Immortal Need (15 page)

He took sight. Aimed. Released a breath and fired. He did the motions over and over again, watching as a red hole blossomed in between the eyes of a man directly in front of him. Another blossomed in his chest. He continued firing, going for as many mortal wounds with the first shot as possible. His Watchers did the same. They moved in syncopated movements, calling their locations over the earpieces. One merc fell after the other. But Freya was working justice swiftly. For each one who fell, she brought another one to replace them to fight the Watchers. He cut through, exchanging fire, but it was never enough. Sevani grunted when a bullet slammed into the tree next to him. Bark exploded, catching him across the cheek. Sevani looked around the other side, took a shot, and watched a man’s head snap back at an unnatural angle before he slumped to the ground.

“Son of a bitch,” Sevani growled and shot at the next one. When he pulled his trigger and the weapon clicked, he released the clip, loaded the next one, checked the chamber port, and slid it in place to rearm it.

“This isn’t working,” Lei growled over the earpiece. “We need to take it to them directly. Maybe then we can get Freya on the run. It might give us a chance to get a damn breather.”

“I agree,” Sevani said. “She’s making them as fast as we kill them.”

The night became alive with the deafening roar of gunfire, and flashes nearly blinding him, as the bullets left barrels. But Sevani pressed on. He still had his sword to his back, and he pushed to get as close as he possibly could to Freya. They had to stop her. Urgency spread to Sevani. He moved, whirling to the left. He used one hand to shoot down enemies, even as he used the other to toss the blade into a second one. Blood sprayed. The night smelled of decay. Lei came up on his right and then twisted around, going to his knees. He slid across Sevani’s path, shooting in a straight line. Even as he stood, he never stopped the barrage of fire, killing five men in rapid succession. Valerie came streaking by next. With lightning-fast reflexes, she released her clips, tossed two more in the air, and spun, catching them in the bottom of her guns. She slammed the butts on her thighs to seal the clips. Within a blink of an eye, she was aiming again and firing. She struck down man after man. Brain matter splattered into the air from Sevani’s left.

“You?” Sevani asked over the earpiece.

“Of course,” Alexander answered.

Sevani chuckled and kept moving. There had not been a battle like this in a long time. He was glad to have his troops with him, glad they were fighting for their freedom versus fighting for a goddess they hated with all their hearts. They were fighting for something more. The distance between him and Freya seemed vast, and yet Ayah’s front yard was not that large. It was just an endless pool of men between them.

* * * *

“Lei, Valerie,” Sevani called. “Get beside me.”

And the two did as he asked. A bullet whizzed by and caught Sevani in the shoulder. He hissed but didn’t stop shooting, even as pain blossomed out to his fingertips. Valerie made it to his right side. Her left leg was bleeding profusely, and her left arm hung awkwardly at her side. Lei spit blood and a tooth with it.

“I hate ricochets,” Lei grumbled.

“I hate bullets,” Valerie said.

“We’ll heal soon enough. We just have to make sure they don’t incapacitate us before that time. Let’s move,” Sevani said. Being immortal didn’t mean they couldn’t die. It just meant that it was very hard to do so. Take off their heads, and it was a done deal. For them, decapitation meant death when behind enemy lines. The enemy could do anything to them while they slowly healed, and they would be powerless to stop them.

“We want to cut a line straight to Freya,” Sevani said.

“My pleasure,” Lei said.

“Right on,” Valerie offered.

Moving as one, they struck. Twisting and turning, Lei shot bullet after bullet, dropping body after body. Valerie shot one-handed. When she couldn’t, and was close enough, she struck them with the butt of her gun hard enough to pulverize their brains. Sevani was happy not to be on the receiving end of those blows. Even one-handed, the woman was dangerous. Sevani was moving just as a bullet struck him in the side, spreading fire. Tension and pain flowed to his bloodstream in equal measure, but he pressed on. One clip went out, and he didn’t have any more to replace it. He let the rifle hang at his side and grabbed the next. They sliced to the mass of bodies in a straight path. When men turned around to fall in behind them, Valerie and Lei turned outward to guard Sevani’s back.

“I’m covering you,” Alexander said, continuing to fire.

The men behind Sevani weren’t as quick to shoot where they would hit others in front of them. That delay gave Valerie enough time to fight the ones to the back without her pistols. Lei even had enough room to get his hands dirty. They kept pushing forward. They continued to dodge around trees for cover. They slid over the earth, ran across it, or jumped, killing man after man until Freya was close enough to touch.

“Not so fast,” she said, then flashed.

Sevani swore. She had been so close and yet so far.

“She’s in the house!” Alexander yelled.

Lei, Valerie, and Sevani turned as one. Sevani’s blood ran cold knowing that Ayah was in the house. Freya, he hoped, would want Ayah’s soul enough not to kill Ayah herself, or wouldn’t decide to disable Alexander and let her merc inside. He needed to get to the house quickly.

“Hold it as best you can,” Sevani roared.

“But she—” Alexander began, but was cut off. His scream nearly shattered Sevani’s eardrum.

“No,” Sevani begged, “not him.” He recognized that scream. The fear Alexander had more than anything else in the world was of being buried alive. It would completely disable the immortal warrior. Sevani pressed harder, cutting and shooting his way back to the house. He ignored the bullet wounds that shattered his bones and ripped through skin. He had to get back to the house, had to save his brother-in-arms and Ayah. He moved faster, hoping against hope that he would not be too late, but knowing that he would be.

“You want her,” Freya said coldly over the earpieces, “come and claim her.”

Then the sound of feedback shot over the line. Freya was gone. Deadly silence filled the air. Valerie and Lei stopped next to Sevani. No more men surrounded them. All the bodies that once littered the floors had disappeared. The only blood now visible was their own. Sevani tore through the house. In the center of the living room was a large glass box filling with dirt. Alexander was bolted down to the bottom. His tortured screams filled the air as he twisted and turned, nearly cutting his hands off to get out.

“No, please. Please,” he begged. His plaintive wail broke Sevani’s heart. Alexander’s screams turned to wild hysteria when the dirt touched his face.

“Get him out of there!” Sevani yelled, and Lei and Valerie went to work, smashing the glass with their weapons. Sevani heard the glass cracking behind him as they struggled to break it open, even as he bolted upstairs. He spun around the corner, almost slamming into the opposite wall he moved so quickly.

“Please. Please let her be there,” he begged. As he opened the door, Freya stood there, a hand around Ayah’s throat, holding her to her chest.

“Too slow, Watcher,” Freya said, then flashed away from the room with Ayah.

Sevani fell to the ground, defeated. He screamed until his throat felt raw.

* * * *

By the time Valerie called Sevani downstairs to attend to Alexander, Sevani had no voice left. He couldn’t think past the fact that Freya had taken Ayah. He knew that Freya wanted him to come after her. Why? He didn’t understand. What was the point of sending him here to protect her for seven days, and then kill her afterward, if Freya was going to come here and take her? He just couldn’t understand what game the goddess was playing. As he stumbled down the stairs, unsure of his own feet, he found Alexander curled in Valerie’s arms as she ran her fingers through his hair. She cooed softly to him in words that Sevani could not hear, even with his advanced hearing. But he knew it didn’t matter. It was the comfort that she was providing. That Alexander was silent meant that they had gotten him out in time. In the past, when Alexander suffered such a state, he would be inconsolable for weeks at a time. Now he lay quiet, war on his face, but determination was in his eyes as well. He was fighting down his own panic.

“Alexander,” Sevani croaked.

Alexander looked at him. “I,” he began, and then stopped, shaking his head. His voice was shaky. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I spoke to Huginn and Muninn,” he said then, and Lei stopped pacing back and forth, while Sevani knelt at Alexander’s side. Valerie held Alexander still tighter in her arms, continuing to whisper in his ear. She rocked him slowly back and forth, keeping him calm.

“Why did you go see them?” Sevani asked then.

“I had an idea. You know that thought that I had? I knew that they were the greatest wisdom in the world and they never had much love for Freya. If anybody would try to give us answers as to what she was doing, and why, it would be them,” Alexander said haltingly. “They were a trip to talk to.” A ghost of a smile played at the edge of his lips.

“Only you would think to go to Odin’s wisdom,” Sevani said.

“But first…” Alexander said and then stopped. He didn’t have to say any more. Sevani knew what he meant. Alexander always took a while to get his thoughts in order after having time with Freya. Sevani would have to give them something else to focus on.

“Well, you missed plenty,” Sevani began. He quickly summarized what Alexander had missed in the twenty-four hours he had been gone. He left out the point that he had made love to Ayah, but told him that something had changed since he had claimed her. Valerie piped in with how she had seen him fight in the back of the house in the first wave, and then Lei added what he had seen. As they filled in Alexander with the past day’s details, the horrified expression on his face ended. Then all understanding crossed his face.

“Now I know what they were trying to say,” Alexander said then, sitting up gingerly. He gave Valerie a soft smile and grabbed her hand for a moment. He squeezed and then let her go before climbing to his feet. “Man, I really hate that woman,” he said, speaking of Freya.

“Don’t we all,” Lei said.

“Tell us what you learned,” Sevani said.

“When I went to see the crows, I didn’t know who to believe. The two speak in riddles. One tells the truth, and one lies. I had to ask every question I could think of, and then I realized something was amiss. I had to figure out who was telling the truth and who wasn’t. Just to let you know in case any of you have to speak with them.”

“I doubt it. No one else wants to deal with the headache but you,” Lei said.

“You’re probably right,” Alexander replied. “Anyway, when I spoke to them, they told me a couple of things. First, Freya wants Lei in order to control Valerie. There is something she wants from you, Valerie, that you have not given her yet. Whatever it is, whether just control, that’s what she wants. I don’t know how to stop her from getting him, but at least I know why. Sevani, she’s taken Ayah, and now it all makes sense. Ayah’s soul won’t stay in Folkvangr.”

Sevani started at that. He had never heard before that a soul could deny his or her place as a warrior in the afterlife waiting for Ragnarok. Most of the time, warriors, once they entered, found riches and pleasures beyond their wildest imagination. Few of them were willing to leave. The fact that the soul that now belonged to Ayah would not stay in Folkvangr spoke volumes to him.

“But why?” Sevani asked.

“It seems that soul was attached to you, and until that soul could get back to you, it would not stay with Freya. But Freya also knew the way to control you was by the loss of your wife. So, by having you kill that soul, she could continue to have you as a pawn, even though the soul continued to escape. But now something else makes sense. You said that you claimed her, right?” Alexander asked.

Sevani nodded his head in answer, unable to speak.

“If such is the case, and you describe something that feels as if you’ve gotten your soul back, then Freya has lost control of you. The only way that she knows how to get that back is by having Ayah. This is why she came after you, to try to take Ayah away from you. How else can she control you if you have broken that bond with her?”

Sevani sat back. “Are you telling me that I’m no longer beholden to her?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. When she took our souls, that’s how she took control of us. And it seems that if we break the bond, we can get our souls back, however rare that occurrence. She then loses control of us all,” Alexander explained.

“Then it seems finding that significant other should become an all-important task, if we can’t beat her outright,” Valerie said, sliding a look over to Lei. “You think that might be a way for us to keep Lei from getting caught up with her?”

“It’s worth a try if the two of you want to actually acknowledge what is between you, and if you’re meant to be bonded. But, Valerie, you don’t have a soul. You are a born goddess, and Lei’s soul was taken, so I don’t know exactly how it would work with the two of you. But we know that you could take control of Lei,” Alexander said.

Valerie shook her head. “I never wanted him as my servant. There has to be another way.”

“We’ll figure it out. We could always try,” Lei said to Valerie. “Did you learn anything else?”

“It also seems to be that when we do bond, we become more than what we once were. You’re now not just an immortal warrior, Sevani, the key to being pushed around at Freya’s whims. You’re much stronger now. An immortal warrior with a soul. But to have a soul means it’s easier to die,” Alexander continued.

“We can die now,” Sevani argued. “How can I be something more but die easier? What would be the difference?”

“Now you can die if one of the others dies. She’s provided your soul, and you’re the keeper of it. As the crows told me, you’re a god and yet not,” Alexander said.

“I’m more confused than ever,” Valerie added.