“How did you get involved?”
Sydney shuddered. Immediately Mir went to her, “I’m right here, baby.” As his arms wrapped around her, she went on, her voice shaky.
“The professor called me in on the project. I’m the one who excavated the circle in Ireland. I was the one who erected them and arranged them in the proper sequence.
“Then, the creature took me over and used me to spy on Mir and everyone here. I don’t remember...much.” She dropped her eyes so fast, Hunter knew that was mostly a lie. “What I do remember was both fascinating and horrifying. Mostly horrifying. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to try to figure out how to stop him.
“There are a lot of us, Hunter, who’ve been used to do his bidding. Me, Celine—thousands of others, probably, over the eons—each of us putting him closer to his goal.
“The point is, everything he does gets him closer to what he wants.”
“And what do you believe he wants?” Hunter asked.
“At first, I thought he wanted to wipe everything away. Like what your power is capable of.
“But I’ve come up with a new theory, especially after what happened in New York. He didn’t destroy this city, though he easily could have. He was imprisoned by the very first of the gods, according to their lexicon of faith. And he’s so fixated on Odin, on eliminating these other immortal beings. I believe he means to supplant them. I think he means to become the One God.”
“So the Orobus has a god complex?”
“He started out as nothing but chaos. My guess is he likes the order he’s discovered in the natural world, the order to power. We’ve established he enjoys having an audience. And he’s amassing armies, creatures to control.”
“He has Hel working with him as his demonic general,” Mir pointed out.
“He does,” Sydney agreed. “She’s probably guiding him, planting seeds, manipulating him in her own way.” She shuddered. “It would be in her best interest to do so. And from my brief, yet dramatic encounter with her, that would fit.”
“All right,” Hunter told them, rising. “I’m heading down there to take a look around. Tyr’s still sleeping, I’ll try to be back before he wakes. If I’m not, he’ll be on the warpath by breakfast.” She tipped her head down. “Sorry in advance. But if I mean to get down there…”
“Then you’d better leave now.” Mir finished for her.
19
Finally, Hunter had a definitive plan of action.
She knew, deep in her bones, it was the right one. She also knew, just as deeply, that it was the last thing she wanted to do. She’d been sitting here in a room touched only by moonbeams, watching Tyr sleep. She’d stolen these last, precious moments with him. And she’d never give them back because she was taking them with her when she went.
He’d always thought she’d been nothing but a mad animal, those days in the cave up on the mountain. But she’d been so much more. She’d been freed. Of society. Of the world itself. All the while, learning to control the terrible, quicksilver power imprisoned within her. As he patiently coaxed her back into this world of theirs, taught her how to live and breathe and see and feel like the human she’d once been, she’d fallen completely and utterly in love with him. And so, when he’d abandoned her next to the decimated castle, her heart had broken in some irreparable way.
It was a wondrous thing to love him again.
To know she’d take this feeling with her to the next place, wherever that might be.
Turning, Hunter left the room, slipped through the silent hallways of the Tower and out into the dark streets of Chicago.
Because while her heart belonged to the sleeping god,
The Orobus held her soul.
20
I am you, and you are me.
Well, whatever he was, the Orobus was certainly huge. Hunter watched the thing spin beneath her, an enormous psychic abyss, crackling with the occasional flash of blue-black energy, spread out over a mind-boggling area.
Whatever Tyr had pulled up out of the ground and infused into her was definitely part of this dark god. She recognized the connection now, though she wished to deny it. Some kind of primordial life force, the bond between them was undeniable. Clearly, it was how the Orobus knew to use Tyr. Her love would be used against her again if she wasn’t careful.
Well, she would not allow either of them to be manipulated. Perched on the edge of what had once been a grand hotel, Hunter searched the darkness for the core of the creature’s power. She couldn’t find one. Thor had not exaggerated in his report. In fact, he had vastly understated the situation.
Or the thing was growing at an alarming rate of speed.
“Funny, I thought I’d find you here.”
The last person she’d thought would be sneaking around, snuck up behind her. Well, she’d heard him coming for about ten minutes but had wanted the company. She was just surprised. “Isn’t this a bit below your pay grade?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Pretty girl under a new moon, maybe my night’s looking up.” Freyr’s smile didn’t quite reach his beautiful eyes, and a cold, icy feeling swept through her. So he’d not come here to chat.
“It’ll be dawn in an hour, and the moon’s at a quarter. You’d best get to the point, Freyr. We’re past time for pussyfooting around.”
“All right. Mir sent me for backup. Such that I am. He and Syd are working out some minor details before he goes to the rest of the group with the plan, so he figured a second set of eyes down here might help.”
“He sent you to ensure I don’t do anything stupid.”
“Yes,” Freyr muttered. “That’s pretty much it.” His beautiful face tightened. “Since you seem to have an uncanny ability to cause trouble wherever you go, Hunter, he figured it wouldn’t hurt. You almost got Tyr killed. The God of War, for fuck’s sake. Care to explain what you’re planning?”
“We’re coming up with a strategy to stop that thing.” She hedged. Seeing the full scope of the creature had her questioning their sanity right about now. “And besides, this doesn’t seem like your scene. I thought all you ever did was look pretty and chase women?” As the words escaped her mouth, she winced. Men and their egos. Her and her mouth. This would probably not end well.
“Are you calling me a whore?”
She heard a hint of ire at the insult.
“Just because you chose to go through life a nun doesn’t give you the right to criticize how I live mine. I happen to like sex. And women. So watch the judgy attitude.”
Shit. He was totally right. “I’m sorry. What I meant to say was…”
“What you meant to say is… Freyr, why are you out here, when you normally would have chosen the safest path and stayed home watching DVD’s in bed with a bag of snacks and a cold beer?” Crossing his arms, he stared her down, and for the very first time, she saw something beyond the staggering beauty, something more like quiet strength.
“Yes. That would have been a much better choice of words. So why are you here?”
“Not exactly sure. I guess I had to see this for myself.” Freyr’s gaze skimmed the scene below them, his eyes widening slightly. “Footage doesn’t quite do it justice, does it?”
“Not one bit.”
The blond god was an incredible specimen, she noted. So handsome he didn’t even look real, as if a soft glow enveloped him from head to toe, the faintest hint of magic emanating from his pores. And that mane of hair—every color of blonde—from the purest sunshine to the deepest amber picked up the faint moon glow in the air.
“Done gaping?” he taunted, eyes still focused below. “None of this matters, you know. It’s all just window dressing, really.”
For a moment, Hunter scanned the gloom, the buildings, before she realized Freyr was talking about himself.
“I was born this way, as were my sisters and brothers before me. But it doesn’t matter,” he insisted again. “My whole life, I’ve done nothing but rely on my looks to get me by. And now? This wor
ld doesn’t care about beauty.” He nodded to the roiling cloud of black below them. “He certainly doesn’t.”
“There’s an old saying, you know. ‘The more beautiful the face, the more fatal it’s bite.’ You’d do well to remember it.”
“Are you sure that wasn’t about the Medusa?” He finally looked at her, and his eyes, practically the same shade as hers, were bleak.
“No, but the principle is the same, Freyr. If you want to change, be whatever you want to be. Just become something different. You’re a god, for heaven’s sake, just do it.”
“Now you sound like a sound bite.”
“Maybe, but still. Whatever’s holding you back, get past it, get over it, or get through it.” Hunter sighed, turning back to the monster beneath them. “Something brought you down here, besides Mir’s orders. What was it?” But her words echoed away into the dark. And nothing but silence echoed back.
“Freyr? Don’t walk away from me.” She forced herself not to shout after him. “I need you. We need each other right now. There aren’t many of us left.” It went against everything she’d believed in, but this was the only way they would survive. Together. Apart, the Orobus would pick them off, one by one.
Relief flickered to life when Freyr strode out of the shadows. “Fine. I’ll listen to your inspirational speech. But keep it short. I can’t do anything about my short attention span.”
“What did bring you down here?” she prodded. “You could have checked on me and ghosted back out. There’s no reason for you to speak to me. Unless you wanted to. So, what do you want?”
“To help.” The gold in his eyes seemed alight. “I mean, really help. Not in the half-assed way I usually do.” Freyr moved in. “Simply following orders isn’t doing it for me anymore. Maybe it’s time I stepped up. Made a difference.”
“Wow, look at who’s giving me a run for motivational speaker of the year.”
“Fuck off,” Freyr muttered good-naturedly.
“You first,” Hunter told him. “Now, as to why we’re both here.”
A tilt of that gorgeous face had blond hair spilling over his shoulder. Annoying, really.
“Go ahead, I’m all ears.”
“I’m down here because of something Sydney said.” Hunter paused, unsure how to lay it out, since things hardly made sense even to her. “Her theory is the Orobus wants to replace you—the gods—by becoming one himself.” She snuck another look through the blown-out window behind them. “I’d like to prevent that from happening.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“But we have the obvious problem. He’s too big right now for us to handle.” Hunter met Freyr’s gaze steadily. “But I’ve found a solution.”
Freyr’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
Hunter shook her head. “Not one bit.” At his nod, she continued, “Being stationary allows him to spread himself thinly over the site, effectively guarding it. And shutting us out, since nothing can get past his defenses. But if he was on the move? He’d have to condense himself down, streamline himself for travel. Especially if he was forced to pursue something.”
“What do you suggest?”
You are me, and I am you.
“He wants this little piece of dark power inside of me. He’ll follow me out of the city. To move, and move quickly, he’ll have to compress himself into a form that can be easily transported. Which also means…”
“Easily contained.”
She nodded. “Exactly. And once I draw him away, it will give everyone time to set up around the site, put Tyr’s plan into action. Mir and Syd are already working out logistics. There are variables, of course. You’ll have to eliminate any Grim and elves stationed down there. And I have no idea how long you’ll have to operate. But I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”
“That’s the upside. Now, tell me what the downside is. ’Cause there’s always a downside.” Freyr’s brilliant eyes narrowed down to slits. “Wait. Tyr has no idea you’re down here, does he?”
Ignoring the question completely, Hunter plowed ahead. “As far as drawing him back, if you threaten the circle, say…tried to blow up the stones?”
“We already tried that. There’s some kind of protection on them. We tried to get through them but no luck.”
“You only have to threaten them. Its primitive logic. If his lair is threatened, in any way, even if he knows it’s secure, he’ll be compelled to check. The instinct will be hardwired into him.” She searched her gut and knew she was right about this. “Trust me, he’ll come back. If all goes well, you’ll be ready, he’ll be in a smaller form. I’ll circle in from behind, wiping the entire structure off the map, the second Sydney locks the portal with her magic. If anything seems off, or goes wrong, then we abort and regroup back at the Tower.”
“Nope. You are not going to lead that thing out of the city and leave me, ME, to tell Tyr what you’ve done. That’s your plan? It is, isn’t it? You’re going to chicken shit it out of here and leave me to do your dirty work. Well let me tell you something, sweetheart, I’m not fucking doing it.”
“It’s the only way this will work, Freyr. If I head back to the Tower now, there’s no way Tyr will let me do this. He’ll take one look at the size of this thing and shut the plan down. Look, I know this isn’t fair, and I know it puts you in a bad spot…”
“A bad spot, is that seriously what you call this?”
His voice took on a high, mocking tone, “Oh by the way Tyr, I let your girlfriend lead the monster who’s about to destroy the world out of the city, dead on her heels. But yeah, I’m here, safe and sound, to deliver her message. Oh, and by the way, do you want to loose your deadly God of War powers on me now or later?” he scoffed. “How’s that? Did I get it right?”
Yes, that was certainly accurate. “I don’t have a choice.”
“The hell you don’t. We head back to the Tower, and we work as a team. We come up with something that doesn’t get you killed and me with my beautiful ass getting a serious beat down. Deal?”
As Hunter moved blindingly fast and used a quick jab to the temple to knock Freyr out, lowering him gently to the ground so he didn’t, as he put it, damage his beautiful ass, Hunter wished, for once, that she could just do things the easy way. She sighed.
But no, things just never worked out the way you wanted them to.
21
Hunter had never been in this position before.
Which was saying something, considering how old she was.
But as her breaths turned jerky and uneven and her chest felt about to burst, she was pretty sure she was the prey in her current situation. The need to flee was overwhelming. The sheer size of the thing she was up against was like nothing she’d ever faced before. Then there was this strange kinship she felt with the monster, as if like called to like. That feeling she fought with every fiber of her being.
Skirting the shadowy outer edge of the Orobus, she muttered, “I must be crazy,” before edging closer, her heart beating out of control.
At some point, she hoped, the monster would sense her. Sense their sameness. Just as he had before. And at that point, she was betting on two things. The creature would take a moment to gather himself together. The problem with sentience is that action is tempered by reasoning. And that critical moment of indecision would buy her time to escape.
If they were wrong, and this being was ruled by instinct alone, she’d be dead in a heartbeat.
A step closer, then another. The roiling movement slowed near her, as if recognizing a familiar presence. Yes, she thought, yes, here I am, right here.
See me. See me.
The suddenness with which the creature stopped, and recognized, and seemingly latched onto her was startling. And frightening.
Just as quickly, Hunter raced along the path she’d carefully chosen. A route both convoluted enough to slow the Orobus down and direct enough to take her out of the city. She was determined to draw him far enough away that it wo
uld buy the gods and humans time to prepare. A grim smile played over her face as she raced below the highway, jumped into the hot-wired pickup she’d left running, and flew along the twisted labyrinth of streets and tunnels.
Behind her, the concrete rumbled overhead. He was following.
She only prayed he’d go where she led.
22
Freyr woke with hard concrete underneath him and a cold, vile breeze above. It smelled faintly of brimstone and evil, and he rubbed his head, wincing. “Damn you to hell, Hunter.”
He rolled over against the low wall, broken glass crunching beneath him. The massive cloud that made up the Orobus was still down there, swirling in all of its hellish, black glory, and he figured Hunter was there, somewhere. Probably putting her reckless scheme into action.
And his ass in a fucking sling.
One more look had him ghosting back to the Tower, where he dumped himself directly into Tyr’s room, not giving a shit about propriety or anything else at the moment. Which was good, because Tyr sat up, groggy yet expectant, probably expecting to bang his lover. Except that was so not going to happen.
“Hey.” Freyr reached out and prodded the god to get his attention. It was like poking an iron anvil. “We’ve got to talk.”
“What the fuck, Freyr?” Tyr yelled, launching himself out of bed. “What are you doing, ghosting straight into my bedroom? Are you crazy?”
“Yeah, you’re going to want to put on some clothes for this.” Keeping his eyes averted, Freyr hunted around the room and finally spotted the half full bottle of bourbon. Grabbing it, he thankfully swigged down a few mouthfuls. Gods, his head was killing him. That woman had a mean right hook. “Clothes, Tyr, for fuck’s sake.”
The God of War had seen better days, his body battered and covered in an array of spectacular bruising, some of it fading to green, and on his abdomen the marks were dark purple, a sure sign of deep kidney damage. Freyr perked up. Maybe Tyr wasn’t in any shape to deliver a severe beat down, after all.
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