Valkyrie

by Raythe Reign

  “How does she know?” Cameron asked, evidently coming to the same conclusion as Liam. There was no doubt in either of their minds that she knew they were together romantically.

  “I don’t know, but she does. Come now, I need to get cleaned up to talk to her.” He gestured with the fire extinguisher for Cameron to move.

  Cameron stayed put. “I don’t want you talking to her. Not alone! If she’s going to be mad at anyone then it will be me. Not you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Neither of us have. Come on, Cam. It’s cold in here and this sheet is not helping things,” Liam urged.

  Cameron finally turned and went up the rest of the stairs. Liam followed after him. The smell of burning blanket was heavy in the air though Cameron had managed to wedge open one of the large windows.

  “I see what you mean about the blanket,” Liam said as he caught sight of the singed comforter they had been making love on. It was wadded in a ball before the fire-darkened nightstand. “It’s definitely shot. The nightstand, too. We should just throw both out –”

  “How are you being so calm?!” Cameron suddenly roar-hissed.

  He wasn’t calm. He was anything but calm. He was just used to to controlling his emotions before going into battle.

  “Because screaming hysterically will do little?” He cocked his head to the side.

  “LIAM! Take this seriously!”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Because her reaction will be her reaction. It does not change anything between you and me.”

  Liam put down the fire extinguisher. It made a heavy thunk against the floor and dropped the sheet before heading towards the bathroom.

  “But she’s going to hate us, you know? She’s going to say terrible things,” Cameron followed after him.

  “Yes, most likely.” Liam quickly wetted a washcloth under the tap in the bathroom.

  “And while that doesn’t matter to me,” Cameron said, arms spanning the doorway, “I know it matters to you.”

  “What did we agree just before we made love, Cam? I chose you no matter what Mom’s reaction would be,” Liam gently pressed.

  “Yeah, but that was then. This is now. Seeing her, you’ve got to be feeling something,” Cameron pushed back. His face was drawn, pale under the hectic red, and he was drumming his fingers against the door jamb.

  “If it’s between you and her … I choose you.”

  Liam leaned over and kissed Cameron. His brother drew in a sharp breath and then surrendered to the kiss. When Liam pulled back, Cameron’s eyes were still closed. They fluttered open and all the nervous tics and anxiety seemed quelled.

  “You shouldn’t go out there on your own,” Cameron repeated quietly as Liam finished cleaning himself off. “She really will blame you and that’s not right.”

  “She very well may, but if you go out there with me there will be a fight. Both of you will shout at one another and you don’t need the stress.” Liam dried himself off and stepped towards Cameron.

  His brother moved out of the doorway so he could get out. Cameron followed after him rather like a kite as he went to pull on a fresh pair of jeans and t-shirt.

  “I don’t want her to bully you,” Cameron said as Liam smoothed his hair down.

  He gave out a snort. “Bully?”

  He turned around and Cameron’s arms were crossed over his chest and what suspiciously appeared like a pout was on his face. “Yeah, she does that. She thinks that she can boss anyone around because she’s the sheriff.”

  “Mom isn’t like that, Cam.”

  “Yes, she is! You just ignored it in the past!”

  What Liam remembered was that even when Cameron was little his brother and mother were like oil and water, they did not mix. Or rather, if they did mix, it was explosive. He didn’t want Cameron to see his mother in the first throes of anger. Maybe he could say something, do something that would keep all her disappointment and anger aimed at him. It was insane to think that he could convince her that this thing between him and Cameron was good, wasn’t it?

  “Maybe I did, but I never let her bully me, did I?” Liam asked.

  Cameron’s arms tightened around his torso, but he shook his head. His voice though was soft, desperate. “I just don’t want you to regret.”

  “I could never regret being with you, Cam. I could only regret not being with you.”

  Liam wrapped his arms around his little brother and brought Cameron tightly against his chest. There were fine tremors running through Cameron’s lithe body.

  His voice was blurry with emotion,“You’re the only person who I can’t lose. I just … can’t.”

  Liam kissed the side of Cameron’s head over and over again. He understood his brother’s fears. But there was nothing he could do other than show him that he wasn’t leaving again, wasn’t regretting, wasn’t letting go.

  “I’m not going to leave you.” Not again. “Tell you what. Mom and I are going to talk outside, but I doubt it’s too far for you not to hear. You can listen and if you feel the need to, you can interrupt. But only if you really need to. Give me a chance to talk to her first.”

  Cameron nodded against him, still trembling. Liam held onto him a long moment more. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to facing their mother either, but from the moment he had realized that he and Cameron were going to be lovers he knew this time would come. He had been preparing for it.

  “God, you’re steady as a rock,” Cameron said as he pulled back. His face was stained with tears that he quickly scrubbed away with his elegant, artistic hands.

  Liam took those hands in his and kissed the backs of them. “I am certain of this. I know I’m not hurting you.”

  “God, no, you aren’t!” Cameron quickly assured him.

  “So I’m doing what’s right for us. When I know in my heart that I’m on the proper course, I … I can’t say I’m not afraid, but the fear is much less,” Liam explained.

  Cameron gave him a lopsided smile. “You are so like Thor.”

  “Really?” Liam brightened.

  His little brother snorted and nodded. “You have no idea. But I think – I think you’re like Loki, too.”

  “Really?” Liam’s eyebrows rose.

  “You don’t give a fuck what anybody else thinks.” Cameron grinned.

  “That’s not a bad comparison at all then.” Liam leaned in and they kissed again. They were sweet, tender kisses, not meant to inflame. He felt a touch of Cameron’s desperation in them and he hated that his staying away from his little brother had planted that seed and caused it to grow. When they finally pulled apart again, Liam said, “I love you. Now remember, only interrupt if you really need to.”

  Cameron nodded. He reluctantly released Liam, but then was moving quickly for the bathroom, likely to clean up himself so that if he had to confront their mother he wouldn’t be wearing only underwear. Liam watched his brother’s beautiful backside and felt a stirring of arousal. He sighed. This was so not the time.

  Liam turned and jogged down the stairs. When he reached the door at the bottom of the steps, he took a deep breath then pushed it open. Loki and Thor were still there, but his mother was not. The Aesir were by the bar with mead sitting untouched in front of them. There was a third glass that was empty.

  Thor touched it and asked, “Do you need a drink first, Liam?”

  They evidently guessed that his mother knew about him and Cameron, too. Of course they did. They were Aesir. Loki had known this was coming for quite some time. He felt an irrational burst of anger at the Trickster God. It was irrational because Loki didn’t thrust them into bed together. They choose to do that and their mother found out. Liam hadn’t thought that they could keep it secret anyways.

  But did it have to happen right now?

  Loki caught his gaze and picked up the mead. He knew what Liam was thinking. He even understood and that made the shame come. It really wasn’t Loki’s fault and he had wanted to blame the Trickster God anyways. Liam shook h
is head.

  “No, better not. Maybe after. I need to keep my wits about me,” Liam said even as his throat felt awfully dry.

  Thor looked so concerned for him that Liam felt a pang of happiness mixed with sadness. It was too much to think that his mother would be as accepting as Thor had been.

  But he’s not our father. Even if he feels like it sometimes.

  Liam didn’t even want to think about what Kurt Blake would have done if he’d been alive now. His father had sat down with rapists and murderers. He had played the role of their friend and confidant. That allowed them to confess things to him that they wouldn’t have told to anyone else. But the few times that Kurt had allowed himself to get truly drunk was after some of those sessions.

  “Sometimes you can’t cleanse yourself well enough, Liam, from what you hear,” Kurt had explained, his voice soft and cheeks red with alcohol.

  What Cam and I are doing is not like that! It’s not bad like the things he heard and saw. But would he understand us? Will Mom? Likely not.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a drink?” Loki sloshed the mead around.

  Liam worried Loki’s second offer meant that he was really going to need it. But he shook himself again. “No, I’m good. Where’s Mom?”

  “She’s outside in the parking lot,” Thor answered. Just as Liam was about to head to the door, he caught Liam’s arm and pulled him in for a bear hug. Thor’s big voice was muffled as he said, “It will be all right.”

  Liam felt tears prick his eyes, but he blinked them back. Thor squeezed then released him. The Thunder God was damp eyed, too, but he didn’t try to hide it. It seemed that Thor and Loki shared a look then that had Loki sighing.

  The Trickster God then said, “Liam, you and Cameron are not alone. No matter what, Thor and I are … are in your corner.”

  Liam blinked even as Thor grinned at Loki as if he had performed a neat trick.

  “O-okay. I appreciate that. I think,” Liam said.

  “You see? He does not want my help!” Loki threw up his hands and Thor caught them.

  “Do not be foolish! He just isn’t used to you yet,” Thor said. “He will when … when he gets to know you better.”

  Liam was certain that was not what Thor was going to say at the end, but the Thunder God seemed to think better of expressing whatever it had been. Liam wondered what was going on, but he was sure he’d find out about it later. Thor seemed completely unable to keep a secret and it appeared to be one he was bursting to tell. Heartened somewhat by both their shows of support he went to the door to the bar and stepped out into the desert night.

  He found his mother standing beneath the flickering red sign for Fenrir. She was leaning against the still sun-warmed building, arms and ankles crossed. She was staring out past the highway to the desert and star-studded sky beyond. His boots seemed to make very loud clicks on the asphalt. He stopped a few feet away from her and stood there, silent.

  “So … Loki and Thor …” She didn’t look at him.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “I should have known that Sigurd was Loki from the get go or, at least, after I found out the Aesir were real. He’s always been trouble personified.” The heel of her left boot scrapped along the ground as she pushed herself off the building and turned towards him. Her expression was amazingly neutral until he looked into her blue eyes and saw chips of ice. “I should beat the hell out of you.”

  He let out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. “Wouldn’t do any good. We’re together and that’s not changing.”

  “He’s your little brother!” she hissed and the raw pain in her voice was hard to hear.

  “Doesn’t change anything either,” he said simply.

  She hit his chest with the flat of her hand. “How can you say that?! What kind of life can the two of you live? You’ll be ostracized –”

  “By who?” he interrupted, angered that her first thought was what other people might think. “You’re the only mostly human person who knows that Cameron and I are related. Liam Blake is dead, remember?”

  “Mostly …” She blinked. “Mostly human?”

  “Yeah, mostly. Our family, Mom, has a lot of Aesir blood in it. Cameron and I got a ton. You and Dad, too, have a ton,” he explained.

  “It hasn’t done us a lot of good, has it?” she asked, but it wasn’t really a question.

  “I don’t know. It’s who and what we are. So we can’t change it.”

  “And what do the Aesir think of you and Cameron? And the Valkyrie? Are they good with this?” she asked. “Do they even know?”

  “I don’t care if they are or aren’t, but, as it so happens, Thor and Loki are fine with it. Supportive even.” Liam ran a hand through his hair. “Nafari is the only one of the Valkyrie that knows so far that I’m aware. I don’t know how he fully feels about it. But, again, it doesn’t matter.”

  “You keep saying that. It doesn’t matter! Why not? What makes you so special that you’re above the rules, Liam?”

  “The rules are to keep people safe, stop people from being hurt. What’s between Cam and I is hurting no one,” Liam explained.

  “Your brother is not well, Liam.” Her eyes were brimming with anger and sadness. “He hasn’t been the same since you – you –”

  “Died? Yeah, I know, but this started before that.”

  She looked horrified. Her voice was a whisper as she asked, “You mean that you and Cameron were having sex –”

  “No! God, no! I never touched when he was a kid! I never even thought of him that way! You have to believe me!” Liam realized how what he said had come across. “What I mean is … I think … I think Cam and I are meant.”

  The horror had drained from his mother’s face, but something else took its place. A kind of creepy fear, which had him confused. “You mean that you’re fated to be together by the gods or something?”

  Considering that they had two gods hanging out in the building behind them that were hardly scary, Liam couldn’t quite figure out her concern. “I don’t know. Maybe. But it doesn’t matter. Cam and I have chosen this. We’re incomplete without each other. That’s how it’s always been. And now, we can be together like we want to be.”

  “Like Cameron thinks you are meant to be?” she corrected and shook her head. “I know you, Liam. You would have never begun something like this with him. Even if it was in your heart, you would have never acted on it. So tell me: are you really doing this for you or are you doing this for him?”

  “Would you believe me if I said it was for both him and I?” He put his hands on his hips. “Mom, Cameron is not to blame. There is no one to blame. Whether you think it or not, this is a good thing between Cam and I. I think it’s a blessing.”

  She pointed furiously towards the bar. “That’s not human thinking! That’s their kind of thinking!”

  “Maybe it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad kind of thinking.” Liam shrugged.

  “Isn’t it?” Her finger shook. “The Gash is their fault. All the things it’s done: their fault! And, like the Gash, they don’t belong here. They are interlopers in our world and they are causing harm!”

  “That’s funny, because Loki kind of feels the same way as you do,” Liam said with a sharp laugh. “But I don’t agree. The Gash is terrible, yes. It has caused a world of harm. But the Aesir … Mom, you just need to spend some time in Thor’s presence and you would see how wonderful he is!”

  She shook her head violently. “It doesn’t matter, Liam! They don’t belong here! I’ve seen what their blood does to us. My mother …” She swallowed hard. “And now Cam –”

  “No! You can’t compare Cameron to your mother!” Liam cried.

  “You didn’t see his face when he was using the magic. You didn’t see what I did … He’s dangerous, Liam. And this thing with you …” She looked down at the ground. “I don’t think you’re with him just because you love him, Liam. I think you’re with him, because you know that he’s unstabl
e and with these powers he’s got …”

  “That’s not true,” Liam said firmly. “I love Cam. I want to be with him as a brother and lover. That’s my choice! Cam will learn to control his powers. I will help him. He’s not unstable, he’s – who are you calling?”

  In the middle of his sentence, she had pulled out her phone. With shaking hands, she was scrolling through her contacts. “Dr. Jefferson. He was the psychiatrist that tried to help Cameron after you died.”

  She suddenly gave a yelp and dropped the phone where it subsequently melted into so much metallic slag.

  Cameron’s voice, calm, but brittle rose up behind Liam. “No, Mom, you aren’t calling Dr. Jefferson. You aren’t taking Liam away from me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: MAGIC CONTROLS

  “You want to send me to a hospital, Mom? An institution?” Cameron’s tone was mocking, but it was also laced with acid and long half-hidden hurt.

  She’d always wanted to send him away on some level. He’d messed up her perfect family. The ten years difference in age between him and Liam showed how he had been an accident. He was the “oops baby”! Not planned. Not wanted. But he had never cared too much about that, because Liam had never made him feel like a mistake.

  “Cam, she doesn’t mean that!” Liam cried. “She’s just upset and isn’t thinking clearly!”

  “You’re right. She isn’t thinking clearly. After all, what institution could possible keep me?” The red and gold swirls on his arms glowed like living fire. He reached out with his power towards one of the large barrel cactuses that bounded Fenrir’s parking lot. He started its innards bubbling. In half a second, the cactus exploded, showering the parking lot with green goo.

  “Cameron! What are you doing?” their mother cried, shielding her head. “Stop!”

  “Showing you that you aren’t the boss of me or Liam anymore!” he shouted at her. The exploding cactus had been alright, but surely he could do better. Something more spectacular. Something where she would have no doubt it was him in control. He thought of the movie Firestarter and he grinned.

  “I’m just trying to help you!” she protested.