Will took a seat on the couch next to Charlie.
“I know you guys don’t want me to,” I quickly added. “It’s a fool’s mission to go chasing after Fen and his sister, but that sword is mine and I’m not the type to give up so easily. I’ve been living in a haze for decades because I’ve lost my way. I gave up. Not anymore. This time, Fenrir is the one who will not see me coming.”
The two of them stared at me wide-eyed as if I had three heads and a tail. I stood before them in complete silence as I waited for one of them to react. My heart pounded wildly as adrenaline pumped through me. I was ready for Fenrir.
“Have you thought this through, Raven?” Charlie whispered. “Like, really thought about it.”
“Yes, I have.”
“What about Castellano? Are you giving up on that?” She nibbled on her bottom lip.
I gulped. “I can do both.”
Will snorted. “Get real, Raven. Fen and his sister are in another realm!” He ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I even have to say that. I need a drink.”
“Join the club.” I rolled my eyes. “Whether he’s here or in the Fae realm, I can catch him and help with Castellano. I can multitask.”
“Raven,” Will sighed, “you can barely handle waking up early, much less being on time for one case. I can’t imagine you dealing with two cases.”
I wanted to be angry, but Will had a point. Time management expert I was not, which was why I needed their help. I guess it was time to bring out the big guns.
“I didn’t want to tell you guys, but you leave me no choice.” I let out a deep breath. “Verdandi said, and I quote, ‘This world will see terror like never before and you will be defenseless to stop it. Only with the sword will you have a chance to save the human world from destruction.’ End quote. So if we want to catch Castellano and save the human race from whatever big bad is headed our way, that sword is our only saving grace.”
“And you’re going to believe this from a dead Norn who despises you and would love to see you fail or, better yet, die for her entertainment while she possesses an innocent human being?” Will countered.
“Norns have visions of the future. She knows things,” Charlie interjected. “If this is true …”
“Exactly.” I pointed to her. “We must get the sword if we want to survive. If we want the world to survive.”
Will shook his head. “I don’t trust Verdandi.”
“We don’t have to trust her, but I do believe her. Lana wouldn’t have let her possess her body if there weren’t some importance. She must have showed her the vision as proof.” That much I believed. No medium would agree to this many possessions.
“When will you meet with her next?” Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll be with you when you do.”
Will nodded.
I grimaced. “Wait a minute,” I held up my hands defensively, “I don’t need a babysitter.” The times I met with Verdandi were the only times I could really drink. I wouldn’t give up those precious minutes.
“No one said you did.” Will lifted a brow and eyed me suspiciously. “Where did you say you meet her?”
“I didn’t.”
He stood from the sofa and started to circle me. “Right …” Will sniffed me, and sneezed. Maybe I’d used too much perfume.
“Are you drinking again, Raven?” Charlie stood from the sofa and stared at me intently.
I threw up my hands. “Who cares if I’m freaking drinking or not?” I scoffed. “What’s important is getting the sword back!”
Charlie stormed straight toward the bedrooms with her hands fisted at her sides, and I envisioned steam blowing out of her ears. I didn’t understand what she was doing at first, until I leaned back and saw what room she went into.
Mine.
I ran into my room. “What are you doing?”
She ripped off my sheets and threw the pillows at my face, the force nearly knocking me into Will who had followed me.
“Charlie?”
“Where are they, Raven? Huh? Where are the drugs?” she yelled as she tore the drawers from the nightstand and found my bottle of whiskey. “You’re hiding alcohol?” With the bottle in hand, she went to the bathroom, tore off the cap, and drained it into the sink.
“Charlie, calm down,” I muttered, not caring that my only source of alcohol just went down the drain. “Let’s talk rationally.”
“Rationally?!” she shrieked and waved the empty bottle. “You haven’t been rational if you’ve been chugging this poison!”
I elbowed Will in the gut as he stood there watching her go ballistic. “Say something, dammit,” I gritted through my teeth.
Will shrugged. “What do you want me to say? You’ve been deceiving us for weeks.”
“Oh, c’mon!” I threw my hands in the air. “You can’t expect me to go cold turkey. I needed to wean myself off; I’ve been controlling it. I swear. If I wasn’t, that bottle would have been empty and the whole nightstand would have been filled with bottles. But you only found one.”
“You’re making excuses for yourself, Raven.” Will sighed and leaned against the wall.
My nostrils flared as I watched the two of them. “Fine. If you want to catch Castellano, find Fen and retrieve the sword, and deal with an addict, be my guest. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I turned on my heels and left the bathroom, leaving them to discuss the decision they’d made. My way was easier for everyone, and sooner or later, they’d learn that for themselves.
3
Flashback
Chants and screams overpowered my train of thought as I crossed a busy street in Birmingham, Alabama. Protests grew daily all around the country from those fighting against the war and others for civil rights here in the South. I was exhausted. I’d been stuck on Earth for nearly two decades and hadn’t been able to help the humans. If anything, it seemed like they were getting worse. The war in Vietnam was killing their young, and the abuse of their own people because of the different color of their skin made me sick. I was done trying to help them. They didn’t want my help, and from my overstayed visit, it seemed like no one was coming to rescue me.
I wandered the streets aimlessly until a bottle soared through the crowd and hit me in the head. Had I been human, the force would have knocked me out. Glass shattered around me, and I didn’t even flinch. I barely blinked. My eyes narrowed as I scanned the crowd for the perpetrator. It didn’t take long.
“Go home, wetback!” a white male yelled from across the street as he gave me the middle finger. His buddies around him laughed, which encouraged him to engage in more suggestive physical actions.
I stood and watched with my fists clenched at my sides as an unrecognizable feeling began to stir inside me. I wanted to rip off his head. Literally. Valkyries didn’t hurt humans without reason, but I wanted to hurt the lot of them in this moment.
“It’s not worth it,” a voice whispered behind me as a soft hand gripped my arm. “Just walk away.”
My head whipped back, and I looked up at a black man. He was human, with a goatee and the smoothest voice I’d ever heard since being on this pitiful realm.
“Excuse me?” I raised a brow.
He nodded toward the rowdy crowd of white men and women yelling slurs our way. “Confronting them is not worth getting arrested.”
“I won’t get arrested,” I gritted through my teeth and moved to leave, but he still had a hold on me.
“Have you seen the color of your skin, ma’am? You may not be black, but you sure ain’t white.” He grinned. “You see the police over there watching us? They will arrest you no matter who is in the wrong, so just walk away with me.”
I huffed. This human didn’t know what I was. No matter what, I wouldn’t get myself arrested, but I wasn’t going to stand in the middle of the street and explain it.
“Fine,” I relented and snatched my arm out of his grip. I spun on my heels and walked away from the riot that was beginning to form. The humans could impl
ode on their own if they wanted to.
The man followed me. “What’s your name, sweetness?”
“Definitely not ‘sweetness.’” I peered over at him, and he grinned. “My name’s Raven.”
His grin widened. “Marcus,” he said and extended a hand to me. I took it reluctantly. “There’s not many of your kind around these parts. You new?”
I tilted my head. “My kind?”
“Hispanic.” He shrugged. “They’re usually out west, not really here in the South.”
Valkyries didn’t have a concept of race like humans, so sometimes I forgot what they meant by “my kind.” Questions like these usually made me nervous because I thought I’d been figured out.
“Yeah, I’m not from around here,” I replied vaguely.
“Well, I can show you around if you’d like. There’s a bar not too far from here for our kind. I was just on my way there to meet up with some friends if you’d like to come along.”
I walked beside Marcus in silence. I’d been in Birmingham for a few weeks thinking I could come to the center of much of the hatred and root out the evil—maybe put a stop to it. I’d never consumed alcohol or any of the other human devices they used to numb their pain. Though tempting in my current predicament, I’d been warned that valkyries weren’t immune to their effects due to our half-human nature. I’d made sure to stay far away from anything that could alter my mind in the last two decades on this realm.
“I don’t drink,” I finally said to Marcus.
He chuckled. “It’s okay, a little alcohol ain’t never hurt nobody. C’mon, Raven, you look like you could use a friend.”
My eyes narrowed as I observed this stranger, but I finally relented. If only I’d known Marcus would be the beginning of my end.
4
My mouth salivated as we sat in the corner booth and I looked at all the bottles of liquor behind the bar. The tremors had woken me up at five in the morning, drenched in a puddle of sweat. I blinked more than usual as I sat with my hands beneath my thighs so no one would notice the shakes. This was what I’d warned the others about. I wasn’t going to be able to function without a drop of alcohol or something. Anything.
“So you brought the whole gang with you?” Verdandi, still controlling Lana’s body, slid into the booth seat beside Will.
“I told you I wouldn’t keep secrets,” I replied, trying to keep the tremble in my voice at bay.
“Lana?” Charlie asked beside me. “Is that you?”
Verdandi smirked. “Guess again, banshee.”
Will shook his head and rubbed his hands together. “This isn’t right—”
“Lana has given me permission to take over her body. She understands the importance of my mission. Unlike you lot …” She mumbled the last bit.
“That’s what I don’t get.” My brows furrowed. “Lana’s not stupid. How does she know what you say is true? How do we know?”
Verdandi’s grin widened and she leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. “My sisters and I had one last vision of the destruction of the humans and their savior before our untimely death. It wasn’t a coincidence you came to us, Hrefna. I showed Lana that vision. She knows the truth.”
“And you want Raven to risk her life, risk everything, on just your word?” Charlie shrugged. “You have to give us more than that.”
I smiled. Charlie was a hell of a negotiator.
“And what do you want in exchange?” Will quirked a brow. “I don’t believe you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart. What do you want?”
“Hrefna knows what I want.” Verdandi looked me straight in the eyes, unblinking. “I want revenge for my death and the death of my sisters.”
Quiet engulfed the booth as Charlie and Will stared at both of us then at each other.
“You want her to kill Odin?” Will whispered as if someone around us could hear. The bar was empty, but Hugin and Munin were everywhere, and we were wary of that and had to be careful.
“You can’t expect her to kill her father—” Charlie began.
“Why not?” Verdandi interrupted. “Odin not only killed me and my sisters but he destroyed her life over a silly prophecy he himself put into play. Why should Hrefna—”
“My name is Raven,” I gritted through my teeth.
“You’re Hrefna!” Verdandi commanded. “That is your given name, and don’t you forget it with illusions of a human one. You know your birthright.”
The shakes rattled through my body as everyone watched me. I didn’t believe in prophecies and birthrights; I believed in right and wrong. If something bad was coming our way and there was something we could do to stop it, I would help. Against my better judgment.
I ignored their inquiring stares. “What’s our first step?”
Verdandi gave me a knowing look. I wanted to smack it off her face. “First, you need to get some ingredients for me that can only be found in the Underground. In the meantime, as I promised, you can use that as a front to ask questions about this Castellano fellow and see if you can get a lead on your human case.”
Charlie perked up. “How do you know about that?”
Verdandi’s smile widened. “I’m the Norn. I know everything.”
“You’re a dead Norn,” Will clarified. “I want to talk to Lana and make sure she’s truly given her consent.”
Verdandi shrugged. “By all means, I have no problem with that. You’ll want to talk to her soon, though, as these ingredients you’re fetching are to make me a semi-permanent figure in her body.”
“What?!” Will and Charlie exclaimed in unison.
“Explain yourself.” I sighed loudly. “And no riddles.”
She leaned back on the booth. “It’s simple. If we’re to win this coming war, we need my visions, which means I need to be a Norn again. I need to be alive.”
“So keep possessing Lana,” Charlie suggested.
Verdandi shook her head. “Doesn’t work that way, banshee. I’m still dead when I possess her. These ingredients will bring me back temporarily and allow me to use her body for a full year.”
I shook my head. “That’s insane. I can’t imagine Lana agreeing to this.”
“Speak to her yourself. We’ve already made the arrangements. I just need the ingredients and the pebble of obsidian and gold you earned in the Underworld.”
I’d forgotten she’d once asked for the pebble to bring her back to life. It was gifted to me for bringing Hel to the Underworld as a prisoner on Odin’s order. If buried on sacred ground, the pebble would grant one wish. I couldn’t believe Lana would go to these extremes.
Will slammed the table with his fist. “You could get her killed.”
“That’s the risk she’s willing to take … for the cause.” Verdandi shrugged.
I placed a shaky hand on Will’s fist and made eye contact. His gaze was strained, and I knew exactly what he was trying to tell me.
This is nuts, Raven.
I know, but play along for now, I tried to reply.
Verdandi cleared her throat, and I snatched my hand away.
“All right, so let’s talk to Lana,” I said.
The Norn slid out of the booth. “Meet her at the cemetery in a half-hour.” Before any of us could object, she was gone.
“Seriously, Raven?” Charlie turned to me. “This has disaster written all over it.”
“Let’s just meet with Lana and see what she has to say. It could be important.” I sat on my trembling hands again. “Verdandi says something big is coming, and I believe her. We need to be ready.”
Will snorted. “Since when are you the first to charge into battle?”
“For millennia now.” I glared at him. “I said I was turning over a new leaf. I’m tired of sitting idly. You wanted a champion, you got it.”
Charlie and Will looked at one another.
“I’m skeptical,” Charlie mumbled.
“Why?!” I shouted unintentionally.
“Because you look like
a junkie, Raven!” Will retorted, and Charlie winced.
My eyes widened. I’d honestly thought I was hiding it well, but obviously I was doing a shit job.
Will lowered his voice. “You have dark circles around your eyes, you’re sweating profusely, and you can’t stop shaking. You’re having severe withdrawals, Raven. You’re not champion material right now.”
I swallowed, and my throat suddenly closed in on me and went dry. I worried I wouldn’t be able to speak. “I-I just need one drink. To get me through the day.”
Charlie shut her eyes in disappointment—the one thing I didn’t want to see.
“You need to go to rehab—” Will started.
“Hell no,” I scoffed. “I’d rather die than go to one of those facilities. No thanks!”
The room quieted and I looked down at my quaking hands on my lap. I couldn’t argue with them for long. They were right. If I kept going like this, I wouldn’t be good to anyone. I only hoped this detox would end quickly and painless. Maybe there was something in the Underground, an herb that could hasten the process.
“Let’s just go,” I murmured, “or we’ll be late meeting Lana.”
No one argued.
The cemetery was as eerily still as always when we entered. Like before, there wasn’t anywhere to look for Lana—we had to wait for her to find us. The headstones were worn out, the words engraved barely legible.
“I hate coming here.” Will shivered as he walked a little closer to me.
I chuckled. “We’ll make it quick. Find out what she has to say and leave. Easy.”
Charlie snorted. “Yeah right,” she whispered as she hopped over a grave. “Lana is in cahoots with a Norn. There’s nothing easy about that.”
A gaggle of birds flew up from behind one of the crypts, and Will and Charlie shrieked. Both of them clutched my arms, practically hiding behind me.
“Welcome,” Lana said as she came out of the crypt. What an entrance. “Thank you for taking the time to meet me.”
The two scared children on either side of me released me quickly and nodded.
The Sword of Souls Page 2