Circus of The Darned (5 page)

to tackle her.

"No, Fran, you must leave—"

Suddenly, the huldra whipped her head around just as I was getting ready to spring and veered

to avoid my tackle. Instead, she jumped up onto the dirt mound with me, my purse clutched in

one hand, the other outstretched like she was going to push me backward into the cleared area.

The ground beneath my feet evidently objected to having two people on it, because it simply

gave away beneath us, sending both the huldra and me falling backward into the excavation—

and the
blot
circle.

My body broke the circle and I hit the ground hard, right at Imogen's feet. The huldra landed

next to me. The impact had knocked the air out of both of us. A loud noise shook the ground like an earthquake. I ignored it as I threw myself on the huldra, yanking my purse from her hand. She snarled something at me in Swedish that I was willing to bet wasn't polite at all.

"
Luspudlar
!"I shot at her, the worst thing I'd learned to say so far (it meant lice-ridden poodle). I spat out a bit of earth, pushing my hair back from my eyes so I could add a glare that would

teach her to mess with me."No, son of a
luspudel
… holy bullfrogs!"

Around us, silence fell. Not a normal silence, the kind you get when a dozen or so people all

decked out in robes and fringed dresses stand around the middle of the night sacrificing mead,

but a heavy silence.A stunned silence.A silence that pretty much says, "Hey now! Something is seriously wrong here!"

Are you all right
? Ben asked, sticking out a hand to pull me up.

Yeah.
Or maybe not.
Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?

To the left, Tibolt sank to the ground, his head in his hands as he moaned something

unintelligible.

That depends
, Ben answered, his fingers tightening around mine. The huldra shrieked and ran off into the night. No one paid her any attention.
Are you talking about the
blot,
the fact that you
scraped your wrist on a rock when you fell, or the Viking ghosts that just materialized around us

?

Chapter Four

"It is the valknut," Tibolt moaned as we all stood around, stunned. The
blot
people—about five of them—had broken the circular formation and were now huddled together in a group.

Surrounding all of us were about a dozen men, all wearing basically nothing but leather and cloth

leggings, each one carrying a really big sword. None had on a silly horned helmet (Mikaela told me later real Vikings didn't wear them), but I knew without anyone saying anything that we were looking at real Vikings—or rather,
dead
real Vikings. Viking ghosts, probably the guys who had died at this site.

To be honest, they looked as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

"I told you it had the power to raise the dead. That is why I gave it to you to wear tonight—to keep it from the power of the
blot
."

"Oh, the pendant?"I pulled it out of my shirt, absently noticing that it felt three times heavier than normal. "You said it had something to do with the Fates, not that it was going to do a Viking zombie sort of thing."

The nearest Viking strolled over and peered at the pendant. Ben moved to stand next to me, a

protective gesture that simultaneously warmed my heart and annoyed me. "Ah.
Vikingahärta
,"

the Viking said, nodding, then turned to his fellow ghosts and yelled something that had them all screaming like banshees.

"What the heck is that?" Iasked, scooching closer to Ben. He wrapped an arm around my waist. I didn't protest at all, not with a dozen screaming Viking ghosts standing around.

"I think it's their war cry," Ben answered.

"They are happy to be resurrected," Tibolt said, finally looking up. "They are calling to Tyr, the god of war. It's all over now."

"All over?What is all over?" Imogen asked, looking worried. "I don't understand what has happened here. Why are there ghosts? What has Fran's necklace to do with it? And why are they

shouting '
holle, holle'
at her?"

I was about to ask that last question myself. The Viking who had checked out the valknut was

back in front of me, raising his sword in the air as helead a chant.

"Holle was the goddess of the dead," Tibolt said, getting to his feet. His shoulders sagged, like he was tired, and for the first time since I'd met him, he didn't seem to hold the same attraction for me. I wondered if his glamour, or whatever it is he'd been using had worn off, or if the

pendant had something to do with it. "She is the daughter of Loki. The valknut, combined with the power invoked by the
blot
is what raised them. What has happened here is unfortunate—I had hoped to avoid this outcome, since he is near. But what's done is done."

"Um… where are you going?" I asked as he gathered up a small leather bag and started to walk away. The other
blotters
did likewise, although they also shot confused little looks between Tibolt and the Vikings. "Are you going to get something to put these ghosts back?"

"No," he answered without even turning his head. "I do not have the means to do that."

"Who does?" Ben called out after him. Imogen moved over to stand next to us, eyeing the Vikings as if they were aliens.

"The master," Tibolt said,then he and the blotters disappeared into the woods, leaving the three of us surrounded by Viking ghosts.

"Master?What master?" Imogen asked, frowning slightly.

"Anyone who calls himself the master can't be good," Ben said, eyeing the ghosts. "But that's a moot point since he's not here, and we are. I suppose we should leave as well."

"And do what?" I asked, waving my hand toward them. "Just leave them here yelling and stuff?

Ben, they're ghosts! The dig crew is going to get here in the morning and find ghosts wandering around their site. You think no one is going to notice that?"

He sighed, his mind a soft touch against mine.
It is none of our concern
.

Yes, it is. I'm evidently the one who brought them back.

"It was not intentional," he argued, pulling me after him as he started to leave the dig site.

"That doesn't matter, I still—"

"You are leaving, Holle?" a voice asked from behind us. We spun around staring at the big Viking who had been next to me. "We just arrived. Why are you leaving us?"

"You speak English?" I asked, stunned, my feet coming to a halt.

"Of course.We have not much else to do over the centuries but watch the visitors and learn their languages." The Viking frowned. "I am Eirik Redblood. These are my men, my family,my

brothers. Who do you wish for us to slaughter?"

"Slaughter?"I asked, the word coming out like a squeak."No one!"

"Begone, spirit," Ben said, waving his hand toward Eirik. "We have no need of you in this place."

The Vikings all burst into laughter, a couple of them doubling over and wiping their eyes. Ben's eyebrows pulled together in a puzzled frown as he watched them. He lifted his hand toward them

again, making the same waving gesture. "I command you to leave now."

That made the Vikings laugh even harder.

"Uh-oh," I said, peeking at Ben from the corner of my eye. He didn't look happy.
Was that little
hand thingie supposed to do something
?

Yes.

Oops.

Eirik stalked over toward us, lifting his sword so the tip was almost touching Ben's throat. "You have no powers over us.Dark One. Not here, in the land that is soaked with our blood."

"OK. Time for us to leave, I think," I said, stepping backward carefully, tugging at the back of Ben's jacket. He didn't move, of course."Um, Ben? Let's go."

"I will stay here until you and Imogen are safely away," he answered in his macho guy voice. I almost rolled my eyes, but didn't because there is a time and place for eye rolling, and doing it while a big, bad Viking ghost holds a sword to your boyfriend's neck isn't one of them.

Eirik's blue eyes eyes narrowed as he looked at me. "You know this Dark One, Holle?"

"My name isn't Holly, it's Fran, and yes, I know him. He's… er… he's my…"

His eyes narrowed further. "Does he hold you prisoner?"

"Stay back, Fran," Ben said, moving slightly to the side to block Eirik's view of me.

"No," I said on a sigh, answering both Ben and Eirik's question with one word as I let go of Ben's jacket and stood beside him. "No, he doesn't hold me prisoner, and no, I'm not going to stay back. Ben is my boyfriend, OK? Now please move your sword. It's making me really

nervous."

To my surprise, Eirik did as I asked."By your will, Holle. Who would you have us destroy, if not this Dark One?The female?"

Imogen, who had been watching everything silently, gasped, her silver eyes flashing at him. "I would like to see you try!"

"Why do you keep asking me who I want destroyed?" I asked. "And why do insist on calling me Holle? I'm not the goddess of death, or whoever Tibolt said she was. My name is Fran, I work

for the GothFaire, and Ben and Imogen are my friends."

"You raised us, so we
are
yours to command, oh mighty goddess Fran," Eirik said, dropping to one knee. "We are bound to you until you call the Valkyries to take us toValhalla ."

"Just when I thought my life couldn't get any weirder," I muttered.

"Other than the rude one who offered to kill me, I think they're rather charming," Imogen said, smiling at a half-naked Viking ghost. To my surprise, he smiled back at her.

Any ideas on what I should do to get rid of them
? I asked Ben.

None, I'm afraid
, he answered with a puzzled look on his face.
Ghosts are out of my range of
experience. Most likely the best thing to do is ask them
. "How does Fran release you?" he asked Eirik.

Eirik's nostrils flared as he looked Ben over from head to toe. Ben wasn't as big and bulky as

Eirik, but he wasn't a skinny little nothing, either. Beside me, all his muscles tensed like he was going to fling himself forward.

"You are mated to the goddess?" the Viking asked.

"Yes," Ben said without even a second's delay.

"Whoa! We are not mated!" I said, giving him a glare. "All I've done iskiss you!"

Eirik's eyes lit up as he took a step forward. "You are not mated to the Dark One? Good. I have always desired to rut with a goddess."

"Rut?"I asked, holding my ground even though Eirik took another step toward me, because I didn't let anyone intimidate me. Ben's arm tightened around my waist.

"Swive," Eirik said, with a smile that made it pretty darn clear just what he was talking about.

"Oh,
that
mated! Silly me! Yes, yes we are. Ben and I, that is. We're
so
mated, like every night.

Sometimes four or five times a night," I said, figuring more was better where that sort of thing was concerned. Ben I knew I could trust—with Eirik I wasn't really so sure.

"I'm not mated to anyone," Imogen said, smiling again at the Viking behind Eirik.

"Imogen!"Ben growled. "Behave yourself. They are ghosts."

"Yes, but such cute ones. Are you corporeal?" She walked forward and put her hand out toward the hottie Viking's chest. To my surprise, her hand didn't go whipping through him. Instead it

stopped and rested on his bare chest. Imogen gave a little squeal of delight. "You are!How exciting!"

Ben swore under his breath. I pinched his hand to remind him that Imogen was not going to be

happy if he made a fuss about whom she dated. "You didn't answer my question, Viking. How

does Fran release you?"

Eirik looked at me. "I will answer him because he is mated to you, but if you change your mind about him at any time, I will be happy to—"

"Thanks," I said quickly, figuring we were all going to be happier if he didn't finish that sentence."About the releasing thing?"

He shrugged. "You are agoddess, you must know best how to do that."

"But I'm not a goddess," I protested.

"You bear the
Vikingahärta
, and you called us to rise. Only a goddess could do such a thing," he insisted.

Great.Now what do I do? I'm so not a goddess.

"You don't know how she can release you?" Ben asked as I gave a mental groan.

"No," Eirik answered, looking slightly bored. "We are warriors, Vikings, children of the gods—

not the gods themselves. Such things are no concern of ours."

Clearly the answer lies in the pendant
, Ben said.
The blond man said earlier that it was
responsible for raising the ghosts
—
perhaps if we knew more about it, we could discover how to
use it to release the ghosts
.

Good idea. I'll ask Tibolt.

"What
are
your concerns?" Imogenasked, her voice silky as she stroked the Viking's chest.

"War!"Eirik shouted.

"Pillage!" another one answered.

"Women," the ghost Imogen was touching said in a near purr. They smiled again at each other.

"Oh, for Christ's sake—" Ben muttered to himself.

Would you like me to touch your chest like that
? I asked him, watching Imogen as she murmured in the Viking's ear. He laughed and leaned down to whisper in her ear as well.

Ben's eyes, normally a delicious brown with gold and black flecks in them, went the color of

honey oak.
Sweetheart, that would lead to us really being mated, which would mean we were

Joined. And I don't think you're ready for that yet
.

Gotcha.No chest touchies.

A little sigh of unhappiness swept through him, but he cut it off before I could say anything.

"Let's go find this Tibolt."

"OK," I said, turning toward the camp, but Ben didn't follow me like I expected. Instead he and Eirikwere toe-to-toe. "What now?"

"He was going with you," Ben growled, doing the macho bit I was starting to think he really loved. I sighed to myself. That was one of the things we had yet to work out, but I figured right then was not the time to do it.