Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Van
After I finish cleaning up, I stand in the center of my room, feeling lost. There’s a strange energy at the school right now.
An energy that I find exhausting. Everyone is looking at us like we’ll either be their saviors or their downfall, and something inside of me whispers that it has to be their downfall.
I’m not a hero, which is why it’s so fucking ironic that I’m Tyr, the god of heroic glory.
If I were back home, this is the time that I’d do something destructive, like wreck my dad’s favorite car, or at least his favorite car of the month. I don’t want to do that here, not with Izzy, but this tension is building under my skin that I can’t shake.
Moving to the mirror in my room, I see that familiar wild look to my blue eyes that says whatever is about to happen I can’t stop, it’s just who I am.
I run my hands through my hair, which is still wet from the shower, and can’t decide how the hell I’m supposed to act like a healthy human being when I don’t know what that is.
And when I’m not really…human anymore.
I close my eyes and reach for a new power I’d recently learned about.
It isn’t an easy one to master, but I take deep breaths and reach inside myself, wishing to be somewhere else other than here.
When I open my eyes, I stumble back. I’m standing in front of my house.
The massive manor I’d grown up in. My heart races as I momentarily wonder if my parents are going to spot me at any moment, but after a painful silent moment, I realize that something is different here.
Usually, the gardeners would be working to keep the massive garden surrounding the manor in perfect condition, but the gardeners aren’t outside, and the plants are wild and untamed.
I frown. How many times at night had I imagined what this place was like after the slaughter of everyone I loved by the vampires?
And yet, I’d thought my parents would have the place cleaned and back and running, replacing the old staff like my mother replaces furniture.
To see it so quiet and empty was unsettling.
I start toward the huge steps and look back behind me down the road to ensure the gates around the house are still closed. They are, and I release a slow breath and take the stairs to the door. There, I type in the old code and feel relieved when the light turns green and the door opens.
Inside, the white marble tile is stained with blood.
I swallow hard. I’d wanted to run away. To get in trouble. Why the hell did my new powers take me here? Seeing the destruction inside was the last thing I wanted.
So why do I keep going?
Circling through the bottom floor, blood is still splattered everywhere.
On the rugs, the tile, the walls. There are pools of it in random places on the floor, dried but still there, and forgotten police tape hanging from the walls.
I wonder what my parents plan to do with this place now.
Obviously, they are staying in one of their other homes, but what would become of the place I grew up in? And do I even care?
“It’s hard to look at, right?”
I jerk and my sword shimmers into existence in my hand.
I’m breathing hard as I stare at the big man, who leans against the doorway to the kitchen.
He has a smirk on his face that I don’t like.
His hair is long and dark, and his eyes are the same shade.
His clothes are expensive and silky, things I’ve seen other rich kids wearing at parties.
And yet, something about him tells me he isn’t human.
“What are you doing here?”
He lifts a brow. “Well, waiting for you, of course. I’ve wanted to meet the great Van Wellington, or should I say Tyr, from the moment I heard about you.”
My heart races. “Who are you?”
“Oh, how rude of me,” he says, pushing off from the wall. He takes a step toward me, and I raise my sword. Instantly, he stops. “I’m Connor.”
And it hits me. “You’re a god too.”
He smiles and gives a sweeping bow. “Idun, at your service.”
Idun. The name rings a bell, but I can’t quite place it.
“I know you have that sword of yours, made of unbreakable steel, made with pieces of Tyr’s very soul.
I know you can call it to you and send it away.
I know that it moves like an extension of your arm.
I also know you feel compelled to be honorable and keep the world honorable.
I know it angers that god inside of you when someone gives an oath and doesn’t keep it.
You’re stronger than us, probably all of us.
Maybe even faster too. And none of us could beat you in a one-on-one battle. ” He looks proud.
“And yet I don’t know anything about you,” I say, my voice low and threatening.
His eyes grow calculating. “I have some bitch goddess inside of me. She was a guard of sorts to the gods, guarding their tree of golden apples, the ones they ate to stay immortal. This woman is obsessed with youth, and yet she can give or take years.” He lifts a hand and shows me his palm. “With the smallest touch.”
“Why are you telling me this? What’s your fucking angle?”
Anger twists his lips. “I knew you’d have to come here after I read about the slaughter of your servants.
All of us are somehow drawn to the things from our human lives that hurt us.
” A strange look comes and goes from his face.
“So I waited because I wanted to see you. I wanted to know if you were as dangerous as the rumors.”
“Well, now you’ve seen me.”
“Yes, I have.” The chill in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine. “And, god of oaths, I give you mine. We are going to come for you, and we’re going to kill you.”
Something moves within me, and I hate that it’s Tyr. I hate it that he drinks in the oath and binds this man to his words. Even I feel compelled by his oath.
“You might fool your friends, you might even fool yourself, but I know men like you. You didn’t come here to threaten me, you came to assess the competition.” I lift a brow. “And you’re afraid.”
“I’m not,” he says.
“Then come here and let’s end this now.”
He’s surprised, but recovers quickly. “That’s not the plan. But believe me, Tyr, this isn’t over.”
My hands are sweaty on the hilt of my sword.
He turns and walks away, and I follow slowly behind.
He kicks open the back door and goes to stand near the pool.
His eyes close, his chest rises and falls quickly, and then he vanishes.
I spin around, ensuring he’s really gone, then lower my sword slowly.
I don’t like that this man knows more about me than I know about him. I don’t like that he’d come to my home and touched my things. And I’d be damned if I didn’t find out about him too.
Walking up the stairs, I push open the door to my bedroom and stare.
Everything has been thrown about. My precious items are broken and mistreated.
I kneel down and pluck an old photo of Izzy, Aiden, Reid, Wilder, and I out of the broken picture frame.
We look so young and innocent in the photo.
It’s strange that we’ve lost those kids.
I fold the picture carefully and put it back into my pocket. I don’t know if this damage was done by the god or the vampires, but my anger rises.
This is really going to come down to them versus us. I didn’t really accept that until now, but it will. And even though I’ve never seen myself as a killer, I know I’m going to have to become one.
Tyr seems pleased within me, and I push the god down. I don’t want to know what he feels. I don’t care what he feels. We may have to kill, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to enjoy it.
Closing my eyes, I promise myself that I’ll learn more about my enemies, and then I think of my room back at the academy. The ground shifts slightly under my feet, and then I’m back, back in a place where I have to keep pretending to be fine.
Somehow, I suddenly feel exhausted.