Hellraiser, page 7
I slowed my pace and turned to see my friend Emili, and her boyfriend, Graham, heading my way. My eyes watered. Seeing him brought back to life, I leaped forward and gave him the tightest bear hug possible.
“What’s that for, kiddo?” Graham asked.
I pulled back and wiped away my sniffle, trying to ignore their perplexed gazes. “Nothing, just so great to see you two.” I bit back my tears, despite my lip quivering. I wouldn’t breakdown right here on the sidewalk. What good would that do?
Graham had that whole college thing down. His baseball cap was turned around backward, and his face glowed with youth. There were no lines of fatigue, worry, or even that he’d ever experienced a harrowing escapade. I wasn’t going to make him any the wiser.
“You’re a sobbing mess. What happened? Did you see the grades posted?” Emili asked. “Have you seen Chi? It’s like she’s up and disappeared. We’ve been worried about you both.”
I looked down at my feet. Right now, I felt like every movement was being scrutinized as the seconds stretched out.
“I was just headed back to my room. It’s been a long night.”
They nodded as if understanding my answer.
“Things have been strange around here for sure,” Emili continued. “Ola has changed so much.”
“Ola’s here?” My heart banged in my chest like it was going to break a rib or two. “Where is she?”
“She was last in the library doing some research on Norse mythology. You know Ola. She isn’t one to not prepare for an exam.”
I broke away and dashed toward the library, despite their calling after me. Ola was the only one who would have answers on what happened, and how we could fix it.
I weaved through the students leaving and on their way to classes, brushing against book bags, dodging couples who walked beside each other, and ducking between the smallest of gaps until I made my way into the golden-accented building that still had some of its original 1970s décor.
Up the winding staircase, I slowed to a speed walk, glancing in the stacks and looking for that pink hat. Ola always wore her signature look.
Deep in the stacks, I finally saw the bit of pink. After moving closer, I noticed that Ola sat in the silent section of the library, and before her, rested a thick tome that resembled a magical and ancient Harry Potter book of spells. Except, this one seemed to be bound in blackened leather from the edges, and the pages were browned from age. She wore white gloves.
“Talk about going to the source for information,” I whispered and took a seat across from her.
She blanched, and her friendly face was replaced with one of shock.
“Are you surprised to see me here?” I asked a little bit louder than I’d intended, only to be confronted with several “shhhs” by the other patrons.
A part of me wanted to ask all the questions, scream for her to answer and share her secrets. But secrets were what each of us carried with our pain.
“I know you wish to discuss things, and there is much that I wish to share with you, Sif, but this is not the time. I need to find answers before it is too late.”
I slammed my hand down on the wooden table, and Ola jumped. With all eyes on me, I leaned forward. “It is already too late. Chi is dead, and it is your fault.”
“Is that what you think? I never knew that they would…that they would allow such.”
“You helped them, didn’t you? You’ve been Hel’s follower all this time, and here I thought you were our friend. We treated you like a sister, and you betrayed us.”
“Let me explain.”
“No, you have her blood on your hands. I don’t need your explanations.” I pushed back from the chair and stomped toward the glass doors.
“Wait! But I know how to bring her back. That’s …that’s why I’m here.”
I stopped. My hand on the door’s silver handle. “How can I trust you?”
“Because she is my friend, too. If I can help, I will.” She moved to my side, took my hand, and led me back to the table, back to the black book.
“You are going to have to trust me here.”
She ran her gloved fingertips over the page’s words, and they moved, forming runes, including the rune of awe.
“The clock is ticking on this, and our being able to resurrect her.”
“But you were able to help with the mad king.”
“He was different, nonhuman. Chi doesn’t have that going for her. She is just stubborn and human.”
I nodded my understanding.
“But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something we can do.”
“And what is that?”
“The book speaks of a necromancer that once fell in love with a dragon. Her powers mixed with his, and they resurrected his army.”
A dragon? That would be something to decimate the enemy. Wish we had one in our back pocket.
“What does that have to do with Chi?”
“If we find the necromancer,” Ola said, “he’ll be able to reach into the in-between, the ether, and pull her back into her earthly body.”
“Are you sure he will have that power? This sounds like a long shot.”
“It’s the only hope we have. If we want Chi back, then we have to get the pieces back together and find one powerful enough.”
I could only hope that Chi wasn’t too far gone into the other world. Taking a cleansing breath, I leaned forward, watching the runes speak even more. “What do I need to do?”
Ola shifted her body next to my own. “It‘s out of your hands, dear Sif. But I trust that you will remember that I gave my all to help.” She took my hand and placed a scrawled-upon piece of paper into it.
“What is this?”
“The address to the necromancer. I must go and find the last stone to stop the mad king.”
“No, that isn’t how this works.” I wasn’t simply going to let her go, my only ally.
“It is my handiwork that has brought him back to life. I can be the best of rogues, track down the stone, and then we have a bargaining tool. The runes say this is the only way to make this right.”
“The runes can also lie, be influenced by what you think is right, but not what is right.”
“I can’t let the world perish because of my overzealous heart.” Her sorrow welled in her eyes. But tears did nothing without action afterward.
I gripped her forearm. “You can’t run from this. The best plan is that we do this together. It isn’t just the mad king who we need to stop, or even Chi to resurrect. But also, the Dark Elves that continue to prey on those nearby. We need to be the resistance and find other soldiers.”
“The magic is too strong, that is why they don’t see it. Heck, even you don’t see what is really here.” She moved her hands over my eyes, and I gasped.
The reality before me flickered, and instead of the busy college and library with its clean stacks, I looked through the stacks to the paranormal window that overlooked the campus—but it was severely damaged. The dorms, tall towers, had gaping craters in the burnt façade, and in between the students below. A thick gust of wind blew.
I saw other supernaturals moving in between—most I couldn’t identify through type, but their auras lit up like Christmas lights in blues, greens, reds, and golds. To the right, over the tree line, smoke still rose from the city.
“This isn’t real?” I gasped.
“Perception is everything.”
“Come, I know someone we need to meet, and she might have more tools to help end all of this.”
14
Thor
Nothing.
Odin’s response seemed unmeasured, practically meek in light of the javelin’s appearance. Thor had known his father to toss one knife into the air and kill all of those who encircled him before the knife even landed.
But this, this meekness.
“My beloved, my Frigga is gone,” Odin cried. Frigga meant beloved, and even to his own ears, it sounded strange for his father to no longer regard Freyja as the golden goddess of life as she’d always been.
Someone knew that the best way to castrate Odin was to use Freyja, and it now worked.
It reminded him of the stories of Vili and Ve. The silent ones. They’d not been active since before Baldr and Nana departed for Helheim. Deep under the caverns of Valhalla, they rested, encased in large golden sarcophaguses, guarded by one lone Valkyrie.
Kara made her way to his side. “Dear Prince, I think it best if we take our leave.”
Thor sighed. The problem with being the son of the All-Father was that one should never question the All-Father. That weighed on Thor as he sought to balance out what it meant to be the savior of mankind, as well as his feelings for Sif.
Loki stood next to him, and behind his mask, he could still decipher Loki’s calculations: he was planning his mischief, his dissent, his treachery against Asgard for Sif’s cause.
Maybe if he, too, were stronger, he’d bow down to what it meant to be so in love to risk it all, for that was what Loki was doing—risking hide and hair for a woman who sought to love him deeply.
Right now, the shadow of his father loomed over him. And no matter how strong he was, that, and of who he was, cemented his feet. He would not disobey his father’s wishes.
“Will you truly do nothing?” Loki inquired. Thor cast a glance at his father, who seemed to ignore the army right on the other side of the wall. “I’ve never known you to be patient.” Loki paused. “You have to do something. She has no idea what she shall be up against.”
“It is you that she cares for. Maybe you are the one who should be worried and concerned for her wellbeing. I must protect Asgard and Midgard from the giants.”
“Midgard now lies in waste, and you sit here staring upon your father’s figure as if he shall rise with glorious news.”
“Don’t rile me up about my duties.”
“You are failing all those who might celebrate the great Thor’s Day by betraying the only ally we have to right this grand wrong against humanity.”
Thor shook his head. “She doesn’t need my help, for the wonderful Sif will become a legend in her own right, and she can then say that she did it without the mighty Thor’s help.”
A loud “whuff” went up, and the army at the wall maneuvered, parting, and in the center, traveled a black coach driven by a skeletal steed. So, she wouldn’t come by proxy but would show her face for this grand insult.
“Leave now, Kara and Loki, before the gates are closed,” Thor said and clenched his jaw. The tension knot forced his lips to thin and his voice to tighten. “Shall you stay, then dear Sif will have even fewer allies than before.”
Heimdall moved in the spot where Kara and Loki once stood. “Your father has not ordered you to remain here.”
“Not yet, and what sort of son would I be if I did not care about the wellbeing of my mother? Do you have Chi’s body at your watchtower?”
“I take it that you have a plan?”
Heimdall’s voice and insinuation were as smooth as the best Scotch he’d tasted on Midgard. “In this mood, he will be out for blood, and Sif will need all of the help she can get.”
Thor lowered his voice. “Once this is done, we raise Chi. If he finds out that Kara went to assist the woman, she will pay a horrible price.”
Thor knew the risk. Kara could lose her Valkyrie status, stripped and cast down to Earth, like an angel losing her wings. “To protect Sif, it will be worth it.”
Thor hung back. His father would surely throw down the gauntlet, a rash decision. Honor was never an easy cloak to wear. He couldn’t walk away from his duty, that to his father, his home, or his ideals.
When the gates opened and in sauntered Lady Hel and her entourage, Odin turned to him, and through clenched teeth, put down the limits he knew were coming. “You are to remain outside for this meeting, son, and remain here in Asgard, as surely I will need your help in finding your mother. There is a rebel among us who has caused us great harm, and I will pluck her out, boil her bones to find the truth.”
And Odin never made an empty threat.
15
Lady Hel
Perfection sparkled. Under the high sun, in the field, the soldiers practiced, and the light refracted off their blades, shields, and studded armor.
They grunted as the soldiers maneuvered, banged, and clashed.
The road back to the throne wouldn’t be an easy one. High on her perch, Lady Hel stood on the balcony and stared down at her soldiers. The large hellhounds would be ready.
This was all pretend. It wasn’t like she needed all these men to help bring Alfheim down to its knees. They were aligned with Asgard, and they would need the Vanir to assist them.
The battleground would be Midgard—what they all sought to dominate.
No, the best way to change all of this would be to make sure the Light Elves knew that in their best interest, they should bow to the Alder King, again. He was their king after all.
Even now, Harley sat in the green room, planning his attack. A direct attack at that, and it wouldn’t go down well, at all. No, to win, they would need to capture the hearts of those there. To make sure that those on Midgard felt heard, respected. How long had the gods crapped all over them? Under Harley’s rule, things had been a lot better, after all.
“Time to appear like an angel of light,” she said and moved to her boudoirs. White was not her color, but the elves appreciated beauty more than anything else.
She glanced at all the clothes she’d collected: tons of black and leather. If she wanted to, she could strut out with a latex black catsuit on, with whips, chains, and shiny boots. Even more, she could then use that whip and those chains to bind her enemies.
Garmr sauntered to her side, took a peek into the closet, turned and went to heel at its entrance.
He’d been disappearing a lot lately. Thoughts of family flickered by. Her son, Erich, was hoping the power of true love might resolve any of his mistakes, while Raven, her daughter, decided to hunt the undead, like her, in Midgard. The only child who seemed gracious enough was Althea, but even she just sought to bring joy to this sometimes-dark place.
Darkness had its place, just as light.
In the wisp of darkness, one discovered character, strength, and rebirth. The womb was indeed a dark place. In darkness, we had begun, and to the darkness we would return.
Garmr barked, and Hel turned around to see Harley staring at her. His sword sheathed to his side, while a forest-green cloak hung over his black armor.
“Going somewhere, my lord?” she asked, only to turn her attention back to the fashion at hand.
“An idea just hit me. People never know what they are made of until you open them up and reveal it to them, dear. Instead, the best attack would be to eliminate the Valkyrie. Sif has one in her little group. What is her name?”
“Kara,” Hel answered, shifting through the designer closet of apparel. That was one thing she did love about her time on Earth, discovering the grand fashions.
“To make Odin stumble, Asgard needs to not only lose Freyja, their beloved queen, but also the queen’s general in command, Kara. They would be crestfallen without her, distracted even—”
“To not lend a hand to their allies?”
“There is nothing like the love of a woman. We men will do anything for the ones we love, even die for it.”
He moved in the room and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“And what do you suppose, to pluck the Valkyrie’s wings?”
Valkyries didn’t have wings, though. They were godlike beings in their own right, assisting in the recovery of the dead and leading the brave to Asgard. Over the years, they’d been numerous things, most often regarded as shield maidens, ready to fight.
“What will you do, wait until they transform into ravens and pluck them?”
Harley’s hands paused. “It could be one of our greatest feats yet, stripping a Valkyrie of her honor, her duty.”
“And serve as a great distraction for our invasion. General Einar will cull enough in Midgard to either feed his soldiers or have them in service to the cause.”
“And if there is any resistance?”
Lady Hel paused as if she were thinking of options. “Those who disobey or resist will receive the most suitable of punishments: capital punishment. There is no place in my ranks for those who will not obey my commands.”
“They will either bow or die. Only the prophecy shall defeat us, and I shall slay it first.”
In Harley’s eyes, she saw that his gaze had again become clouded by words that only he could hear. The missing last stone in his crown returned to her side, the mad king, and not the one with all of his wits about him.
But she would not belittle his ingenious plans, for genius they were.
16
Sif
Ola and I traveled to the address on the piece of paper. The necromancer resided in the area controlled by the Elves, in an apartment that used to be Shockoe Bottom.
The area was still thriving as humans mulled around like it was a normal day. This used to be my stomping ground when I’d leave the university for a drink at the local brewery overlooking the river.
Where were the supernatural beings that once lived here? Surely, Midgard used to be protected.
We made our way up the elevator to the penthouse. Whoever this guy was, even in these dark times, he lacked nothing, as he was one of the few who could still touch the sky. He had to be someone. The nobodies were relegated to the hovels below ground, while the middle class could walk on the streets without persecution, and those of the one percent could truly touch the sky and had very nice unobstructed views.
They gained an amazing view, to only then see the sky falling.
“I think this is a bad idea,” I whispered to Ola. “What if he isn’t here?”
