Green Tea and Black Death (The Godhunter, Book 5) (19 page)

   “
You had your fun,” I frowned at her around Trevor's shoulder. “You made your point and I got it, I understand. Trevor is precious to me and I need to treat him as such. I get the family loyalty thing and I'd be pissed if someone treated my nephew badly too but I think I've proved that I
am
his mate and I do love him. I came into Helheim to get him after all. Now keep your word and let him go.”

   “
Fine,” she waved her long black arm at us. “Go, leave here and never return again, Godhunter. You are no longer welcome.”

   “
Thank you for your hospitality, Aunt,” Trevor went to her and kissed her white cheek, then her black. “I love you, despite how rude you're being to my mate.”

   “
Oh, VeulfR,” she stroked his cheek gently. “You have so much of your father in you. Tell my brother I miss him and I hope he fares well.”

   “
I will, Lady Hel, and fare you well,” he smiled and returned to me, to take my hand and lead me from Hel's hall with the Angel of Death as our rear guard.

  
The trees shivered as we passed, the tinkling sounding like warning bells in my ears. I peered from side to side, wondering where the attack would come from, utterly trusting my instincts that there would be one. Yet nothing leaped through the strange forest, nothing stalked us through the icy dark. The attack, when it came, was from the back.

  
A moaning scream was all the warning we had that Balder was flying at us from behind. It wasn't the most thought out move, nor the best idea on his part, as he had to go through Azrael to get to either me or Trevor. As it happened, Azrael was an excellent rear guard, especially in the case of an attacking dead man.

  
All I saw was a flash of Balder's enraged face a second before Azrael's impressive wingspan obliterated it from view. I heard a thunderous crack and though Azrael barely moved an inch, when he lowered his wings, Balder was laying sprawled against the dais steps.

   “
You having a problem controlling your wards, Hel?” Azrael appeared completely unfazed as he looked over his shoulder at Hel. “I hate to infringe on your territory but he did attack me.”

   “
I will handle this,” she said as she lifted a hand towards Balder. Balder's body lifted limply in the air and started to spin. He twisted and lengthened, his limbs extending and multiplying. His torso became a trunk, his legs roots, and his arms were branches. A shiny, new tree was lining the path.

   “
Holy fuck,” I whispered. As I watched, frost started to coat its limbs and then ice.

  
The rustling of Azrael's wings broke the stunned silence and set us on a forward path once more. I was practically running by the time we hit the front door and began our trek through the city. Hel may not be a fiery inferno but it sure was creepy and deadly in a very Tim Burton way. I couldn't wait to leave.

  
As we walked through the twisting streets, the dead pulled back, gazing at us with wide eyes. Evidently, it was one thing to watch the living enter Hel's Halls but it was quite another to watch them leave. Azrael's wings were unfolded behind him, a banner basically shouting to the denizens that fucking with us would be a very bad idea. After all, we hadn't just made it through Hel's presence to be killed by one of the dead.

   “
Are we walking home?” Trevor was still holding my hand and it was amazing how that simple touch revived us both.

   “
Do you care?” I smiled up at him and had a blissful moment of pure happiness. Nothing mattered but his hand in mine, his heart finally belonging to me again.

   “
Not really,” he laughed and it was his free laugh, the laugh that showed his wild werewolf soul. It was so wondrous, it stopped me in my tracks and I felt my eyes water. “Minn Elska,” Trevor took my face in his hands.

   “
You deserve so much better than me,” I whispered, blinking furiously.

   “
No,” I watched him swallow convulsively. “What I deserve is you... behaving better.”

   “
I'll try my best,” I saw Azrael turn away, his wings lifted to give us a modicum of privacy and I had a fleeting moment to appreciate this new man in my life. My own personal angel. Then I was back to my returned wolf and the weight of my life fell on me.

   “
Don't,” Trevor must have seen my despair. “Don't do that. We will make it work. We have to because I learned something down here.”

   “
That the only way to escape me is to go to Hel?” I smiled sardonically.

   “
No,” he kissed the tip of my nose. “I learned that I may be physically able to exist without you but I'm not able to
live
without you. Without you, life is not life, it's a pale imitation, like drinking a nasty diet drink when all you want is the strong and sweet bite of the real thing.”

   “
So I'm the real thing?” I smiled more enthusiastically at him

   “
You're the only thing, Minn Elska,” he pulled me closer, “you're my everything.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

   “So you wanna tell me who this guy with the bulletproof wings is,” Trevor raised a brow at me, “and why he's helping me break out of Niflheim?”

   “
Trevor, this is Azrael, the Angel of Death,” I said as I pulled the coat we'd brought for Trevor out of the bag and handed it to him. “Az, this is my alpha, VéulfR, Firstborn son of Fenrir, but you can call him Trevor.”

   “
Nice to meet you,” he shook Azrael's hand before shrugging on the coat.

   “
You too, Wolf Prince,” Az looked back over our shoulders and frowned, “but I think we should save pleasantries and explanations for later. Hel may have granted me safe passage here but she said nothing of the return trip.”

   “
Right,” Trevor glanced over his shoulder before grabbing my hand and breaking into a run.

  
Gray people shot out of our way, pulling back in surprise and fascination. We clamored down the dark streets, me and Trevor in the lead with Azrael once again watching our backs. We made it through the city gates without incident and soon we were running over snow and ice, having to slow a little to prevent falling.

  
The city of the dead was far behind us and we were making a nice headway when I started to relax. We actually slowed down to a walk and were able to catch our breaths. Even gods can't run forever.

  
The mist swirled around our feet, some of it even trailing up my body like it was sentient and trying to make contact. My heaving breath formed a mist of its own and the fog of Niflheim snaked around it before consuming it and assimilating my breath into Hell.

  
The we heard the howl.

   “
What the hell is that?” My head shot back around.

   “
Exactly,” Azrael looked grim.

   “
It's Garm,” Trevor actually looked surprised. “She's sent her hell hound after us. Why would she do that?”

   “
Maybe because she really doesn't want you to leave?” I looked back and forth between the men. “Do we fight or run?”

   “
Run,” they said simultaneously.

  
So we ran, and ran, and ran with that horrible howling chasing us. The running actually helped with the cold a bit. What it didn't help with was breathing. I finally stopped in my tracks, bending over double with my hands on my knees. The men came back to guard me, they were breathing heavily too so I didn't feel so bad.

  
Another howl echoed off the pale mountains surrounding us, making it impossible to judge which direction it was coming from.

   “
There,” Azrael point to a large, ice covered hill.

  
He took one of my arms while Trevor took the other and they ran me over to the cover. There were smaller rocks in front of the hill, big enough for us to duck behind. When we got nestled in though, we discovered a deep hole in the hillside, large enough for the three of us. We scampered in, Azrael coming in last and unfurling his wings to shield the door.

   “
Won't he smell us?” I whispered.

   “
Not beyond my wings,” Az winked at me like it was all a great adventure for him.

   “
Oh, okay then,” I leaned back into Trevor and he wrapped his arms around me, allowing me to get comfortable enough to rest a little.

  
I ended up staring at Azrael for a couple of reasons. First, it was too difficult to twist my head around to look at Trevor and second, the hole was pitch black except for the glow of Azrael's eyes. They were glittering again, sending dancing lights over the slick walls and our bodies. It made his face seem ethereal and demonic all at once, with the glittering highlights and deep shadows. I found that I liked them both on him, the shadows and the light.

  
Then I heard the howling again. It was closer, much closer. Within minutes, we heard a scrambling outside the hole and then a light sniffing sound. There was a pause in which we all held our breaths, and then the unmistakable sounds of a giant animal departing. We all exhaled our relief.

  
We stayed in the hole for a little while longer, just to be sure the beast was gone, then Azrael climbed out to go have a look. He came back quickly and motioned us out. We emerged into a slightly different landscape. Not that a lot of icy rocks and mountains weren't hard to mistake for each other but I was pretty certain there were different formations outside of our particular hill before we went and hid in it.

   “
Is it just me or has the land changed?” I asked as it became apparent that the men were confused too.

   “
It's changed,”Azrael shook out his wings and shot into the sky. He came back down in moments and looked irritated. “Somehow, she's altered our surroundings. We are now about three miles off course.”

   “
Right,” Trevor shook his head. “It's because we went into that rock. Once inside a construct of hers, we're subject to her influence.”

   “
That's bizarre,” I looked around in disbelief.

   “
Well, this is her territory,” Azrael starting walking and we followed. “It's kind of comforting though. Setting us off course is a minor irritation compared to what she could have done.”

   “
Yes, I think you're right,” Trevor took my hand as he nodded to Az. “I think she's just venting some of her frustration now. She doesn't really want to hurt us.”

   “
No, just scare us a bit and make us really uncomfortable,” I ground out.

   “
At least we're on our way out,” Trevor's face came alive with his grin. “I can't wait to get home.”

   “
Me either,” I squeezed his hand. Then I glanced over to the right. “Um... sooner rather than later.”

  
Trevor looked over and flinched. “It's Náströnd, the Strand of Corpses. Don't worry, they won't bother us.”

   “
I think I'm already bothered.” I stared with horror as our path brought us closer and the scene became clearer.

  
A low keening filled the air, moans and whimpers, all sounds of despair from the dead men who didn't seem so dead to me. They were in a building but it was unlike any building I'd ever seen. The walls and ceiling were made out of snakes. Slick, scaly bodies writhed, shining acid green and putrid yellow, while adding a horrible scratching sound to the moans of the dead.

  
When we got closer, I could see right into the open door and I gasped, jerking back into Trevor, who caught me with reassuring hands. The large hall was full of gray men, jerking and flinging themselves spasmodically around while splashing through a pool of viscous liquid that flowed out and around the building. The heads from the snakes who made up the walls and ceiling were all inside the dark space and something dripped from their open mouths onto the tormented men.

   “
What is this all about?” I looked back at my wolf who was rubbing my shoulders, trying to comfort me.

   “
The men you see are murderers and oath breakers, they are being punished,” Trevor flinched as one of the dead broke free and ran for the door, only to fall into the pool and start screaming. “The river is made from snake venom.”

   “
That's twisted,” I grimaced and let Trevor lead me away.

   “
It's what they signed up for,” Trevor shook his head. “Humans come up with the most unusual tortures.”

  
I nodded and trudged on through the snow, trying to block out the sounds of agony. Trevor was right, Niflheim, like all forms of afterlife, was the creation of human belief. That terrifying hall wasn't thought up by Hel, she merely ruled here. It was human magic that brought it into being, human minds that created it. I guess hardship is easier to endure if you know that those who have wronged you will be horribly punished after death. Or maybe we were all a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters.