Lana

The man referred to as Mr. Serious let the room settle into silence before he stepped close to me and looked directly into my eyes. “Lana is your name now, but you were once known as Herja. Like Aidan and Nadia,” he gestured to them, “you have been reincarnated.”

My mouth was dry and my hands were shaking. “How--how do you know that?”

Mr. Serious crossed his arms as his steely gaze looked me over. “You are a Valkyrie, which means you have a natural shield from being located. Even now I cannot sense your location much in the same I am unable to read Aidan’s mind.” He turned to Aidan and Nadia. “I came here to tell you of the surge from the stone I followed last night. It led me to where the three of you must have been attacked. I was not aware Nadia or yourself were involved and from the amount of destruction...”

Aidan nodded. “You assumed she had been killed. So, these surges you keep following are leading you to other reincarnated warriors.”

Mr. Serious dropped his voice. “Yes, though I did not arrive in time, Lana is lucky she was with you and Nadia. The person, or rather, being you fought off was Ava.”

For another intense moment, I stared at Mr. Serious’ eyes, waiting for him to continue.

“Ava is an Xtabay, similar in attributes to a succubus and vampire. Though her bloodlust started long before she met Amon. Ava would seduce men and slit their throats to bathe in their blood. She is insane. As I mentioned before, there are stages to the dark virus. The second affects victims on a physical level with two different results. Either it will consume the host until they die. Or, it will transform them. Change them into a dark entity or beast. Ava was one of the first to experience ‘Egestas a Tenebris.’ Her soul was already filled with so much evil, the curse warped her into an Xtabay, and became one of Amon’s first generals. You've met some of the others; the sorceress Sophia, the Prodigy, and the Asuwang in the park.”

Nadia put a finger up to each of us. “I’m just letting y’all know now that if anyone’s killing that blonde bitch, it’s gonna be me.”

Mr. Serious took two smooth steps toward me. I felt myself shrinking under his gaze. “Ava would especially like to kill Lana since she was the only one able to obliterate Ava’s army of Xtabay.”

My eyes widened. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and hugged a throw pillow.

Mr. Serious knelt down in front of me. “The night Amon was imprisoned, your previous incarnation confronted Ava and her army with a horde of other valkyries. It was the only time in history where more than one valkyrie entered this dimension’s physical plane. Herja destroyed Ava's army and stripped Ava of her ability to produce any more Xtabay. The price of which cost Herja her life.” His face softened before he stood and stepped back. “Whatever power lies within you is what we'll need to finally end Ava.”

Aidan was looking my way as he moved to the couch and sat next to me, placing a hand on my back. With a deep breath, he turned his gaze to Mr. Serious. “I don’t understand. If Lana is untraceable, how was Ava able to find her last night?”

He crossed his arms and tapped his chin. “More than likely, Ava was tracking the stone, and when she came upon three individuals rather than two, she must have deduced Lana's true nature. Ava may not even realize Lana is Herja, but just a valkyrie. If she figures out who Lana really is, she will tear this city apart to find her before the rest of the generals even get a chance to unleash the virus."

Nadia laid back on the couch and outstretched her legs over Aidan’s lap. “So, when is Lana supposed to get her powers?”

Mr. Serious breathed deeply. “Something is keeping Lana’s abilities from manifesting. Otherwise, they would've made themselves known during her attack the same way yours and Aidan's did."

Aidan touched my shaking hands. “I feel like you could use a drink right about now.”

I nodded at him before he headed to the dining room. Aidan took a deep breath and turned to Mr. Serious. “Well, it's been clear from the start that training was inevitable, but I was hoping the fate of the human race wouldn’t be reliant on it.”

Mr. Serious placed his hands in his pockets before leaning against the wall separating the foyer and living room. “Honestly, Aidan, with your cambion nature unchecked, you are more of a liability than the generals.”

I threw my hands up as the reality of the situation finally hit me. “What am I supposed to train? I’m a casualty waiting to happen.”

Mr. Serious moved closer to the front door. “Self-defense. Once your soul awakens, you will find that you have a natural affinity for combat. Herja was devastating in battle. I will return soon with news of the ritual.”

Nadia sat up on the couch and crossed her arms. “You’re here so much, you might wanna think about chipping in for rent.”

Mr. Serious shook his head and became a blur. He disappeared into a filmy haze of mist. I was still staring at the door when Nadia sprayed air freshener around the spot where Mr. Serious had vanished.

Aidan tried to grab the aerosol can from her. “Nadia, that’s too much! You’re polluting the place with honeysuckle!”

Nadia used her ample bottom to block him. "Too bad. His exit smells like ass!”

***

Aidan

The next couple of days were a bit of a blur. Between juggling our work and school schedules, we somehow found the time to train. Nadia was a natural with her electricity. Other elements, specifical fire, were turning out to be more of a challenge as she couldn't keep her attitude in check. The first time she lost control ended with her spontaneously combusting. The second time, she almost cooked Roxy after finding the dog chewing on her Manolo Blahniks. Luckily, we had placed buckets of water around the house.

I had to pick up most of the slack for my school project since Dante had gone M.I.A. It had only been me and Christine, who was slowly becoming scarier than the Asuwang and shadow beast combined. Training myself was even less successful. My abilities were mostly only available to me in an adrenalized state. I had to spend the better part of my time figuring out how to trigger certain emotions at will. On top of everything, I still couldn’t look into mirrors without seeing my monstrous form and triggering my change. I had to get ready using the front-facing camera on my phone.

On the third night of training, I decided to switch things up and see how we would handle surprise attacks. Our track record so far with Amon's generals was proof enough for the need. My durability made me a prime candidate to test Nadia.

While she showered, I carefully crept into her room and hid in her closet. After hearing her enter, I ducked back into the shadows, concentrating on being still. I was carefully peering from behind the door when Nadia swung the closet door open.

I let out a yell and threw my hands up to startle her, but she didn’t seem to notice me. Either she was partially blind and had been hiding it for the past twenty-one years, or she for real didn’t see me. Nadia stood with a towel wrapped around her, scanning her wardrobe.

I covered my eyes while she put on a pair of black shorts and a tank top. While trying to figure out why she couldn’t see me, something behind Nadia formed in the shadows of her room. It took shape with armor appearing on its black body. Resembling a knight, its obsidian face and glowing golden gaze locked onto an unaware Nadia. I was about to shout for her to turn around, but the knight disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and reappeared behind her. The knight quickly covered Nadia’s mouth and held her against his armor. Her eyes bulged and I lunged toward them. They both slowly turned into black mist as the knight tried to disappear with her.

I grabbed on to them at the last second and used my own teleporting ability to counteract the knight’s.

As we reappeared, Nadia and I had gained a few yards of distance from the black knight. High above the Central Business District of New Orleans, the three of us were trapped on top of a high-rise building. Anxiety washed over me at the sight of the city far below.

I moved toward Nadia on the ground and reached my hand out, but she didn’t take it. "Nadia, take my hand. Quickly, woman." For whatever reason, Nadia could neither see nor hear me. I grabbed her wrist but was shocked the moment I touched her skin. “Frickin’ electricity!”

Nadia looked out in a daze at the city but turned when the black knight rushed towards us. He reached for his sword behind his back, while Nadia quickly crawled away. I used my mind to push Nadia further back and lunged at the knight. I forced my weight against him, throwing us both onto the tarmac. Shocked and confused, the knight growled, using his strength and armor-covered claws to slash at me.

The knight managed one good swipe at my chest, and a roar erupted from me. Nadia screamed at the sound, followed by a stream of electricity. It flew out of Nadia’s hands and hit the knight and me, but only I seemed to feel the pain.

"Nadia, it's me. I'm right here!" I almost thought Nadia could hear me from the way her screaming and electricity stopped. Instead, Nadia took a deep breath before her facial features became voracious. She let out a powerful scream and fire shot from her hands like a flame thrower.

Rage coursed through me from the fire, and it became harder and harder to control myself. I dropped two inches away from the knight’s face and focused my fury into another roar. The sound came from deep within and a raw feeling of savagery took me over.

The knight looked confused at first before his face quickly changed to terrified. He let out a high-pitched screech and thrashed against me. I stared into his golden eyes, recognizing the look of fear. With a smile, I drove my clawed arm into the knight’s chest.

Finding no heart, I pulled out and ripped the knight’s head clean off. The foul black substance spewing from the neck sizzled at the inferno still blazing over me and the knight.

The fire's intensity increased and become too painful to withstand. I flung myself off of the headless knight and onto my stomach a few yards from Nadia.

Her breathing became hard as she finally stopped her flames. “Oh, my god. Aidan? Is that you?”

The knight’s head and body crumbled into ash. I didn’t have the strength to look up at Nadia running over to me. My charbroiled limbs were numb but I managed to move my crispy mouth. “Finally, you clean up after yourself.” My vision was fading and in a last desperate move, I used what little energy I had to take us home. I felt the undertow before the world around me disappeared.