Demon Crossings (9 page)

He pushed off from the door and readjusted his still throbbing, still rigid cock, grit his teeth and started up the stairs. Another cold shower. Another sleepless night. And tomorrow he would try to convince her to help him find Hallie despite her hurt and despite the risks.

What had happened tonight with Grace shocked the hell out of him.

But he couldn’t change it. He didn’t want to change it, damn it. All he wanted was more.

The stair gave him away. He moved lightly but every time he hit that one floorboard, it creaked a warning. Last night, she hadn’t been able to sleep for longer than an hour at a stretch. By four, she was sick of staring at the clock and gave up, went downstairs and sat on the porch watching the sunrise, reassured by the fact that this new day could not possibly be worse than the last. Now it was time to face Aiden and she was back to questioning that assumption.

“How long ago did she disappear?” Grace asked without turning around. She couldn’t look at him yet, not without thinking about how shamelessly she’d thrown herself at him. How easily he’d turned her down. Instead, she stared at the little girl in the picture and tried to remind herself what she was really doing here. Grace wondered if Hallie had been training even then to join her father on the hunt. She wondered what had happened to Hallie’s mother too. She’d found another picture on the table beside the window of a younger Aiden, grinning boyishly, with his arm wrapped around a beautiful, blonde pregnant woman.

“A year ago,” he answered, moving closer. “But time passes differently there. In Asgard, it might only have been hours or days.”

Grace turned around and wished she hadn’t when she caught the bleak look in Aiden’s eyes as he stared at the picture. “And all this time you thought she was dead?”

He reached up and touched the picture, adjusting the angle. That frame was the one thing on the mantel that didn’t have any dust on it. “I was teaching her to ride. There hadn’t been a surge for days and the fault had been stable for years, predictable as the sunrise. We were out on the trail that goes around the lake and Hallie was doing great. It should have been safe. She’d gotten a little ahead of me, showing off, and the demon came out of nowhere, killing the horse out from under her. Another one grabbed her from the saddle and took off. I killed the group that swarmed me but by the time I reached the portal, it was too late.” He looked at Grace and whatever he saw on her face made him flinch. “Hallie was born to be a huntsman. Everyone has a role to fulfill. It’s part of the magic that allows us to live here, that binds us together and to Asgard. She needed to be trained.”

“I didn’t accuse you of anything.”

“Didn’t need to.” He glanced back at the picture before crossing the room. “Sit. You look ready to drop. Didn’t you get any sleep?”

“Not much.” She gathered her courage and sat down next to him on the couch, riding out the flush of awareness that came with the proximity of his body. They were adults. They could forget about the sex and still work together.

He touched her leg, withdrew his hand when she startled. “I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t talking about sleep deprivation. She’d gotten so good at playing normal, at keeping people out, but he could see right through her. She made a noise somewhere between acceptance and denial. He took the hint and changed the subject. “You’re a Norn, by the way.”

“What?”

“Hallie was…is a Huntsman and you’re a Norn. One of the fates. That would have been your role if you’d been born here. Verthandi to be specific. You see people in their present state. What is happening to them at that moment. It’s a rare calling. Rarer still that you’ve honed your gift to be able to pinpoint location.”

She stared at him for a moment while that sank in. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse. “There are other people like me?”

He leaned back, stretching his arm out behind her. “There’s an Urth in Montana. A Norn, like you. But she sees the past, not the present.”

“I want to meet her,” Grace said before thinking it through. She shouldn’t allow herself to be drawn deeper into Aiden’s world, not if she wanted to have a chance of getting out again. But she never thought she’d have the opportunity to meet someone like her.

“I’ll see if I can arrange it.” He paused and caught her gaze. “If you’d been born here, we would have celebrated for days.”

She blinked and nodded. It hurt to even imagine growing up surrounded by people who would welcome her as she was.

“There are seven clans in America, mostly in isolated areas like our own,” Aiden continued. “You could have come from any one of them. Do you know where your parents were from?”

“My mother was born in Pennsylvania. I’m not sure about my father but I know they didn’t grow up together.”

“There’s a clan in Pennsylvania.” He let it hang there as an invitation.

“Please, don’t pursue it. Not for my sake.”

He inclined his head. “It takes a great deal of mental strength to survive away from a fault line for any length of time. We’re like fish out of water. The physical environment here is a good match but the psychic environment is different.” She raised her eyebrows at that but he just smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know how else to explain it. Humans are different and they’re connected to their world in a way even they don’t understand yet. If a human were to live in Asgard away from a portal connecting them to earth, they would suffer too. It’s just…you retain a connection to your world. Near the portal, near a fault, you’re still anchored to that reality. Away from it, the lines blur. I don’t know how you survived it for so long without any trouble.”

Grace opened her mouth, glanced over at Aiden still looking at her with a soft cast to his eyes and another slice of pain twisted deep inside of her. She couldn’t tell him about that time in her life. To learn that it hadn’t had to be that way nearly choked her with rage. She averted her gaze.
Not yet. Not yet.

“Maybe.” She cleared her throat. “Is there a fault line in St. Louis?”

“The closest I know of is in the Ozarks.”

“Oh.”

“The Æsir with human ancestors survive longer. That’s probably what your parents were. They might not even have known about us, and it wouldn’t have been a problem if they weren’t both of Æsir descent. And, of course, if they hadn’t made you.”

She nodded, not really interested in talking genetics or about her parents. He was right about one thing though. They’d both died young. “I’m still not sure I buy it, that I’m one of you.”

“Part human and part Æsir. We’ll have to find your limits. I spoke with the clan witch yesterday and even then she could feel your energy. She’s the one who identified you as a Norn. She’ll be here in a little while to make the confirmation.”

With every passing minute, it was becoming more of a reality. She’d killed a fire demon. Ridden with the Wild Hunt. Today, she would consult a witch. And then, there was Asgard.

“What’s it really like over there?”

“It’s a wasteland,” he said harshly. “Cold. Dark. The demons live underground for the most part. They only come out when they feel the pull of the portal but then they swarm.”

She stared at him, at the grim expression on his face, at the way the pupils in his pale eyes dilated as if he was in pain. Aiden hid a well of hurt and fear deep inside. She could feel it buffeting at her shields. Even without her gift, she could see its mark on him. The morning sun harsh on his face, highlighting every crease and wrinkle. The silence stretched out and she knew he was imagining his daughter in that place.

She found her gaze drawn back to Hallie’s picture. So young. She knew exactly how it felt to be young, scared and abandoned. And how much worse was Hallie’s situation than her own had been? At least in the hospital, her physical needs had been tended to.

Every time her mind touched the connection to Hallie, Grace got that jolt of electric terror, an adrenaline surge that told her to start running. She’d never backed down from anything in her life and had no intention of doing that now. Not because she was scared. Not because she still half suspected she might be crazy. And not because she was humiliated that Aiden had mustered up enough pity to get her off last night but not enough to fuck her like she’d begged him to.

“Well now, look at the two of you. All grim and deathly silent.” Fen leaned against the jamb, coffee mug in hand. “Like an old married couple contemplating a murder-suicide. Mind if we watch?”

“We?” Aiden asked.

Fen tipped his head toward the door. “Rane’s out checking the horses. You know how she is—she didn’t like you riding double last night. Elin’s driving in with Christian but I think they were planning to stop at the store for food. Just as well, you’ve got nothing but a few pieces of old pizza and a jar of pickles in the fridge. You’d think a farmer would have something to eat.” His attention shifted to Grace. “Have fun last night?”

“Not even a little,” she said. And then blushed at the ill-timed memory of Aiden’s mouth between her thighs.

Fen grinned through the steam rising from his cup. “Well, at least you didn’t puke this time. That’s an improvement.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “How would do you even know that? You weren’t there.”

“I was.”

Fen looked at Aiden, who shrugged. “I haven’t had a chance to tell her everything. I didn’t want to overwhelm her.”

Grace fought a flash of panic. She caught the warning look Aiden shot at Fen and the flush that crept up his neck. “What else don’t I know?”

“Hundreds of things, thousands, but someone should have told you the basics by now,” Rane said, walking in on the last part of the conversation. She sat on the couch, shaking her head at Aiden. “It’s like a Band-Aid, you just have to jerk it off.” Fen snorted and she rolled her eyes at him. “Ha-ha. I said jerk it off. Are you twelve?”

Fen pushed off the wall and moved further into the room but he still didn’t sit down. “Most men don’t outgrow that kind of humor, they just learn to hide it.”

Rane smirked. “You’ve always been slow.”

Fen tossed a pillow at her which she caught and tucked behind her back. Grace only half paid attention to them, keeping her eyes fixed on Aiden. “What else do I need to know?”

He rubbed at his jaw and then pointed at Fen. “Fen is short for Fenris. Ring any bells?”

Fen grinned at her, a big toothy smile that made her nervous. “Fenrisúlfr,” she said. “The monstrous wolf bound until Ragnarok.
You’re
the god-slayer?”

He laughed. “Not me personally, no. Fenris is my last name, a family name. Try to think of it more as a title than a person.”

She looked to Aiden for confirmation, sure Fen was pulling her leg, but Aiden’s expression was closed off again. “You expect me to believe he’s a wolf.”

Aiden opened his hands. “After everything you’ve seen, is it really so hard to believe? Not quite a wolf, though the old stories are nearer the truth than any other. We’ve always called them hounds.”

She rubbed at her forehead just below her stitches, which were beginning to itch. She looked over at Rane. “And you—what’s your role in all this?”

“Think about it for a while. It’ll come to you.”

Grace scowled. “What happened to your Band-Aid theory?”

Rane’s smile kicked up a dimple and she lifted her chin. “I’m sorry about your cheek.”

Grace touched her fingertips to a thin paper cut-like scratch under her eye. It had stung in the shower but otherwise, she’d forgotten all about it. The crow. There had been two of them. “I don’t believe it.”

“See, we’re already back to square one with her,” Fen said. “She wasn’t raised clan and she’ll never—”

Rane cut him off. “I thought we agreed to wait until Christian got here.”

Fen shook his head. “You’re as bad as your sister.”

Before Rane could answer, Elin and Christian walked in carrying a big cardboard box and a few grocery bags between them. Already, there were too many people for Grace to feel comfortable. She hated crowds. They were hard on her shields and even after all these years it took concentration to act normal, to make sure she didn’t do or say anything too strange. Already, it was overwhelming and she could hear another car on the drive.

Aiden set his mug down on the table and got up to take Elin’s bags. Grace saw him say something to Christian. Christian’s eyes narrowed and that slow, sly smile spread across his face before he answered, but they spoke too low for her to hear. They moved off into the kitchen and Fen followed. Elin sat next to her sister and handed her an oversized travel mug. Rane lifted it. “Chai. If you want some, I’ll grab a mug and we can share. I hardly ever finish the whole thing.”

“No thank you. I’ll stick with the coffee.”

The sisters exchanged a glance and Elin leaned forward. “The ones who came running today are against the idea but we want you to know that we’ll support you whatever you decide. Most of the town will stand behind Aiden and he won’t force you into anything. We’ll make sure of that.”

Rane winced. “He didn’t even ask her yet.”

Elin’s eyes widened and she pulled back. “What have they been doing all morning?”

Rane laughed. “Not talking apparently.”

“Oh.” Elin blinked. “Oh. Well, that was fast. Aiden’s not usually—”

Grace was fine with letting them believe whatever they wanted to believe. She didn’t have time to convince them otherwise and needed to know what was going on. “What decision are you talking about?”

“About his daughter. You told him last night that she was still alive.”

“Yes.”

“And you found Maia…”

She thought she understood. “I told Aiden that I would help him find Hallie and I meant it. Even if he hadn’t asked, I was already planning to try. I have to…”

She trailed off when she realized the house had gone silent. The men had been clattering around in the kitchen, banging cabinets and arguing in low voices. When she looked toward the hallway, Aiden was standing there staring at her. Christian was beside him, the smile gone from his face which left him looking nearly as hard as Aiden. Fen fiddled with his mug.

Elin reached out and grabbed onto Grace’s hands, squeezing tight. “Good. I was hoping you would decide to stay on with us.”

Stay. Grace glanced at Aiden then back at Elin but before she could ask her to explain what she meant, before anyone could say anything else, the front door opened and a half dozen new people poured inside without bothering to knock. An elderly couple, two young men who looked to be about the same age as the twins, a middle-aged woman with a distinct maternal air about her and a balding man that reminded Grace of her junior high school gym teacher. Maybe it was the way he looked at her, dismissively, his lips pursed in disapproval. Other than that one frown and a few curious glances, they ignored her and made a beeline for Aiden. They all started talking at the same time.