27. Magnar

Ithrew my weight against the doors for what felt like the hundredth time. Julius roared as he slammed into them beside me, having just as little luck as me in breaking them. The gods had trapped us within the confines of this forsaken room just as our enemies had been due to arrive and I could only imagine what games they were playing.

Callie was stuck out there with the Belvederes now and I had no way of getting to her. Guilt formed a lump in my chest as I imagined her falling under Fabian’s spell once more. I’d taken the ring to protect her from the wrath of the gods, but in doing so, I’d left her at their mercy. And to make it worse, I couldn’t even place myself between her and that monster.

“Curse you, Idun!” I bellowed as the door continued to resist our combined strength.

Tinkling laughter filled the room as she watched us.

I backed up and Julius moved to my side as we set our sights on the wooden barrier to the outside world once more.

We took off together, racing towards the doors like a pair of human battering rams.

My shoulder slammed into the wood and it finally gave way with a splintering crash. The doors were thrown from their hinges as we burst out into the hazy golden light of the setting sun and my gaze fell on the creature I’d given my life to hunting down.

Erik Belvedere bared his fangs at me, and a terrible stillness fell over the world. The wind dropped. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore seemed to pause. Even my heart stilled in my chest just long enough for a silent promise to take place between us.

This was where our feud would end.

Neither of us would turn from this fight. The moment for revenge had come and there would be no backing down. It was time for this to be over.

My father’s final words echoed through my mind alongside the oath I’d made to him. The cost of his blood would be repaid. Death demanded death.

“Elder!” Callie’s voice spilled through the air, and I forced my eyes away from my foes as I sought her out.

She stood with her sister in a giant, golden birdcage which stood beneath the shadow of the statue. It was positioned to our left but was at an equal distance from us and the undead monsters who faced us. Her fingers gripped the bars, and her blue eyes were pleading as she gazed at me.

The goddess had dressed her like something from a dream. Her beauty spoke to me in a way which set my blood alight, and I wished I could have heard her speak my name in case it was the last time.

“You swore you’d discuss the prophecy!” Montana shouted, her eyes on Erik.

He ground his teeth, clearly finding it as hard to resist the urge to start our fight as I did. But he turned to look at her instead of us.

“If the answer to the prophecy lies in giving you my curse, I won’t do it,” Erik said firmly.

“Then we agree on one thing,” I growled.

“And there is nothing more to discuss,” Julius added.

“Please don’t do this,” Callie begged, reaching for me between the bars.

My heart ached to give in to her. To give her anything she asked of me and more. But not this. This was the one thing I could never do for her.

The Belvederes’ deaths were written into the essence of my soul. Erik had cost my family everything and he needed to pay the price for it.

“You know that we must,” I replied, forcing my gaze away from her and fixing it on my immortal enemies once more.

I couldn’t look at her again. I couldn’t see what my refusal was doing to her. This fight was mine to claim, my birth right, and I would not turn from it.

I took a step forward, my muscles flooding with power as I readied myself to destroy the monsters who faced us.

But before I could continue my advance, the air shimmered and Idun appeared, stepping out behind a curtain made from the very fabric of the wind. She moved between us and the vampires, barring our path and stopping our combat from beginning.

Twisting vines covered with yellow flowers moved across her body like writhing snakes, revealing and concealing her nudity in a constantly changing pattern.

She stepped towards the cage which held the twins and placed a shimmering padlock around the bars, locking it with an ornate golden key.

All eyes followed her as she moved between us, her gaze sliding from Julius to me, then to Fabian and finally Erik as a coy smile pulled at her full lips.

She held the key aloft and it floated from her hand until it hung in the sky above us. Tantalisingly close yet impossibly far away.

“We’ve waited a long time for this day,” the goddess murmured.

Another fissure opened in the air and Andvari spilled from it, his brown cloak ragged and his eyes brightest white.

“Let’s make it a fair fight,” he growled, pointing a gnarled finger at my brother and me.

Venom and Tempest were dragged from their sheathes on my back and Menace was ripped from Julius’s hip. They spiralled away from us, cartwheeling end over end until they were embedded in the heart of the huge statue high above us.

“That suits me just fine,” I growled. “I will happily tear their black hearts from their chests with my bare hands.”

Fabian bared his teeth and hissed in response to my words while Erik only glared.

Idun pursed her lips like she wasn’t pleased with Andvari changing the rules.

“But what of concealed weapons?” she asked. “I don’t trust your twisted creatures to have come here unarmed.”

“We don’t need tricks or blades to kill your slaves,” Erik snarled in response.

Idun opened her lips as if to protest, but I was done waiting for this fight.

“Enough,” I snapped. “We carry no weapons and neither do they. Now move aside so that we can finish this.”

Idun’s eyes lit with anger for a moment and a jagged spear of lightning forked through the evening sky.

“As you wish. To the victors go the spoils,” she breathed, pointing her finger at the key floating above us.

Lightning flashed in the burnt amber sky once more and Andvari moved to her side, his pale lips sliding into a mocking smile.

“Fight,” the gods commanded as one, the word slamming into me like a shockwave rolling through my body.

The gods vanished and I locked eyes with Erik, my blood boiling with hatred.

A ragged growl grew in my throat and I raced towards him with Julius at my side, his gaze set on Fabian.

Callie and Montana were screaming but I drowned them out with my thirst for vengeance. There was only one way to end this.

Erik leapt at me and I jumped into the air, meeting the force of his attack with my own.

We collided and a great crash tore across the heavens as he slammed his fist into my face. I absorbed the blow and caught his throat in my grip, using his momentum to spin him away from me and launching him into the giant statue behind us.

The sound of him colliding with it was enough to split the sky in two. A huge chunk of stone fell away from the base of the statue and he hit the ground in a mountain of rubble. I bellowed a challenge as I raced after him, ready to finally finish this.