Fatal Sight (Harbingers Of Death Book 2) by LeAnn Mason (book club reads .TXT) 📕

up. “Is my dad alive too? Maybe he’s with her.” Not that I wanted him kidnapped by vamps either.

Torgny gave me an unfathomable look as my attention volleyed hopefully between Gunhilde and the horse shifter.

“Your father... he was human,” Gunhilde finally spoke as if that explained it all when really it just raised more questions.

“You knew my dad too?”

Gunhilde didn’t answer me. “Based on what you said you heard in the vision, your mother is being kept for her supernatural abilities.” Her expression softened. Now that seemed wrong on her chiseled features, unlike the scars. She was all hard angles and shadowed planes. Pity was not a good look for her.

She didn’t need to say the rest. A human wouldn’t be useful to vampires except for exsanguinating. I blocked that out. “What abilities? What are they using her for?” I shot to my feet and began to pace the small pathway between the beds, agitation rising. I shook out my hands, trying to dissipate the nervous energy.

Tony the Vamp had said they killed all the vamps… No, he’d said some killed all the vamps. His people had been taking out the banshees the other vamps had acquired. Others… the other faction used banshees but for what? Evidently, he’d missed mom, unlike he thought. I might not be the last banshee...

“The abilities I’m here to work on with you,” the valkyrie replied brightly.

I wasn’t sure that was my priority anymore. Not now. If mom really was alive, if she was being held by a faction of vamps… I needed to help her. How?

I marched up to Gunhilde’s steel-toed boots, turned, then passed by Torgny’s unmoving legs to the nightstand, then repeated my track. A few swings at the punching bags in the bunker’s gym would do me some good right now. Hell, I bet I could take on Raven in my current state. Might be satisfying to take a few swings at Seke, too.

The god of assholery had swooped in to rescue and woo me and, in the next moment, acted all surprised when I was hurt and angry that he was keeping secrets from me. Then, he left when I told him to — I had mixed feelings on that obedience. Shouldn’t he fight to stick around? And to top it all off, he tattled on me and sent this scary-ass woman to do what I told him I didn’t want to do. And what was this shit about knowing my mom? Knowing my mom’s friends? But never saying anything before now. I might have found out earlier that my mom was still out there if he’d gotten me in touch with Gunhilde before now.

My hatred flipped faster than I could follow, hating him for interfering and then hating him for not doing enough.

Obviously, Mom had bound my powers for a reason. And now that I’d seen what I’d seen, I knew partly why. She didn’t want me to be tracked and nabbed. I could be just like her, used for my abilities.

Don’t get caught.

I didn’t want to be a banshee. My mom didn’t want me to be a banshee. But I couldn’t just... leave her there. Turning my back on the supernatural world, on the HD, meant turning my back on her.

Never go back for anyone. You’re more likely to put yourself in danger than save someone. Dad’s lessons were never altruistic like Seke’s.

“Can you go get her? Can we send a team to save her?” If someone equipped to handle this situation went, someone who hadn’t just figured out she was a supe and still hadn’t gotten a handle on her abilities...

Gunhilde’s eyes were on my lip where I was flicking my ring back and forth with such intensity that it clicked against my teeth. “I know some Vikings without front teeth. It is not a good look.”

I tossed her a scathing look but suspended my actions. Not only did she know my mom, but she was taking it upon herself to act motherly. I resisted complaining. Saying I wasn’t a child anymore would contradict my intention and make me seem petulant.

“Well?” I demanded. With my hands on my hips, I radiated dominance and decisiveness. At least, I hoped I did. “Can you contact the director or someone to send one of those vampire-slayer teams?” Seke certainly wasn’t a part of it anymore — nor was my mom, for other reasons. “Who’s on those teams now?” I pictured a cute blond chick in high school holding a stake and making snarky wisecracks. “Let’s get in touch with them.” Did they use cell phones? How did the director contact Seke? I really didn’t want to have to call him to do the deed.

If it meant saving my mom, though, I’d pull my foot out of my mouth to ask him for assistance.

Torgny stood, towering over me. “No.”

Well, I’d felt powerful until his massive bulk literally belittled me. “What do you mean no?!” I started heatedly. His stature and hard expression were kindling my defensive nature.

“No,” he repeated. “We cannot send a ‘vampire-slayer team.’” His brow rose when he used my terminology, the vernacular sounding pedestrian with his deep timbre.

“Why not?”

“Because they no longer exist,” Gunhilde said simply. I heard a crunching sound as she leaned back against a mirror adhered to the wall behind her. Her armor screeched like nails on a chalkboard as she settled against the glass. There was probably a scratch there now. I hoped I wouldn’t have to pay damages. Then again, that could go on Seke’s card too. He was the one who’d sent the valkyrie here. He could be responsible for her actions. “They were disbanded and new teams formulated once the swarm had been taken care of. Everyone had thought they were gone.”

I blinked. Seke hadn’t seemed that shocked when I told him about the vampire in the druid’s house.

Damn that god. He’s keeping things from me, again.

Gunhilde spread her hands out. “We had everywhere covered. Vamps shouldn’t be forming when the