37. Callie

Itrembled with unspent energy as I stood in the statue’s shadow, watching Magnar and Erik fighting. I ached to run to the slayer’s aid, to join him as he fought and do whatever I could to protect him.

I couldn’t see Montana anywhere and I just hoped she’d found some place to hide from the danger of the battle. I wasn’t overly concerned for her though; she was the only one of us here who didn’t have an enemy present. If she had managed to get out of the way then I knew she’d be safe.

I was trapped on the side-lines by the power of the commands Magnar had laid on me before this battle began. They flowed alongside my blood, powering my muscles as they fought for his will, working against me. I’d been betrayed by my own body yet again.

You will not intervene in any way.

But he needed me. I’d already watched him die once and there was no way I could endure it again. I had to find a way around his commands but his words had been cleverly selected. I couldn’t so much as call out to him or try to cause some kind of distraction.

I swore in frustration and ran to Julius instead. He was sitting against the wall, his eyes hooded as he pressed a hand to his throat where Erik’s bite continued to bleed slowly.

“Are you alright?” I breathed desperately as I crouched before him, reaching out to touch him then dropping my hand uncertainly.

“Pfft, this little thing?” he replied but his voice was weak despite his mocking tone. “Though if you really think it looks fatal maybe you should take the opportunity to kiss me?”

“Kiss you?” I snorted half a laugh at the fact that he could crack jokes while he stood on death’s door.

“It could be your last chance. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life wondering what if.”

I rolled my eyes and ripped a length of material from my dress. I dipped it in a dirty puddle beside us before peeling his fingers from his throat so I could wipe the venom out of the wound. It wasn’t particularly hygienic but he was capable of healing an infection and once the venom was gone, he’d feel a lot better.

A great crash sounded as Erik threw Magnar away from him and I ducked my head, using my body to shield Julius from the spray of debris that followed.

The ferocity of their battle had reached a new high; I could feel the power of the gods billowing around them as they fought with all the strength of the deities themselves. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t natural. Watching them felt like watching a show performed on behalf of the beings which guided them. They weren’t fighting their own war anymore. This was between Idun and Andvari. Magnar and Erik were just the puppets they’d chosen to use, and I knew I had to find a way to stop them before they tore apart the men my sister and I loved.

“Magnar needs my help,” I said desperately as Julius’s wound stopped bleeding.

He followed my gaze to the battle which blazed between his brother and Erik.

“He can take that parasite,” he replied, though he didn’t sound sure.

“Tell me how to break his hold on me,” I growled.

Julius shook his head feebly and his eyelids drooped as he nearly lost consciousness. I slapped him just hard enough to force him back to wakefulness and his gaze met mine as he scowled.

“Ow,” he objected, but I didn’t have time for his nonsense. I needed to break Magnar’s hold on me and help all of us.

“Tell me how to break it, Julius!” I demanded.

He frowned at me, clearly unsure if he should go against his brother’s decision. Magnar cried out in pain behind us, and Julius gritted his teeth.

“You just have to want it enough,” he replied. “You have to know that you know better than him. That you can take the consequences of your actions upon yourself without needing his guidance anymore. But it won’t work. It takes months...years-”

I stood and turned my back on him, clenching my fists as I glared at the battle which raged on between the two men the gods had chosen for their servants.

A cold wind blew around me and my golden hair spun over my shoulders, fluttering out behind me as though the elements wished to stop my advance.

But I refused to bow to their demands. If all it took was knowing better than Magnar then that was easy. I knew that the goddess was using him. Just as Andvari was using Erik. Their quarrel had been fuelled by the deities beyond all natural solutions. Their bodies had been taken captive, their souls enslaved.

So I needed to know better than Magnar? Well I sure as hell did. I’d been bucking against Idun’s rules from the moment I’d first heard her name. There was a reason I hadn’t grown up fearing her. There was a reason she’d been forgotten in the years that had passed since the Vikings’ reign. I needed no deity to guide my future. I accepted no greater power to steer my fate.

My life was my own. And I was done following rules that I knew to be wrong.

My chest constricted as I took a step forward, the pressure of a mountain falling upon my shoulders as the goddess fought to keep me chained.

The second step was weighed with lead, my bare foot sliding across the broken concrete as though it were fused to the ground.

The wind grew stronger as I took the third step, my golden hair flying around me in a maelstrom designed to hold me back.

But I pushed on. Because I did know better. And I knew exactly what we needed to stop this madness.

As I raised my foot again, the shackles fell from my soul. I felt light, dizzy, euphoric with the sudden freedom as everything Magnar had forced me to do simply fell away.

My left hand tingled and I looked down at it as the mark which bound me to my Elder faded from my skin. I was a slayer in my own right. Free of his commands.

With a vicious smile, I started running.

My bare feet pounded the concrete and my bloodstained dress streamed behind me as I tore after Magnar and Erik. Their battle had taken them to the water’s edge and they moved so quickly that I couldn’t tell if either of them had gained the upper hand.

I set my eyes on Magnar, his bare chest heaving with effort as he kicked Erik squarely in the centre of his torso. The vampire flew towards me and I leapt aside just before he slammed into the pathway, gouging a line through the brickwork and deep into the ground below it.

Erik noticed me as he regained his feet and he raced towards me, his face alight with a feral hunger.

I cried out, whirling to face him, raising Fury and throwing it at him as he shot closer. The blade landed in his shoulder a moment before he reached me and the stench of burning flesh sizzled through the air.

He swore at me, swinging the back of his hand into my face with all the force of a charging bull.

I was tossed away from him like a rag doll and I hit the ground, rolling over and over before I managed to push myself up onto my hands and knees.

Erik sprinted after me with his fangs bared, but Magnar collided with him before he could reach me. The sound of their impact set my ears ringing and I rose on shaky legs as the pain in my face throbbed.

I chased after them again, knowing that this insanity would only end with bloodshed unless I could get to Magnar first.

I could feel the gods watching me with amusement, wondering what I was trying to achieve. I knew I was no match for Erik while Andvari aided him, but I had no intention of trying to involve myself in their fight.

“Callie, get out of here!” Magnar shouted, trying to wield his power over me again. But I felt no urge to do as he said. No insatiable impulse to follow his every command as though my body were his instead of my own. I was free. And I was going to stay that way.

I sprinted towards them and managed to catch up as they paused to survey each other. Magnar’s eyes fell on me and confusion flickered in his gaze for a moment quickly followed by a dawning comprehension.

Erik snarled as he eyed me too, both of them waiting for the other to make the first move.

I bit my lip as I noted the thirst which burned in Erik’s eyes. Fury still protruded from his shoulder as though he couldn’t even feel the blade cooking his flesh. He was ravenous. Greed given life. I wondered if the man Montana loved was even in there anymore.

I saw the moment his restraint snapped and he leapt at me with the promise of death in his gaze. I recoiled, knowing I was unable to move fast enough to escape him, but Magnar got to me first.

He slammed me to the ground, protecting me with his body as Erik jumped onto his back. Magnar bellowed in pain as the vampire bit him and my heart leapt in panic.

I reached out quickly, yanking the chain from Magnar’s neck and ripping my mother’s ring free of it. I slid it onto my trembling finger and the bubble of peace surrounded me as the gods were forced to retreat. I couldn’t feel them anymore. I couldn’t sense anything from the mark on my palm or its connection to Fabian.

Within this net I’d cast, no god could see me.

I smiled triumphantly as I pushed the bubble over Magnar and Erik too and the gods were forced to retreat from their bodies as well.

Magnar blinked down at me in surprise and Erik reared back, his eyes wide with horror as he wiped Magnar’s blood from his mouth. He wrenched Fury from his shoulder as if he’d suddenly realised it was there and it clattered to the ground between us.

“How?” he gasped, staring at us as Magnar pushed himself upright, dragging me with him.

He guided me behind him, placing himself between me and the vampire.

Erik backed up, holding out a hand as Magnar began to advance again. The bloodlust was gone from the vampire’s gaze and he suddenly seemed much more human than should have been possible.

I caught Magnar’s elbow and he let me stop him as he seemed to notice the difference in our enemy too. Magnar held onto me as he glared at Erik, both of them unsure if their fight was over or not.

“Stay close,” I commanded. “This protection doesn’t stretch far.”

“How?” Erik breathed again, staring at me as though I’d just saved him from something far worse than death.

“The gods can’t see us,” I said. “Were you under their spell? Controlled by Andvari?”

I desperately hoped that that was true. Montana believed there was so much good in this monster that he was deserving of her love. If I could locate even an inch of what she’d discovered in him, then perhaps we could find a way out of this that wouldn’t end in death.

Magnar shifted slightly so he was between me and Erik once more.

This moment of peace between them felt immeasurably fragile and I was sure that if I couldn’t maintain it there would be no way to stop them again.

“Yes. I was lost to him. You pulled me out of the dark,” Erik breathed, gratitude lacing his tone.

I glanced up at Magnar, unsure what to make of this exchange. He was still tense, as though he expected to fall back into battle at any moment, but he made no move to attack. I wondered if he was seeing the glimmer of humanity in his enemy that I was beginning to notice.

I reached towards Magnar, certain that he was the one I had to convince if I was truly going to stop this.

I cupped his cheek in my hand, the mess of blood which lined his skin wet beneath my fingertips. The ring throbbed with heat as it brushed against his flesh, like it could sense the writhing power that filled him.

“Magnar?” I whispered, drawing his eyes to me as he finally looked away from Erik. That act alone felt like crossing some immense barrier, like he’d overcome the first hurdle in containing his hatred. “This fight has gone far enough. We can’t keep allowing the gods to drive our fates.”

His jaw was tense beneath my touch but deep within the golden depths of his eyes, something softened.

“They’ve taken too much from us already,” he growled in acceptance, and I knew his animosity had found a new target in the warring deities.

I looked back at Erik, hoping he felt the same. Though a thousand years of hatred burned between them, the gods had been the ones to invoke it. They were responsible for every foul thing that had befallen each of us.

Erik’s eyes slipped to the ring on my finger and his mouth fell open as if he’d realised something critical.

“They were searching for a ring,” he whispered.

I glanced down at the golden piece of jewellery, wondering who he was talking about just as a faint scream reached my ears.

Ice slipped through my body as I turned to search for its source.

My heart throbbed with a terrible surge of dread as if my other half were screaming out for help. I knew with no uncertainty that my sister needed me. She was in desperate trouble somewhere and I had to get to her.