Valkyrie Divided (Pyralis Book 2) Read online

  VALKYRIE

  DIVIDED

  PYRALIS: BOOK TWO

  ͼ ͼ ͼ ͼ

  Brandy L Cunningham

  Copyright © Brandy L Cunningham 2018.

  All rights reserved.

  October 2018 Edition

  No part of this book shall be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from its author, except for the use of mention or brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are either a product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously and any resemblance to places or people is coincidental.

  Cover art Copyright © MIBL ART.

  ISBN-13: 978-1727178500

  ISBN-10: 1727178505

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As Always, a huge thank you to Catherine Rupke for all your great editing.

  And to my best Beta reader, Dawn. You are wonderful

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  I

  1 Choices

  Pg 8

  2 Breaking The Chains

  Pg 26

  3 Caverns Of Draikais

  Pg 42

  4 Masked Memories

  Pg 53

  5 Origins

  Pg 60

  6 Date With Revenge

  Pg 76

  7 Battle For The Citadel

  Pg 94

  8 Conversations With Desmond

  Pg 114

  9 Feast Of Blood

  Pg 135

  10 Dark Witches

  11 He Who Haunts Me

  12 Down Memory Lane

  13 Whispers Of Ghosts

  14 Place Of Past And Ruin

  15 The Deception Of Others

  16 The Pits Of Hell

  17 Servant Of Darkness

  18 Conversations With Death

  19 Fulfilled Desires

  20 Returning To The Fight

  21 Old Allies

  22 Scent Of Memories

  23 Captive

  24 A Taste Of Ancient

  25 Final Standoff

  26 Redemption And Death

  27 Sacrifice

  Pg 149

  Pg 165

  Pg 171

  Pg 190

  Pg 201

  Pg 211

  Pg 232

  Pg 250

  Pg 264

  Pg 271

  Pg 289

  Pg 309

  Pg 330

  Pg 340

  Pg 350

  Pg 365

  Pg 377

  Pg 386

  Books By Brandy L Cunningham

  The Five Droids Series

  Dragonfly’s Mist

  Dragonfly’s Mist: Awakening

  Southern Wind

  An Ash County Romance Series

  Laying Down Roots

  Rescue Me

  The Pyralis Series

  Becoming Valkyrie

  Valkyrie Divided

  DEDICATION

  To Junelle and Dad, thank you so much, for believing in my writing.

  To Marisa, for brainstorming with me and listening to my crazed ideas.

  To my kids, Selene and Logan, you are my world. You make me stronger, and you remind me to step back and enjoy life.

  To my readers. Thank you.

  1

  Choices

  Iheld onto the iron flag pole atop the building. Looking down at the dark city below me, my eyes absorbed what little light there was. The sky around me was shadowed by the total eclipse. It had been two days since the last light of the sun shone down upon earth. For two days the world had been stuck in a transitional state. It wasn’t completely dark like nightfall, but to normal eyes, a hazy shadow shrouded everything. I watched the creatures emerging from the doorway that had once led to a powerful Lost City.

  That city had fallen into the hands of my enemy. Byron Walker. The man I once called my father. Four hundred years and many events had changed all of that. The Lost City that existed beneath the streets of St. Paul was not one I was familiar with. The Caverns of Draikais, it was called. It was said the Cast that resided in this city was the nomadic clan of dragon creatures few had encountered. I knew Desmond had led an assault on this city only a few months ago. The Draikais had not been strong enough to stand against the onslaught of Vampires, and had fled into the woods.

  No one had seen any sign of them yet. That was why I watched the city now. I had no idea how Desmond was leading evil creatures into our streets, or where they came from, but already St. Paul had begun to change. Street lamps flickered off and on, and garbage and debris littered the eerily empty streets. Sirens echoed through parts of the city where humans remained, but mostly it was deserted. The creatures being released onto the streets were terrorizing the humans who lived there.

  My dark, tattered wings shifted restlessly behind me. Inside of me, the darkness was growing bored. It was a fine line I walked between the side of light and the side of dark. I had sunk onto a plateau of sorts with my inner demon. If I kept the darkness within me busy enough, I was able to maintain control. If I allowed it to grow bored, things could get a little…unsteady. Like an itch I couldn’t quite scratch, it stirred within me.

  I growled. I had lost control too many times to count now. Usually, it was the thoughts of two men that brought me to the edge where I could not keep it controlled. Movement caught my attention, and I sighed, grateful for the distraction from my dark thoughts. I tracked the creature emerging from an old building on the quieter side of town. It crept along the streets, keeping close to the buildings. It was grayish and small, with a misshapen form I did not recognize.

  Dropping soundlessly from the tower peak I had been perched upon, I fell through the air rapidly. The wind whipped my hair, and stung at my face, but I could not feel the sting of pain others would have. This was one of my favorite moments in life. When I plummeted towards the earth below me with speed, and all the good and bad thoughts in my mind quieted, I could be me. Just me. Just Valkyrie. Seconds before the moment where I would have crashed into the earth, my tattered wings changed to my raven-like wings, opening wide and catching the draft that lifted me upward.

  Closing my wings and retracting them, I grunted as the bones popped into place. I was still getting used to that part. Landing stealthily on my two booted feet, I looked up, my skin still the blackened color of ash. The creature stumbled back away from me, caught off guard by my sudden drop from the sky. I studied it. Shaking my head, I thought, gee is that thing hideous. As I scrutinized the creature, it hissed at me, revealing a large mouth full of needle-like teeth. It brought to mind some fish I had seen on a fishing show my human father used to watch. The mouth would open up much larger than seemed possible. A bass, I think it was called.

  Standing to my full height, I stood easily twice the size of the unknown creature. I could see now the being was female, as her abnormally large breasts sagged in the front of her naked form. Nudity was no longer something that bothered me. I had seen enough naked male and female forms to last me a lifetime. A drawback of living amongst shifters.

  “Where is the entrance to the place you have come from, creature?” I waited for a reply, unsure if this thing was even intelligent enough to answer me.

  The grotesque female studied me. Her mouth curved up into a snarling smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Wrong answer. I stalked forward, ready to force the information from her if needed. The dark side of me purred, swirling inside of my mind in its lust for death and destruction. The creature’s expression changed as it watched me step closer to it. I saw the smile fall fro
m its disgusting mouth. She had seen the evil that lay within me, and she knew, nothing would stop me from ripping the head from her hunched shoulders.

  “Wait! Stop!” The female screeched at me, her mammoth breasts jostling in her movement to get farther away from me.

  I paused a step away from her. “I hope you have something useful to say, because the longer you delay me, the more painful I will make it.”

  She swallowed audibly. In her quiet, hoarse voice, she replied. “You seek the entrance to what once was Draikais. I can show you to the way. I warn you, to go in there alone would mean death.”

  I smiled. She had no idea who she spoke to. “I will take my chances. Show me the way, and I will spare your life. Try anything, and it will be your death.”

  She nodded. Turning to glance back in the direction she had come from, she beckoned me to follow. The dark side of my soul shifted. It was unhappy I had not fulfilled its desires, but it too was curious. The last time I had allowed one of the dark creatures recently brought into my world to lead me somewhere, it had ended in the massacre of its kind. The result of having to rely on the seedily deceptive kind, I guess.

  I grimaced at the naked backside of the stooped, dark skinned creature as I followed wearily behind. This thing was certainly ugly. She ambled along, her unsightly breasts rocking to and fro with her gait. As I followed her, I became aware of another presence. It stalked me. This kind, I knew well. Vampire. It was difficult not to sense your own kind. Stretching my spine, I listened as the bones cracked down the column of my back. Popping my knuckles, I waited patiently for the fight I had little doubt would soon come.

  Passing an intersecting street, I called ahead to the creature who led me. “How much farther is it?”

  The creature grunted back at me. “Not far. Just ahead.” Lifting its angular arm, it pointed a gnarled, sharp-nailed finger ahead.

  I followed the line of its twisted bone. An enormous warehouse stood between other buildings ahead of us. The large metal roll up door was closed tight. Beside it, a rusted iron door creaked eerily back and forth as the wind rustled the decaying leaves built up in the gutters. This part of town seemed to have been completely deserted by humans. The dark crude female halted a few feet from the door. Looking back at me, she nodded.

  “Inside. Doorway to city. Not many entries, this one. Go ahead. Go to your death.” Looking up at me as I stepped past her, she held up her hands. “I go now. I tell you what you want.”

  I waved a hand at her. “Go.” Bowing as she scampered away in fear, she seemed reluctant to turn her back to me until she had moved some distance off. Once she felt secure, she moved her stooped form away from me without hesitation. Funny, it would seem that whatever lay within this warehouse was not something the creature wanted to encounter.

  I, on the other hand, had no such hesitation. I took a step forward, toward the door to this unknown city. Unfortunately, I was to be delayed. From the corner of my eyes, I watched the four large Vampires stalk toward me. Holding up a hand, I smiled as I called out to them.

  “Are you sure you want to do that boys?” The question made them hesitate a few steps from me.

  The largest of the four looked me over. I turned my head to send him an amused look. He stood at least a foot taller than me, with the very broad, muscular build common in Vampires. Shoulder length golden-brown hair fell over his finely chiseled face, and he watched me with eyes that, to my surprise were not blue. My curiosity piqued, I rotated my body until I faced him fully. Tilting my head to one side, I took in the Vampire’s handsome features and unthreatening stance. This was unusual indeed.

  Allowing my own gaze to rove over the good-looking male, I took in his aristocratic bone structure, and I knew he must be very old. A distinct scar crossed his left brow. Two deep diagonal gashes began about an inch above the dark eyebrow and curved slightly outward, away from his nose, ending just below his eyebrow. To me, they looked like the marks of an animal. Other than those two scars, his face was perfectly sculpted, clean strong lines and high cheekbones, a prominent nose, and big eyes fringed by long sexy lashes.

  “If Desmond thinks four of you are going to be enough to subdue me, then I should just laugh now.”

  The man surprised me then. He smiled. A wide, alluring smile, the kind of smile that made me remember what lust felt like. “Desmond would indeed be a fool if he thought four alone would be your match. Fortunately, I am not one of Desmond’s puppets. I am here to beseech you to speak with my leader.”

  Lifting a brow, I allowed the soot in my blood to cool and my ivory skin tone to appear. My black eyes faded back to their usual amber gold. The four men around me were visibly affected by the change in me.

  “Who is your leader that wishes to speak with me, and why?” I waited for his reply impatiently. The darker side of me was impatient to enter the doorway that promised violence.

  The dark haired Vampire who had first spoken moved his eyes over me, assessing, perusing me. I waited for him to finish. No matter how many times I was the object of male perusal, I never got used to it. It annoyed me.

  Finished with his lusty observation of my body, his unusual greenish-blue eyes moved back to mine. For a moment, memories of my brother stirred in my mind, brought forth by the intense green hue to his aquamarine eyes that I couldn’t help find similar to those of my beloved twin.

  “His name is Dresden Villart, and he wishes to speak to the one who opposes Byron Walker.”

  The name Villart fluttered through my mind like a long lost friend. I had heard that name before. The Villart’s were not just one of the oldest Vampire family in existence, they were also the family that had turned my mother into the blood-drinking Vampire she had been. I studied the four men around me. Trust was not a virtue I possessed. Their faces were open and honest. Their eyes did not twitch, and they were not jittery like many others I had encountered that had tried to deceive me.

  Making a decision, I inclined my head. “I will speak to your Dresden Villart, just as soon as I am finished sending the spawn of Hell back to their lairs.”

  I could have laughed at the look of honest shock that crossed the faces of the four Vampires. Turning my back on them, I stepped up to the swaying iron door, and crossed the threshold into darkness.

  The hallway before me was silent and dark. I had no qualms with the dark. I embraced the darkness as my lover. Moving silently into the long empty space, I employed the stealth I had learned from my time with the Werewolves. Each step I made was calculated to bring the utmost silence as I moved through the passageway. I was aware of the four male vampires behind me, but they were background noise.

  It was the noise I could hear ahead that had my full attention. Grunting, lowered voices, and crying. Grinding my teeth together, I knew the crying was coming from humans. Coming to a corner in the hall, I peered carefully around the wall, taking in the scene that awaited me. Five large creatures with repulsive bulging fat that seemed to cover their entire body in rolls and teeth that protruded from their bottom jaws were dragging something. I had encountered this type of monster before. They were Doblins, a type of Goblin that was larger and even more vicious than their smaller cousins.

  Fortunately, they were also one of the dumbest beings I had ever come across. Behind me, the aquamarine eyed Vampire leaned in close to my ear. “Those are Doblin’s. You going in there?”

  I sighed. The darker part of my soul growled. Ignoring the Vampire, I stepped out into the open area of the warehouse. The second they saw me, the Doblin’s were on the offensive. Their stench hit me like a blow to the head. One drawback to being Vampire was the acute sense of smell. For whatever reason, many of these hellish creatures that had begun entering earth had a terrible smell to them.

  The Doblin’s stared at me, their lips drawing back away from their sharp teeth. They had paused in their task, and I saw now the women huddled in the corner in fear. Sighing, I thought back to the last Doblin’s I had encountered. They too had been capt
uring human women. I realized at last that these creatures either had a large appetite for human females, or they were collecting them for another purpose.

  Tossing my hair over my shoulder seductively, I smiled at the ugly creature. “Hi there.”

  The Doblin, his small beady black eyes widening with interest, took a step forward. In my mind, I took in as many details about them and this situation as possible. I would not be able to become fire here. There were humans only a few feet away and if I lost control they would die. I would have to do this the old fashion way. Pulling the long gleaming sword from beneath my coat, I looked down at the silver of its blade. Infusing just enough fire into my fingertips, I allowed my flame to flicker down the blade.

  My orange flames turned blue the moment they touched the blade, but I knew they would not burn out. I had been fascinated with this weapon since I had pulled it from my abdomen several months ago. The sword’s original owner had been a Nephilim, the descendant of an angel. The Doblin stepped forward, pulling my attention back to him.

  “Where is the entrance to the Cavern of Draikais?” I waited as the gruesome beast seemed to consider my words.

  In a primitive voice that grated on my nerves, the creature laughed. “Pretty girl do Doblin favor, then Doblin tell her.”

  I grimaced. I could only imagine what this creature wanted from me. I smiled sweetly. “I’ll pass.”

  In a smooth fluid motion, I had leaped forward and sliced the head clean off his shoulders. The other four Doblin’s screeched in outrage as they advanced on me. Swinging my blade in a circular arch, I decapitated another. Pausing, I lifted a brow at the next one.

  “Anyone else want to show me the entrance to the Caverns?” When they roared at me, I shrugged, taking it for a no. Ducking away from the first of the three Doblin’s who lunged at me, I spun about, kicking him in the chest. He flew across the warehouse, crashing into the wall. Spinning, I sliced through the bellies of the other two as they ambled forward. They stood suspended for a moment before slumping to the ground with their innards hanging out. Standing, I stalked toward the one against the wall.