The Banished Gods Box Set: Books 1-3

by L. A. McGinnis

  Good fucking luck with that, asshole.

  “The fuck I am.” For once, Mir had no intention of being the guy they counted on him to be. The level head. The mediator. The intelligent one. The one who kept them all out of the shitter. He was going to get his fucking woman, possessed or no, drag her ass back here, and exorcize that son of a bitch out of her if it was the last thing he did.

  Not that she was his or anything.

  “Like I said, the fuck you are.” Odin didn’t miss a beat. “And you are not going alone, you’re taking the wolf with you. It’s going to take both of you to bring her back.”

  Fen gripped Mir’s arm. “Celine already located the creature’s energy signature, and she‘s tracking it as we speak. It’s working its way toward Gary. Celine says he’s moving fast.”

  “As do I,” Odin crooned. “He’s coming to fetch what’s his. I wonder which of you will make it first? You’d best get a move on, Mir, not sure how much will be left of Miss Allen once Chaos gets finished with her.”

  Fen snarled, lifting a lip to expose a hint of fang. Mir knew Odin was a miserable bastard, but something else was going on here, something well beyond the king’s usual arrogant posturing. Something with a much darker edge. The realization edged his next question with caution. “And what have you seen, my lord, to send both of us after a mere mortal? Instead of just leaving her to her fate?” Mir stared hard into Odin’s impenetrable face. “Or have you seen nothing at all and just hedging your bets?”

  Of them all, he knew Odin the best. Knew his capriciousness, his leanings toward an utter lack of empathy and emotion. But he also remembered how their king used to be. The better version of himself, so to speak. The version that had been eroded away by three thousand years on this planet.

  But this new, worse-than-ever version? This was a problem.

  Odin didn’t explain, didn’t speak, just let a detached, cool smile cross his face as if they were talking about the weather. “Why don’t we debate my abilities after you get back, shall we?” His silvery gaze turned deadly. “And if you don’t? Then I suppose we’ll know who was right.”

  Chapter 14

  Mir found Celine nestled into a corner of one of the great, arched windows, her gaze firmly set to the south. “He’s coming for Sydney, Mir. You have to get her out.”

  “It would help if I knew where she was, sweetheart.”

  “There’s a humming, deep underground, as if she’s laying on top of a great well of power. Other than that, I can’t see much of anything.” She turned wide eyes to him. “I only know he wants her for something different. Different from what he needed me for. This isn’t just about writing down some symbols, for unlocking his prison. He needs her for more than just that, Mir. And I’m afraid of what that is.”

  In the ensuing silence, Mir agreed with her.

  “You love her?”

  “I think so.”

  “Do you know why?” Celine turned to him, her eyes truly curious. “I found her fascinating, even though what she said terrified me. All those nights I spent in the museum, and I can’t remember any of it.” She paused. “But I like her. And she belongs here, with us.”

  For the life of him, he couldn’t put it into words. The way she made him feel alive. The way something lit up inside of him at her faintest touch. Thousands of years old, and he had to struggle for the words, for the right words, to tell Celine what he felt.

  “She’s the other part of me,” he offered at last, the words a feeble explanation.

  But Celine bowed her head and smiled as if she understood.

  Odin sat in his hall, head tipped back, eyes closed, savoring the peace that came before the storm. Or rather, the fucking quiet that was about to be broken by a bad tempered…

  “You fucking asshole.” Mir strode toward him and Odin gave an internal sigh of frustration. What he wouldn’t give to be back in Asgard, the world his playground and the humans at his feet. The good old days had been…awesome, as the kids said.

  “You fucking knew. You knew what that thing was in her and you never said a word.”

  “I considered the possibility, and I believed it was prudent to keep her…it close. Would you have done anything differently had I told you my suspicions?”

  Mir paused.

  Odin watched the internal conflict wage war within the normally stoic, levelheaded god. “To answer my own question, no, you wouldn’t have. You’ve been good and blinded by that girl from the moment you saw her.” Odin considered the god in front of him. “This is not like you at all. I expected better, Mir.”

  That ice-blue gaze turned stormy, but his shoulders settled, his stance bracing. “Tell me the real reason why.”

  “Because we have to keep our options open.”

  “You mean to use her, don’t you?” Mir’s voice grew low, warning. “You’d better fucking know I’ll stop you, not a hair on that girl’s head is going to be harmed.”

  Odin gave a small shake of his head. “She’s more use to me alive, in truth. Which means that for now, you and I are allied in our causes. Celine is correct, the thing is heading south. You’d best reach the mortal before he does. That much, I have seen.”

  “Fen and I are ghosting out of here. As soon as you tell me where we’re heading.” Mir’s face grew thoughtful. “I’m curious. How did Syd give herself away?”

  “By being in the right place, at the right time. Every time. And she and I had a little conversation, one that proved to be most enlightening.”

  “About what, exactly?”

  Odin hadn’t intended on revealing anything about that particular conversation. And now that he’d done so, he realized it would push Mir into murky, dangerous waters.

  Mir took a step forward. “I asked, what did you two talk about? What did you do, Odin?”

  If Odin told him the truth about the girl, the dark god, and her magic? There was a chance Mir might change course, do something stupid.

  “We have to get those dolmens moved.” Odin meant it as a warning, not a suggestion. “I sent Tyr over to clear the room, as I expect Hel sent in reinforcements by now. Freyr, Vali, and Thor will provide the muscle needed to shift the stones.”

  Mir scowled.

  “Never fear, they took the girl’s schematics. By moving up the timetable, we’ll force the Orobus’s hand. And then we will see.”

  “See what exactly? What do you know that the rest of us don’t?”

  Odin inclined his head, masking, successfully he hoped, all the fears in them. “I will tell you when you return with the witch. Take Fenrir and hunt her down. Head south and look for something powerful, that much I can tell you.”

  Mir snorted and turned on his heel. “Thanks for the directions. I’m sure they’ll be a big fucking help.”

  Odin sat back and watched Mir’s back as he left. He’d lied, as he’d been lying for months and months. In truth, he had no idea what was coming. He was completely blind. Had been for weeks now. Before, on Asgard, he’d given his right eye for the gift of sight. Now, it seemed, he had nothing of value to trade. So here he sat, blind and helpless, forced to pretend he knew what the fuck was going on. All the while drowning in impotence.

  It was practically Ragarnok all over again.

  Except his throne was smaller.

  And he feared this time, there’d be no second chances.

  “You’re going to be a walking train wreck if you don’t slow down, Mir.” Fen’s growl issued out of the shadows. “Best chance Sydney has is for you to take a breath, get your bearings.”

  “I don’t even know where to start looking.”

  “Bullshit, you know everything.”

  “Not this.” He’d gone over it a million times already. “I don’t even know where to start. She could be anywhere. She could be hurt. She could be…”

  “Stop mind fucking yourself. How far do you think this thing could take her? Hunters keep to their territories, especially if they left a back door open. Think of this place like i
ts den. Celine said he’s coming back, closing in on Gary, right now as we speak. Any likely places to hide in that shithole?”

  Mir’s mind sorted out the data. Something was tugging at his memory, but he wasn’t sure what. “Sydney ran a bunch of tests at Millenium Park. I need to go down there.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Fenrir grinned, fangs prominent and white. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been hunting. I feel like some fresh air.”

  Moments later, bending over the wreckage left strewn over what remained of the park, Mir fingered the ridges dug into the stainless steel. Deep, long rings just like Sydney claimed. And the energy signature that remained bent the air around the entry point slightly. Mir experimentally tossed a rock into the middle of the distortion and watched it vanish.

  “Well, that’s kind of fucked up,” Fen muttered, circling the area, his hair standing up straight. There was a sense of wrongness about this place, as if something didn’t belong.

  Mir murmured, “It’s the power the entity left behind. Sydney tuned into it when she came down here. There’s still a signature left, enough for us to track. Maybe.”

  Looking at the distortion, the otherworldly feel of this place, Mir had a better idea of what the creature needed. And where it might have gone. But he needed to be right. The first time because there wouldn’t be a second.

  “The Orobus was weak after he came through. Used up all his energy making the transition between worlds. Breaking free of his prison. He’s spent the past month trying to recharge.” Mir met Fen’s midnight blue gaze. “He’s going to search for the closest thing we have to nucleosynthesis.” Mir threw another rock into the vortex and Fen shuddered.

  “I can track her by scent, just so you know.”

  “I do. Why do you think you’re here?” Mir traded a long grin with the wolf. He’d have brought him anyway, but it was good to know that Fen could find her another way. In case he failed.

  “Closest thing we have to this kind of energy is nuclear. And the biggest nuclear plant is forty miles south of the city. Right outside of Gary. That’s where they are.”

  “Let’s go get your girl.”

  “She’s not… Yeah, let’s go get her.” Mir hesitated. “Shit Fen, I don’t know what to expect. This dark god might be fully formed or still just an energy field, there’s no telling. But if it took Syd, my fear is, it needs her for something. Which leads to the obvious conclusion…”

  “Could be it’s looking for a body.” Fen stopped pacing. “Let’s go.”

  They ghosted to Dresden.

  The building they materialized in front of was a long, elegant sliver of metal and glass. Set above what had once been manicured, minimalist gardens, the site was now covered in the blackened, ashy remains of overgrown weeds. As if nothing living could exist here. Fenrir quested the air. “I smell humans.” Mir stared at him long enough that he reluctantly added, “Mostly dead but something in that building is alive.”

  Mir pulled out his gun. Not that it would help, but the metal felt comforting against his palm. The entire place pulsed with a sense of the unworldly. A soul-sucking negative blanket of energy that drained the life from him with every step, and they were gods for fuck’s sake. What this was doing to Sydney, he couldn’t even imagine.

  The schematics indicated another exit on the far side. Fen disappeared for an instant and reappeared, confirming it with a nod. “Whole place is wide open, windows blown out all the way around. As if something powerful burst out of here.”

  Or in.

  The deeper they descended, the more it felt like they were being pulled into the depths of hell, and even that was more comfortable. Exactly as Celine said, the entire building hummed below them, as if giant generators were working away. Or something was drawing enormous amounts of energy.

  “She’s here.” Fen murmured, once they descended into the bowels of the buildings, the corridors strewn with the frozen, desiccated bodies of the unfortunate.

  “Can you tell…?”

  Fen offered a quick shake of his head. No telling anything in this place. It was as if even emotions and thoughts disappeared into the Orobus’s soup sandwich of turbulence.

  “I’ll be waiting ahead while you plant the charge, another twenty feet or so.”

  Mir gave a brief nod of agreement and Fen padded ahead. Mir pulled out the small device Tyr had sent along. Locking it onto the nearest wall, he keyed in the receiver, his thoughts only half on the little disc that would level an entire city block. With every passing moment, his very essence was being depleted, sucked away, and if they didn’t make this quick…

  His thoughts turned to the redhead he was here to find. If he was flagging, what were her chances? What were her limits? Mir grunted, rounding a corner and almost going down in a pool of foul smelling water. He had to get his head in the game.

  But at least she was here. Hopefully there was a chance of getting her out. Up ahead, Fen’s enormous body was outlined by a sickly yellow-green light, and suddenly Mir wished for the whole of his brethren at his back and the full of their powers at their disposal. If the Orobus had been drawing nuclear power for days, possibly even weeks, how strong was he now?

  But Mir’s bigger question was, if his power source was threatened, how far would he go to protect it?

  Laid out on a huge, fancy schmancy conference table, the kind that big shots and dignitaries met around, was his woman. Vibrant red hair flung out around her as if she’d been thrown there by some great force, body curled in upon herself, protecting itself from the great black hole that was slowly consuming everything in this place.

  Mir lunged forward, managing a single step before being dragged back by Fenrir’s great hand. “Trap. Can’t you smell it?”

  Mir couldn’t have smelled a steak grilling. The place stunk of brimstone and horror and a thousand other things drawn in from the primordial void that this creature issued from. While every sense inside him was tangled up in the woman lying there so pale she looked dead, like an offering on an altar. “I’ve got to shift in order to get closer, and you need to stay out of my way, Mir,” Fen warned him with, the long, low growl as he shifted into his other form forcing Mir to freeze in place.

  The beast loped long and low into the room, a shadow among shadows, circling the table like a barely there reflection caught out of the corner of your eye. There one minute, gone the next. Fen drew closer. Sydney stirred, stretched. Mir’s heart relaxed at her slight movement, the tightness he hadn’t realized was constricting every heartbeat loosening until he could actually breathe again. Until she rolled onto her knees, tracking the wolf’s every move with eyes every bit as black as the shadows surrounding them.

  “What have we here?” The voice might have been Syd’s, but it was laced with such a cruel, empty undertone, such vast emptiness, and so at odds with the woman he knew, Mir drew a shaky breath. It was as if the Orobus had pulled Sydney on as a costume. And erased her completely.

  No, she’s still in there somewhere. He reassured himself. She only needs a chance to get away from that thing’s hold. As she continued to track Fenrir, Mir closed in. There were certainties in life, and Mir was betting on self-preservation to set Sydney free.

  When his watch vibrated, he launched himself through the air and covered her body with his, as overhead, the entire building shifted. The explosion was felt more than heard, the force of it punching into him, the blast of dust and hot air searing his back while he was scooping Sydney up off the table. Focusing, he ghosted, spreading his molecules through the air, taking the girl with him. Still curled protectively around her, they reappeared outside, smoke and falling debris all around them.

  When Sydney’s eyes flickered open, and they were the crystal clear green he recognized, Mir knew he was right about one thing.

  Men will go to any length to protect what’s theirs.

  Stroking her face, Mir knew he would go to any length to protect Sydney.

  The Orobus had gone to ground to stop the ex
plosion that threatened his energy source.

  The full force of that explosion should have leveled the entire building. It still stood. Well, mostly stood. At the moment, it was a smoking hulk of twisted steel, encased by a swirling mass of black, roiling shadow. Which meant the thing had used some of its regained power to dampen the explosion and was now guarding the power plant, like a big, bad junk yard dog.

  When the wolf growled a long, dire warning and loped off in the direction of the city, Mir let him go, knowing that stopping him was futile. He searched the parking lot for suitable transportation, hotwired it, and carefully buckled an unconscious Syd into the passenger seat. Hoping like hell the Orobus was weakened enough to stay right the fuck where it was.

  Sydney opened her eyes and saw the sky. Sunlight filtered down through trees that seemed to be blowing like crazy, even though she didn’t feel so much as a breeze.

  It took a minute, but she finally realized she was in a car, her feet across something warm. Pushing her hair away from her face, Mir glanced away from the road and met her eyes, his face unreadable.

  For a moment she just stared, his expression rigid before it softened . Her body felt…strangely not her own. As if she didn’t fit into her skin anymore. “I’m sorry.” Tears spilled down her face for some inexplicable reason, for no reason at all, and she began to cry softly.

  Mir drew in a long, equally shaky breath and reached out, wiped the tears from one of her cheeks. “Don’t ever apologize to me again. Not for what isn’t your fault.” And then he smiled. A joyous kind of smile. The sort she’d never seen from him before, maybe never thought possible to see on his stoic, serious face. And she found she couldn’t say another word.

  Closing her eyes, she couldn’t figure how she’d ended up here. The last thing she remembered was trying to warn Mir of something. It had been growing dark, and with the dark had come a desperate, almost terrible knowledge that something awful was about to happen. And she’d been telling him something.