Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (351 page)

“Humans are by nature self-centered. It doesn’t matter how civilized or primitive they are. If they want something, they’ll find a way to get it or take it. The old empires used land, women, religion, pride in one’s nationality, or preservation of their culture as an excuse to start war. Presently, you use technology, world policing, expanding markets, and protecting national interest, but the underlying theme has never changed. As long as there are greedy people in this world, there will always be wars.”

Mr. Finney chuckled when I’d expected him to be pissed. It must be the debate-loving side of him. He was in charge of Debate Club.

“You speak as though you’re above all this, St. James,” he said, sounding impressed.

“Absolutely, Mr. Finney. I am an evolved human being.”

“So what drives you, young man, if not greed like the rest of us?” Mr. Finney asked.

Silence followed the question and against my will, I found myself turning my head and glancing at Torin. His eyes locked with mine and a wicked smile tilted the corner of his mouth.

“Love,” he said. “To give and receive love is the essence for my existence. It is what drives and motivates me.”

Warmth rushed to my face. Several people laughed, some followed his gaze to me. I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. He was cocky and impossible. I spent the rest of the period plotting his demise.

At the end of class, one student asked, “What is jingoism?”

“I’ll let St. James answer that,” Mr. Finney said, crossing his arms and propping his butt on his desk.

“It is the extreme level a country is willing to go to protect its so called national interest. Some even declare war on other countries.”

He was still talking when the bell rang. I ducked out of the room, hoping he didn’t know what my next class was. I was dead wrong. He appeared in the doorway of my next class, grim determination on his gorgeous face.

I jumped up and marched to him. “Follow me.”

He grinned. “Finally. I thought I’d have to go to all your classes before you stopped ignoring me.”

My stomach knotted with tension, anger, and tingly feelings I’d come to associate with him. I yanked open a broom closet and pulled him inside. There was hardly any space between us, and his scent and warmth wrapped around me. If I wasn’t so pissed, having him this close would have royally messed with my head.

“What are you doing?” I said through clenched teeth.

He glanced around and cocked his brow. “Hiding in a broom closet with you. Do people really make out in tight places like this?”

Oh, he thought he was cute. “Why are you stalking me?”

“I don’t like to be ignored.”

I rolled my eyes. “So you humiliated my history teacher to get my attention?”

He grinned. “It worked, didn’t it? And no, I didn’t humiliate Mr. Finney. I challenged him. He’s actually a smart guy. Tomorrow he’ll be armed with facts to refute everything I said, which was all bullshit anyway. I’m looking forward to another—”

“No, you’re not coming to my classes tomorrow, Torin.”

“If you ignore me again—”

I sighed. “What do you want from me?”

“Everything.” Blue flames burned in the depth of his eyes. Then as though he hadn’t meant to say that, he shook his head. “We need to talk. I’ll wait for you outside during lunch.”

“I can’t. I’m meeting Eirik.”

He cursed softly under his breath. “Fine. Then have dinner with me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do this, Torin. I want my old life back. It was sane, predictable, maybe a little boring—”

“A little?” He rolled his eyes.

“But it was mine, and I loved it,” I finished as though he hadn’t spoken. “I don’t want to be hauled in front of the principal because I’m talking to people no one else can see. I don’t want weird writings appearing on my body whenever I’m hurt. I don’t want to travel at abnormal speed. I want a normal life with normal people.”

“But you’re…” His voice trailed off.

“I’m what?”

He didn’t speak, his expression begging me to understand. I hated that there were things he couldn’t share with me. “You can’t even tell me what I am, let alone what you are, can you? You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’ll find out on my own.”

“Stay away from Andris and the girls,” he warned.

“Why? You scared they might tell me the truth? Like why I’m under the protection of Goddess Freya?” He scowled. “Yeah, I learned that last night from Ingrid. Imagine what I’ll know by tomorrow. Stay away from me and my friends.” I reached for the doorknob.

He pressed his hand on the door and stopped me from opening it, his expression serious. “I can’t. I promised to protect you, and I plan to keep my promise. Maliina is unhinged and fixated on you, and without Andris to keep an eye on her, there’s no telling how far she’ll go to hurt you. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen. I know I said things that scared you, and I’m sorry I did.” His voice sounded bleak. “You want space to deal with what you’ve learned? Fine. I’ll give you space. But please, don’t ask me to stay away from you or walk away. My greatest fear is Maliina will learn where you live and attack you when I’m not there.”

I swallowed, imagining that psycho bitch standing over me while I slept. “I’ll be fine.”

“No, you won’t. You’re not an Immortal. There’s just so much self-healing you can do before your body shuts down.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Part of me wanted to let him deal with my problems, but the other part knew I had to learn as much as I could about what was happening to me. Ignorance wasn’t bliss. It could get me killed. Then there was Torin. My fears went beyond the runes and weird supernatural stuff he could do. He made me feel things I’d never felt before. Made me want things I couldn’t articulate. Crave with intensity that was all consuming. I didn’t know how to deal with any of them.

“Who will protect me from you, Torin?” I whispered.

His eyes widened. He stared at me as though I’d reached up and stabbed him. I felt terrible. “I’d never hurt you, Freckles. I would condemn myself to eternal servitude to Hel than harm a single strand of your hair.”

Tears rushed to my eyes at his vow, yet he’d hurt me without him knowing it. Seeing him with Jess had felt like someone had reached inside my chest and yanked out my heart. I never wanted to feel like that again.

“I have to go,” I whispered.

The door swung open before I touched the doorknob, and Officer Randolph, the school security officer, stared down at me with narrowed eyes. Oh crap. Mom was going to go ballistic when the school called her about this.

“What are you doing in a broom closet,” Officer Randolph looked behind me, “alone?”

I glanced over my shoulder, and my eyes widened. Torin stood there with a wicked grin on his handsome face, glowing runes on his cheeks, forehead, and hands. He looked other worldly, beautiful, and invisible to the guard. For the first time, I wished I could pull that trick, too.

“Step out of the closet,” Officer Randolph ordered.

Taking a shaky breath, I stepped into the hallway. There were no students, thank goodness. The last thing I wanted was for the entire school to know I’d been busted by the guard in a closet.

Officer Randolph slammed the door shut. “To the office, miss.”

Torin walked through the solid door as though it was made of air, a broad grin on his face. “Start crying and tell him you were hiding from a bully,” he said.

“I can’t do that,” I murmured.

“Excuse me?” Officer Randolph asked. He obviously had heard and misunderstood my words.

“Sorry, I, uh, wasn’t talking to you,” I said lamely, my face warming up.

Officer Randolph scowled. “You make a habit of talking to yourself, don’t you? You were in the parking lot a few days ago talking to yourself, too. I informed the office, but they obviously chose to ignore me.”

“You were seen?” Torin asked.

“Of course I was,” I said through clenched teeth. Once again, Officer Randolph assumed I was talking to him.

“Okay, young lady. That’s it. Let’s go.” He grabbed my arm and whipped me around.

Torin’s entire demeanor changed. Eyes flashed and more runes appeared along his neck. He reached inside his pants’ back pocket and pulled out a dagger. It was all black with the nastiest looking runes on its blade, and I knew he was going to attack the officer.

“Don’t,” I cried.

“He can’t treat you like that.” Torin moved fast. One second he was twirling the dagger, the next the tip of the blade skidded on the back of the officer’s hand. He moved back, and I saw the cuts. Instead of bleeding out, the blood disappeared into the wounds, leaving behind black runes. The officer didn’t even realize he had been marked. He was busy looking at me like I should be locked up in maximum security loony bin. Then his eyes became unfocused as though his thoughts were elsewhere. He let me go, hand dropping to his side. Then he turned and walked away.

I stared after him with wide eyes. “What did you do to him?”

“Marked him with forgetful runes.” Torin grinned.

“Forget what?”

“That he saw you. He’ll be okay in a few minutes. Will I see you later?”

I shook my head. “No. I need space to deal with… you and everything else.”

He studied me with narrowed eyes then nodded. He didn’t look happy, but he accepted my decision. The runes on his body glowed, and he disappeared through the door. Swallowing, I reached out and touched the door. My finger sank into the wood. I pulled my hand back, completely spooked, and took off.

Not only did I get a tardy, I missed a quiz.

C
ora dropped
her tray across from mine, sat, and demanded, “Start talking, missy, and do not leave anything out.”

“Talk about what?” I asked, praying she wasn’t talking about the closet and Torin. No one had seen us, other than the security guard.

“Jess Davenport. Did you really call her a skank and threaten to kick her butt from here to the Grand Canyon.”

My jaw dropped. “I did not.”

“I heard you called her an airhead,” Keith said.

“That I did.” Laughing, I looked up, and my eyes met with Jess’. She, Torin, and her entourage just entered the cafeteria. She clung to him like he was her lifeline and tried to kill me with her eyes again. Yeah, right back at you. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Torin.

“When did this happen?” Eirik asked.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s discuss something else. Did you get the e-mail Doc sent out about the meeting on Friday?”

The mood at our table changed. Cora nodded and stared at her plate. Eirik’s lips pressed into a straight line. Keith looked at us and frowned. “That’s the swim coach, right?”

“Yeah.” Eirik glanced at me. “I think the meeting is about Kate’s funeral. I heard it’s on Saturday. They have the first wake on Friday morning at ten and the second Saturday morning before the service.”

“Are you going?” Cora asked, looking at me with teary eyes.

I nodded. “Saturday for the wake and the funeral, unless Doc asks us to go as a team.”

“Eirik?” Cora asked.

He nodded. “I’m going on Saturday, too. I went through my photographs and found quite a few of her pictures. I might make a slideshow, burn it on a CD, and give it to her parents.” His gaze swung from me to Cora then back to me again, a slight flush on his cheeks. “I know they probably have home movies, but this will be different. You know, it will be something from the swim team.”

I squeezed Eirik’s hand. I didn’t know any guy who’d think of doing something that special for someone else, but that was Eirik. He was amazing. From the way Cora stared at him, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“I think we should use Movie Maker and add comments.” I glanced at Cora. “You’re good with the software.”

Cora grinned, her mood improving. “I can add fancy animation, zoom in and out, and make her the focus on every picture. You can add pithy captions, Raine.”

As the three of us discussed what we could do to make the presentation memorable, Keith cleared his throat and cut in. “What can I do to help?”

“Oh, we didn’t mean to leave you out,” Cora said, laying her head on his arm. “You can inspire us by feeding us. Since my parents still limit my computer time and I’ve been forced to abuse my poor cell phone, we can meet at…” She glanced at me then Eirik.

“My place,” I said. We hardly ever went to Eirik’s when his parents were around. “Should we start tonight?”

“I can’t,” Cora said. “My family is going to my aunt’s for dinner.”

“Tomorrow?” I asked, and everyone nodded. “Keith, do you still volunteer at the hospital?”

“Yeah.” He bit into his burrito, chewed, and swallowed. He washed it down with soda. “I’ll be there Friday after school and possibly on Saturday.”

“Do you know anyone in Records?”

“Yeah. Debbie. Why?”

“I’m trying to see my medical records, maybe find the identity of the nurses who took care of me in the ICU after I was born.”

“Your doctor should have your medical record on file, but if he doesn’t, come and see me on the first floor, Orthopedic Wing. I’ll take you to Debbie.”

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Cora asked. “What’s this about your birth record?”

“My mother said I was a preemie, and I want to thank the nurses who took care of me. I plan to nominate them for the Daisy Award.”

“What the heck is the Daisy Award?” Cora nudged Keith’s arm. “And who’s Debbie and why is she willing to help you?”

While Keith reassured Cora of his feelings, my gaze connected with Torin’s. I was desperate for answers he couldn’t give me. It didn’t matter how far I had to go to find them. Somebody somewhere must know if I miraculously recovered from a near fatal condition in the last seventeen years. It was the only explanation for the runes.

As soon as I got home that evening, I called Dr. Carmichael’s office. Her nurse wasn’t helpful. “I’m sorry, Miss Cooper. We don’t give out medical records to minors.”

“But these are my medical records. All I want is the name of the nurses who took care of me when I was born. I’m thinking of nominating them for the Daisy Award,” I added, hoping to wow her.