Hammer

by Ben Zackheim

I stepped in slowly. I stopped and searched for a symbol or a rock that was out of place, anything that could be a clue.

  “Coleslaw, any ideas?” He walked in and stood next to me. He looked around for a moment, then at me and then shrugged. “Thanks, really helpful.”

  “Let me see,” Rebel said. She pushed her way into the tight quarters and ran a hand over the walls. Then the floor. Then the ceiling on her tiptoes. Then she just stood there like the rest of us.

  She closed her eyes. She was trying a spell. She opened them, noticed nothing had happened and closed them again. This went on a few more times and then Rose and Cassidy appeared at the entrance.

  “Don’t bother,” Rose said. “There’s no way in.”

  “Rose! Cassidy!” Rebel yelled. I managed to frown at them even though I was relieved to see they were okay. “Where the fuck have you been?”

  “Here,” Cassidy said. “This is Hel’s Gate. It actually goes to Hel.”

  “Yeah, we know,” I said. They looked tired. No, that’s not right. Not tired. Worn. Beat. “But what are you doing here?”

  “I tracked the hammer here,” Rose said.

  “What’s that mean?” I asked. “How did you track it?”

  “I smelled it,” she said. “No, that’s not right. I smell it. Right now.” She sniffed the air and her pupils went red for a second. Then she looked at me and they went back to normal.

  “She’s been really creepy,” Cassidy said.

  “Don’t make me tell them about you, brother.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Okay, let’s just say you smell something and you tracked it here.”

  “Which just so happens to be where the clues led us,” Rebel broke in. I knew that expression on her face. She already believed Rose and Cassidy. Her gut told her that they were onto something.

  “Thanks for the help there, Rebel,” I said. “So let’s say you smelled something and tracked it here. How do you know what the hammer smells like?”

  “Skyler,” Rose said.

  “Can you elaborate?” I asked.

  “He gave me the scent. I followed it.”

  That fucker. He’d lied to me.

  “He had a piece of cloth,” Cassidy clarified. “He said to follow the smell and she’d find the hammer.”

  “But the scent ends here,” Rose said, softly. “We’ve tried everything but we can’t find a way into Hel.”

  “Some people would love to be stuck with that problem,” I said.

  “Except Viking Hel,” Rebel said. “I want to end up in Viking Hel. Come on. Let’s look around a little.”

  The twins and Coleslaw walked off. I stopped Rebel with a look.

  “Why do you look like you haven’t gone to the bathroom in a month?” she asked.

  “Skyler,” I said.

  “Don’t start with that, please, Kane.”

  “He’s out,” I said. “I’m done with the games. He’s pulling the twins into this now.”

  “The twins are pulling the twins into this. They’re a part of the team. They know the risks. You have to stop finding excuses to get angry at the old man.”

  “He’s out, Rebel.”

  “Fine, do what you want. You’re the boss. See how far we get without his help.”

  She walked off. My noble fury felt a little less noble and a little less furious. Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed to let them make their mistakes. Even if it killed them. Even if it meant the end of the world.

  Chapter 35

  I watched the others move around the tiny cave.

  They looked ridiculous, packed into a small space, searching for an Open Sesame button. I decided that the next best move was to climb on top of some of the nearby boulders, get away from them and get a better view.

  I took in a deep breath as I reached the top of a perch that overlooked the vast horizon. Iceland has a lot of horizon. Endless horizon. When you combined that with the eternal days in one season and eternal nights in another season you had the perfect recipe for fucking batshit madness. I wondered how the good people of the island kept it together. Probably ancient Viking magic. Or a deep desire to be left alone. I could understand that.

  Suddenly, I felt uneasy. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. I checked my zipper. It was up. I looked behind me. Nothing there.

  Then it hit me.

  It was quiet.

  That wasn’t possible. Rose and Cassidy were nearby after all.

  I climbed down the boulder as fast as I could and ran to Hel’s Gate around the bend.

  Empty. No one was there.

  “Rebel!” I yelled. Wind answered. “Rose!” Nothing.

  I almost ran into Hel’s Gate but thought better of it at the last second. I needed to check the footprints. Maybe they would give me a clue. But the dirt didn’t give up its secrets. There was a lot of activity as they moved around each other in their search for a clue. But the pattern didn’t tell me anything. No signs of a trap door, or a fake wall. No hidden steps. No buttons or dials or switches.

  “Dammit!” I yelled.

  “Dammit!” I heard back. Then again and again, until the echo faded away.

  An echo?

  I walked out from under the arch and yelled “Dammit!” again.

  No echo.

  I walked back in and yelled a third time.

  My scream echoed back to me.

  But from where?

  “You need to be dead to go to Hel,” Fox said from behind me. It didn’t even surprise me anymore. I just closed my eyes and tried not to pop him one. I really felt like decking a Vampire at that moment. Any vampire would do.

  Then it hit me. What he was saying was not good news.

  “So you’re saying my whole team died and got dropped into Hel?”

  “No, it just takes one death. This was a place where gods who were locked out of the afterlife came to sacrifice humans for entry. My presence was all the door needed to open under their feet.”

  “I thought you were undead.”

  He shrugged.

  “Shit,” I said. “We need to get down there.”

  “Not yet,” he said. “I sent them down without you because we need to talk. Please, Kane. Sit.”

  “Fox, now is not the time for a heart-to-heart. They might need me down there.”

  “It is the only time we have. When we get there my hands will be tied in a lot of ways. And you need to know something.”

  “Make it fast,” I said. I sat on a rock.

  “I can feel,” he said.

  “Really?” I broke in, standing up. “This can wait.”

  “No, it can’t. I can feel and I do. I have feelings for Rebel.”

  “This is supposed to be news? What are you looking for, permission?”

  “You don’t understand.”

  I did understand. I understood that this Vampire, once Lancelot, was in love with my partner. I also understood that I didn’t like the way that made me feel. At all. In fact, the idea filled me with rage. I wanted to drop him right then and there.

  “I’m cursed, Kane. More than just undead. I’m cursed to bring death to those around me. Once I feel for another they will die. And soon.”

  “So if she feels the same way then she’s a goner?”

  “She doesn’t need to feel anything. The curse is mine.”

  “So why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”

  He just looked at me. I knew what he wanted.

  “That’s what I’m offering you,” he said.

  “Shit.” If Rebel had been pulled into this curse then I needed to do whatever I could to save her from it.

  “Do you have the right bullets?” he asked me. “Can you destroy me?”

  I had to process what he was saying. “Yeah,” I muttered but my brain was moving a thousand miles per hour. “There has to be a way around this.”

  “This has happened twice before. Both of them died within a week of my feelings becoming clear.”

  “How can you even fe
el? I thought Vampires were immune to emotion.”

  “Most are. I was. But the curse that kills those close to me also gave me the ability to feel.”

  “That’s a nasty curse. Who cast it?”

  “I thought that would be obvious.” In the middle of his sentence, it struck me.

  “Merlin,” I said. I remembered the nasty look the old wizard had given Fox when we were delivering Excalibur to him a few months before. “I don’t think I like that guy.”

  “You have to destroy me,” he said.

  “Stay behind. Just send me down.”

  “The curse doesn’t care where I am. She’s marked.”

  “Is there another way to end the curse?”

  “I thought you’d love the idea of ending me,” he said, confused.

  “I love the idea of it, sure. That doesn’t mean I want to do it.”

  “You either kill me or you find a wizard powerful enough to break the curse.”

  “What if we kill Merlin?”

  “Oh, shit,” he said.

  “What?”

  “What do you mean what, you idiot? It’s Merlin!”

  The clear sky darkened further and the stars brightened. A distant boom, like the sound of rolling thunder, shook the ground beneath us.

  “He heard me,” I said.

  “He monitors me everywhere to make sure I suffer. Now we both need to go,” Fox said. “You can’t die and I can’t be here when he arrives.”

  “Merlin is coming?”

  “Those are his footsteps.”

  The thunder now had a pattern to it. It did sound a lot like a pissed off parent striding toward the kid who just broke the lamp.

  Fox took a step into the cave.

  It felt like the weight of the world pushed down on my shoulders. I fell to the ground, or whatever was under me and saw through eyes that felt like they were being squeezed by a fist.

  I knew I was screaming but the crashing sound all around me drowned the sound out.

  Until I landed.

  Then my scream echoed off the walls of the underworld. I rolled around, trying to make it through the pain when I felt hands on my body. I caught my breath and opened my eyes. I expected to see my body torn to shreds but I patted my face and looked at my hands. There was no sign of injury anywhere. I blinked hard as my vision went back to normal. Rebel knelt beside me.

  “Fun, huh?” she said.

  “Let’s not ever do that again,” I said.

  “It’s Hel,” she said. “So you’re looking at one more trip, at least.”

  I did my best to gather myself together. I managed to sit against the wall of the cave. The first thing I saw clearly were the two doors. A hundred feet high, the stone doors faced each other from across the cavern. One went to Hel and the other to Valhalla.

  “The team,” I said. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Yeah, we all took the same trip you did but we’re recovered.”

  “Where’s the cat?”

  “No sign of it. We need to find out how to get into Valhalla.”

  I spotted Fox walking the perimeter of the cavern. He was looking for something. I noticed him glance at me and then look away quickly.

  We heard a booming, rageful bellow from above us. The sound seemed to come from the walls themselves.

  “Who the hell was that?” Rebel asked, looking up and around.

  “Merlin,” I said.

  “He sounds pissed,” she said.

  “Oh, he’s pissed.”

  “What did you do, Kane?”

  “He threatened to assassinate him,” Fox said. “But Merlin can’t get down here without killing someone first. He’s lost his appetite for senseless killing. We’re safe. For now.”

  She smacked me on the side of the head with her palm. I knew I deserved it. Merlin had warned us about crossing him again. We’d just made a new enemy.

  Fox was at Valhalla’s door. He ran his hand over the stone and knocked like he was visiting his neighbor.

  With a loud crack, the stone doors parted and the cavern flooded with sunlight.

  Chapter 36

  It was like a valley from medieval times.

  We stood on a high hill overlooking land that stretched out in front of us for miles, with flatlands rising into hills and then snow-capped mountains. The huts in front of us wore straw roofs. Their laid stone was ancient, to the point where some were almost ruins.

  An old forest's grumpy looking trees welcomed us below. A narrow path wove into it, swallowed by darkness between two craggy elms.

  The door behind us slammed shut and we turned around to find ourselves at the bottom of the highest mountain of all. It's rocky ledges zig-zagged all the way up to a castle that was easily the size of a city. Say, St. Louis. Big. Steeples and bastions poked out of the structure as if teams of builders had been paid per tower.

  In the middle of this mess was a dome, shining as white as ivory.

  "Two in a row," Rebel said.

  "What's that mean?" Coleslaw said.

  "We left Excalibur with Merlin and the Naga,” she explained. “They also had their own underground world."

  "Ah, yes. There are a lot of civilizations under the crust of the Earth,” Coleslaw said.

  “They make their homes like ours because they miss it,” Fox added. “They don't do co-existence well, so they use every resource at their disposal to recreate it."

  “Why don't they take it from us if they love it so much?" Rose asked.

  “They try once in awhile and then they end up fighting all the other hidden civilizations," Coleslaw said.

  “So then humans make the surface world a neutral ground?" I asked.

  “Tell that to the Vampires," Rebel said.

  “We know the consequences of laying claim," Fox said. His voice was thin, as if the thought pissed him off.

  “But you're still going to take the risk," I said.

  “This has nothing to do with me and you know it,” Fox said. “I think I've proven myself to you, Kane."

  “You've proven you take orders from Skyler well," I said.

  “Really?" Rebel said, crossing her arms. "Now's the time to air this out?"

  “It's never a good time," I said.

  "The Vampires believe that they can take on all comers," Fox said. He was addressing Rebel more than me. “Not just humans.”

  "You guys really think a lot of yourselves,” I said.

  "Okay, enough boys," Rebel said. "Can we act twelve for just a minute?"

  "He started it," I said.

  "Wrong direction, eight year old."

  "Yeah,” Fox broke in. “I think they're ready to take it all over if it comes to that."

  "That's impossible," I said. "They'd have to have more firepower than any army in history."

  "That's what they're trying to do!"

  I didn’t buy it. "Even all the relics we're after wouldn't make them powerful enough to take on a nuclear bomb and the magical power of other Supernaturals. Because you know that’s what we have in our back pocket if worse comes to worse."

  "Unless the Vampires have more than we know about," Cassidy added.

  Fox was clearly pleased by how annoyed I was. Rebel pulled me by the arm down the path before I could eight year old him again.

  "If this is Valhalla then we have to be a team,” she said. “Who knows what's waiting for us."

  "You don’t have to protect him, Rebel,” I said. I didn’t know where the anger was coming from but I couldn’t stop it. Which just made me angrier. I was dropping into a bad, fucked up place.

  "What the hell are you talking about now?" Rebel asked.

  "You know what I mean."

  "I know we took one step into the Viking afterlife and you're acting an asshole."

  "I just want to make sure we don't get caught up in one of your..."

  "My finger in your jugular would love to finish that sentence for you, Kane."

  She walked down the path ahead. Fox caught up.

/>   "You have a way with the ladies," he said.

  "She's no lady,” I said. “So how do we know this is Valhalla?”

  "WELCOME TO VALHALLA!" a deep voice boomed from all around us.

  “That’s a clue,” Fox said, looking up and around for the person who was yelling like a god.

  I spotted him first. He was straight above us, a tiny dot against the blue sky. But he was dropping fast. Too fast.

  I stepped out of the way and a tall woman, decked out in skin-tight gold armor, slammed into the ground between the Vampire and me. I only got a glimpse of her before we were all blinded by the dust she’d kicked up. It was an agonizing minute before I saw her again.

  One glimpse was all I needed to know that I wanted to see her as soon as possible.

  She emerged from the dust, unfazed, reached out her hand and gently ran her fingers through my hair, pulling me toward her. She was about eight feet tall so the kiss was awkward at first but we both got into it after a second.

  “Hey!” Rebel shouted from the path below us. Our host didn’t flinch. I held up a finger. I just needed another hour. “HEY!” Rebel repeated.

  The giantess pulled her lips off mine and turned to Fox. She grabbed him and, with a big beautiful smile, she planted one on his undead lips.

  She spit.

  “Undead,” she said. She looked him up and down and sighed. “Unfortunate.” She made to kiss Rebel who stuck her middle finger up to block her. The fingernail glistened in the glow of the armor.

  “Don’t even…” Rebel said.

  Our host got the message. She smiled.

  “We’ve been waiting for you, Kane and Rebel,” she said. She turned to the twins. “Rose and Cassidy.” She turned to Coleslaw and Fox. “Coleslaw, as they call you, and…”

  “Fox,” he said.

  “Fox,” she repeated, her smile fading. But she nodded her head politely.

  “And who are you?” I asked.

  “I am Freyja,” she said. That was the name of the Norse goddess of sex. “I’ve been sent to bring you to Valhalla’s heart unharmed. These are not safe lands for mortals.”

  “We can hold our own,” Rebel said, gruffly.

  “I’m sure you can. But have you ever battled a warg? They are like wolves but twice as large as what you’re used to and with twice as many fangs. They are everywhere. In fact, I can smell some nearby. They are watching us and waiting for me to drop my guard.” She said the last few words loudly so the warg would hear her. There was shuffling from the forest nearby, the cliffs above and even the bushes at our feet. Apparently, Freyja had arrived just in time to save our skins.