Shelly Laurenston - Shelly Laurenston

With a vicious snarl, she pushed forward throwing Waldgrave away from her.

She sprang to her feet and swung her ax, once, twice. One acolyte lost his head, the second she split from one hip to the other.

The other Hunters backed away from her, circling her and Waldgrave. Her eyes strayed to the big picture windows of the ballroom. Then to the doors.

“Going to run, little girl?”

She acted like she didn’t hear him, her body turning away from him to see all the exits. Then he heard her muttered reply.

“Crows don’t run.”

He barely brought his ax up in time as the crazy bitch spun and swung her weapon, aiming for his head.

Bobby Anders hefted his M-‐16 in his arms and sighed. Goddammit, he was cold.

Exactly how long was he supposed to stand here anyway? Ever since his fellow brothers took out that one Crow, Waldgrave made sure to have sentries on duty at all times. At first, Bobby was all for it. It made complete sense. But a week later and nothing. Nothing but nearly frostbitten fingers and toes and a good old-‐fashioned cold.

Yet something was going on. A battle cry from within the house caused half of the sentries to charge back inside. Bobby wouldn’t leave his post, though. He was there to ensure no one attacked from the outside and that’s exactly what he would do.

But, he realized, no matter how ready he thought he was or how fast with his weapon he might be, he would have never seen this one coming.

Enormous didn’t really do the man justice. And for someone his size, especially with those wings stretching big, black, and ominous from his back, he shouldn’t be able to move so fast. But the man moved like lightning. One second Bobby stood all alone and the next the big man easily snatched the weapon from his grip.

Still, the hands attached to the chain wrapping around his neck…those were female.

So was the voice in his ear. “Say goodnight, sunshine.”

Tye grinned as Janelle released the chain and allowed the Hunter to drop to her feet like a sack of garbage. She’d snapped his neck the way some people break a candy bar in half. And she made Tye so hard he physically hurt.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to focus on his little lust muffin. The rest of the Crows and Ravens were silently dropping from the sky, taking out the sentries quickly and quietly. Like the birds themselves, Crows and Ravens were crafty. Why go in screaming and announcing their presence, when they could sneak in and kill everyone efficiently? It wasn’t logical.

And Tye was all about logic.

The little one landed behind Janelle, nearly falling on her ass as her feet touched solid ground. Tye cringed. Man, what a clumsy little thing. But he found her entertaining because she hated Mike so much. It was like watching big-‐league wrestling. Personally, he put his money on the runt.

Yager landed beside Tye. There were a lot of things in this universe Tye didn’t much like. And the look on Yager’s face at the moment was absolutely at the top of his list.

Following behind his leader, he shook his head. Anything not Raven or Crow would not be getting out of here alive tonight.

How any goddess in her right mind could think putting these psychopaths on her ass was a fair Trial, she’d never know. And now that Neecy knew who was truly behind this—who truly wanted her dead—that made this whole thing much more disturbing. She saw the rune on the altar. She knew who these Hunters belonged to. And Skuld was right. A war was coming—a war among gods. And their warriors were merely pawns.

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?”