Zephyr Chapter 17
We made it back to Asgard. It was early evening, and we gathered to have an emergency Thing. Everlyn was at my house waiting for my return. She had been nervous on the return trip from Gainesville. Every bike we rode up on or passed us, I felt her tense.
We stayed alert and stayed on the highway, where there were more people. After we got back, she’d been exhausted, so I tucked her into bed and told her to sleep. She knew I was meeting with my club.
“How’s Everlyn?” Raider asked before opening the meeting to club business.
“She’s tired from the ride, so she’s sleeping right now.”
“She did good, Z. For being new to this life and everything she’s had to absorb in twenty-four hours, she’s doing great. Do you think she’ll stay?” Pirate asked.
“If we don’t knowingly sell guns or our IDs to known criminals or whack innocent people, then she says yes. If we step out of those parameters, which I explained how we choose who we deal with, she’ll burn us to the ground. Oh, we can never allow anything unlawful to touch Moore Enterprises.”
They looked at each other, then back at me.
“Do you think she can be trusted to keep her mouth shut about the unsavory side of shit? And she won’t flip out when we kill more assholes like Caves?” Raider asked gruffly.
“I do. She told me how she used to steal to feed and clothe the babies and other kids at her group home. She understands doing what you have to, even if it is technically wrong under the law, to help and protect the virtuous. She knows we’re not angels, but we’re not monsters, either.
I’ll bank my life that if we stick to our rules, she won’t say a word. ” I assured them.
“Did you let her know we don’t have a say over what the other chapters, outside of Ragnar’s, do? They can be involved in activities we’re not,” Invader asked.
“I did. She doesn’t seem to care as long as it isn’t this one. And she made me promise that if danger comes knocking, we’ll protect Allegra. I told her that wouldn’t be a problem,” I added.
There were affirmative murmurs from everyone on that part. We all liked Allegra.
“Alright, then I guess congratulations are in order for a second time. You’ve got yourself a shieldmaiden who doesn’t back down,” Raider said.
After the others quieted down as they added their congratulations, we got to the real reason for the meeting.
“I placed a call to Bone up in Wisconsin after we got back. I let him know about Aksel and the fact that he and his band of degenerates are in the Rhinelander area. Bone said he hadn’t heard anything about Wayward Wanderers, but they’d check it out and get back to us.
It’s only a hundred miles from Marshfield to Rhinelander.
He was very eager to find out if it was true,” Pres informed us.
Bone was the president of our Wisconsin Grave Prowler chapter. If they hadn’t heard anything, it meant Aksel was keeping this MC on the down low. But why? Aksel wasn’t one for subtlety.
“I told him we’ll take anything they can find, but not to engage with them. We don’t want to get other Prowlers killed. If it comes to it, some of us will make a trip up,” Raider added.
The other chapters of the Grave Prowlers didn’t know what we were.
Some questioned our ability to survive shit others couldn’t.
But we weren’t the only ones out of the numerous chapters with secrets.
I wasn’t sure what some of them were hiding, but it was their business.
They did us the courtesy of not asking, so we returned the favor.
“While we wait for Bone to get back to us, we need to decide what to do about the Albany, Georgia, chapter that Caves came from. They have to know he’s dead and we’re responsible.
That means they might come here to retaliate.
We’ve got to be prepared.” That was the next point our president brought up.
“True, and that means we have businesses, employees, and now, Everlyn and Allegra to protect. It’s not like we have to worry about ourselves,” Harbinger stated.
“Speaking of us, I have something to share,” I interjected as he finished.
“Share what?” Pirate asked.
“I need to tell you something that I discovered from talking to Everlyn. It was after she ran and before the thing in the woods with Caves,” I said. I paused to see what they’d say.
“Go on. Talk,” Raider ordered. I had everyone’s undivided attention.
“I told her about us, and what happened with the native village the night we were all changed. I outlined who Aksel is and what happened when the Seidman came out and yelled, and we all passed out. How we and others, instead of massacring the villagers, helped those we could to escape. Also, I told her about figuring out weeks later that whatever the Seidman said, we’d been made immortal, and it’s a curse. ”
“And how did she take finding out her man will never die?” Norse asked.
“Better than I hoped, but it was more me who ended up shocked, not Everlyn. She told me what else the shaman did.”
They all muttered at those words. Before I could continue, Barbarian’s fist slammed on the tabletop, making it shake.
“What the fuck else could that old man have done to us? And how the hell would she know?” He barked.
“Surprisingly, nothing terrible, and she knows a ton more than we do.
The shaman did curse us to roam without the ability to die as punishment, and to see forever anyone we connected with grow old and die without us being able to have children to carry on our lineages.
Any connection we might make with someone outside our group would be fleeting.
Everlyn verified that. However, he did tag on a way for us to redeem ourselves.
“The old man allowed us a way to redemption. If one of the cursed finds another who not only wholeheartedly loves them, and the cursed one feels the same, then there is a chance given. If the couple comes together and pledges their lives to each other, and the cursed person learns to forgive themselves for what they did or didn’t do that night, they earn a second chance. ”
I had to stop speaking because the room was in an uproar.
Voices shouted demands to explain. Fists pounded on the table.
It took Raider blowing the ox horn to shut them up.
Once they quieted, Pres nodded to me to continue.
But I saw the disbelief and muted hope on their faces.
They wanted what I said to be true, but they were afraid to believe. I felt the same.
“If that all happens, then they’re given a future where the mortal mate becomes immortal, so the Viking doesn’t live eternity without their true heart and soul. And because they’re joined due to love and forgiveness, they are granted the gift of children.”
I held up my hand because the children’s part was causing the noise level to rise again. They very reluctantly grew silent.
“And they, as a couple, get to decide when they leave this life and go on to the next. The shaman’s hope was that they and their descendants would do good in the world and lead others to change their lives for the better.”
Pandemonium broke out. People stood up from their chairs. There was more shouting, cries of disbelief, swearing, and pounding fists. Raider allowed it to continue for a good five minutes or more before bringing it all back to order with his horn.
“I get that we’re all whatever, but you’ve got to let Zephyr finish, then ask questions without screaming. Everlyn couldn’t know this, Zephyr. I’d love to believe it’s true, but it can’t be. No one knows what he said,” Raider tried to be the voice of reason, or so he thought.
“Remember when we talked about the natives we each helped to escape or avenged? I told you about the woman I first saved from being raped. Everlyn told me how I finished that man off. It was impossible for Everlyn to know that. I never told her. Only it isn’t impossible, because the woman I saved, along with some of the others we helped, stayed hidden in the woods, and they saw what their shaman did.
They knew what he said. And that story was passed down from generation to generation as an oral history.
Everlyn, on her mother’s side, is part Algonquin Indian from what is now Ipswich, Massachusetts.
That’s where the Agawan were when we joined them.
Her grandmother, thirteen times removed, is the woman I saved.
Her name was Sokanon, which means "rain." Everlyn’s mom told her the story.”
This time, there was utter silence in the room. No one moved, spoke, or even breathed. Wildness and terror filled their faces. I knew what they were feeling and thinking. There was no way it could be true. They were afraid to believe, to hope, but deep down they prayed it wasn’t a lie.
“I know there’s no way to test this out without inflicting a mortal wound on Everlyn, and I won’t do that. The only way to know for sure is to see if she ages and dies,” I added.
“Or if she becomes pregnant,” Slayer stated softly.
I gave her a sympathetic look.
“Or wait to see if she gets pregnant. I know it’s a lot to believe based on one story, but if immortality were possible, why not this?
I know that I love Everlyn with my whole mind, body, heart, and soul.
As for forgiving myself, I’m starting to believe we did all we could that night.
We’re here for a reason. Whatever that is, only time will tell.
What are we losing if we wait and see if it’s true? ” I asked.
“What if Everlyn grows old and dies?” Fenrir asked.
“Then I’ll get however many years I’m granted with my fated love, and I’ll be thankful for them. Her memory will be with me forever.”
“You’ve given us all a lot to think about, Zephyr. We might have questions for Everlyn. I know I’d like to understand better, but you’re right. It’s a wait-and-see situation. No one would endanger her life to prove anything. Since we can’t prove or disprove it, we’ll focus on the urgent matter.
“We’ll work on finding out everything we can about Aksel’s chapter in Wisconsin.
And we’ll watch and prepare to address Caves’ chapter in Georgia.
That’s the more immediate threat. Yes, we can’t be killed, but people we care about can.
And if we take away supporters of Aksel’s group, that’s a win in my book.
Anything that makes those bastards unhappy or messes with their lives, all the better. ” Raider stated.
“That’s what Everlyn brought up. She asked, why go after Aksel and his bunch when we can’t kill them?
The better move is to eliminate all their supporters in the other chapters.
Whatever they’re doing as an MC, you know it’s not only illegal but morally corrupt and harming innocent people.
We need to hit them where it hurts: their wallets and comfort,” I slipped in.
My brothers and sisters got speculative expressions on their faces. They were thinking it over and probably coming up with ideas.
“That’s a damn good point. Everlyn is right about why hurt them when physical injuries won’t last or kill them.
I want us all to take the next few days to think about what we might be able to do, and we’ll discuss all ideas in our regular Thing on Wednesday.
Anyone object?” Raider wrapped up his thoughts, then waited.
No one objected to waiting a few days. Seeing this, Raider rapped his knuckles three times on the table, signaling we were through. As the rest rose to leave, Raider stopped them.
“Oh, one more thing I forgot to ask. Anyone object to Zephyr going to get Everlyn and showing her the clubhouse, if she’s awake?”
“Hell no.”
“Bring her. She can have a drink with us.”
“About time.”
I hoped I’d soon be able to show her the compound’s secret. She’d seen people enter the mausoleum and not come out for a while. She had to wonder. Having Raider's okay by raising the question, and the others' responses, excitement hit me.
“I’ll go see, and if she is, we’ll be back in, say, fifteen or twenty minutes,” I informed them.
“We’ll be here,” Spoiler said as the rest agreed. I practically ran out of the room.