Demons (Eirik Book 1)

by Ednah Walters

  My cheeks grew warm. “Only an idiot fights his mother.”

  Their laughter grew. “At least he didn’t say you are a woman and men don’t fight women,” Father said.

  “I will teach you, personally, and you will learn to fight back or you’ll be carried out of the training field every time,” Mother said. “Then you’ll fight my men and the Grimnirs and the Jötnar guards. The dragons will come from Jötunheim to challenge your dragon.”

  “Even those from the other realms will come,” Father added.

  I studied their faces. Were they shitting me? “Why?”

  “It’s the way of the dragons,” Father explained.

  “If they are to pledge their loyalty to you,” Mother added, “you’ll have to prove yourself worthy. Show them you are their leader, because you are.”

  Too much information too soon. I was exhausted, achy, and stuffed. I washed the food down with mead and sat back.

  “So which one of you did I inherit this form from?” They looked at each other and became silent. “What?”

  “The dragon strain is very rare in all the realms,” Mother said. “My mother is a dragon shifter. Your uncle got only a portion of the strain and became a serpent shifter. You got the full strain.”

  My eyes were closing with fatigue. “Can I meet her?”

  “No,” both my parents said in unison. They sounded shocked I’d ask such a thing, which didn’t make sense.

  “She’s gone,” Mother added.

  “Too bad. I would have learned a few tricks from her.”

  “I will teach you the ways of the dragons, not my mother,” Mother snapped. Father gripped her hand and whispered something in her ear as though calming her down. More family drama. I should be used to it by now.

  Where was Celestia? I shouldn’t have runed her. She was going to be pissed when she found out. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her. No, she was an honest girl. A gorgeous, innocent, and powerful Witch whom I wanted to keep here forever when all she wanted was to go home to Earth.

  “Where are you going?” my mother asked and I realized I was standing. More like rocking on my feet. Damn, I was exhausted.

  “To find Dimples. She’s probably worried about me.”

  “Dimples?” Mother asked.

  I grinned. “I never liked them, but she makes them work. She’s cute and I want to keep her, but I can’t. I have to help her get home, like Maliina did.”

  “Maliina possessed a Grimnir against her will,” Mother said. “I hope that’s not what you are suggesting, Son.”

  “Nothing like that. She doesn’t like possession.” I rocked back again, then keeled forward. The last thought, before my face landed on a plate of bones and leftover food, was I shouldn’t have said that.

  ~*~

  CELESTIA

  “Do giants live in the mountains around here?”

  “Argh! Now look what you made me do,” Trudy griped, reaching down for a wet cloth and dabbing at the corner she’d been fixing. She was in her giant form and was repairing the mural inside the library. “I can’t focus when you keep interrupting.”

  “I’m bored.”

  “You are supposed to be sketching. It’s bad enough you talk while you do it. Pinched lips. Silver hair mixed with gray. Monk robes. The entire library knows you’re sketching the Idun-Grimnirs. So just shut up and sketch.”

  My jaw dropped. “Trudy Whatever-your–last-name, you are a bitch.”

  “And you are a liar, Celestia Whatever-your-last-name,” she shot back, then grinned. “Guess we are even.”

  I clammed up. She knew I was lying about being a soul and I refused to confess. She and I had spent the better part of the afternoon in the Grimnirs’ library. Eirik was busy doing Lord knows what, and I’d gotten restless and came in search of Trudy only to find her packing her paint bucket and paint tubes for a repair job. It had turned out to be the library used by the Idun-Grimnirs. Not the hot and young ones like Rhys. I didn’t see any enter it. These reapers were gray-haired, gray-skinned, old, and wrinkly. They were the ones who inspired drawings and horror movies back at home.

  I glanced up and caught the eyes of the one reading on the lounge at the other end of the library. Trudy had just announced that I was sketching them. I glanced down at my pad. I’d captured him perfectly, from the silver hair to the wrinkly skin. He looked really ancient. I flipped the page to my previous drawings.

  “You didn’t bring me chocolate,” Trudy griped.

  “With that attitude? Ha! You get bubkes.”

  “You disappeared on me for three days.”

  “It’s not my fault. Eirik kept me busy.” I’d decided to blame him if anyone asked.

  “Doing what?”

  “This and that.”

  “That’s the lamest answer I’ve ever heard.” Trudy shifted into her regular size and peered over my shoulder. “Who are those?”

  I flipped the sketchbook. “None of your business, nosy.”

  She laughed and took the seat across from mine. I could totally see her back at home. The girl who was tough as nails, yet guys fell over backward to please her because she looked so frail and pale. Came from living where the sun hardly ever shone. Her red curls and pale skin would make her stand out. Hayden would probably act as our referee, because Trudy and I would knock heads on a daily basis. I was happy Hayden wasn’t going to die.

  “Did you go home?”

  I almost fell for that and said no. Was I ever going to go home? “When will you be done?”

  “Soon. Do you want to join us for dinner, or do you have to eat with your master?”

  She only said that to piss me off. “I can eat with you guys. Thanks for the invite.”

  She shrugged. “You are far from home, and it’s time you tried Jötun food.”

  Man, she was fishing, and I was tempted to just tell her the truth. Lying was a lot harder than I thought. I remembered my meal in the cave. The one I could remember. “You don’t eat giant birds or anything like that, do you? I don’t know if I can eat anything bigger than my head.”

  She laughed. “You are so silly, but I like you.”

  I grinned. “The feeling is mutual, except when you are still the queen bee.”

  “Nah, I’d rather be queen A like that girl who controls her friends even from the grave. Pretty Little Something. Yeah, I watch a lot of Earth movies and TV series,” she added. “Jötunheim is nothing like they showed it in the movies and our people are not gray. Sheesh. Mortals. It’s bad enough they have no magic; they are ignorant, too.”

  I refused to be drawn into another debate about Mortals and lack of magic.

  “Where exactly do you watch these movies?” I didn’t see a television in her family quarters.

  “In the halls, where I get ideas for my murals, too.”

  I tried to ask her about the halls, but she shushed me and went back to painting. Maybe she and I would not be besties. She was too bossy and rude. Twenty minutes later, I helped her gather the paint, the brushes, and the drop cloth.

  “You’re not working this evening?” I asked as we headed toward Grimnirs Hall.

  “No. When the goddess is not receiving visitors, she spends the evening with her consort. Before she would…”

  “Yes?”

  She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore. They are happy now.”

  I wondered what that meant. They weren’t happy at one time? We passed the dining room where the old reapers ate. They looked ancient and wise, and their eyes seemed to see right through me. I quickly looked away. No need to give them a reason to see the real me. Of course, Trudy had a thing or two to say to them. She knew them by name when all I saw were different shades of the same face under hooded black robes. They really looked grim.

  We reached Grimnirs Hall, which consisted of three large rooms connected by archways. The Zamboni-like food carts rolled between the tables. As usual, the halls were packed and the conversation a continuous buzz. This time I heard other languages spok
en. I still got stares, but I was learning to ignore them. I searched for Rhys in the sea of faces.

  “Still trying to stop Rhys from reaping your friend?” Trudy asked.

  “You know?”

  She slipped her arm through mine. “I overheard you and Mom discuss it.”

  “He told Eirik he wouldn’t.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course he would say that. Probably didn’t want to anger the young god. What if he already reaped her? What if someone else did? We should sneak in the Sorting Hall and see if she’s one of the new arrivals. Maybe ask the guards. Do you know her full name and date of birth?”

  My anxiety returned. “Hayden Ferrand, November fifth. She’s seventeen years old like me.”

  “Me too. There’s this closet where I usually hide to listen to the goddess’ speech. Twice a day—after breakfast for those reaped at night and before dinner for those reaped during the day. Sometimes, when she has visitors, she only does it once a day. Like today.”

  “I don’t know. What if she sees us?”

  “I’ve been hiding there for the last, uh”—her expression grew pensive—“sixteen years and she’s never discovered me.” When I hesitated, Trudy added, “Chicken.”

  “Fine. Let’s go. I can always say I saw the goddess do her thing.”

  “And there’s that. I’ll store these at home. You keep the sketchbook and the pencils. I have a whole room full of painting stuff. It’s all I asked the Grimnirs to bring back from Earth. Paint things and chocolate.”

  It wasn’t until she left that I realized why she’d said “And there’s that.” The more time I spent with her the harder it became to hide the truth. I waited in the hallway outside Grimnirs Hall. A tall, muscular, and drool-worthy Grimnir walked by and turned to give me a second look. He looked intimidating, yet strangely fascinating. He studied me with a gleam in his wolfish eyes until a black guy with dreadlocks called out “Echo” and he got distracted. He continued toward the guy who’d called his name and I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

  They spoke briefly and turned to look at me. What? Did I have the word “Fake” tattooed on my forehead? I bet they knew about me, but they just weren’t saying anything because of Eirik.

  And what was it with freakishly hot Grimnirs, anyway? It was like they recruited male models instead of regular men. Jeez, Grimnirs Hall looked like a casting call.

  Trudy returned and we ran up the ramp to the Sorting Hall. It was packed with souls standing and looking glum. The reapers must have just dropped them off and left them in the room. I’d yet to see any young reaper with a scythe, though. Must be another myth, unless the Idun-Grimnirs were the ones who carried them. The scythe-carrying reaper legend had to have originated from somewhere.

  The goddess hadn’t arrived and the guards looking serious in black didn’t detain us. They weren’t carrying any weapons either, unlike the goddess’ guards who carried daggers.

  Trudy went to the guard in front of the room and gave him Hayden’s name and birthday. He whipped out an artavus and waved it. Runes appeared in the air, glowed briefly, then disappeared. The guard shook his head. She hurried to my side, a broad grin on her face.

  “She’s not in any of the Eternal Halls.” She flirted our way to the back of the room, slid open the doors of a closet lined with hooded dusters, and we slipped inside. She dragged two chairs from the corner to where the two sliding doors met. “My sister sometimes sits with me, but she’s too busy helping Papa now. So many evil people dying, and she is such a Daddy’s girl. And to answer your earlier question, there are no giants in this realm, just Jötnar. I am a Jötun. They”—she pointed at the guards with the souls—“are Jötnar. When you say giants, you are talking about fire giants. Fire giants are bad. Evil.”

  “So Jötnar—”

  “Are good.”

  “Asgardians?”

  “Weird. Selfish. Self-absorbed.” She grinned as though enjoying a private joke. “Sometimes they are our allies and sometimes our enemies. We marry them. We do business with them. We fight them.”

  “The goddess?”

  “The best. Watch.” Trudy peered through the opening. “She’s here.”

  We peered into the room as the goddess walked to the chair in front. The souls perked up, their eyes following her. She wore white and, for once, didn’t carry her scepter. When she spoke, it was in a soothing voice. I strained to hear her.

  “I know you are tired and scared, but everything is going to be okay. We have a place you can rest and be with your loved ones. You can talk and catch up, and stay with them as long as you like. And when you are ready to be on your own, you can be on your own with your happiest memories. You can decide which period of your life you want to revisit and relive it, who you want to be with and they’ll be there. Some of you can correct some of the wrongs you did or were done to you. The Eternal Halls are meant to be happy and worry-free.”

  I associated her with cruelty and coldness. This side of her completely blindsided me. Why couldn’t she be this nice to Eirik? He was her only child, for pity’s sake.

  The guards led the souls to the goddess. She whispered something to each and every one of them before they were led out of the room and through a portal.

  “What is she telling them?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never died and been reaped before.” She gave me a pointed look.

  Of course Trudy would expect me, a proclaimed soul, to know. The problem was my body was still alive back at home. By now, Dad had probably admitted me into a hospital or some place where I could get twenty-four seven intensive medical care. The thought was depressing.

  Sighing. I went back to watching the procession, searching for Hayden’s familiar face. If I asked Trudy where the souls were headed now, she’d come up with another snarky comment. The line moved quickly and the souls seemed happier. I was sure most of them wanted to see their loved ones and reminisce about the past. Maybe change a few painful memories.

  “So about the giant I was talking about,” I said as a conversation starter. “I think there’s one in a nearby cave, and she’s up to no good.”

  She frowned. “Why do you think it’s a fire giant?”

  “There’s a magical fire.”

  “Anyone can create a magical fire.”

  “Jötun, fire giant, or whatever she is, she needs to be stopped from taking me to her cave.”

  “That’s impossible. No one can open a portal into or out of Eljudnir. Or we would have all sorts of vermin come here to retrieve souls of their loved ones.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  “She doesn’t use portals. One minute I’m in the hall and the next, poof, I’m gone.”

  She studied me, her pale green eyes looking eerie in the darkened room. “That only happens with souls, which means you really are one,” she said.

  I grinned.

  “That sucks. I was so sure you were a Mortal brought here by the young god for his amusement.” I stopped smiling while she made a face. “Now the only interesting thing about you is you can talk.”

  “Okay, Drama Queen. Just tell me who to talk to about the Jötun.”

  “My papa would know if someone is using one of the caves. The job he does for the goddess makes him a very important person. Not just here, but among our people. So our people always stop by to pay their respects whenever they pass through Helheim.”

  “Where can I find him?”

  “By the boat on the Gjöll River. He escorts the damned souls to Corpse Strand. But you can talk to him during dinner.” She peered into the room and I joined her. “Do you see your friend?”

  I guessed the subject was closed. “No, Hayden knows I’m here, so she wouldn’t meekly walk to her resting place. She would run across these halls screaming my name.”

  Trudy chuckled. “Eternal Halls, not resting places. Most souls don’t learn to talk for months, Celestia. They are usually too shocked to even think about running, unless they already knew
they’d be coming to this place. Like Maliina. She knew about this realm and even visited it, so she ran. Your friend—”

  “Knows about this place too,” I said. “She’d never visited, but she is… was curious about it. Hayden would definitely come looking for me, and if she can’t talk, she would cause a ruckus. She is like an unstoppable force of nature.”

  “Shh. The goddess is looking over here,” Trudy whispered.

  Sure enough, when I looked into the room, the goddess was staring at the closet. Knowing how powerful she was, she’d probably known we were hiding in there the entire time. We both shuffled backward and tried to hide behind the cloaks and dusters hanging inside the closet.

  “It’s your fault,” Trudy whispered. “You were talking too loud.”

  My jaw dropped. “I swear, you’d throw your mama under the bus to get out of trouble.”

  “Would not. Ouch!”

  “Serves you right,” I shot back even though I didn’t know what hurt her.

  She glared, then looked at her arm and winced. She was bleeding. I cringed and looked away, until she said, “One of the idiots forgot to shrink an artavus.”

  She was holding a stick covered with runes. It looked nothing like the artavus Eirik had shown me. She pushed it away and it fell, the sound of a blade hitting the stone floor loud inside the little room.

  “Now who is making enough noise to wake the dead?” I asked.

  “The only dead person I see in here is you, and you are wide awake,” she shot back.

  The doors slid open and we both froze.

  “Out, you two,” the goddess snapped.

  Since my face was burning, I couldn’t meet her eyes. I lowered my head and saw a scythe. A real, ginormous scythe reapers were supposed to carry. Was that what Trudy had meant by a Grimnir’s artavus?

  “Haven’t you outgrown hiding inside this closet and spying on souls, Trudy? And now you are encouraging others.”

  “I was hoping there would be another prince or princess—or Elves. Elves are fun.”

  Wow, that took serious guts. The way she often walked behind the goddess with her chin low, I’d assumed she was scared of her. From her voice, she was anything but. I glanced at the goddess and wished I hadn’t. She still looked furious.