“Nice.” I glared at him. “You hit like a girl.”
I reached into my coat and felt the familiar handle of my angel blade. I didn’t pull it out just yet though. I watched as the “god” made his way toward me.
“I felt your bones crunch when I struck you.” He smiled at me and I swear, frost blew from his mouth as he laughed. “That must have hurt.”
I knew who this son of a bitch was now. “Loki.”
“Ah, you can be taught.” He stopped and glared at me. “You almost killed me, Northman. I came to return the favor.”
I hiked a brow at him. “Oh? You gonna ‘almost kill’ me now?”
“I’m going to finish the job.” He stepped closer, then paused. A quick glance over his shoulder and I heard him curse. “Stupid feathered cowards.”
“Aww, did your little angel friends abandon you?” I stepped forward and my anger fueled my recovery.
“Unsavory peasants.” He spun and glared at me again. “No matter. I don’t need them any longer.”
“Why would they assist you, Loki? You don’t exactly get along with their kind.” I gripped the handle tighter and felt it vibrate with anticipation.
“They were hired to do a job.” He chuckled and it made the hair on my neck rise. Well…okay, it gave me goosebumps where the hair once was. You know what I mean.
“Bait me into your trap?”
He laughed this time. A long and hearty laugh. It was unsettling.
“Of course not, you dolt. They filled you with confidence and courage based on false abilities.” He waved his arms wide. “Did you really think that by draining their brother you would suddenly have the powers of a god? Hell, did you think you might even somehow become an angel? The very definition is beyond you.”
I pulled the sword and swung it in a long arc. “The thought crossed my mind.”
He laughed again and I could hear the windows shaking in their panes. “All a ruse, silly boy. You did a bit of remote viewing. A bit of mind reading. A few transports at the speed of thought?” Again with the laugh. “I planned it all!”
I groaned inwardly but outwardly a growl formed low in my throat. “I nearly killed you without those powers. I can do it again.
This time the laughter sounded forced. But if it gave him bravado, who was I to argue? The longer I put off the fight that was about to come, the longer I breathed and the more time I had to repair the effects of being possessed by one of the Swedish angelic assholes.
“You almost killed me because I was trapped in a human meat suit.” He spread his arms wide, displaying the width of his reach. “Now I’m in my natural form. I am a frost giant; you don’t stand a chance.”
I spun the blade again and felt it vibrate in my hand. If the weapon could kill a god in human form, surely it could at least dissuade this one in his true form.
I hoped.
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” I spun the blade again and stepped forward. “This time your brother won’t be able to save you from my wrath, trickster.”
“My brother?!” He took a half step back and glared at me. “Surely you don’t believe that I need the help of an Asgardian? You’re little more than human.” He grinned and bent lower, showing me his evil face. “I eat humans for snacks, little man.”
“Then you can feast on me!” I launched myself, bringing the sword high in an upward arc, hoping to cleave his ugly face from his neck. But as my blade sliced where his face had been, it met no resistance. He had poofed elsewhere. I landed close to where he had been standing and the air felt considerably colder than the few feet away where I’d launched my attack.
I spun, my eyes searching the gloom for him. Something big and solid contacted my back and sent me flying across the empty warehouse again. I tucked and rolled and came up with my feet beneath me, my sword up and glowing in the dim light.
I stood in the ready position and felt my vertebrae knitting back together. I had the most intense craving for blood at the moment and knew…it had been the effects of angelic possession that had stifled my my craving for blood; I was all about the O-positive now; my desire was overwhelming. My stomach was an angry black pit. I hate to admit it, but at that single moment, I almost missed being possessed by the bastard. Maybe they were good for something after all.
Loki appeared before me again and swung his mighty arm. I’m not sure if I had retained some increased speed or sharpened awareness from eating Grigori, but his swing seemed slow and labored. I easily ducked his attack and rolled to his side, bringing my blade up and across, slicing his midsection.
Loki screamed and grabbed at his side. In his anger his shot his leg out and connected. I now knew what had struck me in the back because it felt like a wrecking ball had hit me. I wasn’t able to roll and recover from this shot. I slid across the concrete again and had to forcibly suck air back into my body. I dragged myself up and to my feet.
I turned and saw Loki, staring at the deep red blood that dripped from his hand. It wasn’t a killing blow, but it had hurt him. And if there’s one thing I was certain of, if something can bleed, it can be killed.
I gripped my sword and came back to my feet. I squared my shoulders and reached for the short blade. It vibrated in my other hand as I stalked toward the frost giant once more.
“Time to die, trickster.” I launched myself again and he swung, intent on knocking me from the air. I ducked and spun in the air. I struck his upper arm and continued to roll up and to his shoulder. I struck as hard as I could and buried the short blade to the hilt in his upper back.
As I continued to roll over him, I swung out with the sword and attempted to remove his head. I missed and the swinging motion took me off balance. I landed ungracefully behind him and had to use the sword to push up from the ground and get my feet back under me.
Meanwhile, the window shattering shriek that Loki let loose nearly blew out my eardrums. He spun in place, his long arms trying to reach behind him to remove the vibrating blade as it continued to try and sink deeper into his muscle.
He reached an arm over his shoulder, and using his other hand, pushed until a sickening crack was heard. I would guess that he had dislocated his own shoulder in an attempt to grasp the offending blade. It was only when his fingertips gripped the hilt that I noticed the smoke rising from his blue skin.
I smiled to myself and launched again. I sprung with all the speed my legs could give me, but instead of jumping upward toward his face, I slid across the smooth concrete and sliced at the tendon on his heel.
I missed but cut a smooth and deep wound in his calf. He fell to his knee and screamed again, cursing me as he threw the angel blade right at me. I jumped, but the damned thing sliced through my long coat, essentially shredding the tail into ribbons. I rolled forward, away from the strike, and came back to my feet, the sword up in a defensive posture.
“Have you made peace with your maker, trickster? The time is nigh.” I gave him my best sneer and could read from his face that even he recognized his own mortality.
I launched but he was able to raise his boot just enough to knock the sword from my hand. I landed square against his shoulder and heard him grunt as my body impacted the dislocated joint. I swung my arm upward and around his neck, letting momentum carry my body up and over his broad shoulders. I was riding the bull now, but I had no weapon and knew I lacked the strength to squeeze the life from him with my bare hands. I did what any good, hungry vampire would do. I sank my teeth deep into his neck and bit for all I was worth.
I could feel my lips chilling where they contacted his skin, but his blood was searing hot as I greedily sucked it down. I could feel him trying to swat at me, but his good arm only flailed as I bit down harder and ripped a chunk of his frost giant flesh away and swallowed it whole.
I tightened my grip around his neck by locking my knees together and continued to drain his blood. I could feel my wounds healing almost instantly and my head swam as though I were human and had drunk too much ale.
Still, I held on as he thrashed about and continued my best to drain him like a dirty hot tub.
He tried to come to his feet but the leg wound was enough to keep him grounded. He tried to turn toward me. We were almost eye to eye and I saw the fear of death in his eyes.
He grunted loudly and reached with his dislocated arm. I saw his other arm come up and grip his elbow. I knew he would grab me like he did the angel blade and possibly crush me in his grip. As his hand brushed the side of my face, I released my grip on his neck and slid off his back. I rolled to the side and my leg brushed the hilt of my sword.
Loki stared at me with those blue eyes of his and staggered on the floor. I gripped the blade and pictured plucking those glowing blue orbs from his skull.
“Wait, Northman.” He held his hand up, hoping to delay me.
“Death waits for no man.” I came to my feet and stepped closer.
“You could kill me.” I could almost see the gears in his head turning. “But then you’d never find out.”
I paused for only a moment to wipe his blood from my mouth. Loki had a long history amongst my people of being untrustworthy. “Find out what, liar?”
He smiled and I felt that cold chill run up my back again.
“You’ll never find out what happened to your soul.”
Chapter 20
HIS GRIN SPREAD and I felt as though someone had reached into me and pulled another angel out.
“Speak truly, or Odin help me, I’ll carve out your gizzard and feed it to the dogs!”
He pulled his broken arm over and wrapped it around his bleeding waist. He nodded at me and held his hand up, still in a surrendering motion. “When you nearly killed me last we met…”
“Go on.”
He swallowed hard and met my glare. “Thor. He plucked your soul from Valhalla and threw it into the great beyond.” I studied him, trying to sift through his words to detect the single bit of truth surrounded by lies and buried deep within half-truths and jest.
“You lie. Thor would not punish my soul for what a draugar did.” I prayed that he wouldn’t anyway.
Loki laughed, coughing as he did. I saw the dark red blood on his lips and realized my blade must have sliced much deeper into his side than I originally thought.
“Oh, he would. And he did.” Loki exhaled hard and collapsed to the floor. He pushed himself up and to a sitting position. “While I lay on my death bed in Asgard, he stormed from the palace and declared that your soul did not deserve the pleasures of feasting in Valhalla, fighting each night to prove itself, having ale, women, honor, not if you would resort to the killing of one of your gods for profit.” He coughed again and braced himself with his good arm.
This struck some essential chord within me. “Where is it? Where is my soul!” I stormed to his prone form and held the vibrating blade to his throat. “Tell me truly or choke on my blade!”
He shook his head gently. “Truly, I do not know. He said that he thrust it to the great beyond.” He closed his eyes and his breathing was labored. I knew that my threats held little meaning to one already teetering on the abyss.
I opened my mouth to speak when the room exploded in eye-searing, unbearable light; I was thrown back and away from the damaged god. I flew across the room and slammed hard into one of the concrete pillars scattered within the interior. I felt it give slightly as my body was crushed against it. Even with Loki’s blood coursing through my veins, the blow had caused severe damage and plenty of pain.
“Who dares!” The voice boomed and the few remaining windows shattered and tinkled to the ground. I knew that voice just as well as I knew that entrance.
I stared past the green spots in my vision and saw Thor standing over Loki. He turned to me and his face twisted into the most angry visage one could imagine. “You again?” He marched heavily toward me and before I could open my mouth to speak, he gripped the front of my flannel tunic and lifted me from the ground.
I dangled from his grasp and stared at my God, face to face. He shook me like a rag doll and glared at me. “How dare you, draugar? Did you think my earlier warning was made in jest?”
I shook my head weakly and inhaled as much air as I could. “He…tricked me…”
He shook me again and pulled me closer. I remember thinking, he smelled of pine and cedar, perhaps sandalwood? “Speak plainly!”
I lifted my arm and pointed at Loki’s form in the floor. “He tricked me.” I inhaled again and knew I had broken ribs. “Brought me here. Tried to kill me. Had angels working for him.”
I was spent. It was all I could give him.
He turned his gaze to Loki who held a hand up. “Do not kill him brother. He speaks truly.” He tried to push himself up again and collapsed to the floor, this time his head rested on the concrete. “It was a fair fight.”
I felt myself the victim of gravity once again as Thor dropped me to the ground. I barely had the strength to turn my head, but I watched Thor bend and pick Loki up, cradling him in his arms as one would a child.
“I’ll get you home again, brother. You will not be lost this day.”
I felt the charge in the air just a moment before that brilliant flash of light. I had the sense of mind to squeeze my eyes shut before it happened. The green spots were kept to a minimum.
I HAVE NO idea how long I lay on the floor of the warehouse. I slept the sleep of the dead until a familiar and beautiful face woke me. She shook my still form and begged me to breathe.
I opened my eyes and the moment I shifted, the pain rushed in, taking over every square inch of my body, and I know my eyes reflected it. She was crying as she lifted my face and cradled me in her lap.
“How’d you know?” I croaked.
“The GPS…I’ve been monitoring your vitals,” she said between sobs. “I thought you were dead.”
“I may have been.” I tried to sit up and knew that wasn’t going to happen. I exhaled hard and let my body rest against her lap.
“Just take it easy. When you’re ready, I have a car to take you back home.”
I gave her a weak nod and closed my eyes. I could feel her body continue to shake as she tried to calm down and I felt her fingers intertwine with my own. It made me feel warm inside.
I was almost asleep when I felt her lips press to my cheek. I fought the healing sleep and focused on that one moment. I had to know that it wasn’t a dream. That I hadn’t imagined it. I felt her tears as she kissed me again and I used what energy I had left to pull her lips to my own.
My recovery was rapid after we shared that first kiss. Even I was amazed at how quickly the pain left my body. I had pulled her to me and her hands were cupping my face.
“I thought I’d lost you.”
I pulled back and stared at her. “It will take more than a vengeful god to take me from you.”
I leaned in for another kiss, but she pulled back, her eyes wide. “A god?”
I nodded, wanting nothing more than to pull her tongue into my mouth again. I leaned forward and she pushed me back.
“Loki?”
I nodded and leaned in again. This time she stood and stepped away from me. “Why didn’t you just transport back to the house?” She spun, her face a mask of concern. “Were you trying to keep me safe?”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. “None of that was real.” I pushed myself from the floor and hobbled toward her. I used a column as a support and took a deep breath. “Loki had an angel possess my body. He let me think that I could do those things so I would assume I could defeat him.”
She eyed me cautiously. “So, you’re back to being a vampire?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I glanced to the broken windows and the first rays of sunshine were painting the dark sky with licks of color. “I guess we’ll find out.”
She quickly scooped up the blades that were thrown to the side during the battle and gripped me around the waist. “We need to get you out of here.”
I balked on her. “No rush.” I pointed to
the open door and gave her a soft smile. “I was able to walk in the light before Loki entered the equation. I think we’re good.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to risk it. I just got you back in one piece…well, sort of.” She pulled me toward the car and she opened the door for me. I fell into the back seat and she dropped the blades into the floor.
She drove like a madwoman all the way back to the house. I leaned against the arm rest and watched the sun rise through the passenger window. I didn’t burst into flames and rather enjoyed the warmth as it hit my face.
“I think you can slow down now.” I pulled myself up and leaned forward. “No ill effects.”
She finally slowed the car and I leaned back and rested while she took us home.
I stepped out of the car with far fewer pains than when I had entered it. I stretched in the driveway and turned to face the sun again. It never got old, enjoying the warmth of that giant orange ball in the sky.
She ushered me into the house and had a thousand questions. I answered them all to the best of my ability, though some answers were little more than grunts. Sat on the sofa and she helped me tug off my boots. I almost choked when I repeated Loki’s last words to me.
“Thor threw my soul into the great beyond.”
She nodded, but I don’t think she truly understood. “What does that mean?”
“It means that it’s out there. Alone. Lost.” I swallowed hard and shook my head. “I have no idea how, but I have to find it.”
She gave me a confused shake of her head. “How? I mean…where would you even start?”
I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.” Then I did what I always do. I squared my shoulders and spoke with a confidence that I may not have truly had, but felt I had to radiate. “I’ll hunt it down. The same way I hunt down everything else.”
I stood and shrugged the long coat off my shoulders. I turned and gave her the strongest smile I could muster. “I’m a hunter. That’s what I do. If I have to track down every angel, every lesser god…hell, even the major gods…I will hold my blade to their throats. I will find a way to get it back.”
Hunter II Page 17
