised as he gripped her shoulders,
righting her before she toppled over. “What are you...” he cleared his throat,
“are you in this round?”

“Yes,” she replied, taking a small step back.

They stood there for a few seconds, eyeing each other before his
eyes narrowed. “Were you going after the key?”

She shook her head. “No, I already have one. I am looking for a
torch, though. You haven’t seen a spare lying around, have you?”

“That’s all you need to find?” At her nod, he added, “We should
help each other. I still need to find a scroll.”

She had to admit, it seemed like a good plan. She needed a torch,
and he needed a scroll. They could certainly keep an eye out for both items,
and two sets of eyes were better than one. And his keen, night-vision eyes
would be a great benefit. “Okay, where have you searched?” She felt as though
she’d searched everywhere. But ... what if she held the only scroll? What if
what he searched for, she already had in her satchel? And he hadn’t said that
he
didn’t
hold a torch; in fact, he
had just said that he needed a scroll. Did he have the only torch?

Suddenly, her agreeing to their partnership didn’t seem such a
grand idea. She didn’t want to fight Ferox for items, but she couldn’t just
give up the chance to win, either. Not even for their friendship.

“Everywhere.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Sometimes I wonder if
they have all been found.”

They shared a look, and though she didn’t think they came to
exactly the same conclusion, she decided that her teaming up with him still
gave her the best shot at finding what she needed. “So we go on the offense,”
she said.

Ferox nodded, a small smile spreading across his face as the light
continued to fade from the sky. “I guess we do.”

It was a plan then. They set off, no longer searching for
treasures, but hunting opponents.

Darkness filled the night, and they used the light from the two
moons to navigate the terrain in search for a fight. It hadn’t been long before
they came upon a demon, eating his dinner by a fire. She couldn’t tell what
kind of demon he was. It didn’t matter. Ferox went in first, flashing so fast
that the demon hadn’t even noticed his approach until it was far too late.
Ferox punched him in the face, sending his back crashing to the ground with a
humph.
Raine rushed in as well as
the vampire held him down, pummeling him to a pulp. She wasted no time grabbing
his bag and rummaging through it. He had acquired four treasures. No torch, and
no scroll.

She kept his rope in hand as she dropped the bag and approached
the pile of flailing limbs. A flare of excitement kindled within her at seeing
the vampire dominate the battle. “Let’s tie him and leave him.”

Ferox rolled off his opponent, keeping a tight grip on the male’s
arms as he dragged him toward a nearby tree. With more force than she’d thought
possible, he pinned the demon to the trunk, his feet dangling nearly two feet
from the ground. Raine handed him one end of the rope before bolting around the
tree. She made it around nine times without any problem, with still plenty of
rope left to work with. They worked together, binding the demon’s arms and
legs, and finishing off with a final wrap, cinching his neck tightly to the
trunk.

“That’s good, he can still breathe,” Ferox said as she made one
final knot in the line.

She peeked at the demon as she rounded the tree, glad to see that
the demon had been well-gagged as well. Unless he could sprout fangs of some
sort, the demon wasn’t getting through the gag. As she and Ferox had discussed
during their time together earlier in the evening, they were to get in and out,
if they were to avoid notice by other contestants.

They doused the flames and left the mumbling demon behind in the
darkness, ignoring the obviously unflattering comments he tried to slip past
his gag.

They’d searched for hours, but finding their next victim had been
slightly more difficult than the first. Their plan had been the same: Ferox
went in and kept the contestant busy as Raine searched his belongings. And
there it was.

The torch.

The bastard had a torch. The one thing she’d yet to find and this
cretin had one? No, she corrected, now
she
had one; which meant she could
go for the final treasure. She could leave now and....