Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole

thankless job, but Nïxie must do it.”
    â€œWait!” Holly followed her to her abused Bentley. “I have so many more questions. Did my mother die young? And who was my father? How will I get in touch with you? Are there more of our kind walking around? How can I recognize them?”
    â€œAll your questions will be answered in time.”
    This being already had all the answers. “Please, take me with you! You said I was family.” And Holly felt that a few more hours with Cadeon might send her over the edge.
    â€œIf you want to stay a Valkyrie, then hop in. We have mayhem on tap for tonight,” Nïx said, motioning to her backseat.
    Holly glanced inside, then stared in horror. The space was piled with Pat O’Brien’s cups, uninflated balloons, peanut packing filler, and boxes that read: dangereux! C-4 plastique.
    She took an involuntary step back.
    Nïx blithely continued, “But if you’re set on the reversal, I can’t take you to Groot’s. His fortress is hidden, and you’ll have to go through a series of checkpoints to reach him. It’ll take at least a week, a week I don’t have since I’m fighting an apocalypse. Just think, Holly”—she draped one arm around Holly’s shoulders, and waved the other hand in an arc in front of them—“an apocalypse, the ultimate in disorder.”
    Holly shuddered.
    â€œWould you want to take me from preventing that?” Nïx asked, releasing her.
    â€œWell, of course not, but—”
    â€œIf you are adamant about having your gift overturned, then I’ll arrange it so that Cade has to get you safely to the sorcerer to earn his sword. Is that what you want?”
    â€œI want to go, but not alone with him! I don’t suppose you could hire someone less . . .”
    â€œIncredibly hot? With less lickable horns and a less sexy Sith Ifrican accent?” She shook her head, opening her car door. “No, Cade can keep you safe. He’s strong, and he’s ruthless.”
    Holly’s lips parted wordlessly. Lickable horns?
    â€œOh, I almost forgot.” Nïx fetched a weighty satchel from the passenger seat. “Here’s your welcome kit. Must go now. Ciao!”
    As Nïx started the car, Holly said, “One last question.”
    â€œVery well, dearling.”
    â€œCan I trust Cadeon?”
    Nïx gave her a sunny smile with blank golden eyes. “As far as you can throw him.”

11

    I guess we’re keeping the conspicuous car?” Holly asked when Cade pulled onto the highway, going north.
    â€œFor now. We’ve got to get out of town fast. Coincidentally, this car hauls ass.”
    â€œWhere are we headed first?”
    â€œMemphis. Nïx said she put the directions in your bag.”
    Holly reached into the backseat, grabbing the heavy satchel her aunt had given her. Inside, she found her passport, a handwritten letter, a map with an X right above Memphis, and two weighty tomes. One was called The Living Book of Lore, the other The Book of Warriors .
    As she pulled out the letter, Holly asked, “Why did Nïx seem vacant at times?”
    Cade sipped his Red Bull, never glancing her way. “She’s so busy seeing the future, she spaces out in the present. You get used to it. Plus she’s over three thousand years old.”
    That was mind-boggling. Nïx had looked the same age as Holly. “How old are you?”
    â€œNearly a millennium.” Cade looked no more than thirty-four or thirty-five.
    â€œYou weren’t kidding about being medieval. Why isn’t your accent?”
    â€œLorekind adapt to evolving languages and dialects. It’s unconscious.”
    When Holly cracked open the letter’s black wax seal, Cade leaned over to scan the contents.
    She turned down the corner of the letter until he shrugged and faced forward again. Then she read the flourishing script, or tried to—her