But at this point, Neecy no longer cared about any of that. They could deal with everything else later. Her only goal at the moment was to kill Waldgrave and keep her girls safe. She sensed that without their leader, the rest of the Hunters would be easy pickings for the Crows and Ravens.
And she knew the two Clans were coming. She knew Yager was already here.
She could feel his presence. Like a physical touch.
Neecy studied Waldgrave. She’d seen this man before. In the video store. And even though she’d only seen him for a brief second, the details were completely accurate. A big, wide man, Waldgrave had muscles on top of muscles bulging under his clothes. But she was a bit taller than him and she knew she was faster.
She swung the ax again, aiming for his head. For a moment, Waldgrave was startled but he recovered quickly. Blocking her move, he twisted his blade to pull her off balance.
Neecy rolled with it, ending up on the other side of Waldgrave, but with her ax still in her hands. She rolled to her feet and immediately swung again. Again, Waldgrave blocked her, but Neecy moved in close and slammed her foot in his groin. He grimaced and although he didn’t double over in pain like most men would, Waldgrave still lost enough momentum for Neecy to pull her ax away and swing. Unfortunately, the weapon had turned in her hands and the blunt end of her ax, slammed against Waldgrave’s head. But there was enough force behind the move to knock him off balance.
Waldgrave landed face down. Quickly, Neecy walked over to him and planted her foot in his back, keeping him down. She swung the ax over her head, but before she could split his skull in two, Waldgrave spit out a spell that threw her back and across the room, slamming into several slow-‐moving Hunters.
Waldgrave smoothly got to his feet. “Did you really think my goddess was going to let some abomination of Skuld’s stop me?”
Neecy pulled herself up, her eyes glued on the man walking toward her.
“She wants you gone and it’s my job to ensure that you go.”
Gripping the handle of her ax tight, Neecy felt the power move through it. She knew the runes on it. Knew what they could do. In fact, she knew exactly what she had to do.
But before she could move, glass shattered, a Hunter’s carcass tossed through one of the enormous windows.
Janelle grinned at her…and waved. Crazy fuckin’ female.
Yager stepped through the window, his beautiful face rigid with anger.
Well, no one not Crow or Raven is gettin’ outta here tonight.
“Perfect.” Waldgrave leered at her as the Crows and Ravens followed Yager into the room. “All the players in one place.”
He turned to his men. “Kill them all. Get the girl.”
Neecy didn’t wait for him to turn back to her. Crows didn’t give a “fighting chance” or a “head start.” They were Crows. Mean. Smart. And brutal.
She lifted her ax and swung, her muscles screaming from the effort. Waldgrave turned in time to see the blade flying toward him. He raised his own ax, but he wasn’t fast enough. Not fast enough to stop a Crow.
Neecy cleaved his head in two and never made a sound.
Yager watched Neecy Lawrence, dressed only in his tank top and covered in dirt and blood, bury her ax in Karl Waldgrave’s head.
A Hunter ran toward him. Without turning to face him, Yager snatched him up, wrapping his hand around the idiot’s throat and squeezing until he crushed every bone in his neck. He dropped the body at his feet and looked up at the rest of the Hunters.
He didn’t know what they saw on his face…but they ran.
Neecy walked toward him, her eyes never leaving his, as she softly spoke to the two warrior Clans.
“None of them leave this house alive. None.”
“Yes!” Mike and Janelle cheered at the same time. Then both groups were moving and destroying.
Standing in front of him now, Neecy stared at him. She had fresh cuts and bruises on her bare arms and legs, but he didn’t know from what. He didn’t care.
“How did you guys get here so fast?”
“Fast? It took us over an hour. Wind was against us.”
She smiled as she stepped closer to him. “Skuld helping us out?”
“Or Odin. You know how he is.”
She glanced around. “Where’s Arri?”
He gently pushed her bangs off her face. “Outside with Tye. Doing me a favor.”
Neecy’s brow peaked up. “A favor?”
Chapter Twenty-‐One They all stood behind Arri as she chanted. On her knees, her eyes closed.
Neecy was freezing in the blanket they’d given her. She wanted to go home, get warm. At this rate she’d catch a cold or the flu. But she wouldn’t rush Arri, not when the girl worked some powerful Magick over Karl Waldgrave’s family mansion.
Waldgrave’s house gave a sickening lurch. Followed by another sound, like a canon shot, and suddenly the house folded in on itself, sucked through a big enough doorway only Arri had the power to open. With the house went any bodies of the Hunters as well as those who might still live but had successfully hidden from the two Clans.
It took less than thirty seconds for the house and its occupants, living and dead, to disappear through the doorway Arri created. In the end, all that remained was burnt grass where the house once stood.
Then little Arri Chang burst into tears.
Mike turned toward Yager, his face desperate. “Yager, man. She’s fuckin’ cryin’ again!”
Neecy motioned to Katie and Connie. “Get her. And let’s make it quick. I’m catchin’ my death here.”
As if to emphasize the point, Neecy’s head flew back, then forward, a huge sneeze bursting out of her.
And just like that…she was airborne. Her wings snapped out and she flew back twenty feet, slamming into the trunk of an ancient tree.
Connie pulled Arri to her feet as Katie laughed.
“Well,” Didi offered dryly, “she got her wings back.”
Neecy pushed herself to her feet. “That’s it. I’m now officially done for the night.”
She walked back to the warriors. “We’re out of here. I’m freezing. I’m exhausted. And, is it my imagination…” She glanced at her enormous black and purple wings. “Or are my wings inordinately large?”
“They are bigger.” Katie walked around her. “I could be wrong, hon. But I think Morgan gave you Raven’s wings.”
Neecy let out a huge sigh. “Typical.”
“They’re bigger than Yager’s,” Janelle added.
Katie looked at Yager. “Does that make you feel inadequate?”
“Katie!” Neecy pushed the woman’s shoulder, then motioned to the rest of the Gathering. “It’ll be dawn soon, Crows. Move out.”
Wait a minute. She was leaving…him!
Yager grabbed her arm. “Neecy?”
Neecy turned toward him and rewarded him with a warm smile. Going up on her toes she leaned in and kissed him.
“Later.” She kissed him again. “I promise.”
Neecy and the Gathering took off as Neecy’s birds descended on the remains of those not taken with the house. The Hunters they’d dealt with before making it inside. The birds would wipe away any evidence the Hunters even existed.
“You ready, Bro?” Tye stood next to him. “Like she said, it’ll be dawn soon.”
Yager shook his head. “I don’t get it, Tye. I don’t get her.”
His friend smiled as he patted him on the back. “And don’t even try. She’s a Crow.”