Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) (2 page)

T
he grip
on my katana tightened as I stared at the guy at the top of the crater. I wasn’t sure who he was or how he’d gotten ahold of Haijiku, the magical sword I’d recovered in Hades, but I was damned sure going to find out. Then I was going to pry it from his cold dead hands. I mean, he could just give it to me, but something told me he wouldn’t. Call it a hunch.

As I inhaled slowly, I pulled power from Isis, causing blue light to flicker along the blade’s edge so the symbols on the snow white metal lit up like Christmas tree lights. Then I muttered a word and leapt. My magic-fueled muscles sent me out of the crater with relative ease, which was good because my normal muscles were already sore and all I’d done was walk about half a mile. Sigh.

I landed in front of him and set my face to “I will mess up your whole day and it won’t mean anything to me.” His eyes widened as I casually flicked my left hand toward Haijiku. “Where did you get that?”

“Most recently? Your dad gave it to me.” The blond looked down at the sword in his hand and watched the butterflies etched into its black metal flit to and fro. That meant he’d awakened Haijiku somehow, but that seemed impossible since he wasn’t a Dioscuri.

I mean, he could have been, but I would have thought I’d have remembered him if he was. No, while he seemed familiar, he definitely wasn’t a Dioscuri. He was something else, and as I tried to reach out toward him with my power, I found nothing save for a seething endless hunger. That wasn’t good. Not even a little bit. I’d felt everything from fairies to Greek gods, and this guy wasn’t any of those things.

“Why would he do that?” I asked, searching his face for clues but came up empty. Still, it felt like I’d met him before, like I should remember him. Well, that was annoying. “And what do you mean by ‘most recently?’ Have you gotten it multiple times?”

“Those big computers in the main office told him to do it. You know, the ones he claims are inhabited by the Greek fates.” He shrugged and gave me a “I just work here” smile. “Before that, you gave it to me.”

“I did no such thing,” I snapped, ignoring the part where he said the computers wanted him to wield Haijiku. That seemed crazy, but then again, they often suggested things that seemed crazy. Either way, I didn’t give a damn what some broken down computers said. That sword was mine, so I did the only thing I could. I held out my hand palm up and stared at him as hard as I could. “Give Haijiku back to me.”

“While you may not have been in control of your faculties when you gave me this blade,” he shook his head, and I felt the power of the Emissary stretching like an ancient cat in the weapon. Was he calling on the blade? Surely not. “There’s no way I’m giving it to you.”

“Or I can just take it from you,” I quipped, annoyance filling my voice. “You have no idea who I am or what I’m
really
capable of.”

“That could be,” he said as a sly smile spilled across his lips. “But you also do not know who I am.” Ice began to crackle in the air around us as a chilly gust of wind swept through the city and made gooseflesh sprout on my flesh. “I am Famine.” Ice whipped through the air between us as frost spread across the ground. “And I hunger endlessly. You will
not
take anything from me.”

Before I could respond, he held the sword up between us so light played off its darkened edge, and the distinct sound of thousands of rustling wings filled my ears. A sudden wave of panic washed through me. He was calling the Emissary to speak to me. How was that possible? Even I couldn’t have done that, and I was pretty damned gifted in the whole “talking to spirits through your weapons” arena.

“Pleased to see you again, Lillim,” the Emissary said in its “the prince of darkness is my bitch” voice. “Been awhile.”

“It has,” I said very carefully. Okay, that wasn’t true. I didn’t actually speak out loud because I’d have just looked like I was talking to myself and who needs that brand of crazy. No, I just reached out toward Haijiku with my mind.

“I’m staying with Ian,” it said as the Emissary’s familiar cheshire cat grin filled my mind’s eye. “He’s going to let me eat Loki and all his minions. I know you can promise more, but your promises have a way of ending up unfulfilled. As I recall, you still owe me a dragon.” That was actually true. I had promised I’d let him eat a dragon, and thus far, I hadn’t delivered. I could see how that’d be irksome from his point of view. Still, I wasn’t Domino’s.

“While that’s a valid point,” I replied. “I—”

A sudden blast of cold grabbed me, chilling me in a way that was far beyond what normal snow and ice could do.

“Don’t you dare try to take me, or I’ll eat you instead.” The Emissary looked me up and down, and I got the distinct feeling he was sizing me up. That wasn’t good because the last thing I needed right now was to get into a fight. I was at least three cheeseburgers from being able to throw down with Haijiku. “As it stands now, I bet I can do it before you can blink three times. Wanna find out?”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. It wasn’t that I was scared exactly. No, it was more that trying to control a sword that didn’t want to help me would be pointless. Dioscuri weapons only provided help if the spirit and the user were aligned. That wouldn’t happen with the Emissary like this. Besides, I had Isis, and I somehow doubted the two weapons would play nicely together. The best thing I could do was trust in the computers. I wasn’t sure what this guy’s deal was, but if they wanted him to use Haijiku, well, I’d have to trust them. For now.

“Excellent.” The Emissary smirked at me, and the laughter on his face sent another chill zipping across my flesh. “Find me when this is all over Lillim, you promised me a dragon, and I plan to collect.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I exclaimed aloud as it vanished from my mind which made my cry about as useful as yelling into a telephone after someone had hung up. Well, that was just perfect.

“What did it tell you?” Ian asked, glancing at Haijiku as a particularly adventurous monarch butterfly landed on the tip of the weapon and flapped its wings twice. Ian watched the insect for a while before his eyes dropped to the weapon in his hand, giving me the distinct impression the Emissary was talking to him. He wasn’t a Dioscuri. He shouldn’t have been able to communicate with Haijiku, but there it was.

“He says you’re going to let him eat Loki and all the denizens of Hell, and while I might allow him a feast fit for the queen of crows herself, it’s not even on par.” I let out a slow breath and anger I hadn’t realized I’d felt, vanished along with it. “That’s not a very nice sword you have here. It’s killed millions. Sure, most of them deserved to die, but you can’t take that much life without it twisting you a little bit.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” Ian replied, even though I could tell from the look on his face he didn’t believe it.

“I believe you believe that, but remember, sometimes letting go of power is the right thing to do. Sometimes it hurts to give up what we’ve fought so hard for. In the end, strength is only as good as the hand who wields it.” I bit my lip. “Right now, I think Haijiku, even though it
is
mine, is better served in your hand.” I reached out before I could stop myself and touched his cheek with my hand. As I did, I realized he’d been locked in my dream world and had tried to warn me. I wasn’t sure if it had really been him, but I sort of wanted to think it was. “Thanks for trying to warn me by the way.”

“If I said I have no idea what you’re talking about, would you believe me?” Ian replied, pulling away from me, which was when I realized I’d been touching him. I barely even touched my boyfriend, so why had I touched him? Yeah, it was pretty sad, I know. What can I say? I had never been into that touchy feely stuff.

“Yes.” I smiled because I was pretty sure if I explained why I was thanking him, I’d seem insane, and I’d had just about enough of trying to prove I was sane. Besides, I didn’t need his acceptance.

“So why were you down in the crater?” Ian asked, gesturing at the broken glass below. “Seems like a dangerous place for a nap.”

“I was trying to see if I could hear my other sword.” I held my katana out in front of myself. “It’s the twin to this one. Last time I lost them, they found their way back to the crater, but unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. I couldn’t even hear the faintest trace of my blade’s presence. Whatever Jormungand did to that blade has hidden it from my senses. It almost makes me want to find his corpse and kick it around, you know, if I wanted to go back to the place where I was possessed and forced to murder innocent people while trapped in a dream world designed to make me think I’m crazy.”

“Yeah, I’d pass on that,” Ian replied, and the look in his eyes became far off and distant for a second. “I was possessed by Jormungand only briefly, but even that was enough to make me kill one of my best friends.”

My shoulders sagged because I remembered watching myself beat him to a living pulp while I’d been possessed. It was a miracle I hadn’t killed anyone.

“Is that so?” I asked, thankful I didn’t have to deal with that kind of guilt.

“You know, it’s not your fault, right?” Ian said as pain spread across his face. He took a step closer to me and invading my personal space. “I know I felt like it was my fault, and sometimes I still do, but…”

“You know, I don’t believe you at all, but I still like hearing it.” And because he looked like a sad puppy and had been trying to comfort me, I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. As soon as I did it, my cheeks flushed. Why had I done that?

“Ian, can you come to the control room right now?” my dad’s voice boomed, and Ian turned toward the sound at the same time I did. My dad was no longer standing there. Instead a hologram of him stood there, he looked like Obi-Wan Kenobi minus all the cool Jedi stuff. My father had a smile on his lips that told me he’d seen me kiss Ian on the cheek and it amused him. “We have a major problem.”

A
s Ian turned to go
, I moved to follow him, mostly because I was curious as to what my father wanted. Before I could make it even a few steps, however, something exploded against my senses like a stick of dynamite. I stumbled while simultaneously trying to turn toward whatever was coming and raise my katana.

Whatever this was felt strong. Power radiated outward as it approached with all the finality of a giant meteor. This was not the kind of power I’d felt when fighting gods. No, this felt dark and malevolent. This felt like destruction given form, and it was coming straight toward me. Fast.

“Ian,” I called as he disappeared from view. He hadn’t so much as shot a backward glance at the source of our coming destruction. Could he not feel this coming toward us, or did he just not care? I wanted to know, but not as much as I wanted to not be here when whatever this was showed up. I mean, okay, I was tough, but whatever this was, well, it scared the crap out of me. Still, I wasn’t going to let it take me without a fight. If there was any chance of stopping it, no matter how small, I had to take it.

I swallowed hard, took a look around, and sprinted toward the gates of Lot as quickly as I could. My heart pounded in my chest as I ran with everything I had. If I could make it inside the gates before this thing arrived, I could call upon whatever residual power lay stored in the magical city. I’d done it before, and I could do it again.

To be fair, I wasn’t sure it’d work, nor was I sure how much strength was still stored in the runes augmenting the lay lines crisscrossing the city’s streets, but at the moment I didn’t have a choice. There was no way this thing wasn’t showing up on the sensors, but my dad had called Ian away, anyway. Did that mean he thought I could handle it?

I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but come Hell or high water, I was going to find out. Besides, what kind of Dioscuri would I be if I ran away? I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on Isis’s hilt as my foot touched the cobblestones lining the entryway into the city and thanked my lucky stars the gate was open. Well, not open so much as it was missing.

The hinges of the metal gate were twisted, making me think the gate itself had been torn off in a battle, but I hadn’t remembered that happening. Had this happened while I’d been asleep? I wasn’t sure, but right now, I was just glad it was down because I didn’t have time to open it.

As I whirled around to face the oncoming power, I sucked in a breath and concentrated. My lungs expanded as I pulled power through the city’s streets causing the runes laid among the cobbles to glow like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Magic surged up through my feet and crackled along my skin like electricity. It filled me up like a water balloon, and even though I shouldn’t have done so, I kept pulling power into me until I was fit to burst. My vision tunneled down the center, and my head began to pound as I raised my katana and prepared to release it all the second whatever this was touched down. Hopefully, that happened before I exploded.

“Go away!” I called, pointing my crackling katana at the figure as it landed on the blackened dirt a few feet in front of me.

He wasn’t super tall, standing only about a foot taller than me, and I was five-foot nothing. He took a step forward, and as he did, I realized he didn’t seem terribly menacing. No, whoever this was lacked the confidence that usually came with being as strong as he felt. Interesting, but not enough to keep me from blasting him.

His dark cloak billowed around him as he raised his hands up in front of him in that universal “I mean you no harm” gesture, and instead of coming toward me, he raised his head and met my eyes. As he did it, my heart nearly stopped.

“Connor?” I asked, and as I said his name, he smirked at me and finger-combed his badly-dyed green hair out of his face.

“Hey, Lillim.” He looked me up and down, making no effort to show he liked what he saw. I hate to say it, but I liked it a touch more than I should have. “Been a while.”

“How the hell are you here?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief as I let the magic I’d gathered dissipate. It flowed back out of me and into the city like rainwater, and as it did, a wash of cold air swept over me. Calling that much power is never super fun, and the aftereffects hit me like a wrecking ball. My stomach twisted and my vision went hazy. Still, I fought those sensations down. This was my city after all, and it wouldn’t allow me to fall.

Then again, maybe it was the sight of Connor standing there that made me able to push back the haze. Curiosity and cat killing and all that.

My dad had told me Connor was alive, but I hadn’t expected to find him like this. No, he’d been some geeky kid who had helped me around my classes in high school before being sucked into Ancient Egypt. He’d been the epitome of normal, and now, well, he probably had enough power to knock down Kevin Nash with one finger and take the WCW championship with ease. Yeah, I saw that.

“I flew.” He took a step toward me, and as he did, he turned toward the sky and gestured with one hand. “Or did you miss my sweet entrance?” He shrugged. “I thought about doing a superhero landing and cracking the ground. You know, send power flying in every direction, but I also didn’t want you to blast me.” He quirked a smile at me. “It wasn’t super fun when your dad did it before.” He nodded at the still glowing runes filling the street behind me. “And the runes didn’t glow half as brightly then.”

So my dad had blasted him with the whole force of Lot… and he’d survived? That wasn’t good. It meant he was strong in a way I couldn’t fathom, and well, I didn’t like things that strong. I tended to kill them. As I had that thought, I realized I was scouring him for weaknesses and vulnerabilities so I could strike him down. Only, this was Connor. He wouldn’t hurt me, right? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance. Not after everything I’d been through.

“Your entrance was fine,” I replied evenly as he closed the distance between us and reached out with one hand. He was covered from head to toe in familiar seeming decorative medieval armor, and his hand was no exception.

“Admit it. You’re impressed,” he said, touching my face with one gauntlet-covered hand. A spark of cold leapt from his fingers as he touched me. Actually, cold wasn’t quite the right way to describe it. It was more like a void trying to suck in everything and anything. Heat merely disappeared into him.

“I was impressed when you opened a car door for me,” I replied, taking a step away from him so he wasn’t touching me. A pained look flashed across his face for an instant, but instead of turning it on me, he looked at his hand for a long time before dropping it to his side. “You don’t need to try to act cool.”

“Sorry,” he said, heaving out the word in a breath that seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. “I’m still not used to this whole destroyer thing.”

“Destroyer thing?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him, and as I did, I realized I still had a white-knuckled grip on Isis.

Power flitted across the Egyptian hieroglyphs etched into the snow white blade, casting sapphire sparks into the air. I wasn’t sure if he’d noticed my display of power, but if he had, he didn’t say anything. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d unconsciously charged the weapon with nervous energy, and that was a bit scary. I should have had better control, and while I wanted to blame it on a myriad of reasons, I knew it was pointless.

He touched his chest with his hand. “When Thes got me, well…” he shook his head before he could say more. “It’s probably better if you don’t know more. Every time I’ve tried to explain it to your people, they just try to kill me.” A sad smile played across his lips as he looked off into the distance like he was remembering something. “I don’t want you to try to kill me. Especially since I’m on your side.”

I didn’t quite believe what he’d said was actually true because even though he didn’t say anything else, it really seemed like he had left off the words “for now.”

“Okay…” I said, unsure of what to make of that. Everything about him felt wrong in a way that made me think we’d one day be enemies, but at the same time, this was Connor. He’d been about as dangerous as a teddy bear. “I’m going to allow it this one time.” I made myself loosen my hold on Isis. “Why are you here, and why are you dressed like Arthas from World of Warcraft?”

“Because there must always be a Lich King.” He smiled at me. “I’m surprised you noticed.”

“You’ll come to find I’m keenly aware of all things,” I said, wondering where he’d found time to make such an elaborate costume.

“Yeah, well, you’re one of the only people who noticed.” He smirked. “Anyway, this is going to sound crazy, but Thes knows where your other sword is.” He gestured toward Isis with one hand. “He sent me to help you get it because you’ll need it if we’re going to help stop Ragnarok.”

“Assuming I believe that, why didn’t Thes come himself?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at Connor. This seemed crazy and not in a good way. I remembered Thes, and as far as werewolves went, well, he’d been reasonably formidable. Not only that, but he’d been a genuinely good guy. He was one of those Captain America types. The kind who did the right thing even when no one else would, and while part of me hated him for it, most of me was secretly jealous.

I wasn’t sure what had happened to him after he’d ventured into Ancient Egypt to recover Connor’s soul, but if it was anything like what happened to Connor, I was in for a world of surprise.

“That’s the part you have trouble with?” Connor asked, and his dopey grin returned as he shook his head. “Seriously?”

“Uh, yeah?” I replied, putting one fist on my hip. “I’m a member of a race of people trained from birth to fight monsters.” I let out a slow breath as I gestured at him with my magic katana. “So you’re going to say something like ‘we’re going to go rescue Set from a horde of monsters’ and I’m going to go with you and do that, but I’d like to know what Thes is doing right about now, funk soul brother.”

“Well, yeah, okay.” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Thes is leading the charge toward Yggdrasil. He’s trying to displace Loki’s forces so we can break inside.” Connor smiled conciliatorily, like he felt guilty for bringing it up. I mean, okay, what he’d said sounded odd, but I was reasonably familiar with Ragnarok because I was a monster hunter. It seemed logical a battle at Yggdrasil would happen, but I still wasn’t sure why Thes was there leading the charge. Was there truly no one else or was he just that strong now? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that question.

If he was strong enough to have pulled the leadership position, it meant he’d really changed, and changes like that seldom happened for the positive. Thes was one of the good ones, and the idea of forcing him into that position, of handing him that much power, scared me on his behalf. On the other hand, if he was just as strong as before, did that mean no one else was able to take up the charge? If that was the case, I might be walking into an absolute slaughter, and I’d lost way too many friends, allies, and family to deal with that.

“You know what,” I said, waving off his story with one hand because if I tried to understand it now, I was going to give myself an aneurysm. It was probably better to take things one step at a time, and first thing was first, I needed to find my sword. “Let’s just go get my sword.”

“Just like that?” he asked, shock melting across his face as he looked me over. Evidently, he’d expected more resistance from me, and while I understood why, it was immediately obvious he didn’t understand me. I was Lillim Callina, and I had one method of solving problems. Punching it in the face until it stopped being one. Killing monsters and rescuing my sword was firmly within my wheelhouse.

“Yeah,” I replied, taking a step toward him and offering my free hand to him. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to fly. Fancy playing Superman, Connor?”

“Don’t you even want to know where we’re going?” he said, reaching out and taking my offered hand. Even through his weird armor, the touch of the void emanating from him danced across my flesh. I bit down the urge to pull my hand away. I knew Connor wouldn’t appreciate it, especially after I’d offered to be his Lois Lane. No, it was time to put my big girl pants on and let him carry me, even if touching him was like having my insides smothered in darkness.

“Is it after a horde of monsters?” I asked, calling upon Isis’s power in an effort to shield me from whatever Connor had become. As the goddess’s power flowed through me, extinguishing his void touch, I shot him a smile.

“Yes, but not just any monsters.” He pulled me close, and before I realized what had happened, he had one arm wrapped around my waist. As his chest pressed against my back, a strange sense of familiarity settled over me, but I couldn’t understand why. “We’re going after Hrym. The captain of Naglfar.”

I didn’t respond because that probably would have pleased him, but I should have. I should have said to leave me here. I should have turned my happy ass around and marched straight back to my bed because clearly I’d gotten up on the wrong side of it. I didn’t do that, but I wanted to do it. A lot.

Naglfar was the ship loaded with the worst of the worst of the Norse’s warriors and was destined to bring those bastards to earth’s shores to wage war upon the gods. And Hrym? Well, he was a frost giant of untold power and the captain of said death ship.

Fighting him wouldn’t be easy. Hell, I wasn’t sure it was possible. Still, I’d been acting brave, and I couldn’t let my armor of bravado fail now. If it did, I might not take a step out of Lot, and at the moment, I had to move forward, no matter the consequences. After all, that’s what my mother would have done, and after everything, I was going to make her proud.

“So what you’re saying is my sword is being held hostage by a giant on a ship full of zombies,” I said and was somewhat surprised at how confident I sounded. “I thought this was going to be tough. I’ll have my sword back before lunch.”