“Will?” I asked, my voice breaking.
His hand fell to the black rune across my knuckles, and then I knew what I had to do.
I absorbed the remains of Will’s soul, but I didn’t draw him into myself like I had before. This time I held him in one piece and carried him as carefully as a breakable porcelain statue in the heart of my mind.
I opened a portal through space and time, using the lasting power of Will’s sacrifice to fuel the trick. I only needed a small jump. I didn’t need the Bifrost to step between the folds of space, not when I had the fuel.
I only used a sliver for the small step to the surface of Muspelheim. I walked out into the center of the great city of Valkyries. Golden spires towered all around me and a shocked group of traitors stared back at me.
Skuld… and my undead sisters.
They came at me in a wave of snarls and teeth. That’s exactly what I wanted. Now that I knew what I was capable of, I had no qualms about feeding on the tattered remains of their souls.
I drew in the darkness and the first wave fell around me in a pile of ash. The rest of the army stopped in their tracks, halting at the dusty circle.
I ignored them while they cursed and snarled. They were all made of grief and torment and they had no concept of right or wrong. A moment ago, I was their enemy, but now that I’d decimated their comrades, I was something to be feared.
The sacrifice of shadow swirled in the air and I did something I’d only done once before. I opened up to it. Without even knowing what I was doing, I’d created bodies before. At the time, they’d remained empty shells, decoys to throw at the bottom of the lake and get the humans off our trail.
This time I recreated Will’s flesh down to the finest detail. I imagined how he was before all of this. He was a swimmer, lean and strong, but with the growing form of a human that would eventually age and die. I hated the thought of Will dying, but that was the cycle of life and how it was meant to be. He would live a full life, and then he would be free to return to Yggdrasil.
I settled a forcefield around us to keep out the worst of the radiation and heat while I did my work. I wasn’t going to give him the curse of a Valiant’s form. He’d never wanted Immortality. Will’s flesh formed from the ash, swirling and writhing until it formed an arm, then a leg, then the slow embodiment that was the mortal shell to his soul.
His spirit rested inside my mind and carefully I pulled it out and pushed it into the new body I’d formed. It wasn’t that I’d created life, but I felt a sense of accomplishment and awe when he drew in a deep breath, the first in his new body.
He stood, and I’d expected him to be shaky as a newborn. Instead his thighs flexed and his muscular arms wrapped around me, embracing me as he drew in another breath.
His low voice sounded like music against my ears. “Val. I’m alive.”
Full Circle
I was so amazingly happy in that moment that I nearly forgot there was an army of Skuld and undead Valkyries flanking us. Finally, one arrived that wasn’t afraid of me.
Sam snarled and marched up to us. She glowed with the fires of Muspelheim, but she wasn’t like I remembered her. She jerked in ungraceful movements as if her muscles were too stiff and flesh rotted off her bones, only for the wound to burn with cinders and knit back together. I realized that it was the power of Ragnarök that kept her alive.
“Sam?” I asked, wondering if I could reason with her.
She growled a low, guttural sound that wasn’t even close to a word.
“I don’t think that’s Sam anymore,” Will whispered as he covered himself, realizing that he was naked. “Good thing, or she’d be making fun of me right now. Naked in the middle of a Valkyrie city surrounded by ghosts. Talk about nightmares.”
I waved him into silence. “Just be grateful you’re alive.”
Sam stalked us in a slow circle, looking as if she were debating the best way to hack into my skull and eat my brains.
I didn’t have time for this. I’d saved Will, but now I needed to save Tyler, the Einherjar, and everyone inside of it. I glanced up at the haze of red clouds that blotted out the sky. The Einherjar was up there, somewhere, and I could only hope that Tyler had been able to hold on. If he’d fallen, I wasn’t sure if even the Gulltop could save him while he’d been in the middle of distorting the space-time web in order for me to get to Muspelheim.
“Get out of my way,” I barked, not caring anymore if this thing that impersonated Sam could understand me. I summoned my spear in a flash of heat and pointed it at her. She snarled at it. “I’m like Baldr. If you serve him because he can control Ragnarök, then you should serve me.”
To my surprise, Sam grinned as if I’d said something hilarious. The edge of her lip lifted, revealing teeth and bone.
That’s when I felt it. A heartbeat thrummed through my body and nausea made me buckle over.
“You’re not ready,” Sam whispered, the word barely audible through the garble of her broken vocal cords.
Will steadied me, but hissed as the raw heat of my flesh left his skin blistered. “What’s she talking about? Val? What’s wrong?”
It felt like I’d eaten something bad, then multiplied that feeling by a thousand. Baldr had opened my eyes that I could feed on the darkness… but then I realized, wasn’t that exactly what the Norn did?
Shadows sprouted across my arms like weeds bursting through my flesh and I cried out. I gathered a fistful of the sprouts and ripped them from my body. There was no way I was going to get this far and turn into a Norn!
“Not ready,” Sam hissed again. She cocked her head to the side as if listening, then nodded. “He sends you home.”
I didn’t have time to ask who “he” was. The glittering black fingers of Ragnarök that lingered on the horizon zeroed in on the city and dove down straight for us.
I held my forcefield tight. I wasn’t going to let it be broken and the inhospitable atmosphere rip Will up from the inside. I’d worked so hard to get him back into a mortal body. I wasn’t going to let anything take that away, not even Ragnarök.
But the fingers weren’t trying to destroy us. Darkness enveloped the sphere I held around us until only my internal flame illuminated our surroundings. I knelt and held onto Will. Nausea and pain continued to streak through me, but Ragnarök’s presence was… actually soothing.
I felt the slip of time and space underneath us shift, then we were falling, and even though I should have been terrified, I held onto Will’s hand, and he held onto mine. No matter what happened, we were together.
Ragnarök spit us out onto a dusty trail in the middle of a forest that looked suspiciously reminiscent of Central Park.
When the darkness retreated, leaving us only with silver moonlight filtering through the trees, I heard laughter in the distance.
Human laughter.
Still holding onto Will, I slowly stood. My wings flared out of instinct to keep me balanced.
I couldn’t believe it. We were back on Earth.
Will released a long breath. “Well, that was unexpected.”
I released him as I took a few steps and then paused. “Yeah.” I tilted my head and listened, but there was no sound of Baldr’s laughter or any sign that this was a trick. “Why would he send us back to earth? He totally had us.” And whatever he’d done, he’d soothed the nausea winding in my stomach that would have turned me into a Norn.
“Who?” Will asked.
I turned and almost laughed. He was still naked. I blushed and looked away. “Uh, Will.”
He looked down. “Oh, crap.” He covered himself. “Well aren’t we the pair. A naked dude with a Valkyrie. We’re not going to stand out at all.”
Leaves rustled and glittered, and then I heard another kind of laugh. The tinkering joy of a Huldra. I ignored the fluttering of my heart hoping that it would be Jules. The unwanted image of her lifeless on the ground shoved itself to the front of my mind.
Brushing aside the painful memories, I
followed the trail of glitter and motioned for Will to follow. One of Dalia’s Huldra, whether they could be trusted or not, was a better guide than hoping I could find my way out on my own. To my relief, the flutter of the leaves led us straight to the luxury condo we’d stayed in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
The door buzzed at my touch, opening and allowing us in.
“What do you think?” I asked when we entered into the familiar room. The fireplace was just as I remembered it, surrounded by a jumble of pillows enticing for a group to just sit and talk. My heart yearned for those days when it’d been all of us. Tyler, Will, and Jules. I hadn’t appreciated having them all together, but now I missed it.
Will closed the door behind us. “I think Dalia realizes she chose the wrong side.”
I hummed thoughtfully and flexed my wings, grateful to finally be able to properly stretch them. I wouldn’t be able to go for a leisure flight around here, not without activating Thor as it wiped thousands of human minds after being spotted. Even if my mother wasn’t around to enforce it, the A.I. program would still keep tabs, especially during Ragnarök. The last thing my mother needed was for one of her worlds to go on full-out panic during the end of the world. That would only feed Ragnarök more and make it more difficult to imprison.
“If Dalia has really switched sides, then I want to talk to her,” I said.
I turned when there was no response, finding Will had already disappeared down the hall. All I saw was the flash of a handsome male buttocks before he disappeared into a room. I grinned, shamelessly filing that memory away for when I was feeling down.
Will shortly returned in customary jeans and a loose fitting Tee. He smiled his warm, sensual smile. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”
Happiness bubbled out of me like a foundation and I had to keep my emotions in, lest they seep out as flame and singe the carpet. After everything we’d been through, Will was right here in front of me, mortal, and free of the Norn’s curse.
It wasn’t over, not by a long-shot. Ragnarök was still out there and once it was done with Muspelheim, I knew Baldr would have no qualms about letting it destroy this world. I didn’t want to turn into a Norn myself, and until I figured out how to feed on darkness without that happening, Baldr and Ragnarök were still my greatest threat.
“I’m just glad you are finally human again,” I said. Effortlessly I moved to squeeze his arm, but he flinched the instant I grazed his skin. “Oh, sorry.”
His mood turned sour. “When I imagined getting my human body back, I didn’t expect you to be in your Valkyrie form. I can’t even touch you.” He ghosted his fingers over my arm, then made a fist. “Do you think you can do for yourself what you did for me?”
I slowly shook my head. “Not any time soon. You saw what happened. When I fed on darkness, I almost became…” My words drifted. I couldn’t say it out loud.
He grimaced and slumped into the sofa across from the fireplace. “You would become like my mother.”
I curled up on the floor and hugged a pillow to my chest, releasing it when it began to smolder. With a sigh, I released the heat that wanted to get out and directed it to the fireplace. Long dead logs engulfed in a flame that burst to life.
I’d never imagined my future with Will to be anything permanent. But now that I was here, living this new present with him, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next.
Coming Out of the Closet
I insisted that Will go to bed, but he refused to leave me alone. I wasn’t going to leave the fireplace. My emotions were a wreck and the metal grate full of flame was the only safe spot I could release the embers dying to get out of me. I wasn’t on Muspelheim anymore and I had so much pent-up energy inside of me. I thought of Elena and Michael. She’d lost her wings, but not the flame that lived in her heart. She’d become something closer to human than I certainly was. I recalled her sitting on the couch sipping tea.
I glanced through the room, sweeping my gaze over a sleeping Will on the couch. Even if he’d refused to leave me, he still had slipped into unconsciousness. Coming back from the dead must have been tiring.
I wandered through the condo and looked for a phone, then laughed. She was probably halfway across the world right now. I didn’t even know her number.
A low hum brought me out of my thoughts and I frowned. Tilting my head, I heard it again, a buzz that didn’t sound mechanical. I followed it into one of the bedrooms. It was coming from the closet.
I was glad the knobs were metal. They wouldn’t disintegrate under my touch. I grabbed it and yanked it open, not sure what I was going to find inside.
Instead of a walk-in closet filled with clothes, a familiar room appeared, one with telescopes and a particular immortal with a golden grill for a smile.
“Well, hello dear. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
I’d wanted to speak to Dalia, but this was not how I’d imagined it. “Did you seriously just use the Bifrost to teleport to my bedroom?”
Dalia held up a finger. “Actually, it’s my bedroom. You’re only borrowing it.”
Glowering, I stepped inside. Time and space slipped over me like a blanket as I entered the pocket realm of the Bifrost.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
She grinned. “I want what I’ve always wanted. I’m a simple creature.”
She motioned for me to sit across from her desk and I glowered before yanking the seat out and sitting on it. I allowed the heat of Muspelheim to billow from my body, but the chair stood up under the onslaught. I draped my wings over the back and a shower of embers flew across the ground. It didn’t surprise me that the Bifrost was Valkyrie-proof. “And what is it that you want?” I asked. “Power?”
She laughed. “Hardly, dear.” She leaned onto her elbows and sighed. “I just want a place my children can be free. Is that so hard to ask?”
I narrowed my eyes. The Bifrost shook, sending the telescopes clinking against one another. “What’s that all about?” I asked.
She leaned back in her chair and propped her boots up on the desk. “Just Baldr getting a little fussy that I’m talking to you. He thought he was so clever sending you to earth.” She winked. “He doesn’t want you dead, or turned into a Norn. He wants you to join him.”
I crossed my arms. “Well that’s not going to happen.”
“And I tried to tell him that,” she said with a nod. “But you know how he is. He thinks everyone will bow down and worship his feet.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m quite grateful he’s no longer at the top of the food chain. Even if he had agreed to spare the Heimdall line, it almost would have been worth extinction to slap him across the face.”
A smirk came to my lips and I tried to douse the amusement Dalia always managed to awaken in me. She was likable, but she was dangerous. I wouldn’t forget who I was dealing with. “You know, I remember outside your restaurant there were statues to the gods. My memory isn’t so good. Who was the fourth one? Was it Baldr?” Technically, after I’d seen what he could do, he was a god by definition. Converting energy and bringing life into being was the only requirement. Dalia, Odin, and Freya had their own strengths that accomplished that task, but Baldr and I, we were wrong. He didn’t deserve a statue.
She smiled. “You think I’d have a statue to that creep?” She slammed her hand on the desk and bellowed a laugh. “Hilarious!”
I frowned. “Then who is it?”
Her mood turned somber. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
Now I was starting to get impatient. Another boom rocked the Bifrost, but I ignored it. Let Baldr have his little tantrum. “No, I don’t.”
Her smile mixed with her usual sarcasm and a hint of mournful sadness. “The fourth god is an ideal, a leader among us who doesn’t exist yet.” She pulled out her phone and shoved it across the desk. “Here. Take a look.”
I leaned and peered at the image that displayed her restaurant. It was an ad online depicting “food to die for,” which was
a horrible pun. But then I spotted the row of statues and frowned. The last one was a man covered in runes. Hair swept back and even through the stone gaze, I could sense the mischief behind it. “That’s Tyler,” I said. “You think your son is a god?”
She laughed. “You know, I had that statue built before he was even born.” She took the phone back and smiled at the image. “Perhaps one of my visions saw him and was hopeful.” A click sounded as she locked the phone’s screen and returned the device back to her pocket. “Or perhaps, Tyler will be the one to save us all.”
The idea of Tyler coming to my rescue wasn’t so far-fetched. He’d done exactly that for me a thousand times. Every rune he bore on his body was a scar of sin he took so that I didn’t have to. “So how does he do it?” I asked, half-fascinated and half-mortified. “How does he feed on a soul without turning into something like a Norn?”
I’d only known Valkyries to be able to manipulate the energy of souls, but the Heimdall line was a unique case. They acted as servants to the gods and each had their own skills. I’d met a few of Tyler’s brothers on occasion. Now that my memories were returning, I recalled they didn’t appreciate one of their own playing bodyguard to a Valkyrie that only put him further at risk. If he gave in to the darkness because of me, he’d turn into something worse than a Norn.
“Tyler is strong,” Dalia said, pride dripping from her voice as she swayed her chair back. “As are all of my sons. We’re a form of the Jotun, but when I discovered how to manipulate energy and create life, that’s when I became a god and the Heimdall became a new race. The Bifrost was given to me by Ymir herself to safeguard. That was back when she trusted me, of course.”
I nodded. “Right.” Now that I thought about it, Tyler had gone out of his way to make sure I hadn’t seen that fourth statue. I frowned. “What does Tyler think of this?”
Her golden teeth flashed as she laughed. She twirled one of her telescopes across her fingers. “He’s always been arrogant, but the idea of being a god appalls him. He’d rather ‘bite dust,’ as he says.”
Valkyrie Uprising Page 10