The Valkyrie Page 5

  I looked around at all of the groceries. I’d long since given up on trying to understand her. She spent all that money at the store to turn around and go out to eat.

  "That’s fine. Let me go change."

  I headed upstairs to my room to freshen up. The water felt cool on my face, but much needed. I glanced around and found a hairbrush. I yanked it through my hair. I pulled the long black strands out before me and held them tight with my fist. I brushed hard, to get any snarls out, and let it fall around me. It was now down to my butt. I had stopped in to get it cut a few weeks back, but decided against it. A witch has to look the part, right?

  I pulled a pair of black pants out of the closet and found a long gray sweater to wear with it. It took me a minute to find my black boots, but I did. I looked in the mirror. It would do. I grabbed my navy blue scarf off the corner of my bed and headed out the door. The end of September marked the start of cold nights.

  I met Molly at the bottom of the stairs. "How do you do that?"

  "Do what?"

  "How do you take clothes from a thrift store and make them look like a million bucks? You must have model blood in you somewhere."

  I snorted at her as she grabbed her sweater from the closet. I’d tried to warn her against wearing a sundress out on a night like this, but she ignored me. We headed out the door on our way to Joey’s.

  "So, tell me about this Mr. Douglas guy." Molly said.

  "I wish I could. I’ve never met him. I signed the papers on the spot with Bernice. I figured, the place came furnished--I couldn’t pass it up. I can take immediate possession. I guess that I’ll pack up my clothes and stuff and be out within the next couple of weeks."

  She put her arm around my waist, and I slid mine over her shoulders. I didn’t need to hear her say it. I knew she’d miss me. I’d miss her too. We weren’t really going to be that far away from each other, but both of us knew that our lives would be busy and our time together would be limited.

  We walked into Joey’s still clutching each other. Joey’s big bald self greeted us at the door. "Feels like fall already."

  Molly didn’t wait to respond. She threw her arms around him and gave him a big kiss. Standing there watching the two of them, I was struck by how opposite they truly were. Joey was a tall, large man with dark features. Molly was shorter than me and weighted next to nothing. Somehow, they managed to look just right together.

  We found our table and sat down. Joey left us to go work in the kitchen. He owned the place and in no way had to go back and make the pizzas, he just felt the need to. I looked around the tiny pizzeria.

  "Can you see yourself working here?" I asked.

  Molly looked around and then back to me. "Why?"

  "Well..." I looked down at the rock on her left hand. "You’re marrying into the place. I just thought you’d end up having to lend a hand now and then."

  She looked at me and her eyes grew wide. "Well, if he thinks he’s getting a free waitress in me he can forget it ... I mean, I..."

  I put my hand up to stop her. Joey walked over and put drinks down in front of us. He bent down to kiss Molly, but she turned her head away from him. He looked at me, and I shrugged. He shook his head and walked away. He knew when he was beaten. A few minutes later, a young boy with red hair and freckles brought our pizza out. Joey was nowhere to be seen. Man, he really did have Molly’s number.

  I picked up a piece of pizza and dropped it almost immediately due to the extreme temperature of it. "Shit!" Was all I got out before I leapt up to toss it off my white shirt. The grease threatened to burn right down to my breast. Molly hopped up beside me. She went to put her hand down my sweater. I had to deflect her hand away. "I’m okay, Florence Nightingale, but I need to go change."

  "Joey Fantozzi, get you’re no-good too-hot-pizza-making ass out here." Molly screamed. Everyone in the place turned to look at us. My cheeks reddened. I wasn’t about to attempt to calm her down. I knew her too well for that. I leaned over and patted her tiny hand.

  "I’m gonna go change," I said. She nodded at me and kept right on yelling at Joey. I knew he wasn’t being yelled at for serving scalding hot pizza, he was being yelled at out of her fear of ending up a waitress. No, she didn’t come right out and say it, but that’s what it was.

  The early autumn night air felt wonderful against my burnt skin. I made a right and walked down the well-lit street. If there was one positive thing about the small town we lived in, it was its lighting situation. At Christmas time, everyone walked around with sunglasses on at night. The town was big into celebrating. That’s why I’d fallen in love with it. It was close enough to the city to allow access to a more cultured environment, but far enough out to give off that middle of America feel. People were warming up to me, now that they’d seen me with Dr. Payton Sullivan, their local hero.

  I saw Mr. Watts sitting out in front of his barbershop. That was his usual resting place. He quit giving haircuts at least an hour before the sunset, and always sat out to enjoy the view. I smiled and waved at him from across the street. His thin black arm reached up and waved back. "How ya doin’ tonight, Valerie?"

  "Fine, Mr. Watts, just fine. How about you?" I called back.

  He sat back in his chair nodding his head slowly. "It’s a good night, yep, it’s a good night."

  I laughed and walked on. Ever since I’d met the man, he’d said the same thing every time I passed him. That’s part of what made me love this little town. The few people like Mr. Watts who had always been kind to me, kept me here. The fair-weather friends I’d started to acquire meant little to me.

  I reached the end of the business district, which sounds so much more glamorous than it actually is. The district only consists of six blocks, two of which are public parks. All of our festivals were held here, in the center of the town, in the park with the brown gazebo. I really did love it here. It was far enough from the city, and I hadn’t as of yet, had any thugs jump out of a car and shoot me here.

  I did occasionally have Tomas stop by. I’d done a little digging and found out how to reach him. He was cool with me and knew my secret. I knew that he was a good ally to have. I was happy to find out that his friends had taken him back with open arms. He told me that they were a little scared of him now that he had an ‘in’ with a live bruja.

  I stopped at the crossing to make sure it was safe to continue to the other side of the street. Even though I had no memory of being struck by a car, I still had uneasy feelings walking out in the road. Call it silly, but not being able to remember ninety percent of your life will do that to you. Everything seemed clear and I headed out. Someone screamed. I froze and listened closely. I had thought that my ears were playing tricks on me. I heard it again, only this time I was positive that the scream was from a female.

  I tore off in a run in the direction that it came from. I ran through Mrs. Parker’s prized flower garden. I did my best to jump over everything I could, but was sure that tomorrow morning she’d find things smashed. She may recover from the blow, her Gardening Club members probably wouldn’t.

  I hit the end of her property and ran past the bushes in the Mills lawn. The ground was softer here. My boots provided little in the way of traction and my leg slipped out from underneath me. Hot pain shot up it as my knee cracked the ground. The woman’s screams echoed louder. I pushed myself up and continued running. I thought about stopping at one of the neighbors’ houses to have them phone the sheriff, but I was afraid of wasting too much time.

  I’d never been confronted with anything like this before, and truthfully I’d never pegged myself as being someone who’d run toward a problem. Of course I had taken a bullet for Payton, but that was different, right? My feet hit the gravel and I knew that I was on the edge of the old steel mill property. The mill had closed down years ago. The town would’ve been huge by now if the mill had stayed open. Town council members had been debating on what to do with the building for years now. No one could figure out an economical way to deal
with it, so it kept being put on the next meetings ballot.

  I caught the faint outline of a girl with long blond hair running into the back entrance of the old mill. She screamed. A dark shadowy figure followed close behind her. For a minute I couldn’t move. I was upset that I hadn’t brought my purse because my cell phone was in it. I didn’t want to leave the girl alone with a crazed maniac, but I really didn’t want to go running in after her. My mind raced, but my body reacted before I’d even finished processing my options. My feet hit the gravel again, one after another in a fast running motion. I tried to will myself to stop, I couldn’t. I hit the steel door and thrust it open.

  "No!" yelled the woman. It echoed all around me. I had the urge to go right, and I followed it. I did. I ran down an aisle flanked by crates and boxes. When I hit the end, it opened into a large clear area. In it, I saw the blond woman crawling backwards on her hands and knees. The look on her face was nothing short of pure terror. Her blouse had been torn open enough that her soft cleavage showed through. I looked in the direction of her gaze.

  There before her stood a tall man with broad shoulders that led down to bulging pale-skinned muscles. His top half was bare but his lower half was covered in black leather. My mind raced to psychotic killers who had the fashion sense of a porn star, I came up blank. What I did manage to come up with was a broken piece of wooden crate. I grabbed it and ran out after the man. His dark black hair which hung just below his shoulders flung wildly around. He had sensed me coming at him. Oh well, now I was committed. Every bit of me screamed at my body to turn and run, it didn’t. I lifted the wood back, in much the same way you’d swing a bat, and brought it around hard at him. His left arm shot up and deflected the hit. The wood snapped in two, and he seemed unaffected by this.

  Great, I picked a fight with a superhero.

  Screams sounded all around me. I didn’t stop to look at for the source. I just did what felt natural. I swung my leg around hard and fast. This did mange to catch the man off guard. My foot met his mid-back. His body fell forward. I brought my right hand down to strike the back of his neck. I didn’t think about it, I just did it. He swung around quickly, and caught hold of my wrists. I saw his eyes, and they were pitch-black. For a quick second I thought I saw flecks of yellow push up through them.

  His eyes called to me. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. The face that held them wasn’t too bad either. His smile was just this side of being too feminine. The soft rose color of his lips kept him from looking like an overdone rocker. I saw the yellow flash in his eyes again, and I came to my senses. Drooling over a guy’s sex appeal during a fight was never a good thing.

  His grip on my wrists was firm, but not painful. From the strength in his hands, I was sure he could crush them in an instant if he really wanted to. The way that I stood put me higher than him. I used this to my advantage and brought my head down hard into his.

  Head butting someone looks like an easy task in the movies, in real life it hurts like hell. I think that I took him by surprise with that one. Kind of caught me off guard with that one too. He let go of me long enough for me to pull away. As much as sparring with a crazed sexy killer appealed to my wild side, I let my head take over and ran.

  "Oh, leaving so soon?" I heard a deep voice say. "You went to all this trouble to find me. Don’t you at least want my autograph?" That one got me. I stopped and turned around. Was this guy for real?

  Yeah, please sign my coffin lid for me, asshole!

  Stopping was all he needed. He was faster than anyone I’d ever seen before. He was on me in an instant. Our bodies flew backwards. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact. His hand slid up and cupped the back of my head. Somehow, he managed to spin our bodies around in midair. If I had to compare it to something, I would say flying. We hit the ground, but he took the force of it, and let out a small grunt.

  Screams and lights flashed all around me. I didn’t have time to think about it, I brought my knee up quick and hard. I wasn’t playing games. I encountered his most prized possession. This time his grunt sounded more like a moan. I tried to push myself up and off him, but he held me tight to him.

  "Let go of me, you fucking psycho!" I screamed into his face.

  His lips curled into a smile. Hands grabbed at my back and my shoulders. Someone pulled me off the top of him. He didn’t want to let go of me. It was a tug-of-war game between the sexy guy below me and the unseen force behind me. Problem was, I wasn’t a rope. It felt like I was about to be ripped in half. My feet never actually touched the ground. I kicked and carried on like a lunatic.

  Hey, when in Rome.

  The man rose to his feet. He stood a good head taller than I did. The guy managed to be menacing even without the scary eye trick, but man was he stunning. A tiny trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. His tongue flickered out and over it, and his head tipped downward slightly, as he looked me over.

  I turned and looked at what held me up. A tall olive-skinned man with very short black hair had hold of my right arm, while a rather large dark skinned man with braids that hung just below his ears held my left. I struggled to free myself, but their grip was too strong. The olive-skinned man spoke first.

  "Shit, Guytano, I’ve never seen anyone this anxious to see you."

  I looked at him. I didn’t even know how to respond to that. The guy was as nutty as the dude dipped in leather. The leather clad man, as if on cue, walked up to me and touched my cheek. His fingers were ice cold. That didn’t bother me as much as it should. What bothered me was the feeling of static electricity that pushed against my skin.

  "Been rubbing your feet across the carpet for fun?" I asked. I noticed that at certain times of my life I’d been quick to open my mouth before thinking. This was turning out to be one of those times. The man’s eyes widened. He put his other hand up to me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The static feeling increased, followed by a low buzzing noise in my head. I jerked my head back. His eyes widened more, before the feeling suddenly stopped.

  The men holding me tightened their grip. I cried out from the pressure they were putting on my shoulder blades. "Charan, Marvin, careful with her. We don’t want her to break before the police get here."

  The police? Had he really just said the police? I couldn’t let this one go. "Great, once they’re here could you please explain why you were stalking that little blond girl?" The leather-clad man laughed. His laugh was so deep that I felt the slightest vibration from it in my lower stomach. It made me catch my breath.

  "Let her go. She’s not a crazed fan. She has no idea what is going on here. Do you?" He asked, looking directly at me. I shook my head no slowly.

  "But, Guytano, shouldn’t you let the police talk with her first." The olive-skinned man asked.

  "Charan, I told you to let her go. Now do it."

  With that, both men loosened their hold on me. I wanted to turn and run as fast as I could, but was distracted when the blond girl I’d seen screaming walked up to Guytano. "What’s goin’ on baby?" Her voice fit her perfectly. It was high pitched and void of any substance.

  Guytano’s hand slid around her tiny waist. "Nothing that concerns you. Tell everyone that I am done for the night." She made a tiny noise that sounded like a protest. He brought his fingers to her lips and silenced her. I didn’t understand what in the hell was going on. I looked around the old mill. Several lights were shining on us. I looked harder at one, and put my hand up to shield the glare. I made out a figure perched up high behind what looked to be a camera. The man waved at me and tipped his head out from behind it.

  "Damn, Guytano. I wish we could get Becca to do that. That was some great footage." He leaned out further. "Hey, where’d you learn those moves? Are you a local? Would you consider wearing a bikini and doing that again?"

  "Enough!" Guytano yelled out. Everyone fell silent. I took one more look around before it hit me. The film crew that Molly had told me about, the one with Guytano Marsarius, they were h
ere using the old mill to film their movie. "You’re from Upyr Productions, right?" The entire room burst out into laughter. From the look on Guytano’s face, I’d gotten the company name wrong. I bit the corner of my lip and looked down at the floor. I’d never wanted to disappear more. "Sorry." I said softly.

  He let out a loud chuckle. "Well, we can safely rule out her being a fan now, can’t we?" The whole room laughed harder. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t believe myself. It made perfect sense now. That’s why no one bothered to call the sheriff. They knew a film crew was in town to shoot a horror film. I was the only one stupid enough to think someone was in trouble. I made a note to self--start reading the local paper. It was times like these that I felt my naiveté.

  "I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your work. I just thought, I just thought..."

  "You thought I was going to slaughter Becca." Guytano finished my sentence for me. I shrugged and nodded. "And you came to her rescue. That makes you either very brave or very foolish. Which is it?" I didn’t know what to say. In truth, no part of me wanted to come in here. Every sane portion of me wanted to be running in the opposite direction. I wasn’t a fighter--at least I was fairly sure that I wasn’t. I didn’t have an answer for him, so I avoided giving one. "Do you at least have a name?"

  I looked up at him. Crisp dark blue eyes stared back at me. I could have sworn that his eyes were black when we were fighting--I guess I was wrong. The blue definitely softened him up a bit. He no longer looked like he could rip my head off at any minute. "Valerie Falkyr." I said softly. Guytano walked up closer to me. I took a step back.

  "Well, Valerie Falkyr, I am Guytano Marsarius." His hand extended out to me. I was reluctant to accept it. I wasn’t sure about him. He had a funky vibe about him. I just looked down at his pale hand, not attempting to be social or pleasant. That surprised him. He was obviously used to having women do whatever he wanted. He didn’t try to take my hand again. Instead, he backed up and motioned for his goons to move away from me.