Valkyrie Rising

by GR Griffin

  Brahms' decision would set off a great battle in the underworld. The demons weren't eager to be ruled, especially not by the monster who had slaughtered so many of their kind. Silmeria saw many fights, many brutal battles between Brahms and the various demons who tried to rebel against his mastery of them. But Brahms was fueled by the divine blood of the Goddess, Hel's vitality his, along with his righteous fury. He was determined to see this through, to craft the start of his armies.

  It wasn't always an easy victory for him, the fights sometimes taking their tolls on him. Brahms was feeding more than ever off of Hel, the Goddess enduring this with little more than resigned whimper. She had after all become accustomed to his feeding off of her by this point.

  In the quiet moments, Silmeria would watch as Brahms sat in some hidden alcove. Hel would be resting against his front, sitting between his spread legs. He'd whisper reassurances to her, telling her how he would use the demons to make the one responsible for her torture pay. He still had no concrete proof that it had been Odin, but who else could it have been? Who else would dare seal away a Goddess' powers, and leave her at the mercy of lusty demons?

  The demons continued to rebel. They seemed to prefer to die rather than suffer under Brahms' rule. It frustrated him, Brahms often gnashing his teeth as a sign of his annoyance. He knew if he had retained his divine abilities, the power he had once wielded would have been enough to bring the demons to heel. Hel could have done it in his place, but not so long as she was mindless. Not so long as she couldn't even call upon her powers to clothe herself.

  The lesser demons should have been no problem. The scavengers should have fallen in line, fearing Brahms. But they looked to the larger demons for protection, and those beings were roughly the same size as Brahms if not bigger. The large demons were refusing to give in, and influencing the other weaker, more cowardly creatures from aligning with Brahms.

  How long had he been fighting? How long had Brahms tried to subdue the demons through brute force? It was difficult to beat them without it resulting in their deaths. Brahms was all too powerful, the parasite within him all too eager for the kills. It cared nothing for his ambitions, was satisfied so long as he had Hel to feed his blood cravings.

  Hel had entered into a silent phase. No more screams did she utter, no more tears did she weep. She just kept quiet, her eyes seeming to take in everything around her. Brahms did not know what to make of this. Was she getting better, or worse? He did not know. But he kept on fighting and feeding, trying to get his army. Telling himself the legions of demons would protect Hel instead of hurt her. He'd make them, force them to treat Hel with the care and respect deserving of a Queen.

  Silmeria felt a shiver at those thoughts. If she had been awake, her eyes surely would have widened. Was Brahms responsible for Hel's rule over the underworld? It was surprising, but not as much as it once would have been. She had already seen so much, more memories and experiences than she could possible process in one sitting. Why shouldn't Brahms be the one to carve out Hel's underworld empire? But she still had many questions, wondering just how the Goddess would regain enough of her senses to become the cruel queen the Valkyries were so familiar with.

  Brahms was often worried. And not just about Hel's mental state, and the difficulty in getting the demons to unify and obey him. He worried over the one responsible for the horrors done to Hel. Worried that Odin would come to check on his handiwork. If he did, he would be expecting one of two things. Hel to either still be chained to that rock, a victim of the demons, or Hel having succumbed to the torture, and died at the demons hands. Either way, Odin would not be pleased to discover Hel was free. More than ever, they needed that army for protection.

  Even if they got that army, Brahms felt he could never truly leave Hel alone. Not among the demons, not in her present state of mind. If she was left alone, the demons would be quick to take advantage of her vulnerable state. It left Brahms stuck with her, forever duty bound to see to the Goddess' care. He hated the moments when he despaired over that duty, but Brahms had his own sense of honor. It was that honor that kept him with Hel, taking care of her needs, and feeling ashamed of how he preyed on her.

  Hel was a weakness. Silmeria knew it, Brahms knew it, and the demons knew it too. His acts to unify them were beginning to work, but it was not Brahms who they named leader. A demon name Azrieth took command. He would organize the demons, a plot being concocted. A plot to strike at Brahms' one weakness, his source of power. They would attack in unprecedented numbers, striving to separate the vampire from the Goddess.

  For a time it worked, Brahms being driven further and further from where he had left Hel. The Goddess was in a stage where she would not move unless prodded, Hel silent as she studied her surroundings. Brahms' enraged bellows could be heard once he realized what the demons were up to. There were all around him and ON him, little scavengers clinging to his body, biting down to bleed and tear out chunks of his flesh.

  As quickly as he threw them off him, more would jump on him. And all the while he had to do battle with the larger creatures. Silmeria froze when Brahms let out his most tortured scream, the vampire realizing he had lost sight of Hel. She felt his fear for the Goddess, felt Brahms ready to blame himself for any torture that befell Hel. He even cursed himself for not being the one to end her life, Brahms thinking that was the only thing he could have done to truly protect her from the demons.

  Even as he cursed and held himself responsible for what was surely about to happen to Hel, Brahms continued to fight. Tearing apart demons with his claws, hauling the little scavengers off his back, and throwing them like they were projectiles. He roared and bellowed, but was losing blood. His body was trying to heal, and in the process expending energy. He'd need to feed, and had no reliable food source available to him so long as Hel was stolen from him.

  Even as his vision started to grow hazy, blurring, he continued to fight. Snarling, turning feral. The demons were worse, lips drawn back to reveal sharp, jagged teeth that couldn't hurt as badly as Brahms' fangs did. His claws tore apart flesh, even as the demons tried to rend him apart with their own nails. And then amidst it all, he heard an unnatural scream. It was like nothing he had ever heard, and even the demons stopped to look.

  A burst of divine energy came flying towards the group around Brahms. It didn't just strike demons, some of the energy rebounded into Brahms. It sent them all flying, mini explosions of dirt erupting around them. And then another blast of divine energy took out another group of demons, Brahms staggering upright in time to see the one who had wielded the attack. He felt his jaw drop, Brahms blinking in disbelief.

  The Goddess Hel stood across the field, glowing globes of dark purple energy in her hands. The center of the orbs crackled with green lighting, the globes growing in size as she studied the remaining demons. The demons were torn between attacking and fleeing, eyeing the Goddess who was surrounded by the burnt remains of bodies. Brahms did not know what to make of this. Had Hel's abduction roused her to the point she was coherent? He was too far away to see her eyes, and that chilled him all the more. Brahms did not want to think of a broken mind wielding Hel's power.

  The moment of indecision ended, several demons lunging towards Hel with outraged shrieks. Did the fools actually think they could take her down? Eerily, with no hint of expression to her face, Hel thrust the globes of power in the direction of the attacking demons. They died, still shrieking their anger, bodies turned to powder. The rest of the demons either fell to their knees to beg for mercy, or attempted to flee. Hel would blast apart the ones who ran, and then begin to weave into the crowd. Brahms struggled to retain consciousness, but it was a losing battle. Hel's approach was the last thing he saw, Brahms desperate to see her eyes, even as he toppled face forward into the dirt.

  How long did he sleep? Silmeria came away with the sense that he was unconscious only for a few hours at most. Brahms would wake up with a groan, muscles protesting when he suddenly shot straight up from his
reclining position. Dead demons were all around him. He was barely in better shape, feeling as though he was one foot in the grave from how rotten he felt. Silmeria could feel he was hungry, and it was a shocking feeling. All because both she and Brahms had gotten used to his hunger being satisfied from his constant meal of Hel's blood.

  He frowned, and started to look around. He spied her on a nearby rock. His eyes widened, Brahms noting Hel had taken the time to materialize a dress to replace the tattered shirt she had been wearing. She looked better than he could remember seeing in recent years, Hel clean, her hair tangle free. She sat in a rock, but her bearing was so regal, as though she sat on the finest of thrones.

  She was staring at him, still as a statue. As though waiting for him to say something. Brahms felt the parasite rear it's head, urging him to go to her, to take her as was his right. But the corpses around him weren't all by Brahms' hand. He remembered the power Hel had wielded. The power she might unleash against him, should he go for her neck.

  "Hel." Brahms said, cautiously moving, slow and steady. He was trying not to make any sudden movements, not wanting to give her an excuse to attack. "Are you...are they..." He couldn't figure out what to say to her, the situation seeming unreal. "Are you all right?" Hel's head tilted, as though she didn't understand the question. "Did they hurt you?" Brahms said, inching towards her.

  "Many have hurt me." She finally spoke. Her voice had a childish ring to it, sounding distorted from her normal tones. "The demons, Odin....you."

  Guilt flashed through him. Brahms struggled to ignore it. "Odin? Then HE was responsible for chaining you down here?!"

  "I've been a bad girl." Hel retorted. "I've been consorting with monsters. I had to be punished. I had to be made to suffer for my sins."

  "The only monster you've willingly dealt with is me." Brahms said, disturbed but angry by her words. He had a feeling she was repeating what someone had told her. That someone was probably Odin.

  "Yes. You." Hissed Hel. "Because of you I was hurt...because of you I was tortured...." Ether crackled over her, the energy looking like purple lightning.

  I was not the one who chained you to that rock." Brahms was quick to remind her. "I was not the one who left you to the demons..." Her eyes flashed with confusion, some of the energy's intensity lowering. "Hel, can you tell me what happened?"

  Her head tilted again, her lips frowning as though Hel was struggling to remember. He almost held his breath, mentally willing her to remember. Brahms had not realized it then, but such a strong thought in his head, directed towards one he had bound to him with blood? It was as good as giving an order, his compulsion manifesting, forcing Hel to remember.

  Hel visibly flinched, hands tightening into fists on her lap. The ether bolts of lightening continued to crackle over her form, increasing in speed and intensity. They were reacting to her emotions, to the pain she was experiencing as Hel remembered everything. Her eyes fluttered quickly, he thought she might faint before Hel could tell him anything.

  "I remember..." She spoke slowly, still in that childish tone. Hel would actually grimace, shaking her head no as though she was fighting off the memories.

  "What do you remember?" Brahms asked her, his voice turning as insistent as his thoughts. "Tell me."

  Her eyes seemed to flash a different color. She'd narrowed them at him, as though incensed by his request. "You were sick...dying...we all thought you would die...all of us, even you."

  "Yes, I remember that..." Brahms agreed. "But I didn't die. I lived...thanks in part to you."

  "Thanks in part to what you took from me." Hel corrected him. "You hurt me...you tore into my flesh, and drank of my blood...I think you would have killed me then if he hadn't interfered."

  "Odin..."

  "Odin." Hel agreed. "You two fought...he thought you died, torn apart and eaten by the demons. There was no way you should have been strong enough to survive them, after that fall...."

  "But you knew better." Brahms said.

  "Yes." Hel agreed. "You called to me...you let me feel your great pain, and the hunger you were suffering through..." She frowned. "Why couldn't you leave me alone? None of this would have happened if I had never gone to the underworld. He would have never have needed to punish me if I hadn't continued to feed you!"

  "He...who is he?" Brahms would not speak a name, wanting Hel to come up with it on her own. She hesitated long enough for his impatience to flare. "Tell me Hel."

  ".....Odin..." She finally whispered, fearful and cringing as though she expected to be struck down at any moment. "He discovered what I was doing, who I was going to see..."

  "And he punished you for it..."

  "He was so angry..." Hel shuddered. "I tried to protect you even then. Tried to deny who I had been seeing. But the marks remained...he could see my skin retained fresh bite marks." She was beginning to cry, lifting her hands to cover and hide her face from him. Her shoulders shook with her sobs, Hel weeping. "I tried to hide you...to deny you were in the underworld...I would not make it easy for him to find you...Nifleheim is a vast realm...it would take him months if not years to find you on his own..."

  "Hel..." Brahms began to cautiously approach her. He could not deny he wanted to feed, but in the moment he was trying to ignore that need in order to see to comforting the Goddess.

  "I should have told him what he wanted to know!" Hel suddenly screamed, ether slamming into his chest. "None of this would have happened if not for you! I would have never...never been...been used by those monsters!"

  Brahms managed not to scream, slamming back against a tree. "Hel!" She threw more energy at him, her face wet with streaked tears. "Hel listen to me..."

  "It's all your fault!" She raged. "If not for you, I would still be in Asgard. I would not be banished from the heavens!"

  Her words staggered him as much as the energy slamming into him, Brahms gasping. "Banished?!"

  "He will never let me return! Never! Even if I kill you, I am no longer fit for the heavens! I am no longer pure but tainted. Corrupted by the likes of you and the demons here!" Hel screamed. "I am ruined! You have ruined me!"

  He screamed this time, the energy hitting him harder. She seemed to be pouring all her strength, all her energy into the attack, willing to kill herself along with Brahms. She continued to rant, saying there was nothing left for her. Nothing at all. She as well as Brahms had seen the beauty of the heavens, and knew no other realm could compare with Asgard.

  Brahms groaned in pain, writhing in agony from Hel's assault. For one brief instant he was mindless, unable to think of anything but the pain the Goddess was inflicting on him. He barely managed to speak, but when he did it was a command. "Hel stop!"

  To his shock she did, the ether stopping just like that. Hel stood a few feet away from him, seeming frozen in place. Her ether crackled over her form, and her face wore a grimace. Her tears were falling, and she seemed to be trembling. Struggling with the effort to break free of his compulsion.

  Brahms was confused. "Why did you stop?" He demanded. "Why didn't you finish me off?"

  "I...want to." Hel admitted. "But I can't!"

  "Why can't you?" Brahms asked, rising cautiously to his knees. He didn't dare think she still held affection for him. Not after all she had been through, a lot of which he had put into motion with that first bite.

  "Because...you told me to stop." Hel said. Silmeria sensed Brahms still didn't understand.

  "It's just that easy?" It wasn't an easy question to answer, Hel just glaring at him hatefully. "Do you have to do whatever I say?"

  "Yes." Hel gritted out through clenched teeth. Silmeria felt Brahms' surprise, the vampire rising to walk cautiously towards Hel.

  "Anything at all?" A terse nod from Hel. Brahms decided to test it out. "Stand on one leg, and hop in place." Glaring at him, Hel did as he asked. Her movements were awkward, her long dress hardly ideal for this activity. Brahms did not smile at her antics, still wary of this revelation. "Why? Why are you compelle
d to do as I ask?"

  "Because of your bite..." Hel said, still hopping. "You've damned me with it..."

  "You can stop hopping now." Brahms told her absentmindedly. He was considering her words, marveling over the power he might command as a side effect of his binding Hel to him. He'd need other people to test this power out on, Brahms wondering if he could command the demons through his bite. But he didn't yet know how he had succeeded in binding Hel so thoroughly to him. Experiments would have to be done, but now wasn't the time.

  "Hel...for what has been done to you...and what I have been responsible for....I am truly sorry. For all of it." Brahms told her sincerely. She just glared at him, showing no willingness to accept his apology. "I never meant to do any of this to you. I just wanted to live. To live long enough to avenge the crimes Odin has committed. Crimes Odin continues to add to. I may have set into motion much of what has happened to you, but Odin has a hand in it too. If he never turned a greedy eye on the throne of Creation...none of this would have happened to either of us."

  "It doesn't excuse you!" Hel hissed. "You will never earn forgiveness from me...even if you command me to say otherwise! Your hands are as dirty as Odin's!"

  "I know that..." Brahms was inching towards her. "But I can try to make it up to you...."

  "You can never make it up to me..." She scoffed. Her eyes were frightened, she didn't like

  that Brahms was approaching.

  "I can never." He agreed. "But I can help you..."

  "How?!"

  "By setting up a base of power for you. A kingdom of sorts." Brahms explained. "I will get you an army...between you and I, the demons will fall into line. They will protect you....Odin will never be able to harm you again...."

  "And what price will you ask for this army, this kingdom?" Hel demanded. His eyes were involuntarily drawn to her neck. It made Hel scream, her struggles becoming more apparent. "NO!"