by Dena Christy
Dark Gods
Dena Christy
Copyright © 2016 by Dena Christy
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Cadric Odinson bolted upright in bed, his body slick with sweat. He scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to rid himself of the nightmare that held him in its grasp. He’d dreamed of Nan, his wife, for the first time in centuries. In the dream Fenrir had escaped, and the land was crawling with wolves. They’d chased his wife down, and he’d tried to get to her, but she remained out of reach. She’d died, bathed in blood with his name on her lips. She’d called him Baldr, a name he hadn’t used in centuries, a name from a time long since passed. He never thought to hear it again, even if it had only been in a dream.
Why he was dreaming of her now, he couldn’t say. When he’d lived in Asgard, he’d had prophetic dreams, and once dreamed of his own death. That dream gave his father, Odin, the spark of a plan to deal with an old enemy, and Cadric’s days as a god in Asgard had been numbered. He hadn’t glimpsed the future since.
He shook his head and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He buried his head in his hands as he tried to shake the image of Nan dying from his mind. She’d been in his thoughts since he’d left her over a thousand years ago. He’d tried to keep himself busy, to bury the memory of his wife and son, who he knew he would never see again. The pain of the early years diminished, and all that remained was a memory and a dull sense of longing whenever his thoughts went to her. That longing reared its head in the aftermath of the nightmare. He wanted to see her, to assure himself that she was safe and whole. He’d given up any right to be with her when he’d agreed to his father’s plan and abandoned her without so much as a goodbye.
Getting to his feet, he opened his dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. It was a far cry from his usual immaculate suit, but no one would see him. Sleep wouldn’t come again tonight, so he’d go into headquarters and put his time to good use.
He shoved thoughts of Nan from his mind as he walked out his front door, and toward his car. A full moon rode high in the sky, shining a spotlight on his car. As he fished out the keys to the car, the world around him fell still and a prickling sensation crept up the back of his neck. He turned his head to scan the woods behind him. Nothing stirred except a few leaves that were tickled by the wind. He faced forward and pressed the key fob to unlock the car door. He looked back one last time and nothing changed from when he’d turned around seconds ago.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he got into the car. The dream spooked him more than he’d thought if he was jumping at shadows. His subconscious mind must be trying to process the events of the past few weeks. Control over the Order was slipping away from him, and he was desperate to stop it. The nightmare had its roots there. He felt like he was failing the Order, and his mind had held up Nan as a reminder of someone else he’d let down.
As he drove away from his house, he turned his mind to the current problem plaguing the Order. Dany Cavanaugh had been slaughtered in the back of the Order’s van, and one of the Order’s agents had done it. While he wouldn’t mourn the loss of an enemy, he felt sure Dany’s death would haunt them all.
The whole Dark Wolf investigation had been one disaster after another, and while the man responsible for the whole mess was dead, Cadric didn’t think they’d gotten to the bottom of the pot. Something about the whole thing nagged at him, tugged at the corners of his mind, but it was just out of reach and he couldn’t grasp it.
He needed to focus on his work, needed to regain control of the Order. But his mind kept going back to Nan, to the dream he’d had. She had never been far from his thoughts, and he would give anything to go to her again. It was impossible. Nan lived in Asgard, a place where he could never return.
* * *
A slight breeze ruffled Nan Nepsdóttir’s long, silvery blond hair as she watched the man in the clearing leaving a large log cabin. Despite her belief in a thousand year old lie, her eyes told her that her husband was alive and well.
The initial moment of joy at seeing her beloved Baldr again after so many years was soon replaced by a burning anger deep in her belly. When she’d first had an inkling that he wasn’t dead as she and all the other gods in Asgard had been led to think, she hadn’t wanted to believe it. She’d been so certain of her husband’s love that she didn’t want to believe he had knowingly devastated her.
She inched forward a little, focusing all her attention on him. He paused, holding himself still when he reached his car. He turned his head toward where she was standing, and she thought for a moment that he could see her. He rubbed his neck, got into his car and backed down his driveway.
Why did he have to let her believe he was lost to her for eternity? Were all his words of love, spoken so many years ago, a lie? She turned away from the sight of him moving further away from her. She wanted to run after him, to make him come home with her. She held herself back. Darkness surrounded her and her husband was driving away. Where could he be going at this time of night, but toward the arms of another?
She shoved her hair out of her face as she kicked at a stone and stirred up pine needles on the ground in front of her. She didn’t want to believe Baldr had forsaken her, but he’d been away from her for a millennium. Something must have held his attention all these years and kept him from returning to his family. She moved toward his house. He’d be back eventually. She didn’t know how she was going to convince him to come home, and depending on what he said, if she’d want him to.
Her skin tingled at the back of her neck and she reached her hand up to rub the spot under her heavy curtain of hair. A cold breeze pushed against her, and a shiver skated across her thinly covered arms. Her hands moved briskly up and down her skin to chase away the chill. A twig snapped close by, and she realized the icy feeling hadn’t come from the wind. Someone or something was watching her.
She spun around and in the midst of the trees behind her she thought she could see the glow of eyes. They grew in size until the creatures they belonged to emerged from the woods. Six wolves stalked out of the trees, and she took an instinctive step back. The one who appeared to be the leader curled his lip back and let out a deep growl. She swallowed hard as she looked at each one.
They were bigger than natural wolves. She took a deep breath as she took another step back. The creatures facing her weren’t wolves at all. They were werewolves, the children of Fenrir, and there was only one who would have sent them here. Loki. When she’d impulsively freed him from his prison in Asgard, she’d suspected that she’d regret it. He’d been full of promises, saying how he’d help her get her husband back. She knew now that the trickster hadn’t changed. He continued to follow his own agenda. But how did he know she was here, and why had he sent his creatures after her?
The wolves spread out, surrounding her. They would not take her down without a fight. She was done letting things happen to her, and she straightened her spine. She wanted her husband back, and these creatures, these werewolves stood between her and her goal.
She scanned her immediate area as the wolves tightened their circle around her. A branch lay on the ground. She picked it up and swung it in front of her, and the wolves darted back to avoid it. The branch would make a nice cudgel, but how long it would hold six wolves at bay she didn’t know. She wouldn’t make this easy for them. If Loki wanted to remove her from the game he was playing, he would have to do it himself
.
One of the wolves to her left braved her club and darted toward her. She swung her arm, and the branch clouted him on the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground. A chorus of growls from the others ripped through the night as the fallen wolf got back on his feet. Their circle tightened again as their bodies tensed and their muscles quivered under their fur. She swung the branch again and narrowly missed a wolf who’d gotten too close. He expected her move and ducked close to the ground as her makeshift club sliced the air above his body.
Two wolves darted in, one on each side of her and her scream pierced the night as their teeth sank into her flesh. One latched onto her left arm while the other sank his teeth into the muscle of her right calf. She struggled against them, swinging her weapon, and clipping the hind quarters of the one attached to her arm. He let out a startled yip as her arm dropped out of his mouth. The one holding her leg jerked his head. She pitched forward and sprawled to the ground.
Rolling over, she moved onto her back as she spit away the pine needles clinging to her mouth. She had to get up. On her feet she had a chance. Another scream ripped from her as the wolves pressed their advantage and rushed her. She swung her arms and kicked her legs, and landed a few blows, but their jaws were too strong, their teeth too sharp and there were too many of them. She stayed on the ground.
Some spark of logic fired up in her mind, and she stilled, letting them do what they would. Their teeth ripped into her flesh, and while it took every ounce of willpower to let them do it, she didn’t move. Her immortality was her advantage. As long as Loki hadn’t ordered them to consume her flesh, she would come back from any death they sent her to. She had a moment of doubt as the edges of her world faded around her. She wasn’t as strong as she once was, and if she was wrong about this, there would be no saving her. No one knew she was here, except the one who’d sent the wolves for her.
A picture of her husband, as she’d known him so many years ago, rose up in her mind as the teeth of one wolf came to her throat.
“Baldr,” she whispered on the wind as the wolves teeth sank into her soft, vulnerable flesh. Her husband’s image faded as the color in the world seeped out and went black.
* * *
Nan opened her eyes, and the world remained dark around her. She put her hand out, and it was like pushing through water. Every part of her body protested as her hand touched the material cocooning her. It was cold and slick and had a resiliency despite its thinness that she couldn’t pierce with her fingers. She paused for a moment and strained her ears. The low murmur of voices came to her, and she opened her mouth to call out, but no sound came out. A tiny pinhole of light danced above her. Pain screamed through her shoulder as she moved her extended index finger closer to the hole.
She poked her finger at it, and it was too small for her digit to fit through. Her fingernail picked at the hard plastic of the zipper, pulling at it as it slowly eased down far enough for her to fit her finger through the opening. Hooking her finger through the hole, she dragged the zipper down, squinting her eyes as she was bathed in florescent light. She pushed the zipper down until the opening was at her waist, and her hand dropped to her side as she caught her breath. Even the small act of undoing a zipper had strained her battered and torn body to the verge of collapse. What she needed was to rest for the night, and her body would be whole again. She didn’t have time for that now, she needed to find out where she was, and to identify the owners of the voices which had suddenly gone silent.
She tried to push her body upright, but she couldn’t. She closed her eyes, wanting to rest for a moment when the voices resumed.
“Did you see that Roger?” a male voice said, his voice threaded with shock and disbelief.
“I didn’t see anything, Bern,” Roger said, his voice a deep rumble that reminded Nan of a bear’s growl. The other man’s voice had the same rumbling undertone, but it seemed younger and less wise than the one belonging to Roger.
“She poked her finger through the body bag,” Bern said.
“Dead women don’t move. Her body was shredded, and there is no way she survived the wolf attack.”
“I swear to God, bro, I saw her move.”
Nan heard the shuffling of feet getting louder as they moved toward her. She lay still and her eyes remained closed, trying to draw in her strength in case they meant to harm her. Their booming voices rumbled overhead.
“How did her bag get open? Were you messing with it? I swear Bern if you did I’ll kick your ass. You are still on probation here, and if you screw up, Cadric will make sure you never become a full member of the Order. You were told to wait here until someone came to collect her. Have a little respect for the dead.”
“I swear I didn’t touch the bag or anything else in here. I’ve been guarding her the entire time. The only person I’ve seen all night is you. I’m telling you she opened the bag herself.”
Nan decided that neither man appeared intent on hurting her, so she slowly opened her eyes and looked up. The men stared down at her, their rugged, masculine faces looking enough alike that she spotted the family resemblance and realized they were brothers. The younger of the two went bone white and ran from her, his boots hitting the floor in panic. She thought she heard him use the word zombie but she couldn’t be sure.
She looked into the eyes of the other one, trying to convey her plea for help since it appeared her voice didn’t want to work yet. He seemed to understand as he quickly undid the rest of the plastic surrounding her. He scooped her up, his strong bear like body easily lifting her. Although his movements were gentle, the pain in her body caused the world to turn grey around her.
“Hang on sweetheart,” Roger said his voice rumbling out of his chest. “You’ll get the help you need.”
Chapter 2
Cadric eased back in his chair and blew out a frustrated breath. The riddle that was Dany Cavanaugh’s death made absolutely no sense, and he was having difficulty focusing on the problem because thoughts of Nan kept crowding into his head. He couldn’t get the dream out of his head, and it was competing with the work he needed to do.
He raked his hand through his hair. He needed to focus on the murder of Dany Cavanaugh. There had to be an element he wasn’t seeing. Eduard Rouben, the agent in the back of the van with Dany, had never given him any problems. He followed the rules to the letter. Why would he go against his orders to guard Dany in the van and kill him instead? It made no sense. After it had happened, Cadric combed through Eduard’s past and could find nothing to show he had any connection with Dany or held a grudge against him.
A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see a sleepy Hadria walk into his office.
“Hadria, what are you doing here? You aren’t scheduled to work nights,” Cadric said as Hadria, his second in command and a valkyrie, walked to his desk and sat down.
“I know, but I was called in because you weren’t answering your cell phone or your phone here,” she said as she glanced over at the phone on his desk.
“I set both to silent so I wouldn’t be disturbed. Why would you need to come here in the middle of the night?” Cadric sat up straighter in his chair. Something major must have happened if it couldn’t wait until morning.
“A woman was found near your house. She was attacked and ripped apart by wolves,” Hadria said, her face set in serious lines.
The bottom dropped out of Cadric’s stomach as his mind flashed back to the dream he had. There was no way it could have been Nan since she was in Asgard and Odin wouldn’t have given her permission to leave. He pushed his thoughts aside as he focused on what Hadria had said.
“Wait a minute. She was at my house? And agents found her there? How is that possible?”
“With all that’s been happening, I thought it prudent to have an agent patrol the woods near your home. I thought nothing would happen, which is why I sent Bern out there. He said that everything was fine until he heard screaming and smelt blood. When he went
to investigate, a group of wolves had taken down a woman. He chased them away. I guess a full grown were-bear at the full moon was too much of a risk for them. Unfortunately, he was too late for the woman, and he brought her in here. She’s in the morgue now.”
Cadric swore under his breath. “We’ll see that she gets a proper burial. I must speak to Bern.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Bern and Roger appeared in his doorway as if by magic. Bern had a wild look in his eyes. Roger look paler than normal, but otherwise his usual calm and collected self.
“What is going on?” Cadric asked.
“Zombie’s sir,” Bern said, his words coming out in a breathless rush. Cadric raised an eyebrow at him, and Roger reached out and smacked his younger brother on the back of the head. Bern gave Roger a sour look and rubbed the back of his skull. Cadric crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Roger.
“Ignore him, sir. The woman who was attacked isn’t dead and I’ve taken her up to the infirmary. Bern made a mistake.”
“I didn’t make a mistake,” Bern protested. “Sir, I swear she was dead. Those wolves ripped her to shreds, there is no way she could have survived. She didn’t have a pulse, and she wasn’t breathing. That all says dead to me.”
During the discussion Hadria stood, and she now looked over at Cadric. “I can go up to the infirmary and see what’s going on?”
“Please do,” Cadric said. Hadria left the room, and Bern and Roger remained standing where they were. “Bern, why don’t you go down to the cells. You’ve done a good job tonight, bringing the woman here, but I need to speak to Roger.”
Bern looked at his brother, before he turned and left Cadric’s office, closing the door behind him. Roger came forward and sat in the chair across from Cadric’s desk.