28. Montana

Callie and I headed through the dark tunnel, the power of this place so oppressive I could feel it in my lungs like the heaviest air in the universe. We moved side by side into the blackness, walking ever on through the passage which held nothing ahead of us and nothing behind. Our feet were guided by the persistent tug in the air and nothing else.

My mind flitted to Erik and for half a second, I longed to turn back again, sure he was in danger. But the power drilled into my body once more and I was a captive to it. Lost, confounded and aching for something I couldn’t quite grasp.

Light grew from our dresses, the brightness tangling into an intense glow that lit the way forward.

An enormous golden door appeared ahead of us, seeming suspended in the darkness. A swirling mass of runes was inlaid in the metal, pulsating with the aura of the gods. My heart thundered at the sight and my gut clenched at the intense power which rolled off of it in waves.

Callie drifted closer to the door, sliding the ring from her finger and the runes moved as if drawn to it magnetically. She reached out, in a trance as she placed it against the door.

A heavy thunk filled my ears and the runes dissolved with a sound like falling rain. The door slowly swung open and my heart beat and beat and beat.

A groaning gust of air washed over us, thick and hot, and I sensed it was the breath of a god. And their relief at our approach was clear. Silently, we stepped into the impenetrable darkness that awaited us beyond the door. With a clanging noise that filled me with dread, the door fell shut behind us.

All at once, my heart ceased to beat and the light of our dresses faded away, leaving us in the impervious blackness.

I reached for Callie’s hand; she was the only solid thing in this forsaken place and I needed to reassure myself that she was still there. The warmth of her skin tingled against my fingers and I gripped her tighter as the sound of our breathing filled the space.

“Erik,” I groaned, turning back to face the golden door, but I could no longer see it as the darkness pressed in. He was in trouble and I knew the only way to stop it was by ending this curse. We had to finish what we’d come here to do. There was no going back and I sensed my sister knew that too.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Let’s get on with it.”

We started running and the ground met my feet, though I couldn’t see the way forward. I reached out with my free hand to try and find a wall to guide us on, but there was nothing there. We never faltered, just kept sprinting, hunting for our salvation.

We were trapped in this infernal tunnel, speeding through what felt like a nothingness between two worlds. And the further we moved, the more certain I was that we were leaving the mortal world behind and stepping into something far greater.

Nightmare was vibrating frantically at my hip. I reached for its hilt, drawing on its aura to give me another ounce of strength as our feet pounded against the solid ground.

In a holy mountain the earth will heal, then the dead shall live and the curse will keel.

My blade sang the line of the prophecy over and over in mind until it resounded like the ringing of a gong.

“So close, we’re so damn close, Callie,” I called to her, tightening my hold on her hand.

The biters were outside. Our friends were fighting for their lives. The men we loved were powerful, they could hold them off. But not forever.

We could make it. We had to make it.

“Let’s finish this,” Callie said through her teeth and a renewed spurt of energy guided my limbs.

No more blood. I’d never have to drink it again. Erik and I would be free to start our life together. Our hearts would beat, our love would grow and grow and the gods could watch until we were laid to rest and they forgot all about us.

A light grew up ahead and I dragged Callie on with every ounce of strength I had.

“Not far,” I urged, and she nodded eagerly.

We sprinted into a room, arriving at the top of a huge stone staircase which led down into a cavernous chamber. Ornate torches burned with golden fire in sconces on every wall, illuminating the cave. Words couldn’t begin to describe the beauty that lay before me. My eyes swam with the sight of so much treasure.

A huge mound of glittering gold coins lay at the base of the steps, so high it was almost as tall as the stairs itself. Beyond the coins was a long stone table with an array of golden weapons laying upon it. A huge mirror stood behind that, oval and as tall as a man. The frame was silver and glittered like moonlight. Above us, a fireball flamed in a giant sphere, rotating like a hungry eye as it watched us.

Callie’s breathing grew shallow and I sensed her anticipation of what we were about to do. I held on tighter, needing her strength as much as I needed my own as we started down the stairs.

We arrived before the table and I absorbed the sight of the weapons before us. An enormous hammer, a cross-shaped amulet, a curved horn, a dagger, a huge sword and a bow with a quiver of arrows. Each of them sat in a slot in the stone, carved perfectly to fit them. At the far end of the stone table was a small, circular hole and I knew exactly what would fit into it.

Callie slipped the ring from her finger, releasing my hand as she moved toward the hole. She held my eye for a moment and my breath caught as she slid it in.

A thunk sounded through the space surrounding us like the world had somehow shifted. My heart squeezed with anticipation, hope, fear.

Is this it? Is the curse about to break?

A heavy rumbling filled the air and some of the gold coins cascaded from the top of the pile.

I trembled, looking to Callie, then to my hands. I pressed a palm to my chest above my unmoving heart, expecting to feel it stir as life was returned to my body. But there was nothing. No beat, no pulse. I was still a vampire. But why?

A deep, thundering laugh filled the air. It held so much joy that I could feel it running through my blood, driving the same emotion into my veins and curving my mouth up into a smile.

The mirror behind the table rippled and our reflection shimmered and changed, revealing Andvari instead. He wore a fine black robe, a stark contrast to his usual tattered brown rags. His face was perfect and terrifying, his eyes turning to a sparkling gold as bright as the treasure in the cave.

He pressed his hand to the pane of glass, stepping through it as easily as if it were liquid. The god stood before us in all his magnificent glory, his power emanating from him in waves. The mirth he was emitting left my body and fear found me instead, driving into my heart like nails.

“So you have returned it,” he sighed as his gaze fell on the ring and a strong wind pulled back our hair. “A thousand years is an awfully long time to wait. But I have been patient...and at last I have it back.” He reached toward the hole, taking the ring and pushing it onto his finger. “My love...Andvaranaut, did you miss me?” he purred to it. He caressed the ring and murmured to it in a language I didn’t know. When he was done, his eyes lit with some knowledge. “I have seen all who ever kept my dear ring from me. Erik Larsen’s mother was a fool. She gifted the ring to a village to make peace between them and kept the truth of what she’d done from her worthless husband. The woman who led that tribe became the first slayer of Idun’s creation, then all those in her clan were gifted too. My ring has passed hand to hand, generation to generation until it fell to the likes of you.”

I shared a look with Callie, my mouth parting with that knowledge. That we were direct descendants of the first ever slayer. That our mother had held that same powerful blood in her veins. And this ring had miraculously remained within our family for a thousand years, only to fall into Callie’s hands as a treasured gift from our father.

“We did what you asked,” Callie said, turning to Andvari once more as she pushed away that incredible knowledge and faced our final task. “Now break the curse.”

I nodded eagerly, stepping forward with longing.

Andvari’s face twisted as if in confusion. “But my dears, you haven’t paid the debt.” He placed the ring back in the recess where it belonged, eyeing us intently.

I shook my head furiously. “The ring is the debt.” I pointed at it and he moved toward me, stepping through the stone table as if it were made of nothing, before brushing his fingers over my cheek. His touch was icily cold and I felt it like a deadly kiss stinging my skin.

“No, it is not,” he said, his eyes swinging between us as if awaiting something else.

“What is it then? What more do you want?” Callie demanded, her posture tensing with fury.

“A riddle, perhaps, to help you work it out?” Andvari offered, then went on before we agreed. “What is endless, cold and dark? What creeps up and seizes hearts? What are wounds that cut too deep, a mortal in the clutches of eternal sleep...what is it, my loves, a hangman comes to reap?”

A word came to my lips, my body racked with fear as I prepared to give him the answer he craved, the answer that sealed our fates and stole everything – everything- from us.

“Death.”