Dead Embers(12)

Shaking off the sad memory, I asked, "I thought you paired yourself with Joshua for this mission?"

"He is a Warrior. You are a Valkyrie."

I raised an eyebrow. Tell me something I don't know?

Fen added, "I have discovered something a Valkyrie should see. And I will show you, if you are done falling down and screaming like a little girl." He turned on his heel and started walking up the hill.

I gritted my teeth, wanting to growl my frustration but unable to react. Fen was my superior after all. Instead I asked, "So where are we going?"

"Orange County. Webster's Cemetery."

Well, that sure was specific.

I bit my tongue. It made no difference to me where we went, just as long as we got this job done and went home to Asgard as soon as possible.

When we reached the ridge, it became clear we'd been standing in a little ditch right beside a highway, thankfully out of sight of the passing motorists. Great. Let's hope we didn't have to come back here during rush hour to return home.

Fen strode toward a dented grey sedan with whitewall tires, parked in the breakdown lane on the side of the road, its hazard lights on and gleaming like a pair of sinister amber eyes. And then the most surprising, incongruous sight since I'd entered the world of gods, giants and dragons appeared before my eyes: Fen pulled a set of car keys from the leather pouch at his waist and opened the door.

"You have a car?" I blinked.

He reached inside and unlocked the passenger-side door. "I have acquired a vehicle, yes. The Bifrost opened far from where we need to go, and time is of the essence. Get in."

I shook my head, amazed. "You have a license?"

He scowled at me over the roof of the dilapidated car. "What is a license? I have a car. We will need no other Midgard devices."

I snorted. "Do you even know how to drive this thing, Fen?" I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer. Fen taking driving lessons was just not something I could picture.

"Yes, Valkyrie, I am able to drive this vehicle. Now could we please hurry? Time is of the essence."

Whatever you say, Fen.

I jumped in, buckled up and choked on a gasp as he released the hand brake and veered out onto the road. Without. Checking. His. Mirror.

Flaming heck. The wolf man so wanted to kill me.

"Pull over," I said with the utmost calm, trying not to grip my nails into the dashboard.

"What?" he asked, looking at me.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" I yelled. He whipped his attention back onto the road and braked hard to avoid rear-ending the car in front of us. I let out a strangled scream and shouted, "Fen, for the love of Odin, pull the car over."

"What is it you wish me to do, Bryn? Pull over or keep my eyes on the road?" He scowled, flicked a nervous glance at me and threw his attention straight back onto the road.

"Pull the frickin' car over. You are not driving. No way." I glared at him through narrowed eyes, then winced as he stared back, taking his eyes off the road. Again. The car swerved across the median. A horrendous honking yanked his attention back to the oncoming truck, and he wrenched the steering wheel to the right just in time. Tires screeched; the battered sedan fishtailed before straightening.

I'd survived a battle with a fire giant. Death by fire giant would have been a worthy end to my life. I could handle that.

I just couldn't handle knowing I was going to be road kill.

Fen didn't say anything more. He just pulled over, without even signaling.

I jumped out of the car and ran around to open Fen's door before he had time to release his seatbelt. I folded my arms and grunted, pretty annoyed at almost meeting death head on because of him. Again. If anything, this was worse than being thrown off a cliff with only a wish and a prayer.

He got out, and strangely he seemed taller. I had to crane my head to look up at him.

No way, dude. You better not pull the whole wolf-man thing now.

His lip curled into a grin as he walked around the car to the passenger side. So he found this amusing. Well, good for him.

I jumped in, flicked my directional signal on and checked the road before slipping into the traffic. The way a normal person would drive. It hit me then. Fen had actually driven a vehicle all by himself to come get me. Good grief. It was a miracle I hadn't emerged from the Bifrost to find half the state troopers in California chasing him across the country, helicopters in pursuit.

And when did he learn to drive, anyway? If you could call what he'd just done driving. What more was there to learn about him? Apart from his penchant for shoving people off cliffs, that is.

"Now that you're not busy driving into oncoming traffic, maybe you can answer some questions. How come you called for me and not Joshua?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the road ahead.

"Because this is a Retrieval and not reconnaissance mission."

Okay, that made sense. "The scout team just informed us of the location of our newest Warrior," Fen said, his voice a soft growl.

"Where to?" I asked, all business now.

He directed me and then withdrew into a brooding silence, except for when he needed to tell me to turn left or right. His answer to my question seemed to have soured his mood.

Half an hour and a few side roads later, we reached a set of tall iron gates. A broken black chain lay on the ground beside the road. Fen's doing, no doubt. He jumped out to open the gate for me, and I drove into the grounds, following him as he jogged up the road, draped in dark shadows. Tall spruces lined the road all the way into the depths of the cemetery.

I braked in front of a marble mausoleum, which reminded me of a little Greek temple, all columns and carved lintels. I gaped, surprised that people still buried their families in extravagant places like this. I switched off the car, and opened the door, wincing as it squeaked far too loudly. Then I followed Fen, pocketing the keys. No way was I going to let him have them back.

I stood and waited beneath a pillared porch while Fen fiddled with the lock. The door creaked open and we stepped inside, swallowed by a musty darkness.

Fen moved around the room smoothly, effortlessly, or so I assumed from the confident tread of his feet. I couldn't see a thing in the almost solid darkness.

How the hell did he know where he was going in the pitch dark? Wolf sight?

A flame flickered in a nearby sconce, and then another, as Fen lit them. Soon the room glimmered, well lit and no longer scary. The small space hemmed us in, and directly ahead of us loomed a large wall, gold plaques fixed to the faded white surface.

"So where's the body?" I asked, confused. I didn't see any coffins or headstones. I'd never been inside of one of these buildings in my life. Not even as a dare on Halloween.

Fen pointed at the wall of bronze plates, shimmering in the candlelight. "Behind the plaques."

"Oh, wow. What, so they slot the coffins into the wall?" Amazing. All those coffins sat right on top of each other like little high-rise blocks of dead people. Just gave me the creeps to think about it.

I didn't have to wait long for Fen to remove one of the plaques and reach inside the dark mouth. He groped about for a coffin handle, then tugged, dragging the box out. I stepped forward, grabbed the other end of the coffin and helped him lower it to the ground.

Fen stood up and gazed at me with a strange expression that looked a lot like pride. "It is good to see you develop so quickly," he said.

Now what the hell did that mean? Develop? "What?"

"What did you just do, Bryn?"

I frowned, confused. These guessing games were getting old. Why couldn't he just be straight with me?

"What did you just do that usually takes three to four men to do?"

With a shock I realized I had just carried one end of the casket with supreme ease, totally unaware of the kind of strength required for the task. I came to the only logical, yet incredible, conclusion possible.

I was super-strong.

***

I leaned against the cold marble-tiled wall, my knees wobbling with shock. It took me more than a mere moment to digest the late breaking news that Bryn was a regular Hercules. Figured. One more weird thing to add to my growing repertoire of weird: super strength. Why the bloody hell not?

What the hell was happening to me? First, my inexplicable rage, and now incredible strength. A bitter laugh almost escaped my lips, but I shoved those thoughts from my head. Better to concentrate on the Retrieval, so I stared pointedly at the coffin until Fen took the hint and knelt to remove the nearest screw. I did the same on my end. Before long, the lid of the coffin shifted. Fen slipped it off with extra care and laid it onto the marbled floor.

"Be very careful, Bryn. It is important we leave no trace of our presence behind. The families must never know the bodies of their loved ones are gone."

I nodded and dusted off my hands. We stepped toward the coffin, ready to heave the body out of the casket and leave. But I froze, unable to talk or breathe. Horror squeezed the breath out of my lungs. Beside me, Fen drew in a shocked breath and went silent.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, staring at the body of a young man whose regal features and expensive suit spoke of class and privilege. A gleaming, gooey black substance now marred his beauty, coating the surface of his skin, soaking through the fabric of his clothing, giving his black tux a wet, glossy sheen.

"I do not know what this substance is." Worry deepened Fen's voice. "We will need to return to Asgard immediately. Something is not quite right here."