Runes #03 - Grimnirs

by Ednah Walters

  I frowned, not liking the bitterness that had crept into his voice. “What do you mean?”

  He smiled, the emotions churning in his eyes hard to watch. “My mother couldn’t find anyone to love her either. She had to trap my father in Hel with her. Maybe I’m destined to be alone like her. Doomed to never find loved.”

  I closed the gap between us. “Don’t say that. You’ll meet someone.”

  “I have no interest in meeting someone.” He turned and punched the counter. The marble top split and edges lifted up as it collapsed into the cupboards underneath it. The sound was echoed by another from the foyer.

  Echo.

  “I have to go and so do you. I don’t want you and Echo fighting over me because it won’t make any difference. Go back to Asgard, Eirik. Go home. You really shouldn’t be here with Grimnirs looking for you.” I closed the gap between us and touched his arm. He stiffened. More sounds came from the other room, telling me the others were trying to stop Echo. “Please, go.”

  I turned to leave, but he grabbed me, pulled me into his arms, and buried his face in my hair. I didn’t know what to do or say to him. He was shaking, which only made me feel bad. I put my arm around his waist and hugged him.

  “I’m so sorry, Eirik. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “I wish you had waited for me, Cora. Why didn’t you wait for me?”

  More thuds shook the house.

  “I must go to Echo before they hurt him.” I wiggled out of Eirik’s arms, looked up, and gulped. Eirik’s eyes had a weird glow in them. I had no idea what that meant. Raine had explained, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember whether it was a good thing or not. I had no time to calm him or help him deal with his pain. The sounds coming from the foyer were getting louder and coming faster.

  I ran to the door between the kitchen and the dining room and pushed. The door wouldn’t budge. Something was blocking it from the other side. I spun around, raced past Eirik, and gunned for the door leading to the hallway. I burst through the swinging doors to see Raine and Eirik’s copper-haired buddy running toward me.

  “Where’s Eirik?” Raine asked.

  “In the kitchen. What’s happening?”

  “Grimnirs are here.” Raine rushed past me. “They know he’s here. We must get him out. They also know that Echo is working with us.”

  “No,” I whispered in horror.

  “He’ll be okay. Just don’t go in there, Cora. He said to keep you away.”

  I hesitated, not sure what to do. I had no superpowers and couldn’t fight these people, but I couldn’t cower in the hallway while they killed Echo either.

  A roar came from the kitchen followed by thumps and crashes. Without looking back, I raced toward the foyer. My stomach dropped at the scene.

  The wall separating the foyer from the living room was gone. From the number of long-coated blurs zipping around the room, the Grimnirs outnumbered our people two to one. Even Lavania in her fancy flowing gown was fighting.

  Not sure what I could do to help, heart pounding, I searched for Echo in the chaos. I ducked behind the wall as half the stairs crumbled to my left, plaster and debris crashing to the floor. I felt a presence behind me and whipped around, expecting Raine.

  A pale-blonde woman dressed in all black, including knee-length boots, and a belted leather jacket stood behind me. I’d never seen her before.

  “So we meet again, Cora,” she said with an accent.

  “Maliina,” I whispered.

  “Echo is going to rot in Hel’s island for disobeying the goddess. And for what? You? A mere Mortal?”

  “Stay away from her,” Echo roared, and I saw him, or the blur that was him, zip toward us. Two Grimnirs intercepted him, and the three took down the rest of the dining room wall.

  “Echo,” I screamed and started toward him, reaching for a slab of plaster.

  “You really think you can fight us?” Maliina said with a sneer. “They could snap your neck like that.” She snapped her fingers.

  “You’re forgetting something. I’m Mortal. If they touch me, they will be punished for eternity.”

  “Not if they say they couldn’t tell the difference,” Maliina said with malice. Then her face, hair, and clothes shifted and transformed until I was staring at my double. “Just like Echo couldn’t tell the difference. He’s only with you because I looked like you when we met. I bet when he touches you, it’s me he sees.”

  I’d moved passed those insecurities a long time ago. “For an Immortal, you’re stupid. Why don’t you ask yourself why he has stayed after learning I’m not you?”

  “Because he knows I’ll be waiting to replace you once your body withers and dies.”

  I lost it and hit her with the slab. It broke into tiny pieces while she laughed mockingly. I jumped her, grabbing a chunk of her hair and yanking. She shook me off like I weighed nothing. I landed on my ass and pain shot up my spine. The battle in the foyer wasn’t slowing down, but I heard Echo yell my name above the noise.

  Maliina grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Walk or I’ll snap your arm.”

  “If you think I’ll let you distract Echo—”

  Her hand moved to my back. “One punch and I’ll snap your spine into two, Mortal. Now walk. We are going to the portal near the entrance. Eirik will follow us once he realizes I have you.”

  Swallowing, I started forward across the war zone.

  “Watch out, Cora!” Raine screamed.

  I whipped around to see Eirik boring down on us, a medieval spiked flail dangling from his hand. Raine and his friend hurried beside him, yelling at him like they were trying to reason with him.

  Eirik slowed down when he saw me and Maliina, his eyes volleying between my face and Maliina’s. They were still unfocused.

  “Cora?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Maliina and I said at the same time.

  Maliina’s hand dropped from my back. “She’s trying to hurt me, Eirik. Destroy her.”

  He raised the flail, the chain wrapping around his wrist, the spiked head coming to rest on the back of his arm. Instead of confusion, his eyes now burned with rage. I was sure he didn’t care who the real me was anymore. His anger was probably directed at me for not waiting for him, for not loving him. My heart stopped.

  “Eirik, it’s me,” I whispered.

  “Eirik, it’s me,” Maliina imitated me.

  Eirik shook his head, his breathing labored, eyes starting to glow eerily again. His friend and Raine tried to pull him away. From Raine’s expression, she couldn’t tell us apart either.

  A bloodied Echo appeared in my periphery, and I turned, relief slamming through me. He would stop Eirik.

  “She hurt me, Echo,” Maliina begged. “Finish her.”

  Echo didn’t even slow down, he grabbed my hand and pushed me behind him. “Think I can’t tell the difference, you evil bitch? She’s all yours, Eirik.”

  Eirik’s fist slammed into Maliina, sending her flying across the room. He followed, his friend behind him. Echo pushed me toward Raine and ordered, “Get her out of here now.”

  One second he was beside me; the next, he barreled into a Grimnir and the two of them disappeared inside what used to be the dining room.

  “Let’s go,” Raine urged.

  I know I was completely useless here, but still… “We have to stop this somehow.”

  “Eirik can, but I must help him,” Raine said. “Go to his old bedroom and wait there while…”

  Something sharp pierced my back, and I sucked in a breath. I didn’t hear the rest of Raine’s words. The pain was gone fast, but the warmth at the spot told me I was bleeding. I tried to reach where the pain had originated, even as the warmth radiated. Across the room, Maliina slowed down and smirked at me.

  She’d done this to me. Had she snapped my spine as she’d promised?

  “Go, Cora,” Raine yelled. “Run.” Then she was gone.

  I tried to call her back, tell her that something was wrong with my back, but w
hatever I said, if I said anything at all, was swallowed by the crashes and thuds reverberating around us. Numbness replaced the warmth, spreading up and down my spine. Black dots appeared in my vision. I tried to move away from the carnage, but I couldn’t move my hands, legs, or head.

  I tried to find Echo, but the fighters all looked the same—blurry masses of black and gray. My eyes found Raine and Eirik. She was yelling at him. My vision blurred, and they swung out of focus. I was going to black out.

  No, I will not. I. Will. Not. My vision sharpened.

  The battle still raged on, but Eirik stood in the middle of the room with his right hand raised, the chain and the spiked ball at the end of his flail whipping the air with a whooshing sound. My heartbeat slowed down, each beat loud in my ears. I rolled my eyes down and gulped at the blood pooling at my feet. My blood.

  Tears filled my eyes. Someone yelled my name. Was it Echo? I couldn’t tell, but I wanted to see him. Even if it was to say goodbye.

  “Duck, Cora!” Raine yelled and raced toward me. Eirik had let go of the flail.

  She tackled me, and we both went down. I couldn’t break my fall and landed face down in my own blood, probably bruising my cheeks and chin. I still couldn’t feel pain. But the numbness spread. It was kind of surreal. Raine must have realized I was hurt because I heard her scream.

  She appeared in my line of vision, her mouth opening and closing. I didn’t hear a thing. She disappeared. Then a few of her words filtered through the weird haze cocooning me. “Too deep… can’t pull it… bleed out…”

  I watched Eirik’s flail act like a boomerang, spinning and whistling as it sailed around the room, smashing everything it its path without slowing down. Everyone dived out of its way. He raised his hand and caught it by the handle. The chain wrapped around his wrist, the spiked top stopping as though he had some power over it.

  Silence followed.

  People pulled themselves from the floor and behind shattered walls and furniture, but the fighting had stopped. Eirik had gotten everyone’s attention. I closed my eyes with relief.

  “I am Eirik, son of Baldur, grandson of Odin, father of the gods,” he bellowed. “When I speak, you listen. When I ask a question, you answer, or you will answer to me and the gods.”

  I didn’t see or hear the response from the others because Raine yelled, “Help me!”

  In the silence, her voice carried. Echo was the first to arrive. I didn’t see him. I felt him. Felt his hand on my face. Heard him as he bellowed his rage. “MALIINA!” he roared.

  “No, she is mine!” Andris yelled.

  A few thuds followed. Then there was silence. The eerie kind. I knew the moment Echo came back. I felt his breath on my face, the only place that seemed to have feelings on my entire body. I couldn’t feel anything from my neck down.

  “Open your eyes, Cora-mio. Look at me,” Echo begged.

  I was determined to obey him, so I focused hard until I opened my eyelids. His beloved face was only a few inches away, yet I couldn’t touch him. He lay on the floor on his side, his eyes bright. I knew it was killing him to see me so helpless. Tears filled my eyes.

  “Cold,” I whispered. At least I think I did.

  “It’s okay,” he said and showed his artavus. The other one, not the scythe. “I’m going to etch healing runes on you.”

  “Nnn-no,” I managed to say. “Love. You. Let. Me. Go.”

  “No. You and I, Cora-mio, are meant to be together.”

  “Take her to the hospital,” I heard Torin say.

  “She won’t make it,” Raine said.

  “Step back,” Echo snarled.

  “Echo, you can’t,” Raine protested. “You know what will happen to you if you do.” Then her voice lowered. “They stopped fighting because Eirik ordered them to, not because of some love they have for you. If you mark her, they’ll report you to your goddess.”

  “Let them. I’m not letting her die.” He touched my face, his warmth reassuring. “I will accept whatever punishment Hel throws my way, but she must live.”

  “She will. Step aside.” I recognized Lavania’s voice. “I spoke to the goddess about the work Cora’s been doing with lost souls, and she gave her approval. Cora is compassionate and caring. Her love for her fellow humans will make her a perfect Immortal.” She knelt next to Echo. “Go to sleep, Cora Jemison. When you wake up, your new life will begin.”

  I didn’t feel anything, but my eyelids grew heavy.

  “I love you, Cora.”

  Maybe I wanted to hear it or imagined it, but it sounded like Echo just told me he loved me.

  ***

  Voices reached me from afar. I strained to hear them, to understand what they were saying. They grew stronger and became one.

  “Come back to me, Cora-mio,” Echo begged. “I need you to love me, to make my life complete.” He stroked my face.

  His voice faded, and I struggled to hold on to it through the foggy darkness that threatened to swallow me.

  “I had my unhappy existence,” Echo said, his voice stronger. “Reaping. Sleeping around. Buying things on a whim and selling them. Then I kissed you and my life changed. You gave me a reason to laugh. To love. I now look forward to coming back from Hel because I know you’ll be waiting for me.”

  His voice faded again. I wanted to tell him I’d willingly wait for him, but once again, there was silence. I tried to move, searched for him in the darkness. Then his voice returned.

  “You’ve shown me that what’s on the outside doesn’t matter. That my heart might be damaged but it’s okay to give it to you. It’s yours, doll-face. You’ve had it from the moment you looked into my eyes and showed me I was worthy of your love. The moment I held you in my arms, you became mine and I became yours. You need to come back and complete me.”

  A knock interrupted his beautiful monologue. Then Raine said, “How is she doing?” Raine sounded bad. Like she’d been crying.

  “She’s still out,” Echo said in a low voice filled with anguish.

  “And the others?” Raine asked tentatively.

  What others? I struggled to open my eyes, move my fingers, toes. I could feel them now, like someone was filling me with adrenaline, breathing life into my limbs.

  “Damned souls,” Echo snarled. “I threatened them, but they won’t leave. Your Valkyrie mentor did something wrong. I should have checked every rune she etched on Cora. Where’s the damn book? If she made a mistake—”

  “Lavania didn’t make a mistake, Echo,” Raine said gently. “She never does. Maliina severed Cora’s spinal cord with that dagger. She might need a while to heal. Or you could add more runes on her if you want.”

  Add more? He’d get in trouble. I struggled through the fog, opened my eyes, and found him. He was kneeling by the bed, his head bowed over my hand, his shoulders hunched in defeat. No wonder I couldn’t move my hand. He held it in a tight grip.

  I glanced around and saw the souls. There were so many. I recognized a few from outside the grocery store. One by one, they drifted out of the room. They must have been waiting to see if I would make it. With them gone, I could now see that I was on Raine’s bed.

  “I can’t live without her, Raine,” Echo mumbled. “I refuse to live without her.”

  Echo wasn’t the type to open up to someone. That he’d admitted his innermost feelings to Raine said he was really scared. Scared of losing me, and I’d never loved him more. My eyes met Raine’s. They were red-rimmed. She grinned, touched her lips, and backed out of the room.

  “And I don’t want to live without you either, Echo,” I whispered.

  Echo’s head whipped up before I finished the sentence. He scrambled to his feet and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached out as though to pull me in his arms, but then he stopped. “How are you feeling? Are you in pain? Can you move? Can I hold you?”

  “Yes. I feel great.” I moved my arms and wiggled my toes. “No pain.” I started to sit up.

  “No. Don’t move.” He slid besi
de me. “I just want to hold you. The last two hours were the worst of my life.”

  I curled in his arms and inhaled. He smelled so good. Felt even better. When he buried his face in my neck, I wrapped one arm around his broad shoulder and pressed the other against his chest. His heart was pounding hard.

  “I’m never letting you out of my sight. Never.”

  That was a useless vow since he was a reaper and I had school, but it was nice to hear him say it.

  “I’m going to enroll in your school until you finish.”

  “You hate hanging around Mortals,” I reminded him.

  He laughed, his warm breath on my sensitive neck sending sweet sensations down my back. “I’ll be hanging around you, not them. Don’t ever scare me like that. Every second you didn’t wake up, my heart wilted.”

  “I still want it. Wilted or damaged. It’s mine.”

  “Then you have it. And my dark soul. And scarred body.”

  “I love your scarred body.”

  He chuckled, the sexy sound rumbling through me. “I love you, Cora Jemison,” he whispered in my ear. Then he trailed hot kisses along my neck. I tilted my head, giving him better access. “I promise to love and cherish you for the rest of our lives and beyond.”

  He claimed my lips and sealed the promise. His warmth surrounded me as he took over my senses until nothing else mattered but kissing him. Holding him. I almost hadn’t made it. Almost missed this chance to be with him. To hold and kiss him. To touch him. Tears rushed to my eyes and raced down my face. He must have tasted them because he lifted his head.

  “Whoa, sweetheart,” he murmured, cupping my face and wiping the wetness with his thumb. “What is it?”

  “I almost missed out on us,” I murmured, feeling ridiculous to be crying over nothing. “On loving you.”

  “I would not have let it happen. You are mine, Cora-mio. I’m never letting you go. Alive or dead, you are mine,” he said in a fierce voice.

  I studied his beautiful face, his incredibly sexy, long eyelashes, his sensual lips. I couldn’t imagine a life without him, and now we had eternity. “Forever.”

  He grinned. “I couldn’t have it any other way.”