Love's Choice (7 page)

“Out run the fucker!” I snarled back. “Hold on.”

I took a turn hard. Tires squealed. I leaned the bike over. Raven yelled in my ear. She smelled like strawberries. No. I couldn't concentrate on that. Screams followed us. The monster lumbered. I twisted the accelerator and my Harley's twin cam engine roared.

The bike raced down the new street. The pedestrians fled out of our way, terror on their faces. The monster howled behind us. Cars crashed as their drivers panicked. Chaos echoed down the streets of Seattle as we barreled through another intersection.

“Where do we go?” Raven asked.

“I don't know. I don't live in this damned city.”

Ahead, a street drummer sat in our path, banging on his improvised instruments, his greasy dreadlocks swinging about his pale face. I cursed, cutting my motorcycle over into a bike lane. Metal scraped and my tail pipe rattled.

I could fix it later.

The drummer screamed, scrambling to his feet. Metal crunched. A half-crushed steel can flew past us, crashing through the window of a Starbucks. I risked another glance.

Another piece of twisted metal hurtled at us.

I cut the bike hard to the right, my foot coming down to keep the bike from tipping over as we turned. The bike straightened, and I drove us between a pair of stopped trucks, barely clearing their large, side view mirrors. I couldn't stay in traffic. The monster howled behind us. Car horns honked. I winced as metal crunched.

“What is going on?” Raven cried. “Is this a dream?”

“It's not a dream,” I growled. “Just hold tight. I'll get us away.”

“Stop running, pretty Valkyrie!” howled the demon. “I just want to taste how delicious you are.”

Anger burned inside me. There was no way this fucker was touching my Raven.

“Go left!” she shouted. “The alley. It's narrow.”

I saw it and took a hard turn. She gasped as the bike slid. I fought to keep us from spilling and crashing. A parking meter whizzed past us, crashing against the brick wall at the alley's corner. Coins glinted as they spun through the air. We roared through them. I grit my teeth as they bounced off my chest and arms, leaving behind stinging pain.

My bike's engine echoed as I raced through the narrow alleyway. Garbage and strewn newspapers fluttered in my wake. I dodged around a metal, emergency stairwell and then burst out into daylight. A woman screamed in fright, jumping back as I took the turn hard into a quieter street. It was narrow, lined with cars. More residential than the busy streets we left behind.

“Did it follow?” I demanded, taking a hard left at the first intersection.

“No,” Raven sighed.

Her body shook. It took me a moment to realize she was laughing.

“What?” I asked, my body shaking as the adrenaline bled out of me.

“This is not what I thought our first date would be like,” she said, her arms tightening about me.

My laugh bubbled out of my chest. I threw back my head and joined her. All the fear and confusion poured out in that roaring laugh. My blood howled. Never had I felt so alive. Not even the night I rescued Raven had been this exciting. I had no idea what sort of nightmare that monster wandered out of, but we escaped.

We had survived.

What better reason to laugh?

“Magnus!” Raven suddenly shouted.

A shadow flashed over us. The ape-wolf crashed to the ground before us. The asphalt cracked. Chunks of tar-black debris flew into the air about its knuckled fists. It howled. I had to stop us. There was no room to get around the beast. I hit the brakes and turned the bike, planting my foot on the ground as we slid towards the beast.

Raven screamed in my ear. We were going too fast for me to control.

Sparks flew as the bike slammed on its side. The world tumbled about me. Metal crashed. The monster howled. My arm and side burned as I skidded to a stop. Raven whimpered beside me. She tried to stand, a swath of her jeans frayed through showing red skin.

“Magnus!”

I coughed. I had to get up. The monster lumbered towards us, red eyes hungry. I drew my Beretta 92FS handgun as I stood and faced the creature.

Chapter Seven

Raven

“Run, Raven!”

Magnus's voice echoed down the street as he rose, a silver handgun pointed at the monster. His right arm was rubbed raw by our tumble. My side and back burned from the slide. Magnus's blond hair whipped around his shoulders as the monster howled and charged forward.

“Get out of here,” he shouted as he fired.

The handgun barked. Golden shells tumbled through the air. White-blue smoke erupted from the barrel. Small dots of red burst across the monster's broad chest. But it was huge, and Magnus's gun was so tiny. The wounds didn't seem to affect the thing any more than a mosquito bite would slow me down.

I scrambled to my feet. Ice beat through my veins. Magnus's bike was a tangled heap, crushed by the monster's knuckles as it barreled towards us. I ran. The gun kept barking behind me. The monster howled. This couldn't be happening. Monsters weren't real.

What was going on?

Did this have to do with that glowing man I saw? Was that why it was after me?

“Your guardian is pathetic, Valkyrie!” the monster howled.

Why did he keep calling me Valkyrie? I wasn't that. Valkyrie had something to do with Norse mythology. They were warrior women. I wasn't a warrior. My mother was. She wouldn't have run away from this monster.

She would have fought it like she had the wolf.

I froze.

The wolf howled in my mind. Half-remembered images of my parents fighting a hulking, gray wolf rose from the depths of my subconscious. I stumbled and turned around. Magnus backed away from the beast, his gun barking. He fought without fear like my father had.

My mother didn't run away. She had fought with my father and died with him. I had forgotten. My childish mind had suppressed the terrible memories. My parents shouts and cries of pain screamed through my mind. The wolf had savaged them.

My parents were killed by a monster, and now they were back for me.

I couldn't run. I had to help Magnus somehow. I looked around for something to use as a weapon. Something as simple as a hunk of of wood or piece of metal. Even a stone I could throw at the beast. Anything to help Magnus out. A tree grew nearby, planted only a few years ago with thin branches.

Magnus's gun fell silent.

I rushed over and grasped the lowest limb, pulling on it. In the background, sirens blared. Help was coming. We only had to hold off the monster for a minute. The branch bent and twisted in my hand, but it didn't snap. The tree trunk swayed. The wood was too limber, the entire trunk bending. I couldn't break it. The dry scent of bark filled my nose as the branch twisted in my hands.

“Raven! Run!” Magnus yelled. “Don't—”

His words cut off with a sickening crunch.

All the sounds died. Magnus flew through the air, thrown by a hard swipe from the monster. The handgun spun beside him, flashing silver every revolution. The pistol hit the asphalt first, bouncing soundlessly down the street. My eyes were fixed on Magnus's as he tumbled. His limbs looked limp.

He crashed on the sidewalk and rolled to a stop. His side was crushed. Blood covered his lips. His right arm was twisted and bent. He didn't move.

“No!”

I didn't even remember racing to his side. I fell to my knees beside him. The ground shook as the monster approached. Tears fell from my eyes onto Magnus's still face. His blue eyes were wide, sightless. His chest didn't move.

“No, no, no,” I sobbed, hugging Magnus and pressing my face to his chest. “No. You can't be dead.”

“Did I break your little protector, Valkyrie,” laughed the fiend as he strolled forward. A car crunched as he batted it out of the way. “You should have chosen someone stronger.”

“He was strong!” I screamed at the demon. “Strong, kind, heroic, romantic.” My words choked off. I looked down at Magnus. I brushed his blood-matted hair from his cheek. “I never got to tell you how beautiful those words were. It's not fair. I just met you. I just opened myself up to you. You can't be gone. Please don't be gone.”

A shadow fell on me. Fetid breath washed over me.

What did it matter. I was dead. I couldn't escape from this monster. I regretted never telling Magnus how I felt about him. He had left me this wonderful note. He had poured all his emotions out onto it.

Magnus bared himself to me. I had to repay his beautiful gift. I had to share my heart before I died.

“You were amazing,” I whispered, leaning over Magnus. I didn't want to look at the monster. “Twice you came to my rescue. I don't have any poems to quote or...or...amazing words to say. I don't know how to describe how strong and wonderful you were. I...I think I may have loved you. When you tried to warn me off from the bar, our eyes met and...I felt something. A connection. A feeling. I don't know. But it was real. I...I wanted to ride with you through the night. I wanted to be your beauty.”

“Such touching words,” the monster snarled.

I shuddered as his breath washed over me. I ignored the fear in my heart. There was no running from this. I leaned over and kissed Magnus on the lips. His blood was coppery. I closed my eyes and waited for death.

Fire blazed inside me.

Cold engulfed me.

Fire burned on my lips.

Magnus convulsed in my arms. His blue eyes opened. His lips kissed me back. White swirled around us, a blizzard had consumed us. His broken arm wrapped around me. His chest rose and fell as he drank in the fire on my lips. I held him tight as we kissed. My heart thudded with exultation. I didn't understand what magic was at work. How had my kiss restored his broken body to life? His arms were strong about me. I closed my eyes as the snow fell upon us.

Magnus wasn't dead. My strong warrior lived.

The snow melted as it touched us. Steam rose into the frigid air. A wind howled, whipping at my long hair. I didn't want to break the kiss, but the world had changed. I looked around at the piles of snow and ice. Shadowed buildings rose about us, windows covered in frost, thick icicles dangling from awnings and rusted traffic lights. Side view mirrors and antennas peaked out of snow covered mounds that lined the streets.

Winter had buried Seattle in a heartbeat.

“What is going on?” I whispered.

“I don't know.” Magnus's voice was soft. His finger touched my cheek. “I saw you kneeling over me.”

“What?”

“I died. My soul drifted free. I watched you, helpless to stop the beast as it lumbered closer while you sobbed over my body.” He smiled. “I heard your words.”

My cheeks warmed.

“Such beauty. Those words called to me. You had chosen me. I felt it.”

“Chosen...” Owen, Freddy, and Gerdie kept talking about the importance of my choice. Even the monster had claimed I poorly chose my protector.

“And then you kissed me. You summoned me back.” He smiled. “My Valkyrie.”

“That's what the monster called me,” I whispered.

My breath frosted before my face. I should be freezing. A blizzard howled down the streets. Instead, I was comfortable in my torn shirt and ripped pants. The pain in my side and upper thigh vanished. I didn't burn from sliding along the asphalt in the crash. My raw skin had healed.

“You must be one,” he whispered, stroking my face. “A Valkyrie. My warrior woman.”

I blushed again. “I didn't do anything.”

“You also stopped running.”

“I couldn't let you fight him alone.”

“Touching,” rumbled the monster.

I jumped. A mirage moved beside us. Warm wind gusted around it, driving back the snow. The dingy-white fur of the ape-wolf rippled into reality, like it was bleeding into this place from our world and bringing a bit of its late spring warmth with it.

“This is where you're from,” I gasped, remembering the snow that had appeared with the monster.

“Did you think fleeing to Utgard would save you from me, little Valkyrie?” the demon growled as it manifested into the snowy waste.

Magnus growled and rose. To my utter shock, he changed as he threw himself forward. Shaggy fur sprouted across his body, black and coarse. Magnus howled like a mad wolf and slammed into the demon's chest.

~   ~   ~

The raven Muninn watched from the top of an icy streetlight as the berserk Einherjer threw himself at the frost troll. The Valkyrie scrambled to her feet, the howling wind whipping her raven-black hair. A flaming sword appeared in her shocked hand as the Einherjer, berserk and wearing the wolf's cloak, tore at the troll's dingy-white fur.

With a caw, Muninn took flight. It easily passed from Utgard back to Midgard. Winter vanished and the warm air of later spring engulfed the raven. Below, fearful humans stared at the wreckage the frost troll's rampage had left. Sirens blared and lights flashed blue and red as the mortal's emergency responders raced through the choked streets.

The raven reached the end of the destruction. Its master, the One-Eyed God Odin, stood beside the wreckage of the yellow cab. Muninn dived and landed on the god's shoulder, his sharp talons digging into the dull-green material of the god's jacket. Muninn shared its vision with the god.

Odin sighed. “I'm sorry to do this to you, Raven,” he whispered. “But I don't have time to coddle you and Magnus.”

The raven cawed.

The One-Eyed God smiled, “Yes, she chose well. Even without any powers, Magnus didn't flinch.”

Chapter Eight

Magnus

Rage filled me. A deep, bloody maw opened inside me. Only the monster's death could fill it. The beast attacked my Valkyrie.

My body was stronger. My claws were steal, my muscles iron. My teeth savaged into the thick hide of the monster. Its knuckled fists swung at me. I ignored the pain hammering my sides. I couldn't let go. I had to fight.

I had to kill.

~   ~   ~

Raven

I almost dropped the flaming sword that appeared in my hand. I don't know how I summoned it. The sword just burst out of my soul.

A wolf howled. I recovered from my shock. Magnus had thrown himself at the monster, transformed into some sort of...wolf creature. A werewolf. He was black fur, snarling jaws, and sharp claws. Red blood stained the chest of the monster as Magnus savaged it, howling in berserker rage.