Dead Wrath (A Valkyrie Novel - Book 4)

by T. G. Ayer

  I shook the spear, thrusting up and down, feeling the shiver that ran through the metal as it released and grew to its full length. I held my breath as it made it signature shiing, the soft ringing sound of metal sliding against metal.

  Thor moved in his bed, and I held my breath longer. Had he heard the sound of the spear? I watched and waited as his head turned toward the window and his eyelids fluttered. He opened his eyes then, and shock twisted my gut. He was staring right at me.

  His Adam's apple convulsed and cleared his throat. "Brynhildr?" he said as if he was sure I was an apparition and not the real thing. I glanced at the door and waited. Someone might have heard either Gungnir's noise or Thor's voice. But nothing stirred.

  I moved out of the shadows and approached his bed.

  My fingers tightened on the spear as I crouched beside Thor.

  He started to speak, forehead rumpled, eyebrows scrunched, as if he wasn't sure what he was seeing was real. I put a finger to my lips. "Don't speak," I whispered. "Remain still. I'm taking you home."

  Thor's lips turned up at the corners, happiness brightening his blue eyes. I slipped my hand into his, shivering a little at how cold he was. I couldn't deny that I was afraid. He was weaker than I thought, and I was terrified he wouldn't be strong enough to make the trip home.

  I hesitated a moment, unable to hide the worry in my expression. Thor must have seen it, because he whispered, "What's wrong?"

  I didn't admonish him for speaking. Instead, I asked, "Are you strong enough to travel?"

  Thor sighed and then smiled at me. I guess he must have thought something worse. He nodded. "I'm weak but not dying. You and Gungnir will get me home in one piece."

  "I hope so," I whispered, rising slowly to my feet. I held on tightly to Thor's hand despite the iciness of his skin.

  As I raised the spear into the air, I bent my neck to speak into the microphone attached to my collar. "This is it. I'm going on three. Good luck, everyone, and watch yourselves." As soon as I finished speaking, I took a deep breath and brought the image of Eir's treatment room into my mind. Then I stamped the butt of the spear three times on the bare wood floor.

  The sound seemed painfully loud to my ears, echoing around the room. The air around us shimmered, and a multitude of colors sparkled. The room disappeared and relief flooded me. We were on the Bifrost and on our way home.

  Seconds later, my feet touched the ground and I heard a solid thump as Thor's body hit the marble tiles. I was still holding tightly to his hand, and he squeezed it, giving me a grateful look.

  Eir looked up from tending to an einherjar with a big gash in his upper arm. Her eyes widened with shock and surprise as her gaze flitted from me to Thor. She set her blood-soaked cloths down on the table in front of her and hurried to us. She probably intended to ask a bunch of questions, but I wasn't planning on sticking around for it. I gave Thor's hand one last squeeze, then let go.

  "Get well," I instructed him before stamping Gungnir on the ground and thinking of the roof of the house in St. Petersburg.

  With a shiver of air, I materialized on the roof beside the chimney, but I hadn't catered for landing on a surface that wasn't entirely flat. I appeared on the tip of the roof with one foot on either side. And I began to slide, each leg going down the opposite side of the roof. It would have been a funny sight if it hadn't been for the fact that I was trying hard not to alert Loki and his henchmen. I shucked out my wings and flapped desperately, hoping I didn't hit the roof.

  My wings did their job, saving me from breaking my ass on the roof. I hovered up and away, floating higher above the house. Pulling the goggles back over my eyes, I studied the mayhem below. Purple and orange splodges were rushing round the house, confirming my team had entered the house as soon as I'd left.

  A low rumble emanated from the far end of the house.

  Loki.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  So our favorite troublemaker was throwing his toys. Funny how things hurt him when he was the one being played.

  But I had little time to enjoy his tantrum. I flew around the house and landed on the balcony. Slipping inside, I grabbed the spear from my back and shook it out. I moved quickly to the doorway and peered into the passage. My earwig crackled, and Aimee's voice came over the comms. "I have eyes on the virus."

  "Good. Get it and let's get the hell out of here," I said, eager to have it done with.

  "Welcome back," said Joshua. "We've got action downstairs. I've got one frost giant that I'm going to make a Happy Meal of."

  I grinned and ran down the hallway toward Loki's room. But as I passed the next doorway on the left, I caught sight of Siri facing down one of the frost giants. I entered the room, intending to help her out, but I couldn't get farther than the doorway.

  The Jotunn growled, turning blue then ice-white. He held his hands out in front of him, fingers spread wide. I watched as his fingertips sprouted blades of ice that glistened in the moonlight shining through the bare windows. The blade spurted toward Siri, but she didn't seem to care. She held her hands out toward him, heels up, and pushed them forward. For a moment, I wondered what she intended to do. Then I saw the boiling flames she threw at him. Fire spurted from her hands, strong and so hot I could feel the heat where I stood yards away.

  The flames grew, aimed directly at the frost giant, who seemed to think he was invincible. He stepped forward, aiming his fingers at Siri. Then he thrust his hand at her. The tip of his finger would have penetrated Siri's left eye had he hit his target.

  Unfortunately for him, he had no finger left to injure the dragon princess. The moment Siri's flame touched the Jotunn's skin, he began to melt. But he didn't liquefy instantly. Instead, the sharp blades of his fingers smoothed out, the point melting away while water dripped off the tip of his finger daggers.

  He screamed his fury but kept advancing on Siri, his anger keeping him in the game instead of running for his sorry life. He lunged. Siri stepped sideways and sent flames screeching up his back. His hair began to melt, and when he spun around to attack her again, half his face was dissolving. The Jotunn was no match for Siri's fire, and he knew it.

  He paused. The expression on what was left of his face said he desperately wanted to flee. Perhaps it was his god in the room down the hall that made him stand his ground. Or perhaps the Jotunn were bred to fight until they win or die. Whatever the case, he stood and faced the girl of fire as she sent flame after flame at him.

  I left her to it and hurried along the hall. To the right was the laboratory in the rooms with broken-down walls. Where Aimee was rescuing the virus. I'd pulled the glamor over me so nobody could see my approach. I whispered into my microphone, "I'm in the hall, Aimee."

  "I'm good here. You go and get Loki," she said, giving a short laugh.

  I headed down the hall, rounding the banisters of the stairwell. The goggles gave me a view into the room, but they were now unnecessary as the double doors were thrown wide open. Inside, Loki was yelling for someone to bring the woman.

  He looked at me as I entered the room, fury making his face red.

  "I should have known it was you," he shouted, glaring at me, his eyes now flames of ice. "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long. I assume you took Thor away?"

  "Yes. He's home where he belongs," I said smugly as I moved inside the room, spear in one hand, Glock in the other.

  Loki laughed as he studied my weapons. "The spear I understand, but the gun? Really, Brynhildr. You should know by now that human weapons have no effect on me." He grinned, but I could tell I didn't have his full attention. His eyes flicked toward the doors almost imperceptibly, but not fast enough that I wouldn't see the movement.

  I moved along the back wall, stepping slowly forward. I wanted to get close enough to him so I could take him straight back to Asgard with me.

  He smiled, more of a sneer than anything else. Then his hand went to his sides, to release two swords from their sheaths. Strangely enough, he was dressed
quite similarly to the scout team. Black leather pants and boots that looked more like leg braces than functional types. He wore a long leather coat over black chainmail that gleamed and glinted as he moved around. He held his knives out and swung them in circles as he drifted slowly to the right.

  I stopped moving. I could see what he was doing. Get me with my back to the door and the Jotunn he was waiting for would catch me unawares. Not a chance.

  I pointed the sword at him, softened my knees, and aimed the gun straight at his chest. He stared down its barrel, then gave a mock shudder. "Ooh, the pretty birdie is holding a gun on me. I'm so terribly scared I might just pee in my pants."

  I clicked my tongue. "No need to be crude. Frigga would be disappointed. I'm sure she raised you better than that."

  He inclined his head. "I do believe she did. Come to think of it, how is Frigga and everyone else back home?" He smirked, but his eyes were vacant. "Oh, and do tell me how our father is keeping?" He watched me carefully as he spoke the words, and I could tell he was eagerly awaiting a reaction from me, but I kept my face as emotionless as possible.

  He frowned. "No reaction, sister dear?"

  "As I told you already, I am not your sister," I snapped, my eyes narrowing on him.

  "Oh, and why not? We both share the same father, don't we?" he asked, his tone soothing, as if he were trying to lull me into a little bit of sibling sharing. I was not falling for his tricks.

  "Well. Because a sister would not do this to her brother, now would she?" I asked, and even as he frowned and tilted his head with curiosity, I pulled the trigger.

  The bullet hit him in the upper chest near his shoulder, the impact throwing him slightly backward. He stepped a few feet back to regain his balance, then looked down at the bullet hole in his clothing. "You shot me," he cried as if he'd never expected me to do such a thing. Then he looked up at me and stared into my face as if the answer would be somewhere between my hairline and my chin. The incredulous look he gave me was almost laughable. How could he think I wouldn't shoot him?

  Then he gave a short mirthless laugh. "Now why did you go and do a thing like that, Bryn? You know bullets can't beat me." He had started out speaking confidently, with a strength in his voice that waned slowly. He swayed back and forth. Then he stopped and stared down at the oozing wound. "What did you shoot me with?" he asked softly.

  "What? I thought bullets can't harm you? Brother," I said, fighting the urge to laugh. This all had a hysterically funny edge to it, but I vowed not to give in.

  I pulled the trigger again. This time the bullet hit him in the thigh. Loki staggered against the force of the impact, then stood still, holding his leg gingerly. What was wrong with me? How could I shoot at him like it was a video game? How could I injure him and feel no emotion whatsoever?

  Then he flew at me, spinning his knives, uncaring of his injured leg. I parried the blades with my spear, then spun out of reach, careful to keep the doorway in my sights. He ran again, and this time I wasn't fast enough. Either he wasn't as affected by the Norn's magical water or I was getting slow. He caught me on the chin with the hilt of one of his swords, then spun out of reach. I was getting tired of messing about with him. I had to get him close.

  I surged forward, then used my wings to thrust above and over him. Within seconds, I was behind him so fast he wasn't able to turn around quickly enough. I plunged the spear into his back, then tugged it out before hovering above him.

  He was also running out of patience. His glamor shifted and shimmered, and I could see the shape of a bird, dark and glossy-eyed, within the glassy air. He was about to transform fully when a frost giant ran into the room, dragging a tall, white-haired woman along by the arm. Her face was beautiful, features elegant and smooth. She wasn't an old woman. He pulled her roughly inside the room, then appeared startled to see me hovering beside Loki.

  Loki pulled himself back together and the bird form disappeared within a blink. He made a running leap at the Jotunn, whose eyes widened as he watched his boss fly at him. Then the three of them disappeared into a pool of liquid air. He was gone so fast I had to accept there was no way I could have stopped him.

  I growled my frustration. I'd lost Loki again, and I was not happy. But there was time enough to curse my ineptitude. I shook my head and smothered a laugh. I'd shot him twice and stabbed him once and still he seemed impervious to injury.

  I gritted my teeth, then ran back down the hall. I'd almost reached the lab when I heard someone say, "Don't move." It was Yuri's voice, and it held a cold, ominous edge to it.

  And it stopped me in my tracks.

  Pulling the goggles back on, I stared through the walls. I could see two forms, one with a hand extended that I assumed was Yuri aiming a gun at Aimee. I began to run, but before I reached the doorway, another form sped into the room, running straight at Yuri.

  The sound of the gunshot exploded inside my ears. I shoved the goggles off my face and raced into the room in time to see Aidan standing in front of Aimee, his hands to his abdomen. All I saw was the blood coating his fingers, soaking into his clothes. I felt faint, my ears ringing so loud I barely heard Aimee screaming Aidan's name. I saw Yuri standing there, the gun still pointed at Aidan, the dead look in his eyes, the cold sneer on his face. When Aidan's knees hit the ground, I felt the pain in my own bones.

  Everything moved in slow motion. Yuri glanced over at Aimee, his grimace growing wide enough so I could see his yellowed teeth. His finger tightened on the trigger, but I'd already grabbed the dagger from its sheath at my thigh. As the blade left my hand, I saw a red spot bloom in the middle of Yuri's forehead. I didn't hear the gunshot, but I saw the bullet penetrate the Russian's forehead. His eyes went blank, and when my blade struck him in the neck, it was too late to do anything more than make a second hole in his body.

  Yuri sank to the ground, falling slowly to his side. And Aidan watched as he knelt before the dead man.

  Aimee had shot Yuri between the eyes, but a bullet to the skull of his attacker would make no difference to Aidan.

  I stumbled toward him, landing on my knees beside him. I placed my hand against his fingers, pulling them away to see how bad the injury was. And ice filled my lungs and I couldn't breathe. Black liquid seeped from the raw opening in his stomach, and the sight of that blackness made me sob.

  I'd just killed Aidan.

  The black goo that seeped from his wound was a poison created using my own blood. Created by Aidan's father to in the end kill his own son. For a moment, I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. I sucked in air and sobbed, barely registering Aimee grabbing my arm.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Footsteps rushed into the room behind me and I knew the rest of the team were arriving now that the fight was over. Enya sobbed out loud as soon as she saw her brother's injury. She hunched down on his other side, drawing in short, shuddering breaths, unsure where to put her hands.

  Aidan sucked in a breath, his eyes already glazing. "I'm going to be fine. You can't get rid of me that easily." His voice sounded hoarse and ragged. Not a good sign.

  Enya snorted. "You're a pain in the ass at the best of times, but you are not allowed to die on me." She laughed and sniffed as her eyes filled with tears.

  "Yes, ma'am," he said with a grin, his eyes gradually closing.

  Joshua crouched beside Enya and studied the wound. The blood and black goo were mixing, looking odd and so very wrong. He looked up, the expression on his face mirroring my feelings. Aidan was dying, and if we didn't get him help soon, there might be no chance at all to save him.

  Behind Joshua, a shadow moved, large and threatening and definitely not one of my team. I threw my spear before anyone in the room could move. The spear hit the Jotunn in the middle of his neck and embedded into the wall behind him. He couldn't move. Air whistled through his broken throat, and skin and muscle sizzled.

  I frowned. What could possibly cause the steaming of frost giant flesh? All I did was impale him with Odin's spear
. Then I stiffened. A spear dipped in the Norn's magical water. Was that what it did to the frost giants? And Loki was a frost giant. Did Loki react in the same way to the Norn's water?

  I recalled the odd expression on his face after the first bullet had entered his chest. Had he felt the reaction deep inside his body?

  Everyone in the room turned and stared grimly at the dying frost giant. He began to melt away, his face and chin dripping down toward his chest. Slowly, he transformed into a pile of steaming muck on the wooden floor. Then the remains of the Jotunn seemed to catch alight. Blue flame spurted from the muck, burning up what was left of him. In the end, there was nothing left. Just the spear stuck in the wall, looking oddly naked.

  Edrik grabbed Gungnir and pulled it out of the wall. Then he brought it to me, sank down, and took my hand off Aidan's body. He seemed oblivious that my fingers and palms were coated with blood and black gunk. He opened my stiff fingers and wrapped them around the spear.

  "You must go. Take him home, Bryn," Joshua said, his voice ripping through me and awakening my senses. I blinked and looked at his face as if I'd just come out of some trance. Then I stared down at Aidan. He was unconscious now, and Joshua had pulled up his chainmail and ripped his shirt open. Aidan's skin was pale around the wounds, but black lines forked from the ragged edges across his stomach. The poison was moving fast.

  "Bryn?" Joshua spoke, and I blinked again. His expression was filled with concern and sadness.

  I nodded vigorously, both to confirm I'd heard him and to pull myself together.

  "You guys regroup at the boarding house. I'll take Aidan back to Asgard." I spoke the words without an ounce of emotion. I couldn't summon even a speck of positivity, not even to given my team a boost.

  Joshua leaned over Aidan's still form and held on to my arm. "Bryn, stay with him. We'll make our way straight back to Asgard. We have the virus as well as the details of how they made the black poison."