Dead Embers (42 page)

And then it hit me. Aidan and I both turned to stare at each
other.

Loki.

The god Loki had paid us a visit in the clinic. Not only had
he indirectly helped us to find the pieces of Freya's necklace, but the sneaky
god also had relieved us of one of those precious vials of blood. Hadn't I
known all along that he was up to no good?

"You remember now, don't you?" Dr. Lee chuckled,
the sound sending frissons of anger and disgust through me.

"You're in cahoots with Loki?" I demanded, unable
to fathom how a Midgardian would've had any sort of arrangement with, or
loyalty to, the trickster god. Not one that lasted, anyway.

His lips curled, the cool glare in his eyes turning icy. He
didn't answer.

"What did you do with my blood? What the hell do you
need it for?" Fury turned my vision red; my voice vibrated on the
questions.

"Oh, my dear girl, your precious, precious blood has
been so very helpful to us. To our cause. In fact, Loki even said to pass on
his deepest gratitude to you for your little donation."

"What did you do with my blood?" I bit each word
out, trying not to yell and failing. My voice rose as each word spiked from my
mouth.

"Such manners, my dear girl. Oh, I forgot. Foster kids
are generally more trouble than they're worth." He laughed again, as if he
was the one asking questions, the one in control. And maybe, in all the ways
that mattered, he
was
in control. "At any rate, I might as well
tell you the true gift you have running in your veins. You see, your blood is
so much of a genetic anomaly, it's magnificent in its power. And in combination
with the Black Ice of Jotunnheim, your blood is so dangerous, it's positively
deadly. You, Bryn Halbrook, are a weapon. A living breathing weapon."

"Oh yeah? And what am I supposed to be a weapon
for?" I was getting so tired of this man; I wished he would get to the
point so they could just take him away. A cold rage simmered inside me, and a
memory flitted through my mind. A memory of my berserker attack on Joshua not
so long ago. The white-hot fury wasn't healthy for anyone around me. Who knew
what I'd do?

"You, my dear girl, are the perfect weapon for
killing." Dr. Lee laughed, a maniacal, psychotic sound. Behind him, Thor
took a step closer, a frown marring the beauty of his face. "Oh, dear
girl, you have no idea how instrumental you have been." He grasped his
bound hands together, almost congratulating himself, reveling in his knowledge.

And then he said, "You are the weapon we have used to
kill all those
einherjar
."

It took too long to sink in, to process the horror of his
words.

All those Warriors who had died in the past weeks. So many
lives taken, so many of Odin's soldiers dead.

And I'd killed each and every one of them.

His words stunned me into a paralysis worse than the
muscle-numbing drug I'd been injected with. I gaped at Dr. Lee, his face so
clear I could make out the pores on his cheeks and the green flecks within his
hazel eyes, flecks that seemed to swirl. A blink of an eye later, the green
swirls were gone.

Get a grip, Bryn. Too many thoughts of Loki.

My eyes refused to create the tears that I knew would make
me feel a little bit better.

"Bryn, don't you dare think any of this is your fault.
He is to blame." Aidan pointed at his father. "Not you. Did you hear
me?" He shook me, as if the movement would make me change my mind.

I heard the words he spoke but knew he'd fail no matter how
hard he tried to convince me that it wasn't my fault.

Because it
was
my fault.

If I'd just minded my own business, none of this would've
happened. Reading Aidan's Valkyrie book had started this whole thing.

Dr. Lee scoffed. "You're a fool. She knows this is all
her fault. Even if she hadn't intended for this to happen, in the end she's to
blame. This is something you should know well enough, my son."

One of the guards started at Dr. Lee's words, staring from
father to son and back again. Thor grunted, the sound reverberating through the
room like rolling thunder. My heart stilled, waiting for Aidan's response.

His tone was flat, a vacuum of emotion. "Don't call me
that. You gave up that right a long time ago."

"Ah, I see you're still a tad upset with me. But you
don't need to be, my boy." Dr. Lee paused; his left hand rose a few
inches, as if he meant to cup his son's cheek and had forgotten his wrists were
cuffed. He glanced at the handcuffs, then sneered at Aidan, his eyes piercing
his son's. "She's safe and well taken care of, you know that. They both
are."

She? They?
I frowned, half-expecting my muscles to be
lethargic and slack from the drugs, but they moved and rippled and reflected my
annoyance easily enough. I wanted to know what the hell they were talking
about.
Who
they were talking about. But I kept my mouth shut. Way too
much emotion flying around the room for me to butt in right then.

"You think I'll just believe you, the way I used to?
You think everything you've done is just fine and I can just go on as if all
this is so normal? What you've done to Bryn is unforgivable." Aidan spoke
through gritted teeth, his body shaking as the words left his lips.

"It depends entirely on how you look at it, my
boy." Cool response, cold eyes.

Aidan's face darkened. "What's that supp—"

He stopped in mid-speech, startled, as the air shimmered
before us. A man materialized right beside Dr. Lee, causing the Warrior holding
on to the doctor's arm to back away to avoid being stepped on. The image of the
intruder quivered, became solid and then he raised one hand and punched the
Warrior full in the chest. The Warrior grunted and went flying across the
floor, crashing into the wall behind him with enough force to break a good
number of the white wall tiles.

My heart tightened in my chest. Instinct told me the poor
guy wouldn't recover easily from such a blow.

Thor scowled as the air beside him shimmered and a second
figure took shape almost instantly. My heart hurt as emotions rushed through
me: first alarm at the thought of a second attacker joining the fray, then a
flash flood of relief and gratitude when I saw the newcomer's face. Fenrir sure
had a way of arriving at the most opportune moments. Thor nodded at the Ulfr
general and together they charged at the intruder, ready to pounce.

The stranger grasped Aidan's father by the arm and pulled
him forward as if he meant to disappear with him, just melt into wisps of
glimmering light and escape with him on the Bifrost.

"Father," the doctor gasped, a happy,
self-satisfied smile on his face. His grin soon morphed into an arrogant sneer,
which he turned on both Aidan and me.

My eyes went from the stranger to the doctor. A feeling akin
to déjà vu washed over me, sending undulating waves into my head, making me
dizzy. The stranger beside the doctor beamed, his teeth gleaming, and a glimmer
of swirling green appeared in his smiling eyes. He stared at me with such
knowing familiarity, as if we'd met before. And then it clicked. How could I
have missed it?

"Loki?" I asked, my voice dull and lifeless. It
was not really a question, of course. I resigned myself to another hateful
meeting with the traitorous god.

"Dear Bryn, surely you must be gifted in the magical
arts for you to recognize me every single time we meet." He smiled, and
the funniest thing was that the expression was warm and sincere. Totally as if
he liked me, cared for me, even respected me.

Then I did a double take, looking from the doctor to the god
and back again. So did Aidan. We both seemed to have noticed how the doctor had
addressed Loki, and realized what it meant.

I ignored the doctor and his silly grin and met Loki's eyes.
"So he's your son?" I tilted my head toward Aidan's father.

"As much as I'd like to deny my human progeny, I have
to say yes."

Aidan's father glanced at Loki sharply, eyes narrowed as if
to ascertain what those vaguely insulting words meant. Then he turned, chin up,
somehow satisfied by whatever it was that he saw in the trickster's face.

Thor, Fen and the Warriors watched and waited in a ragged
semi-circle around the god and his human child. They just stood there, doing
nothing yet about Loki's appearance. I assumed they were waiting, like me, to
hear what the trickster had to say.

"And he's been working for you all along," I said,
almost to myself.

"Yes, Valkyrie. My son has always been my
representative here in Midgard. It's a pity he's human though. Such fragile
creatures." Then Loki turned to Aidan. "But you, Aidan, you I am
proud to call my flesh and blood."

My own blood ran cold, and Aidan flinched at the words.

It took a while for the reality of it to sink in. The cold
hard reality of Aidan's heritage.

Aidan was Loki's grandson.

***

All hell broke loose. Loki grabbed the doctor's arm and
yanked him away from the second Warrior, who held on tightly. The god paid no
heed and merely walked on, dragging both the doctor and the stubborn and startled
Warrior across the tiled floor.

The moment was ripe, and Thor and Fen fell into action.
About time. They rushed at Loki, thundering toward him, Thor having grown in
size just enough to look incredibly formidable but not enough to destroy the
entire room with one step.

Fen withdrew a golden chain and wrapped it elegantly around
his arm. He raced toward Loki, the loose end of the chain flying behind him
like a golden tail. A moment that lasted the blink of an eye but felt as long
as hours as I watched the mayhem around me.

An odd whirring sound reached my ears and a glint of metal
shone in Thor's hand.

Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Not the best time to ogle the
legendary weapon in action, but at least I got my viewing pleasure as the god
ran. Loki spun, ready to retaliate. With the trickster's attention on Thor, Fen
grabbed hold of Dr. Lee's arm and passed him into the care of the Warrior who'd
gotten back to his feet. The doctor hadn't even had time to think of escape.
Now he wasn't going anywhere.

Thor's hammer spun through the air, gold glinting and
tumbling as it whirred toward Loki's head. The sound of the collision of hammer
with head reverberated through my bones. But Loki was still on his feet, and
grinning. Clearly, the trickster god wasn't in the least bit mortal. He was
stunned though, long enough for Fen to sprint over and tie him up before the
swirly greens and purples cleared from his furious eyes.

My head lolled forward, and a small part of me recognized
with relief that I could actually feel my head for the first time in a while.
Fen and Thor drew the trickster to his feet; he looked pretty magnificent,
bound within a coil of glinting, almost living, golden chain. But that
fantastic bruise on the side of his head did nothing for his looks.

Loki shimmered as he struggled. The shimmering came again,
and the image of the man changed, morphing: an old ragged beggar, a giant
fire-eyed wolf, a coal-black Sleipnir and then finally back into his normal
Loki form. Each time he shimmered, the golden chain vibrated, singing like a
tuning fork. The trickster struggled in vain. The chain seemed to make it
intrinsically impossible for the god to maintain any form other than his real
one.
Nice move, Fen.

And Loki must have realized his struggles were pointless, as
he finally gave up. The traitorous god gazed around the clinical room,
bestowing everyone with a broad and cheerful grin.

"Explain yourself, Loki, son of Odin." Thor's
voice boomed loud enough to rattle the steel and shatter the glass in the
cabinets along the walls.

"Don't call me that," Loki roared back, his
expression no longer cheerful, his cheeks mottled red and filled with fury.

"It makes little difference to me what you want or do
not want, brother. Explain yourself, or I am sure Fenrir will be glad to return
you to Hel and that serpent you love so much. This time you will not have your
wife to save you from the agony of the viper's poison." Thor slammed
Mjölnir into his palm, as if the blow would make him feel better. All it did
was produce a crack of thunder loud enough to cause the earth to vibrate
beneath us.

"Very well,
brother
," Loki answered. For a
hint of a second he sneered, then a beguiling smile bloomed across his face.
"I shall tell you why. But make no mistake, it's not for fear that I confess.
In fact, it's time that you and the All-Father and all his followers learn the
truth. It's time you all know what you're up against."

Loki swung his gaze toward Fen. "Fenrir, son of Loki,
you have proved your loyalty. Loyalty to the wrong side." Loki's voice
seemed to reverberate much like Thor's. Odd. "And, because of your choice,
you will die along with your precious Odin."

Fen took a step toward Loki, but Thor touched his arm,
enough to make the Ulfr general pause and think.

Loki shook his head, so self-assured, so confident.
"You see, my son, you will fall with all of the Aesir, and I will survive.
I have chosen my side, the side of the winners of this war."

I'd had enough. "Quit with the riddles, Loki. I think
we've waited long enough. Talk." The words came out more of a growl
against my parched throat.

"Well, Valkyrie, you won't like what I have to
say."

"Thank you for your consideration, but why don't you
just go ahead and tell us, and we can decide for ourselves." I lifted my
chin enough to back up my big mouth.

Anger flitted across his swirling eyes, but he backed down,
the muscles in his arms bunching. He had nowhere to go, no escape from his
chains. "Ragnarok is upon us. And if you think Odin will prevail, you're
sorely mistaken. The gates to Midgard have been opened and the Kings of
Jotunnheim shall rule Midgard at the gates of Ragnarok."