Death's Mantle: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 1) (21 page)

Ian reached out with his good arm and called upon the power of his mantle. Hunger leapt within him and the temperature fell. Frost spread out around him as Jormungand turned. She took a step toward him, dragging Kim’s broken body along the dirt. Kim’s eye was swollen shut, and blood poured from her split lips.

“I was going to let you live, Fames,” Jormungand said, licking her lips in a way that made some very uncomfortable thoughts rattle around in Ian’s brain. “I think you’d be a wonderful ally.” She reached up touching her mouth with one delicate finger. “Don’t make me regret my decision by trying something stupid.”

Ian climbed to his feet, and staggered forward, each step leaving a trail of ice behind him that rippled outward like a slowly crashing wave.

“Sorry,” Ian replied. “It’s a generous offer, but someone once told me to base my self-worth on what I do when it matters.” A smile crossed his lips as he bent down and gripped Haijiku. Winter wind exploded across the horizon, dousing the earth in unending, unyielding winter. “I’d say what I do now, matters.”

He pointed his weapon at Jormungand, and the girl smiled back at him and shook her head. “Very well, Fames. If it is death you seek, than I shall grant your wish.”

An emerald meteor crashed down between him and Jormungand. Dust and debris flew everywhere. The shockwave of the impact was enough to throw Ian backward. He hit the ground on his back, his breath whooshing out of his body as Haijiku slipped from his grasp. In the sky above, thunder howled and lightning flashed. Rain fell, turning the ground around them to mud in an instant.

“Jormungand!” Malcom yelled, and before Ian could even blink, Malcom charged forward from the cloud of debris and slammed into Jormungand. The girl staggered backward, her feet sticking in the mud as she fell backward, toppling to the earth as Kim’s body tumbled to the ground next to her. Malcom raised his gleaming hammer above his head to deal a death blow and arcs of emerald electricity leapt from its surface.

“Go ahead,” Jormungand said, a smile splitting her face into a horrific mask. “Destroy this body. See if I care…” Malcom’s hand wavered. “Do it and I’ll just take your girlfriend for a ride.”

Jormungand lashed out with both hands. Her steel claw bit deep into Malcom’s stomach cleaving upward into his ribcage. The other claw tore downward through the air, but Malcom shattered it with his hammer. Malcom raised his free hand in the air, like he hadn’t just been disemboweled, and slammed the full force of his fist into the base of the skull atop Jormungand’s head, obliterating it in a spray of bone.

The girl looked up at him and smiled. The ground around them blazed to life as flames danced around them. The fire seethed, changing colors so rapidly it made Ian’s head spin. Jormungand’s savage eyes beheld Malcom. Her power flared like the fire around her, and Ian had to look away. Even still spots danced across his eyes. It seemed as if Jormungand was an army unto herself, but none other was with her.

“I am Jormungand, the strongest of Loki’s children! For years I killed our enemies. I alone protected the seas while no one else dared.” Jormungand lashed out with her remaining claw. The savage move tore into Malcom’s face as he tried to dodge. He fell backward, clutching his eye as Jormungand rose to her full height. Only that was impossible because she seemed twenty feet tall. Her shadow fell across the earth as she strode forward and rain fell as blood around them.

“There is nothing you can do to defeat me, Mors. Even with all your power, your eyes are like that of a child’s. You hoped just showing up would be enough, but it’s not.” Jormungand stepped forward, the toe of her bare foot digging into Malcom’s torn gut. “But victory requires sacrifice. What have you sacrificed, boy? What are you willing to give?”

Jormungand ground her toes into Malcom’s belly, and he screamed, the shrill cry ripping Ian’s soul asunder. He couldn’t leave Malcom to die, not like this. If they fell now who would stop this monster?

Ian shut his eyes, reaching out with the power of his mantle, and felt its numbing cold envelope him. His wounded arm went numb as his fingers curled around Haijiku’s hilt. Power surged up along his arm like an electric current, jolting his eyes open.

Jormungand glanced at him and sighed. “Let me guess, Fames, you still intend to try my power? What a waste.”

“It may be foolish,” Ian replied, getting to his feet, and as he stepped toward the inhuman monster, ice spread out around him, frosting over the battlefield. Ian pointed his sword at Jormungand. “Not everything is a waste.”

A strange smile crossed Jormungand’s face. “Do you think you can kill me? Destroying evil is more than just punishing servants and erasing their sins.”

Jormungand took a step forward, and as she did so, Malcom rolled onto his hands and knees. He coughed, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth. Without warning, Jormungand turned and kicked Malcom in the ribs popping him into the air like a soccer ball. She followed the attack with another kick, sending Malcom crashing backward into the blackened wall of the spire. He slammed into it so hard, the sound of the impact rattled Ian’s teeth.

Malcom fell forward, collapsing to the ground in a broken, bloody heap as Ian slashed at Jormungand’s back with Haijiku. The dark blade glinted even in the darkness. She spun and caught the katana in her left hand. Blood flowed from the wound, but the injury didn’t seem to affect her. With a flick of her wrist, she twisted the sword, wrenching it from his hands by the blade. Ian stumbled, thrown off balance as his hunger receded, and as it did so, his pain returned.

“Don’t forget, I’m the one who gave you that weapon. I’m the one who made you, Fames.” Jormungand smiled, blood dripping from her hand as she tossed Haijiku to the ground. It hit with an air of finality as Jormungand stepped closer to him and reached out with one slender hand, trailing her fingers along his cheek. “And I can take it all away,” she whispered, leaning close to him so her breath was hot on his neck. A shiver shot through him, rippling along his flesh as she stepped back, smiling at him with a dopy smile. “Never forget that.”

She turned then, leaving him to stand there watching as she made her way toward Malcom’s hammer. She bent down, eyeing it closely as a grin crossed her lips. She reached out with one hand, her fingers extended. Sparks leapt from the surface of the weapon as she gripped it and lifted the heavy weapon. She turned, smacking it against one tiny palm.

“You know, there’s a whole lot of myth around this weapon. Talking about worthiness and the like. Talking about how this weapon could kill me.” She shook her head as she held the weapon in the air. Lightning crashed around her, turning the sand into glass. “It’s all a lie. No weapon is mightier than the hand wielding it.”

Next to Ian, Haijiku pulsed, frosty butterflies creeping along its edge as he grabbed hold of the hilt. “Maybe,” Ian said as Jormungand came at him, her hammer coming up in an arc toward him as a zillion frosty butterflies filled the space between them.

His vision blurred to the point of blackness as Mjolnir smashed into his chest, snapping his ribs and flinging him backward. He hit the ground, icy fingers frozen to the hilt of his sword as a zillion enraged butterflies slammed into Jormungand. The girl lifted from her feet, her mouth wide in a cry of agony as he lost consciousness.

Kim 01:10

Amy’s fist slammed into the side of Jormungand’s skull in an explosion of heat and flame that tossed the still recovering girl across the courtyard. “Caden, get the others out of here!”

Crimson flames swirled around her, seeming as though they might consume her at any moment. “Let’s see how you deal with the full power of war!” Amy snarled, and the ice around them turned to steam in an instant.

Jormungand got to her feet and casually waved her hand, dismissing Amy with a petulant wave. The front of her body was covered in frost. Her nails had taken on a bluish tint as she held her hands out in front of herself. The earth beneath them quaked.

“You know the thing about war?” Jormungand asked, brushing herself off, and as she did so, the ice clinging to her fell away and hit the ground like frozen teardrops. “It’s only ever a means to an end.”

Kim scrambled to her feet and took a wobbling step forward as Caden knelt beside Ian, trying desperately to awaken him. Even from here, she could tell there was something wrong with Ian’s chest. For one it wasn’t rising and falling properly, for another it looked disjointed and broken.

She shut her eyes as a flash of ruby light made her stomach slosh. When she opened them Amy and Jormungand were fighting. Slashes and punches, were exchanged, but for the moment, Amy seemed to be holding her ground. She parried and blocked Jormungand’s claw with her bare hands as if protected by the scarlet flames surrounding her.

Jormungand stepped back as Amy’s foot sailed by and slammed her left fist into the side of Amy’s neck. Amy wobbled to the side, and before she could recover, Jormungand brought her claw down. Darkness flowed off of it in tendrils so it looked like it was hewn from the fabric of hell itself.

Amy thrust her palm outward, catching the weapon with her open palm. It tore through her flesh, spraying blood and flesh across the ground. She lashed out with her other hand, but Jormungand caught it and squeezed. There was a loud crack as the sound of splintering bone filled the air.

Amy’s eyes went wide, and she shrieked, trying desperately to pull herself from the other girl’s grip. Then Jormungand was squirming uncontrollably, almost like she was trying to scratch an itch between her shoulders.

Kim glanced down as something glimmered next to her. She hadn’t realized she had been walking forward, and now she stood next to Ian. Mjolnir lay at his feet, and almost hesitantly, she picked it up with her uninjured hand. It was like grabbing a live wire. Sensation shot through her, and for a brief moment, she felt everything and anything.

Her eyes snapped open, though she hadn’t realized she had closed them and a vague voice whisper-cooed in her ear. It urged her forward, urged her to crush her enemy.

She looked up from the hammer and saw Malcom had locked Jormungand in a full nelson. Blood flowed down his body, pooling at his feet as he threw all of his bodyweight onto the girl, using it to drive Jormungand to her knees in the frozen mud.

“Kim… please… finish her now, before she can escape,” the blood soaked words sprayed from Malcom’s mouth as Jormungand bucked like a raging bronco.

“But it will kill her.” Tears welled in Kim’s eyes as she stepped forward, the hammer urging her on. “You’ll die too.”

“If all I have to do is die that would be enough.” He grinned and pain flashed across his features. “Dying is easy. Anyone can die.”

Kim held the hammer in front of her as Jormungand bucked, twisted, and turned in a vain attempt to free herself. It was no use, Malcom had the hold locked in, and he would die before he released it. Kim readied the weapon and felt fire stream through her body.

“Hurry, you won’t have another chance,” Malcom cried as Jormungand drove her elbow backward into his gut. He shrieked, and for a split second, his hold loosened.

Jormungand whirled, flinging him into the dirt as Kim struck. Lightning exploded from Mjolnir as she drove the weapon straight into Jormungand’s stomach. Blood and thicker bits sprayed across the ground as Kim twisted, using her bodyweight to tear the jagged hammer sideways out of the girl.

Jormungand deflated, dropping to her knees as her entrails spilled into the dirt. She looked down at them, one hand reaching out to touch the wound. Her blood flowed through her fingers as she looked up, a grin spreading across her face. Her eyes went glassy as the pair of golden orbs on her forehead winked out.

“I didn’t think you had it in you,” Jormungand whispered, throwing her head back, and as she did so, golden mist exploded from her mouth, bursting into the sky like a thousand shooting stars.

It hung there for a second, coalescing into a gilded cloud as the girl’s body slumped to the ground in a puddle of blood and gore. Then it came straight at her. Kim felt it hit her in the chest, flinging her backward as it wormed its way into her mouth, nose, and ears. She tried to scream, but her voice was choked off. Tears streamed from her eyes, and just when she thought she could take no more, the feeling faded as quickly as it came upon her.

Her eyes burst open to see Mal standing over her, one hand outstretched toward her as he inhaled, sucking the golden smoke into his own body. His body flared like an emerald star as he took a step away from her. He took another, then another…

“Mal, stop!” she cried, reaching out toward him as she scrambled to her feet.

“I love you, Kim,” he replied as he took one more step away from them and collapsed.

Amy 01:05

No one was talking, or if they were, it wasn’t to Amy at least. Ian had flatly refused to so much as speak to her, and Kim had disappeared, actually disappeared. Even Caden had become rather difficult to get a hold of, though that was more to do with him spending extra time with Sabastin. Though she wasn’t sure why he had been spending so much time with the old man.

Then again, he had been the one to carry Sabastin’s bleeding, broken daughter back to him. Amy remembered the look on Sabastin’s face when he saw her. It was like something inside had died.

Amy wasn’t even sure if the girl would survive. While Sabastin had been able to more or less heal her with whatever gizmos his weird lab in the sky possessed, she still hadn’t woken up. Whatever Jormungand had done while he was inside her head was having some kind of lasting impression.

Malcom… Malcom was another story. His soul had fled his body. She had felt it happen, had felt it slip into the ether. While, neither Kim nor Ian would talk to her about it, Amy was reasonably sure they had felt it too. Still, something told her she could do something. She just didn’t know what…

Which was why their lack of communication was pissing her off. They had a million things to focus on right now, like where Loki’s other two children, Fenris and Hel, were, and if they were still trying to wake their father. This whole not talking thing needed to end. Besides, if there was a way to bring Malcom back, didn’t they owe it to him to try? He had been the one to make the ultimate sacrifice after all…