Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (96 page)

“Bet Loki loves that,” Aidan muttered.

“Why?”

“Because Fenrir is his son,” said Aidan with about the same emotion as if he’d just said the Earth was round.

“What?” I shook my head. Fenrir and Loki? Unbelievable. “I swear, if this is all a dream and I wake up back in Craven, I promise I’ll study harder at Norse mythology. Any mythology, in fact.”

Aidan laughed.

I lay back, staring at the ceiling, tracing the water stains that spread across it, marking irregular circles in a pattern from the doorway toward the bare light at the middle of the room. My eyes drifted closed and I was almost asleep, breathing so even... .

“What was it like?” Aidan’s voice entered my sleep haze.

“What was what like?” I mumbled, turning to him, pulling the covers over me.

“Seeing me dead by the stream.”

Damn you, Aidan!

I was just about asleep, and he had to go and ask me a question of paramount proportion. I sat up and looked straight at him. He lay on his stomach, propping his head onto folded arms. His eyes said the question was serious. Not a joke. Not a test.

I swallowed a sad and weary sigh. “It was a shock. I was so angry with you, first for leaving and then for coming back with your mob-men. But one look at your body and I forgot I was there to retrieve you. Forgot you would be okay. Fenrir had to give me a good shake and remind me what I was there to do.”

“Fenrir came with you?”

I nodded. “Every Valkyrie has an Ulfr to accompany her. It was too soon for me to have trained with one. So, as the General, and as my trainer, Fenrir came with me.” I lay back against my pillow. “I went to see Ms. Custer first. She told me you’d called and said you were coming, but you never arrived. I guess I found out why.”

“I remember being hit in the head. Then nothing.”

“They would’ve had to knock you out. You didn’t look like you put up much of a fight either.”

“So how did they kill me? I definitely remember pain in my head when I woke up in Valhalla.” Aidan fingered his forehead.

A frigid wave of shock washed through my blood. Aidan had no idea how he’d died. I wasn’t sure how to tell him. I decided to tell the whole story. He was a Warrior, after all. He could handle it.

“You were lying beneath the old bridge in the reserve behind the park. You had one foot in the stream and your eyes were open.” I swallowed as tears gathered in my throat. “You still had your black leather jacket on, but it was stained with mud and probably blood, too. I think I recognized it, but I didn’t pay any attention to it at first. Only when I got real close. They executed you, Aidan. A bullet in the middle of your forehead at close range.”

The tears fell and neither of us moved.

Aidan’s fingers still traced his forehead, now wrinkled with a frown, darkened with anger. He was so silent for a while I thought he wasn’t going to talk about it anymore. That the thought of his violent death was too difficult for him. But when he responded I was surprised.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said. “You know it was probably worse for you than for me. I felt nothing more than a thump on my head and then it was lights out for me. No pain. Nothing. Next thing I knew I was waking up in Valhalla. Feeling as if I’d drunk a whole bottle of whiskey.”

He rose, as if he was about to get up and come to me. Just the thought of him offering me comfort made me want to bawl my eyes out. I rolled over, turned my back to him, and burrowed under the covers. To hide the tears that slipped so quickly down my cheeks, hide the ripe emotion in my eyes.

I lay there, listening to him listening to me. It took us both forever to fall asleep. Much later, I heard the fluttering of wings and the rustle of the curtain as Hugin flew from the TV stand to the window, looking outside at who knows what.

When I finally slept, I dreamed of Loki and cruel laughter, and bright colored eyes. Of dead eyes and icy blood coating my hands. And of Freya, standing beautiful, perfect with her glowing circle of suns around her graceful neck.

T
he next afternoon
Aidan rose from a fitful sleep, with purpling bruises beneath his eyes and a tired, strained look pulling his face tight. But it was the faint bruise in the middle of his forehead that made my heart slam against my ribs. I contemplated telling him about the curse right then and there, before he could commit himself any further. But it wouldn’t be worth it. He’d just be forced to come with me, if only to save his own life. And he would hate me for it.

I gave him half a glass of Mead.

“Wow. Whatever is in this drink is potent.”

I glanced up at him as I zipped up my boots. “You feeling better, then?” I tightened the belt around my waist and slung the pack over my shoulder. Thankfully, with the wintry weather we didn’t stand out too much, all dark coats and boots.

“Absolutely. I feel brand new.” Aidan’s eyes shone. I silently kicked myself, certain I must have given him too much. The last thing we needed right now was for Aidan to be high on Mead.

“Come on then, Mr. Brand Spanking New. We have a museum to visit.” I grabbed his arm and pushed him out the door, smiling as he chuckled and made his way out.

We checked out, grabbed a bus into the city center, then another into New York. The rest had done us well. In body, if not in mind.

W
e lurked
around the park across the street from the museum until well after closing. I studied the old building, with its towering columns guarding the museum’s entrance, an impressive structure, built to awe those who passed over its threshold. Old stone meshed with modern architecture and landed on perfect.

Again, the back entrance was our route, and Aidan’s access cards still worked. The museum no doubt had no idea he’d “died.” We slipped into the darkened building, bypassing the alarmed museum area, making our way upstairs to the offices and cataloging rooms. We passed standard issue offices ensconced amid intricate architrave work, and beautiful old prints on the walls. Aidan knew his way around and led us to a room in the far corner of the floor.

Aidan made himself comfortable before the closest workstation, tapping away at the keyboard. Soon, a printer hummed in a corner by the window, and I went to gather the papers for him, stuffing them into a large plastic envelope.

The air conditioner would have shut off hours ago and the room was stuffy. I stood by the window, looking out at the thick darkness of the park, at the slight movement in the branches of the nearest tree where Hugin waited.

It was so dark outside that the window reflected my face back at me. A young woman stared back, one who looked unaffected by the trauma and the stress, and the guilt of the last few weeks. Was it the Valkyrie blood that made me this way? Strong in the face of adversity. Eyes still bright and alive, hair as hideously red as ever.

Aidan’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Right, got everything.”

“So what were you looking for?”

He rustled the envelope in his hand. “A report listing all the items found at the original dig site and another one, which is a catalog of everything the museum has in its collection.”

“So what happens if the rest of the necklace isn’t there?”

“Then we come back and have a look at another catalog.”

I folded my arms and frowned. “Isn’t that a bit of a risk, Aidan? Coming back here again? What if your access card has some kind of trigger to it and makes them keep an eye out for you, or it locks you out? You don’t know who your father knows here at the museum.”

“That’s it!” He waved a finger at me and tapped the keyboard some more.

“What’s
it
?”

He didn’t answer, merely scribbled furiously on a piece of paper. He rose and stuffed the paper into his pocket, logged off the system and shut it down. “Come, we’re done here.”

We headed out into the frigid night. And I breathed a sigh of relief. Every minute inside the museum had ticked by with the constant fear of being discovered.

W
e grabbed some takeout
, another tasteless meal in a long string of tasteless meals. We found a motel, much the same as the last one, and hunkered down for the night, eager to study the information Aidan had printed.

“So what were you looking for?” I asked, my voice a tad too sharp. I was annoyed with him for keeping his hunches close to his chest, like the information he’d scribbled on the piece of paper. He still hadn’t told me what that was.

“I needed a catalog of every item found at the dig where Brunhilde was uncovered,” he said. “And an inventory of the museum’s collection of artifacts from the burial site. Now all we need to do is check through the two lists, tick off what’s duplicated, and find what’s missing. The rest of the necklace must have been found in the grave. It must be where your father found your pendant.”

I thought it was unlikely the reports would say:
Brisingamen found. Brisingamen lost
. But I paid attention. He began to read off items off one list, while I ticked them off on the other. A long, tedious process, and a necessary one. I crossed off lines that sounded insignificant, like feather and stones and shards of pottery.

At last, he stopped calling out items and we had a small list of unmatched jewelry, adornments, clothing and weapons. We completed the checks and found what we were looking for.

Two neckpieces.

They were listed in the catalog, each marked with a note indicating they were no longer part of the collection. Aidan and I looked at each other, pretty satisfied with this development.

“Well, we know your dad had one. Now, to figure out who has the other item.”

“Do you think it could be the one Loki gave us?” I asked.

“No, I don’t. Unless the other piece was given to him by the museum or whoever had it in their possession.”

“Who do you think has it, then? What about the archaeologist who supervised the dig?”

“Exactly who I was thinking of.” Aidan nodded, then jumped off the bed to dig around in the pocket of his coat. He waved the paper at me and said, “This number should lead us directly to the Professor.”

I sighed. Relieved that we were making headway with our search. “You’re ringing her now? It’s almost three in the morning.”

But he was already picking up the phone and dialing, giving his head a tight shake as if a three a.m. phone call wouldn’t piss a sleepy Professor off. When his face crumpled I knew we’d hit a snag. “It’s a message. She’s on a dig in Greenland.”

“I don’t suppose the message said how long she will be away?” I should have known it was too good to be true.

“Her message said to ring her service and they will get in touch with her. But what the hell do I say to her to get her to ring me back?”

“Give me the phone. I have an idea,” I said.

I dialed the service and left my message. “Dr. Wayne, this is Bryn Halbrook, I need to talk to you about Brisingamen. This is extremely important—life and death.”

I cut the call and prepared to wait for a response. It would still be daylight for her in Greenland. The chances were slim that she would ring back in the next few hours. So I was shocked when the phone rang only two hours later as we were both finally falling asleep. I scrambled to answer it.

“Hello,” I said. I didn’t say my name. Things had become radically crazy in the last few weeks and the knowledge that we’d already been followed was never far from my mind. Aidan’s dad’s thugs could be tracking us right now.

The voice was female, with a clipped American accent. “Bryn Halbrook?”

“This is she.”

“This is Professor Wayne here. You left a message with my service?”

“Yes, I needed to speak to you, but it’s not something I can discuss over the phone.”

“I can understand that. But I can’t exactly take a cab to meet you. Can you charter a plane to get you here? I can’t leave the dig site. Part of the glacier has shifted and opened up a burial site. I can’t leave until the entire site has been processed.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have that kind of money.” I was appalled that she’d thought we could afford such an extravagance.

Her next words astonished me. “Sure you do, girl. You are Geoffrey’s daughter, are you not?”

“Yes, but—”

“Okay, I’ll arrange the flight for you. The charter will ring with the details. How long do you have?” She was all business, and yet a little vibration in her voice matched the shiver of fear running down my own back.

“Not much—a few days,” I answered, knowing she’d have no idea what the reason for the deadline was.

“That’s cutting it pretty close, but get here and we’ll see what we can do.”

We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I stared at the phone, aware that everything had just gone haywire. A charter plane to Greenland!

Hugin fluttered his dark wings and flew toward me. At first, I’d been uncomfortable with the bird, especially when he flew right at me to land on my shoulder. Now, all I did was watch him until he settled. He cocked his head and stared at me.

“What is it?” I asked.

For the first time, the enigmatic black bird spoke to me. I almost jumped out of my skin. “
There is a way for you to get there without using a mechanical transport
,” he said, his sensual baritone so unsuited to his placid eyes. Such sexy tones didn’t mesh well with the black-feathered raven.

“Which is?”

“The same method that you used to move from Asgard to your town of Craven.”

A
idan stared
at me and it took me few seconds to figure out he hadn’t heard a thing.
So only I could hear the bird speak? Just great.

I repeated Hugin’s suggestion to Aidan and we exchanged doubtful glances.

“Hugin, I have no idea how to do that. I’ve had someone from Asgard with me each time.”

Hugin cocked his head, his glassy eye staring straight at me. “
There are different worlds that exist. I believe you refer to them as dimensions. We can travel through these worlds too, using the Bifrost
.”

“Bifrost?” I asked, frowning.

“
Yes, the Bifrost. It is the Rainbow of the Gods. The bridge between the worlds
.”

“The room in Odin’s palace?”

“
That is one of the locations where the Bifrost sets down
.”

“What are these locations then?”

“
Places where the walls between the worlds are thinner and easier to traverse, where the bridge can reach through the worlds
.”

I raised my eyebrows, then filled Aidan in. “Right then, what do I need to do?” I asked.

“
Wait for me. I shall search out the nearest location and take you to it
.”

Hugin flew into the bathroom and pecked at the window. I rushed to open it for him, and out he went in a rush of flapping feathers.

A rainbow bridge between the worlds.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to believe such a farfetched concept, but the chink of chain armor reminded me that I was living in the middle of an ancient Norse myth. It was crazy and interesting and unbelievable all at the same time.

Hugin came back within a short space of time and beckoned us to follow. “It can’t be far since he got back so quickly. I’ll go with him,” I said, wanting Aidan to rest.

“No way I’m letting you go anywhere without me, especially at this hour.” He sat up, more pale and drained that he’d been yesterday morning. The curse was sapping more and more energy as the days went by. For a moment, he teetered on wobbly legs, then he slumped back onto the bed. “Okay, seems I don’t have the energy at the moment. Why can’t you wait until tomorrow?”

“We need to check it out as soon as possible, so we can plan our next move. I’ll be fine. Hugin will warn me of any danger and Fen’s trained me practically to death. I can take care of myself, you know.”

Aidan muttered and scowled, upset with me for going and with himself for being too weak to join me. I hoped he’d get over it.

Outside, the darkness fled from the sky as sunlight struggled to make its way through thick, angry snow clouds. I followed Hugin a few blocks into a dark alley. He came to rest on the edge of a putrid sky-blue dumpster and waited for me to catch up.

“This is it?” I asked the bird.

“
Yes. What did you expect it to be
?”

The Rainbow of the Gods touched down right beside a stinking dumpster. I wondered where it would land on the other side of our trip. Let’s hope we didn’t find ourselves trapped beneath frozen glaciers. We left the alley and went back to fetch Aidan.

The early morning air was icy cold and my breath circled my head, a white frozen mist. My footsteps echoed around the empty street. Soon the sound of a second set echoed in tandem to mine. I sped up and so did my stalker. Pausing, pretending to inspect the contents of a darkened pawnshop storefront, I scoped out the shape and size of my tail from the corner of my eye. The best way to deal with a stalker was direct confrontation—best performed when you have a sword strapped to your waist, of course.

I rounded on the person, coming up right in front of his face, only to discover it was a girl. Low-cut blouse, a skirt so short it might as well have been a pair of hot pants.
How come she wasn’t freezing to death?
I wanted to ask.

Aloud, I asked the more important question instead. “Why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you.” The woman’s eyes rounded, shocked at my confrontation, but I didn’t buy it. Something just didn’t sit right with this girl.

“What do you want?” She’d definitely been following me, and I intended to find out why. Too many things could go wrong. Who knew what Freya was up to, or whether she would send someone to keep an eye on us, to protect her investment? Everything about this girl looked ordinary at a glance. Pretty skin, dark hair, young enough for me to wonder if she was still in school. But I found it odd when she didn’t even shiver in the frigid weather. The edges of my eyes hazed, and for a moment my vision blurred.

The girl’s eyes swirled with color, an entrancing blue. Not your average eye color. Now where had I seen that before? My own eyes narrowed, studying her face, and I decided to go with my gut.

“Loki? What do you want?” I kept my voice raised, projecting confident knowledge where I was just guessing. But it was not just my confidence that destroyed his ruse. In that same instant Hugin cawed above me, flapping his wings and landing with a shudder on my shoulder.

“Hugin? What—” Loki stumbled backward, teetering on three-inch heels. Then the air changed, thickened. The girl slowly dissolved and disappeared. In her place, a pitch-black raven clawed the cold bare concrete.

Hugin cawed again from my shoulder. Clearly unhappy. “
Loki!
”

The Loki-raven disappeared in a puff of smoky shadows, and now a man stood before me. Not the visitor we’d received in the lab, though. This Loki was taller, more muscle-bound, almost wrestler material. Square jawed with large bright green eyes, he grinned from ear to ear.

“Mighty astute of you, my dear. For a girl,” Loki said. And he did look surprised. So what had he been used to, then—dimwitted, Mead-bearing subservients?

I looked askance at Hugin. “You could have been a little more help, you know.”

The darned bird just stared back at me, unperturbed.

“So, I see you have dear Hugin as a companion. A nice loan from Odin.” Loki nodded, but I could almost hear his mind working as he tried to figure out why I deserved the company of one of Odin’s precious birds.

“Yeah. He’s good company most of the time,” I said.” Now what do you want? We still have three days left before we have to give you an answer.”

“Yes, yes. I know that.” Loki’s eyes brushed my response away, but his annoyance was visible in the tight line of his mouth and the rigid set of his shoulders. “I’ve just popped in to make sure you’re both making some headway.”

“So, you mean you’re spying on us?” I raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure Freya didn’t send you?”

Loki’s eyes swirled a liquid gold.

“Three days, Loki, that’s all we asked for. Now, if there’s nothing specific you want, I need to get back to Aidan.” I turned on my heel and began to walk away, not daring to release my pent-up breath. Loki would pounce on the first sign of weakness.

“Have you told him yet?” Loki’s disembodied voice hovered before me, accompanied in a rush by the rest of his bulk, to successfully block my escape. I wasn’t sure what the punishment was for knocking out a god, so I flared my fingers and held my hand stiffly by my side. At last he’d revealed what he’d really come for. To prey on my guilt.

I frowned, hoping to pull off a credible puzzled expression; I was never a good actor. “Told who what?”

“Don’t pretend, my dear. Have you told your boyfriend that his life will soon begin to slip away, and that unless you accept my help this whole mission will take far too long and he may just die in the process?” Loki smirked.

Pure anger rose within me, heating my blood. It was a battle to hold onto my urge to hit him. I’d never been a violent person. Never had the slightest urge to raise my hand and hit or hurt someone just because of how I felt. But looking at Loki and his gleaming eyes, a fury burned inside of me the likes of which I’d never known.

“We said we needed three days and we still do. Come back when the time is up and we’ll probably take up your offer. For now, please leave us alone.” We could do without this sort of distraction, without Loki haunting me with his insinuations.

“Three days.” Loki flashed pearly white teeth that were no doubt some kind of mirage. His once-blue eyes shifted to a startling shade of green. “And if you don’t agree to take my offer, then I’ll be forced to tell your beloved the truth about the limited extent of his life.”

I glared at Loki, whose eyes were now solid black, probably reflecting the color of his putrid soul.

“Three days and I will tell Aidan he is soon going to die,” he repeated.

As if he needed to speak twice.

I
shivered
as I shut the door on both the bone-chilling cold and Loki’s words. But the cold was easy to shut out. Not so with Loki. His threat rang inside my skull, sharp and insistent. Aidan looked up as I entered and frowned at the worried creases in my brow. I’d need to be more careful with my fears.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Nothing, it’s just freezing outside and it looks like snow. Hugin showed me the place, so we can leave as soon as you’re ready.” I didn’t need to fake the shiver that ran through me.

“We should cancel the charter first, though.”

“We can’t sit around and wait for them to call. I was hoping we could leave now.” I was eager to be out of there, as far from Loki as possible.

“Yeah. You’re right. The charter wouldn’t be able to reach us to confirm anything. Besides, we’ll get to Professor Wayne in no time. She could cancel the charter when we get there.”

I nodded, gathering our stuff and scanning the room, wondering if we were about to shock the life out of the poor professor. She didn’t sound like the wilting wallflower type, but she would have a lot of questions for us.

And boy did we have some myth-busting answers for her.