Immortals (Runes book 2) (19 page)

I liked it. The weight on my shoulders lifted, and I sighed. “You and I?”

“Andris, too. But first, we have to get Eirik out of his house and bring him here.”

 
“His parents will want to know why.”

“Leave them to me.” He got up and offered me his hand.

“Are you sure about him living here? You have four bedrooms, and they’re all taken.” I glanced around. When Eirik lived here, there was a large-screen TV, gaming consoles, and a table with cameras and packs of photographs. Right now it held a large chair, a table with magazines about motorcycles, and a shelf with sports trophies. The wall that used to have pictures Eirik had taken over the years now had posters of different models of motorcyles. Some were modern, like his Harley, while others looked like they were straight from a steampunk novel. On the opposite wall were schematics of motorcycle engines. His love affair with motorcycles must have started hundreds of years ago.

“Or he could share your bedroom. It used to be his,” I added

Torin pulled me up and into his arms, a wicked grin tugging his lips. “I don’t share anything that belongs to me, Freckles. And I don’t let anyone under my protection down. He will room with Andris.”

“He’s a god,” I reminded him, wrapping my arms around him.

He snorted. “Yeah, some god who needs a slip of a Mortal girl to protect him.”

I stuck out my tongue. “I’m not a slip of a Mortal girl, and I’ll soon be Immortal.”

He sighed. “I still don’t understand why. You’re perfect the way you are.”

My insides turned into jelly, but I couldn’t help wondering if my training was really an issue. “You’re just saying that because you don’t get emotionally involved with
little
Mortal girls.”

He flashed a super wicked grin. “No, I don’t. I use their bodies and move on, but I could be persuaded to seek more.”

“Don’t look at me. I’m still waiting for someone to persuade me to stop chasing emotionally unavailable guys.”

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss me, but a loud noise from somewhere in the house interrupted him. We both froze.
 

“Stay here,” he said and moved toward the door.

***

 
I was right behind him when he opened the door. More bangs and curses came from across the hallway. No, they came from behind Lavania’s closed bedroom door.

“Do you think she’s back?” I asked.

Torin glared at me over his shoulder. “I told you to stay back.”

“You didn’t say please. You think she and her husband are making out?”

He laughed.

“Shh.” I gripped his arm. “They might hear... Yikes, let’s go.” The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. The edge of something wrapped up with brown paper appeared. Andris followed, gripping the sides of a large package. Black runes were on his face and arms, and he didn’t seem to be straining. The edge of his package hit the opposite wall and left a dent.

“A little help here, bro,” he said. “The damn thing keeps knocking things over.”

Torin was still laughing when he went to help him. “What’s this?”

“Portal. I just picked it up from Raine’s family’s store.”

“Where’s mine?” Torin asked.

“Do I look like a delivery man to you?” Andris retorted. “It’s back in there.”

“Remind me again why I’m holding one end of yours?”

“Because you’re trying to impress your girlfriend.” He winked at me as they walked past. They continued downstairs, still trading barbs.

Shaking my head, I peered inside Lavania’s bedroom. The floor-to-ceiling mirror in the room was now a portal leading to Mirage. I could see a familiar aisle. What would Jared think when he found the mirrors gone? Dad would probably tell him Andris had picked them up after Jared had gone home. I was sure they had a system that shielded him from the Valkyrie world.

I touched the wall of the portal. It was solid though it looked like a swirling, white cloud. I tested the floor.

“Go ahead and try it,” Torin said from behind me. He was alone. “It’s solid.”

“What happened to Andris?”

“He’s being an ass.”

“Thanks,” Andris said, stepping off the stairs.

I followed them into the store. Both men engaged their runes, which glowed and lit up the dark room. Through the window, I could see the deserted street. I checked my watch. It was time to head home. I didn’t want to leave, but my father would go ballistic if I wasn’t home by midnight.

“I should go home,” I said, watching Torin and Andris lug the mirror to his room.

“Wait for me,” Torin said.

“I’ll be downstairs.” I went to the kitchen to get my jacket and shrugged it on. Torin was there when I turned around. He’d put on his shirt. He lifted the hair from under my collar, followed through and gripped my nape as though he couldn’t stop himself, and kissed me again.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he whispered.

“I have to. My dad—”

“I know.” He kissed my nose then reached down and gripped my hand. We started for the entrance just as Andris entered the living room. He chuckled.

“Look at you two love birds. I guess I haven’t lost my touch.” Andris grinned and pulled off biker’s gloves. “I should fly around with an arrow and a sling.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Ignore him,” Torin said, opening the door.

“You owe me, big bro.”

“Whatever you want,” Torin threw over his shoulder.

“Your Harley,” Andris said, following us outside.

“Take it,” Torin said without hesitation.

I looked over my shoulder to see Andris punch the air. “Are you really going to give him your bike?”

“He’s earned it, but he won’t keep it. As usual, he was trying to prove a point.”

“Which is what?”

“What is more important to me. It’s a no brainer.” We started down the driveway, then down the sidewalk. It was cold and wet, and the skies overcast. Cold sipped through my thin jacket, and I shivered. Torin’s arms tightened around me. “You’re cold. Next time, we’ll use the portal and go straight to your room.”

I loved the idea. “I have a thing about portals, you know.”

“What?”

“I don’t like using them unless absolutely necessary.”

“That’s too bad. I was planning on sneaking into your room sometime and holding you until you fell asleep.”

My stomach dipped, but in a good way. I would love that. We stopped outside the door. “Maybe I’ll change my mind about portals.”

“Maybe I’ll do it for you.” And he did with a long, toe-curling, make-me-want-to-rip-his-clothes-off kiss. He stopped too soon and pressed his forehead against mine. “Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

My mind was too scrambled after the kiss to understand anything. I couldn’t think, let alone string together a sentence.

Torin grinned. “Take deep breaths, until your head clears. If that fails, I’ll take a step back and give you space. You know, stop messing with your head.”

Reality returned at his teasing. I playfully punched him in the gut. “Shut up.”

He doubled over, laughing. “Okay, about tomorrow. Do you want to hang out?”

“Oh, yes. I’m jogging with Dad in the morning, and after lunch I was planning on visiting a few graves.” Dad might have been right about that one.

Torin shuddered. “Why?”

“Some of my friends died during the meet. I left before the funerals and uh... Anyway, I thought I’d place flowers on their graves.” His eyes grew intense as he studied me. Heat crawled up my face. “I know it sounds morbid. Even Dad said I’d done, uh, enough. Will you stop staring at me like that?”

“You’re amazing.” He pressed a kiss on my temple. “No, it’s not morbid, but I’m starting to learn it’s the kind of thing you, Lorraine Cooper, do. Better go inside before your father comes to the door with a shotgun.”

“Dad doesn’t believe in guns,” I said. “Goodnight.”

“Really?”

I reached up and kissed him, taking my time. “Better?”

He chuckled. “For now. See you tomorrow.”

He waited until I was inside.

***

Upstairs, I changed into flannel pajamas, brushed my teeth, and glanced out the window, but Torin’s room was in total darkness. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. I slipped under the covers and relived the evening. I was almost falling asleep when my cell phone buzzed.

I dived for it. Eirik. Disappointment rolled over me. Of course Torin wouldn’t text me. He shunned modern technology.

“I’m coming over,” Eirik’s text said.

“Now?” I texted back.

“Yeah. We need to talk.”

“Tomorrow.”

A warm draft swept across my room, and I sat up, my eyes flying to the mirror. It rippled like water. Sighing, I scooted to the edge of my bed. By the time I turned on the bedside lamp, my mirror had become a churning whirlpool of cloudy mass. I seriously needed to rethink having the mirror in my room. It didn’t even have stupid runes on its frame. The a vortex turned into a doorway, and Eirik entered my room.

“It’s after midnight, Eirik. Did you read my last text?”

“Yes, but tomorrow is not good enough for me. I can’t sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep for weeks.”

Something in his voice killed my protest. I patted my bed. “Come here. Why?”

He sat, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He scrubbed his face.

“What is it?” I asked, moving closer to rub his arm, his back. He was trembling. “Eirik?”

He blew out air and sat up. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, but after the incident at Cliff House, I had to talk to you. Every night, I go to sleep, and the next thing I know, my parents are holding me down, trying to calm me. I wake up sweating, breathing hard like I sprinted, and my heart pounding, Raine. My parents said I bolt upright screaming.”

“Are they nightmares?”

“No. Mom said they are night terrors. I wake up scared out of my head. Can I, uh, sleep here?”

“Sure.”

He got up, pulled out the rollout bed, and grabbed extra pillows from my bed. He knew where everything was because he often slept over. He plopped on his back, hands crossed behind his head. Torin had pulled that move earlier, baring his body for me to explore. Thinking about him made me ache. I swallowed and pushed the image aside, forcing myself to focus on Eirik, who needed me.

I lay on my stomach and studied him. He looked like crap. I’d noticed the shadows under his eyes this morning, and he’d lost weight, which now made sense.

“When did these night terrors start, and how often do you get them?”

 
“They started right after the meet. They happen every few days, but they’re getting worse. I think I hurt my mother last night.” He paused and scowled. “She seemed afraid of me.”

“What’s causing them? I mean, do you remember anything when you wake up?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Tonight, I felt the same intense panic before I blacked out. I blacked out at Cliff House, didn’t I?”

I nodded. “You looked confused, didn’t recognize me or Cora when I asked you where she was. Did you see any strangers before that happened?”

His scowl deepened. “You think the Norns are doing this to me?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them.”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t see anyone. One second I was watching Cora flirt with some stupid jock, the next you were yanking my camera and telling me to snap out of it. I have no idea what went down. When did you go back inside? The last time I saw you, you couldn’t wait to disappear with St. James.”

There was just a slight bite in his voice, which told me Torin was still a sensitive subject. “We were outside when I felt a presence so powerful I couldn’t ignore it. At first I thought the Norns were back, but there was something different about the vibes. It’s kind of hard to explain.” I told him everything—what we’d seen, including him smirking and taking pictures of the people fighting, then his reaction when I’d approached him, the shadow in his eyes. “It was as though you were, uh, not you.”