The Tower

by L. A. McGinnis

  33

  Odin was getting sick of cleaning up other people’s messes. Especially ones that left him bloody and bruised. If he wasn’t blind, he was sure he’d be quite disappointed with the way the gash on his forehead looked, because it felt enormous. It sure hurt like hell.

  The thumping coming down the steps wasn’t encouraging, not when he recognized those footsteps and sensed the anger preceding them. It was shaping up to be a long night.

  He as much as said so when Balder thumped into the room, smelling of petrol and burned flesh and something so noxious he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

  “Shut it. Gabriella just took off. And I’m in no shape to go after her.” Indeed, Odin thought he smelled fresh blood. He should call Mir, he really should.

  “And?” Odin looked in Balder’s general direction and raised an eyebrow, hoping to stir him up just a bit more. What a moron.

  “I need someone to go after her.”

  “And you came to the blind man? Clearly, you’re not thinking, my friend.”

  “You’re just the first person I came to, asshole. I need you to…”

  “What the fuck are you doing out of bed?” Irritation shone in Mir voice. “Because I’m pretty fucking certain I told you to stay up there for at least two days or you’d…” A series of heavy footsteps, and then a thud. “You ripped them out. You ripped out the stitches, and now I have to…”

  “Gabriella’s gone. She took the truck, and I need you or Tyr or someone to go after her and head her off before she gets too damn far. There’s a storm out there.”

  Odin thought if he had a knife, he could have cut the silence. If he had a knife, that is.

  “What did you say to her, asshole?”

  “Yes, what did you say? She did save us all today, in case you didn’t notice.” Odin stared in the general direction of the argument. Not that he particularly cared.

  “You’re one to talk. You gave her all kinds of shit about her plan not being good enough.” Mir’s words were a dry rebuke. “Even though it was a good plan. You can’t anticipate everything. Circumstances changed, is all.”

  “We need to go after her,” Balder reminded them. “Right now.”

  “You’re leaking all over the floor,” Mir pointed out. “Badly. Unless you want to bleed out, I suggest you sit the fuck down and let me heal you, now that my magic’s replenished. Not sure if I have enough juice, though.” He paused. “I’ll get Loki and Thor on Gabriella. They can take the one Hummer that’s still running. Which way did she head?”

  “North.” Balder said, agony twisting his words. “Toward Evanston.”

  “Why would she go north?” Odin mused. “There’s nothing up there.” He’d seen so many outcomes, so many paths, all leading to just one…

  Hard and fast—where Gabriella was heading, and what she intended to do—hit him. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Get the fucking Hummer, lead me out to it. Get those two assholes, and we need to find her. Right the fuck now.”

  Mir shouted for both of them.

  Flailing around like a blind man had never been his thing, really. Even with Ava to lean on, relying on her had always made him feel so damn…helpless. But now, now when he had to get somewhere, this infernal, crippling darkness was just maddening.

  Balder groaned as he apparently tried to move.

  “None of that,” Mir snapped. “You aren’t going anywhere. Lose any more blood and there’s not going to be much I can do for you. You need time, my brother, time to heal. And that’s something I can’t help you with.”

  “And you.”

  Odin had a feeling Mir was looking straight at him. Possibly even pointing a finger.

  “You can start by telling us why you’re freaking the fuck out that Gabriella’s gone. Where did she go? Or where do you think she’s gone?”

  Odin weighed his options. “Did you happen,” he asked carefully, directing his words toward Balder, “when you brought Hel back from Domenic’s mansion, to mention to Gabriella where it was?”

  “Sure I did, it’s the old Taylor Mansion in Evanston. Been on every damn architectural magazine cover for the past twenty years, it’s…” Balder’s voice stopped. “Oh shit. Oh shit, you don’t think she…”

  “I think that’s exactly her plan. Since she figures there’s nothing left to lose at this point, this is her way to go out with a bang.”

  Dead silence.

  Odin pushed against the utter silence. “You never even gave her a chance, did you? Didn’t let her get to the part where she told you why she became a doctor? She’s been balancing the scales, boyo. A life for a life. For every life she took, she saves two. From what I can see, she was almost even.”

  Odin sat back, musing. “But that’s a different Gabriella heading to Evanston. The one who takes lives, not saves them. The one who has something to prove now. To you. And to herself. My bet is that she’s going back into the family business.”

  Fear closed like a fist around Odin’s heart. “And if Ava isn’t Ava anymore, Gabriella will take that as a sign she’s gone rogue and will try to kill her. She may even succeed.”

  “She can’t possibly think she can kill either one of them.” Balder groaned.

  “Oh, you have no idea of what that girl’s capable of.”

  “And you do?” Mir’s voice was quiet. “What do you see, Odin? What have you seen?”

  “Too much. And not enough.”

  “Stop talking in fucking riddles,” Balder snapped. “Just fucking tell us what you’ve seen.”

  Odin hesitated. They didn’t have time. If Gabriella Mendoza was on her way north, if she was heading for the Orobus—for Ava—then what? “My vision came back. Long story short, we don’t win this war.”

  “Gabriella.” Balder breathed.

  Odin sighed. “She’s the only one I told. She knows there is no hope. She knows that despite everything we do, every battle we win, in the end, we will lose.” Which was the bitter truth. “Knowing the future doesn’t help. It only makes it worse.”

  The room changed, and he sensed Thor and Loki as they entered. Wondered if he should catch them up. Decided they could catch up on their own.

  “So why go after Domenic?” Balder wondered. “Why go if there’s no hope?”

  “Because she has to try to do something. Because you turned away from her and, in doing so, set her on this path.” Odin knew they all looked to him, now, and as they did, he felt like a charlatan. An old, blind one at that.

  “But I never saw today,” he amended. “Nothing that happened today was part of my visions. Nothing, in fact, that’s happened since that beast showed up behind the house last night.” He weighed this fact against all the others. And came up with a single, awful conclusion.

  “The beast was touched by the Orobus’s magic. It’s blinded me, that’s the only explanation.”

  Odin sorted through the minutia of facts, what he knew, what he’d seen, what might be. “We must to stop her. I share responsibility in setting her on this path, by telling her she was destined to kill Domenic.”

  “You are an asshole.”

  “Most certainly,” Odin readily agreed. “Let’s catch her before she arrives, shall we? I believe four of us will fit in the Hummer, correct? Balder and I will ride in the back. Thor and Loki in the front. Have Loki drive, Thor drives like an old lady.”

  “I’m not even done healing him, and he’s likely going to…”

  “Balder’s going with. No arguments. Heal faster,” Odin snapped, hoping for once in their lives they’d listen and obey. “And do a good job of it, I don’t want any more blood on me than necessary,” Odin added, feeling slightly more charitable now that he was finally able to do something vital.

  Wisely, he hadn’t told them the rest of it.

  That a hint of his magic had returned, the barest spark of what he once had. Not that it did him any good. He’d been half asleep, working his way through the newness of the returned power when he’d heard Balder and Gabr
iella burst through the back door, shouting for everyone to wake up. Pack. Flee.

  Which, of course, they hadn’t.

  Magic. Check. Foresight. Check. Now, if only he could see. Then he’d be semi-whole. Then he could fight with the rest of them, take his rightful place amongst them. Lead, again. Maybe. Balder rocked into him as they rounded a bend, the vehicle sliding slightly as Loki took it a bit too fast. Balder grunted painfully with a quick, intake of breath.

  “Take it easy, I wasn’t kidding about the blood. I think this coat’s new.” Indeed, it smelled new. It was certainly heavy. Gods only knew what he looked like these days; it wasn’t like when he and Ava…

  A cold finger traced his heart. Ava. If Gabriella got there before they did? No, she’d have to infiltrate layers of security. Layers. Plus, the roads were hell this time of year, and that little truck wouldn’t make as good of time as this behemoth of a gas guzzler they were in. “How close are we?”

  “Half an hour. If we don’t hit any drifts or pileups.”

  “It was clear a week ago,” Balder muttered from beside him. “And those tracks look fresh.”

  “I see them.” Loki’s voice sounded ghostly from the front. “Can’t be more than a few minutes old, not the way it’s snowing. She has to be right ahead of us.”

  “Not that you could see,” Balder muttered again. “It’s practically a whiteout. What the hell was she thinking?”

  “Probably that she wanted to get as far away from you as possible.”

  “That is not helpful.” Loki’s words were a rebuke, and Odin actually felt remorseful. Maybe that’s what the strange feeling was in his gut. It felt dark, a chill, terrible sort of thing, almost as if something inside of him was rebelling. Loki continued, “Let’s just get her back home where she belongs. Safely. And without incident.”

  “It’s true, though.” Everyone went absolutely quiet. “I did,” Balder explained. “She tried to explain things to me, and I was an ass and didn’t listen. I didn’t even give her a chance.”

  Odin rolled his eyes. Could they not make the trip without all this ridiculous sharing going on around him? It was…

  “Watch out, it’s…” Loki yelled.

  And then everything turned into chaos as the back of the seat slammed into Odin’s face, he heard the groaning of metal and breaking glass around him and a freezing wind whipped past his face.

  34

  Gabriella zipped up her coat and pulled her hat down tight. From her position, she counted the guards. Only seven, and two of them were fucking around, smoking when they clearly should have been taking their turn in rotation, so the side door would be her point of entry. She’d ditched the truck a half mile back and hoofed it the rest of the way in.

  At the moment, she was divided in half. Part of her felt absolute delight in the hunt. A vicious sort of joy slid through her, slippery and sweet. It whispered to her—the old her—sweet nothings that she hadn’t heard in so long; they sounded new.

  But the other part of her, the part that she damn well knew she should be listening to, told her this was a huge mistake. And not the way to go about making things right. But she’d promised Odin she would kill Domenic. She had to try.

  Creeping along the low hedge-lined wall, she braced her back against the stone. One short run, twelve feet at most, and then she’d reach the guards. Pulling out a long, thin knife, stolen from Mir, she fingered the blade. It drew blood. Good.

  She ran to the chosen spot where the bushes were high enough to hide her, and close enough to the lazy guards that she knew the cigarettes they smoked were menthol, close enough for her to tell they both needed baths. Badly. With a flick of her wrist, she slit one throat, then the other, before a look of surprise even crossed either of their faces, and left them behind the bushes, grinding the cigarette butts out beneath her heel on her way inside.

  Once through the door, she began the prowl.

  The place was empty, almost. A few scattered guards here and there. Lazy and impossibly careless, like the ones outside. Once she passed by, they were also dead, just like the ones outside.

  She moved silently from one well-appointed room to another, wondering at the money it had taken—the time and absolute commitment—to bring out the polished perfection that shone on every surface.

  It seemed obscene, this attention to detail in the midst of the rot and ruin of the world. But she’d grown used to such things in her life. The poor always starved while the rich grew richer. And they died in the streets while the ones who gained from it looked away. Her fingers gripped the knife handle a bit tighter. When the scent of seared meat drifted out to her, against her will, her mouth watered, and she followed the smell. She turned each corner carefully, caution masking her footsteps.

  Pausing at the final turn before sliding around it, Gabriella was so quiet not even the air seemed to notice.

  And found Ava waiting.

  “Hey, Gabriella. Seems I was right about you after all.”

  Forking a bite of something dripping gravy into her mouth, Ava observed her over a steaming plate of food. “It’s pretty good, would you like some?” She patted the velvet sofa beside her and offered up another forkful of what looked like beef. Gabriella shook her head, even as her stomach growled.

  Traitor.

  “Have it your way. I’ve been eating like a queen around here. You might as well get it while you can. It’s shaping up to be a long-ass night, I can tell you that.”

  Reluctantly, Gabriella took the fork and the plate and sat. “They saw you coming,” Ava added conversationally. “Or at least, spotted the Hummer that was following you.” Gabriella’s hand froze halfway to her mouth before Ava commanded quietly, “Eat fast. Because Domenic’s guards are on their way back with whomever was in that Hummer. A couple of the gods, would be my guess. I can’t get them out of here by myself. You’ll have to help me. Can you do that?”

  Shoveling food faster into her mouth, Gabriella nodded.

  “Excellent.”

  Tapping her finger on the couch, Ava spoke quietly, carefully, and quickly. “Domenic’s taken me to the realms. The ones where he’s hidden his resources—so listen up. Dark Elves on Svartlheim. Beasts he’s bred on Jotunheim. He released sixty of them on this world, and the horde of Black Elves will have reached the outskirts of the city by now. Look for them at night, they don’t go out in the day. There’s another place though—here on Earth—that’s the most important place of all. I’m trying to get him to show it to me. Once we’re there… Then we’ll see who is stronger.”

  Ava pulled back the curtain on the window as tires crunched out front. “They’re back. SOP is, they’ll unload them by the garages. Drag them down the narrow corridor, then stow them in a room downstairs until Domenic questions them, then they’ll torture them in the dungeons. Once they’re locked up, it’ll be hell getting them out. Especially now that there are new security measures in effect. Courtesy of Balder’s little escapade.”

  Her smile grew bright. “How is the Queen of the Underworld these days?”

  “Holding,” Gabriella mumbled through the mouthful of food.

  “Awesome. I’ll make this quick. The cost of what I did that day outside the Tower has been...” A visible shudder went through Ava—so violent her pale skin appeared to ripple with the movement. “Considerable. But I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I bought you the time to run, to get away. I’m only sorry it cost them the Tower. Assure Odin I’m still in control. Tell him I’m still…me.” Her face unreadable, she added, “For now, at least. But…tell him I’m staying, and will see this thing through.”

  Gabriella’s hand stilled. “I can’t tell Odin that. He’s going to freak out, Ava.”

  “Tell him anyway. Besides, he already knows it because he’s already seen it.

  “Another thing. I don’t know if you can kill Domenic, if that’s what you’re here for. These bodies… They might die, but I don’t know if this darkness inside us can be killed, because I don’t kn
ow if it has an end. Although there’s something about you…” Ava tilted her head and Gabriella felt as though she was falling. “If anyone can do it, I believe you can.” Ava sat back down and folded her hands demurely. “Now go and free those fools.”

  Gabriella didn’t argue. She didn’t do anything except wipe her mouth, do a weapons check, and take the ten steps it took to cover the space between the couch and the door. Turning, she opened her mouth to say something, but realized there was really nothing to say.

  “I know. This kind of sucks, doesn’t it?” Ava grinned. “Now. Left, down the stairs, right at the bottom, through the kitchen, two doors, then look for the third door to the left. That’s where they’ll be.” Her smile faded. “Don’t wait too long, or you’ll be following their screams.”

  “And where are you going to be?”

  Ava crossed her legs, her body seemingly more fragile than before. “I’m going to cause a bit of a distraction. Think of this as…What happened at the Tower but a little more localized.”

  “It almost killed me, whatever that was that leaked out of you in Chicago,” Gabriella warned, her lips tight. Ava stared at her, nonplussed. Gabriella nodded. “Just so you know. The darkness made me so sick I thought I was going to die. Like I was being ripped apart, from the inside out.”

  Ava’s face grew thoughtful. “Interesting. All right, then make sure you’re clear of the house in ten minutes. Otherwise, you’re really not going to like the way you feel.”

  A brief nod sent Gabriella off, at the bottom of the steps she lost a half a minute, taking care of a guard who decided it would be smart to check out the noise in the kitchen.

  And when she stood outside the room Ava indicated, she could almost smell the fear and blood down here, a coppery tang underneath the bleach. She was planning her assault—the timing—when she heard Balder’s deep, roaring protest of pain from behind the door.

  And everything slammed to a halt.