Dead Embers

by T. G. Ayer

  Anger blazed from my eyes, providing all the confirmation Thor needed.

  "Very well. He will be taken to Asgard immediately, along with the other prisoners." Thor began to turn to the guards, no doubt to give the order to take my jailor away.

  At first I thought I couldn't speak, but I damned well had questions. "No. Wait. Bring him closer," I said, but the words were distorted by my parched throat and the tears that gathered there. I cleared my throat and said again, "Bring him closer to me."

  Thor nodded, his blond hair glinting in the unflattering fluorescent light. Still, his hair looked good. Way better than the oily stringy strands that hung about my own face.

  The guards gripped the doctor's arms, shuffling him closer to the gurney. Closer, but not too close.

  "What did you want with me?" I asked. The words dragged over the gravel of my throat.

  "How can you not know what I want with you, Valkyrie Brynhildr?" The arrogance in his voice grated on my nerves, and I had the urge to punch the man. But my weak and unresponsive body wouldn't comply.

  Aidan flinched beside me, the muscles in his arms tightening. My head lolled off his shoulder. He grabbed for me as I fell toward the bed, and I sucked back a moan. The drugs and numbness were wearing off drop by drop, and white agony took their place. Aidan steadied me again, gripping me beside him as he turned to face my tormentor.

  His father.

  For a few precious moments, I'd forgotten the evil doctor was father to the boy who'd stolen my heart. I watched the son stare at the father. And I frowned; the muscles in my forehead surprised me by actually responding. Aidan seemed to have no loyalty or sympathy for the man. His eyes were devoid of any filial emotion.

  I'd also forgotten something else, something important. Aidan's father had ordered Worthington to kill his own son. And Aidan now glared at the man who'd ordered his termination.

  He stiffened, and from the ridge of his jaw I could tell he barely held on to his own rage.

  The room had fallen into a strange, murky silence, as if the occupants sensed the coming of a violent storm.

  "I asked you a question." This time my jaw worked better and my words sounded like they really were spoken by me.

  "Ah, the mutant has spunk." A sneer curved the arrogant doctor's lips. The same lips that on Aidan's face were perfect, and yet on this man they looked dangerous and offensive.

  "Don't call her that!" Aidan snapped, his voice vibrating like the plucked strings of a guitar, trembling with anger. He pulled away from me slightly, as if intending to challenge his father face to face, but he caught himself when I began to slip away from him. My hands flopped off the edge of the table. He gathered me against him. "What have you done to her?"

  "Nothing that will not correct itself over time."

  From the corner of my eye I saw Aidan glance behind me, and I raised my head to meet his gaze. What was upsetting him so much? His face was strained and pale. Pity I couldn't see what the hell he was so upset about, couldn’t muster the energy to turn, couldn't even grit my stupid teeth in frustration.

  "And was that really necessary?" Aidan's voice sounded dead, hollow.

  Everyone else in the room, including the not-so-easily ignored god Thor, seemed forgotten, insignificant when compared to this father-son face-off.

  "Everything I do is necessary in the scheme of things." Dr. Lee's cold smile slid along me, face to wretched gown to bare, emaciated legs. "Miss Halbrook is truly unique. More than anything, it's her blood that makes her such a valuable asset to me. Those amazing little Valkyrie corpuscles are beyond priceless. You have no idea how important she is." He offered his son a cruel smile. "When I sent you to Craven to find her, I meant for you to bring her to me. I should have expected your rebellion, but what I didn't expect was for you to become infatuated with this . . . thing."

  "My name is Bryn." I coughed as I spoke, but neither one of them paid me the slightest bit of attention.

  "But in the end it was you, Aidan, who helped me get what I wanted." His eyes were chips of ice.

  "Which was what?" Each word fell like a dead weight from Aidan's lips. Dark fury creased his face.

  "The blood her father had stored in the clinic," Dr. Lee said, nodding coldly when Aidan's expression shifted from rage to disbelief. "Yes, you retrieved the vials but you left without one of them. That single vial was enough to help our cause."

  "What cause is so all-fired important that you kidnap and torture innocent girls?" Aidan bit back.

  "Come now, tell me you are not so ignorant, Aidan?" Dr. Lee tutted, shaking his head, the expression on his face one of pure disappointment. "Still so naïve?"

  "How did you get the vial?" I asked, unable to stand the ice in his voice, ice that was also directed at his own flesh and blood.

  "I had a little bit of help obtaining the vial from you two."

  I glowered at the odious man, unable to understand how Aidan could be his child. "Help? Who could've helped you? It was just Aidan and me in the clinic." My head hurt with all the thinking I was trying to do. My body hurt more. And yet there was a strange strength inside me that counteracted the pain a bit. A sensation that felt almost like a surge of living power flourishing inside my body. I blinked, trying hard to concentrate on the face of Aidan's father.

  "Just the two of you? Oh, really?" He smiled, a knowing and arrogant sneer that made my blood simmer and the power inside me grow all the more stronger. I tried to recall how Aidan and I had used Dr. Lee's access pass to enter the clinic and retrieve the vials of blood. Blood my father had drawn from me when I was little. We'd placed the vials in the cooler we'd taken with us, then we'd left it on the floor and turned away to finish up on the computer.

  And then it hit me. Aidan and I both turned to stare at each other.

  Loki.

  The god Loki had paid us a visit in the clinic. Not only had he indirectly helped us to find the pieces of Freya's necklace, but the sneaky god also had relieved us of one of those precious vials of blood. Hadn't I known all along that he was up to no good?

  "You remember now, don't you?" Dr. Lee chuckled, the sound sending frissons of anger and disgust through me.

  "You're in cahoots with Loki?" I demanded, unable to fathom how a Midgardian would've had any sort of arrangement with, or loyalty to, the trickster god. Not one that lasted, anyway.

  His lips curled, the cool glare in his eyes turning icy. He didn't answer.

  "What did you do with my blood? What the hell do you need it for?" Fury turned my vision red; my voice vibrated on the questions.

  "Oh, my dear girl, your precious, precious blood has been so very helpful to us. To our cause. In fact, Loki even said to pass on his deepest gratitude to you for your little donation."

  "What did you do with my blood?" I bit each word out, trying not to yell and failing. My voice rose as each word spiked from my mouth.

  "Such manners, my dear girl. Oh, I forgot. Foster kids are generally more trouble than they're worth." He laughed again, as if he was the one asking questions, the one in control. And maybe, in all the ways that mattered, he was in control. "At any rate, I might as well tell you the true gift you have running in your veins. You see, your blood is so much of a genetic anomaly, it's magnificent in its power. And in combination with the Black Ice of Jotunnheim, your blood is so dangerous, it's positively deadly. You, Bryn Halbrook, are a weapon. A living breathing weapon."

  "Oh yeah? And what am I supposed to be a weapon for?" I was getting so tired of this man; I wished he would get to the point so they could just take him away. A cold rage simmered inside me, and a memory flitted through my mind. A memory of my berserker attack on Joshua not so long ago. The white-hot fury wasn't healthy for anyone around me. Who knew what I'd do?

  "You, my dear girl, are the perfect weapon for killing." Dr. Lee laughed, a maniacal, psychotic sound. Behind him, Thor took a step closer, a frown marring the beauty of his face. "Oh, dear girl, you have no idea how instrumental you have been." He g
rasped his bound hands together, almost congratulating himself, reveling in his knowledge.

  And then he said, "You are the weapon we have used to kill all those einherjar."

  It took too long to sink in, to process the horror of his words.

  All those Warriors who had died in the past weeks. So many lives taken, so many of Odin's soldiers dead.

  And I'd killed each and every one of them.

  Chapter 45

  His words stunned me into a paralysis worse than the muscle-numbing drug I'd been injected with. I gaped at Dr. Lee, his face so clear I could make out the pores on his cheeks and the green flecks within his hazel eyes, flecks that seemed to swirl. A blink of an eye later, the green swirls were gone.

  Get a grip, Bryn. Too many thoughts of Loki.

  My eyes refused to create the tears that I knew would make me feel a little bit better.

  "Bryn, don't you dare think any of this is your fault. He is to blame." Aidan pointed at his father. "Not you. Did you hear me?" He shook me, as if the movement would make me change my mind.

  I heard the words he spoke but knew he'd fail no matter how hard he tried to convince me that it wasn't my fault.

  Because it was my fault.

  If I'd just minded my own business, none of this would've happened. Reading Aidan's Valkyrie book had started this whole thing.

  Dr. Lee scoffed. "You're a fool. She knows this is all her fault. Even if she hadn't intended for this to happen, in the end she's to blame. This is something you should know well enough, my son."

  One of the guards started at Dr. Lee's words, staring from father to son and back again. Thor grunted, the sound reverberating through the room like rolling thunder. My heart stilled, waiting for Aidan's response.

  His tone was flat, a vacuum of emotion. "Don't call me that. You gave up that right a long time ago."

  "Ah, I see you're still a tad upset with me. But you don't need to be, my boy." Dr. Lee paused; his left hand rose a few inches, as if he meant to cup his son's cheek and had forgotten his wrists were cuffed. He glanced at the handcuffs, then sneered at Aidan, his eyes piercing his son's. "She's safe and well taken care of, you know that. They both are."

  She? They? I frowned, half-expecting my muscles to be lethargic and slack from the drugs, but they moved and rippled and reflected my annoyance easily enough. I wanted to know what the hell they were talking about. Who they were talking about. But I kept my mouth shut. Way too much emotion flying around the room for me to butt in right then.

  "You think I'll just believe you, the way I used to? You think everything you've done is just fine and I can just go on as if all this is so normal? What you've done to Bryn is unforgivable." Aidan spoke through gritted teeth, his body shaking as the words left his lips.

  "It depends entirely on how you look at it, my boy." Cool response, cold eyes.

  Aidan's face darkened. "What's that supp—"

  He stopped in mid-speech, startled, as the air shimmered before us. A man materialized right beside Dr. Lee, causing the Warrior holding on to the doctor's arm to back away to avoid being stepped on. The image of the intruder quivered, became solid and then he raised one hand and punched the Warrior full in the chest. The Warrior grunted and went flying across the floor, crashing into the wall behind him with enough force to break a good number of the white wall tiles.

  My heart tightened in my chest. Instinct told me the poor guy wouldn't recover easily from such a blow.

  Thor scowled as the air beside him shimmered and a second figure took shape almost instantly. My heart hurt as emotions rushed through me: first alarm at the thought of a second attacker joining the fray, then a flash flood of relief and gratitude when I saw the newcomer's face. Fenrir sure had a way of arriving at the most opportune moments. Thor nodded at the Ulfr general and together they charged at the intruder, ready to pounce.

  The stranger grasped Aidan's father by the arm and pulled him forward as if he meant to disappear with him, just melt into wisps of glimmering light and escape with him on the Bifrost.

  "Father," the doctor gasped, a happy, self-satisfied smile on his face. His grin soon morphed into an arrogant sneer, which he turned on both Aidan and me.

  My eyes went from the stranger to the doctor. A feeling akin to déjà vu washed over me, sending undulating waves into my head, making me dizzy. The stranger beside the doctor beamed, his teeth gleaming, and a glimmer of swirling green appeared in his smiling eyes. He stared at me with such knowing familiarity, as if we'd met before. And then it clicked. How could I have missed it?

  "Loki?" I asked, my voice dull and lifeless. It was not really a question, of course. I resigned myself to another hateful meeting with the traitorous god.

  "Dear Bryn, surely you must be gifted in the magical arts for you to recognize me every single time we meet." He smiled, and the funniest thing was that the expression was warm and sincere. Totally as if he liked me, cared for me, even respected me.

  Then I did a double take, looking from the doctor to the god and back again. So did Aidan. We both seemed to have noticed how the doctor had addressed Loki, and realized what it meant.

  I ignored the doctor and his silly grin and met Loki's eyes. "So he's your son?" I tilted my head toward Aidan's father.

  "As much as I'd like to deny my human progeny, I have to say yes."

  Aidan's father glanced at Loki sharply, eyes narrowed as if to ascertain what those vaguely insulting words meant. Then he turned, chin up, somehow satisfied by whatever it was that he saw in the trickster's face.

  Thor, Fen and the Warriors watched and waited in a ragged semi-circle around the god and his human child. They just stood there, doing nothing yet about Loki's appearance. I assumed they were waiting, like me, to hear what the trickster had to say.

  "And he's been working for you all along," I said, almost to myself.

  "Yes, Valkyrie. My son has always been my representative here in Midgard. It's a pity he's human though. Such fragile creatures." Then Loki turned to Aidan. "But you, Aidan, you I am proud to call my flesh and blood."

  My own blood ran cold, and Aidan flinched at the words.

  It took a while for the reality of it to sink in. The cold hard reality of Aidan's heritage.

  Aidan was Loki's grandson.

  ***

  All hell broke loose. Loki grabbed the doctor's arm and yanked him away from the second Warrior, who held on tightly. The god paid no heed and merely walked on, dragging both the doctor and the stubborn and startled Warrior across the tiled floor.

  The moment was ripe, and Thor and Fen fell into action. About time. They rushed at Loki, thundering toward him, Thor having grown in size just enough to look incredibly formidable but not enough to destroy the entire room with one step.

  Fen withdrew a golden chain and wrapped it elegantly around his arm. He raced toward Loki, the loose end of the chain flying behind him like a golden tail. A moment that lasted the blink of an eye but felt as long as hours as I watched the mayhem around me.

  An odd whirring sound reached my ears and a glint of metal shone in Thor's hand.

  Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Not the best time to ogle the legendary weapon in action, but at least I got my viewing pleasure as the god ran. Loki spun, ready to retaliate. With the trickster's attention on Thor, Fen grabbed hold of Dr. Lee's arm and passed him into the care of the Warrior who'd gotten back to his feet. The doctor hadn't even had time to think of escape. Now he wasn't going anywhere.

  Thor's hammer spun through the air, gold glinting and tumbling as it whirred toward Loki's head. The sound of the collision of hammer with head reverberated through my bones. But Loki was still on his feet, and grinning. Clearly, the trickster god wasn't in the least bit mortal. He was stunned though, long enough for Fen to sprint over and tie him up before the swirly greens and purples cleared from his furious eyes.

  My head lolled forward, and a small part of me recognized with relief that I could actually feel my head for the first time in a wh
ile. Fen and Thor drew the trickster to his feet; he looked pretty magnificent, bound within a coil of glinting, almost living, golden chain. But that fantastic bruise on the side of his head did nothing for his looks.

  Loki shimmered as he struggled. The shimmering came again, and the image of the man changed, morphing: an old ragged beggar, a giant fire-eyed wolf, a coal-black Sleipnir and then finally back into his normal Loki form. Each time he shimmered, the golden chain vibrated, singing like a tuning fork. The trickster struggled in vain. The chain seemed to make it intrinsically impossible for the god to maintain any form other than his real one. Nice move, Fen.

  And Loki must have realized his struggles were pointless, as he finally gave up. The traitorous god gazed around the clinical room, bestowing everyone with a broad and cheerful grin.

  "Explain yourself, Loki, son of Odin." Thor's voice boomed loud enough to rattle the steel and shatter the glass in the cabinets along the walls.

  "Don't call me that," Loki roared back, his expression no longer cheerful, his cheeks mottled red and filled with fury.

  "It makes little difference to me what you want or do not want, brother. Explain yourself, or I am sure Fenrir will be glad to return you to Hel and that serpent you love so much. This time you will not have your wife to save you from the agony of the viper's poison." Thor slammed Mjölnir into his palm, as if the blow would make him feel better. All it did was produce a crack of thunder loud enough to cause the earth to vibrate beneath us.

  "Very well, brother," Loki answered. For a hint of a second he sneered, then a beguiling smile bloomed across his face. "I shall tell you why. But make no mistake, it's not for fear that I confess. In fact, it's time that you and the All-Father and all his followers learn the truth. It's time you all know what you're up against."

  Loki swung his gaze toward Fen. "Fenrir, son of Loki, you have proved your loyalty. Loyalty to the wrong side." Loki's voice seemed to reverberate much like Thor's. Odd. "And, because of your choice, you will die along with your precious Odin."