Dead Embers(58)

I'd also forgotten something else, something important. Aidan's father had ordered Worthington to kill his own son. And Aidan now glared at the man who'd ordered his termination.

He stiffened, and from the ridge of his jaw I could tell he barely held on to his own rage.

The room had fallen into a strange, murky silence, as if the occupants sensed the coming of a violent storm.

"I asked you a question." This time my jaw worked better and my words sounded like they really were spoken by me.

"Ah, the mutant has spunk." A sneer curved the arrogant doctor's lips. The same lips that on Aidan's face were perfect, and yet on this man they looked dangerous and offensive.

"Don't call her that!" Aidan snapped, his voice vibrating like the plucked strings of a guitar, trembling with anger. He pulled away from me slightly, as if intending to challenge his father face to face, but he caught himself when I began to slip away from him. My hands flopped off the edge of the table. He gathered me against him. "What have you done to her?"

"Nothing that will not correct itself over time."

From the corner of my eye I saw Aidan glance behind me, and I raised my head to meet his gaze. What was upsetting him so much? His face was strained and pale. Pity I couldn't see what the hell he was so upset about, couldn’t muster the energy to turn, couldn't even grit my stupid teeth in frustration.

"And was that really necessary?" Aidan's voice sounded dead, hollow.

Everyone else in the room, including the not-so-easily ignored god Thor, seemed forgotten, insignificant when compared to this father-son face-off.

"Everything I do is necessary in the scheme of things." Dr. Lee's cold smile slid along me, face to wretched gown to bare, emaciated legs. "Miss Halbrook is truly unique. More than anything, it's her blood that makes her such a valuable asset to me. Those amazing little Valkyrie corpuscles are beyond priceless. You have no idea how important she is." He offered his son a cruel smile. "When I sent you to Craven to find her, I meant for you to bring her to me. I should have expected your rebellion, but what I didn't expect was for you to become infatuated with this . . . thing."

"My name is Bryn." I coughed as I spoke, but neither one of them paid me the slightest bit of attention.

"But in the end it was you, Aidan, who helped me get what I wanted." His eyes were chips of ice.

"Which was what?" Each word fell like a dead weight from Aidan's lips. Dark fury creased his face.

"The blood her father had stored in the clinic," Dr. Lee said, nodding coldly when Aidan's expression shifted from rage to disbelief. "Yes, you retrieved the vials but you left without one of them. That single vial was enough to help our cause."

"What cause is so all-fired important that you kidnap and torture innocent girls?" Aidan bit back.

"Come now, tell me you are not so ignorant, Aidan?" Dr. Lee tutted, shaking his head, the expression on his face one of pure disappointment. "Still so naïve?"

"How did you get the vial?" I asked, unable to stand the ice in his voice, ice that was also directed at his own flesh and blood.

"I had a little bit of help obtaining the vial from you two."

I glowered at the odious man, unable to understand how Aidan could be his child. "Help? Who could've helped you? It was just Aidan and me in the clinic." My head hurt with all the thinking I was trying to do. My body hurt more. And yet there was a strange strength inside me that counteracted the pain a bit. A sensation that felt almost like a surge of living power flourishing inside my body. I blinked, trying hard to concentrate on the face of Aidan's father.

"Just the two of you? Oh, really?" He smiled, a knowing and arrogant sneer that made my blood simmer and the power inside me grow all the more stronger. I tried to recall how Aidan and I had used Dr. Lee's access pass to enter the clinic and retrieve the vials of blood. Blood my father had drawn from me when I was little. We'd placed the vials in the cooler we'd taken with us, then we'd left it on the floor and turned away to finish up on the computer.

And then it hit me. Aidan and I both turned to stare at each other.

Loki.

The god Loki had paid us a visit in the clinic. Not only had he indirectly helped us to find the pieces of Freya's necklace, but the sneaky god also had relieved us of one of those precious vials of blood. Hadn't I known all along that he was up to no good?

"You remember now, don't you?" Dr. Lee chuckled, the sound sending frissons of anger and disgust through me.

"You're in cahoots with Loki?" I demanded, unable to fathom how a Midgardian would've had any sort of arrangement with, or loyalty to, the trickster god. Not one that lasted, anyway.

His lips curled, the cool glare in his eyes turning icy. He didn't answer.

"What did you do with my blood? What the hell do you need it for?" Fury turned my vision red; my voice vibrated on the questions.

"Oh, my dear girl, your precious, precious blood has been so very helpful to us. To our cause. In fact, Loki even said to pass on his deepest gratitude to you for your little donation."

"What did you do with my blood?" I bit each word out, trying not to yell and failing. My voice rose as each word spiked from my mouth.

"Such manners, my dear girl. Oh, I forgot. Foster kids are generally more trouble than they're worth." He laughed again, as if he was the one asking questions, the one in control. And maybe, in all the ways that mattered, he was in control. "At any rate, I might as well tell you the true gift you have running in your veins. You see, your blood is so much of a genetic anomaly, it's magnificent in its power. And in combination with the Black Ice of Jotunnheim, your blood is so dangerous, it's positively deadly. You, Bryn Halbrook, are a weapon. A living breathing weapon."

"Oh yeah? And what am I supposed to be a weapon for?" I was getting so tired of this man; I wished he would get to the point so they could just take him away. A cold rage simmered inside me, and a memory flitted through my mind. A memory of my berserker attack on Joshua not so long ago. The white-hot fury wasn't healthy for anyone around me. Who knew what I'd do?

"You, my dear girl, are the perfect weapon for killing." Dr. Lee laughed, a maniacal, psychotic sound. Behind him, Thor took a step closer, a frown marring the beauty of his face. "Oh, dear girl, you have no idea how instrumental you have been." He grasped his bound hands together, almost congratulating himself, reveling in his knowledge.

And then he said, "You are the weapon we have used to kill all those einherjar."

It took too long to sink in, to process the horror of his words.

All those Warriors who had died in the past weeks. So many lives taken, so many of Odin's soldiers dead.

And I'd killed each and every one of them.





Chapter 45




His words stunned me into a paralysis worse than the muscle-numbing drug I'd been injected with. I gaped at Dr. Lee, his face so clear I could make out the pores on his cheeks and the green flecks within his hazel eyes, flecks that seemed to swirl. A blink of an eye later, the green swirls were gone.

Get a grip, Bryn. Too many thoughts of Loki.

My eyes refused to create the tears that I knew would make me feel a little bit better.

"Bryn, don't you dare think any of this is your fault. He is to blame." Aidan pointed at his father. "Not you. Did you hear me?" He shook me, as if the movement would make me change my mind.

I heard the words he spoke but knew he'd fail no matter how hard he tried to convince me that it wasn't my fault.

Because it was my fault.

If I'd just minded my own business, none of this would've happened. Reading Aidan's Valkyrie book had started this whole thing.

Dr. Lee scoffed. "You're a fool. She knows this is all her fault. Even if she hadn't intended for this to happen, in the end she's to blame. This is something you should know well enough, my son."

One of the guards started at Dr. Lee's words, staring from father to son and back again. Thor grunted, the sound reverberating through the room like rolling thunder. My heart stilled, waiting for Aidan's response.

His tone was flat, a vacuum of emotion. "Don't call me that. You gave up that right a long time ago."

"Ah, I see you're still a tad upset with me. But you don't need to be, my boy." Dr. Lee paused; his left hand rose a few inches, as if he meant to cup his son's cheek and had forgotten his wrists were cuffed. He glanced at the handcuffs, then sneered at Aidan, his eyes piercing his son's. "She's safe and well taken care of, you know that. They both are."

She? They? I frowned, half-expecting my muscles to be lethargic and slack from the drugs, but they moved and rippled and reflected my annoyance easily enough. I wanted to know what the hell they were talking about. Who they were talking about. But I kept my mouth shut. Way too much emotion flying around the room for me to butt in right then.

"You think I'll just believe you, the way I used to? You think everything you've done is just fine and I can just go on as if all this is so normal? What you've done to Bryn is unforgivable." Aidan spoke through gritted teeth, his body shaking as the words left his lips.

"It depends entirely on how you look at it, my boy." Cool response, cold eyes.

Aidan's face darkened. "What's that supp—"

He stopped in mid-speech, startled, as the air shimmered before us. A man materialized right beside Dr. Lee, causing the Warrior holding on to the doctor's arm to back away to avoid being stepped on. The image of the intruder quivered, became solid and then he raised one hand and punched the Warrior full in the chest. The Warrior grunted and went flying across the floor, crashing into the wall behind him with enough force to break a good number of the white wall tiles.