Her shrug was just as dismissive as my attitude towards the dog. The woman was infuriating. Freya hadn’t even mentioned that Chloe could do damage with her magical weapon.
“Freya!” I barked, startling her. “She gave you the power, didn’t she?”
Chloe huffed out her breath as she got to her feet and faced me. “Yes, she did…but…”
Her hesitation made my back straighten. Was there a condition to her power like there was to mine?
“But, what?”
“I struggle to control it. You saw how knocked out I was after I…hurt that man. I shouldn’t be like that!” It was her turn to pace the rug between the sofa and chairs. Her small lips screwed together as she absently patted Rusty’s head when she passed him.
“Another reason Freya sent you to me. I had to learn to use Thor’s magic, not that I do very often. My sword…” Did I want to tell her everything? Not really. I still didn’t trust her.
“What about your sword?”
Shaking my head, I wandered towards the stairs, gesturing for her to follow. “Nothing. Get changed into something comfortable. It’s time for your first lesson.”
I had somewhere to be that evening and the following day. If I showed Chloe her new workout routine, she would be able to keep herself occupied while I got on with my own life.
“Can I just take a shower or something first? I need a bit of time to get my head around the children’s death… I still can’t believe it.”
I stopped at the top of the stairs. Her face was solemn, she was hurting, but we had a mission to fulfil. My lips quirked as I looked down at her unsuitable clothes and messy hair. “Trust me, you’ll need a shower after. You can grieve later. We’ve got work to do.”
Her look of disgust as she grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom made me laugh. It seemed my new apprentice was not a fan of being told what to do.
Going into the gym, I switched on the light, illuminating my favourite room of the house. I might call it a gym, but it was much more than that.
The room took up most of the top floor. On one end was the equipment for exercise. The other was hidden behind steel screens that stretched across the width of the room. They slid open and closed, concealing the open space on the other side. Enforced mirrors lined every wall in the room, even the one hidden by the steel.
“What’s that?” Chloe’s voice was small as she came in through the open door.
I blinked, looking away when she looked up at me. Her hair was pulled into a bun, tight on the top of her head. She wore skin tight shorts, which were black. One colour that I preferred. Her T-shirt was pink with the slogan Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn, then be a unicorn.
The words stretched across her bosom, enhancing the message. I looked away, shaking my head at her choice of workout outfit.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” I told her, bringing myself back to her question about the steel doors. “Come on.”
Going over to the mirror, I stood in front of it, my feet spaced slightly apart and my hands hanging to the side. Chloe followed, pausing at the sound of claws scraping on the wooden floor.
“That dog can’t come in here,” I told her.
She turned, shooing Rusty out of the room. Ordering him to sit, she left the door open and came over to me. Standing in front of the mirror, she copied my pose, screwing up her face when she looked at her reflection.
“Is this what I really look like?”
I coughed, unused to feminine sensibilities. The only type of women I was ever around always looked pristine, their makeup perfect and their hair false. I hadn’t really been around a real woman for hundreds of years. I preferred it that way, too.
“What you look like is not going to affect your ability to fight.” Flexing my fingers, I studied the ridge of muscle on my bicep. Moving my arm, I pointed to it, showing Chloe my strength.
“All right, arrogant pants, no need to be so…arrogant.”
Dropping my arm, I took her shoulders and turned her to me. “I wasn’t showing off. I was showing you what muscle looks like. You see this?” Lifting my arm again, I almost shoved it into her face.
“I can see…and smell…it.”
Scowling, I turned away from her. “Fine, you can get on with it yourself. Go on, go and build your own muscle.”
Reaching up to her hair, she pulled a strand out of the bun, her eyes on my feet as I stood watching her. “I can’t. Sorry, please…go on with what you were going to say.”
Waiting to make sure she was listening, I snapped my fingers in front of her face so she would look at me. Her brown eyes widened when I stared straight into them, coming close enough to breathe all over her. It wasn’t a friendly closeness, it was threatening.
“If you want to be taken seriously, you need to start committing to yourself. So far, you’ve done nothing to show that you want to achieve your mission. Do you, Chloe? Do you want to achieve your mission?”
She stayed quiet throughout my little lecture. When the question came at the end of it, her mouth opened and closed, as if she didn’t have an answer. Not one that she had previously thought about, anyway.
Without saying a word, she nodded her head, her gaze once again dropping to the ground.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you. Stand up for yourself.” I stayed where I was, solid, strong, intimidating.
If she thought I was bad, she would die at the sight of a Dark Crawler or Fallen One. They had so much darkness pulsing off their despicable bodies, I almost retched every time I killed one. I may be a cold hearted brute, but I did feel an element of pity for the humans they inhabited when they started to rot from the inside out. That’s why it had taken so long to find the Fallen Ones. Once a human body was useless to them, they moved to a fresh one, constantly changing identities. Bastards.
“I…don’t be a bully.” Her meagre words were small in the big room. “I mean…okay, well…”
“Well, what?” I bit out.
“Get out of my face!” she screeched, placing her hands on my chest and shoving as hard as she could.
The tap of claws resounded on the wooden floor again, but I didn’t look away. If Rusty attacked me, they would both be out on their own.
Of course, I didn’t budge with her aggression, but I did smile. “Good. Now, who the fuck are you, Chloe?”
My change in tactic made her blink, her light eyebrows pulling low over her dark eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?” I said, thrusting each word into her face with just my voice.
Stepping back, she stumbled, but managed to keep her balance. Glancing at Rusty, she ordered him to lay down. I kept my eyes glued to her, not backing up or relaxing one bit.
“Well?”
“I’m…I’m Chloe,” she stuttered, holding her hand out to ward me off, but not actually coming into contact with me.
I didn’t move forward or back, I stayed exactly where I had been before she moved away. Her shoulders were slumped, her eyes looked everywhere but at me.
“I’m Chloe,” I said in a high pitched measly voice. “And, who the fuck is Chloe?”
Her foot stamped on the floor, a small wince showing her pain as the bottom of her foot slapped against the wood. Trust her not to put any shoes on for training.
“I’m Freya’s fucking descendant, that’s who I am, you bastard! And I’ve told you a hundred bloody times!” Thrusting her whole weight forward, she pushed me as hard as she could.
Not expecting the aggression and allowing her a small victory, I rocked back on my heels, allowing one foot to step back. The movement would give her confidence, even if she didn’t know that I had faked it.
“Better.”
Chloe’s bottom lip started to wobble. Grabbing her chin, I squeezed, making her eyes grow huge. Shaking my head, I made her look at me. “Don’t. Don’t give in to the emotion that wants to overtake you now. You’ve taken back your power. They treated you like another human
in the chain of Loki’s vengeance. But, you’re not that person. You’re so much more. I’ve never known a descendant of Freya, Chloe. Ever.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed. A hand came up to my forearm and tugged me away. I released my grip, letting her stand straighter. “I’ve never known a descendant of Thor, until you.”
A bark of laughter escaped me. Rusty got to his feet and bounded over, jumping up at me and trying to lick my face. “Why is he happy that I’m laughing?”
“I’m not sure, he’s always done that to me, too. Why were you laughing?”
Chloe stood still, watching as I stroked Rusty’s head and gently pushed him off me.
“I’m the last descendant of Thor. He died, remember? Loki is still able to keep his line going by manipulating different people to do his bidding. I never had children, I couldn’t bear the idea…”
“The poor children.” Chloe’s deep sigh made me look at her. “How could they kill the children? Who were they? Why did they do that?”
The same questions had been going through my head all day. I hadn’t given Chloe enough time to think about what had happened back at the house, but it looked like now was the chance.
Leading her over to a bench, I gestured for her to sit. She immediately did, putting her head in her hands. “I looked after those poor children. I know they were being groomed to find and kill you, but still, they didn’t deserve to die. I was starting to grow fond of them…but now they are…” A sob gulped out from her downturned mouth, a tear falling onto her leg.
“I have no idea who would want Loki’s family line wiped out. Other than Freya, of course. But, still…he has a lot of supporters down here. The Fallen Ones admire him due to his devious ways… so, I don’t have a clue at this stage.”
Ignoring the blatant sniffles coming from Chloe, I marched over to my jacket where I had hung it on the back of the door. Getting my phone out, I checked to see if I had any messages from my contact. None.
“What is that tattoo?” Chloe asked between snivels as I came back over to crouch in front of her.
She needed time to grieve, but that time wasn’t now. We had to get on with her first training session so she could keep herself occupied.
Clearing my throat when I looked at my bicep, I frowned. No one had asked me that question for a long time. “It’s a rune.”
“I know what runes are. I’m Freya’s blood, technically Viking, too. I’m just not that clued up on their meaning.” At last a faint smile on Chloe’s face, her sadness easing.
The tattoo was originally black but had faded to grey. It looked like a funny shaped S or Z. It covered my whole bicep and had done so for a thousand years. I often had it re-coloured when it started to fade.
“It’s the rune, Eihwaz. It means strength and transformation. It’s the symbol of the Yew tree, which means age, endurance, death and eternal life.”
Her smile was small but genuine, her composure settling. “You’ve certainly been through those things, except death of course.”
Nodding, I rose from my crouch, going over to the mirror to stare at my reflection. I rarely bothered to take notice of how I looked anymore. There was no point. My hair, long and dark, almost to my waist, was always tied back. My outfit was usually leather trousers or jeans, depending on what I was doing. Matched with a leather top that I usually wore when I was out killing. The sleeveless ancient waistcoat type top made it easier for my arms to move. After enduring hundreds of years in Scandinavia winters, I didn’t feel the cold in London.
“Do you long for it, after so long?”
Looking in the mirror, I stared as our gaze met in the reflection. As far as I knew, she was the only other person who hadn’t lived a normal human life. Did she know how it felt to want to be gone from this world? I probably already knew the answer.
“Let’s get on,” I said, not allowing her to pry.
Getting to her feet, she came over to me, wiping her eyes as she did. I pointed to the poster I had just printed off and stuck to the wall.
Chloe glanced up at the stretching exercises I had prepared for her. “Seriously? You want me to start stretching?”
Smiling, I started to do the stretches myself. I had to lead by example if I wanted my apprentice to follow my plan. The poor girl had no idea what she had got herself into.
“You were going to say something about muscle earlier.” Chloe tried to copy the stretch on the poster above, in the end she gave up, looking at what I was doing instead.
My gaze travelled to the dog as he laid by the door, his head on his paws as he watched us. Chloe would be in charge of hoovering up the dog hair. That was not a chore I was prepared to worry about.
“Obviously, you’re not going to have muscle like me…you would look a bit…”
“Manly?”
“Exactly,” I said, nodding my agreement. It wasn’t exactly the word that came to mind, but I couldn’t exactly tell her what I had been thinking. “But, muscles are not just the tissue that line bones. Your brain is a muscle, your tongue…”
My mind trailed off as an image of the last woman who had used her tongue on me came into my head. I hadn’t meant to go on a tangent, but the image made me smile anyway.
“Okay, pervert, I get your meaning.” Chloe’s deadpan face made me laugh.
I hadn’t laughed so much in a long time. It was a shame I was laughing at a woman who should technically be much stronger than any of the women I had come into contact with lately. Even Analise.
“Did Analise never teach you to fight? Her tongue…” I trailed off, teasing her as she screwed up her face and uttered a sound nearing revolt.
“She didn’t really have time. She was so close to finding you after letting you go when you…you know…” Her cheeks flared red.
So, Analise had told Chloe about our one-night affair. I chewed on the side of my lips as I stretched my arm over my head to the side. How much had the vixen told our little innocent friend?
“I was quite happy to have a repeat of that night with Analise before I killed her. She wasn’t up for it, though.”
Rolling her eyes, Chloe did the same stretch, almost going too far. Her mouth was pulled into a grim line, her prudishness evident in her expression. Oh, how I loved to tease the innocence in her. I had very rarely come across someone so…green.
“How have you managed to stay so…?” I couldn’t think of the right word.
Innocent wasn’t completely true. She had maimed a man earlier, but she was more bothered by the children that had lost their lives. Although, to be fair, it had saved me a job for later. My heart had hardened to those who wanted to kill me a long time ago. Those goons did me a favour. But, I had never stooped so low as to kill them when they were young. In fact, I tended to forget about them until one of them showed up. Which explained why I was so slack with Analise the night before.
“Useless?”
Chloe’s reply shook me out of my reverie. It wasn’t exactly the word I was looking for, but it would have to do.
“I don’t know if that’s the right word. Emotional, maybe? Caring?”
The words that came out of my mouth made me pause in the crouched stretch I was doing. Did they just come out of my mouth? I hadn’t uttered or thought those words in a very long time. I supposed it was fascinating to me that someone who had lived for so long was still so open and willing.
“You asked me who I was earlier…and I didn’t know how to answer you. Those words…they do describe me. That’s who I am.” Chloe got up from the crouch, staring over my head at the steel doors that hid the other half of the room.
“Are you sure you want to stay that way? It’s a weakness to…”
“No! Don’t call me weak. Having emotions is not a sign of weakness. I may be useless, silly and have no idea what I’m doing…but those qualities, they don’t make me weak,” Chloe said matter-of-factly.
I smiled. Getting up from my crouch, I bowed my head to her before rising to look her in th
e face. Reaching forward, I put my hand on the middle of her chest, above her breasts. I quickly took her shoulder when she went to move away.
“Then embrace them, Chloe, and make them your power. Don’t run and hide from them. At least you know who you are now. Take that and train your heart out until you are a powerful, emotional warrior. Only you can do that, not me.”
I had never met anyone who wanted to use their emotions to become stronger. Shutting off my own had been the only way I could deal with the incessant dragging of time, of people I loved dying and eventually, of the loneliness. And, that was the way I would stay. But, the one thing I had learnt over the years was that any person who was going to see bad, nasty things in their life, had to use what qualities they had and amplify them to defy the odds of getting killed. Or, going insane.
I wasn’t sure how much Chloe had seen in her two hundred and twenty years, but what she was about to face wouldn’t even compare.
“Muscles?” I went on when she stared at me, her breath low and even. “This…” I pointed at the arm that was extended, still on her chest. “…is the by-product…” I put my finger to my temple, making sure to keep eye contact with her. “…of this.”
“Your head?”
Nodding, I let go and stepped back. “Your mind is the only thing that will make you strong in body and spirit.”
A small smile relaxed the frown on her face. Glancing at the poster on the wall, she moved into a different stretch.
“Are you ready to start?” I asked when she had done most of them.
Nodding, she shook her arms out to the side, moving her tiny feet back and forth, waiting for my command. Going over to the bench, I picked up another sheet of paper and brought it back to her. When I handed it to her to read, she uttered a sound low in her throat.
“Really? Ten minutes of running on the treadmill. Ten minutes on the rowing machine and ten push ups. Followed by…does that say swimming? How can I swim?”
Gesturing for her to follow me, I walked out of the room. I didn’t bother to check whether she came after me, I could tell by the click of Rusty’s claws on the floor.
Thunder Hunter: Viking Soul Book 1 (Viking Soul Series) Page 6
