The Unleashing
Page 18

Deciding to focus on her surprisingly sensitive brother, Kat quickly spun away and went to her brothers house.
It was an adorable little house the Raven Elders had built specifically for Vig because he was, in a word, scary. He freaked out the younger Ravens and disturbed the older ones. But they needed him. He was one of their best warriors. Well, him and Stieg Engstrom. But Stieg was such a consummate complainer about everything that he terrified the rest of the Ravens a little less. Vig, like their father, had never been much of a talker. He was a quiet thinker who was built like a small, angry-looking mountain. But he was just so damn sweet.
She adored her big brother. Always had. And for years, they were each all the other had. Although Kat barely remembered it, they were taken from their parents when she was only five and Vig eight. It wasnt unusual. Most of the Ravens and Valkyries were taken from their parents at a young age so they could be trained in the Old Way. What was different for the Rundstm kids was that they werent just taken to the Stockholm Ravens and Valkyries for training, they were shipped from Sweden to America. Did they see their parents again? Of course. Several times a year, but it was still traumatic. Yet Kat had Vig. Hed protected her, made sure he held her when she was scared, never let anyone pick on her. And her first boyfriend when she was sixteen . . . ? He still had a limp from what Vig did to him when he found out.
As her big brother, Vig had taken care of everything for Kat, so shed never really felt alone. But she couldnt say the same for him. Sure, she was always there for him, but she was also his baby sister. In his mind, he was supposed to be protecting her, not the other way around.
In those early years, he tried hard not to appear too lonely, too sad, too out of place. Even now, if you listened, you could still hear that his English was accented. He didnt have a TVhe thought they were stupid and wasted ones brain. He didnt play video games, just chess. He did enjoy card games, but that was because his face was unreadable. It made him a great poker player.
He read a lot, but mostly the darkest books. The darker the better.
Hed dated over the years, of course, but no girl that Kat ever thought would be good enough for her big brother. And a lot of the girls were the goth types who liked the dangerous look of Vig, even though they didnt understand it. They didnt understand him and, as far as Kat was concerned, none of them had ever really tried.
Then Kat began to hear rumors that Vig had a crush on a girl at some coffee shop in Los Angeles. A coffee shop that was way out of Vigs way, but he still went down there every day in the morning to get bear claws and coffee. Just so he could see her. And, knowing her brother, to work up the guts to ask her out. Most girls, those weird, goth ones, asked him out, so Vig never had to try too hard.
But this girl was supposedly different from the others. Kat had hoped so. Her brother deserved the best of everything. The best.
Then, about two days ago, shed heard that not only had the girl beenmurdered, which was weird and tragic enough . . . but shed been brought back as a Crow.
A Crow.
That didnt happen by accident. And Kat knew without asking that Vig must have had a hand in this. A move that would make him no friends among the Ravens or other Clansno one really liked the Crowsbut would also get him in trouble with Odin. If Vig needed something, he was to go to Odin. Always. But Kat knew why Vig had gone to Skuld. Because unless this girls lineage could be traced back to the shores of Norway, Odin would have no use for her. So her brother must have come up with another plan as this girl was taking her last breath. Skuld was his only choice and he took it.
Kat opened the never-locked door to her brothers house and walked into the living room. There she found Stieg Engstrom and Siggy Kaspersen sitting on her brothers couch, playing video games on an enormous TV.
Where the hell did that come from? she demanded about the TV.
We bought it for him.
My brother doesnt want a TV or video games. He reads . . . in nine different languages.
Yeah, Stieg said. That wasnt really working for us.
Wasnt working for . . . ? Kat stopped. She couldnt get into it with these two idiots.
Vig might not mind his Raven brothers hanging out at his home because, like most men, he could tolerate having other men around sucking him dry. But Kat was a woman and, even more important, a Valkyrie. She had no patience for any of this.
Out, she ordered.
Okay, okay, Siggy said. Let us just finish this game. Were kicking the ass of this ten-year-old in Taiwan. Its pretty funny.
Disgusted, Kat leaned over the back of the couch and rubbed her hands together. So which one of you wants to go to Valhalla first? Im sure that Odin would be more than happy to have you now rather than later.
Both idiots bolted off the couch and out the door.
Kat turned off the TV and walked into her brothers bedroom. He was facedown on the king-size bed, a pillow over the back of his head. His weak attempt to block out everything.
Yeah. Some things just didnt change.
Kat climbed up onto the bed and sat cross-legged on her brothers back.
I dont want to talk about it, he told her.
Okay, he was really upset. She could tell because he was speaking to her in Swedish. They only spoke that when their parents came to visit or when they wanted to talk shit about people without them knowing. It was rude, but Kat loved it. She loved that her brother was a Raven and that she was a Valkyrie. She loved that they had direct lines to the gods. She loved her life. And although she still missed her homeland and growing up with her parents, she did not miss the winters of Sweden. Nothing entertained her more than being able to comfortably wear tiny shorts and cutoff T-shirts in the middle of a Los Angeles February.