Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (47 page)

“Elin does not need to be around my brothers,” she said severely. “I don’t think they’d touch someone who looks like she does, but you don’t take chances with that.”

“Elin has blossomed into a perfectly lovely faerie princess,” I told her. “We’ve gotten her shapeshifting mostly sorted out, and I made her an amulet. She still doesn’t like fighting, but she can be pretty badass when she wants to be. You should see her floating around in a giant ball of conjured water, ripping golems apart and drowning anyone who tries to get at her.”

“Sounds like you’ve really taken a liking to her,” Mara said wistfully.

“She’s part of my coven,” I replied.

Mara sat up abruptly. “Elin? Elin is part of your coven? You’re kidding me. You went that far? You… you must really like her.”

“Yeah. She’s pretty amazing. But I’m being a jerk, talking about another woman when you’re right here. One more round?”

She bit her lip. “Maybe two. I guess I have to let you go, but I’m going to miss this. I really wish things could be different.”

“Can’t they?” I asked. “One more task and you’re done, right?”

She hung her head. “You don’t understand. Mom and her sons have treated me like shit my whole life, but dad? He’s proud of me. Hel is all excited to have a little sister, talking about teaching me death magic and secret ways to come back from being killed. Jormungandr gets all protective, like a real big brother, and even Sigyn is kind of nice to me. They’re my family, Daniel, and they need me.”

I sighed.

“Alright, Mara. I get it. Do what you need to do then, okay? Just try not to get yourself killed when you’re storming the gates of Asgard. Oh, but that reminds me. I still have to give you your present.”

I reached out with a strand of force magic, and pulled my shirt over from where it had been discarded at some point along the way. Mara watched with an odd expression as I fished out the little loop of gold.

“Here,” I said. “I want you to have this. I figured an amulet like I use would be too easy for people to figure out, so I put the enchantments on an earring instead. It has healing and protection effects like the one you got your hands on in Kozalin, only a lot stronger and with an intent control interface. There are also some wards against mage sight and curses, which automatically adjust themselves to enclose the same area as the physical barrier. The power source on the ring is weaker than my amulets, but considering how strong you are normally that’s not the important part for you anyway.”

“You… but… why are you giving this to me?” She asked.

“Because I like you? Do I need another reason?”

Her hand was trembling slightly as she took it. “You don’t know what this means to me, Daniel. Seriously? No strings attached?”

“Seriously. I wasn’t sure if normal piercings would work for you, so it’s also got some little enchantments to make it easy to put in. Just put it where you want it, and press the ends together. It’ll use flesh magic to shape a hole, and then the ring joins together into a solid loop. There’s a mental command for taking it off.”

She examined the earring. “That’s neat. You know, mom’s going to freak out if she sees me wearing a piece of metal in my ear.”

“To be honest, I thought you might like that part.”

She chuckled. “I would, but the bitch might just rip it out of me. I think I’d better put it someplace she’ll never see.”

She held the ring next to her right nipple. My eyebrows went up at that. Then she got a mischievous look, and reached lower.

“Might have to be topless someday,” she observed. “But you said it was painless, right? So I’m putting it right… here.”

I stared.

“Even mom’s not twisted enough to go checking out her little girl’s private parts,” she joked. “How does it look?”

“Hot,” I replied. Holy crap, she really did that.

“I wonder what it’s going to feel like when you’re inside me?”

“Let’s find out.”

“Sorry.”

I must have been dozing. I blinked my eyes open, and looked down at Mara in surprise. She was sprawled sideways across the hard wooden table, using my belly as a pillow. I was momentarily distracted by the view, before I realized what she’d said.

“After a performance like that, what exactly are you supposed to be sorry for?”

That got me an embarrassed smile. Much better than the shamefaced expression she’d worn a moment ago. She swatted my side.

“Hah! You’re the one who should have the big ego here. No one has ever made me feel like you do, Daniel. That’s why I wanted to apologize. I was being a complete bitch earlier, wasn’t I?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but I can understand why. You were pretty wound up there.”

“I practically raped you.”

“Trust me, Mara, I was entirely willing. I’ve been with aggressive women before, you know. It can be fun sometimes.”

She frowned. “I thought guys hated that? Especially when I’m stronger than they are.”

“A lot of guys do. But you know, Mara, I could match your strength if I wanted to. I’ve got more than enough force magic for that. Or I could just do something like this.”

I laid my hand on her hip, and reached out with flesh magic. After the last couple of hours her magic instinctively welcomed my touch instead of trying to push me out. I sent a wave of relaxation washing through her, followed by a tide of warm euphoria. Before she even realized what was happening the euphoria was strong enough that she couldn’t bring herself to care. She went limp, a blissful sigh escaping her lips.

I pulled her up to lie next to me, laid her on her back, and leaned over to kiss her. I could feel some instinctive reflex trying to make her flinch and tense up, but it wasn’t strong enough to overcome my magic. She remained bonelessly relaxed, and kissed me back happily.

I pulled her over to cuddle against my side, and released the magic. It took a minute for her to come down from the happy place I’d sent her to, and she remained silent for several more minutes.

“You could have done that whenever you wanted?” She said quietly.

“Yes. It’s pretty hard to resist flesh magic when I’m inside you.”

She licked her lips. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I figured you needed to be in control, and I’m okay with that. Besides, it’s not like I have all the cards here. You’re inside all my defenses right now, so you could incinerate me with a thought. Or just take my amulet, and then I don’t have enough power to affect someone as strong as you.”

“That’s true.” The thought seemed to reassure her. Her hand ran down my belly, and her gaze followed.

“That thing is stupidly huge,” she said. “Did I really have all that inside me? Or are you just messing with me?”

“No, it really took that much to fill you up. Are you sure you don’t have a pocket dimension in there or something? Because I’m not sure where you find room for your lungs.”

Actually, I was pretty sure there was shapeshifting involved. But she didn’t seem to realize she was doing it, and I wasn’t going to bring that up. I had entirely too good an idea why her body might have instinctively developed an ability like that.

She chuckled. “I’m just amazing, aren’t I? Alright you, put that thing away. I hate to let you go, but I don’t know when mom is coming back. We need to get you out of here before she shows up and sees you, or your ass is toast. But first, eat this.”

She fetched the bananas she’d picked on the way in, and handed me one. I examined it curiously. There was quite a bit of magic in the… fruit? Are bananas a fruit? Anyway, this one was overflowing with magic.

“What’s it going to do?” I asked. “Turn me into a newt?”

She laughed, and started peeling hers. “No, dummy, it’s like the apples in Asgard. Eating one will make you stronger, and get rid of some of that annoying mortal frailty crap that holds people back. If you could have one every day for a year it’d turn you into a demigod, but I don’t think there’s any way to pull that one off. Mom doesn’t exactly keep count, but she’d notice if that many went missing.”

I stared at it. She’d picked this for me before she heard my explanation.

“Thank you, Mara. I, um, why did you…?”

She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, and looked away. “It was going to be an apology, for kind of halfway trying to kill you back in Kozalin. Sorry about that.”

“Apology accepted. I’m just glad we could come to an understanding. You know, you’re welcome to visit my island if you’re ever in the neighborhood. Just be discreet, and don’t be surprised if Cerise tries to seduce you.”

“I just might do that,” she said. “But first we have to get you out of here.”

“Right, how do we do this?”

She stood. “Nothing to it, as long as Rendall doesn’t get involved. He’s in charge here when mom’s away, and he told everyone I was going to take care of the elves. So I’ll just tell the andregi you didn’t have anything to do with the attack, and send you off. Everyone’s going to be too busy with the Aesir to really question it. Unless he’s going to say something incriminating?”

“No, I didn’t have anything to do with his crazy raid. You might want to stay away from the Halls for a while, though. I can’t believe he got himself caught in an attack that had no chance of accomplishing anything, and if Odin is involved there’s no telling what he might have done.”

Mara froze in the act of picking up her skirt. She turned, and glared at me. “I never told you what Brand was caught doing.”

“I did say I was trying to figure out a way to stop the invasion. I was in the jungle watching the place when his attack started.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy. You know that, right? Mom has that place warded so tight even you couldn’t touch it.”

I was sorely tempted to tell her. But then she might feel obligated to do something about it, if only to keep her mother from getting too pissed off at her. My gift would protect her from radiation sickness if she got exposed somehow, so it was better to keep my mouth shut.

“So I saw. Ah, well, I’ll find another way. Maybe I can disrupt the gates whenever she opens one near Kozalin, or something along those lines. Worst case, I keep driving off armies until they’re called off to deal with a more important target.”

Mara eyed me suspiciously. “It’s not like you to give up that easily. You’re up to something, aren’t you?”

“Do you really want to know?”

She snorted. “I guess not. Just don’t make me look bad, alright?”

“Deal.”

I changed myself back to a more reasonable size and dressed, anxious to get out of this place while Mara was still feeling accommodating. Alas, my hopes for a smooth exit were dashed when we returned to the main torture chamber on my way out.

Apparently Korak had given up his search, and come down to interrogate the prisoner. Brand had even more cuts and bruises now than the last time I’d seen him, and Korak was in the process of methodically breaking every bone in the fingers of his left hand with a hammer and chisel.

The hammer came down as we entered the chamber, and there was a loud snap of breaking bone. Brand flinched, but only a grunt made it past his clenched lips. Beads of sweat ran down his face, and he glared murderously at the giant andregi.

“Still nothing?” Korak said maliciously. “We’ll see how long you can keep it up, tough guy.”

Another crack, and another grunt of pain.

“Having fun, Korak?” Mara said casually.

Korak looked up from the prisoner, and his face lit up. “Mara! Damn, girl, you smell hot today. What are you doing down here? I was looking all over for you.”

He tossed the hammer and chisel down, and walked confidently up to Mara. He ignored me completely, which I figured was just as well.

“Rendall wanted me to figure out what the elves are up to, just in case,” she explained. “Turns out they’re just setting up a scam to screw over some humans, though. Nothing to do with the Aesir thing, so I’m letting them go.”

“Whatever. Greedy little runts don’t need to be hanging around here. No reason to be in a hurry, though.”

The hulking andregi stepped into Mara’s personal space, and bent to sniff her hair. She put her hands on her hips, and glared up at him.

“Back off, Korak. You know I don’t like that shit.”

“That’s trihorn crap, Mara. We both know you want it. You’ve just been waiting for someone besides Rendall to be able to give it to you.” He grabbed her shoulder with one meaty hand, and the other one swept up to roughly grope her breast.

Mara’s eyes went wide with shock. Then she burst into flame.

“Get off me, asshole!”

Korak laughed. “See? I finally found me a way to stop that stupid fire. Now quit playing hard to get, sis. You’ve been dying for this to finally happen.”

He reached under her skirt. An incoherent cry of rage burst from her throat. She slugged him, but the blow barely had any effect. He caught her arm and lifted it above her head. Mara’s flames grew into a blazing aura, filling the room with the heat of a blast furnace, and turned from red to gold.

That was when my talisman abruptly turned itself off.

Korak roared in sudden agony. He threw Mara away, and staggered back from her with his hair on fire. Mara crashed right through one of those wooden pillars, smashing it to splinters in the process, and smacked into the stone wall with a meaty crunch. Her flame aura died, and she fell to her knees.

“Mara!”

I ran over to her, but a force field manifested to stop me from touching her. She put a hand to her head, and pulled it away to blink slowly at her bloody fingers.

“Ow.” She said.

“You!” Korak shouted.

I looked up to see that the over muscled giant had managed to put himself out, and while he was covered in burns they didn’t seem to be slowing him down much.

“You traded me a gimp ring!” He roared at me. “I’m gonna get you for that.”

I decided I’d had just about enough of this guy. I turned on my force field, and sent a mental command to the ‘ring’ he was still wearing. The inner surface of the band abruptly turned into an iron blade with a razor-sharp edge, and shrank.

Korak howled in pain. His severed finger fell to the floor, and the ring flew across the room towards me while turning back into a ball of stone.

“It would have worked fine if you hadn’t tried to rape your sister with it, asshole,” I growled. “Serves you right.”

“I’m gonna kill you, you little faggot,” he growled. He flexed his hand, and the blood spraying from the stump of his finger flowed up to form a sword.

I formed a force blade in my hand, making it shed a faint blue glow to make sure he could see it. “Come and try it, monkey boy.”

One of the half-dozen andregi in the room made a break for the door. I threw a force wall across it with a thought, and turned my attention back to Korak. This could go bad really quickly. I didn’t have Grinder or my revolver with me, or even the enchanted coat and armor I’d taken to wearing. Just my amulet, my earth talisman, and whatever spells I could come up with. Against a demigod.

He threw himself at me. I let my talisman drop to the floor, anchored my force field in place, and made it grow spikes while I feinted with my sword. Unfortunately he didn’t fall for that one, and stopped before he impaled himself. He took an experimental whack at the barrier with his sword, and the blow sucked an alarming amount of mana from the barrier. Shit, a few solid hits and he could actually collapse it.

I threw a wash of flame at him, hoping to drive him back. He just shielded his eyes, and kept swinging. Now his hair was burning again, but I knew my conjured flames were nothing compared to Mara’s. It was only an annoyance to him.

It did, however, block his vision pretty well. I kept up the barrage for a few seconds while he beat on my shield, splitting my attention between that and my talisman. Float it across the floor to a position a few feet behind him, turn it into a nice big ball of stone, raise it up to ceiling level, and finally bring it down hard.

One of the spectators shouted a warning at the last moment. Korak dodged, and the blow that should have hit the back of his head landed on his shoulder instead. As far as I could tell it didn’t even do any damage, damn it.

I threw myself away from Korak, speeding my movements with force magic. He turned to follow me, but I was already throwing out force blades. A few at him, and a lot more at the torturers. I cut a couple of them in half with the force sword in my hand, and the rest fell to flying blades in a matter of moments. There, no more interference.

“Free me!” Brand shouted eagerly. “I can help you.”

Yeah, no. Things were out of control enough as it was. If I turned this into a breakout attempt we’d have to fight our way out, and even if I made it there was no way Othvin and his men would survive.

Korak suddenly turned his sword of blood into a whip. The transformed weapon flew across the room to wrap around my force field, and pulled me in. Rather than evade I pushed myself into the movement, and managed to drive my force blade into his belly before he realized what I was doing. But instead of going down he just wrapped his hand around my sword arm, and squeezed. His grip wasn’t strong enough to crush my force field, but it was one more strain on an energy reserve that was rapidly being depleted.