Wicked Memories (CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS)

by Nina Bangs

  “Your name, vampire?” Loki’s gaze settled on him.

  “I’m Thorn Mackenzie. I own Nirvana.” Thorn decided to keep his conversation to a minimum. He didn’t trust Loki. And his feelings had nothing to do with the fact that Loki had a face women would like or that Kayla was doing lots of looking right now. Okay, so his feelings had a little to do with that.

  “You recognized me.” Loki made it a statement.

  “Grim said you were coming. I’m Viking. I grew up hearing tales of you and the other Norse gods.” He shrugged. “Besides, what other wolf would be lying on my couch?”

  Loki rewarded him with a nod of approval and shifted his attention to Kayla? “And you?”

  Kayla still held Thorn’s hand. She gripped it tightly, but that was her only sign of nerves. She met Loki’s gaze.

  “I’m Kayla. I work for Sparkle Stardust.”

  She bit her lip, and Thorn knew she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. He relaxed a little.

  Loki gave her his first smile. It transformed his face. Thorn hated him.

  “I’m certain there is more to tell than that, Kayla.” Loki lingered on her name.

  “Now that you’re here, we have to make plans.” Thorn knew he sounded abrupt, but he couldn’t care less. He didn’t like the sudden flare of interest in Loki’s yellow eyes when he looked at Kayla.

  “What plans? I’ll tell Aegir that Asgard is not a happy place right now because the gods and goddesses know what he’s doing.” His smile turned sly and malevolent. “Aegir is no longer a strong god. He fears the others.”

  Could’ve fooled me. Thorn tried to look awed and attentive. Not difficult considering the legend that was Loki. Too bad that every time he saw Loki’s glance slip to Kayla, Thorn’s fangs grew a little longer.

  “After I destroy his hall, he’ll leave this place and hide.” Loki’s expression said getting rid of Aegir would take a half hour tops.

  “You have to rescue the humans first.” Kayla’s grip had loosened.

  “Rescue humans?” Loki looked puzzled. “Why would I do that? I only care about Aegir.”

  “Aegir has to be holding close to a hundred people hostage in his hall. You can’t leave them to die.” Her expression had turned mutinous. She dropped Thorn’s hand.

  Loki’s stare said clearly that he could.

  Thorn tried to block the insistent voice urging him to use persuasion. It’s an addiction. Resist it. Even if it worked on Loki—and that wasn’t a given—the blowback would zap him unless he kept using it.

  Instead, Thorn turned to the human skills he’d honed over the centuries. He smiled—not enough to show fang—so Loki would believe he liked him. He didn’t. Then Thorn tried on his best obsequious face. “This shouldn’t be a problem. Why don’t we go over to the castle and talk about it? They have a comfortable conference room. You can eat and drink. Sparkle will have a place where you can relax afterward. She’ll have all the nonhumans there.” His expression slid into ingratiating. “No one would want to miss meeting one of the world’s most famous gods.” That much was true.

  Loki considered it and then nodded. “We’ll talk. But if you want to rescue the humans, you’ll have to do it yourself. I agreed only to stop Aegir.”

  “How can we save the humans? They’re underwater.”

  Kayla said what Thorn was thinking.

  Loki shrugged. “That is your problem. Surely with a roomful of nonhumans you can come up with something.”

  Just freaking great. Thorn pulled out his cell phone and called Sparkle. He didn’t wait for her to say anything. “Get all the nonhumans to your conference room. Now.”

  “Did I imagine the meeting we had about, oh, an hour ago? Talking again won’t change anything.” She sounded annoyed.

  “Loki is here.”

  “Oh.” Silence. “Well, bring him. I’ll have everyone there.”

  “Order food and drinks.” Had to keep the god happy.

  “Sure.” The one word came out on a tired sigh.

  As he returned the phone to his pocket, Thorn wondered what other things were happening in Sparkle’s life to cause that sigh. Then he remembered Ganymede. Thorn would add cursing and putting his fist through a wall to the sighing.

  He spoke to Loki, but watched Kayla from the corner of his eye. “Let’s go. Sparkle is rounding up all the nonhumans. Did you see Grim on your way in?”

  “I saw no one. I came directly to this room.” Loki joined them at the door.

  Kayla stared up at the god with wonder in her eyes. “Does that mean you can dematerialize?”

  Loki’s gaze softened. He smiled again. “Yes. Would you like to try it before I leave?”

  “Definitely. What a rush. We . . .” She glanced at Thorn.

  Whatever she saw on his face wasn’t good.

  She looked away. “We’d better get over to the castle.”

  They walked across the street, Kayla between Thorn and Loki. Thorn’s head still hurt from the persuasion he’d used two nights ago. The pain didn’t help his mood.

  Jealousy was an ugly thing. He didn’t try to justify the emotion. Since he couldn’t control it, he may as well own it and do it up right. “A lot of people have written about you, Loki. They always depicted you as a trickster and deceiver. Do you think they were fair to you?” Thorn glanced at Kayla to see if she got that Loki was scum.

  Kayla’s expression said she thought Thorn should keep his mouth shut. Loki could crush him beneath his heel, scrape off Thorn’s remains on the curb, and not interrupt his conversation with her.

  Now that was just insulting. Thorn curled his lip, exposing his fangs. She’d never really seen what happened when his vampire nature took over completely.

  Kayla stared at Thorn from eyes wide with alarm.

  Don’t. Lose. Your. Temper. Thorn had the sense to lower his head so his fangs were hidden.

  Loki didn’t look angry, though. He seemed interested. “Trickster? Deceiver?” He remained silent for a moment. “An accurate description. I’m the ultimate con man. I’m successful because I’m smart about what I do, and I hate everyone equally.”

  Thorn stared at him.

  “I’m only joking.” Loki didn’t look as though he was joking.

  Thorn thought that partnering with this god would always be a life-or-death experience, one in which your “partner” could decide to eliminate you along with the enemy.

  Loki wore a calculating smile. “I enjoy manipulating events. What’s the fun in doing something if you can’t tweak noses or pull tails?”

  “Sure. Fun is important.” Finally, they’d reached the conference room. Thorn held the door for Kayla, and just managed to stop himself from slamming it in Loki’s face.

  Sparkle was already seated along with the nonhumans from both parks. Thorn and Kayla sat next to her. No one looked at them. They were too busy watching Loki, who had taken the seat at the head of the table. He looked as though he thought it was his rightful place.

  Kayla poked Thorn with her elbow. “I can’t believe you insulted Loki. What were you thinking?” Even though she didn’t want to admit it, the expression of primal savagery she’d seen on Thorn’s face for just those few moments had triggered something primal and savage in her own heart.

  He shrugged. “Loki’s tough enough to handle the hard questions. Besides, he wasn’t insulted. You worry too much.”

  She settled back into her chair with an irritated huff. Kayla tried to get her mind off Thorn by focusing on the meeting.

  Sparkle stood. “Welcome to the Castle of Dark Dreams, Loki. We appreciate that you’ve agreed to help us. I—”

  Loki held up his hand, effectively stopping whatever Sparkle had been about to say. He didn’t stand. “I’m here because my great-grandson asked me and because I hate Aegir. Tomorrow night I’ll go out to where the sea god has his hall and I’ll blow it out of the water. I’ll explain the . . . concerns those in Asgard have about what he’s done and then I’ll return home. You have
until then to plan a strategy to save your precious humans.” He yawned. “Now, I’ll need a place to stay and something to eat.” He studied Sparkle. “Do you supply any women to entertain me?”

  “No.” Sparkle had narrowed her eyes to amber slits.

  Loki’s lips tipped up in a faint smile. “Too bad. I suppose I’ll have to supply my own entertainment.”

  Kayla decided that smile should worry Sparkle. Loki was a gorgeous man, but he frightened her in the same way Banan had scared her. Loki was a predator. But he was a powerful one. They needed power right now. Lots of it. You took the good with the bad.

  Silence enveloped the room as Sparkle called for someone to take Loki to his suite and to make sure he had food and drink along with anything else he wanted, within reason. Then she sat down.

  Once he’d left, Grim coughed. “Sorry about Great-granddad. He’s a bit of a jerk. But we need him.”

  Sparkle waved away his apology. “We’re just happy to have one of the gods here.” She cast a reproachful glance at Zane. “We could’ve used a few more.”

  Thorn leaned forward. “So how do we save the people Aegir is holding?”

  Kayla waited as the silence dragged on. She didn’t know how they’d receive suggestions from a mere human, but she had a skill some of them lacked. Because she didn’t have super anything, she had to be able to make plans and organize to assure her success in life. This wasn’t much different than putting a case together.

  “I have some ideas.” She watched as they all turned to stare at her. No pressure. “I don’t know if anything I say will be workable, but at least it’ll be a start.” A lot depended on how powerful they were.

  “We’ll certainly consider your input.”

  Holgarth sounded so patronizing that she wanted to smack his stupid wizardy face.

  “First we’ll need a ship to handle the rescued humans. One of those ships from the cruise terminal on Harborside would work. Someone will have to captain it.”

  “I can do that.” Anticipation gleamed in Sparkle’s eyes.

  “Oh, God, no.” Eric looked truly horrified.

  Kayla saw the same horror mirrored on everyone’s face. She rushed to fill in details. “We’ll need someone to cloak the ship so the Coast Guard can’t see it. We’ll also need some kind of illusion to convince everyone the ship is still where it should be.” She thought for a moment. “There aren’t many people left in Galveston, so hopefully no memories will have to be wiped.”

  “Sparkle can’t captain the ship.” Zane still hadn’t moved on from that detail. “It’ll be an instant shipwreck.”

  Sparkle glared at him. “I’ve lived for thousands of years. I have more skills than you’d think. Besides, I bet it’s all electronics now.” She placed a finger over her lips as she thought. “Someone with strong magic could manipulate the controls manually.”

  Everyone in the room with even a bit of magic suddenly found the ceiling, walls, or floor fascinating. Kayla would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire.

  “Assuming we can get the ship away from land and out to where Aegir’s hall is, then we have to save the humans once Loki blows it up.” Now things got tough. “The concussion from any explosion will kill them.”

  Grim spoke up. “I’ll talk to Loki. He has enough power to simply rip the hall apart instead of blowing it up.”

  “Problem. How do we get the people to the surface before they drown?” Thorn looked as though he had his doubts about the whole plan.

  A man with long blond hair and brilliant green eyes answered Thorn. “We were never introduced. I’m Murmur, the demon of music. I have the power to create melodies that can take physical forms. I’ll have to work quickly, but as long as I have someone down there that I can connect to, I can create huge musical bubbles around groups of about fifty people and float them to the surface.”

  Kayla jumped in. “Great. Banan and Kel can be there and ready when Loki dismantles the hall. As soon as there’s an opening, they go in, find the people, put them into two groups and then wait for Murmur to send down his musical bubbles.”

  “Not to be the voice of doom, but all of this will take time. People will drown while they’re waiting for the bubbles.” Thorn looked frustrated.

  “Excuse me. I have something to offer.”

  Startled, Kayla sat up straight. A voice in her head? Feminine. Frantically she scanned the room. Thorn was doing the same.

  “The Siamese cat wearing the exquisite diamond collar.” The voice sounded impatient.

  Kayla looked at the man she’d noticed the first time they’d all met. The one with the cat on his shoulder. He smiled at her. The cat did not.

  “I’m Asima, messenger for the goddess Bast. I didn’t offer my goddess’s services because she has no affinity for water. But I have amazing powers in my own right.”

  Sparkle made a rude noise.

  The cat hissed at Sparkle. “In spite of the slut queen’s disbelief, I think I have a solution for keeping the humans alive.” She took the time to groom one white paw. “If Murmur can send me down in my own personal bubble, I can put the humans into a brief stasis. They won’t have to breathe until they reach the surface.”

  Thorn looked impressed. “You can do that?”

  “I can do many things that few appreciate.” Asima threw Sparkle a cat glare.

  “Wonderful.” Kayla tried to ignore the total weirdness of everything being suggested as she ticked off a list in her mind. Only a few more details. Huge ones. “So how do we keep Aegir and his people from simply sinking our ship before we can do squat?”

  Holgarth broke his silence. “We have assorted ways of protecting ourselves. Zane and I can ward the ship. Thorn’s two witches can help. Edge, the one with the grim reaper tattoo, was until recently the cosmic troublemaker in charge of death. He has many creative ways to kill. You’ll find that all of us have unique battle skills.” His sneer said that Kayla should have known this.

  Kayla sighed as she mentally checked that off her list. Final detail. “What do we tell the humans? We can’t just turn them loose on the world.”

  Grim broke the silence that followed her question. “It won’t be enough to just wipe their memories. We have to give them new memories, ones that won’t point the finger at us. Memories that will send the authorities away from Galveston.” He looked at Thorn.

  Thorn closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, his expression was bleak. “I’ll use persuasion on them.” He didn’t wait around to hear any more. Standing, he strode from the room.

  Kayla frowned. What was that all about? And he’d left before she could ask what new memories he planned to give them. Well, she could find that out tomorrow night before they left.

  When she finally pulled her thoughts from Thorn, she looked at Sparkle to see if she had any final words. But Sparkle wasn’t paying attention. She was busy staring at a tablet in her lap. She didn’t look happy.

  “I think we’re finished, Sparkle. Any last thoughts?” Kayla jabbed Sparkle with her elbow.

  “What?” Sparkle looked up. “Oh. I guess everything’s settled then. We’ll all meet at the cruise terminal tomorrow night. I’ll have a time for you in the morning. Thanks for meeting on such short notice.” She looked distracted. “I won’t be available for the rest of the night. I have to do research on captaining a cruise ship.”

  “We’re doomed.”

  Kayla didn’t catch who whispered what she knew everyone was thinking. She watched as they all filed out of the room. She stayed behind with a brooding Sparkle.

  Once the door shut behind the last person, Kayla turned to Sparkle. “What’s the matter?”

  Sparkle put the notebook in front of Kayla. “Look at the headlines.”

  Puzzled, Kayla looked. Blinked and looked again. “Mutant locusts devour everything in Central Park?”

  Sparkle nodded. “This morning locusts descended on the park and ate every plant down to the roots. That included the tree trunks. All
that’s left of Central Park is a bare piece of land and anything that wasn’t a plant.”

  “What kind of locust could do that?”

  Sparkle shrugged. “Scientists don’t know. The swarm flew away once it was finished destroying the park. No one can find them now.” She motioned for Kayla to go on.

  The next headline was just as bizarre. “It says that Old Faithful has stopped erupting and that the caldera beneath Yellowstone National Park is showing unusual activity.” Now that was scary.

  “If the super-volcano beneath the park erupts . . .” Sparkle couldn’t even speak the rest.

  Kayla glanced through the other headlines, each one progressively stranger. When she had finished, she looked at Sparkle. “Explain.”

  “Mede is the cosmic troublemaker in charge of chaos. Chaos on a grand scale.” She took back her tablet and sighed as she saw a new headline. “The Big Boss stopped him from doing the mass destruction stuff. He’s the only one powerful enough to command Mede’s respect. Now Mede has slipped his leash and is reverting to his old self.”

  “Before you.” Kayla kept her voice soft.

  “Yes, before me.”

  Sparkle raked her fingers through her hair, a sign of stress from a woman whose hair was always perfect. “I can’t reach Mede. I’ve called his cell and tried to touch his mind. Nothing.” She stared at Kayla, eyes red from lack of sleep. “I’m afraid for him.”

  I’m afraid for us. Kayla put her arm across Sparkle’s shoulders and hugged her tight. “Let’s take care of Aegir first. Then we’ll concentrate on Ganymede.” When had she become so involved with this place, these people, Thorn? This was just supposed to be a job that lasted a month or so before she headed back to her real life in Philly. Now? She didn’t know. God, she didn’t know.

  Kayla stood. “Try to get a little sleep. Everything always looks better after some rest. Mede loves you.” She’d seen it in his eyes. “He’s hurt right now, but he’ll calm down and start thinking rationally.” She hoped.