Oathbreaker (9 page)

“
This room is amazing,” I accepted the mug and smiled at him as he sat down next to me.

“
I thought it would suit you,” he watched me with a guarded expression. “Have you perused the books yet?”

“
I looked at a few of them,” I’d been a little surprised to find antique occult books and spell books of unknown origin but I knew Odin was an avid student of the occult, so it wasn’t too strange and as far as the unfamiliar spell books, I had an inkling of where they were from. “Do you use this room a lot? It seems like the books are a valuable collection.”

“
I visit often,” he looked far off for a moment. “I like to come here to read. I feel at ease here.”

“
It does feel very peaceful,” I sipped my mead, savoring the rich, sweet spiciness of  honey and cinnamon.

“
I hope you’ll be happy here,” his large fingers curled around his mug. “This room hasn’t seen happiness for a long time.”

“
I’m sure I will,” I felt a tremor of unease at his wording; it sounded more permanent than my visit should. “It’ll only be for a little while anyway.”

“
You’re staying until we’ve discovered the traitors, right?” There was a note of anxiety in his tone.

“
That was the deal,” I frowned, wondering if I’d underestimated the task. “It shouldn’t take that long though.”

“
I hope not but I can’t promise anything,” he searched my face again.

“
We’ll work it out,” I looked into the fire and saw Trevor’s eyes glowing back at me. He wouldn’t be pleased with a long visit.

“
Thank you,” Odin’s voice brought my gaze back to his face, which was etched with intensity.

“
Thanks for switching sides,” I tried to lighten his mood with a big grin. “I never looked forward to having to fight you.”

“
You’d never betray me, would you?” His face didn’t lose an ounce of seriousness.

“
Not unless you betrayed me first.”

“
That’ll never happen,” he sounded almost cryptic and I found myself laughing to dispel the mood. He just frowned deeper.

“
I’m sorry,” I patted his arm and he stared at my hand with such naked longing, I withdrew it quickly, confusion and a little longing of my own, making my stomach clench. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that you sounded almost sad that you wouldn’t betray me.”

“
Not sad,” he lifted his gaze and the yearning was still there. I felt a shiver run down my spine, “just resigned. There’s something between us, Vervain. I couldn’t hurt you. It would be like hurting myself. I know you can feel it too.”

“
There
is
something strange going on,” I sipped my mead to give myself some time to think. “The best way I can describe it is that you feel familiar to me, a sort of déjà vu except it’s with a person.”

“
Yes,” he shook his head. “We don’t have to analyze it. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me. I know you love VѐulfR and I wouldn’t try to come between you. I just want you to know that you can trust me. I thought that if you were able to acknowledge this connection we have, then you’d know you’re always safe with me.”

“
This doesn’t make any sense,” I stared into my mead as if it might hold the answer but I’d never been a seer and I found nothing in its citrine depths.

“
Things don’t always make sense,” he took my hand and kissed it quickly. “As students of the occult, we both know that, and we also know that sometimes it’s better to let them be a mystery.”

“
Okay, here’s to a little mystery then,” I raised my mug and he clicked his against mine, the wood making a hollow sound which seemed to echo inside me with foreboding.

“
To mystery,” he agreed.

Chapter Seven

We decided that the easiest way to begin to find out who was friend or foe, would be to announce at dinner that Odin was joining with me and the God Squad(my little band of gods who fought beside me).

He’d invited his cronies over for an extended visit and they’d been arriving all day. The sounds of their socializing drifted up to me, making my shoulders tense. There wasn’t a single god down there, besides Odin, who was on my side of the war. I could be walking into a serious situation, one I hadn’t pondered fully before agreeing to this arrangement.

What if it was all an elaborate trap? What if Odin was down there laughing with his friends over how gullible the Godhunter was and how much fun it was going to be to kill her slowly? A knot of anxiety filled my tummy for a second before I took a deep breath and calmed down. Somehow I knew what Odin had said to me was the truth. There wasn’t going to be a lynching, unless it was Odin who got strung up. It all depended on how his associates took the news.

Since I didn’t know what to expect, I dressed carefully in some tailored black pants and a long sleeved, blue, silk blouse that hid most of my long, leather, fingerless gloves. The gloves were my weapon of choice, having claw-like blades that extended over each finger with a downward flick of my wrists but then would retract with the pull of a lever. They were easy enough to hide, really easy to unsheathe, never ran out of ammo, made each swipe and punch potentially lethal, and were practically impossible to lose. Oh, and they were imbued with god magic. I affectionately referred to them as my Wolverine gloves. I also had my bodice dagger but I decided to leave off the short sword. I didn’t want to antagonize anyone with my weapons, better to keep them hidden.

While I was checking my make-up in the bathroom mirror, someone knocked on the bedroom door. I took one last look at my hair, which I’d left in loose waves to hang down around my hips, and then ran to the door. I opened it to find Odin standing there in an outfit that almost exactly matched mine.

“
What the hell?” I looked him up and down, black pants and blue silk shirt, just in a masculine style.

“
I guess great minds think alike,” he laughed.

“
Yeah,” I smirked, “and so do ours.” He laughed harder. “Maybe I should change; I don’t think it’s a good idea to look like the Bobbsey Twins tonight. People might think we're trying to make a statement.”

I turned and went to root through the cabinet at the foot of the bed. I heard him shut the bedroom door as I walked into the bathroom to change.

“If it makes you feel better, Vervain.” He called out, “but I think the verbal statement I make tonight will surpass anything a set of matching clothing could say.”

“
It does make me feel better,” I called back to him as I slipped the blue silk off and replaced it with a long sleeved, black sweater with a plunging V neckline.

When I came out of the bathroom, Odin turned to me with a smile. It froze on his face. He looked over the expanse of cleavage the top revealed and swallowed hard. Anyone else and I would have laughed, I would have teased, but with Odin, I could only stand there and feel the blush steal over my face, my knees suddenly filled with water and my heart running for the hills.

He cleared his throat, “Uh, you look beautiful.”

“
Thank you,” I brought up Trevor’s face in my mind and concentrated on it as I let Odin lead me out of the room and down to the dining hall.

The dining hall of Valaskjάlf wasn’t as big as Valhalla’s by any means but there was still more than enough room for all the gods Odin had invited. They filled the tables about halfway, staring up at me intensely as we took our places at the table on the dais. I don’t know why I’d assumed that all the gods there would be Norse, after all Blue was previously in league with Odin and he was the Aztec God of the Sun, but I was a little surprised to see the mix of ethnicity.

When I thought about it, I realized how silly I really was to be surprised over it. I mean originally they had all come from Atlantis. Brahma once told me that he hadn't started out looking Indian, it was human ego that altered him to look like his people. I needed to keep in mind the fact that they hadn’t started out that way. It was much easier to deal with gods when you realized they weren’t really gods at all, just an advanced civilization with powerful magic and great toys. Hmph, I wonder what the Atlantean race really looked like.

There actually were a lot of Nordic gods there but there were also some more exotic looking ones. It was the
We Are the World
god assortment. Middle Easterners sat next to Asians, a Greek spoke rapidly to a Indian(dot not feather) as an Egyptian listened in, and I even saw what appeared to be a Pacific Islander. I felt a little shiver when I looked at him; there was no mistaking the pure hatred he was shooting my way.

I briefly wondered if he was related to Ku. I hadn’t met another god in the Hawaiian pantheon since I’d killed Ku but I was pretty sure they knew I did it and even more sure that they were all pissed. Hawaiians were very into ohana, it's always family first. Ku had also been acquainted with Odin, he'd had the chant to get into Valhalla in his book. It was how I'd been able to get in the first time I'd come to Asgard. So it made sense that one of his brothers in his pantheon would be there.

Odin seated me next to him and I heard a whispering start to flow among the gods. I looked at Odin expectantly and he took a deep breath before standing to address them. Everyone quieted and gave him their full attention.

“
My friends,” Odin looked out at each of the men and women. “I’ve invited you all here to announce a huge change.” There were more mutterings but he held up a hand and silenced them. “We all know that taking power from sacrifice is not necessary. We don’t need to feed off humans any longer, we’re powerful enough on our own. We've war-mongered for so long that humanity has become a violent race. I fear for the well being of the planet and the people who have supported us, who have made us what we are. It is with these conclusions that I’ve made the decision to stop stealing their power and join with the Godhunter and my son, Thor.”

“
Odin this is outrageous!” A burly man with a
ZZ Top
beard and two long braids in his dark hair, one on each side of his face, stood up. “You can’t switch sides without speaking with us first. This is a decision for all of us to make.”

“
No, it’s not,” Odin squared his shoulders. “I haven’t decided for all of you. I’ve decided only for myself. You can stand beside me or you can leave now. There is
your
decision.”

Utter silence greeted Odin’s ultimatum, even I felt the breath catch in my throat. It wasn't the way I’d expected him to break it to them. I guess when you’ve ruled for so long, and over gods no less, you tend to get a little arrogant.

“We’ve stood beside you for centuries,” Mr.
ZZ Top
continued. “Now you’re going to cast us aside for a whore?”

“
Hey,” I frowned but before I could say anymore, Odin grabbed a spear off the wall behind him and chucked it across the room, straight into the protestor. “Holy shit!” I screamed and jumped to my feet, “Nice throw.”

The man was sprawled on the stone floor, with the spear sticking straight up out of his shoulder. Not a mortal blow for a god, nothing short of decapitation was fatal for them, but it still must’ve stung a bit. The man groaned and started to reach for the spear but Odin was there first. He grabbed the butt of the weapon and pressed the man back down with it.

Other gods were starting to stand and I mentally shook myself. I needed to use the opportunity to study their reactions... or look for an escape route. So I tried to stay calm and look around at all of them. Mostly there was shock but a few of them looked angry; ferociously, and potentially traitorously, angry. I tried to memorize their faces.

“
You’ll not speak ill of her, Bragi,” Odin waited for the man to nod vigorously before pulling out the spear. “She’s more honorable than most of you are and I won’t permit her to be slandered, especially since she's here as my guest. I’ve made my decision and I’ve given my reasons. Now you must each decide for yourselves which path to take.” He looked around the room. “I’m your leader but I’m giving you a choice out of friendship. That’s all I owe you… a choice. You have until tomorrow night to make it.”

He turned and strode back up to the table, replacing the spear on the wall before resuming his seat. He motioned to one of the dead warriors that served him, and dinner was placed before everyone. I stared at the thick slice of prime rib, blood seeping out of it portentously, before looking over at Odin.

“That went well,” I lifted my wine in salute.

“
Did you notice anything?”

“
You mean besides you spearing a man in defense of my honor?” I smiled at him and I couldn’t keep the warmth from filling my eyes. What can I say? It was romantic in a barbaric madman sort of way.

“
Yes, besides that,” Odin’s lips twitched but he eyed me with a matching heat, well maybe his heat was a tad warmer.

“
There were a few faces that appeared to be very disgruntled but I’ll have to do some more research before I’m sure.” I looked away from his piercing gaze. “We’ll see who leaves tomorrow, that'll at least help narrow it down. You’re lucky we didn’t start a riot. Maybe my presence here wasn’t such a good idea.”