War and Famine: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 2) (18 page)

If this was Fenris, Caden had expected him to be more wolf-like. Then again, who knew how long he’d been bound by Gleipnir. Maybe he would fill out given time. Caden shuddered. With any luck, they wouldn’t find out. He had no desire to fight a man-sized wolf, let alone a bigger one.

Fenris whirled, seizing Ian’s wrist with invisible hands as it stepped around Ian and flung him to the ground. The flesh along Ian’s arm shredded, spilling blood across the snow as Ian hit the snow hard enough for Caden’s stomach to do a flip. The horseman’s head bounced off the ice with a wet sounding thud and his eyes went distant. He tried to get back up, but as he did, he put weight on his broken wrist.

A cry of agony ripped from Ian’s throat a moment before the thing kicked him across the face. Ian’s head snapped violently backward, and he dropped back to the snow like a stone. He lay there unmoving as it knelt down beside him. Frost still clung to the creature’s flesh, but the monster seemed unconcerned by it. Then again, he’d just taken down Ian, and the two other gods were already down. Evidently, Caden wasn’t a valid threat.

“It was silly to think you could beat me,” Fenris cooed, and his voice was strangely jovial as he seized Ian’s chin between his boney fingers. “But I admire the effort. Truth be told, I’m not sure why I feared being set free. I mean Vidar is here, so it’s sort of understandable, but Odin still lives. As long as he does, I cannot be killed. If I’d thought about it for a second, I would have found Odin a long, long time ago, locked him in a box, and dropped him into the ocean. Then again, there’s still time for that.”

The wolf stood, and as he did, he became fully visible. His naked body was disturbingly thin, making it seem more like someone had stretched yellow skin over a bunch of bones. It was even more distressing because there wasn’t a single hair on his emaciated body.

“If you’re thinking about trying to hit me with that,” Fenris said, not bothering to even look in Caden’s direction as he gestured at him with his long, tapered claws. “I wouldn’t even bother. I will cross the distance between us and rip your still-beating heart from your body before you raise Gungnir even a fraction of an inch. So, why don’t you be a good boy and tell me something. If you do, I just may let you live as thanks for releasing me.”

He turned toward Caden. His thin, cracked lips were twisted into a sinister grin. “Where is the girl I smell upon your friend?” Fenris took a wobbly step forward, sort of like he was unused to using his legs. It reminded Caden of his Uncle Rupert. The man had spent so much time on his boat, he just naturally bobbed and weaved when he walked on dry land. “She would be about five feet tall and have purple hair. She and I have some unfinished business.”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Caden replied, edging backward as the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He wasn’t quite sure why he had retreated since there was no way he could outrun Fenris. He’s seen the creature move fast enough to disable Ian in a heartbeat. What chance did he have if he ran? Zero. He was also pretty sure wolves chased things that ran.

“You know what the sad thing is? I believe you.” Fenris’s pink eyes glinted as he spoke. “Unfortunately, that makes you pretty useless to me.” He let out a slow breath that came out as mist. “I’ll just have to eat you.” His tongue shot out to lick his lips.

“You’re going to eat me? Seriously?” Caden said, scarcely believing the words coming out of his mouth. It sort of made sense because Fenris was a wolf, but never in his wildest dreams had he expected to be eaten. Killed, maybe, but eaten? Never. If he had, he might not have worked to release the wolf at all. It was one thing to die in battle. It was quite another to be turned into food. If he ever got out of this, he was never eating a cheeseburger again.

“Well, you know. Waste not, want not.” Fenris shrugged. “It’s been a while since I’ve eaten anything at all.” He gestured at himself. “My dear mother would say I’m nothing but skin and bones. I’m not sure I disagree.” He ran a hand over his bald head. “I’m not sure I can make the whole hairless thing work anyway.”

“Wouldn’t you rather eat someone else? I’m pretty normal, not a lot of magic in my meat.” Caden was about to take another step back, but caught Fenris watching the movement. He stood his ground. It was one of the hardest things he’d ever done because every ounce of him was screaming for him to run in the opposite direction.

“You make a good point, however, you’re forgetting one very important thing,” Fenris replied, his smile widening to reveal row upon row of jagged yellow teeth. “Eating you isn’t an either or thing. It isn’t like I’m going to eat you in lieu of your friends. It’s more of a first, second, and third type of thing. I’m going to eat all of you. The only question that remains is one of order. Besides, you should be happy I’m deigning to eat one as lowly as you. I’m just hoping you have enough chutzpah in you to put some hair on my chest.”

“How equal opportunity of you,” Caden said, gripping the metal tube of Gungnir hard enough for his knuckles to hurt from the strain. He was sure he wasn’t fast enough to stop the wolf, but there was no way he was going to lay down and die. If the wolf was going to eat him no matter what, he might as well try. What did he have to lose?

“Don’t,” Fenris said as Caden raised the tube. Glowing purple plasma exploded along its length, filling in the rest of the weapon. Last time, as he’d flung it at Vidar, the energy had exploded from the tube like a heat-seeking missile and struck Vidar straight on, leaving the smoking metal hilt in his hand. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if it would fire again, but he was willing to chance it.

“Or what?” Caden replied, about to fling the weapon at Fenris, but before he could, the wolf was upon him. Fenris seized him around the throat, cutting off his air supply as he hoisted him into the air with one slender hand. Caden kicked his feet at the wolf but was flung him sideways before he could land a substantive blow.

Caden hit the snow hard, and as he did, Gungnir slipped from his hand. It hit the snow with a hiss, melting through the ice before going out completely. Cold swept over Caden, freezing him to within an inch of his life in a split second. Snow filled his sneakers as he tried to get to his feet, but he was so numb from the sudden unbearable cold he could barely think. Every breath hurt his chest. Every movement heaped ice into his veins.

“A little colder now that you’ve lost your weapon?” Fenris asked, scooping up Gungnir. “Well, allow me to end your suffering.” And with those words, Fenris jammed the lifeless spear through Caden’s thigh. “Whoops, guess I missed. How careless of me.”

Agony surged through Caden, blocking out even the cold for a split second as he faltered and collapsed. His blood steamed in the night air even as Gungnir’s magic pushed back the claws of the frozen tundra and warmed him.

“You’re welcome, but before you thank me, don’t,” Fenris said, leaning down next to him in the snow. “I just don’t like my food cold.” His mouth opened impossibly wide then, revealing millions of shark-like teeth. The wolf sunk its jaws into Caden’s thigh and tore out a chunk of flesh near where Gungnir impaled his leg, but strangely Caden barely felt it. He had a moment to wonder why before the wolf looked up at him, making eye contact as Caden’s blood dripped down his chin. “Yummy…”

Caden slugged the wolf. His fist lashed out and connected with a staccato crack that shattered every bone in his right hand. The pain of it was blinding. His vision went hazy and red as his hand fell uselessly to his side. Still, the blow had snapped Fenris’s head to the side and busted his lips wide open.

Before the wolf could gut him like a fish, Caden grabbed hold of Gungnir and tried to wrench it free of his own leg. It hurt so much he was pretty sure he blacked out because the next thing he knew, Fenris was staring at him, a strange look in his eye.

“So you’re the one,” he murmured as Caden called upon the power of Odin’s spear even though it was still buried in his leg. Gungnir blazed to life, purple plasma cutting through the wolf’s shoulder, even as the other side of it seared through Caden’s own flesh. He’d expected it to hurt, but for some reason, it just didn’t.

Fenris howled in rage. The sound shattered Caden’s eardrums as the smell of sizzling flesh filled his nostrils. His stomach roiled inside him as Fenris grabbed Gungnir and wrenched the burning weapon free of Caden’s leg and his own body in one savage movement. Caden shrieked in agony so intense it practically short-circuited his brain.

“I’ve had more than enough of this cursed spear,” Fenris snarled as smoke curled from the hole in his shoulder. He bit through the weapon. His teeth ripped through steel like it was tissue paper. Purple smoke exploded from his mouth as Fenris’s eyes went wide. He spit out the mouthful of metal, dropping the weapon as he staggered backward in shock. “What have you made me do?”

Caden could do little more than stare at the wolf in shock as cold overtook him, freezing his flesh and frosting over his body. Even pain was a distant thing as the sky above shattered in a spray of purple that revealed all of the nine worlds. The moon above pulsed like a blighted star as Fenris scrambled to pick up the pieces of Gungnir, but as he did so, something burst from the fiery world of Muspelheim.

Amy stood there, Haijiku in one hand, and a flaming broadsword in the other. Her eyes took in the scene for only a split second before she launched herself at Fenris, blades flying.

Caden’s head drooped. His vision faded to a pinprick of blackness as an angel knelt next to him and placed her hand on his chin. Her flesh was so warm, it staved off the cold for a moment. His vision returned long enough for him to look upon her. He tried to make out her face through the haze. She looked familiar. So very familiar.

“Caden!” she cried, and the way her mouth moved to form his name made his heart shudder in his chest. The cold receded further as she wrapped her arms around him, filling him with her warmth. She smelled so familiar. He shook his head, trying to fight off the haze. Who was this person, and why couldn’t he remember her? Why was this embrace so damn familiar?

“Amy!” the angel screamed, her face turned toward the battle with Fenris so he couldn’t tell who she was. “I need to get Caden out of here before he dies. Can you manage just a few minutes alone?”

Amy probably would have replied, but she took that moment to get herself flung across the snowy plains of Jotunheim. Her broadsword slipped from her grasp and went out with one last gasp of breath. Frost wrapped around the weapon, sealing it within a block of ice as Amy struggled to her feet.

“Damn it!” the girl holding him said. “Caden, don’t die. I’ll save you. I promise.” She put one hand on his forehead and warmth filled him. He tried to speak, tried to thank her, but the moment he opened his mouth, everything faded into blackness.

Amy 02:05

Amy tried to get to her feet. Hell, she tried to do anything more than breathe, but it was so cold, she could barely manage that. Each breath stung her insides, chilling her to the core. She’d known from the moment she’d stepped upon Jotunheim’s icy shores she was unwanted. She was fire, and this frozen hellhole would have none of that. In fact, it liked the challenge of stealing her flame. The realization made her guts twist because for once in her life, the whole world was truly against her.

The wind had sapped her strength, made her limbs feel like they weighed a million pounds. It had crushed the fire within Incinerator, doused her own internal flame with ice water. She’d gone from being a god in Muspelheim to a chump in Jotunheim in the space of a breath. It was almost too much for her to bear. Almost. She wasn’t going to give up that easy. From the looks of it, Fenris had already savaged everyone. Caden looked like he was moments from death, and Ian? Ian looked like he wasn’t getting up anytime soon.

She
had to get up. She had to fight. It was the only way. She pushed up from the snow with her numb hands until she was sitting there. It took a lot longer than it should have. Haijiku hung loosely in her hand as she tried to ignore the cold seeping through her clothes and chilling her bones. She just had to stand up and take a step. If she could manage that, she could take another, then another. It was as good as done. So why hadn’t she moved?

Fenris stood a little ways away, his eyes fixed on Kim. Only Kim was on fire. Sort of. Ice swirled around her like flame, fluid and dancing as she moved across the tundra, each footstep leaving wildflowers in its wake. It was crazy because there was no way flowers could possibly survive here, but there they were, a fresh splash of color in the lifeless wasteland. Behind her, Caden lay in the snow, his body wrapped in a cocoon of white light. Kim held no weapons that Amy could see, but from the way Fenris stared at her, maybe she didn’t need any. Maybe her mantle was enough.

“I need my sword back,” a voice said from a few feet away. Amy inclined her head toward it to see the boy Kim had been holding in Muspelheim. He looked tired and disheveled but strangely unbothered by the cold. “I’ll thank you to return it. Now.”

“I don’t have it,” Amy managed to say through chattering teeth. “I dropped it.” She raised one hand and pointed to the spot where Incinerator had fallen to the snow. The entire plain was covered in ice, making every square inch indistinguishable from the next. She might as well have pointed at space for all the good her directions did.

“Normally, I could call Incinerator to my hand, but I can’t.” He stared at her, tears filling the corners of his eyes. “I can’t feel it at all.” He knelt down beside her. “Tell me what you’ve done with Incinerator.”

“I haven’t done anything,” Amy replied just before he seized her by the throat with his left hand and hoisted her into the air like she weighed nothing. His muscles strained within his arm as he held her aloft. Fear rushed through her as she tried to call upon her power, only she couldn’t. It was as if her mantle was suddenly gone, leaving her nothing more than a tiny girl in the grip of a huge, angry male.

“Remember, you made me do this,” he replied, pressing his right thumb against her forehead. Images flashed through her mind, disjointed and broken. Energy fled from her body as everything she ever had been was torn from her mind in the space of a heartbeat. He dropped her, and she struck the ground. Only she didn’t feel it. She didn’t feel anything except a gaping hole inside her where something had been stripped away. Amy wasn’t sure what he’d done to her, but she was reasonably sure it wasn’t good.