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

The valkyrie nodded her agreement, moving to stand at attention as if rising to the task set before her.

“Okay, before we have any more miscommunications, let’s go.” Ember stomped across the room and opened the door wide. Her bird was itching to fly.

Jim, standing on the other side with his fist poised, ready to knock, made a startled peep.

“Get lost, you creep, or your death will be now.” Ember snapped, letting a little fire seep into her eyes.

Jim paled. Contrary to her intention, the weasely manager remained frozen where he was at her threat. Ember rolled her eyes when a wet spot stained his pants.

Humans.

“Gross,” Raven muttered from the other side of the room.

“Torgny?” Aria inquired with a little mischievous lilt in her invitation.

The massive man appeared next to Ember. She stepped back, curious to see what he was going to do.

He gave an appreciative nod then said, “I think I may be able to assist here. May I touch you?”

Ember raised a brow. “Uh, sure?”

He gave a little smile and stepped behind her.

Wary, Ember’s shoulders rose. Then, tingling goosebumps shot across her skin as Torgny delved his fingers into her hair and slid outward, raising the short strands in a halo away from her scalp.

Jim’s eyes rolled as he stared at the short red hair that seemed to be levitating by itself and giving Ember a crazed look. He fell flat on his back.

“Hmm,” the big man grumbled from behind the phoenix. “I thought he might run.”

Ember shrugged and stepped over the prone human, raring to get out of that very unsettling position. She turned with a smile to face the guy who practically filled the doorway. “This still works. Shall we?” She shifted into her phoenix form, flapping to land on the hood of the car Cole had driven them north in. She couldn’t sit there long. Bright plumage like hers stood out.

Torgny grinned. “Let’s fly.”

“Fly?” Aria ducked under Torgny’s arm, stepping out of the packed room with a big stretch. “Do we have to?”

“I can drive you to Florida, but we’ll need to fly from there,” Cole rumbled.

“Oh no.” Aria raised her hands in horror. “I know how you drive. I’ll get carsick for sure. I’ll take a plane, thanks. I don’t have wings like most of you.” She flapped her pale arms.

Seke joined the group as they emerged into the night air. “I believe you have no ID, especially one that won’t get flagged by the authorities.”

Aria swore.

“I also believe there are only three of us incapable of flying ourselves. Gunhilde has Torgny. Aria will come with me. And Cole?”

The hellhound’s eyes were red and he bared his teeth. “No.”

“You will have to join Gunhilde on Torgny. That is if he’s comfortable with it?”

“I can actually fly myself,” Gunhilde supplied as a pair of imposing wings as black as pitch and too wide to fit into the minuscule room spread wide. They were about the same wingspan as Ember’s but much denser and more massive in every other dimension. No wonder she hadn’t shown them until then. Her gleaming armor now also sported a large, ornate broadsword at her right hip. The hilt glinted under the hazy dimming light, and the scabbard, though not shiny, was heavily tooled with runes and symbols.

Ember hadn’t met many valkyries in her lives since they kept mostly to themselves, and she hadn’t previously been exposed to that little factoid. Joining the Harbingers of Death was turning out to be quite the adventure of her long existence.

Seke tipped his dark head in acknowledgment of this hidden truth.

“No,” Cole said again, breaking the attention from the transformation of the warrior maiden.

Seke sighed. “No one else is capable of bearing your weight.”

Torgny and Cole eyed each other in a standoff of testosterone and dominance. Ember clicked her beak in annoyance. They’d figure it out. She was eager to spread her wings.

Lifting off the car, she circled, letting out a squawk that said, “See ya there.” A large raven joined her, cawing back with a delighted glint in her beady black eyes. Raven was always up for a race.

“We’ll meet in Key Largo and regroup for the next leg of the journey to Bermuda,” Seke called as Ember headed for the skies, the raven flapping hard to keep up.

That was a fine destination. Ember loved islands. If she and Raven could beat the rest of them there, unburdened by heavy loads, the girls could enjoy a little beach time before it came time to kick some vampire ass and save their teammate’s mom. Ember wanted to live for the moment because she had a feeling she’d be going through another rebirth in the near future.

Things were about to get crazy. Just the way she liked it.

I was not happy about riding Seke.

I mean, that sentence in another context? Sure.

But when he was a giant hawk glowing an eerie crimson and flying above the clouds to avoid detection? No, thanks.

It didn’t help that every time we hit a pocket of the white, fluffy stuff, my bag and I got drenched. Some of me suspected he was doing that on purpose, and I scowled at the back of his feathered head, barely refraining from delivering a swift jab to his ribs with my heel. When he dipped into another, I squeezed my arms tighter around his thickly feathered neck in warning — and to keep a solid grip as muscles moved disconcertingly beneath me with each flap of his massive wings.

Was it just my personality that craved solid ground, or was it a banshee thing? Hadn’t Gunhilde said that my mother had hated flying, too? Maybe Seke had flown with her at some point…

Okay, now I was having other weird thoughts about the two of them together. Being an immortal god had to be bizarre — or sick, depending on how you looked at it. You could have a totally normal relationship with several generations of a