Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Something had definitely shifted. The mood inside the cabin was more intense and tempers were thin, not that it had been a party before…
But Nelson could hear shouting and slamming in other parts of the house but it was difficult to make out what was being said.
Too many of the voices were deep and garbled or high and hurried.
He understood Nox’s and Merlin’s names and their various nicknames and that something needed to be done because time was running out.
For what, Nelson was hoping to find out and was bracing himself for an extra brutal beating when Hildr kicked the door open and stomped into the room.
“We’ve grown tired of your games. I have orders to break you in any way I see fit and relieve you of that lovely soul of yours.”
“Go ahead and try, it’s been promised to someone else. I already know where it’s going when I die and he’ll be there waiting for me.”
“I don’t think so, Agent Nelson.” She clicked her teeth as she drew closer.
“You’re going to be my pet project!” A hand landed on the top of Nelson’s head and she snickered when he jumped.
“I’m going to rip out your soul and tear you completely apart until there’s nothing but bloody scraps.
You’ll be tossed out for the scavengers and the flies and when there’s nothing left of you but bones and maggots, I’ll bury you in a hole full of children’s bones and dig you up after they’ve had a few weeks to torture you with their cries.
You’ll be shattered and twisted and I’ll warp you even more by pouring some of my sickness into you. ”
“It won’t happen. I’ve seen bigger and uglier monsters than whatever you are.”
“You know nothing about me!”
Pain exploded on the right side of Nelson’s face but he laughed through it. “I know all I need to know about you, Valkyrie.”
“You’ve read a few myths but they’re nothing compared to reality,” she boasted as she circled Nelson.
He snorted and shook his head. “I know what real valkyries look like and I’ve seen how they handle themselves in a fight. You’re nothing compared to them.”
“You’re nothing!”
The hood was ripped off and Nelson gagged at the pungent fumes burning his nostrils and making his eyes water as they struggled to adjust to the low light. It was a small blessing that its source was just a weak beam that spilled under the bedroom door.
Nelson wished for less as giant black eyes stared back at him, set in a sallow, sagging face with a long, beak-like nose.
She was incredibly tall and stooped to avoid the angled ceiling by the fireplace.
Ingrid was tall as well, but she was a beautiful woman, with long wavy auburn hair and lots of freckles, nothing like Hildr. He wondered if Hildr had always been ugly or if dark magick had ruined her.
What was left of Hildr’s hair was matted and there were bits of rancid flesh stuck to the filthy clumps, adding to the vile bouquet of aromas.
She must have noticed that Nelson was staring at them.
“Dead children are my favorite!” she whispered excitedly.
“I dug one up last night and sat on his grandmother’s grave while I ate his skin. Mmmm!”
“That’s what Dùbhghlas has reduced you to? You used to be a real valkyrie. You had a noble, glorious purpose before he turned you into soulless trash,” Nelson said tightly, choking on bile and his revulsion.
She wheezed in delight. “You’ll be like me soon enough and I’ll be the one that feeds you your first infant. And I’ll be there when you face your beloved and he incinerates you.”
“I’ll pass,” Nelson replied calmly. “It’s all going to hell in a hand basket out there, isn’t it?”
“What do you know?” she countered and Nelson’s neck craned.
“I don’t need to be an oracle to see that it’s all falling apart. Dùbhghlas’s plan didn’t go the way he intended and an army with real valkyrie is on its way.”
Her dark, dead eyes widened and her cracked lips pulled into a sneer, revealing blackened, broken teeth. “They do not scare me!”
Nelson’s head tipped sideways and he squinted. “I think they do!” he whispered. “I think you’re both desperate and now, you’re pinned down until MacIlwraith and Oglethorpe get here.”
“I can leave whenever I want,” she said, raising her chin defiantly.
“Good luck. You won’t get far looking like that and I have a feeling you were dead for a reason.”
“Don’t forget: we have a secret weapon!” she said with renewed glee.
“Is it me?” Nelson asked flatly, unimpressed. “Because that’s not happening. I told you, my soul is already taken and you aren’t strong enough to touch it.”
“You will submit to me!” Hildr hissed as she tossed the hood aside.
She snatched a handful of Nelson’s hair and pulled his head back.
He could smell it burning as she lowered, making a throaty, clicking sound as she searched Nelson’s eyes.
“You are nothing but a man!” she laughed. “Flesh and bone and full of fear.”
“I’m a lot more than that. I’m his man,” Nelson answered, grunting when he was bashed in the face with her talon fist and knocked backwards.
The chair cracked along with something in Nelson’s side but the chair’s left arm jiggled as she stomped on his chest. She knelt, her knee digging into his gut and making him bite down on an agonized cry.
Pain ricocheted through his body and he could taste blood and vomit but he clenched his jaw and breathed through the waves of dizziness and nausea.
For the first time in days, Nelson could feel an alluring pull and Nox’s soul as it yearned for him.
Hold on, I’m coming.
Nelson gasped out a strained laugh at the sound of Nox’s voice. Despite the pain, tears of relief spilled down his temples. “You will not break me.”
“We’ll see about that!” She swooped in, covering Nelson’s mouth with her sour, slimy lips, sucking the breath from his lungs as he was engulfed in blinding light and scorching heat.
Thousands of screams, as high and as loud as tea kettles whistled in his ears.
Blood trickled out of his left ear and Nelson felt something stretching and tearing in his center, deep inside and behind his navel.
He arched and bucked against the seat of the chair, defiant and enraged as she sucked harder, determined to take Nelson’s soul.
You are a treacherous abomination and unworthy!
The will of the god swelled from Nelson, an incandescent tide of fury and indignation at Hildr’s audacity and her betrayal of her sacred duty.
How dare you try to steal a gift that was bestowed upon a god? The very heart and the soul of Tuatha!
Righteous light—Nox’s light—burst from Nelson and the sound of bees buzzing and birds chirping overwhelmed the dizzying screams. Hildr tried to release Nelson and pull away but the force of his will and the heat of his light was too intense.
She began to screech and begged as her eye sockets glowed like hot coals, burning away the rotting flesh around her eyes and melting her cheeks and her long, pointed nose.
For this, you will burn for an eternity.
He gathered up all of his fury and the god’s wrath and hurled them at Hildr, knocking her into the fireplace and destroying the chair beneath Nelson.
It was still attached to his wrists and ankles but Nelson was able to yank his left wrist free and went to work on the knots around his other hand.
Within seconds, it was loose enough to slide it out of the broken piece of chair.
Hildr let out a weak, garbled moan and Nelson threw himself on top of her and punched the foul thing in the face as hard as he could.
Satisfied she was still incapacitated, Nelson went to work on the bindings around his ankles.
As soon as they were free, Nelson braced his foot on the seat of the chair and broke off one of the heavier back legs.
“This is what you get for betraying the gods.” Nelson raised the leg like an axe and brought it down with all of his might, smashing the side of Hildr’s face.
Nelson swung again and again, mumbling the Gaelic oath Clancy had taught him, the only Gaelic he knew aside from words of love and devotion.
He used them to call to the gods and Nox and to give himself strength.
The end of the leg splintered into a sharp point so Nelson flipped it around in his grip and fell on Hildr, stabbing and growling his oath like a curse.
“Du thabairt dorais du glé, for mu muid céin am messe!” he spit out, swaying over Hildr’s motionless body. Thick, sticky blue blood was smeared all over Nelson’s hands, up to his forearms and the front of Nelson’s shredded shirt.
He didn’t waste any time, grabbing one of the other broken legs and running for the door.
There was no telling what was on the other side of it but it was his only way out.
The door creaked as he opened it but the hallway was clear so Nelson pressed himself against the wall and quickly moved to the stairs.
He climbed them silently and peeked around the wall, scanning the open living room and kitchen before sprinting to the front door.
“Stop him!” a shrill voice called and the front door opened, revealing four hulking, festering Fomorians.
Nelson turned to run for the back doors but found six more Fomorians lumbering towards him. An assortment of limping, twitching, black-eyed calamities gathered around Nelson, reeking of decay and sulfur.
“Look at my children, Agent Nelson. Aren’t they beautiful?” Dùbhghlas taunted from the loft overlooking the living room. “This will be your family, after we’ve finished torturing you and you’ve had time to rot in the dirt.”
“It’s not going to happen,” Nelson stated with absolute certainty. “Your shitty valkyrie tried to steal my soul and it fried her.”
A flicker of rage passed across Dùbhghlas’s face before it pulled into a disgusted sneer.
“You will pay for your insolence, Nelson. Shut him up and then see that he’s tied to something he can’t break,” he told one of the Fomorians behind Nelson before he heard and felt a loud bang!
and he was thrown forward, into a crowd of seething, spitting fangs and filthy claws.
“Hurry, Nox!” Nelson grunted out, the world turning black and folding in on him. He covered his face and hunched over to protect himself as he sank to the floor, groaning and whimpering as he was kicked, punched, and stomped on. “Hurry!”