by PJ Friel
I was ill-prepared to fight Svartalf. I needed a crash course, and there was only one place I knew to get it.
CHAPTER 41
TRYGG
Dead leaves mixed with apples, doused in the stench of fear and blood. I threw the Impala into park and hit the ground running. A small pile of purple fabric stopped me in my tracks.
Bryn’s dress. My heart seized in my chest as I snatched it up. I buried my face in the material. Apples. Only apples, no blood. Thank Odin.
A pool of blood on the pavement drew my eye. I dropped the dress, crouched down, and sniffed. Not Bryn’s. Relief restarted my heart, but the knot in my gut reminded me that I still didn’t have eyes on my woman yet and a Svartalf had found her.
Closer to the building, a scuffle. Tissue and blood. Someone trying to get away. More crouching. More sniffing. That was Bryn, but the scent didn’t keep going to the street. It led back towards the building.
Maybe she was in her apartment. Safe and sound. I still had her keys. I could verify that, talk to her, beg her to forgive me.
Within a minute, I used her keys to open her door. “Bryn?”
Silence. Her scent was fresh, but not as strong as it should be if she was still here.
“Bryn? Baby are you here?”
I wanted my nose to be wrong. I wanted her to stick her head out of the bedroom and scream at me to get the fuck out of her apartment. Maybe she would. Continuing the weak hope, I walked down the hall and glanced into the bathroom. Empty. I paused and sniffed. Blood and antibiotic ointment. Not a lot of either. That was good.
Farther down, the bedroom door was open and I moved towards it. This was a waste of time. I knew she wasn’t here. That didn’t stop me.. Following in her footsteps made me feel closer to her and I needed that right now. Needed the assurance that she was still alive. As long as she was alive, I could fix this.
“I will spend the rest of my life begging you to forgive me, baby.”
And I was a berserker, so that meant forever.
First I had to find her. I lifted my head and zeroed in on her scent, heavier from the direction of her walk-in closet. Tracking the scent like a hound, I walked in and blinked in surprise.
“Holy shit.”
There was a panel open in the back. It was mostly empty now, only a couple of shotguns and some ammo remaining, but hooks and shelves filled the compartment. The scent of gunpowder and money lingered. I breathed in deeper. Was that chocolate? Sniff. And MREs?
I was torn between being freaked out and turned on. That girl. I shook my head. What the hell did she need me for?
Nothing.
But I needed her.
I focused on following her scent. I’d worry about who needed what later. First, I needed to get my hands on her.
Back in the living room I noticed that her riding jacket and motorcycle helmet were missing. Of course she’d take that goddamn bike. In the car, she’d be more protected, but also easier to hem in. The motorcycle was the ultimate in mobility and she was a menace on the back of it.
I slammed out of the apartment, through the door to the stairs, and leaped over the third-floor railing. My feet hit the first floor with a boom and I charged forward, outside and back into the Impala.
I stuck my head out of the window, caught her scent, and hit the gas. She wasn’t that far ahead of me.
CHAPTER 42
BRYN
My heart had permanently migrated to my throat. No matter how many times I swallowed, it wouldn’t go back to where it belonged. I never thought I’d be walking back through this door. I swore years ago that I wouldn’t. Life…making liars out of people since the dawn of time. I clenched my trembling hand into a fist and rapped on the door. Then I waited. It didn’t take long.
“Bryn?” Frank Ullman whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
His eyes got glassy and he started to reach for me then drew back. With the kind of night I’d had, I just couldn’t hold on to bitch mode any longer. I’d told myself the only reason I was coming here was for information, but that was a lie, too.
“Daddy.”
His eyes widened and he dragged me into his arms. “I haven’t heard that in eight years.”
“I’m sorry. I just…I needed to say—”
“Shh…” He hugged me tighter. “We made mistakes with you, but none of that matters now. You’re home.”
“I can’t stay,” I said into his shoulder.
“What?” He pulled back from me and cupped my cheeks, wiping the tears that I hadn’t realized I was crying.
“They found me.”
His face paled and he pulled me farther into the house and closed the door behind us. I slid my backpack off and dropped it and my helmet by the door.
“Frank, what’s going on?” Eugenia called from the living room.
“She’s here?” I frowned at my dad.
“Geni, start activating the wards!” he called out as he led me by the hand down the hall and into the room where Eugenia sat on the couch.
“Brynja?” Eugenia frowned and rose from her seat.
My lip curled and I gave her a stiff nod. “Eugenia.” Then I turned my back on her.
Eugenia Ullman. Social worker with no social skills and no empathy. She was the ice to my dad’s fire. Archaeologist, painter, protector, and father. Dad was all in with everything he did. That’s why his betrayal had hurt so much.
“Status?” Eugenia asked.
“Why is she here, Dad?”
“They’ve found her,” Dad repeated what I told him.
She sniffed and gave me her mother knows best look. “It was only a matter of time. Get the weapons, Frank. At least she had enough sense to come here.”
I saw red.
“Fuck you! I don’t need your protection, Eugenia. Why is she here?”
“Language, Brynja,” she said.
Dad grabbed me before I could lunge at her. “Sweetheart, please don’t fight with your mom.”
I snarled at Eugenia. “She’s not my mom.”
Eugenia flinched then walked away, saying over her shoulder, “I’m activating the wards. Get the details from your daughter.”
“So you’re back together?” I asked.
His nod made me feel sick. “Don’t make me choose between the two of you, Bryn.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not. I told you. I can’t stay. All I need is information, then I’ll go.”
He frowned. “Information about what?”
“My heritage. I stumbled into the shadows tonight and made it out alive, but if I want to stay that way, I need to understand how to use them effectively.”
My dad shook his head, but Eugenia’s voice cut off his argument.
“I couldn’t agree more,” she said.
“Geni, we don’t know what shadow walking could do to her. Don’t encourage this.”
My stomach fluttered. “What if it’s too late?”
Then the room plunged into darkness.
CHAPTER 43
TRYGG
Bryn’s scream rang in my ears. I jumped out of the car and bolted across the street, my focus narrowing on the only dark house on the street. My blood ran cold. The odds of there being legitimate power problems were slim enough to make me run faster.
I had no idea who was inside or what threat they posed, but it didn’t matter. They were dead the instant they’d caused the fear I’d heard in her voice. I charged the door, lowered my shoulder, and blasted through it without stopping.
“Bryn! Where are you?” I roared into the darkness.
The lights flickered and I heard the hum of a motor before they came back on again. Down the hall, voices gave me a direction to run and I burst into what looked like a living room. A man and woman of Asian descent stood in front of Bryn. Both in a fighting stance, neither looked ready to let me anywhere near my girl.
“Get the fuck away from her and I might let you live,” I said, my voice filled with murder and mayhem.
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Bryn’s head poked out between the couple. “Trygg? How did you find me?”
Rage poured through my system at the way her voice trembled and broke while saying my name. If I didn’t get her in my arms, safe and sound, within the next five seconds, I was going to splatter blood all over these walls.
“Come here to me, baby.” I held out my hand.
Instead of doing what I told her, Bryn snarled at me. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Huh?”
“Tell me how you found me.”
“I tracked you.”
“You bugged me? Oh, my god! Did you take out the electricity, too?”
“What? No. No!” I dropped my hand. “Why would I do that?”
“I have no idea why you’d do anything, because everything you’ve ever told me is a lie.”
“Who are you?” the man asked.
Bryn spat out the answer before I could even open my mouth. “He’s a berserker.”
“Oh. Good.” The man nodded at me then looked at the woman.
“I’m going up to power the jump light. Frank, you check the wards.” She gave the man a hard look then hurdled the coffee table and ran past me, disappearing up a set of stairs.
“Good?” Bryn looked ready to rip someone’s head off. “No, Dad, none of this is good.”
Well, that finally explained who these people were—Frank and Eugenia Ullman. It also told me why Bryn was here, regardless of their estranged relationship. After everything that went down tonight, this probably felt like her last refuge.
“I’ve seen berserkers fight, so I beg to differ, honey,” Frank said.
I couldn’t help my smirk as Bryn growled.
“Are they here?” she asked her dad.
“Is who here?” My nose didn’t indicate the presence of anyone else.
“You shut up,” Bryn stabbed a finger at me. “You don’t get to ask questions.”
Bryn’s dad grabbed her hands. “I hope not, but I need to see if the wards have been breached.”
“What are you warding against?” I feared I already knew the answer.
“Svartalf,” Frank confirmed my fears. “I need to go outside. Guard my daughter.”
“With my life.”
All it took was one shared glance between Frank and me for us to be on the same page. We would both die before letting something happen to Bryn.
“I don’t need him to guard me. I can take care of myself,” Bryn said, shaking her head. “You’re not going out there alone, Dad. I’m coming with you.”
I closed the distance between us and yanked Bryn against me, arm locked around her stomach. “Go.”
“Thank you,” Frank said, darting into the kitchen and out of a sliding glass door.
“Let go of me or you’re going to regret it,” Bryn threatened, twisting in my arms to face me.
“Not a chance, baby.”
She struggled against my hold. “If he gets hurt, I’ll never forgive you.”
I wrestled her hands behind her back and hugged her tighter against my body, successfully immobilizing her. “And if you get hurt, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Well, it looks like you won’t be finding forgiveness then,” Bryn said, looking away from me. “From anyone.”
“Please listen to me. I swear I was going to tell—”
Frank burst back into the house and slapped a switch on the wall. All the lights on the first floor blazed into a nearly blinding light. He slammed the door closed and locked it, then ran for the front door and slammed it closed. When he returned to the room, he went straight for a sword display on the wall beside the couch.
“The wards are under heavy attack.” Frank was breathless, his voice pitched higher.
“I have guns in my pack, Dad.”
“Guns will draw too much attention, bring the police here,” he said.
“Wouldn’t that be better? If the police show up, the Svartalf would have to leave or they’d be revealing themselves to humans.”
Frank shook his head. “They’ve been looking for you your entire life. This is the closest they’ve come in nineteen years. Nothing is going to stop them, especially not a few human policemen.”
He threw a katana at me and I released Bryn’s wrists to catch it.
She spun and grabbed it out of midair. “Well then. Let them come.”
I took a deep breath. Dead leaves and fouled earth.
“Throw me one, Frank. We’ve got incoming.”
CHAPTER 44
BRYN
“You’re not fighting, sweetheart.”
“The heck I’m not, Dad. They destroyed my life. It ends here. In blood. Them or me,” I said, unsheathing the katana. “But are we sure they won’t have guns?”
“They won’t risk accidentally killing you.” Dad grabbed my shoulder. “Bryn, listen to me. They’re coming to take you just like before.”
“That’s not happening,” Trygg said.
Before I could say any more, Eugenia ran into the room and went straight for one of the other katanas on the wall. She grabbed it and tossed the sheath to the floor, then took her place by her husband. “The jump light is powering up, Frank.”
I frowned at her. “What the heck is this jump light you keep talking about?”
“Thanks, love.” Dad kissed Eugenia’s lips and she smiled at him. I did a double take. I could count the number of times on one hand that I’d seen that woman smile. “It’s an escape plan for you and your mom.”
“I told you, Dad. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m calling in help.” Trygg pulled his cell out of his pocket, dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.
“Who are you calling?” Dad asked. “We can’t bring the human police into this.”
“More berserkers.”
“Odin’s men. Good,” Eugenia nodded.
She would feel like that. More people like her, willing to lay down their lives on the off chance they’d be rewarded by some omnipotent god that no one had heard from in hundreds of years. I was nothing but an assignment to her. She was a pretend mother.
I looked at Trygg. A pretend boyfriend.
Oh, god.
Had Dezi been pretending all this time, too? What about her family? Had her father left me Simmons Investigations to keep me tied to this area? The thought of that level of betrayal made me sick. I opened my mouth to ask the question, but pushed the thought away instead. I didn’t want to know.
I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.
I twirled the katana. “We don’t need any more asshole berserkers in the room.”
“Brynja!” Eugenia chastised.
Was that for cussing or for calling things like I saw them? Either way, I didn’t care. I ignored her.
“Too bad, babe. They’ll be here in thirty minutes,” Trygg winked at me and slipped the cell phone back into his pocket.
I hated him for being so gorgeous. Our lives were on the line and all I wanted to do was take one second and kiss him.
Then I’d punch him in his lying mouth.
“That’s not fast enough. The fight will be over in ten,” Dad said. “Geni…”
Eugenia nodded, blinking rapidly, then grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me across the room.
“What are you doing?” I dug in my heels. “Stop!”
The back door exploded and six men, clad in black from head to toe, charged into the house. Eugenia dropped my hand and we both darted back to Dad’s side. Her sword flashed out, striking at the nearest assassin. He fumbled the parry and his arm hit the floor, shoulder spurting blood like a geyser.
The three of us fought in a circle, swords clashing with the enemy, but finding no openings until a roar echoed in the room. Trygg grabbed two of the Svartalf by the neck and shook them like rag dolls. It wasn’t until blood splattered against my shirt that I realized he had claws instead of fingernails and those claws had sliced through jugulars.
What the…?
He tossed the attackers
on top of their dead comrade, who had already bled out on the living room floor. The three remaining fighters took one look at him and bolted into the night. I didn’t blame them one bit.
Trygg started to give chase.
“Stop!” Dad shouted.
Trygg snarled and flashed some alarmingly sharp teeth, but followed the order. I tightened my grip on the katana. His gaze locked with mine and in the next instant he was himself again, giving me that wink that said everything was fine. I relaxed my grip. He was still my Trygg.
He is not your Trygg! He lied to you.
“Is it over?” I asked, eyebrows raised. If so, I’d built the Svartalf up in my brain for the past nineteen years for nothing.
“Not even close. That’s not how they operate. Those six were sent in to take our measure. The next wave will be tripled.” Eugenia shook her head.
“At least they can’t just appear out of nowhere.” I exhaled tiredly.
“All the lights in the house prevent that, which brings us to our destroyed wards. They must have a runemaster with them,” my dad said.
“Runemaster, Dad?”
“Magic user,” Trygg supplied.
“The generator in the basement won’t withstand a magical attack.” Dad had that look on his face, the same one he’d had the night I left. Worried. Defeated.
We were dealing with some kind of magic user plus triple the number of attackers. Talk about horrible odds, and Trygg’s friends wouldn’t reach us for another fifteen or twenty minutes. Dad was right, this fight would be over before we got help.
Eugenia nodded and locked eyes with my dad. “We have to go now.”
“Trygg and I will hold them back. Take Bryn and go. We’ll follow when we can,” Dad said. He smiled at Eugenia, love shining in his eyes.
“What? No! We’re not going anywhere without you two,” I protested.
I looked to Trygg for support, but he shook his head. Right. Damn him. He wouldn’t agree to anything that lost him points with Odin. My parents ignored my outburst completely, their gazes locked in some silent communication.
