In fact, I sorely regretted missing the invasion of 1066. My uncles told great stories of conquests by the Normans. However, I was too busy trying to capture my first Fallen One in my own country. I had been alive for fifty years when William had invaded England. Never did I believe back then that I would be in the city of London a thousand years later.
“It’s not far from here,” Chloe announced, moving to stand beside me. “If we pull in over there somewhere, I can hop out. I won’t be long.”
Glancing at her, I raised my eyebrows. She knew full well I wasn’t going to let her go on her own. Freya had placed her in my care. I couldn’t go against the goddess. Whatever happened, I had a new mission on top of the old one. The beautiful goddess had a lot to answer for.
Pulling up on a wooden jetty, I ordered her to wait for me. As she scrambled her way out of the boat, I tied it to a pole, determined to be back as quickly as possible. I didn’t like to leave my baby unattended for long.
“You’re determined to piss me off, aren’t you?” I said, coming up behind her as she stormed up the planks.
“Just leave me alone,” she shouted, waving me away. “I’ve had enough of you already.”
Her female wiles made me grit my teeth. If she annoyed me for much longer, I would abandon her. There was no love loss on my side, either.
“Where is your home?” I glanced around the grass bank, clocking the three storey homes that would fetch at least two million pounds, probably a lot more in this part of London. “This doesn’t look like the sort of place you come from.”
The soft intake of breath, followed by a slight movement made me duck my head. Her arm flew over me, missing her mark. It was stupid to try and pull one over on me. Especially when I was standing right next to her.
“Why are you so infuriating? I do come from here, actually. Loki’s family has money. Which is obvious, considering they come from a god.”
I followed her as she marched away. Loki had always been one to be frivolous. He wouldn’t allow his descendants to live in poverty, no matter how useless they were at their job. And because of Freya, I was now approaching the home of the bastards that had been trying to rid me of the world for so long.
“If Freya hadn’t turned up last night, you would be dead by now. And, I certainly wouldn’t be following you into this trap.”
“It’s not a trap!” She spun to face me, her hair hitting my arm. “I didn’t even want you to come.”
It was true. She hadn’t bothered to put up much of a fight, because she knew she would lose. Everyone lost when it came to me. I couldn’t help that. It was just a consequence of my mission.
“Shall we just get on with it? I have more important things to be getting on with today.”
Chloe didn’t reply as she moved towards a spiky holly bush that lined one of the gardens of the huge properties. “This is where I always sneak in. Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Grabbing her arm, I stopped her from disappearing into the thick greenery. “I already told you that I’m coming with you.”
Her top teeth bit down on her bottom lip as she glared at me. “Okay, fine. Just, follow my lead.”
My instincts were good enough to defend myself if we did come into contact with any of the family. They would know that something was up by now. The lack of a report from Analise or Chloe would have alerted them that something was wrong. However, I didn’t need the risk of attracting their attention any more than I already had.
“Fine.” I bit the word through my teeth as she nodded and went through the gap.
Swearing to myself when my jacket caught on the holly, I thrust myself through the hedge after her. If things went my way, we would be in and out quickly and efficiently. When I came out the other side of the hedge, I smacked straight into her back. She grunted, moving out of the way too late. Ignoring her, I glanced around. We were behind a shed half way up the garden.
“There’s a camera by the back door. I usually sneak up the side of the garden and into the side door. It’s pretty early, but most of them would have gone to work. One or two might still be in bed.”
“Do they really not care about you, then?”
Chloe stared at me, her eyes unblinking. “What do you mean?”
Rubbing my eyes with my hands, I sighed. “You and Analise are missing. Will they not be searching for you?”
“Oh, crap…yeah, probably. I didn’t really think this through, did I?”
Biting my tongue on my less than elegant retort, I pointed through the hedge. There was no point hanging around. If she wanted other clothes, she could order them online and get them delivered.
“Chloe, let’s go and start your training.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed my extended arm. “No, I may as well go and get my stuff now that I’m here.”
Was the woman crazy? Had Freya made me agree to train her because she was bat-shit insane? Clenching my hands into fists, I shook her off me. It wasn’t like me to back away from a fight, but the idea of having to protect Chloe made me less enthusiastic.
“Okay, let’s go. No pissing around, just get your stuff.”
She smiled at me, her shoulders doing a stupid excited shrug. Was she actually leading me into a trap? My life was valuable to me, but only because I wanted to live with the gods and give Thor back his thunder. If Chloe was fooling me, I would fight to the death. Their death. Including hers.
“Go, then.” I shooed her, gesturing with my hands.
Her snarl made me laugh as she went out from behind the wooden shed, straight onto the grass. Following, I dug my gun out from my waistband, holding it close to my chest. If anyone attempted to stop us, I would shoot them.
Chloe kept her attention in front of her, navigating the toys and swing set. The family had children? Were they more of Loki’s descendants? Would it be wrong of me to kill them off right now?
Shaking my head, I hid my ironic smile when Chloe glanced over her shoulder at me, almost tripping over a dog bowl. Dog bowl?
The low growl came just before I reached the same spot. Chloe instantly rushed over to the German Shepard, calming it with a whisper of her voice. He approached her, sniffing gently before allowing her to stroke him. I stayed back. My experience with dogs, although I loved them, wasn’t exactly something I wanted to repeat. Especially since I was the enemy.
Chloe gestured for me to go over. I went, reluctantly, staying back from the dog. He must have sensed my unease. His hackles went up as a growl started low in his throat again.
“Rusty, shush!”
Rusty? He didn’t look rusty to me, although his colour could suggest where they got the name from. However, he looked fighting fit…and pretty fierce. The dog stopped when Chloe reached back, grabbed my hand and shoved it under his nose. After a sniff, the dog licked me once before rubbing against Chloe’s legs.
“Hurry up,” I bit through my teeth.
There was no sound coming from the house. The dog’s kennel was to the right of the side door. Chloe ordered the dog to go into his little hut. He obeyed, laying down and staring up at her dolefully. She ignored him, concentrating on looking through the glass to determine whether there was anyone in the kitchen. She tried the door, it unlocked easily.
Did Loki’s relations trust that no one would enter? Or, was the house so expensive, no one dared come through the gated entrance? Whatever the reason, my gut still told me that something wasn’t right. There was a hard knot in the pit of it, warning me not to go in the house.
Grabbing Chloe’s arm just before she went in, I halted our entrance. She couldn’t say anything, but she glared at me before raising her eyebrows. Pointing at my stomach, I indicated that my intuition wasn’t feeling good.
“You should have eaten more before you came out,” she hissed.
My mouth dropped open. What was she talking about? Looking down at my stomach, I pressed my lips together and leant to her ear.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
It was still silent. Maybe some of the residents were asleep, which would make our job harder on one hand, but easier on the other. As long as we didn’t wake them up.
Chloe tapped my shoulder, frowning at me when I looked at her. “Do you know where we’re going, smarty pants?”
Shaking my head, I gestured for her to go ahead of me. If she got killed in the crossfire, well, I suppose it would make life easier for me. I would no longer have the distraction.
She moved ahead, opening the kitchen door and looking out into the hallway. I crept along behind her as she headed towards a door to the right of the kitchen. When she opened it, she disappeared straight in without waiting. Aiming my gun as I went in, I sighed when I saw that the room was empty.
Closing the door behind us, I turned to face Chloe. The room was obviously her bedroom. Pink stuff was everywhere. A huge poster of an angel, her face turned towards the sun and her wings spread out behind her lined the wall.
“I painted that,” she whispered, grabbing a bag out from under her bed.
My mouth might have dropped open slightly. I had not expected her to have any talent. No wonder she was useless at being a warrior, she was too creative. Although, I couldn’t deny that the picture was incredible.
“You made it into a poster?”
Thrusting clothes into the bag, she shook her head. “I sold the painting to a company. It’s used all over the world, printed on all sorts of things.”
Well, there was something I had to respect her for. An artist with an entrepreneurial mind. I had seen many artists in my day, but there was something mesmerising about the angel. She felt like a representation of where I was trying to get to.
“Let’s go,” Chloe said, slipping a journal into the bag and turning to me.
Footsteps outside the door caused us to freeze. Muffled voices came from the kitchen as whoever passed moved into the room next door. Chloe’s fingers latched onto my arm, squeezing tightly as the voices increased in argument.
“I told you not to kill the bloody children!”
The gasp wrenched from Chloe’s mouth before she could stop it. It was loud in my ears, but did the others hear it?
“Loki’s bastard descendants have to die, remember? All of them!” A man shouted in reply.
Glancing at Chloe, I placed my hand over hers. Tears hung on the edge of her eyelids as she bit her lip. She knew, and probably cared, for the children.
“Wait, there’s two more that live here. Called Analise and Chloe, the boss said. Where are they? Have you checked the downstairs bedrooms yet?”
They were both men, their voices deep and rumbling. It wasn’t wise of them to talk so loudly in a house full of people. Well, dead people by the sound of it. If they had killed everyone, there was no risk. However, their stupidity made me frown. If they had a list of people to get rid of, why hadn’t they noticed that Analise and Chloe were missing earlier? Why only now?
The kitchen door opened again. I brought my gun up in front of me, but Chloe moved across the room and held her hand out to the door knob. A flash of yellow left her palm and wrapped itself around the metal handle. Someone cursed on the other side of the door, obviously trying to open it and getting burnt in the process.
“It’s protected by magic. They’re hiding something in there,” one of the goons yelled.
Going to the window, I dragged open the pink sparkly curtains, doing my best not to get glitter on my clothes. The last thing I needed was to look like a Christmas tree. Chloe came up behind me, waiting patiently as I slowly opened the window, trying not to make a sound.
“You try it, then,” the man said to his friend.
“I’ve just seen how badly it’s burnt your hand, you really think I’m going to grab it?”
A scream followed his short sentence, followed by swearing. The one in charge had obviously forced him to touch the handle, just to shut him up.
“Don’t let go. Hold on and turn it, then we’ll be in there. Think how the boss will praise us if we’re able to get something good. Like the journal!”
Taking hold of Chloe’s waist, I hauled her towards the window. She had a journal in her bag. Was that what they were talking about? Why had someone ordered the Loki family to be killed?
Chloe got her feet on the edge of the windowsill and jumped down into the back garden. If there were no descendants left in the house, it wouldn’t matter if we were caught on camera. I followed Chloe. Instead of taking my time like she had, I dived through the window, just as a man groaned in pain and the door started to open.
Rolling with my landing, I was up and on my feet, following the running figure of the woman who hadn’t been truthful with me. We reached the edge of the holly bush when Chloe stopped and turned back. Thrusting past me, she headed straight for the side door.
“Chloe!” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down.
“There’s someone out there!” one of the men shouted from the bedroom window.
I ducked as a bullet flew past my ear, disappearing into the bush behind me. Glancing at where it had gone, I cursed to myself. What the hell was that woman doing?
Keeping low to the ground, I went to follow the crazy lady, but soon stopped. She was coming towards me, Rusty at her side. Was she seriously risking her life for the dog?
The sound of gunfire resounded around me again as the back door opened and someone came out. Grabbing the dog from her, I shoved her behind the shed, just as a bullet grazed past my ear. Shit. That hurt.
Holding back my curse, I pushed the dog through the gap in the hedge, passing his collar to Chloe on the other side. She pulled him, encouraging him as he whimpered. When we were out, we ran towards the boat. Chloe started to struggle, her bag too heavy for her. Snatching it, I swore as a wet drip from my ear landed on my shoulder.
If I didn’t have the dog and Chloe to worry about, I would have gone back and killed them for managing to hit me at all. Even if it was just a graze. The dog trotted along, following his owner as she approached the boat.
A shout behind alerted me to their pursuit. Why the hell hadn’t they given up? Turning and running backwards, I aimed my gun just as the first man came out of the hedge. Firing, I smiled when the bullet lodged straight in his shoulder. His gun fell to the ground as his arm dropped.
“Come on,” Chloe implored as I slowed down.
I was tempted to wait for the second man, but I had to get the others out of there. Chloe was stumbling towards the side of the boat, ready to get in. Rushing forward, I scooped her into my arms, forcing her to let go of Rusty. The dog automatically jumped in when I did, following the small whistle I gave him.
“Why did you do that?” Chloe complained, shoving out of my arms and taking hold of Rusty’s collar as I dumped her bag and went to untie the rope securing the boat to the jetty.
“To hurry you up and stop you from falling over again.”
The second man came through the hedge just as I pulled the end of the rope on-board. He stared down at his accomplice before seeing that we were in the boat.
“Drive,” Chloe ordered, jumping to her feet and extending her arm towards the shore.
Trusting her, I went to the controls and started the engine. A low humming sound started at the same time as the engine fired up. It wasn’t the boat, though, it was something else. I expected a gun to fire at any moment, but nothing sounded.
Shoving the accelerator on forward, I turned to see a long golden line of magic extending from Chloe’s hand. It wrapped around the man, freezing him to the spot. His eyes bulged, the pupils expanding to encompass his whole eye, making the iris and white disappear.
“Okay,” I shouted, moving the boat away from the jetty as quickly as I could.
Checking our surroundings, I finally let
my breath out. No one was around. At all. That was incredibly convenient, but I wasn’t going to complain. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched as Chloe flicked her hand, the magic dropping away. The man on the shore sank to his knees before his face planted on the grass.
Rusty whined as Chloe slumped onto a seat, her eyes closed. “Chloe?”
My shout made the dog even more agitated. He licked her hand, nudging it with his nose. I turned the boat to face upstream, checking that there were no other vehicles on the water in front of us. Setting the course for cruise control, I went back to the woman who had just fainted. Leaning over her, I shook her limp body. She groaned, waving me away, but her eyes stayed closed.
“She’s alright, Rusty.” I was talking to the dog now?
“I’m fine, I just need a moment,” she mumbled, opening her eyes.
Moving back to the controls, I sat down to process what had just happened. My heart pounded in my head, adrenaline pumping through my veins.
“It’s okay, Rusty,” I heard Chloe say to the dog. “Trygger is taking us home now.”
Home? Only twenty-four hours ago, I had been tracking the hardest Fallen One so far. I may have taken a detour to a bar to get drunk and find a lovely lady, but I was still doing my job.
And now? It seemed I had somehow inherited a bloody family of sorts.
5
A Woman and Her Dog
“HAPPY NOW YOU have your clothes? And, your dog?”
My sarcastic tone went completely ignored as the woman in front of me bent over to make a fuss of the German Shepard. It hadn’t taken long to get back to my apartment, but I had a lot of questions swirling in my head.
“Rusty is so grateful to you for letting him stay here.”
I stopped pacing, facing the woman who was now on the floor, rubbing the dog’s stomach where he had rolled over. Seriously?
“It’s not like I had a choice, is it?” The snappy response was met with a frown. “Forget him for a minute. Why didn’t you bloody well tell me you had magic?”
Thunder Hunter: Viking Soul Book 1 (Viking Soul Series) Page 5
