The Mjolnir: 'Rob Thurman'

By Ames449 & bb1028 © 2008

I was born a monster. Ok, so that was hardly a newsflash. I’d known I was different since the day I was born. I was a freak, a genetic experiment, an abomination. I was evil wrapped and packaged in human form. I’d seen things that most people wouldn’t have believed, shit, I’d been things that most people wouldn’t have believed. Yeah, trust me when I tell you possession isn’t little girls puking pea soup and Darkling… he hadn’t been the latent spirit of the devil - he’d been worse.

For one hellish week I’d wreaked havoc, and I’m not talking about teenage rebellion, joyriding, under-age-drinking havoc. I’m talking about real crap your pants, end of the world stuff.

They say money can buy anything in the Big Apple… they weren’t wrong. For the right price I’d found two werewolves and sent them after George. That was bad enough, but I’d done worse. I’d tried to kill my brother – and nearly succeeded. I thanked anyone who would listen daily that I had failed. Life without Niko…? Well, there wasn’t life without Niko. Not any life I was willing to partake in anyway. I’d also tried to destroy the human race… Yeah, I’d been a real bastard under Darkling’s thrall. The problem was I had been awake for all of it. I’d known exactly what was happening. I just hadn’t been able to stop it. If having an Auphe for a father hadn’t screwed me up enough already then this shit had definitely clocked up the therapy sessions at a rapid rate. I was fucked up beyond professional help.

It played on my mind constantly – what I had done under Darkling’s control. It played on my mind because a part of me had enjoyed it, and if that didn’t make me a monster then I don’t know what the hell did. Niko said it wasn’t me, that they were Darkling’s feelings, not mine, but I was having a hard time separating the two. They were my memories, they were my emotions. It was all me. Not that I would ever let my brother know I thought that. Niko… god, he didn’t blame me for a damn thing. Even when I had tried to kill him. Even when I had tried to destroy the world. Nik would have smacked me upside the head if he knew what I was thinking, but even my brother couldn’t save me from my own mind. I had been a monster in that week. Even he couldn’t deny that.

Rafferty had laid his healing mojo on me after Darkling had vacated my body. Not that he had left willingly. Rafferty had killed me. For a whole second I had been clinically dead. That still gave me chills thinking about it. Dead… gone… non-existent. Then he had brought me back. Shit and if that didn’t still screw with my head on a daily basis. Darkling had fled my body at that point. Yeah, no honour amongst thieves – and homicidal bastards. Sure, he was prepared to let me die, but he was a little more protective of his own mortality. He’d not been content to let it lie there though. He was a persistent asshole, but when I’d finally finished with him there hadn’t been enough left to identify the little shit. But Raff? What he had done for me…? It made it bearable… just. My memories might have faded like a painting left in the sun, but I still knew what I had done. Nothing could change that. In a maudlin way I didn’t want that to change. It reminded me of what I could become, and there was no way in hell I was letting that happen again.

“You keep frowning like that, Cal, and your face will get stuck that way.”

I stopped my barefoot stroll across the kitchen to glance up at my brother. Niko was sitting at the table, a bowl of what I could only describe as rabbit food in front of him. I loved my brother, but I had no idea how he survived on that crap. He had to be constantly hungry.

Pushing dark hair out of my face, I picked my feet back up and moved to rummage in the fridge.

It had been a month. A whole stinking month since Darkling’s demise. It seemed longer somehow. We both had baggage that we were dragging behind our sorry asses, but Niko was better at carrying his. Me? I was trying to hold myself together, and failing miserably. But brooding… it wasn’t allowed. Not while Niko was around. Not if I wanted to keep my ass from getting paddled.

“Yeah, but I’ll still be pretty in the morning.” I threw out the half-hearted response, finally locating something in the fridge that looked almost edible. Almost.

Moving over to the table, I sank into one of the empty chairs placing the suspicious looking food in front of me. Niko eyed it gravely before raising his gaze to me.

“I believe that curry is one step from evolving into an intelligent species, little brother.”

“Do I bad mouth your eating habits?” I asked, purposely digging my fork into the odd coloured slop and shovelling it into my mouth with a grin. Niko pulled a disgusted face.

“Frequently.” Niko raised his brow as I took another fork full. “Your immune system amazes me, Cal. How you don’t contract dysentery at least once a day, I don’t know.”

“Guess I’m just lucky,” I smirked.

My brother sighed wearily.

“Speaking of lucky, we’ve got a case.”

My fork halted mid-shovel as I raised my gaze to my brother.

“Already? Man, that was quick.”

Niko merely shrugged. “Promise has contacts.”

No kidding. She had to have contacts. I figured you didn’t live as long as Promise had without picking up some acquaintances along the way and to be honest we were going to need those networks. Niko and I brought a whole new meaning to the phrase anti-social.

“So what’s the job?” I asked, genuinely interested.

After Darkling’s rampage across New York money had pretty much become an issue immediately. I wasn’t exactly fired from my bar job but I figured that my boss being gutted and brutally murdered put me in the unemployment queue anyway. Not only that but Niko wasn’t ready to let me venture out into the big wide world alone yet. Ok so the Auphe were obliterated but it didn’t mean other nasties couldn’t get their scary claws into me and, although my brother wouldn’t admit it, he wasn’t ready to face losing me again. I couldn’t blame him; I felt the same about him.

So we had come up with a plan – or rather Nik and Promise had come up with a plan and I’d turned up when all the paper work had been completed. I wasn’t much for hard work. In fact I resented anything more taxing than flicking through the TV channels. Yeah I was a lazy bastard, but that was hardly a revelation.

Our Agency was designed to do all those jobs that most people didn’t want to do. You’ve got a wraith tearing up your local nature park? Sure, we’ll get rid of it. You’ve got a werewolf humping the crap out of your Labrador every morning? No problem. For the right price we would solve all your preternatural issues – we’d solve all your every day crap too. This job was the first we had had since we opened for business so I had to admit I was feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. Our track record with the preternatural world wasn’t exactly glowing with feel-good vibes.

“We’re heading out to the airport in an hour,” Niko said.

“You planning on taking me to Vegas? I didn’t even realise you knew how to gamble, Cyrano.” I shook my head in mock dismay before a wicked smirk graced my lips. “You do know there will be drinking and probably a degree of inappropriate -”

“Cal,” Niko cut me off sternly. “Please, take your mind out of the gutter just for a few minutes. I know it’s asking a lot, but humour me.”

I sighed, but couldn’t help but grin. “Fine. Ok so this job?”

“We’re picking up a package from the airport and delivering it to our client.”

I raised a brow. “When in the hell did we become Fed-ex?”

Niko got to his feet and snatched my bowl of slop from under my nose before I could argue. Dumping the contents in the bin, he rooted in the cupboard for a moment before casually placing a cereal bar in front on me. I eyed it distastefully.

“What’s this?” I demanded suspiciously. Surely he didn’t expect me to eat it? Moot point, it was Niko. Of course he expected me to eat it. Hell, he probably expected me to enjoy it.

“It’s called food, Cal,” Niko stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I was still debating whether or not bird seed could actually be considered a food group. “You really should look up the word at some point. It might prevent you from eating meals that could be potentially used as biological warfare.”

I dropped my fork onto the empty table with a scowl and pushed the bar away from me. “I think I’ll take a rain check on that, Nik.”

My brother merely shrugged before giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We leave in five minutes.”

Reluctantly, I pushed myself to my feet and hauled my ass to my bedroom to change. I was ready in three minutes. I’d learnt in the past that keeping my brother waiting wasn’t a good idea. He classed tardiness as a mortal sin and Niko’s idea of punishment left a lot to be desired. I might not have been book-smart but I wasn’t stupid. I knew better than to push my luck.

My brother was waiting in the living room. He was tucking his katana beneath his long coat as I stepped into the room. I swear to god that damn coat could have given Mary Poppins a run for her creepy-freaky ass. It never ceased to amaze me the amount of stuff Niko had stashed underneath it. He could have pulled a friggin’ speedboat out, and set it up on the Hudson. I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.

“So this delivery…? Any idea what it is?” I asked curiously, pulling my own jacket on, my eyes on my brother. Niko nodded slowly.

“We’re picking up a package. It’s some kind of family heirloom as far as I know but our client said it’s incredibly valuable. She would pick it up herself but Promise said she is elderly.”

I gave him an incredulous look. “We’re being paid to pick up some old bauble for grandma?”

Maybe this gig would have its perks after all. Babysitting some old piece of junk and being paid for it was going to be a walk in the park… well, providing that park wasn’t Central Park we would be ok.

“Don’t worry little brother. It won’t be too strenuous,” Niko assured me with a faint twinkle of mirth in his grey eyes. “You’ll barely break a sweat, I promise.”

“Yeah, yeah, just stand there and look pretty. I get it,” I replied absently, already moving to follow Niko as he made his way to the front door. “How much is the old codger coughing up for this ‘go-fetch’ job?” I asked.

Niko gave me a disapproving look. Ok, so perhaps it was disrespectful to refer to grandma as an old codger, but I wasn’t exactly rolling in good manners – even on my best day. Not that Nik hadn’t tried to beat that into my head, but I was a stubborn asshole. Besides, what was it they said about old dogs? Oh yeah, you can’t teach them to keep their paws off the damn table. Forget new tricks, all the treats in the world weren’t going to make me roll over and have my belly scratched.

Nik didn’t respond to my question, however. Instead he waited for me to step out of the apartment before he closed the door behind me. I did notice the slight arch of his brow.

“If you move any slower I might decide to Fed-ex you to the airport instead.” His lip curled upwards at the corner. “You would at least arrive on time that way.”

I grinned widely. “Keep your panties on, Cyrano. I’m coming. It’s not like the damn package is going to grow legs and walk out of there before we get there.”

Niko snorted under his breath but started the four flights down to the lobby. All in all I was feeling pretty good about this job. After facing the Auphe anything else was child’s play. I didn’t realise how wrong I was.

Hindsight… what a bitch that was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

New York. The city that never sleeps. That was true enough for the tourists, but me? I liked my sleep, and I liked to sleep well into the afternoon. It was pretty much astounding for me to be awake, let alone alert, this early in the day. Yeah, someone put a call through to Guinness, tell them Cal Leandros broke a world record. He surfaced from his pit before midday. It was nothing short of a miracle.

I was definitely more of a nocturnal creature. I wasn’t sure if that was because of my monster DNA, or simply because I was a lazy bastard. Niko would have said the latter, but I had to wonder about the former. After all, the ghouls did prefer the hours following sunset, and I was no different. Did that make me like them? Hell no! But sometimes I had to wonder about the traits I shared with my paternal family. The Auphe weren’t exactly fans of sun, sea and sand, and let’s face it I was hardly a bronzed Adonis.

Emerging from our apartment building, I followed Niko out onto the doorstep and squinted at the early morning sun. It was nearing the end of spring but despite the clear azure sky it was frigging cold. I guess I should have been grateful there wasn’t snow. It felt cold enough for snow. I pulled a face. I hated the fucking cold.

Dragging my jacket further around my torso, I turned to my now stationary brother. Niko had come to a standstill in the doorway. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of my jacket to halt my own movements. Frowning deeply, I glanced up at him.

“What?” I asked hesitantly, my own gaze following his, trying to figure out what had caught his attention. Niko’s eyes were scanning the milling crowd of people strolling up the street, although his head didn’t move an inch. My heart gave a strangled flutter under my ribs. I half expected to see the Auphe snarling towards me but there was nothing. Just humans.

“I’m just making sure…”

I knew what he making sure of. He was making sure nothing was going to drop out of the sky and take my ass out of the game permanently. I did seem to have a bull’s-eye painted on my ass. I attracted trouble like shit attracted flies. Nik knew that as well as I did. He was looking for danger, but I’d assumed there was danger, and my stomach was aching with the unsuspected adrenaline release. Niko wasn’t taking chances. Even with the Auphe gone, he couldn’t break the habit of a lifetime. He was still watching my ass. Monsters may have liked the dark but that didn’t mean they disappeared in the daytime either. Assuming they wouldn’t attack during the sun-filled hours was a colossal mistake – and one that was likely to result in eternal sleeping. It wasn’t the kind of sleeping I liked.

That said, it was the middle of the morning and the street was filled with New Yorkers rushing around. I was probably safer outside than I was in our damn apartment. Not that I said that to my brother. He had enough crap to deal with without having to worrying about that as well.

Since Darkling’s attack I had been on my guard, but I knew I didn’t even come close to the standard Niko expected. If he had his way I would be on a leash behind him every minute of every day. No way was I playing the little lost puppy role - no matter how much it soothed my brother’s anxiety. I was no one’s bitch, not even Nik’s – at least that was what I kept telling myself.

“Don’t do that!” I growled. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” I smacked him in the arm. Niko glanced at me, his brow tightening.

“It doesn’t hurt to be cautionary, Cal,” Niko murmured softly, releasing his grip on me. I straightened my jacket and forced my pounding heart to slow its frantic beating. It wasn’t easy. It continued to palpate for several minutes afterwards. I guess there’s nothing like being possessed and almost forced to wipe out humanity to fuck up your nerves.

“So, how are we getting to the airport?” I demanded peevishly, shielding my stinging eyes with my hand even as I shot a sour glare at my brother. “Subway?”

Niko didn’t turn to me. His eyes were still scanning the area even as he shook his head.

“Goodfellow was kind enough to lend us a car.”

I snorted. Kind enough? There had to be a catch. There always was with Robin. I liked the guy, but Jesus, he was an extortionist at heart.

A shiny new Chevrolet was parked up against the sidewalk. Deep red, it had all the trimmings. It was a phallic symbol with wheels. I wasn’t much for cars but even I could appreciate the shiny newness. It was like a new toy on Christmas morning, all wrapped up with bows.

“The Chevy?” I whistled under my breath, wondering what the hell Niko had said to Goodfellow to wangle that. “Nice set of wheels, bro.”

A thin slither of teeth peeked beneath his lips as he shrugged.

“He was rather reluctant to part with such an expensive vehicle, but Promise can be highly persuasive when she needs to be.”

I didn’t doubt that. Promise could charm the birds out of the sky without even raising her voice - or showing a fang. I arched my brow, shifting my gaze back to the car.

“Yeah, and what’s this highly persuasive gift costing us?”

“Just your dignity, little brother.” I snapped my eyes to Niko. That sounded dubious, and I didn’t do dubious. Not ever – and especially not when it came to Robin.

“My dignity?” I asked confused, but Niko was grinning at me. Shit, he was grinning. I hadn’t seen my brother crack a full smile once in the last month, let alone grin. Our lives hadn’t exactly been rainbows and fairytales. Neither of us had much to smile about. Not that getting a smile out of my brother was an easy task, but it was a more regular occurrence than grinning.

“Use your imagination, Cal.”

My brain caught up a moment later. I didn’t like that it had. I didn’t want to think about what Niko was suggesting.

“Promise sold me to Robin for a car?” I demanded incredulously. I had to admit I was disappointed. I’d expected more from my potential sister-in-law. However, I had to wonder what kind of car we would have got if she had offered Goodfellow my brother.

He was loving every second of this. It was a lie of course… at least I hoped it was… It was hard to tell.

Niko regained control of his emotions and pulled his lips into a tight line.

“We needed transportation. The subway would have taken too long.” He replied as if I was overlooking something blatantly obvious.

I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t like the way this conversation was going. Sure, Nik got one over on me on a daily basis, but I wasn’t above giving it back. Which I did - with glee.

“Yeah, well just remember it’s your ass he watches when you walk across the room, Cassanova,” I threw back with a grin. I didn’t need to see my brother’s expression to know I had hit a nerve. I could feel his eyes piercing holes in my back.

“Of course you could always walk,” Niko deadpanned. “The exercise would do you good.”

I might have filled the temple that was my body with crap but I still had a figure to be proud of. Ok, so I wasn’t as well muscled as Niko Schwarzenegger but Jesus, my brother took exercise to a whole new level of obsession.

“Nothing wrong with this fine exterior, Cyrano.” I patted my belly fondly.

“It’s a wonder you aren’t a walking commercial for obesity considering the amount of junk you put into that fine exterior, Cal.”

I recognised the chastisement for what it was, but shrugged impassively.

“You’re just bitter that you have to haul your ass nine miles a day to keep trim while I’m catching z’s.”

“Procrastination is not a lifestyle choice, little brother.”

I wanted to argue with him. In my opinion procrastination was the only lifestyle choice. However my brother had moved from the doorway and was striding across the sidewalk towards Goodfellow’s borrowed car. Brushing my dark hair off my face I started to follow.

It took us an hour and a half to get to the airport. You want to see Hell? I suggest going to any city airport. Screw fire and brimstone, screw pain and suffering, airports are worse. Thousands of giddy holiday makers offset by hundreds of pissed off assholes who’ve been bumped or had their flights delayed for hours. It’s a screaming pit of anger and despair. Not too strenuous Niko had said. Right now I was finding it impossible not to freak the hell out. I didn’t like crowds – unsurprising really, all things considered. Things could hide in crowds and it made me edgy not being able to see more than three rows ahead of me. There were too many people – and a helluva lot of them didn’t smell human.

That was an eye opener.

Apparently the preternatural world didn’t object to flying to new places to cause chaos. Welcome to the twenty-first century kids. Just makes sure the guy in the seat next to you isn’t going to eat your face when you book your holiday.

It was completely pathetic but I kept as close to Niko as I physically could without holding his damn hand. Yeah, I was in serious meltdown mode. I was freaked out to hell and it was such a bizarre reaction to the situation that I felt ridiculous. I’d faced so much crap in my life and yet it was the airport that was striking the fear of god into me. I never said I wasn’t nuts.

A wolf passed me suddenly, knocking my shoulder. He turned, amber eyes glaring at me and snarled even as he continued his pace, passing me. A werewolf! Jesus… How no one else noticed him I had no fucking idea. He wasn’t full wolf but he definitely couldn’t pass as human. I wondered what the hell the check-in girls made of this guy when he dumped his boarding pass on the desk. I flicked my head back round and realised Nik was still moving. Jogging, I caught up to him as quickly as I could. This place was giving me the creeps.

“Problems?” Niko asked, eying me carefully.

I shook my head and shrugged at the same time. “Not unless we’re planning on boarding Preternatural Airways to Vegas,” I muttered.

Niko raised a brow.

“I assume you also noticed that the crowd isn’t quite normal.”

Understatement of the fucking century, Nik! Not quiet normal? I couldn’t help but stare as my nose caught the scent of a… a… Jesus!

A vampire wearing a long leather duster was moving towards us. He gave me a sidelong glance as he passed, but didn’t stop. I frowned deeply at the small suitcase he was dragging behind him. It was possibly the most surreal goddamn thing I had ever seen.

“Not normal? Jesus, Cyrano, it’s like a walking horror movie in here,” I said, pushing through a group of teenage girls who had stopped in the middle of the walkway and were arguing around a pile of suitcases. I could have gone around them, but I was too preoccupied scanning the crowd for more creatures of the night. I half tripped over a suitcase but it didn’t slow my pace. Even when one of the girls shouted abuse at me I didn’t acknowledge them. I was too busy trying to keep up with Niko’s pace. The sooner we got this heirloom, the sooner we could get the hell out the damn place and back to our apartment. I was starting to feel like the walls were closing in on me.

Finally, we reached the gate we needed. Collecting the package was easy enough, although I gave the woman behind the desk a quick sniff just to check if she was human. Astoundingly she was despite being made up like a Halloween mask. It was a wonder she could keep her head up considering how much make-up she was wearing.

I hung back a little and let my brother handle the proceedings. I was still scanning the crowd for creepy-crawlies. I was nervous as hell.

“That was easy enough,” I said as Niko strolled back over to me. He was clutching a small parcel box in his hands.

“Yes, it was,” Niko agreed. “And you didn’t even have to break a sweat, little brother.”

I nodded, but it wasn’t entirely true. My hands were slick with sweat and my t-shirt was clinging to me underneath my jacket. I wiped my palms on my jeans and followed after my brother.

“What do you think is in the box?” I asked, curiosity overcoming my temporary agoraphobia for a moment.

Niko shifted his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“You didn’t ask?” I shifted my gaze to the box warily. The crowd in front of us was slowing and I was forced to step around a dawdling group of tourists before coming back to Niko’s side.

My brother gave me a patient look. “The woman is in her eighties, Cal. I hardly think she is trafficking dangerous objects across America.”

I hesitated to mull that over. “You never know,” I said finally. “Weirder things have happened.”

Niko merely snorted and continued walking.

I barely made two steps.

Something hard collided with my right side. A shot of adrenaline instantly flew into my veins as I stumbled to the side, the momentum carrying me a few paces. It wasn’t one of my most graceful moments. I practically tripped over my own feet. I managed to stay upright even as my hands shot out seeking something to steady myself.

It took me a mere second to realise it wasn’t an evil creature with sharp claws, pointed teeth and glowing pools for eyes. It was a woman. Just a woman. The tiny brunette had walked right into me. Delicate fingers curled into my leather jacket, bright sapphire pools staring into my grey eyes. I noticed Niko was moving toward me out of my peripheral vision but the woman held my attention. There was something about her… something I couldn’t pinpoint. She grabbed me tighter and began speaking quickly in a language I didn’t understand. I frowned deeply at her, shifting my gaze to my brother. I barely managed English on a good day. I had no idea what this crazy broad was rambling about and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Her tongue was rolling around her mouth so quickly that she was practically barking the words at me.

Niko was at my elbow within a millisecond of this all happening, his eyes locked on the woman. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to run her through or pack her off to an asylum. He went for the middle road and tried to extradite me from her grip. She was surprisingly strong considering her height.

“Let him go. Now,” Niko growled quietly but it was enough to stop her tirade. She turned to my brother and fixed him with a glare that made my stomach almost drop out of my frigging ass. Niko didn’t blink. His expression was no less dangerous than hers.

“Verna…” she rasped, pointing at me and shaking me a little to emphasis her point – whatever the hell that point was. “Verndari!”

“Ok, lady,” I began, frustration taking over. I wasn’t noted for my damn patience and this woman was pissing me off. Evil glaring aside, she was pretty small. If it came down to it I could totally take her – and if couldn’t, I had no doubt my brother could. I was sure Niko’s sense of chivalry wouldn’t even object in this case. “You need to take your damn hands off me. I don’t speak whatever the hell language you’re blabbering in.”

She glanced over her shoulder briefly before snapping her gaze back to me.

“Verna!” She repeated the word.

I tried to pull back from her grip but shit, I barely moved an inch. I didn’t know why but my stomach was rolling and my head was spinning. I wanted her off me and I wanted her off me now. Wrapping my fingers around her wrist, I tried to prise her hands off me.

“The tourist desk is near the entrance, lady,” I growled. “I’m sure they can help you out.”

And with that she released me and took off at full pelt. I watched her go bemused, my heart thrumming beneath my ribs. What the hell had that been about? The woman, however, was moving like a bat out of hell, seemingly oblivious to the people she was mowing down in her wake. It took less than a couple of seconds before she was lost in the crowd.

“Are you ok?” Niko’s voice brought me back to reality. Was I ok? Yeah, I was fine. Was I freaked out? Damn straight I was. I didn’t do well with people getting into my personal space.

“She was nine buckets of whacked out craziness, but yeah, I’m just peachy, Nik,” I muttered, straightening my leather jacket feeling distinctly ruffled and a little bit violated.

“She was probably just confused, Cal.” Grey eyes twinkled whimsically now that the danger had passed. “She probably thought you were a celebrity.”

I scowled and was glad my nerves were starting to settle. “Come on, let’s just get back to the car. The sooner we get rid of this damn package, the sooner I can go back to bed.”

“Did you listen to a word I said about procrastination?”

“Yeah. I just chose to ignore you.” I smirked, “Besides, I make procrastination an art form.”

My brother shook his head. “You’re unbelievable.”

I smiled and clapped Niko on the shoulder.

“We all have our swords to bear, bro.”

Yeah and wouldn’t those words come back to bite me on the ass? Sometimes I wished my brain to mouth filter would actually work. Poking fate was nearly as suicidal as poking a grizzly with a stick. Only we poked something worse. Far worse. I guess I should have realised by now that bad luck was the only stick I was beaten with. Gibbering lady? Yeah she really came back to bite us on the ass.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Our first job had gone off without a hitch. Yeah, pat on the back for a job well done. All we had to do was deliver it to grandma in the morning and receive our first pay check. Easy. At least that was what my brother kept telling me. In my opinion there was no such thing as easy and until we got rid of the thing I wasn’t relaxing an iota. I wasn’t sure why but I had a bad feeling about the whole thing – in fact I was nervous as hell. Most people would have called me paranoid… but then most people hadn’t survived the shit I had.

Turning my head to the side, I glared at the package, my brow narrowing. It was fairly nondescript looking, but still something about this whole thing felt wrong. Call me cynical but we weren’t exactly notorious for our luck and the gibbering woman had put me on edge. Her insane babbling at me two seconds after picking up grandma’s parcel couldn’t be coincidence. I didn’t believe in coincidence and I was worried this was going to bite us on the ass. But grandma’s shiny old trinket was the least of our problems.

It was getting on for the early hours of the morning. I was sprawled on the couch in front of the TV watching some late night re-run and Niko was sitting at the table, an assortment of blades laid out in front of him. I kept shifting my gaze between the screen and the package, half expecting it to do… well something. Anything. I had no idea what it was supposed to do and Christ, if Niko could crawl inside my head he would have locked me in a padded cell. Even my thoughts sounded crazy.

I was dragged from my musing by a heavy rapping on the front door. I twisted my head to glance at my brother over the counter that separated the living space from the kitchen. He didn’t look worried, but a slight tightness around his eyes told me he was wary – after all the preternatural don’t tend to knock. Break down doors and climb out of mirrors… sure. But knock before ripping your throat out? No. Not a chance in hell.

I started to rise but Niko gestured at me to sit my ass back down. I complied but I wasn’t sitting this one out completely. My eyes locked on the door, I blindly reached under the sofa and curled my fingers around the handgun I kept stashed there for emergencies. Even as I straightened from the floor I was pulling back the safety. You could never be too damn careful; we had weapons hidden all over the apartment.

Niko moved towards the door, his katana in hand. He gave me a sharp look before he peered through the peep hole. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he sighed and pulled it open.

Goodfellow eyed Niko’s lowered samurai and my raised gun with a disgruntled snort.

“Is this your idea of hospitality?” The puck demanded, stepping into the living room. “I’ve got to tell you, it leaves a lot to be desired.”

As always he was wearing a suit that probably cost more than the entire apartment. His black silk shirt was offset by a smart pinstripe pants and jacket set. Narcissism was a hobby Robin liked to indulge in and, to give the guy credit, he did it well.

“What are you doing here, Loman?” I asked using a nickname I had gifted the man with the first time I had met him – although Willie Loman had shit on Robin. The puck could sell your eyes to the devil before you even blinked.

“Well, that’s gratitude for you!” Robin replied tetchily. “I lend you one of my cars and you treat me like a leper.”

“If you start dropping bits of your anatomy over our floor you’re paying the cleaning bill,” I fired back with a grin, reclaiming my position on the couch, my gun resting on my stomach as I stretched my legs out.

The puck wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think an industrial cleaner could get the stains off this carpet.”

He was probably right. The carpet had a number of curious stains adorning it and I wasn’t all that bothered about identifying them either. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like the answer and I didn’t want to give up walking around barefooted. In all honesty the whole apartment had seen better days.

“Robin, it’s three o’clock in the morning.” Niko finally spoke, closing the door behind Goodfellow. “Why are you gracing us with your presence?”

The puck moved over to the couch and whacked my feet so he could sit down.

“Get your own seat,” I growled, waving an irritable hand at the adjacent empty two-seater. I was comfortable, dammit, and I didn’t want to move.

Robin eyed the laundry adorning the chair before bringing his gaze back to me. It was like a waterfall of clothing. There wasn’t any way he could sit without toppling the lot. I relented with a scowl and sat up, allowing Goodfellow to take a seat.

“Shit, Robin, you’re like a puppy humping my damn leg to get attention.”

Goodfellow snorted. “Perhaps that would be true if I knew where your leg had been, Caliban.”

Caliban… Robin was one of the few people who used my full name. It was a gift from my mother. Yeah, one thing I couldn’t deny about Sophia Leandros was that she had one hell of a sense of humour. Niko point blank refused to. In his eyes I wasn’t a monster and a name didn’t change that. To me it was just another reminder that I wasn’t human – as if I needed reminding of that. Thanks mom.

I scowled at Goodfellow but didn’t have a chance to reply. My brother – the eternal diplomat – cut off any response I was planning on making before I had a chance to even open my damn mouth.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Niko persisted, perching gracefully on the arm of the opposite couch. It seemed ninja boy could manoeuvre the clothing mountain without a problem, so why the hell couldn’t Robin?

“I was in the area,” Goodfellow said with a shrug. “I thought I would check in on you both and see how your job went.”

“Like clockwork,” I said breezily.

Nik had told me everything was fine that many times today that I was actually starting to believe him. But everything hadn’t been fine. In fact, now that I thought about it everything hadn’t gone like clockwork. I'd forgotten about the crazy brunette chick from the airport.

“Hey, Robin?” The puck glanced at me. “You have any idea what verdna means.”

“Verna,” Niko corrected absently, looking at Goodfellow expectantly. I rolled my eyes.

“Verna,” I repeated.

The puck raised a brow, moss green eyes shifting between the both of us.

“I didn’t think you were that familiar with English, let alone other languages.”

“I’m not. Hence why I’m asking you,” I ground out, my patience for Robin’s bantering wearing thin. The brunette was playing on my mind and I wanted answers.

Robin gave me a level stare, irritated at my biting but then sighed dramatically when I fixed him with my own glare. He might have been alive since time began but I was the one with the monster DNA. I could shoot daggers with the best of them – although I had to wonder if it was the teenager in me rather than the Auphe.

“Fine,” he grumbled, pulling his bottom lip between pearly white teeth. “It uh… means to protect – in Old Icelandic. Well, what I guess you would refer to as old Norse these days.” Robin added casually. I caught my brother’s eye and frowned.

“Huh,” I muttered under my breath, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees.

What the hell did it mean? And why the hell did the crazy bitch say it to me? I guess if she had known what I was she might have ran a fucking mile in the other direction.

“Where did you hear that anyway? I didn’t realise you ran in intellectual circles –“ Goodfellow glanced at Niko. “Present company excluded, of course.”

I pushed myself to my feet and cast a glance at the package on the table as I made my way to the fridge. I had a bad feeling about all of this. My monster-senses were tingling.

“Some crazy lady in the airport said it to me,” I replied, pulling the door open and scanning a lazy eye around the barely filled shelves.

A couple of take out boxes from over a week ago were scattered near the top, some cheese that would have made Darwin proud and a carton of milk that was no longer liquid stared mockingly back at me. The rest was Niko’s ‘health’ food crap and no way in hell was I that hungry. Damn it. I guess I should have done some shopping, but procrastination’s a bitch and I was the king of it.

Deciding food was off the cards unless I wanted to visit the porcelain god – or venture into rabbit food central - I settled for the closest thing to juice that we had. I sniffed it suspiciously and then, deciding it didn’t smell too awful, I poured a glassful and took a sip. No doubt it was made of something I had never even heard of before but compared to some of the other things my brother tried to force me to drink it wasn’t that bad. Well, I could drink it without gagging anyway. Always a bonus in my opinion.

I held my glass up to Robin, swilling the liquid in the bottom. It had a strange green-brown hue to it that even I found dubious.

“I’d offer you some-” I began, but the puck cut me off with a wave of his hand.

“No, that’s quite alright,” Robin replied quickly.

I had to laugh at the look of disgust on his face. Goodfellow had also been privy to my brother’s concoctions in the past and it was obvious that he wasn’t willing to try it again. I hid my grin behind my glass when my brother shot us an annoyed glare. I guess he was getting tired of my constant nagging about what he considered nutritious.

“Goodfellow,” Niko said evenly, trying to catch Robin’s attention once more. Not that it was difficult. Most of the time my brother was trying to divert the puck’s attention elsewhere. Apparently Nik didn’t appreciate the interest his ass got when Robin was around. “What about verndari? I’m assuming it is similar in meaning.”

“Yes, it means protector.” Goodfellow turned to me with a raised brow, “And someone said this to you?”

I feigned hurt.

“Don’t sound so surprised Loman. That could so be me.”

Niko’s long nose snorted.

“The only thing you guard, little brother, is the couch. It’s hard to be a protector when you spend most of your day sleeping.”

“Very funny.” I fixed my brother with a look that was meant to be intimidating. He merely shrugged his shoulders and gave me a look of his own, amusement in his grey eyes. So much for that. I might have sprung from the loins of a fearsome monster but Niko was completely immune to my Auphe half.

Catching the brown package out of the corner of my eye once more, I got that same stomach churning feeling again –like a nest of snakes were crawling around my insides.

When we had come up with the idea for the business I wasn’t sure what to expect, but pick-up and delivery wasn’t it. I was having a hard time accepting the notion that this was all there was to the job. I gave the box one last shake for good measure and placed it back on the table.

“What is it Cal?” I turned to look at Niko and shrugged my shoulders.

How the hell was I supposed to explain that I was freaking out about a box no bigger than eight centimetres? It was frigging stupid – and yet… I couldn’t shake the unease I was feeling and over the years I’d come to trust my instincts. It was those inbuilt survival skills - as well as my brother's determination to keep my ass out of a sling - that had kept me alive long enough to defeat my extended family - and shit, hadn’t that been a fun reunion?

“Not sure,” I said, waving my hand in the direction of the package, “but I’m not sold on the idea that this is all there is to the job. Something about this just seems… wrong.”

I waited for my brother and Robin to scorn my paranoia, but neither did. Goodfellow was staring at the package as if he was trying to see through the cardboard itself. Niko, however, was studying me intently.

“I was told that we were to pick up the package and deliver it to our employer.” Niko said finally. “As far as I’m aware this job will be completed by morning. You have nothing to worry about.”

It was meant to be reassuring, but after all the shit with the Auphe and Darkling telling me not to worry was like telling me not to breathe; it wasn’t happening. I was probably overreacting about the package, but something wasn’t right - and if it wasn’t the job then I didn’t have a clue what the hell it was. For now my money was on the package. It was easier to be suspicious of grandma’s trinket rather than to think of all the other crap that could go wrong. God knows that list was extensive.

“If you say so.” I wasn’t so confident, but I was willing to let my brother think what he wanted. I guess he had enough faith for the both of us.

I turned to Robin who was now sprawled along the couch I had just vacated.

“Don’t think you’re spending the night Loman, you’ve got your own place.”

“Oh, stop your incessant whining. I’m trying to sleep,” he grumbled from under the arm he had draped across his face.

I glanced towards Niko, my lips twitching at the corners. My brother was regarding the puck warily, arms crossed over his broad chest, his grey eyes as hard as uncut granite. Nik and Robin may have bonded over my week of destruction with Darkling but that didn’t mean my brother was ready to be roomies with him. Even if it wasn’t for Goodfellow’s obvious attraction to my brother, it had always been just the two of us and it just didn’t feel right having someone else in our apartment.

Robin must have felt our eyes on him ‘cause he dropped his arm and let out a long, suffering sigh.

“Alright, alright! I’m going.” He got up from the couch and gave us both a disgruntled glare. “I allow you two to spend a day driving around in style and this is the thanks I get?”

Jesus, give the man an Oscar. Pity-city, resident one – Robin Goodfellow. He was laying it on with a trowel and although I should have been sympathetic, I wasn’t. I merely arched a brow at him and indicated the front door with my head.

“Goodnight, Robin,” I singsonged with a flash of teeth.

I doubted he would have stayed the night anyway, but in true Goodfellow fashion he was making a scene. I heard him mumbling under his breath and couldn’t help but grin at what were no doubt curses in a half dozen different languages.

He strolled through the room and out the front door with a short wave goodbye, all the while still muttering more choice words. I rolled my eyes. The dramatics were never ending.

Looking at Nik it was obvious he had enjoyed the tantrum. His eyes were bright.

“I’m assuming Goodfellow isn’t too concerned about his vehicle.”

I drained my glass and dragged my sleeve across my mouth.

“What makes you say that?” I questioned.

Niko smirked.

“He forgot his keys.”

I followed my brother’s gaze to the counter and snorted when I saw that the Chevy keys were still there. Yeah, he was concerned alright. If he wasn’t so anal about his money he probably wouldn’t have even noticed the damn thing was missing. I shrugged.

“He’s got plenty to spare. He should give us the frigging car just for having to put up with him.”

Niko tilted his head slightly, “Just be grateful he didn’t request his payment, little brother.”

I shot my brother a level stare. I still had a bone to pick with Promise; vampire or not, I didn’t appreciate her selling me out to Goodfellow.

“Me and your girlfriend are going to have a chat about that one. In the mean time I’m going to bed. I’m surprised you’re not passed out yourself grandpa.”

Considering my brother would be up at the ass crack of dawn I actually was surprised that he was still awake. Now that the Grendels were history we didn’t have to sleep in shifts - which I was pretty goddamn happy about. I sure as hell wasn’t about to complain about the extra snooze time.

“I’ll be going to bed momentarily. I have to clean up first, but you go ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” Niko replied with a quick twitch of his lips. Cocky bastard. But he was right, I didn’t do mornings; I barely did afternoons. So I didn’t complain about his comment – much.

Niko moved to the table to put his blades away. He had been cleaning them before Goodfellow’s impromptu visit - and inadvertent disruption of his anal retentive ways. My brother considered weapons to be a form of art and he treated them with reverence. Hey we all have weird habits, it’s just Nik's came with sharp points.

“Don’t try to be funny, Cyrano. It doesn’t suit you.” I started walking down the hallway towards my room. I didn’t have to turn around to know that my brother was enjoying this. I could practically feel his grin piercing my back.

Evidently the joke was still on me. I didn’t care. My brother deserved to have a little fun – even if it was at my expense. Plus I had enough ‘Goodfellow’ ammunition to last me a while. It never did get old.

None of that mattered as soon as my head it the pillow. I was out for the count, and didn’t plan on dealing with the world until the afternoon…

Unfortunately, the world had other plans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 I was dragged from my sleep, literally. I mean full on pulled from my bed kicking and screaming – only I didn’t really have time to kick or scream. It wasn’t the greatest way to wake up, I’ll tell you. Was it really too much to ask to sleep without interruption? Apparently for us it was. My first conscious thought was something wrapping a cold large hand around my ankle and then I was flying across the room.

I collided with the far wall heavily, my spine groaning as plaster dug into my flesh before I slammed into the floor like a dead weight. My senses switched to alert mode in the time it took me to stumble to my feet and lock my eyes on my attacker. The back of my head was throbbing and I was sure I was bleeding, but I didn’t have the luxury of feeling pain at the moment.

I could barely make out what this thing looked like but I definitely didn’t have to smell it to know it wasn’t human – and huge. Even in the darkness of my room I could tell that. I wasn’t sure if I was pissed off or grateful that I hadn’t thought to leave on a light, ‘cause from what I was getting its arms alone where almost as big as I was and it was practically on top of me.

I gave out an annoyed grunt and shoved the thing away from me - only it didn’t exactly work out the way I had planned. The damn thing barely moved. Definitely time for plan B… and plan B involved exploding rounds.

I made a desperate grab for my gun on the bedside table but my fingers never found it. My attacker was moving again. Staggering back a little as it raised a huge hand towards me I rolled out from beneath the shithead and was pretty frigging disturbed as its fist practically went through the floor. Yeah, it was time to move. Definite note-to-self on that one: watch out for the frigging gorilla arms.

There was no way in hell I could fight this thing unarmed, and my gun was behind the hulking monster. So I did the only thing I could - I fucking ran. No way was I playing with gorilla boy.

There was only one problem with my damn plan – gorilla boy had other ideas.

As fast as I could move, it was faster. Shit me, if that wasn’t unexpected. I’d figured because of its girth it would do that slow, lumbering walk. I’d overlooked the fact its huge legs gave it an impressive stride. It swallowed my bedroom in half a step and had me by the throat before I had even reached the door.

My throat creaked under its huge hand and I scrabbled frantically with my arms and legs as it crushed my windpipe.

There was no ground beneath me which was terrifying. I was literally suspended in the air and this son of a bitch was strangling me to death. Lungs burning, eyes watering, my life was slowly being squeezed out of me. I was screwed – and what was worse was that I knew help wasn’t coming. If the loud crashing sound from the living room was anything to go by then this bastard had friends and they were keeping my brother occupied. It was the only explanation I could think of for why Niko hadn’t materialised on his white horse to save his damsel in distress little brother. I may have had the super sense of smell, but my brother had ears like a damn bat.

“Mjolnir…” It rasped a guttural breath. “Where?”

I had no idea what the hell it was talking about, and even if I had known there was no way I could answer the son of a bitch. I was too busy trying to get air passed its death grip – to little avail. Spots were beginning to invade my vision and my head was swimming.

Gorilla boy seemed to realise I was no good to it dead and relinquished its death grip on me. I sagged onto the floor, long limbs folding beneath my frame, coughing and spluttering. Christ, I was wheezing like a frigging asthmatic. No way was a little thing like being choked to death stopping me though.

I was already moving before gorilla boy gave thought to strangling me again. I hadn’t lived through the Auphe by sitting on my ass and I wasn’t going to live through this doing the same.

On jelly-like limbs, I half-crawled, half-staggered towards the door and flung it open before it even had a chance to think about attacking me again. Ricocheting off the walls of the hallway like I was stuck in a game of pinball, I skidded to a halt as I emerged into the living room and got my first glimpse of what the hell was attacking us.

Gorilla boy’s buddy was even bigger.

Over eight feet tall, its head was grazing the ceiling – which, by the way, was also fucking enormous. Two large fanged incisors hung from under fat scaled lips, and large onyx eyes peered beneath a heavy brow. Its torso was bare but muscles that looked like they had been carved from rock were prominent on the dark green skin. And shit, don’t get me started on its arms and legs. Each limb was thicker than my entire waistline and its biceps looked as if they had been carved from mountain peaks.

I’d seen some pretty scary crap in my life time but I have to admit this thing gave me pause. My only consolation was the glint of silver I saw swinging in the same direction as the thing was moving in. My brother, efficient as always, was making good work of slicing the bastard up, but it wasn’t going down. In fact I don’t think it even noticed the katana shaving bits of flesh from its bones. It was too busy throwing our furniture around the room. And wasn’t that fun to dodge?

Niko danced backwards as it threw the coffee table in his direction, barely avoiding being hit with it. The table disintegrated into a pile of splinters as it smashed against the wall.

I moved swiftly, pulling the drawers of the sideboard next to me open and found one of my guns stashed amongst a number of knives. I quickly flicked the barrel open, checked it was loaded – which thanks to my brother’s anally retentive ways it was – and popped the entire chamber into gorilla boy’s buddy, Sasquatch.

That got its attention but my own attention was diverted by my bedroom door being ripped from its hinges and gorilla boy appearing behind me in the hallway. Apparently it had evolved enough to realise the purpose of a doorway – even if the asshole didn’t know how to use it properly. Gotta love progress.

Shit, shit and double shit.

Sasquatch and gorilla boy were both racing towards me. I fumbled in the drawer for more ammo but there was no way in hell I was going to get my gun loaded and raised before they were on me. I didn’t need to worry about Sasquatch however. Nik was running like a bat out of hell.

He vaulted onto its back as gracefully as a cat and rammed his sword into Sasquatch’s back. Blood – or what I guessed was blood since it was purple – sprayed across Niko’s face as he dropped back onto the floor, his katana coming with him. He jumped back as Sasquatch batted a meaty fist towards him. I knew my brother was quick and could fight like the devil but our living room wasn’t that big and Nik’s luck ran out. He had no where to go. He was already backed against the wall and all I could do was watch with horror as Sasquatch’s blow caught my brother.

My heart nearly stopped in my chest as I saw the blond blur that was my brother flying across our living room. I cringed as I heard him crash into the wall. Jeez, our neighbours had to be loving this. This evening was coming complete with a mangled older brother and a goddamn eviction notice.

I didn’t see Niko hit the floor. As fast as dumb and dumber were, I was desperate enough to move quicker than them both. Taking a leaf out of their primitive book, I launched a table lamp at Sasquatch. It reared its head, and bellowed angrily, its black eyes snapping to me. Ok so I had gained the dumb son of a bitch’s attention away from the prone form of my brother but there was a flaw in my oh so brilliant plan. It was now coming straight for me and it was pissed as hell. I didn’t stop to question my motives however. I was too busy trying to avoid its flailing arms. Running from the Auphe most of my life had some advantages. I was never getting caught by anything ever again.

Barely avoiding gorilla boy as he emerged from the hallway, I rolled out of Sasquatch’s path as he made a lunge for me and scrabbled across the carpet on all fours away from Niko. He was still down and I was trying to keep these bastards away from him.

“Mjolnir!” Sasquatch roared.

It was deafening. As loud as gorilla boy was he didn’t have shit on his partner. If I had had time I probably would have covered my ears, but I didn’t have the chance. They were both moving towards me, mowing through all the furniture between them and me like a wrecking ball.The couch crumbled like a piece of paper as gorilla boy stepped through it – yeah, stepped through it. Christ, if that didn’t make my stomach drop out of my goddamn ass.

Sasquatch flung a weighty fist down were I had just been standing and I wasn’t surprised when the floor boards crumbled beneath the pressure. His entire hand up to his meaty wrist disappeared under a swell of wood and carpet. For a moment Sasquatch looked completely baffled at his buried limb. These things obviously weren’t too bright.

I couldn’t help but stand there and shake my head at its stupidity but my incredulousness was short lived.

I ducked barely in time as our TV came hurtling across the room at me. Shrapnel rained down over me as it smashed into pieces. I curled a protective arm over my head and bent into myself, attempting to avoid the rebounding electrical equipment. If any of it hit me, I didn’t feel it. Adrenaline was racing through my system. I was still facing two psychotic assholes but I was pissed as hell. I loved that frigging TV. I guess it was revenge for the lamp. Bastards.

Gorilla boy and Sasquatch stepped over the decimation that had been our couch, huge hands seeking purchase on me. I propelled backwards, trying to get out of its reach but Sasquatch - despite the rivulets of purple blood running down his bare chest – was faster. He grabbed me by my left arm and dragged me off my feet.

To say it hurt would have been the understatement of the fucking century. My arm was practically being pulled out of its socket. Scratch that, it was being pulled out of its socket. I felt my arm tear from the joint and bit my lip to stop the scream that tried to escape my mouth. I felt the sickening pop as my arm was wrenched out of place, black spots occluding my peripheral vision.

Sasquatch wasn’t done with trying to dismember me however. He shook me viciously, my head snapping back and forth with the force. I was sure my vertebra was in pieces. It certainly felt like it was.

“Mjolnir!” Sasquatch repeated the word, but I wasn’t even listening anymore. Black curtains were sweeping further across my eyes as I started to black out. My arm was on fire and Sasquatch seemed intent on ripping the limb from my body.

But dumb and dumber didn’t know my brother as well as I did. There was no way in hell he was going to let me die whilst he still had breath in his body and true to form, Niko was on his feet again, albeit shakily. He was gripping his katana, his lips set into a grim, but determined line.

With a force I hadn’t imagined possible he slammed the sword through Sasquatch’s back, a glint of steel greeting me on the other side. It didn’t seem to notice it had been run through for a moment but Niko wasn’t finished. He dragged the blade downwards, tearing flesh and muscle as he went. That got the bastard’s attention. Sasquatch wailed and dropped me. I crumbled onto the floor and scooted back on my ass – yeah graceful as hell I know, but my left arm was pretty much fucked. It hung uselessly at my side, distorted at a weird angle that made me feel queasy.

Niko continued to stab at Sasquatch even as it sank onto its knees, clawing at the sword to no avail. I started to rise on shaky legs, expecting gorilla boy to help his partner, however there was no honour amongst the preternatural world. Gorilla boy made like Zeus and bolted as Sasquatch writhed and gurgled, choking on the liquid swilling in its mouth. The carpet was swimming in purple blood but still Niko’s sword whipped back and forth with precision as he severed the spinal column.

It gave a shuddering wail and then sank from its knees onto his face. The room shook as it landed and then everything went still.

Niko laid a foot on Sasquash’s back and, with the sickening sound of ripping flesh, pulled the blade out. He was covered in a mixture of purple and crimson but his expression was frightening. He glared at the corpse for a moment before turning to me, his eyes softening. I dropped my head back against the wall and let out a low trembling breath as I stared at the ceiling, attempting to ignore the flaring pain in my arm.

“Are you ok?”

I lowered my gaze to my brother. His eyes were roving over my face.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I replied, nodding towards the deep gash running from Niko’s temple down to his chin. It was weeping blood in a way that made my stomach clench painfully. I’d rarely seen my brother hurt and the sight of him bleeding in front of me was worrying as hell.

“Apart from your arm, are you hurt anywhere else?” Niko dismissed his own injuries absently. I scowled at him.

“Shit, Nik, you’re not invincible!” I growled, gingerly touching fingertips to the back of my head. I wasn’t surprised to see blood on them. My head was frigging pounding. It was a wonder I hadn't knocked my brain out of my skull when I’d hit my bedroom wall. I exhaled deeply and dropped my blood smeared hand onto my lap wearily.

“That remains to be seen, little brother.” Niko’s smirk faded as he saw the viscous scarlet liquid staining my skin.

“You don’t have to pretend you’re fine,” I maintained stubbornly, but my brother’s fingers were already skimming the back of my head. I hissed as he touched a tender spot and pulled away from him. “Christ, Nik! It already hurts without you poking it.”

Niko balanced on the balls of his feet for a moment and studied me carefully.

“You’re angry,” he stated.

“I’m not angry,” I snapped, dropping my head back against the wall once more.

Ok, hardly the best response to prove my point, but the truth was I was angry. Niko had nearly been seriously hurt trying to protect my stupid ass back there and I couldn’t help but feel guilty every time I caught a glimpse of the blood trailing his face. My brother had given up so much for me over the years. He had fought so many monsters to protect me and I had to wonder how long it would be before something finally took him out of the game permanently. It was a fear I had to live with daily and it was a fear that ate at me constantly. Sometimes I wondered if he would be better off without me.

As always Niko read my thoughts as if I was an open book.

“I’m fine, Cal,” Niko said solemnly, “and I’m not going anywhere.”

I rolled my eyes at him. Shit, I probably should have been on the floor throwing a tantrum. I was acting like a brat but I couldn’t help the dark thoughts that were encroaching on my mind.

“I’m fine too,” I ground out even as I winced. My vision was swimming again and I had to blink a few times to clear it. Even then it didn’t come completely back into focus. Everything had a slight hazy edge to it.

My brother pursed his lips and sighed.

“You’re a bad liar, Cal.”

“Yeah, well, so are you,” I muttered irritably under my breath. I sounded like a petulant child of five, rather than nineteen but I was tired and I was hurting. Coupled with my worry for my brother… Christ, it was no wonder I was pissed off.

Niko let my grouching slide and glanced over his shoulder at the decimation that was our apartment. The room looked like a bomb had exploded in the middle of it. He frowned deeply at Sasquatch’s corpse.

“Any idea what Mjolnir is?” My brother asked.

“Not a goddamn clue.”

I let him help me onto my feet, clutching my arm to my chest and wincing at the movement. My shoulder was on fire but I wasn’t about to complain about it - not in Nik’s hearing anyway. He had enough shit to worry about as it was. He maintained his grip on me until my shaky limbs found traction beneath my weight and then released me once he was sure I could stand on my own. I managed it – barely. My legs were like rubber and I found myself relying on the wall to keep me from lurching to one side.

“It sounds familiar but I can’t put my finger on it,” Niko said, his gaze spacing as he tried to recall the information. After a moment he shifted his shoulders and turned back to me, eying my shoulder critically. “I’m going to have to put that back into place.”

“Oh goody,” I growled, “because being dragged out of my bed and thrown around the apartment wasn’t enough fun for one night.”

Niko raised a brow at me. “I had forgotten what a sunny disposition you have sometimes, Cal.”

I sighed deeply, reining in my turbulent emotions. There was no point being pissed at Nik. After all, none of this shit was his fault.

“Sorry,” I apologised, finally standing on my own without the help of the wall. “It’s just sometimes I wish the world would just –“ I broke off and sighed.

There was no goddamn point in dwelling on the ‘what if’s’. I could have wasted a whole lifetime thinking along those lines and frankly I didn’t have the resolve to brood.

Niko mirrored my exhalation. He sounded tired and that freaked me out. I cringed and shifted my gaze from my brother’s face. It was hard enough without seeing that look on his face. Instead I focused on the room. The sofa was completely screwed, the TV was history and the room was littered with the debris of what had been our lives less than ten minutes ago. The package was nowhere to be seen, lost somewhere amongst the destruction.

“I guess we can kiss grandma’s payout goodbye,” I muttered sourly.

My brother snorted. “I think after tonight we can kiss the apartment goodbye.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Our landlord was going to flip his lid when he saw the state of this place, not to mention the cops. After all, I had levelled a whole barrel into Sasquatch. That sort of thing wouldn’t go unnoticed – even in New York. I was thinking it was probably a good time to disappear. Besides, the clean up was going to be a bitch and I didn’t do domestic chores. Not if I could help it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Niko steered me into my bedroom and thrust a holdall at me, securing my right hand around it.

“Pack the essentials,” Niko said quietly. “We’re leaving in five minutes.”

The unspoken worry in his voice was enough to get me moving. I nodded sluggishly and moved over to my drawers, ignoring the headache that was settling behind my eyes. Thankfully I didn’t really have that much stuff to pack anyway. Spartan? Christ my room took militaristic to a whole new level. It was barely four walls, a bed and a battered chest of drawers. I wasn’t exactly your typical nineteen year old. There were no posters of scantily clad models exposing masses of flesh, or grungy looking bands poised in some solemn pose taped to my walls. I guess when you spend most of your life running from things that go bump in the night you don’t really have that much time to accumulate shit.

Dragging a drawer open I reached in with my good arm and grabbed what I could. A few t-shirts, some sweaters and half a dozen pairs of pants found themselves stuffed ungraciously into my bag. Yeah, I wasn’t big on folding crap either. Not that I gave a shit. My head was pounding and it was difficult enough to gather up my things one handed as it was. Still, I did it without making a sound. Which was a goddamn feat considering how shit I felt. Niko had taped a wad of gauze to the back of my head to keep me from leaking blood all over the place but the neckline of my t-shirt was patched with crimson.

My bedroom rolled around me like I was on the waltzes. Not the most pleasant sensation, I’ll tell you, and it wasn’t doing much to curb the nausea that was threatening to make itself known all over the floor. I reached out with clumsy fingers and latched on to the sideboard, closing my eyes and taking a shaky breath. I was dizzy as hell.

“Cal.” I risked prising my lids open and carefully shifted my head towards my brother’s voice. Niko’s long nose faded and blurred in front of me but I held onto it like a life line until it became solid again. “Are you alright?”

He was studying me intently, his hands gripping my right arm as if he expected me to fold like a deck of cards.

“I’ll live,” I muttered, blinking the haziness from my vision as I swallowed bile. “What about you?”

Niko removed his grasp from me but remained close enough to reach out in case I decided to see what the floor looked like up close and personal.

“I’m fine.” He was lying, but I didn’t have time to argue with him. If those things came back there wasn’t a chance in hell either of us could fight them in the state we were in. Well Nik would certainly try, but me…? I was barely seeing straight. Fighting was out of the question. We had to get somewhere safe and hole up.

I tore my gaze from my brother’s face, wincing. I didn’t even want to think about what injuries Nik was hiding under his clothes. Not that my brother would tell me. He was stubborn as hell. Sometimes I wondered if he kept pain at bay by sheer force of will.

Niko grabbed a fistful of my t-shirt and steered me into the living room. Clutching my left arm to my chest I stumbled over the debris that had been our apartment. The couch, TV, one of the bookcases that housed my brother’s collection of texts… I’m pretty sure they were there somewhere amongst the splinters of wood, dust and Sasquatch’s corpse. I pulled a face as I let my gaze fall on the corpse of our attacker.

It was dominating the majority of the floor space, surrounded by a pool of purple goo that supposedly passed as its blood. I didn’t have a clue what it was but it was ugly as hell. Niko nudged me gently. I hadn’t even realised I had stopped moving. I let out a frustrated breath, and continued climbing over the fractured remains of our furniture towards the front door. Jesus Christ, it was bad enough the supernatural world wanted my ass on a plate but did they really need to put us on every landlord in New York’s shit list? There wasn’t a chance in hell we were getting our damn deposit back.

Niko propped me against the wall next to the door and started hunting around the floor. I watched him for a moment, my brow knitting.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked amused.

“Looking for the Chevy keys.”

I frowned. “Two words for you bro: needle and haystack.”

My brother scowled. Honest to god scowled. It was such a foreign reaction I found myself matching it.

“Where we going anyway?” I asked dropping my head back against the wall and letting my eyes close momentarily.

“Robin’s. It’s closer than Promise’s apartment.”

Closer? Yes. Close enough to our place? Not a fucking chance. It was still on the other side of the city and by the looks of it we were going on foot. Fan-fucking-tastic.

With a sigh, Niko straightened. There was no way he was going to find the keys amongst the wreckage of our furniture, and he knew it. Stepping over the mangled remains of our coffee table, he placed a firm hand on my good shoulder and nudged me towards the door. We’d already lingered too long. The cops were probably on their way – not to mention gorilla boy might return with bigger buddies and I wasn’t relishing the thought of round two.

The corridor outside our apartment was silent and empty – thankfully. I could only imagine what our neighbours would have made of our blood spattered frames sneaking out of our apartment minutes after I had released a barrel of bullets into Sasquatch. I almost snorted, feeling like I was stuck in a goddamn mafia movie. Although there was no chance in hell I was wrapping Sasquatch in a bin liner, dragging him to the trunk and driving him out to the suburbs to bury his ass. This wasn’t Chicago and I wasn’t Al Capone.

We took the stairs as quickly as we could. Well, Niko would have flown down them but I was moving sluggishly. Dizziness and my useless arm were making it difficult to move at any speed other than slow. Niko kept his hand fisted into my t-shirt half-dragging me, half-supporting me. I felt next to fucking useless and by the time we reached the lobby I was stumbling on unsteady feet. I tried to help. I really did but my rubbery legs buckled beneath me. Niko was there instantly, digging his fingers into my uninjured arm but I wasn’t a light-weight and I nearly drove us both to the floor. How the hell my brother kept me on my feet, I didn’t have a fucking clue.

“Are you alright?” The tone was calm and that freaked me the fuck out. Calm was my brother all over, but this kind of calm was only reserved for when things really went up the damn creek.

“Just give me a minute, Nik.” I closed my eyes, taking a shaky breath, my uninjured hand grabbing his arm tighter.

I didn’t even get thirty seconds.

In the distance the distinctive sound of sirens wailed. Niko gave me an apologetic look as he rolled his shoulder under my right side. This time he did drag me across the lobby and into the night air.

The cold hit me like walking into closed patio doors. I gave an involuntary shiver, the hairs on my arms prickling. It was hardly frigging t-shirt weather but shit happens and we had bigger stuff to worry about than freezing our asses off. I sucked it up and stumbled up the street with my brother’s help.

It was just after five am and thankfully the neighbourhood was pretty quiet. The few people who were milling about avoided us like the plague. Not surprising really; Nik was practically carrying my bruised and bloodied ass down the street. The sidewalk was lined with shadows that seemed to twist away from the dull orange glow of the street lamps. My blurred vision had me seeing movement everywhere I looked and it wasn’t doing anything to curb my paranoia that we weren’t being followed by Sasquatch’s twin, the jolly green giant. Although judging by Sasquatch I doubted there was going to be anything jolly about the rest of its kind. Perfect house guests they were not. Not unless you wanted an extreme makeover. The sun would be up in a couple of hours and although I would never admit it, I wished it was sooner rather than later.

As the wail of sirens came closer, Niko pulled me into the nearest alley way and pushed me against the wall, melting into the darkness beside me just as red and blue lights flashed passed. It wouldn’t take a frigging genius to put gunshots and a disturbance less than two hundred yards away together and come up with the two bloodied fleeing kids staggering up the side walk. I sagged against the wall, my eyes closing. Even the dismal glow from the street lamps was burning the back of my retinas.

Generally, I didn’t like alleyways. Enclosed by high rise buildings, no way out apart from the exits at either end... it was enough to make me twitchy. It was like being a lab rat in some fucked up experiment, but I was too exhausted to give a shit and my arm was burning with liquid hot agony. I cradled it closer to my torso, trying to stem the pain but the limb continued to pulsate beneath my grip.

“Cal?” I opened my eyes at the brush of familiar fingers over my neck.

My brother was staring at me with solemn eyes, his lips pulled into a tight line. Blood was crusted down the side of his face but at least the ugly gash to his face had stopped bleeding. I frowned at him.

“Do you think they were sent by-“ I broke off and ran my tongue over my cracked lips. My mouth was dry like sandpaper. They had that kind of effect on me. I didn’t fear much, but Jesus Christ I was terrified of them. It wasn’t helping my nausea.

“No,” my brother replied firmly, not needing to hear the rest of what I was going to say and judging by the certainty in his tone I knew he had been thinking the same thing since the attack happened. “The Auphe… They’re gone Cal.”

I couldn’t help the tremble that ran through me at the mention of my paternal family. Thinking it and speaking it were two completely different ball games. The incident with Darkling was still too fresh in my mind. I didn’t want to think about them but my brain had other ideas. I might have helped to take down the Auphe with my brother and Robin but shit, I’d run from them my entire life. I couldn’t just forget that over night and I couldn’t just put those feelings aside – no matter how much I wanted to. The Auphe…? Even dead they were still with me.

“Can you go on?” Niko asked me. Wasn’t that a loaded question? All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep but that wasn’t an option. Gorilla boy was still out there and we had no clue if it had friends. That was enough incentive to get my ass moving. Unfortunately my body had other ideas. I pushed off the wall with my good hand but I didn’t get far. Swaying on my feet, Niko’s firm grasp was all that kept me from eating the asphalt beneath me.

Gentle hands pushed me onto the ground. I complied, not even bothering to fight my brother as he pulled my head down to examine the gash. My brain was pulsating, pounding a war march within the vaults of my skull and spots were parading in front of my eyes. I shuttered my lids trying to make the world hold still but it was still dancing when Niko raised my chin.

“How hard did you hit your head?” He demanded.

“Hard enough.” I grimaced, clutching my shoulder tightly.

“I think I need to buy you a helmet, little brother. At least it will catch your brains when they explode out of the top of your skull.”

“Yeah, keep the mess down to a minimum huh. Wouldn’t want to ruin the fine décor,” I muttered, rolling my gaze around the scummy alleyway we were currently sat in before settling my eyes back on Niko.

For the first time since we had been attacked my vision cleared just enough for me to get a proper look at my brother and Jesus Christ I wish I hadn’t. He looked just about as dishevelled as I’d ever seen him. Dried blood stained the side of his face, crusting onto his shirt and there was a slight tightness around his eyes and mouth that belied his pain. Most people wouldn’t have noticed it but I did. I knew my brother inside and out. He may have been the master of stoicism, but he couldn’t hide from me. I dry swallowed, my mouth devoid of salvia. I was kidding myself to think he was as fine as he claimed he was. I might not have been seeing straight but I could feel the tension thrumming through my brother’s fingers as he tightened his grip on my neck. And shit if that didn’t freak me out. It was one thing for my brother to brush off his injuries, it was something else entirely if his attempts to hide his winces from me were failing.

My macho big brother was hurting, and he was hurting badly. I felt guilty as fuck that he was having to carry my ass.

“Nik-“ I started, but he cut me off, shaking his head slightly.

“Be quiet, Cal.”

I sighed and held my tongue knowing it was pointless arguing with him. It was an argument I was never going to win anyway. Besides, his hands were already moving towards my distended limb.

I was no stranger to pain but shit me, it was agony. I bit down on my lip as he gently skimmed his fingers over my shoulder. The fact Niko’s examination hurt told me how badly damaged the joint was. My brother might not have an MD after his name but I trusted him more than any goddamn white coat and I knew he wouldn’t intentionally hurt me.

“Shit,” I hissed, dragging a heavy breath through my teeth as I dropped my head onto my chest.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I need to pull it back into place.”

I raised my eyes to meet his gaze before letting my leaded head sink back against the wall.

“Here?” I glanced up the length of the alleyway. “Seriously? Can it not wait till we get to Robin’s?”

Can we not wait till I can get a handful of codeine down my throat was what I wanted to say but I kept that less than heroic gem to myself. Pain meant you were alive and alive was a helluva lot better than the alternative.

Niko gave me a sympathetic look.

“It’s going to hurt either way. At least putting it back into the socket now will make the rest of journey a little easier for you.”

I rolled my eyes. Easier? Jesus Christ…

“Fine.” I muttered sourly, bracing myself. I glanced up at him and caught his gaze. “Do it quick, Nik.” I didn’t need to add please. My brother heard my unspoken plea as if I had said.

He stared at me for a moment, his own shoulders tensing as he placed a gentle hand on my injured joint.

“Ready?” Niko asked softly after a moment. I nodded slowly taking a shaky breath. There was no ready. This was going to hurt like a bitch and I knew it. Sure I was no stranger to pain but this was pre-empted pain. It wasn’t running-in-to-save-my-brother’s-life pain. This was cold, adrenaline depleted agony and I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I felt the joint roll down and snap back into place as my brother dragged my arm up. I nearly lost the contents of my stomach right there. It was absolute torture and for a brief moment I was sure I was going to pass out. I bit down on my lip, tasting the coppery tinge of blood as I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to make a sound, trying to block out the pain. How the hell I didn’t scream…? I didn’t have a fucking clue. I wanted to yell until my throat was raw but I barely allowed myself the groan that escaped my clenched teeth.

And then it receded to a dull throbbing as the joint settled back into the socket. I shuddered, my breath ripping out of me in rags as I dropped my head back against the wall.

“Cal?” Niko said my name softly but I could hear the remorse in his tone.

I forced my eyes open and sought him out through blurring vision.

“I’m ok, Cyrano,” I said quietly, hoping my brother didn’t notice the tightness in my voice. “We need to keep moving.”

My brother nodded sombrely before he helped me to my feet, steadying me as I straightened onto shaky legs. My shoulder was fucking killing but at least my vision was starting to clear a little.

“Can you walk?” Niko asked, his eyes flicking around the alleyway before resting on me.

“Yeah, Nik. I can walk.”

I took a tentative step forward, brushing Niko’s hand off my good arm. No way in hell was my brother carrying my heavy ass all the way across town. I swallowed hard and took another step, concentrating on keeping my dizziness under control and my head from exploding… This was going to be the longest walk ever.

We could have taken a cab or the tube I guess. I‘m sure the driver would have gotten over the purple and red gore that liberally covered Nik and I eventually, but my brother insisted that we probably would have caused a scene. He was right of course, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. It was frigging miles to Robin’s apartment and with the usual transport routes off the cards we had no other choice but to walk. Goody for us.

I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, cradling my injured arm across my chest as we moved through the streets, but I knew Niko was scanning the streets for any sign of our new friends. Not that we encountered them - which I was grateful as hell for. I didn’t want to fight the bastards again. The first round had been bad enough without a repeat performance. However it meant we made it to Robin’s apartment block without incident.

I glanced up at the looming building in front of us, silhouetted against the dark sky and couldn’t help but groan. I’d forgotten Robin lived on the third floor of his high-rise apartment block. My exhausted body wasn’t exactly relishing the thought of taking on that many goddamn stairs. Niko seemed to realise what I was internally complaining about.

“Need I remind you of our uninvited guests? Do you really want to be stuck in an elevator with one of those things trying to dismember you?” I couldn’t argue with that – although I sure as hell wanted to. I exhaled sourly. Logical or not, this wasn’t going to be fun.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Stairs it is, General Leandros.”

“Less complaining, more walking, Private.” He punctuated his words by gently nudging me forward.

“Yes, sir,” I grumbled under my breath.

He gave my side a quick squeeze but let my grouching pass without comment. It was a testament to how much the evening was screwing with his head. It went against every protective streak Niko had to see me hurt and the fact that he hadn’t been able to stop Sasquatch from almost ripping my arm off had to be playing hell with his mind. I wanted to tell him that none of this shit was his fault - that all things considered we had come out of the fight ok and in one piece… sort of - but I knew that whatever I said wouldn’t make a damn difference. Niko was a goddamn travel agent for guilt trips.

Getting up the stairs was slow but eventually we reached the third floor. I had hauled my ass up one handed, using the banister to lever my aching body up but Niko had been behind me every step of the way, ready in case my body decided it didn’t want to carry on. My face was covered in a sheen of perspiration by the time Robin’s front door came into view and my legs were burning with liquid acid. I pulled out of Niko’s grasp, and sank against the wall beside the door, ignoring the tremble in my legs.

Niko dropped the bags roughly to the floor outside. I’d never seen him so careless were his weapons were concerned and it had me frowning. If I wasn’t sure before that my brother was tired and hurt then I sure as hell was now. I watched him carefully as he rapped twice on Goodfellow’s door but as usual he stood straight backed, his face schooled into a perfectly serene expression. I don’t know how the hell he managed it. I was pretty sure I looked like I felt, and I felt like shit.

When the sound of the latch being pulled back finally resounded through the heavy wood doorframe, I pushed myself off the wall and attempted to stand straight. If the slight swaying motion I was doing didn’t count then I was doing great.

The door opened cautiously. A shock of curly chestnut hair appeared first, followed by the rest of the puck as he realised who it was. Robin took one look at us and practically dropped his jaw on the floor.

“Holy, mother of-” he mumbled the words through barely moving lips, his eyes wide and anxious.

Robin shifted his gaze between the pair of us. I was sure his eyebrows couldn’t go any higher, and if he kept his mouth open any longer he was going to catch more than flies.

Niko raised a brow at Goodfellow but I was too tired to actually care that we had rendered Robin a gibbering wreck. I was pretty sure I had never seen Robin at a loss for words – shit, I didn’t think it was even possible to get him to shut up. His anxious expression confirmed that we must have looked like hell.

“You going to let us in sometime tonight, Loman?” I snapped. The three year old using pots and pans as a drum set in my head was quickly eroding my mood. I just wanted to sit down, preferably before I fell down.

“What on earth happened to you two?” Robin demanded, his eyes flicking between us.

“Oh you know - the usual. Woke up to two friggin’ assholes ripping the apartment apart who then decided to play air hockey with us,” I replied off-hand, really wanting to sit down now. My head was spinning. At Robin’s bemused expression, I added. “Vegas was too far and they didn’t fancy Atlantic City.”

Niko shot me a level stare which I ignored.

“Robin, do you mind if we use your guest room for tonight?” My brother asked.

Goodfellow nodded his head and moved out of the door way, allowing us entry. Nik walked while I stumbled through the threshold. Show off. I figured that if the room wasn’t tilting the way it was my entrance would have been a little more graceful. Instead I staggered and latched onto the nearest solid thing I could get my only working hand onto. It happened to be a heavy oak sideboard – not that I cared, I was too busy trying to hold my stomach still. My brother was once again at my side, grabbing my elbow to steady me. He gave me the moment I needed to get my body working once more before he gently led me into the living room and lowered me onto the couch.

“Tell me you have Tylenol, codeine, or morphine, Robin,” I muttered, as I lay back against the cushions. Niko sank onto the floor beside the couch to examine my shoulder and my head wound.

“Do I look like a pharmacy, Caliban?” Robin said.

Sarcastic bastard! I squinted at him through one eye, an irritable retort sitting on my lips. Not that I had a chance to respond. Niko interjected before I had the opportunity to even make a comprehensible syllable.

“Tylenol will suffice if you have it, Goodfellow.”

Robin disappeared into the adjacent room, muttering under his breath. I glanced at my brother.

“How bad are you really hurt?” I asked my brother.

“I’m fine, Cal.” I arched my brow sceptically and Niko shrugged. “I’ll live.”

I rolled my eyes, wincing a little at the pain that lanced through my brain.

“Yeah throw my own words back at me. Nice, Nik.”

His lips twitched ever so slightly. “Be thankful I was able to turn your unintelligible mutterings into something I could throw back at you.” He squeezed the back of my neck gently.

“Nik.” My tone was firm and hard. I needed to know.

“Bruises heal, little brother. After a good night’s sleep I will be right as rain.” He eyed me critically. “Which is more than I can say for you.”

I snorted. He was lying out of his ass. He was nowhere near fine, but like I said my brother was a stubborn bastard and pain was one of those things that didn’t register on his damn radar. Me? I couldn’t help but grin when Robin reappeared with a bottle of Vicodin. Bruises might heal, but I wasn’t above giving them a hand on the road to recovery.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hindsight might have been a bitch, but I wasn’t that far up Murphy’s list either. I was sure I’d pissed off fate somewhere along the line and inexorably it was trying to kick the smug smirk off my face; not that I’d done much in the way of smirking in the last three years. Not really much fun to be had when you’re part monster and your extended family want to invite you over for dinner – only they didn’t mention you’re the damn main course. Yeah, I’m a bundle of goddamn joy. I had brooding down to a fine art from the moment I drew my first breath and all things considered I think I have every right to be annoyed with the world.

We had made it to Robin’s apartment in one piece – more or less. The pieces that hadn’t made it were currently being stitched back were they belonged. I’d been to the pucks apartment once before but I found myself staring at the décor. Lavish was a word that didn’t even cover it. The furniture was old, ornate and probably cost more than our entire apartment had before the extreme makeover. A black leather three seater couch was offset by two single recliners and a furled legged marble coffee table was positioned on top of a white fur rug. The focal point of the room was an open fireplace with a large stone surround that had two cherubs sculpted into either corner. Several portraits adorned the cream and gold leafed wallpaper, a few were of Robin himself, others were of beautiful women. I didn’t know jackshit about art but I was guessing most of them were original pieces. Loman had a taste for expensive things.

A sharp stinging sensation brought me out of my ruminations abruptly. I instinctively batted Robin’s hand away from my head, scowling.

“Jesus Christ, Loman!” I snapped angrily. “I’m not a fucking pin cushion!”

Robin returned my glower, holding the needle and thread between his two forefingers and thumb as he glared at me.

“This would go a lot faster if you stopped whining.” He muttered irritably. “I swear the fallen at Troy didn’t moan as much as you – even with severed limbs.”

Evidently stitching my scalp back together was wearing as thinly on the puck as it was on me – except I was the one having metal pushed through my skin so I felt justified to bitch my ass off. The Vicodin had taken the edge off my pain, but it wasn’t the same as having lidocaine. I still felt it every time the needle was pushed through and I felt every tug of skin as he drew the gash together. It was fucking horrible. Stitches without anaesthetics were about as pleasant as being doused in petrol and set alight. I’d rather have had Nik putting my humpty-dumpty ass back together but he was too hurt to do it. It had caused a helluva argument but hey, I could be just as stubborn as my big brother. Well, I did learn from the best. So grudgingly I’d let Robin fix me – something that I was seriously regretting. The puck was heavy handed as shit.

“Your bedside manner sucks, Robin,” I shot back tetchily. None of this was Goodfellow’s fault, but I found some kind of solace in anger. It was a good emotion. It meant I didn’t have to deal with the guilt of my blood-stained brother. Unfortunately Niko had other ideas and wasn’t going to let my attitude go unchecked. He arched his brow at me.

“Play nice, Cal.”

“Or what?” I shifted my gaze to the recliner opposite me that he was perched on. “You’ll send me to bed with five stitches in my scalp?” I drawled. Nik gave me a level stare.

“It’s funny, I’m sure the kid I raised was taught manners. You, however, are severely lacking in that area.” He didn’t raise his voice but I got the undertone. Nik was losing patience with me and my attitude – not that I blamed him, I was being a bastard.

I let out a forced breath and let my shoulders wilt. I was tired of fighting the world. I was tired of Niko having to drag my ass out of a sling every other week. He deserved a life – one free of monsters and the burden of me. I wanted him to have that more than anything. I never wanted to see him suffer through having to kill me again and I definitely didn’t want to see him suffer through me trying to kill him again. I wasn’t sure why the hell I was thinking about Darkling at that moment, but I couldn’t get the slimy sonofabitch out of my goddamn head. What if the Auphe were back? What if Sasquatch and his buddy were sent by my paternal family? I didn’t want to do that again – Shit, I couldn’t do that again.

I didn’t even see my brother move, but he was at my side nevertheless. One finger under my chin, Niko raised my head, grey eyes meeting my own.

“Cal, the Auphe… they’re gone. You cannot keep thinking about them.” I frowned deeply. I hadn’t realised I had voiced my thoughts aloud. It was likely I hadn’t; Niko could read me like a goddamn paperback. I hoped I was a best seller.

“Gone but not forgotten,” I murmured.

My brother and I merely stared at one another for a long moment, his fingers tightening on my neck. It was a move so familiar that I felt reassured by the gesture.

“As touching as this bonding session is,” Robin said, “you’re still bleeding all over my couch Cal, which – if I may remind you – is quite expensive.”

I shot him a glare but the puck seemed oblivious to my petulant reaction. Scowling I tilted my head down again giving Goodfellow access to the gash running down my crown once again. I was acting like a jerk but I couldn’t calm myself down. I was freaked out to hell.

I was no stranger to pain – or blood for that matter. The coppery-iron stench of it was seared into my senses, and had been since I was fourteen. Smelling it (and seeing it) on my brother however was something I could never, and would never, get used to. Niko always seems so infallible to me. I’d told him he wasn’t invincible but in all honesty there was a small part of me that thought he was. It was hard to face the shit Nik had and still be here to goddamn talk about. In my eyes that made him untouchable. He didn’t complain about his injuries – not that I expected he would – but the slight tenseness in his shoulders, and the way his chest was labouring to drag in air told me how much he was hurting. He was leaning forward a little, his mouth pulled into a tight line but his expression was almost serene. That was the worrying thing. I knew it meant my brother was in a world of hurt but the refusal to let Robin treat him before me had wound me up to fever pitch and I couldn’t bring my anger under control. Stubborn bastard.

I waved Goodfellow away as he moved to strap my shoulder, armed with a makeshift sling.

“Play nursemaid to Nik,” I muttered tiredly.

“I’m fine,” Niko said quietly. Yeah, I was getting sick of hearing that line from my brother. It was crap and we all knew it. He was as far from fine as it was possible to be.

“Let me guess,” I said, rolling my eyes at him, “the wall came off worse.” Nik’s lips twitched, but I was speaking before he could feed me another lie. “Just let Robin take a look, Nik, so I can go to friggin’ bed.”

I was more than ready to get into another one of my rants if my brother didn’t comply, but Niko recognized the resolve in my eyes. I wasn’t backing down on this one. He needed medical care and I wasn’t above kicking his ass to make sure he got it. I probably wouldn’t earn more than a bad headache for my trouble but it seemed a small price to pay if it meant my brother was getting taken care of.

Niko let out a small, frustrated breath but he did push himself to his feet and pulled his purple and red stained shirt over his head. Bruised? Shit, I’d never seen anything like it. Niko’s chest was clean, but his back…? That was a whole other matter. Purple and black smudges were already standing starkly against his bronzed skin and the way his shoulders were shifting to drag in air made me feel nauseous.

“Christ, bro,” was all I managed to say. I didn’t have the luxury of seeking out a doctor, but Nik could. I was seriously thinking he needed it. I didn’t need to articulate my thoughts on the matter – Robin did it for me.

“Your back looks like a slab of tenderized meat, and you come here for medical assistance? Did you forget where the hospital was?”

Ok, so it may not have been the words I would have used – mine probably would have been a helluva lot more colourful, not to mention contained a helluva lot less syllables - but he got the general point across.

I tried to sit there patiently while waiting for my brother’s response, but I was pretty sure I only managed to look like a kid with ADHD waiting for his next dose of Ritalin. I couldn’t help it. My brother’s back was one solid bruise, and the subtle wheeze I could hear coming from him was making me twitchy. I knew before he even opened his mouth what Niko’s response was going to be, and I braced myself for it. It was either that or I’d be jumping off the couch, knocking my brother out, and dragging his ass to the nearest hospital. Well, I would try any way. At this point I’d probably only manage to get up close and personal with Goodfellow’s shag carpet. I settled for letting out a long litany of curses when my brother finally opened his mouth. I wasn’t one for keeping my silence.

“Jesus Christ, Nik! If this is what ‘fine’ looks like then I’m not sure I want to see ‘screwed’.”

“I think we have more pressing issues, Cal, than discussing injuries,” my brother replied irritatingly calmly.

Discussing injuries? I spluttered, my eyes gravitating to his back as he began to pull his shirt back on. My brother may have chosen to ignore my colourful string of words, but I wasn’t about to be ignored. Especially when he looked like he went twenty rounds with a prized fighter – or an over sized fucking gorilla. I staggered off the couch and grabbed his wrist, halting his move to re-dress himself.

“Way to change the subject, Cyrano.” It came out as a growl and my brother looked less than impressed when he turned his grey gaze to me. He was about to undoubtedly tell me to put a lid on it, but I cut him off before he got the chance “Dammit Nik, you’ve probably got shit broken in there! You can’t just blow it off and pretend that your ninja ass can’t be handed to you. I’m pretty frigging sure that Thing one and two proved that.”

My brother’s eyes softened a little but not completely. He knew I was hurting and that I was worried as hell about him. It made for a cranky little brother.

“Are you done?” Niko asked.

“No! Not even close.” And dammit if I couldn’t hold back the annoyance that was threatening to make an appearance on my face. My brother could be such an ass.

“I told you before Cal, bruises heal. I’ll be fine.”

Fine. Always frigging fine. If I had a dollar for every time my brother tried to tell me he was fine we’d be staying in a five star hotel rather than on Robin’s couch. I gave him a scoff that clearly told him what I thought of him being fine.

“Yeah, sure, bruises. What about the ribs underneath all that black and blue? You gonna tell me they’re all intact? ‘Cause if I remember correctly you don’t usually sound like that when you’re breathing or have that much difficulty when you do it either.”

My brother wasn’t getting off that easy. I knew there was more to it than just bruises.

A smirk played on Niko’s lips, and I knew from the amusement in his eyes that his next words were going to piss me off.

“I think they may be a little bruised.”

Sonuva-goddamn-bitch!

I was quickly running through my options and was more than a little curious what the punishment for fratricide would be. My monster half kept me out of hospitals…would it keep me out of the State penitentiary too?

“Just let Robin bind them!” I snapped.

Niko stared at me for a moment, his grey eyes unwavering under my glare.

“I will. Later.” He added the last part with a patient smile that had me rolling my eyes heavenward. I moved back over to the sofa and sank onto it, ignoring the slight drunken stumble I was doing.

“Yeah well, don’t come crying to me when you’re unable to move an inch tomorrow because you’re a stubborn bastard!” I muttered. This was one fight I wasn’t going to win and I was too exhausted to bang my head against that brick wall. God knows I’d spent enough of the night getting up close and personal with the masonry back at our apartment. I wasn’t sure my head could take much more beating.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Cal,” he replied pleasantly.

“You’re an ass,” I growled under my breath, closing my eyes. I was grateful for the Vicodin but I wished Goodfellow had something a little stronger. I could still feel my shoulder throbbing dully underneath the haze of the pain relief and my head was pounding from my brother’s idiotic behaviour.

“Robin, have you ever heard of something called Mjolnir?” Niko’s question had my eyes opening.

I shot my brother an annoyed glare, which he once again chose to ignore, before I shifted my gaze to Goodfellow. As aggravated as I was, I had to admit that I was curious too. Gorilla boy and Sasquatch may have been dumb as shit, but they had come to our apartment for a reason. I would have been hard pressed to say it wasn’t just to kick our asses – it seemed to be the running theme lately – but the more I thought about it, the more I figured there was something else to it. I could still hear Sasquatch’s enraged howl and it vibrated through my aching head. Yeah, kicking our asses hadn’t been the only thing on their agenda.

“The Mjolnir?” Robin snapped his gaze to Nik and then shifted his eyes between us both. “Where did you hear that?”

“Our visitors seemed interested in finding it.” My brother was full of understatements tonight… I’m not sure you could call their little visit an ‘interest’. Mass chaos and destruction – yes. But interest…? Not so much. My shoulder gave a throb of agony as if to remind me of the evening’s events.

“You know what it is?” I asked the puck, my brow tightening.

“Yes,” Robin rose to his feet and paced in front of the ornate fireplace with measured steps, “I know what it is.”

When he didn’t offer anything more than that, I glanced at my brother before resting my gaze back on Goodfellow.

“That’s great, Robin,” I said dryly. “Care to enlighten the rest of the class?”

The puck stopped his pacing and leaned his palm on the mantle piece, his shoulders tense. He had his back to the room so I couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was anxious, and that made me nervous as hell.

“The woman in the airport…” The puck brushed his earthy coloured hair out of his eyes. “She said verndari to you, Cal.”

“Yeah,” I replied, not really knowing what the hell Robin was getting at. “So?”

Robin pushed up off the mantel piece and turned back to the room. His expression was unsettled, his gaze averted.

“The Mjolnir belongs to the Norse God, Thor.”

“The hammer of Thor...” My brother murmured, a look of recognition gracing his face. “I thought I knew the name.”

My brother might have swallowed an entire library of knowledge but I was drawing a damn blank. I had no idea what the hell this thing was.

“Ok, and for those of us who don’t spend all day buried in books… What the hell does some dude’s hammer have to do with anything?” I demanded, glancing between Niko and Robin.

My brother gave me a sharp look.

“I taught you most of what you know, Cal, but did you actually listen to a word I said?”

I shrugged. “The birds and the bees. I’ve never forgotten that little gem, Nik.” My smirk was lost on my brother.

“These things think you have it – the Mjolnir I mean?” Robin said quietly, interrupting the banter. He looked more unsettled than I had ever seen him.

“I guess so. They ripped the apartment apart trying to find it,” I replied, not entirely sure why they were so worried about some construction tool.

“How bad is this Robin?” Niko asked, straightening to his feet.

Robin’s wince was enough to convince me it was pretty frigging bad. Jesus, what were we caught up in?

“The creatures that attacked you both… What were they?”

I frowned at the puck. “How the hell should we know? They were huge and they were trying to kill us. I wasn’t exactly stopping to talk to the bastards.”

“This is important, Cal,” Robin barked, his tone laced with frustration, irritation and… something else… apprehension maybe…

“They were friggin’ huge, Goodfellow. What more do you need to know?”

“Over eight-feet. Dark green skin, fanged teeth - and no hair.” My brother narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what these creatures are, Robin?”

The puck shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “They’re trolls.”

I perked up at that, a shiver running down my spine. “Like our cannibalistic nut-job pal, Abby?”

Robin shook his head.

“No. Not like Abbagor.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and sank onto the edge of the other empty recliner. “I thought the Mjolnir had vanished. It hasn’t been spoken about in the preternatural world for centuries.”

“Ok, as much as I’m enjoying the damn riddles, Loman, give it to us straight up.”

Robin took a shaky breath and licked his lips nervously.

“The hammer – the Mjolnir – belongs to the Norse God, Thor. It – and all of Thor’s other weapons – are protected by Freyja. They have been since time began. If the trolls think you have it… then Freyja must have lost it. It must have been taken, but how?” He shook himself. “Only Freyja’s death could have allowed them to be taken… none of this makes a jot of sense.”

“Great,” I muttered sourly. “And what the hell does this have to do with us, Loman?”

“If Prymar’s trolls think you have it…” Robin’s brow wrinkled. “They can track it – they are like blood hounds when it comes to Thor’s weaponry. If they think you have it, then you must.”

“We don’t have it,” I countered. “How the hell can we have something we don’t even know about?”

Robin flicked his gaze to me. “These trolls…? They aren’t wrong. At every moment of every day they can sense the Mjolnir as if it were a living thing. In many respects it is.”

“That still doesn’t explain why they think we have it.” I grouched, leaning back against the cushions of the sofa.

“You don’t understand.” Robin sounded shaky and the more I looked at the puck, the more freaked out I was starting to feel. He looked positively frightened. “I don’t know how Freyja lost it – frankly I couldn’t care less – but we have to find it and get rid of it somehow. And we have to do it now!”

I frowned deeply. “What the hell is so goddamn bad about this stupid hammer?”

“It is the ultimate weapon.” My brother spoke so quietly that I barely caught his words. I spun to him but he was staring at the carpet over steepled fingertips, his expression pensive. “It has unthinkable power – power that has the ability to unmake the world.” He grimaced. “In the wrong hands the thing is lethal.”

“Yeah, great.” I scowled, “except we don’t have no stinking hammer, Nik. There’s no way in hell a friggin’ hammer would fit in that damn box!”

Robin gave me a weak smile. “Humans muddled up the details a great deal over the centuries.”

I rolled my eyes towards the puck. I was getting sick of parrying words. I just wanted the answers. “Meaning?”

“It only becomes the hammer when united with the other parts of Thor’s arsenal. It’s a clever design, meant to be inconspicuous. After all, a large hammer is hardly going to go unnoticed.” Robin said.

“What is it then?” Nik asked.

“An amulet,” Goodfellow replied.

I let out a heavy breath, my gaze shifting towards my brother.

“The package,” I murmured. “It's the only explanation.”

Niko pulled a face at me.

“Why would our client entrust such a weapon to us?" He questioned.

My brother was the eternal goddamn optimist. Me? I was all for the glass being half empty. I had every faith that grandma knew exactly what she was getting us to collect.

“God knows! Who cares what the reasons were, Nik! I'm just trying to wrap my head around Grandma’s friggin’ trinket being some kind of apocalyptic WMD.” I pointed an accusatory finger at Niko. “I told you there was something wrong with that goddamn package!”

"I'm not so sure it is the package, Cal," my brother replied pensively.

"What do you mean it's not the package? You heard what Robin said-"

"Yes, but don't you think if it was the package they were looking for that they would have found it and taken it?" I frowned as he continued to speak. Ok, so it made logical sense but I still wasn't buying into the package being harmless. “If they can sense the Mjolnir - and it was the package our client sent us to fetch - then why did they not just take it?”

Good point, bro and thanks for pissing on my fire. The package had been sat on the coffee table. Why hadn’t they taken it before they had destroyed the living room? It didn’t make sense – but then when did anything in our lives ever make sense?

“I don’t know!” I scowled, unable to think of an explanation for why my sixth sense was screaming at me about that frigging package. “All I know is that those things were looking for this hammer thing no less than twenty-four hours after we picked up Grandma's goddamn parcel from the airport. I don’t believe in coincidences, Cyrano.”

“Neither do I,” Niko responded with a frustrated sigh. “I just don’t believe the package is the hammer.”

“Well its gotta be something to do with all this shit,” I grumbled.

Niko pushed himself to his feet, his hand wavering over his side as he stood. He winced a little which caused me to frown. Not that it was surprising; his back was a fucking mess.

“Where the hell are you going?” I demanded.

“Back to the apartment,” Niko replied simply. I shook my head vehemently.

“No. No goddamn way, Nik.”

“Cal,” my brother started patiently but I cut him off.

“The place is either gonna be crawling with cops or these things. You ain’t exactly fighting fit here, bro.”

“If it is the Mjolnir then we have to get it back Cal. In the wrong hands-“

“Yeah, it’s lethal,” I interrupted, rolling my eyes, “I get that Nik, but I ain’t sitting here and watching you walk out of here into god knows what alone.”

I started to push myself onto shaky legs but my vision rolled and I found myself listing sideways. Firm hands found purchase on my good arm and kept me from eating a mouthful of Robin’s shag pile carpet. I spat out a curse, my frustration mounting. Nik was stubborn as hell and even as hurt as he was I didn’t doubt his resolve to go back to our trashed apartment alone. There was no frigging way I was letting him go alone. Not a chance. I wasn’t sitting on my ass while my brother went into a potentially dangerous situation. My body had other ideas however. It wasn’t cooperating with my demands.

“Cal, if these trolls believe we have the Mjolnir then we need to find it. I won’t be responsible for the repercussions if we don’t.”

I pulled out of my brother’s grasp and shot him a dark glare, ignoring the way my legs tried to fold underneath me. It was sheer force of will that kept me upright.

“Yeah, well as much as I admire your sense of honour, Nik, it’s gonna get you killed and I’m not letting that happen. I’m going with you.”

“No,” my brother said firmly.

“No?” I repeated incredulously. “Niko I’m not a fucking kid!”

“The answer is still no.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb, trying to halt the explosion of anger that was threatening to erupt out of me. It wasn’t easy and in all honesty I was fighting a losing battle.

“You stubborn ass!” I growled. My legs were still shaking but I was determined to see this through. No fucking way was he going alone. I’d come close enough to losing my brother during the incident with Darkling. I wasn’t doing that again. Not while I still had breath in my body.

"Neither of you are going," Robin said quietly. Niko and I both shot him an incredulous look.

I had to give the guy credit. He didn't even blink in the face of the Leandros brother wrath. Then again it probably came with the territory of being around forever.

“I’ll go.” Robin shrugged. “Your neighbours won’t recognise me and I can get in and out of the apartment without being noticed by the police.”

Both Nik and I turned to the puck. My brow knitted tightly as I considered him.

“Hell, no!” I said almost at the same time as my brother said. “No, Robin.”

I didn’t want my brother to go, but I was just as loath to let Goodfellow take the fall for this – whatever the hell this was.

“No way, Loman.” I shook my head. “You’re not going.”

The puck gave me a thin lipped smile.

“If the Mjolnir is in your apartment then we have to get it back. The alternative… well it doesn’t bear thinking about. You think the little showdown with the Auphe was bad…? This will be infinitely worse. This hammer has the power to undo things, to destroy everything it touches. If Freyja lost it then it means she’s dead and trust me when I tell you that little bundle of goddess beauty isn’t easy to kill off. Whoever took it was persistent and prepared, and that doesn’t bode well.” He got a distant look in his eyes, an almost dreaminess. “The world will certainly not be better off without her in it. She was the most adorable woman I’ve ever encountered – although she swore like a pirate. Still, she had golden hair and blue eyes that you could just-“

“Robin!” I snapped, my patience wearing thin. “You’re not going,” I repeated.

“Yes, well I’m sure you and Van Damme here can get into your apartment quietly. Of course, with your concussion you can barely stand straight and your brother – despite his pigheaded assurances that he is fine – has spent the last twenty minutes wincing every time he takes a breath. But I’m sure you’ll manage.”

Goodfellow gave a tight lipped smile before continuing.

“And if the worst comes to the worst I’m sure Promise can raise the money to pay your bail. Although with a dead corpse in your apartment, the gunshots and the blood – of which I’m sure there must be some considering the amount of blood you have on that rag you consider a shirt, Cal - I’m sure they will grant you bail… eventually. Of course that’s assuming you can explain why your blood type doesn’t fall into any normal human parameters.”

The smug bastard crossed his arms over his chest and split his gaze between me and Nik. Okay, so he was right but it didn’t mean I had to like it, and I didn’t like it.

“Then we all go,” I continued stubbornly.

“No,” Niko broke in, his lips pulled tightly into a line.

“No?” I raised a brow. “What the fuck, Nik! Those things are huge! If they come back-“

Niko shook his head.

“Robin is right. We won’t be any good to him in this condition.”

I sank back onto the couch and rubbed a hand over my tired eyes, feeling the exhaustion of my injuries settling over me. I wasn’t sure what was more worrying – that my brother was seriously considering a plan Robin had come up with or that he was admitting he was too hurt to do this.

"He can't go alone, Nik," I maintained my protestation.

“Whilst your concern for my well-being is touching, Caliban,” Robin began with a smile, “I’ll be fine. I’ve lived a long time. A couple of trolls are merely child’s play.”

I snorted. “Yeah I’ll remind you of that when they’re flinging you across the room like a frigging paper weight.”

Robin moved over to a thick oak coat stand and pulled a tan coloured suede jacket off it. Shrugging into it, he straightened it onto his slender frame before eying us both carefully.

“Eat, sleep, shower… whatever. Cal you can use the guest room.” He paused, studying my brother with a lopsided grin. “Feel free to keep my bed warm till I return.”

Niko frowned as the puck turned and left the apartment. Once the door had closed behind him, my brother let out a deep sigh. Me? I laughed my ass off. Some moments were just too funny to pass off – even in the face of an apocalyptical hammer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Have you ever wondered why when a guy asks another guy to do something they refuse, but get a woman involved and the guy becomes some kind of obedient servant? I was staring opened mouthed at my brother. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to hit him or thank him for finally seeing sense. With retrospect, I decided to do nothing. I was tired and I was hurting. The thought of starting a fight with Nik was not something I was relishing. Even on his worst day, Niko was still infinitely better at hand to hand than me.

“Cal, stop staring.” Niko’s voice pulled me out of my internal debating.

“I can’t help it, Cyrano,” I replied, casting an eye at him. He was perched on the nearest leather recliner, his palms pressed into his thighs in an attempt to keep his arms away from his torso as Promise wound bright, white bandages around his middle. “Promise says jump and you ask how high. I tell you that you need medical assistance and I get ignored. Kind of makes a guy feel unloved.”

My brother glared at me, but Promise’s expression actually frightened me a little. Note to self: don’t piss off a vampire, you could find yourself feeling a little drained once you scraped your ass off the floor – not that Promise drank blood, but I had the suspicion that she didn’t need to bite me to teach me manners. It would simply involve a slap to the back of the head and I didn’t doubt that it would hurt like a bitch.

She had turned up minutes after Robin had left for our apartment, taken one look at my gore covered brother and gracefully swept over to him. First aid kit laid out around her, she had ordered Niko to remove his shirt and sit down on the couch. My brother had started to refuse her help, but Promise had practically threatened to knock him out so she could treat him. Ok, so she didn’t say that in so many words, but she didn’t need to. Both my brother and I knew she would do so – and could do so – if she chose to. I had to admit I had taken great pleasure in watching my brother taking orders from someone else. Usually it was my ass he was handing to me. Revenge was definitely a dish best served cold – although I kind of liked it steaming hot in the face with a barrel full of exploding round too but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, can they?

Nik had relented to Promise’s request and allowed her ministrations with minimal fuss. Contrary bastard. He had practically fought tooth and nail with me, but his chest was now trussed up in a host of bandages like an Egyptian mummy. Promise’s velvet coat was draped over the back of the sofa like a scarlet cat, her dark brown hair piled high on the top of her head, her long pony tail cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She looked just about as regal as she always did. It was hard at times to remember she wasn’t exactly human – but then were any of us? Well, apart from Niko, although I had to wonder about super ninja’s own DNA sometimes.

“You still haven’t told me what happened.” Promise’s voice was calm and pleasant but from the look she was giving my brother I could tell she wasn’t letting this go until she got answers. I decided to fill her in on the details and let my brother off the hook.

“We got a late night visit from Abby’s long lost cousins,” I supplied.

“Why on earth would a troll seek you out?" Promise flicked her gaze between Nik and me. "They aren’t noted as social creatures.”

“Trolls,” I amended before adding irritably: “Besides, since when does the preternatural world need an excuse to kick our damn asses?”

I was sprawled on Robin’s couch; my dislocated shoulder was bound in a makeshift sling that probably could have sold in Macy’s for three times what my entire wardrobe cost me. I had to hand it to Goodfellow; even his goddamn sheets were expensive. Yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled about accessorizing a bed sheet – and I was a little worried about what the hell the puck had done on it before it became my sling, but it was relieving some of the pressure off my injured joint so I didn’t moan about it – much.

“You are as articulate as ever, Cal,” Promise responded, a hint of fondness in her voice. I rolled my eyes.

Since her and my brother had been seeing-but-not-really-seeing each other she had begun to look at me as some kind of project. I think she thought that by dating Niko she got me as part of the package deal – which was true to an extent, but there were some aspects of Nik’s life that I was more than happy to stay out of; his sex life being one of them. I didn’t need moulding into a perfect little brother-in-law or at least into a respectable member of society. I was happy to be a foul mouthed slob whose only relationship was with the television and the local take out place. I didn’t think Promise shared my sentiments however.

I stifled a yawn, resisting the urge to close my eyes. My exhausted body wanted me to sleep but I wasn’t about to give into that urge. Not until Loman got back in one piece. I settled for gingerly repositioning my aching head on the mound of cushions on Goodfellow’s sofa, my legs draped over the end of the arm. I was whacked – both physically and mentally. I could have slept for a week, which wasn’t that abnormal for me, but this was more than just a liking for the Rip Van Winkle act. I was fucking dead on my feet - at least I would have been if I was on my feet. The couch was far too appealing at the moment. Bed would have been a better option but I didn’t think I had a chance in hell of making it to Robin’s guest room, and I wasn’t about to ask my brother – or Promise for that matter – to drag my scrawny ass to the other end of Loman’s apartment. I had my pride – or at least I had what hadn’t been beaten out of me.

“They were looking for the Mjolnir,” Niko said quietly, his brows knitting. Promise’s intake of breath had my head rolling on the cushions to look at her.

“You’ve heard of the tool of doom too then?” I asked.

“Yes, I have heard of it,” Promise replied, her lips pulled into a frown. “Why do they believe you have it?”

“Cause Grandma’s trafficking power tools,” I snorted.

“This is linked to the job?” She sounded contrite as hell and I suddenly felt guilty. It wasn’t an emotion I was used to and it kind of took me by surprise. Who the hell knew I could actually feel guilty about anything other than my damn brother? Feeling it and rectifying it were two completely different ball games however, and I found solace in silence. Luckily, Niko was better at that sort of thing. I had the emotions of a blunt stick. With a subtle brush of her hand, my brother gave her a small smile.

“Perhaps. Maybe not. I’m not entirely convinced the package is what they were looking for. It may not even be linked to this attack.”

I had to give it to my brother. Optimism was one thing, but he was taking it to a whole new level. I had no doubt that package was linked to this crap some how. Call it a sixth sense – shit, call it whatever the hell you want to call it – but I knew better. We weren’t that goddamn lucky. I couldn’t help the sceptical snort that passed my lips.

“I don’t believe in coincidence, bro. Those things turned up pretty much after we collected Grandma’s package. That has to mean something.”

Niko tucked a stray strand of short, blond hair behind his ear and sighed. It still took some getting used to – his hair. The familiar long ponytail had been cut off for me. It was a sign of respect, of grieving for the dead. Yeah, I’d died during the incident with Darkling… technically part of me still was dead. It was one thing for my brother to forgive my actions under the banshee’s possession but it was another thing for me to let it go. Yeah, I was a psychiatrist’s wet dream. I was a psychological study that would have given most professionals the warm and fuzzies. My head was fucked up and I suspected it was only my brother’s presence that stopped me from crawling into a ball and starving to death. Niko gave me a reason to carry on. I wouldn’t leave him alone in this stinking world – just as he wouldn’t leave me. We were all we had and we both clung to that fiercely. Pathetic as hell, I know, but Jesus, when your entire life had been turned upside down and inside out and everyone – including your own mother – thought you should have been drowned at birth it was hard to let go of the one person who actually gave a shit if you lived or died. Sure, people like Promise and Robin flittered in and out of our lives, but in the end it was just me and Nik. If we had to we would ditch them both and go on the run again. My brother would do whatever the hell he had to keep me safe – even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness. I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on my brother’s face. Now wasn’t the time for a trip down pity-city lane.

“Is there anything I can do?” Promise asked my brother softly.

“Find out what you can about the hammer,” Niko replied with an tight lipped smile.

She nodded. “I’ll make some calls.”

“Yeah, you might want to track Grandma down too,” I grunted.

Old woman or not, I wanted to have a couple of stern words with the crone. She’d dragged us into this mess. I was convinced of that and nothing my brother said was changing my mind on the matter. Not that he didn’t try. Niko was persistent when he put his mind to it.

“Cal, don’t jump to conclusions. If the package is in fact the Mjolnir she might not have even known what she was involved in.”

“I didn’t jump to conclusions, Nik. I looked and there conclusions were.” Shifting on the couch, I grimaced at the spike of pain that ran down my left arm. I was going to have to go searching for some more Vicodin soon. I was starting to feel every movement again and it wasn’t the most pleasant sensation.

“Why don’t you get some rest?” My brother suggested with a worried frown.

“I want to wait for Loman.” And if that didn’t sound like I was five years old, I don’t know what the hell did. I might as well have stomped my goddamn foot. Luckily, my brother chose to over look it.

“I’ll wake you when Goodfellow gets back.”

It was a tempting offer, but I shook my head.

“I’ll sleep later. Tell me more about this hammer.”

I forced my eyes open wider, rubbing the gritty sleep from them.

“I recognised the name, but other than what Robin has told us, I don’t know anything more,” my brother admitted grudgingly. I raised a brow.

“Jesus, there’s something you don’t know about?” I turned to Promise. “Check the sky. Make sure it’s not falling.”

“Funny,” Niko replied with an expression that clearly said he was not amused – not that I was deterred.

I smirked.

“Well, I do try.”

My brother merely scowled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite my protestations about not falling asleep, my broken body had other ideas. I must have slid into unconsciousness because the next thing I was aware of was raised voices. They beckoned to me through my sleep-induced haze and my brain forced my body back into the waking world somewhat reluctantly.

I panicked momentarily as my blurry eyes took in the unfamiliar surroundings. The comfy leather couches, the oil paintings on the walls and the rich furniture told me I wasn’t in Kansas any more Aunty Em, although I was grateful as hell that I wasn’t being followed by a group of munchkins and a scarecrow. Knowing my goddamn luck they probably would have tried to eat me, maim me or rip my fucking throat out. The movies never got shit right.

Robin’s… I was in Robin’s apartment. With the realisation came visions of the trolls attacking Nik and I, and talks of some freaking apocalyptic hammer. Frowning, I started to sit up, but halted with a hiss of pain. My shoulder and ribs were aching. I groaned and sank back into the cushion, wishing I had stayed asleep. I really was not ready to deal with reality right now.

The raised voices broke my thoughts once more. They were coming from the kitchen which was entered via the hallway that ran the length of the apartment. Slowly, I pushed my good hand into the smooth leather and sat up. It wasn’t easy manoeuvring one handed and the Vicodin Robin had pushed into my hand before he had left earlier was definitely wearing off.

I wondered how long I had been out of it and roved my eyes around the room. Finding a small gold carriage clock on a furled legged side table I was surprised to see the time. Three hours… Jesus.

“What are you saying, Robin?” My brother’s tone was laced with anger and it carried through the thin walls of the apartment loudly enough for me to me pick up on the faint tone of apprehension underlying it. What the hell was going on?

Curiosity might have killed the goddamn cat but I was a nosy bastard, and when you were packed to the rafters with dangerous weapons it was hard to really give a shit about the possibility of being caught eavesdropping. I rose from the couch, my sock covered feet sinking into Robin’s plush white rug and, half shuffling, half staggering on drowsy legs, I moved towards the hallway. There was a portrait in stark colours smiling down on the wall in front of me. I frowned deeply at the man I recognised as Robin and rolled my eyes. Modesty just wasn’t in the puck’s vocabulary.

Forcing my feet to move, I paused, my hand poised on the kitchen door handle as I heard Robin’s voice. The relief that he made it back in one piece was short lived as he spoke.

“If they believe your brother has the Mjolnir then they will just keep coming, and they won’t stop until he’s dead.”

What the hell…? My brain was sure I had heard him right, but I didn’t want to believe the words.

“Why?” My brother demanded, frustrated and angry.

“Because Prymar’s trolls want it. They have spent eons trying to gain it but while it was under Freyja’s protection they could not find it. However, with the goddess dead…? It’s fair game – and so is Cal.”

I couldn’t listen to any more. I pushed the kitchen door open, my heart thumping underneath my ribs.

“What?” My voice was shaky. Jesus, I sounded like a scared kid but then I guess I had every right to be freaked out. Robin had just said I was being hunted by a group of trolls who had nearly killed me and my brother a couple of hours ago. Shit, was it not enough that I had the Auphe trying to ventilate my ass, but now I had to contend with the jolly green giant patrol trying to bitch slap me into oblivion as well?

All eyes snapped towards the doorway were I was stood. I was pretty sure my jaw was on the goddamn floor. Robin quickly averted his gaze, shuffling on his feet and Promise was leaning against the black marble top counter, her own eyes on the floor, but I wasn’t even giving those two a second glance. I was focused on my brother.

Niko rubbed a hand across his brow, his eyes squeezed shut. My stomach clenched painfully. That was so not a good sign. My brother was usually Mr Ice. He was usually unflappable. In fact I was probably the only one who could read a slight tightening of his eyes or a flick of lips and tell you exactly what my big brother was thinking. This…? This was a public display of emotion and that freaked me out more than the calm, serene expression he often adopted when we were up shit creek because this…? This meant we were totally fucked.

“Nik?” I threw his name out tentatively. My blood was pumping in my ears. My hands were clammy suddenly and I resisted the urge to wipe my right palm on my pants.

After a moment, grey eyes raised to meet mine. He didn’t need words; I saw the apprehension clearly written across his face. He was fucking scared… and he was scared for me. Jesus Christ.

“I’ll fix it,” Niko replied immediately.

“Fix what?” I demanded warily. I wanted answers, not assurances. What the hell had we gotten into? “Fix what?!”

I shifted my gaze between my brother, Promise and Robin. The lack of response was making me twitchy.

“Cal-“

“No, Nik! What the hell is going on?” I snapped.

Ok, so losing my temper wasn’t the best way to coerce my big brother into giving me the answers I wanted, but I didn’t want to play games anymore.

“I’ll go and make some calls. Maybe one of my acquaintances can shed some light on this.” Promise said, squeezing Niko’s shoulder. She gave me a side long glance before she hastily departed.

Robin shifted on his feet, gazing longingly at the exit through which the vampire had just departed, but I wasn’t letting him leave that easily. I wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

“Robin?”

The puck raised his eyes to me before running shaky fingers through his brown hair but he didn’t answer. It was my brother who finally spoke. Niko ran his tongue over his lips and sighed deeply.

“What Robin told us is true. The Mjolnir was protected by Freyja so that when Thor returned to earth to fight in Ragnarok he would have the ultimate weapon.”

“Ok,” I said slowly drawing the word out, not entirely sure where the hell my brother was going with this little educational tidbit, “And that means what exactly?”

“If she no longer has it I think it is safe to assume she is dead and that whoever killed her wants the hammer for themselves.”

And probably not just to decorate their mantel piece. I was guessing the hammer of doom wasn’t the kind of antique you kept just to look at.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that myself, Einstein,” I drawled, unable to keep the sarcastic bite out of my tone. “The way Robin was talking about it made it sound like end of the world stuff.”

“The Mjolnir in the wrong hands is capable of such,” Niko agreed.

“Great! So they just plan to wipe me out for it? Just like that?”

I had a contract on my ass and all for a frigging construction tool. Life really was a bitch sometimes.

“It won’t happen,” Niko assured me. He grabbed me and squeezed my neck gently, his forehead touching mine. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

I scowled, pulling away from him angrily.

“How the hell can you say that? They aren’t going to stop till my ass is grass, Nik! That sounds pretty goddamn bad to me.”

My brother raised his grey eyes to me and locked his gaze onto my face. For once I couldn’t read him. I had no idea what he was thinking.

“Cal-“

“Don’t try and tell me this is gonna be ok.” I cut him off before he could start with false assurances. I didn’t want to hear empty words. I had no doubt that my brother would try and protect me but we had nearly bitten the dust fighting Prymar’s trolls. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about the idea of a rematch but I wasn’t planning on dragging my brother into this shit either. I’d face this myself. They wanted my ass, not Nik’s and if I could protect him, I would do – even if I had to do it alone. And no, that wasn’t some kind of hero complex or a selfless moment. It was just what it was. It was my turn to save my brother’s ass for a damn change. No fucking way was I getting Niko killed because some creepy bitch picked me to play babysitter to an apocalyptic hammer.

Something in my thought processes must have shown on my face because my brother grabbed my good arm and latched onto it fiercely – almost painfully.

“Don’t even think about it,” he growled. Yeah, full on growled at me. It would have scared most people, but it didn’t even register with me. I shrugged him off me.

“I won’t let you get killed for me, Nik.”

My brother shook his head. “Not your choice, little brother.”

I sighed. There was no way in hell Niko was giving this shit up and I didn’t see the point in banging my head against a brick wall. I already had the concussion from hell without adding to it. I would have to find another way to watch my brother’s back and keep him safe.

Instead I glanced at the puck. “I’m fucked aren’t I?”

“I don’t know.” Robin admitted carefully, his expression wary.

“Well, did you find the hammer of doom in the apartment?” I questioned.

It seemed the puck needed a little motivation in spilling the beans - and if that didn’t worry the hell out of me. Robin never needed a reason to talk, and if he needed one now… well, I didn’t need an answer to my first question. I was well and truly fucked.

He glanced at Nik and frowned. It was enough to set me on edge even more.

“What?” I demanded. The fact that Robin was avoiding my eyes wasn’t lost on me and it did little for my waning patience. “Shit Loman, spill it already!”

Finally Goodfellow met my gaze, “I found the package, but it’s not the Mjolnir.”

I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t that. I had been sold on the package being the damn hammer, and if it wasn’t…? I mirrored his frown, “Then what the hell is it, Loman?”

He stepped aside and revealed the counter behind him. Sat on top of the surface was a pair of metal gauntlets. They were plain steel but intricate engravings decorated them.

“What the hell are they?” I shifted my gaze from the gauntlets to the puck.

“They’re called Járngreipr,” Robin replied quietly, a hint of fear in his tone.

“And that means what exactly?” I was loosing patience for all this bantering back and forth. I wasn’t the most tolerant person in the world anyway, but I had just found out I had a frigging contract on my ass. That was enough to push my tolerance over the edge.

“They are the gauntlets of Thor. They are required to control the Mjolnir.” Nik replied. “The wearer of the Járngreipr has the ability to summon the hammer back to them.”

Thor… It all kept coming back to that sonofabitch.

“Great! What does that even mean, Niko?”

“The woman at the airport called you Verndari.”

I nodded, I remembered. Jesus, the psychotic human cannon ball had freaked me out enough for it to stay with me for a while.

“Yeah… so?”

“Cal, I think they believe you have the Mjolnir and that you are supposed to be the protector of it now. They couldn’t find it because you are essentially… hiding it.” He frowned at the word choice before continuing. “The fact the gauntlets were in the package, and that these trolls came looking for the hammer cannot be coincidence.”

I raised a brow and then laughed. Yeah, ok, not really the reaction my brother was expecting from me, and to be honest it wasn’t the reaction I was expecting from me either, but this whole thing was ludicrous.

“I’m supposed to protect the tool of doom? Shit, Cyrano, you had me worried for a moment there.”

But Niko wasn’t laughing. In fact, Niko’s expression was… non-existent. That fucking sobered me right there and then.

“You’re not screwing around, are you? You really think I have this… this thing and that I’m supposed to protect it?”

Niko grimaced, “It’s starting to look that way.”

This was insane. I could barely protect my goddamn self, let alone some hammer that had the ability to wipe the world out Independence Day style.

“Great. That’s just goddamn fantastic,” I growled, pacing the room with short steps, ignoring the tightening across my bruised ribs and the way the room lurched around me. I was too antsy to remain still. Robin’s overly spacious apartment was starting to feel smaller and smaller as the seconds passed. The high artexed ceiling seemed to be crushing down on me, and my lungs felt stifled as if a steel hand was clamped over my mouth, stopping me from taking a much needed breath. I wanted out. I needed air. Hell, I wanted to run into the city and disappear.

It was pretty safe to assume I was freaking out. Jeez, I was melting down. All this talk of dangerous hammers, trolls and me being some kind of power tool guardian was scaring the hell out of me. I wasn’t a protector. I couldn’t do it – shit I didn’t want to do it. I was tired enough fighting my own battles, let alone others.

“Cal…” I didn’t see my brother move, but I felt his familiar warm hand on my uninjured shoulder. It halted my pacing, and his hands slipping onto either side of my face forced me to look at him. “I will fix this. I promise.”

I brushed my dark hair off my face. Another promise, another time my ass was in the shit, and another goddamn time my brother had to save me again. It was bad enough he had lost everything because of me and the Auphe. Ok, so Sophia was hardly model mom of the year but she was still our only parent – although in my case she was my only parent without fangs and claws - and because of me she had died. I couldn’t put my brother through any more shit, but then my brother wouldn’t ever give up on me either. I was all he had left, and he needed me as much as I needed him.

I pushed all those feelings into the back of my head and left them well alone. I was already screwed up without dredging up my unhappy childhood.

“Yeah, only there’s one damn problem with your theory, Cyrano. I don’t have the hammer of apocalypse.”

Robin glanced at the gauntlets. I knew what the hell he was thinking before he even opened his mouth.

“No. No fucking way.” I shook my head. There wasn’t a chance I was putting those frigging things on and I wasn’t exactly letting my brother or the puck put them on either.

“We have to find the Mjolnir and we have to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The gauntlets are the only way to do that.” Robin sounding anxious wasn’t something I was used to and it was enough to send my blood pressure through the frigging roof.

“I’ll do it,” Niko said quietly, reaching for the gauntlets.

With my right hand, I reached out and curled my fingers around his wrist stopping him.

“Don’t you ever watch movies? Nothing good ever comes of putting on frigging mysterious objects, Nik.”

“We need to find this hammer.”

“Yeah, well, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m the frigging protector of this thing – not you,” I snapped. “So if anyone is going to be doing anything... It’s me.”

My brother gave me a pointed stare.

“And in case you’ve forgotten, Cal, you only have one arm in working order and you can’t even stand without swaying.”

He moved towards the gauntlets once more but I made a desperate grab for them. No way in hell was I letting my brother risk his ass for this. I barely skimmed my fingertips over the surface of them when there was a deafening bang from the other room. My heart rate sped up to warp speed at the sound and I half expected Gorilla boy to burst through the kitchen door, its meaty hands grappling for my neck. What I didn’t expect was my leather jacket to come whizzing through the air and smash into my chest with enough force to stagger me.

I slammed against the counter, the oxygen in my lungs whooshing out forcefully. My slung arm made it difficult to keep my balance as the surface bit into my spine. It was only Niko’s fingers curling into my t-shirt that stopped my face from meeting the tiled floor. I winced as my brother straightened me, his eyes roving over my face.

“Are you alright?” He demanded anxiously.

I merely nodded, my eyes lowering to my jacket which was crumpled in a heap on the floor. The pocket was thrumming with a high pitched sound. Slowly, I bent down and picked it up, my eyes seeking out my brother as I reached into the pocket. I wasn’t sure if I was surprised or not when my fingers brushed over something cold and metallic. Carefully, I pulled it out.

It was about the size of my palm. It was shaped like the cross piece of a sword. What would have been the pommel was in fact a face of some kind of creature that I didn’t recognise but it was grotesque. Down the hilt was some kind of knot work consisting of three interlinked circles but the cross piece itself was also engraved with a similar design. It was pretty heavy and made from what looked like silver but it was dull and not shiny. I frowned deeply before flicking my eyes to my brother.

“The Mjolnir.” Robin breathed the words with disbelief, stepping back from me as if I was suddenly dangerous. “You had that in your jacket pocket all this time?”

I pulled a face, lowering my gaze to the amulet clutched in my palm. “I guess so.”

“How in Zeus’ name did it get there?” Robin asked. The colour had drained from his face.

“The woman in the airport,” Niko murmured. “She must have slipped it into your pocket when she bumped into you.”

Bumped into me? Practically broke every bone in my goddamn body when she did her wrecking ball impression. I scowled. Like my life wasn’t complicated enough, now I was the proud owner of a device that could end the entire world. Yeah, I knew the gibbering woman was going to come back to bite us on the ass. I just hadn’t realised how much shit that impromptu meeting was going to cause.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shit usually comes in threes – at least that’s how the saying goes. I had no fucking idea why shit couldn’t just come in ones or twos. Why three’s? If life is kicking you when you’re down, the last thing you want is a whole heap of crap to add to that. Still, fate was a bitch. We’d already been attacked and found out I was carrying a potentially dangerous object. I was just waiting for the third thing to bite us on the ass.

I’d managed to put my feelings about being hunted down and murdered aside for the time being. In other words, I did what I normally did when faced with these kind of problems; I ignored it and focused on something else – how the hell to keep my scrawny ass alive.

The Mjolnir, the hammer of doom, apocalypto power tool… whatever the hell you wanted to call it… was sat on Loman’s coffee table, the gauntlets next to them. Perched on the edge of the leather recliner, my head resting on the fist of my good hand, I was studying it carefully. It didn’t look like a weapon of mass destruction – the Mjolnir that is. Not that the gauntlets looked exactly fearsome either, but they were more formidable than the amulet. I had no idea how it was supposed to change into the hammer. I mean, it was very nice looking and everything, but from all this talk of killer construction tools I was expecting a sledge hammer at least. The Mjolnir’s undercover act was anti-climatic.

My brother and the puck had been buried nose deep in books since they discovered I had it and were talking in hushed voices on the other side of the room. Not that I cared, I had no interest in researching. Yeah, I found staring at the damn amulet a much better way of spending my time. I let a low huff of air out and scowled at the object. They wanted me dead for that? Man, life was unfair. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong goddamn time. I was going to be ventilated by Harry Henderson’s cousins because of events that were completely out of my control. Unfair really didn’t even begin to cover it.

“By Bacchus’ left ball, Caliban, stop it!”

Robin’s voice had my gaze snapping from the Mjolnir to the puck. He was squirming uncomfortably in his seat, his brow deeply furrowed.

“Stop what?” I asked, lowering my eyes back to the hammer… or the amulet of doom. I wasn’t calling it a hammer till I saw some damn evidence that it actually was a hammer of mass destruction.

“Staring at the thing.” Robin scowled. “You’re making me nervous.”

I sighed, brushing my hair out of my eyes before sinking back against the couch and forcing myself not to look at the amulet any longer.

“Yeah, well, I hate to say it, but I frigging told you both there was something up with that package.”

My brother gave me a level stare. “I’m not sure this is really the time to gloat, Cal.”

I forced a smile.

“I’m on the clock here, bro. I’m taking what I can get now before Gorilla boy and co return for the rematch – which I ain’t exactly holding my breath over me winning. So yeah, Nik, I’d say this is the perfect time to gloat.”

Niko’s eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened. “Don’t talk like that.”

“Why the hell not? According to Mr Doom and fucking Gloom over there, I’m totally screwed already.” I gestured at Loman with my good arm before continuing. “What the hell is the point of sugar coating this crap, Nik? They’re gonna come back and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do to stop them.”

At my brother’s expression, I suddenly felt shame creeping into my soul. Yeah, apparently I had a soul and it was pounding me with guilt - which considering my DNA was nothing short of a miracle. I was one step down from Damien Thorn. Shit, there were probably assholes out there that thought I was the anti-Christ. Part human, part Auphe… it wasn’t surprising really. Even I wasn’t entirely sure how much monster my monster half was. It was almost laughable. Part demon and yet I still retained those annoying qualities that made us all human. Sometimes I wished I didn’t feel emotions and that I could just ignore them when they decided to yank on my guilt chain. It would have made it a lot easier to ditch my brother and Goodfellow and let Gorilla boy follow me instead. But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to face this shit alone. It was selfish as hell, but I needed my brother, and I needed him more than I’d ever needed him right now. Call me whatever the fuck you wanted to call me, but I was scared. It may have made me a coward, it may have made me human but still, that emotion was very real and it wasn’t leaving me alone. Yeah, crazy I know. How was it possible to survive the Auphe and yet be terrified of a couple of trolls? I’d faced worse. Jesus, I’d been worse.

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” my brother said quietly, returning his attention back to the books. I was hoping they held all the answers to my current predicament for his sake. He already took protecting my ass personally enough as it was. I hated to imagine how he would take having to bury my ass in the ground because I was made into troll food. Niko did guilt better than anyone I’d ever met. He was a selfless bastard. He probably should have been canonised. Me? I probably should have been cast into the fires of hell and left to rot.

Ok, so Goodfellow wasn’t the only one dealing in doom and gloom, but I felt justified. It wasn’t every day you found out your life was potentially a ticking time bomb waiting to blow up. Despite my assurances that I was ‘dealing’ with this shit, I really wasn’t. I’d just become adept at hiding it. After all, I’d had years of practice.

It was only sheer force of will that pushed me towards a more positive attitude. Just because I was feeling sorry for my goddamn self didn’t mean I had to drag my brother into my chick-flick pity-city moment. He had enough shit to deal with as it was without my ass scraping across the floor.

“Ok, so if they can track the Mjolnir, why the hell didn’t they take the gauntlets? They were practically gift wrapped on the table.”

Goodfellow frowned at me before he answered, seemingly taking a moment to pull his thoughts into some semblance of order.

“According to the lore they need all four pieces of Thor’s arsenal in order to activate the Mjolnir. At the moment they have a brief awareness of its general location, but they cannot lock onto it accurately – which is probably why they could not find it in your coat. As for the gauntlets...? They have the ability to summon the hammer back to the wearer, but they don’t work in the same way as the Mjolnir.”

I scowled at the puck, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Yoda had jackshit on Goodfellow when it came to talking in goddamn code.

“Meaning what exactly?” I demanded.

“Unless they have the other three pieces, the Mjolnir is useless.” Robin took a deep breath before he continued. “But they aren’t easy to locate. After the first time Prymar stole the hammer, Freyja put protections over the other pieces to hide them so that even if the Mjolnir was taken, it could never be used. It is possible that Prymar’s trolls didn’t even notice the gauntlets were in your apartment. They don’t have the same awareness of them as they do with the Mjolnir.”

Yeah, not to mention they’d been too busy throwing the furniture to stop and check what was in grandma’s package.

I pulled a face as Robin’s words sank in. “So there are more of these pieces?”

“Járngreipr, the gauntlets, the Grídarvöl, the staff, and the Megingjord, the girdle.All three must come together to activate the Mjolnir.”

And we had two of the four pieces. Great.

“Why didn’t Freyja just hide the Mjolnir in the same way?” Niko asked carefully.

“You have to understand that the hammer itself is… like…a living thing.” Robin frowned deeply at his choice of words as if he wasn’t really sure that was what he was trying to say. “Its magic is older than the earth. From what I can gather the Mjolnir wouldn’t allow itself to be cloaked and so the goddess did the only thing she could – she masked the other pieces of the arsenal, hoping it would keep the hammer from ever being used by unfriendly hands.”

“So if we keep the gauntlets hidden, the Mjolnir can never be used?” I asked hopefully. It was the only variable we could control in this stinking mess. Fingers crossed it would be our salvation.

“In theory - yes.”

I glared at the puck.

“In theory?” I wanted more than theories. I needed facts. I needed to know how the hell to keep my ass out of the firing line.

“Well, no one has attempted to use Thor’s arsenal since Freyja put the charms on the pieces. I have no idea if it works.”

“No time like the present for a test run,” I snorted, “but I’d rather know what the hell I’m dealing with before I actually have to deal with it.”

“Before we actually have to deal with it,” my brother said firmly.

Semantics, Niko. Jesus, he was never going to let this one rest. There was no way in hell he was sitting this one out and he was going to drill it into my head if he had to. I chose to ignore his dig however. I wasn’t about flogging dead horses and my brother was stubborn as hell when he wanted to be. I was smart enough to recognise a lost cause when I saw one.

“So, we hide the gauntlets,” I continued as if Niko hadn’t even spoken. “If they can’t find them, then they can’t use the Mjolnir, right?” I split my gaze between Nik and the puck, searching for the confirmation I was hoping they would give me. Robin’s expression didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. His brow wrinkled as he shifted his shoulders uncertainly.

“Again - in theory.” Robin raked his hair back. I really wasn’t used to this side of the puck and it was freaking the hell out of me. I wanted the cocky sonofabitch back. I wanted the pervy bastard I’d come to know and vaguely tolerate over the last few months. I couldn’t wrap my head around this Goodfellow. It was upsetting the natural order of things.

“We just need to lay low until we can figure this out.” Niko met my gaze, his expression resolved.

“Yeah, well that wouldn’t be an issue, Cyrano, except these things can sense the hammer.” Ok, I was really trying to be the ‘glass half full’ guy but my cynical side was rearing its ugly head. I lived in the real world and right now the real world had me on its shit list.

My brother didn’t reply immediately and for a moment I thought I had managed to render him silent. I should have known better.

“You would have made a wonderful martyr, Cal,” Niko murmured irritably. “All this self-flagellation is giving me a headache.”

I smirked in spite of everything.

“If I’m gonna be immortalised, I’d rather go down swinging, Cyrano.”

He snapped his eyes to me. “Then stop with the self-pitying and act as if you want to come through the other side of this in one piece!”

I raised a brow. Ok, maybe I had been a little too vocal earlier.

“I do want to come through the other side of this,” I muttered.

“Good, because I would hate to think I wasted all those years training you to protect yourself only to have you throw yourself onto the sharp end of a sword now.”

Niko had a way of making me feel about ten inches tall, and teaching me humility was definitely one of my brother’s better talents. I’d been so wrapped up in myself that I hadn’t even thought about how this shit was affecting him. He had watched me die not that long ago and I didn’t doubt how badly that had screwed with his head at the time. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I doubted I would have handled it quite so gracefully.

“You know me, Nik,” I replied somewhat contritely. “If I’m going down, I’m taking as many sonsofbitches as I can with me.”

“I would prefer it if we could find a way to stop this without you having to go down, little brother.”

So would I, Cyrano, so would I.

I was just hoping my brother, Robin and Promise could pull a miracle out of the bag with this one. All this talk of Gods was making me cagy. It felt as if we had just figured out what the Auphe really were, and now we were getting force fed all of this shit. Elves, trolls, Gods and Goddesses… what would they come up with next? I cringed at the thought. I had a feeling we would be finding out soon enough.

“So I was thinking…” I heard an amused snort come from Robin’s direction and I could see the corners of my brother’s lips twitching. I was so glad I could be the source of their amusement.

“I’d proceed with caution, Cal.” Robin interjected, clearly amused. “Wouldn’t want you to strain anything.” Now there was the Goodfellow I knew. He thought he was a frigging comedian. I was laughing on the inside.

“Yeah, very funny, Loman. Now how ‘bout you zip it and let me finish.” My irritation was ignored, of course. Robin, it seemed, still thought he was funny. Teasing smirk in place, he gave an exaggerated wave of his hand for me to continue. I glared at him, wanting to wipe the smug grin of his face. Arrogant bastard. But then I guess it was hard to spend eternity running around with some of the biggest names in history and not be a little supercilious.

“What is it Cal?” Niko pushed. His tone was curious, but it was cautious curiosity. I guess my rare attempt at using my brain actually made him a little nervous. I couldn’t say I blamed him. Nik was the brains of our operation, and it never failed to annoy him when I put my two cents in. Of course, it didn’t help that my input was usually an inappropriate comment that was used for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of my brother. It wasn’t exactly one of my smartest past times and it usually resulted with my ass on the floor, but hey…what else was a guy to do? It wasn’t like we could go out on the town to have some fun, or – God forbid – do something normal. I shuddered at the thought. Screw normal, I was more than content to annoy the hell out of my big brother. The small town, apple pie life gave me more nightmares than the homicidal trolls that wanted my ass on a plate anyway.

I blew out a dramatic sigh, “Would you stop looking at me as if I’m going to have some sort of fit or something. I am capable of thinking.”

Robin snorted. “I don’t doubt you are. It’s just more often than not you don’t, Cal. It makes a guy nervous when you do.”

“Cal,” Niko interrupted our bantering impatiently. Okay, so fun time was over. Big brother wanted an answer, and this time I was willing to be serious…for a few minutes at least. Sort of.

“Alright, alright, keep your panties on, Cyrano.” I ignored the pointed glare. Thankfully I was far enough away from my brother to prevent a sharp slap to the back of my head. My head hurt enough as it was without adding to the concussion. “I was just thinking that if these trolls can sense the Mjolnir … amulet… whatever the hell it is… then don’t you think we might be getting a little visit at some point? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the whole sitting duck vibe just lounging around while we’ve - well - while you two have got your noses shoved in a book.”

“Well, what is it you suggest we do Cal? We don’t have all of the information that we need, and our options are limited as to where we can go.” Niko’s shoulders hunched slightly over the book he was holding in his lap. He let out a breath and locked his grey eyes on mine, “I don’t like this anymore than you do, little brother, but I think this is the best place to be for the time being.”

I let out another sigh, and this time it was more weary than anything, “I know, I know. It’s just…”

I trailed off watching my brother drag a hand down his face. He looked exhausted, and I had to wonder if he had even slept at all. Knowing Nik, I was guessing probably not, or at least not much. Wrecked was a look I was used to wearing, I wasn’t used to seeing it on my brother. I figured it was time to let my book smart brain go back to its usual hibernation, and let my mouth handle things for a bit. An annoyed Niko was better than what I was seeing now; dejected Nik was more than I could handle.

“Hey Loman,” the puck’s head shot up to look at me. “I hope you’ve got insurance on this place.”

He gave me a confused frown, and I heard my brother let out a huff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. My brother knew me better than anyone, and no doubt he knew what I was getting at. Poor Robin… he still had a helluva lot to learn when it came to us Leandros’.

“Why do you say that?” His confusion was almost amusing. Almost. Under any other circumstances it would have been hilarious. Right now, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the guy. Well, only a little sorry. This was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

I shot a look at my brother before turning to smirk at Goodfellow, “’Cause if Mighty Joe Young decides on a repeat performance you’re gonna need it.”

It took a moment, but he finally caught on, and when he did his eyes widened.

“Oh no! Definitely not! If you think those overgrown menacing Neanderthals are coming here you two have got another thing coming!”

I tried to frown at him, but found it hard to contain my amusement. I could tell that just the thought of Gorilla boy coming and stampeding through Robin’s spotless apartment was giving him a coronary. He was almost as fun to piss off as Niko and if it lightened the mood… well it was worth it. I could be a gloomy, cynical bastard but seeing my brother that way freaked me out.

“What? You think we invited them to come and trash our place?” Robin spluttered but I continued speaking before he could open his mouth, my right hand raised defensively. “I’m just saying Loman…The price of friendship and all that good shit is all about the sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices?!” He squeaked indignantly.

I could see Niko shaking his head out of the corner of my eye and it made it all the more difficult to keep from outright laughing at Robin’s outrage. Considering the contents of Goodfellow’s apartment were worth enough to feed a small country – for years – I could understand his distress. Didn’t mean I was letting up though. Nope, not a chance in goddamn hell! If I could lighten the mood even for a minute, I’d do it, and I’d do it for no other reason than to give my brother a break.

“Yeah, you know…” I started, gesturing negligently around the room, “a couple of paintings, an end table here or there, maybe a couch – nothing too big.” I continued relentlessly, a big teasing grin in place. “What’s a little wanton destruction and blood shed between friends?”

Robin narrowed his eyes and regarded me coolly, “I’ll give you a little blood shed, Caliban!”

Niko cleared his throat from the recliner he was perched on, the book on his lap coming to rest on a small side table before he raised hard eyes to the puck. Goodfellow spun around in his seat to face him and shot Nik a sheepish smile as my brother raised a brow. I grinned. There were a helluva a lot of bonuses to having a big brother who could level towns with a glare. This right here…? This was one of them.

No words were exchanged, but then no words were necessary. My brother could say in one look what most people couldn’t articulate after an entire conversation. Niko didn’t need to open his mouth to get his point across and he didn’t. The fact that Robin looked like a scolded school boy was evidence enough that Nik’s point had been made – and it had been made rather successfully. He gave an annoyed huff and mumbled something about his apartment and ungrateful bastards. My shit-eating grin only widened. Score one for Team Leandros, zip for the puck.

Settling back into the couch I moved my arm with caution, careful not to jostle my sore joint too much and let my eyes slide shut with a contented breath. The air in the room felt a little lighter at least; not the suffocating atmosphere that threatened to drown us all before. At least for a moment. It was a mistake to let my mind wander. Once again I found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I was dragging my brother and Robin down with me. I’d come to the conclusion early on that life was a bitch, but I still didn’t like it. Just because I knew it sucked didn’t make it an easier pill to swallow.

Drifting on the edge between the waking world and the blessed oblivion that sleep promised, I heard an odd scratching sound. Holding my breath, I opened my eyes to mere slits and surveyed the room.

Nothing moved and everything seemed to be in place, but still I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something here. Frowning, I shifted my head to the side, plump cushions beneath my head sinking under the weight of my movement. My heart wasn’t pounding yet and I wasn’t anywhere near to piss my pants fear, but I still felt… wary…? Yeah, wary I guess. My instincts were muttering in my head to get the hell out of Dodge and it was weird as hell considering how silent the room itself was.

Across the room Niko was still sitting in his chair, various tomes piled by his feet and an exceptionally old looking book resting on his lap. His right hand ghosted along the lines on the pages and to anyone else he would appear to be solely focused on his reading. However I wasn’t anyone else, and by the slight shifting of his eyes I knew he’d heard it too. Great. What the hell was going on?

Robin was still seated on the smaller couch, book in hand, but I couldn’t tell if he’d heard the noise too. If he had he was hiding it well. He didn’t so much as twitch and he seemed to be lost in whatever it was he was reading. I toyed with the idea that I may have just been imagining things – the lack of sleep, and a history fucked up enough to deem me a perfect candidate for some kind of psychotic breakdown were definitely reason enough to consider it a possibility – but Niko’s bat-like hearing had tuned into something. In my eyes that meant I wasn’t completely nuts – not yet at least. We may have been a paranoid bunch, but that inbuilt instinct to sense uninvited guests had given us an advantage on more than one occasion in the past, and I wasn’t about to start ignoring it now.

I still couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but as I took a deep breath in through my nose, I grimaced. Yeah, we definitely had company – I could smell it and it smelt rank. I had no frigging clue what the hell it was that was making that stench, but shit, it was nasty, and smelt a little like wet dog, amongst other things. What I did know was that Robin didn’t have a dog. That had the hairs on the back of my neck raising.

My brother still hadn’t moved, but there was never a doubt that he’d be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. After all the shit with the Auphe, and now Gorilla boy and his buddy Sasquatch, my brother’s katana was never far from his side – as well as a shit load of other smaller blades and weapons Niko liked to keep on him. Big brother was a walking, talking arsenal – Old Yeller wouldn’t know what hit him when he finally came out to play. I just wished he’d do it soon. It was making me nervous as hell playing hide and seek with it… whatever the hell it was.

“You never did answer me about that insurance, Loman,” I muttered quietly, sitting up slowly and flicking my eyes around the room.

I didn’t even have to look to know that I was getting a pretty impressive death glare from everyone’s favourite puck. I could feel Goodfellow’s eyes searing holes in the side of my head.

“You couldn’t have just stayed in a hotel, could you?” Robin snapped, but underneath the anger there was something else. Apprehension perhaps; I wasn’t sure. I shot him a wide grin and let my mouth take it from there.

“What? And let you miss out on my pleasurable company?” My eyes were still scanning the room, searching for Lassie.

There was no mistaking the underlying meaning to the growl I got in response. Robin was pissed. Not that I blamed him. As always I’d opened my big goddamn mouth and now we were getting another visit. Had these frigging things never heard of an invitation? I sure as hell wasn’t welcoming them in. Then again they didn’t exactly play by the rules. We had an apartment that looked like it had only made it to the demolition part of the extreme makeover as a prime example.

“Most people tempt fate, Cal,” Robin drawled, grabbing for an expensive looking vase and clutching it to his chest protectively before he reached for another equally expensive looking ornament. His eyes darted wildly around the room before locking onto my face. “You…? You poke it with a frigging stick before you beat it round the head.”

He was right, but that didn’t mean I had to openly agree with him. He seized a small wooden box off the mantel, adding it to the collection of expensive crap he was already juggling in his arms. I gave him an incredulous stare, wondering if he was intending to gather the whole room. Shaking my head, I glanced once more in my brother’s direction and raised a questioning brow.

I’d heard something, could definitely smell something, but I still hadn’t seen shit. Niko gave me a tight shrug of his shoulders. He was just as confused as I was, but I saw his right arm slowly swing to the side of the chair where his sword was, long fingers curling around the hilt. He didn’t raise it, not yet, but he was ready. Not one to sit out on the action, I made a move for my Glock.

I’d barely moved an inch before I saw Niko’s eyes narrow. In the movies some dumb big breasted girl always stops, hearing a noise behind them and slowly turns around to face the monster before screaming. Well, I was pretty sure I didn’t have breasts and there was no way in hell I was screaming, but my heart rate did shoot through the roof. I could sense it now, feel its eyes on me… and I had to admit, I didn’t like the feeling. It made my shoulder blades itch.

My brother didn’t need to speak the warning. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out there was something behind me, but a lifetime of watching my brother’s facial expressions and actions had me reflexively spinning in my seat to get a look for my self.

“Holy shit!”

And if that wasn’t one of the ugliest frigging things I’d ever seen - and I’d seen some pretty fucked up shit in my time. It was grotesque looking, standing no more than two and a half feet tall. Its face was disfigured and misshapen, thick lips were twisted into a sinuous smirk, and its waxy skin was pulled tightly over protruding ribs. It was perched on the windowsill like some kind of chimpanzee, its arms too long for the tiny body it had.

I pulled a disgusted face, unconsciously taking a step back as the he thing looked at me and hissed. Yeah, that’s right, it freakin’ hissed like some demented cat. Not what I had been expecting, but then I’d come to expect the unexpected. Life was just one big goddamn surprise, wasn’t it? Spit… drool… slobber, whatever the hell it was sprayed out of its mouth in a short blast and fired directly into my face, the viscous goo clinging to my cheeks and dripping off my chin. I gagged, retching. It tasted worse than it smelt and it felt a thousand times worse than that.

“Oh, that’s just fuckin’ gross,” I snapped, dragging my good arm across my face.

At least the thing was small. A rematch with Gorilla boy wasn’t exactly on my to-do list and besides, I could take this thing one handed – well I literally was one handed so I didn’t really have much choice in the matter. I should have heeded Robin’s words however. Poking fate with a stick? Shit, I was smacking it around the head with a sledge hammer. The thing may have been the size of an oompa loompa – albeit an angry, ugly, stinky oompa loompa - but it moved with frightening agility, and with surprising force, it slammed into my chest. The air was forced out of my lungs as I staggered backwards, catching the back of the couch with my legs and falling against it. I threw up my good arm, fighting instinctively to release my bound shoulder from the confines of my sling as it clawed its way up my chest, snarling and hissing, needle pointed teeth barred like a rabid dog, putrid fetid breath searing my nostrils.

I pushed the heel of my hand into its throat and tried to push it off me, but I didn’t need to worry. My ninja big brother seized the thing by its coarse, dark hair and swung his sword in a wide arc, splitting the little shit in two.

“Are you alright?” Niko asked even as he placed his foot on the things torso and dragged the sword from its body.

“Fine,” I growled, taking shallow breaths through my mouth. I didn’t want to risk breathing through my nose. I already felt sick without taking a lungful of wet dog again. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I wiped the oompa loompa’s viscous saliva on my pants with a grimace. God that stuff was disgusting.

I made another reach for my gun, but something else caught my eye. The Mjolnir was sat on the table, staring mockingly up at me. I grabbed for it first, shoving it into my pocket as Niko reached out and took the gauntlets. I made a move to stop him but he shook his head and gave me a look that said arguing wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I would have argued it anyway – didn’t I always? - but my attention was diverted. Grabbing my gun off the table, I spun on my heel at the sound of Robin’s distressed voice.

The puck had discarded his belongings on one of the chairs and was now wielding a blade of his own, but it was more of a machete than anything else. Not that it matter. Sharp and pointy were usually the only specifications needed in a knife.

He was stood in the centre of a group of about ten of the little freaks – although where the hell they had come from, I didn’t have a goddamn clue. Astoundingly the puck didn’t look fazed in the least, in fact he sounded more annoyed than anything.

“Unbelievable!” He snarled, even as he cut down two of the little critters surrounding him. “You had to go and open your big mouth, didn’t you?! I swear to you - big brother or not - if these idiotic vermin destroy my humble abode you’ll get blood shed all right, but it sure as hell won’t be mine.”

Humble abode? Ha! I would have shot back a witty retort but I was kind of preoccupied. Robin had taken out two of the little shits, and yet the number of creatures around his feet seemed to have increased, not decreased.

“Is it my ‘magination, or does there seem to be more of these things?” I pulled a face. I was pretty sure I hadn’t imagined it and my brother’s bemused expression confirmed what I suspected.

Niko thrust his sword into the nearest freaky creature with the sickening squelch of torn flesh and muscles. It went down with a dramatic shriek, clutching a gnarled hand to its bloodied chest. Sure enough two more critters appeared out of thin air.

Nik’s lips twisted. “That’s annoying.”

“Annoying?” Goodfellow snorted irritably, hacking violently at the nearest one. “I’m not sure annoying covers it! This…? This is a disaster of epic proportions. How are we supposed to kill these things if they multiply faster than rabbits? Ye Gods, Hercules didn’t have this much trouble against the Hydra and I bet I don’t even get a footnote in history for my trouble!”

The puck cut one more of the things down but just as quickly as he did two more materialised out of thin air and vaulted against the fireplace wall, almost knocking a ceramic horse statue off the mantle. Robin swore and made a desperate grab for it before it hit the floor.

“Holy mother of Zeus!” He snapped, cutting down another critter. “This is ridiculous!”

I had to agree, but before I could comment Niko seized my gun and replaced it with an arm length blade.

“What’s this for?” I asked somewhat confused but reassured by the weight of steel in my hand. My brother paused long enough to slice and dice another creature that was skulking towards us before turning back to me.

“We’re quickly running out of places to stay, Cal,” he said almost conversationally. “Shooting up Robin’s apartment may not be the best of ideas.”

Okay, so he had a point but I still looked longingly at my gun before he tucked it into my waistband. The sword felt weird but it would be better in close quarters. Guns tended to make a mess, not to mention a helluva lot of noise. We’d already had the boys in blue paying our apartment a little visit, we didn’t need to add Robin to their radar as well.

As soon as my fingers were securely around the hilt, Niko spun on his heels and made another swipe with his katana, taking out two of our guests this time. I was moving more slowly but I didn’t have much trouble eviscerating one of them that was aiming a clawed hand at my throat.

I grimaced as its blood splattered across my face and dripped off the blade onto the floor, the wet dog smell washing over me in an unpleasant cloud of stinky yuckness. Just the thought of Goodfellow’s reaction to his once spotless white rug had me pulling a face. Give me these ugly bastards any day. Fighting them was a helluva lot better than listening to Robin bitching about how I had ruined an overpriced piece of carpeting any day of the damn week.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice. Robin was still growling and cursing as he cut the oompa loompa’s down but with each one he killed two more seemed to appear out of thin air, just as deformed and just as freaky looking as the little shits they replaced. I glanced up at Niko, who was holding his own against six of the critters, before wading in to help Robin. He was faced with ten of the bastards, snapping at his knees, clawed fingers digging into his calves.

I took out two of the little bastards before something hit me from behind. These things might have been small, but they were fucking strong and it was enough to stagger me. I half turned, sword swinging as I went but was mobbed by several of the dwarf like creatures. Feeling like a porcupine, needle pointed teeth broke through my skin hard enough to draw blood. I lowered my gaze, resisting the urge to freak out completely.

Three oompa loompa’s were firmly attached to my legs, and they weren’t showing any sign of letting me go. It was like being attacked by a group of horny Chihuahuas – only these frigging things had a bad case of the flesh eating munchies, and a good leg humping would have been a damn improvement to this crap.

With only one free arm, I did the only thing I could - I dropped my sword and tried to pull the grotesque knee-biting creatures off me. A great idea in theory; in practice…? Not so much. They didn’t move an inch and I could feel blood seeping down my legs as they dug their claws and teeth further into my flesh. Desperation overrode sense. I wanted these things off me, and I wanted them off now. I shook my legs out violently, trying to unseat them, but they were stubborn as hell. I was pretty sure they didn’t move so much as an inch.

“Jesus…” I muttered, panicked. I was definitely going to need a tetanus shot after this shit. “A little help here.”

I’d expected a sword, a smack… hell even a curse. What I got was something completely different.

The room filled with light suddenly, blinding and garish. I pulled my forearm over my eyes, the backs of my retinas burning painfully until it dissipated. The light faded like a dimmer switch being turned down and when I opened my eyes I was seeing coloured spots. Thankfully I wasn’t seeing any of the angry critters who had bitch slapped my ass into the middle of next week. Where the hell did they go anyway? And what the hell was that light? My head was killing me, and I felt like I’d been flash bombed.

Disorientated as hell, I almost threw punches when I felt a hand on my arm.

“Cal?” It was Nik. Evidently he had much better recovery time than I did, although I was starting to lose the flashing spots of light in my vision.

“W-what…the hell was that?”

Niko didn’t answer. He grabbed my wrist, and pulled me behind him suddenly. I gave him a questioning look until I realised what the problem was. Following his line of sight, I frowned.

A dark haired woman was stood in the doorway clutching an orb in her hands. her head lowered as she traced a long finger over it surface of it. It pulsated under her touch, her lips moving quickly with some kind of silent litany. It wasn’t until she halted muttering under her breath that the light faded from the sphere. As soon as she glanced up I recognised her immediately. It was the brunette from the damn airport.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” I exclaimed incredulously.

She gave me a twisted smile. “Verndari.”

I shook my head. This had to be a joke! As if we didn’t have enough shit to deal with, now we had gibbering woman doing firework displays in Robin’s lounge. I would have asked if shit could have gotten worse, but fate had a sense of humour and I wasn’t willing to piss her off this time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 They say chivalry is dead. In my book so was courtesy. I didn’t bother grabbing for the sword I had dropped during the fight with the mutant oompa loompas. Instead, I pulled my gun from my waistband and aimed at the tiny brunette.

“Who the hell are you?” I didn’t bother with pleasantries either. It’s hard to be pleasant to someone when you’re pointing a gun at them and threatening to blow their goddamn head off. Gibbering woman didn’t even blink, however. I had to give her credit for that. Looking down the barrel of my Eagle would have scared the shit out of any normal person.

“Cal…” Niko began quietly, but his voice carried through the tense silence of the room as if he had shouted. I wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a reprimand. I didn’t really care either way; I wasn’t lowering my gun.

“This shit all started because of this bitch, Nik,” I didn’t take my eyes – or weapon – off her, “and then she just happens to show up here like the proverbial white knight?”

I left out the fact that that made me the damsel. No way in hell was I putting that image in my brother’s head – or Robin’s for that matter.

“Has it occurred to you that she may be the only person who can explain what is going on here? Dead people cannot give us answers, little brother.”

I forcefully tore my gaze from the woman to glance at my brother who was eyeing me with measured patience. It hadn’t occurred to me at all – not that I was telling Steve McGarrett that. I guessed this was why Nik was the brains and I was the monkey. He was a talk it through and then slice and dice kind of guy. I was the asshole who was frantically trying to put someone’s head back on their shoulders after I’d cut it off. Hell, it was all fucking semantics anyway. Talk, don’t talk; dead, not dead… If it got the job done I was all for whatever measures needed to be taken.

Somewhat hesitantly, I lowered my gun and glared at the woman. She was still stood in the doorway, ignoring me completely. I guess she was too preoccupied taking in the war zone that was Goodfellow’s apartment to give my temper tantrum - or itchy trigger finger - much attention.

My brother, on the other hand, had been cursed with my whiny ass at an early age. He knew better than to expect anything other than a pissy reaction in this situation, and I didn’t disappoint either. I was as predictable as the day was long…

“Jesus, Nik, what the hell are we even gonna get out of her? I don’t exactly remember her being that fluent in English back at the airport.”

If she wasn’t interested in what I had to say, then I had no problems ignoring the fact she was stood right in front of me. She may have shown up at a convenient time, but I’d had everything under control. Granted, I may have ended up with a little less skin left on my legs – if the warm sensation of blood seeping into my pants was anything to go by - but I figured we would have annihilated the mutant oompa loompa’s eventually. After the shit we had been through in the past, a colony of deranged creatures was a walk in the goddamn park. Never mind that a walk in the park could put you on the menu of an overgrown toad that had a tendency to snack on any poor bastard that accidentally stumbled over his nesting ground. I was a delusional sonuvabitch.

Robin’s voice brought me back to our current predicament. I swore to myself that once this shit was over frigging pick-up and deliveries were off our to-do list. If people wanted their shit delivered they could stick with Fed-Ex, ‘cause my ass wasn’t taking anymore goddamn chances.

“I suppose this is where my extraordinary talents come in.” Robin tried to inject his usual charm into the situation, but he sounded dejected.

I figured he was still mourning the chaos of his once regal apartment; it looked somewhere between the set of a horror film and a hobo’s squat at the moment. His overly expensive rug was blood stained, and several broken ornaments were scattered on the floor. Putting them back together as they were would be impossible.

I tried to feel bad for the guy – after all, those little ugly creatures had made a goddamn mess, and it was our fault they had even been there in the first place. However it was difficult to be sympathetic when the entire contents of his apartment could have ended world hunger. Ok, so I was also the asshole who exaggerated like hell, but shit, we all have our goddamn swords to bear – right?

“There will be no need for translation,” the brunette said, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she bent onto one knee and shrugged her rucksack off her shoulder. Carefully, she placed the orb into a side pocket and zipped it up even as she glanced at the three of us. “Please, believe me, I’m not here to cause any harm.”

And wasn’t that what they all said? I’d learned the hard way not to take some random loony’s word at face value. ‘Cause somehow or another, ten seconds later, I’d find myself on the floor having the life systematically choked out of me. I figured my body had been abused enough in the last forty-eight hours without taking anymore chances; I wasn’t buying what she was sellin’.

“Huh,” I muttered sourly. “Ain’t nothing wrong with your English.” I turned to my brother with an arched brow and grunted. “Yeah, she’s a real trustworthy person, Nik. Like we can believe a damn word that comes out of her mouth, she lies like a cheap watch.”

Niko frowned, his grey eyes glaring at me disapprovingly.

“Thank you for that keen deduction, Cal.”

I ignored my brother’s chastisement and kept my eyes focused on the woman. Could I help it if I was astute, big brother? I finally felt rather than saw Niko’s eyes shift off me as he addressed the woman.

“Why didn’t you just speak to us in English in the airport?”

“I was scared,” she replied simply, but her expression was just about as stoic as Niko’s.

Jesus, two peas in a goddamn pod.

I was almost glad Promise had gone home to look into our little problem. I was all for cat fighting, but I had to admit I wasn’t sure who would come out on top of this one. Now that she wasn’t gibbering like a woman off her meds, the brunette was actually a pretty formidable looking woman. Matronly might have been the better word, but I kept that thought to myself. If she had any other things in common with my brother, then I wasn’t giving her any ammunition to slap my scrawny ass around.

“Scared?” I snorted, gesturing with the gun like it was some kind of pointing device – albeit a lethal as hell pointing device. “God, give the woman an Oscar. Really, that performance was just so… heartfelt. I really sensed your fear.”

The deadpan had all eyes turning to me. Normal people might have shrunk back at that. Me? I wasn’t scared of ninja boy, a goat or gibbering lunatic with a hard on for glowing orbs. Well, not really.

Robin gave my brother a hard look.

“Sometimes it’s impossible to imagine you are both even related. Chalk and cheese, night and day, cold and hot, foul mouthed and …soft lipped… perfect features,” He was staring intently at my brother now, his eyes glazed in a dreamy kind of way as he continued to ramble on. “… tight abs… strong arms… curved shoulders… smooth thighs and a huge -“

The hint of Goodfellow’s eyebrows wiggling had me squirming uncomfortably at the sleazy comment I knew was going to come out of his mouth. I cut the randy puck off before he had a chance. As much pleasure as it gave me to see Niko squirm, I didn’t need to hear about his… assets.

“Ok, Cupid, we get the picture,” I snapped, tightening my finger on the trigger of the gun despite my brother’s warning. Dead girls couldn’t talk – true – but they couldn’t rip my throat out, stuff me and mount me on the wall either.

The brunette watched me with nothing more than idle curiosity – as if looking down the barrel of a loaded weapon was nothing more than a minor irritation. I could be apathetic with the best of them, but shit, this bitch was making my skin crawl. I’d seen corpses with more emotion.

“Skata! Kodo-psolis!” The puck snapped, running his fingers through his curly brown hair. “It’s a wonder I manage to have any fun with you two around.” Robin grumbled.

“It’s like being back in the Dark Ages only… darker.” The puck glared at me. “You would have fit in perfectly, broody boy.”

I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but I was pretty certain there was an insult in there somewhere. Either way I scowled at him, resisting the urge – as tempting as it was – to fill his ass with lead. Even one-handed I was pretty sure I could take the puck, and even if I couldn’t, judging from Nik’s disturbed expression, he would help.

“Do you think you could shut your mouth for more than a second and come back to the situation at hand?” I gestured at the brunette with the barrel of my raised gun. Goodfellow slid his green eyes towards her momentarily.

“This filthy mouth has been years in the making, Cal.” He sighed dramatically. “I’m just not appreciated.”

“Yeah, yeah. Woe is Robin Goodfellow. Jesus,” I exclaimed shooting the puck an incredulous stare. “Slightly more pressing issues to deal with right now than massaging your ego – like why the hell she dragged us into this frigging mess.”

Robin snorted but I cut him off before he could jump in with another sarcastic reply.

“You working with this Prymar guy?” I went for a subject change, focusing my attention back on the woman. She eyed me with disdain for a moment before her lips curled into a snarl.

“Prymar is scum. I would never work with him.” She let her expression fade. “I’m the High Priestess of Freyja.” She eyed my gun which was once again aimed at her forehead. She only had herself to blame. She had been the ice queen since she’d set foot in the room; the emotional display from stoic to angry made me twitchy. “I’m here to help.”

“That’s kind of rich, considering you put that frigging thing in my pocket in the first place,” I growled.

The woman really wasn’t helping her case. My mind kept flicking to the image of our trashed apartment, the dull throbbing that had taken residence in my arm and head, and my brother’s injured back. No, definitely NOT helping her case. She was going to have to give us more than false reassurance.

“You’re not the High Priestess I remember.” She gave the puck a stare that had even my stomach clenching. Robin seemed unfazed however, and merely considered her carefully. “Where is Ola?”

Her surprise only manifested with the slight parting of her lips.

“Ola died a hundred and twenty years ago. She was replaced by Elena, and then by myself.” Robin’s expression shifted into something I could quite get a read on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get a read on it. It reeked of grief. “I’m Marna.”

She was name dropping. Ok, so I was still holding a gun on her and I was pretty vocal about the fact that I didn’t trust her skinny gibbering ass, but I guessed she was hoping that if Robin knew this Ola woman then he might know some of the other names she was spouting.

I gave the puck an unsure glance. He returned the gaze with a slight inclination of his head that told me she wasn’t lying – not that I was quick to buy that. I took paranoid to a whole new level, and frankly I didn’t give a shit if that put me in the crazy person column. I didn’t exactly have a reason to trust this woman, but I guess I trusted Robin. It was kind of hard not to trust a guy who had walked into the fire to save your ass.

I lowered my gun warily to my side, but kept my finger poised on the trigger. The slightest move and I was blowing the bitch’s head off – supposed friend or not.

“Has it been that long since I was last--” His brow furrowed deeply and he shook himself, raking his fingers through his hair. “Is the Goddess dead?”

The pain that shot across Marna’s face was so real and raw that I found it difficult not to believe that she was who she said she was. Well, a little at least. I wasn’t big on trusting anyone, let alone some whacked out woman who – as far as I was concerned – had brought this crap to our doorstep. Hell, I barely trusted myself half of the time.

“She fades as the Mjolnir moves further from her side. If Prymar gains control of the items that previously belonged to the thunder god, then her life force will vanish completely.”

For some reason the image of a candle being extinguished flashed in my head. Yeah, I had the soul of a poet – I was just freaking good at hiding it.

The puck winced, and I had to admit this was a side of Goodfellow that I wasn’t used to seeing. Seedy, pervy, and generally smarmy… yes. But sympathetic…? Not so much. It was freaking me out. I was pretty sure it was making the puck just as uncomfortable.

“How did Freyja lose Thor’s arsenal?” Robin asked distractedly.

“Prymar…” The High Priestess’ expression darkened. “He sent Fenrir.”

Robin visibly paled, an involuntary shudder running through the puck. It was enough to set me on edge. I understood that look. It was one that said the boat for shit creek was taking water and we were a mile from land and sinking fast. Niko evidently shared my sentiments. His shoulders tightened and his eyes narrowed.

“Who is Fenrir?” he asked

I gave my brother a side-long glance before turning back to the priestess and Goodfellow. The puck had sunk onto the sofa, his head tipped back against the rest, his hand covering his eyes as he groaned.

“If you know anything Robin, you better start doing some explaining – before Niko decides to make a puck shaped rug to replace your nicely blood splattered one.” I flicked grey eyes between the puck and the crazy Priestess. Robin merely removed his hand and raised solemn green agates to me. I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or freaked out that he wasn’t speaking. I guessed I was more worried that he hadn’t responded to the cheap shot about the damn rug.

“Robin?” Niko’s voice snapped.

Judging from Niko’s shifting, my big brother was getting impatient. Answers were required and they were required now. I had the feeling that my brother wasn’t going to allow them to keep him in the dark about this shit for too long before he started sticking sharp, pointy objects into people. We all had our methods of interrogation. Nik’s might have been more abrupt than most, but it got results – and wasn’t that what mattered?

Robin was pinching the bridge of his nose between a finger and thumb, his green eyes tightly squeezed shut. “You don’t want to know who Fenrir is.”

“If I didn’t want to know, Goodfellow, I wouldn’t have asked,” Niko replied, but there was a bite in his tone that needed no articulation.

“Fenrir is one of Prymar’s creatures,” Marna responded when Robin didn’t make an attempt to answer. She curled her lips at the last word; the disgust in her expression marred her porcelain features giving her an almost grotesque look.

I frowned. “Worse than Sasquatch and Gorilla boy?”

“Much, much worse – and just as big.” Robin shuddered, dropping his head back against the sofa and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Loki never could keep the ankle biter under control.”

My frown deepened. I figured ankle biter was a bit of an understatement considering Robin had just admitted that Fenrir was as big as the trolls had been – but then Loman had a warped sense of size.

“I thought Fenrir had been bound by the other Gods before Ragnarok,” Goodfellow said, his expression confused.

“He had help escaping his bonds,” Marna admitted sourly.

“Prymar?”

She nodded.

“He freed the wolf and several other things – including the Svartálfar.”

“The what?” I demanded, jumping back into the conversation. I pretty much sucked at English so all these unfamiliar words were making my brain seriously hurt. “And Fenrir is a wolf? Like a wolf wolf?”

Only, fucking huge, I added silently.

“The Svartálfar- the creatures that were just here.” Marna replied. “They are dark elves. Usually they live underground – in caves and suchlike – but Prymar must have persuaded them to join him. I imagine the reward of playing foot soldier to the keeper of the Mjolnir was too much for them to resist.”

Dark elves… again with the elves. I wondered if they were any relation to the Auphe. Jesus, this was starting to feel like a really bad family reunion, only I didn’t know any of the guests. And to think, all of those fantasy novels about elves being creatures of light and all frigging noble… Man, did they have it wrong. Homicidal wasn’t a word strong enough to cover it.

“And Fenrir is not a werewolf, Cal.” Robin rubbed at weary eyes before raking his fingers through his curly hair. “He is full wolf, and he’s huge and as savage as they come.”

“Well, that sounds pleasant.” I grumbled.

Just what we needed, more shit the size of a small school bus coming after our asses. At the rate we were going we wouldn’t even be allowed near Promise’s apartment. Jesus, get the hammer of doom up and running and we’d make a great demolition team. I could just see the slogan now: Leandros Brothers: bringing chaos and destruction wherever they go. Fan-freaking-tastic.

“Far from pleasant, I’m afraid. With Fenrir loose it can only mean more trouble, and trust me when I tell you that we already have more than enough as it is.” Marna explained.

There was that trust again. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her, but for what it was worth I could take that last statement at face value. There was no denying that trouble would find us again. It always did. I felt like we had frigging bull’s eye permanently hanging on our asses. Shit, the preternatural was attracted to us like moths to a flame.

“Wait a minute, we?” I scowled. “There is no we.”

We had already picked teams, and I didn’t remember her being in the line-up. I was used to it just being me and Niko, and I had finally started getting used to the idea of Robin and Promise sticking around, but this Marna chick…? My finger was still twitching on the trigger. I wasn’t about to welcome her into Operation Doom and Gloom with open arms.

“Yes, we,” Marna snapped back at me. Apparently I could rub even the most placid tempered people the wrong way. Lucky me. “I am a part of this - just as much as you are--”

Holding my hand up, gun clenched loosely between my fingers, I stopped her there.

“Hell yeah, you’re a part of this! This was your frigging problem in the first place. Me…? I’d be snoozing in my bed right about now if you hadn’t shoved that thing in my pocket.” I left out the fact that she had done a damn good impression of a bowling ball while she was busy involving me in this shit. My bruises had bruises. “Simple fucking job my ass.”

I punctuated that with a sharp look at my brother.

Niko narrowed his eyes. “Don’t start.”

I scoffed. “What? It won’t be too strenuous… You’ll barely break a sweat, Cal. Ringing any bells there big brother? I’m pretty sure between the two of us we’re way passed breaking a sweat and pretty damn close to breaking bones.”

Niko regarded me with a look that told me exactly how much patience he had left for my attitude, and it wasn’t much. Before he could respond Robin beat him to it.

“Do you ever stop? You’ve been whining since you walked in the door.”

“I don’t whine,” I replied with something that sounded distinctly like a… whine. Ok, so maybe I did moan like a petulant five year old coming down from a sugar rush, but I didn’t care. I had a reason to be pissed. Absently, I wondered if my lack of sleep was having more of an effect on my temperament than I had initially thought.

It didn’t stop my mouth from digging a deeper hole.

“I’m just sick and tired of this shit, and now this Priestess comes in here with her bright ass flashlight saying that we’ve got a problem when it was her frigging necklace that got us into this whole goddamn mess in the first place!”

If the brunette was insulted by my remark she didn’t show it. It was my brother that finally put his two cents in.

“There isn’t anything we can do to change that, Cal. Like it or not we are involved and we need to see this through.” I was wearing on his last nerve – that much was obvious – but he kept his tone carefully calm. It took a lot for me to really piss Niko off, but I figured between the pain and his own lack of sleep neither were doing his waning mood any favours. I didn’t need a medical degree to figure that my brother was still hurting.

“Niko’s right,” Robin interjected, seriously. “Now that they know we have the Mjolnir they won’t stop until they get it. And, as they have so generously demonstrated, they obviously have no qualms about going through us to get it - more so now that we have the gauntlets as well.”

Marna’s attention snapped to Goodfellow. She regarded him with a confused frown.

“You have the Járngreipr?”

Robin raised his brow at her question, but he didn’t speak.

“Uh, yeah, we have them. That’s what was in the package we picked up at the airport.” I answered.

Once again Loman seemed at a loss of what to say. I had already lost count of how many times that had happened since all this shit had hit the fan, and I had to admit it was more than a little disconcerting. Robin had a never ending supply of complete nonsense as a backup for times like this. The fact that he wasn’t putting it to good use had my worry upping a notch or two.

“I thought...” She trailed off, choosing her words carefully. She wore a thoughtful expression that showed she was putting all the puzzle pieces together. I was glad someone was. I sucked at puzzles, and I had even less of an idea of what the hell was going on.

“You thought what?” Niko asked. His steady gaze was locked onto her as she raised her eyes to meet his. I was pretty much immune to Nik’s arctic glares, but I was impressed that Marna didn’t even flinch. I’d seen that look frighten the shit out of monsters three times her size. Kudos to her.

“I didn’t realise She had sent them here… The gauntlets…? They are the most potent of the three pieces.”

I snorted.

“Tell us something we don’t know, lady.” When she gave me a bemused look, I scowled at her. “You aren’t the only one who knows about this shit. We know those things are a hammer magnet.”

Ignoring my brother’s arched brow – after all it was him and Robin who had done all the research on this and told me about the gauntlets – I finally tucked my gun into my waistband. I didn’t trust her ass, but with only one hand in working order it was getting difficult to juggle shit.

Dragging a hand over my face, I reached into my pocket and pulled the Mjolnir out. Once again, I was underwhelmed by the plainness of the amulet. Something in solid gold might have been more impressive. Hell, at least then we could have pawned the damn thing – call it collateral for the mess Sasquatch and Gorilla boy had made in our frigging apartment.

“You want this thing?” I raised my eyes to her, expecting some kind of reaction, but she kept her expression neutral. I was starting to wonder what the hell it was going to take to get a reaction out of her. She was like the frigging ice queen.

“Caliban!” Robin exclaimed, his face draining of colour once again.

Goodfellow actually stumbled off the couch and back-pedalled a few steps as if it could kill him by just being present in the room. I had no idea if it could, but I was passed caring. I wanted out of this mess and this priestess was our get out of jail free card. She could take the amulet and fix this shit - and I could finally get some fucking sleep.

“What?” I demanded. “She brought this crap to us; she can make it go away.”

“It’s not that simple.” The Priestess countered quietly. I shot her a sharp glare.

“Sure it is. You take this shit off our hands; we get back on with our lives. Everyone’s happy.” I shot her a humourless smirk that quickly faded with the seriousness of the situation. “This is your problem, lady. Not ours. You chose to be involved in this, but you didn’t give me a goddamn choice and I’m tired of playing babysitter to this thing.”

When I thrust it in her direction, she stepped back and crossed her arms behind her back as if avoiding the temptation of even looking at it.

“Even if I take it from you, Fenrir will come. He knows you have it.” When I gave her a puzzled look, she continued to explain. “You should have killed both trolls. I have no illusion that the one you left alive ran straight back to Prymar to report every little detail. It won’t be long before the wolf tracks you.”

Kill both trolls? Yeah, sure. If only it had been that frigging easy.

“Yeah, well if you have any hints on how to escape homicidal trolls, I’d love to hear it,” I grouched.

“How do we stop this?” Niko’s voice cut through the air like a well-sharpened knife.

I clamped my hand around the Mjolnir, leaned back against the wall with a weary sigh as I shifted my slung shoulder with a grimace. I was definitely due for more Vicodin. Shit, the thought of floating on a pain-relief cloud was rather appealing right now. In fact, if ignorance was bliss then I was all for being blissfully ignorant. I already had the ignorant bit down. However, I recognised the set of my brother’s jaw, the hardness in his eyes. Niko was ready to make a stand. He was ready to pull my ass out of this mess. I felt slightly better knowing this was a mess I hadn’t caused, but it didn’t ease my guilt completely.

“We don’t stop this, Nik,” I jumped in. “Remember the part were this isn’t our goddamn problem?”

My brother stared at me for a long moment. I met his stare.

“Cal.”

“Nik,” I said in the same impatient tone. It only made my brother’s scowl deepen.

“If it wasn’t for the risk of causing further damage to your brain, I would be more inclined to smack some sense into you right now.” His tone was laced with such uncharacteristic irritation that it had my brow snuggling under my hair line. “Did you even stop to consider the possibility that if you spent less time complaining, and put more thought into coming up with a solution to fix this mess, then perhaps we might actually come out of this in one piece?”

“Jesus, Nik.” My eyes narrow. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“Would you be serious for one minute?” Niko growled. Honest to god growled.

That shut me up and froze my tongue in my mouth. I wasn’t scared of my brother – I knew he would never really hurt me - but I wasn’t exactly a sadist either. I liked my limbs – and I liked them still attached to my body. Niko looked just about pissed enough to rip them off and beat me around the head with them – just to teach me a lesson.

“Marna…” My brother turned his attention back to the priestess, but he managed to shoot me an irritable glare too, “how do we stop this from-“

He broke off, and snapped his eyes to Robin. The puck was chuckling under his breath. Raised brow, and a dangerous glint in his grey eyes, Niko folded his arms across his chest.

“Would you like to tell the rest of us what on earth is so amusing, Goodfellow?” Yeah, Nik’s patience had definitely gone on vacation.

Robin’s mouth worked but he didn’t manage to articulate a sound. He slid desperate eyes in my direction, but I merely shrugged at him. I had no idea how to save his ass from being paddled by my big brother. Besides, I took a certain satisfaction from seeing Goodfellow that uncomfortable. Ok, so maybe I was a little sadistic… hey, we all have our faults.

“I was just… well…” The puck floundered like a kid in trouble before clamping his lips together and hanging his head. Niko gave his tongue a click before turning back to the priestess.

“Please… continue," Niko said more gently.

“The Mjolnir needs the other three pieces to come to full power, but it does have a… certain amount of power alone. With the gauntlets…? Well, it’s a risk, but it may well work.” She sounded dubious, but all we had was dubious. “If we get the other two pieces…”

Yeah, well, we all knew how that would go down. The apocalyptic hammer of doom could end the world with one blow. I had no doubt it would smear Fenrir all over the goddamn floor and I was all for option two. I liked option two; it had a finality to it and it was a finality that didn’t involve bits of me being splattered across Robin’s apartment.

“Ok, so how the hell do we find the other pieces?” I asked.

Her expression had me wishing she would go back to being the ice queen. She winced and it sent my blood cold.

“I know where they are.”

And I was guessing it wasn’t in a land full of chilli-dogs, scantily clad women and non-stop TV.

“And where would that be?” Niko demanded, although I knew my brother suspected as much as I did where the hell that was. I almost wished he hadn’t asked. I didn’t want to know the answer.

“Prymar has them.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course he did. Nothing could ever be simple, could it? This time I couldn’t help myself.

“Could this shit get any worse?” I muttered.

I really should have kept my frigging mouth shut. You would think I would have learned my goddamn lesson by now about pissing off fate, but my brain to mouth filter was on vacation. Luckily for me my big brother wasn’t or the few friends I did have would have been sending him flowers and sympathy cards.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We couldn’t stay at Robin’s apartment. At least that was the one thing we all seemed to agree on. I felt like a sitting duck waiting for Prymar to come knocking on the front door, my brother wanted to find answers to this problem, and Goodfellow didn’t want his apartment to end up as nothing more than a seven storey pile of overly expensive rubble. Not that I blamed him; our apartment was one step from breaking every health and safety violation in the book – although I had to wonder what the suits would have made of the dead troll.

The question was, where in the hell could we go?

Running wasn’t an option. According to the Priestess, Prymar’s creatures were like heat seeking missiles when it came to the Mjolnir, and they wouldn’t leave any survivors – which was a great comfort, I’ll tell ya. I had no idea what the hell we were supposed to do. Make a stand? Great idea, apart from the nine foot trolls and rabid wolf that wanted to rip my limbs off my body. Hiding wouldn’t work. Blind hope that they would get bored and move on…? Nope. Well, you get the picture. I guess what I was trying to say was that I was screwed.

My brother wasn’t content with that outcome – not that I had expected him to be. He’d immediately turned into General Leandros and started planning how to keep my dumb ass out of the ground. I admired his persistence, but I kind of figured he was fighting a losing battle. There was no fucking way we could stop this shit. Our asses were so deep in mythology that even I felt like I should have been puking Homer. But Niko… he’d never give up on me. I don’t think he knew how to give up on me. Even when I’d been taken by the Auphe, he’d sat and waited for me to climb back out of the gateway my extended family had dragged me through, and boy was I glad he had. I probably could have given Fenrir a run for his damn money after my time in the ancestral lands. Either way, Niko hadn’t given up on me then, and he wouldn’t give up on me now.

“What’s the plan?” Robin demanded as Niko got off the phone. “Tell me she has one.”

Nik had been talking to Promise for the last ten minutes. I had to admit, I was a little curious myself about what a vampire could come up with at a moments notice. I was guessing there was a helluva lot of running from angry mobs in Promise’s lifetime. She had to know how to stay under the radar.

Prejudices… they were the same century to century. Some shit never changed. People don't like different. Different is scary. Not that they weren’t right on some accounts. Most of the preternatural world existed in harmony with its human counterparts, but there was a handful that was all about the bloodlust. It’s always the same. One group ruins it for the rest of us.

Niko’s phone disappeared under his duster as he shifted his gaze slightly to look at the puck.

“You and Marna should find somewhere to lay low. No doubt the wolf knows were the Mjolnir is.”

I recognised the tone; it was one that said arguments weren’t a damn option. Unfortunately, I knew the puck too. He was going to argue. This was going to end badly.

“You want me to sit this out and twiddle my thumbs, hoping you and Cal get out of this alive?” Robin’s brow arched.

“Yes,” Niko replied firmly.

“Too bad.” Goodfellow shifted his shoulders nonchalantly, but the set look in his eyes was a little scary. Jesus. I decided now would be a good time to step in before we ended up with a headless puck.

“Children,” I said in my most condescending tone. I figured it was better for them both to be pissed at me than each other. “This is helping how? Time is something we don’t really have so do you think you can both hold off your hero complexes - at least until we get out of this?”

It had the desired affect. Two sets of heated eyes glared at me; one grey and one green. I continued speaking before either of them could get onto a rant that would no doubt consist of berating my ass. I was too tired for a lecture from my super ninja brother and an immortal, horny puck.

“What did Promise say?” I asked Niko.

His shoulders didn’t sag, but there was a slight droop in them that I noticed immediately.

“She’s still waiting on her contacts.”

Which pretty much amounted to no one had a clue, oh yeah, and I was still screwed.

“I know a man who can help.” The priestess’ voice had all our heads turning. I’d practically forgotten she was still here.

The tiny brunette woman was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. She hadn’t said a goddamn word in the last ten minutes, which I had to think was nothing short of smart on her part. I wanted to throttle the stupid bitch. After all, this shit was all her goddamn fault. I should have known about trusting a good-looking woman. Sophia had been beautiful, but she was a fucking python. She’d suck the life out of you, and then, after she was done, steal your wallet and anything else that wasn’t nailed to the frigging floor.

“I think you’ve helped enough,” I said with a sour grunt.

She didn’t quite roll her eyes, but the beginning of the gesture was definitely on the cards.

“This man, he knows about Prymar, and about the Mjolnir. I’m sure he will have an idea of how to hide it.”

I didn’t exactly want to trust the woman, but I was fresh out of ideas. It was nothing more than a desperate clutch at straws, but hey, I’d lived my whole life desperately clutching at anything and I was still here to talk about. I figured if I could survive the Auphe, I could survive anything – even a rabid wolf with a penchant for limb removal.

That was how we ended up in Central Park in the early hours of the morning. I stuck closely to my brother and Robin, my eyes darting around as we moved through the expansive green landscape. I could take care of myself, but I had to admit that my injured shoulder was making me edgy. It was definitely going to slow me down.

“I don’t like this.”

I glanced over my shoulder at my big brother. Leafy trees created a canopy overhead, making the early morning darkness seem even blacker than it probably was. Niko had stopped walking, his black duster melting into the fading shadows, his grey eyes locked firmly on my face.

“Not really the time for a debate, big brother,” I said, glancing at the sky.

The sun would be up soon, and with the sun came people. Joggers, dog walkers… Whatever the hell people did at the ass crack of dawn. I wasn’t sure; I didn’t do the ass crack of dawn. But either way, if Fenrir was tracking us, I didn’t want him finding us here, in Central Park. It was pretty much an all you could eat buffet as soon as the day began, and those poor fuckers who got in the way were nothing more than finger food.

“This feels wrong,” my brother murmured. His gaze shifted towards the priestess as he fell silent.

She had also come to a standstill a few feet from us and was tapping her foot impatiently. I ignored her, and walked back towards my brother, my lips pulled into a frown.

“What’s not to like?” I demanded, shivering against the chilly, early morning air. “Mystic Priestess assures us that this is the only way to sort this damn mess out – which I’m pretty much up for.” I sighed deeply at the tight worry lines that were openly marring Niko’s face. “It will be fine, Cyrano. Stop worrying.”

Niko pulled his lips into something closely resembling a snarl and shook his head.

“This is not a good plan, Cal.”

I shrugged. I agreed with him, but what the hell else were we supposed to do?

“Well, it’s the only one we’ve got. And I don’t know about you, big brother, but I’m getting tired of babysitting the damn power tool of doom.”

Niko scowled. I was guessing this situation was probably as bad as it was going to get. I hadn’t seen my brother this worked up since we first went on the run from the Auphe. He slid grey eyes back to me and gave me a hard look.

“She does not care about keeping you alive, Cal. She’s only interested in the weapons.”

“I can take care of myself.” I said with a smirk, punching him lightly on the arm.

I wasn’t bragging. I could take care of myself; I had the ultimate teacher after all. Niko knew moves that didn’t even exist. He was your regular run of the mill Karate Kid. Yeah, he even did the whole 'wax on, wax off' thing. Zen was the kind of thing that was invented with Niko in mind. My brother didn’t look amused however.

“Let me worry about taking care of you,” Niko said.

I snorted at him.

“Your faith in me, Cyrano, is touching.”

He ignored me and shook his head.

“This is ridiculous. What on earth does she think this man can do?”

I wholeheartedly agreed with Niko, but really, what other choice was there? Marna said she had a friend who she thought could help. Yeah… I thought it was a little odd that she wanted to take a goddamn stroll and catch up with old friends at a time like this, but she assured me it was necessary. She thought this person could help hide me from Fenrir until we could come up with a better plan. Hey, I was all for hiding from the huge frigging wolf that was looking to chew me up and spit me back out, but Central Park was huge, and there was a hell of a lot of open space. I had to admit as short cuts went, this one was a damn mistake. It was making me twitchy being so exposed. I let out a deep, weary sigh.

“Relax, Nik,” I tried to assure him with a quick squeeze of his arm, “I’m not going anywhere – apart from back to bed when this shit blows over.”

My brother merely stared at me uncertainly. He had spent his whole life keeping my ass in one piece; it was no wonder he felt like he was offering me up as puppy chow to the big bad wolf.

“She’s insane.” Goodfellow’s grouching voice snapped through the moment. “Fenrir isn’t stupid enough to fall for whatever magic wand-waving trick she’s planning - neither is Prymar.”

I rubbed at my temple as the puck came to a halt next to me and Nik. His eyes locked on the Mystic Priestess.

“Well, what do you suggest we do?” I demanded.

Robin shrugged.

“Get on a plane and find a nice secluded island in the middle of the Pacific – preferably one with a nudist beach.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s a lot more helpful, Robin,” I growled.

“Wherever you go, Prymar and his beasts will find you.”

I hadn’t even heard Marna move towards us, but when I glanced up she was stood practically at my elbow. Her hands were resting on her hips, but her gaze was hard as she appraised the three of us individually.

“You can’t run from this. If Prymar gets his hands on these pieces…? The world as you know it will cease to be.”

I almost rolled my eyes. Wasn’t that always the way? The apocalypse could never just pass by with nonchalance. It always had to be big explosions, intense suffering and the rearranging of the face of the earth as we knew it. At least Hollywood got one thing right.

I let my eyes wander around the secluded area we had stopped in. As grim realisation set in, a jolt of panic slipped through my chest and crushed a heavy fist around my heart.

This was Boggle’s old hunting ground.

This was where I had shot Niko, and tried to kill Robin.

I’d done it as Darkling, but it didn’t make any goddamn difference. I remembered the way I’d felt doing it, and that wasn’t an emotion I ever wanted to feel again.

I shifted uncomfortably, attempting to push it out of my head as much as I could. It didn’t exactly work like I planned, and it must have shown on my face because Niko’s fingers curled around my good shoulder and gently squeezed. I should have known that my big brother would have picked up on that. He’d been able to climb inside the vaults of my freaky assed mind since the day I was born - or created... take your pick.

“Cal, the past is just that – the past.”

I gave him a wry smile. “Doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, Nik.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Marna snapped. “We have to be ready.”

Slowly, I turned to her, arching a brow.

“As far as I remember we’re in this shit because of you, so you want our help, start showing a bit of fucking gratitude.”

She took a deep breath, looking flustered for the first time since she had come barging into our apartment to do her fancy light show. So she was capable of emotions, who knew?

“I’m sorry.” She shifted uncomfortably, “I just… This is far bigger than even we may be able to handle. If we have any chance of succeeding then we have to do this right. So much is at stake here.”

“And we will,” I assured her.

Getting it wrong only had one outcome, and death was not an option. Not that Niko would let me get my ass handed to me. He would bodily drag me back from the abyss just so he could kill me himself if I failed to come out of this in one piece. Besides, I was holding onto the fact that I had faced worse and survived. Overgrown Lassie had shit on the Auphe.

“And this ‘friend’ of yours,” Niko demanded, “how can you be sure we can trust him?”

“I trust him,” Marna replied simply.

“That’s not enough.”

I rubbed a hand over my face, knowing that time was of the essence and that if Nik dug his heels in then we were never going to reach the whacky priestess’ friend.

“C’mon, Cyrano, lets just get this shit over with.” I grinned. “Besides, I’m armed with the power tool of doom; I’ll be fine.”

Niko looked in no way reassured.

“There is nothing about this that is fine, Cal.”

“Jesus, Nik, could you be any more pessimistic?” I asked, my own anxieties sky rocketing at his doom and gloom attitude.

My brother was the calm and collected one. The one always reassuring me that shit would be all right. If Niko was this wound up about the situation then I was under no illusions that it was justified. But justifiable or not our asses were still stuck and I wasn’t seeing any other way out.

“This whole frigging situation is crap, but if this is what we need to do to get out of here with all limbs still attached then I’m more than willing to give it a shot.”

“But not at the expense of you own life, Cal!” He punctuated that with a sharp jab of his finger at my chest. “Or has the fact that you are being hunted by this wolf – and god knows what else – slipped your mind?”

“Niko-” Robin started, but my brother wasn’t done yet.

I was too surprised by his outburst to even make an attempt at getting a word in. My brother wasn’t quiet by any means, but he was a man of few words. He didn’t need to say much to make his point. The fact that he was, had me standing back and listening in silence.

“No.” Niko shook his head. “No. Just… No. There are too many unknowns, to many things that can go wrong, and I won’t put my brother at risk.”

His last statement was directed at Marna, his grey eyes hard and challenging.

She shook her head slowly.

“If there was any other option I would gladly choose another course of action, but I don’t know what to do. This man…? He will know how to hide your brother - at least until we can figure a way out of this.”

“He’s the only one who can hide Cal as far as you know,” Niko stated stubbornly.

He could be as pig-headed as they came when he wanted to be, and he was a force to be reckoned with on a good day. Too bad today wasn’t a good day.

“What choice do we have here, Niko,” Goodfellow added quietly. He knew as well as I did that we were all walking on thin ice with my brother.

Niko met Robin’s eyes and stared long and hard at the puck. I knew what he was looking for. He trusted Robin, and if Loman said this was the only way then Niko would believe that. My brother would rather take Goodfellow’s word over a Mystic Priestess we had only just met. And for the record, so would I.

Niko let out a long, hard breath. He closed his eyes and roughly rubbed over the lids with the palm of his left hand, his right absently straying to his katana and wrapping firmly around the hilt. I placed my hand on his shoulder. His tense muscles were vibrating beneath my fingers. That was definitely not a good sign.

“It’ll be okay, big brother,” I said, leaning into him. I hated seeing Nik like this. He was the strong, stoic one in our little dysfunctional family and to see him struggling with this shit was fucking with me.

His hand dropped and grey eyes met my identical irises.

“It better be.” It wasn't quite a threat, but I got the point loud and clear anyway.

For once, at a total loss for one of my sarcastically inappropriate responses, I turned on my heels to face the Priestess.

“All right,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster – which wasn’t much. My brother wasn’t talking out of his ass, and I wasn’t an idiot. I was well aware that shit was well on its way to going to hell in a hand basket. “Let’s get this shit over with, shall we?”

I’d no sooner said that when it all hit the fan.

They say pain is in the mind, that it can be mastered and controlled. Whatever asshole said that obviously hadn’t experienced a seven foot wolf chowing down on their appendages.

From the moment I had opened my frigging mouth, things had turned to shit. Yeah, remember what I said about fate being a mean bitch? She was fucking gunning for my ass. Humility, thy lesson is Cal Leandros, and I was being well and truly taught it.

He had melted in from the trees. I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t seen him until he was taking a run and jump at me, but the fact Niko hadn’t was worrying. My brother was a law unto himself and I had no idea how he had escaped Nik’s radar.

Fenrir was huge. There was no other word to describe him. Grey heckles raised, long, sharp incisors barred, its enormous yellow eyes hadn’t even taken notice of the others as it locked its gaze on me and then lunged.

I tried to reach for my gun – damn, I really did try – but the wolf was a blur of motion as it landed on my chest. I didn’t even have time to react. It all happened in less than a second. Fat clawed, paws landed on my torso, forcing the air out of my lungs. My ribs felt as if they were being crushed in a vice. He was huge and heavy, and he was currently making me his next meal.

The pain as Fenrir’s teeth sank into my leg was indescribable. My entire body was thrumming with electric agony and the bastard seemed intent on ripping my leg from the rest of my body. Did I wish I had kept my mouth shut? Hell yeah. But it was far too late for regrets.

I pushed my only working hand onto the wolf’s head, ignoring the coarse feel of fur underneath my fingers and shoved. He didn’t move a goddamn inch – not that I expected him to. It was like David and Goliath. Only David had left his sling shot at home.

The backs of my pants were warm, wet and sticky. It was blood. Blood from my leg. Blood from were Fenrir was eating me. Jesus, he was eating me.

Vaguely, I heard Niko’s voice. He was yelling. At least I thought he was. I wasn’t sure. I was struggling to discern sounds. Hell, I was struggling to discern anything. The only thing I could focus on was the pain. I wished I could focus on something else. I tried to imagine I was in bed. Warm. Safe. Cosy. Reality was a different story, one that I was brought back to brutally as razor sharp teeth dug deeper into the fleshy part of my thigh.

The pain that had been excruciating moments ago had now settled to a numb throbbing, and that scared the shit out of me. I could only guess at what damage the bastard was doing to the nerves. I figured it wasn’t good. I was hoping I’d still have a damn leg left after Old Yeller let me go.

And then the pressure vanished. I blinked through salty eyes, and managed to raise my head a little. Even through blurred vision I could make out my brother’s blond head. He had vaulted onto Fenrir’s back and, in a movement so quick I though I’d imagined it, he slammed his katana into the wolf’s neck. Another sword found its way into his hand and was aiming for his throat once more when the wolf reared.

Fenrir on all fours was scary. Fenrir standing on his hind legs, snarling and growling was terrifying. My brother was thrown off his back, but he managed to drop into a roll at the last moment. Niko came onto his feet, his sword clutched in his hands as he took another swipe.

I wanted to get up. I wanted to help my brother. My body had other plans however. Lying supine on the ground, I settled for rolling my head to the side.

Robin was to the left of me, blood running down his face, his shirt ripped up one side. He ducked suddenly and leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a meaty fist. Instead, it slammed into the grass where Loman had just been stood.

Great.

Like the wolf wasn’t enough, we now had to deal with the return of Gorilla boy.

I had to do something. We were all going to draw our last proverbial breath if I didn’t.

Somehow, I managed to push myself onto my elbows, ignoring how much my body shook with the exertion. My leg… Fuck. I got my first look at it and wished I hadn’t. The flesh was torn, blood that was nearly black was spewing from the ugly wound like a fountain. My pants were history. There was too much blood to tell how deep Fenrir's teeth had penetrated, but the limb wasn’t responding to any commands my brain was giving it. I wasn’t a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but I knew that was so not a good sign.

“Cal?”

My heavy head rolled towards the voice. With slitted lids I managed to make out Marna’s face. It wavered and splintered for a second before coming back into focus.

“Help Nik… Robin.”

Shit, and if my gaping wound hadn’t had me worried, my new husky voice certainly did. The words that sounded so clear in my own head came out hoarse and cracked when I spoke them.

“You can help them,” she said quickly, her gaze rising. “You have to use the Mjolnir. It’s the only way.”

I squinted at her. Not that squinting was the look I was going for, but my face felt numb and definitely wasn’t capable of pulling the actual expression I wanted.

“What?” I croaked, trying to inject incredulity into my tone.

“We don’t have time for this,” she barked. “They will kill your brother and your friend, and then they will us both.”

The threat of Niko dying was enough. If I couldn’t get up and blow the fucker’s heads off, I would do whatever I could do. I nodded and let my body sink back onto the grass.

“My gun…” I indicated with my head behind me, hoping she would get the idea, but when she reached for me, it wasn’t for my weapon.

Carefully, she removed my sling and hesitated momentarily. I gave her a puzzled look.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “please forgive me.”

I wanted to ask her what she meant by that, or at least tell her she had a helluva lot to be sorry for, but I dropped all my words. In fact, my entire brain felt like it had dribbled out of my ears. I was sure it had. She’d clipped the gauntlets onto my forearms without any warning. No heads up. No asking if it was ok. She’d just… done it.

As soon as the cold metal touched my body, a jolt of electric shot up both my arms, exploding viciously as it reached my skull. Holy shit, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I take the damn wolf over this crap any day. It was agony.

It continued relentlessly, pounding against the vaults of my mind until I was sure my brain was going to implode. I convulsed spasmodically, my vision rolling and my skin…? It was on fire, engulfed in white hot flames.

I was dying. I was sure of it. Every inch of me throbbed. I wanted to kill the priestess. Hell, I wanted to strangle her. What the fuck had she done to me? My vision was fading at the edges, my eyes closing. There was no bright light to go to. Just darkness. Not that I expected to make it to the big place in the sky, but you never knew.

For the second time in the last year, I was heading for the final curtain call – except, this time there was no healer to bring me back. This time I was on my own. This time... dead was really dead. I was so screwed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wasn’t dead. I was hurting too much to be dead. The back of my neck was pulsating with angry pain, both my arms ached and my thigh was throbbing. I shuttered my lids for several seconds before the murky, bruised sky came into focus above me. Even then it was still hazy as shit, but at least I was seeing something.

I was still in the Park. I could smell the trees, the grass, and I could smell something else as well - something far less pleasant.

Burning hair and blood... Too much blood…

If this was someone’s idea of the afterlife then it was a damn joke.

I rolled my head to the side slowly and carefully. The simple gesture took more effort than I had in me at the moment, but finally I managed it. I even managed to ignore the pain that lanced through my skull with the movement, which was nothing short of a goddamn miracle. It was all pushed aside as I caught sight of a familiar figure.

Robin...

He was slumped on his knees, his head bowed onto his chest which was heaving as he drew wet sounding breaths. His palms were pushed into the grass and his arms were trembling under the weight of his body. In the pre-dawn light, I knew the black stain on his navy shirt wasn’t sweat. When you spent your entire life running from death, you learnt what it smelt like. The blood on his shirt wasn’t the only blood staining the puck however. The side of his face that I could see was also smeared with the stuff. I didn’t have a clue what the hell had happened, but I figured I probably didn’t want to know either. He looked like he’d had the shit beaten out of him.

The puck shifted his head, casting a side long glance in my direction. He was staring at me, wide-eyed and… afraid… Robin was scared. Shit, maybe I was dead. Maybe I was having some kind of out of body experience. I frowned deeply. The world seemed to have gone silent. Nothing moved. It was eerie as hell. Under other circumstances, I might have stopped and given a shit, but I was already looking for Niko.

I didn’t have to look far.

My brother… shit, he looked like he’d gone ten rounds with sledge hammer. He was curled on his side, one hand coiled around his ribs, the other limply stretched across the ground, towards me. His face was a mass of blooming bruises, his left eye swollen shut. The fact he wasn’t moving was worrying enough, but the amount of blood covering him was terrifying. I couldn’t see where it was coming from, but it was dripping off his chin, no doubt staining the grass beneath him crimson.

I tried to speak, to say anything, but my mouth wouldn’t work. I wanted to get up and see if he was ok, but moving was not even close to being an option at the moment. The world was shifting around me again and it was taking all of the will I possessed to keep my eyes open. Not only that, but my legs weren’t exactly co-operating either. It’s amazing what having a chunk torn out of your leg would do to you.

What the hell had happened? That bitch… she’d put those things on me… and then… and then…

I frowned deeply. But there was something else. Something wasn’t right, and I didn’t know what the hell it was. It was a familiar sensation, one I should have recognised straight away, all things considered, but I was still focusing on the pain and on my unmoving brother.

As my eyes drifted around the area, I suddenly realised what the burning smell was.

What had been the wolf was now a smouldering pile of fur and blood. It was probably the reason Robin looked so pale. It was having a similar effect on my stomach. What was worse was that I had no frigging idea what had happened. The last thing I remembered was that bitch putting the gauntlets on me… after that? Nothing. But if the war zone I was currently sat in the middle of was anything to go by then something had happened – something bad. I wanted to get to my brother. I wanted to help him. It wasn’t going to happen however. I was fading again. Blood loss, it really takes it out of you. But I couldn’t lose Nik. I couldn’t lose my brother.

That was the last coherent thought I managed.

The next time I came around, sunlight was burning my eyes. I blinked in rapid succession, and tried to focus on the swirling colours that were dripping into one another. It didn’t clear at all, but I could hear something thrumming softly around me. It took me a moment to realise it was a car engine. I was in a car. Where we’d gotten one from…? I didn’t even want to know. I swallowed hard, my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth as I tried to make sense of what the hell was happening. More worrying, I couldn’t sense my brother. I managed no more than a couple of minutes before I was gliding across tranquil waves of nothingness, drifting into darkness once more.

I liked the dark. It stopped the pain, let me forget about everything. It didn’t matter how much I liked it, I was waking up again. I didn’t open my eyes, preferring the velvet blackness to the glaring light, but I could feel something soft underneath me…

“He’s losing too much blood.” Marna… the Mystic Priestess was speaking softly. Gibbering woman made it… Kudos to her. I hadn’t expected her to get this far. “He’s going to die if you don’t hurry up.”

Well that was nice. Talk about Mrs Doom and fucking Gloom. I could be ‘the glass is half empty’ with the best of them, but she was cold with it.

“Just keep pressure on the wound. I’m almost done.” I didn’t recognise the second voice at all. I should have cared but I didn’t. I was too tired, and in too much pain. I just wanted to vanish back inside myself and disappear. I wasn’t being given that option however. For once my stubborn body refused to follow its usual mantra of being a lazy bastard.

“Can you heal him?” Marna asked.

I heard someone moving around the room and wondered if it was the stranger or the Priestess. I then promptly decided I couldn’t give a shit. They were talking too loudly, and my head was pounding. I wanted them to shut the hell up.

“Yes - if necessary,” the man replied.

That stopped my internal moaning. His words sounded ominous as hell, and I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the goddamn suggestion behind them. It had a ring of finality to it that made my heart shiver. If necessary? I wasn’t exactly playing with a full deck at the moment, but I knew the implications of what was being said. These assholes weren’t here to help me. Great. Not only that, but I was wrecked. There was no way in hell I could fight. I was immobile, and losing blood like I was a leaky tap.

“Did you manage to lose the others?” The man was speaking again.

“The brother and puck won’t bother us.”

I flinched involuntarily at the suggestion. What the hell had she done to my brother and Robin?

“And the other pieces?”

“Prymar still has them,” Marna replied with irritation. I was starting to drift again, but this time I was holding on to the waking world with all my will. I needed to know what had happened to Niko and Robin.

“He’ll come,” the man assured her, “don’t worry.”

“The brother… he is trouble.” Footsteps echoed around the room as someone – I assumed Marna – paced the room. “He will sacrifice himself for the boy.”

I resented being called a boy. Sure, I was only nineteen, but I was mature… sort of. Well, technically I was younger than that, but two years in Auphe hell had aged me both figuratively and literally. What a bitch that was.

“Will he turn up here?”

“Unlikely,” I heard Marna say, “the puck was injured badly and I would be surprised if Niko’s brain hasn’t completely dribbled out of his ears by now.”

That was the end of the line. I lost it right there. I could deal with whatever shit these two bastards threw at me, but hurting Nik was another matter. I vaguely recalled he had been hurt… remembered him lying still in the grass. Had Marna done that? I was starting to feel the knife she was sliding into my back. This bitch was the ultimate double crosser, and shit, she’d done it well. I hadn’t exactly trusted her skinny ass, but I’d still gone with her, and now Niko was… Hell, I didn’t even want to think about that. I held firmly onto the fact he was ok. He had to be. If he wasn’t… there was no way I was breathing another minute without him, and neither was Marna.

Revenge, resentment and anger burnt in my gut, flaming through my veins like acid. I forced my eyes open, and pushed my broken body up into a sitting position, focusing on the red rage that was racing through my body. Hurting my brother would be the last thing this bitch ever did.

Pulling my gun from my waistband, I aimed and squeezed the trigger in less than a second, splattering her brains all over the walls.

At least that was what I wanted to do. In reality, I still hadn’t managed to prise my damn eyes open. Fucking useless…

I heard the man grunt softly.

“The Mjolnir has that effect on humans.”

“Yes, which was why I was surprised Cal didn’t die.”

There was a long pause and I felt a hot hand pressed onto my forehead. I wanted to pull away, but I didn’t have the strength to move. I was paralysed within my own skin, unable to do anything other than lie there and wait for them to hand me my ass on a plate.

“He is not what he seems,” the man said with distaste.

“Meaning?”

“He is not fully human.”

“What is he?”

“Auphe.” He twisted the word, lacing it with disgust. Clearly the guy wasn’t a fan of my paternal DNA, not that I was particularly fond of it either, but it’s not like I chose it.

There was a pregnant pause before the man spoke again.

“A strange creature for the Mjolnir to chose as Verndari.”

“I think it’s because of his brother,” Marna said quietly. “I’ve never encountered another human willing to give so much of themselves for another person.”

“Yes,” the man said softly, “the Mjolnir would be drawn to that. It would give it added protection if the brother is willing to do anything to protect the boy.”

Again with the boy. I was really starting to dislike this asshole. If I could have moved, I’d have shoved my fist down his throat. Patronising bastard.

“Speaking of the Mjolnir,” the man said, “you have it?”

“Yes,” Marna replied, “I have it. Do you have a plan?”

“Sort of.” Footsteps resounded around the room again, drilling holes into my skull. Every sound seemed to be amplified ten-fold. My head was pounding.

“Sort of?” She sounded pissed. “Sort of doesn’t quite cut it! You said you could do this! We’re on a time schedule here. One wrong move and both of our asses are going to fry – not only that but if the brother does make it, he’s going to come looking for the boy.”

“I can handle one foolish martyr.”

Marna laughed, “You are a fool. Niko Leandros is not a child playing at soldiers. He took out a fully grown cave troll - alone. If he comes here, killing him will not be easy.”

“I can handle him.”

I snorted inside my head at the same time as the priestess did out loud. Evidently, we both shared the same sentiments on Nik’s knife-wielding skills. I was pretty impressed that my big brother had taken out Gorilla boy alone. At least that explained what had happened to the troll, good for Nik. I was just waiting on confirmation of the wolf. What had been done to Fenrir…? Well, there was no way in hell Nik could have done that. He was good, but wolf combustion was a little beyond even his expertise.

“Can you handle this?” She demanded. “The Mjolnir chose him. Can you undo it?”

“You talk about it like it is a living thing.”

“It is,” Marna snapped, “and if you truly understood its powers, then you would know that."

"Oh, I understand it better than you would imagine, child." The last part was said with scorn.

"Then you should know that you cannot click your fingers, throw some of your fairy dust over it, and hope to fool it into thinking its protector is no more.”

“Then we kill the boy,” The man said simply. “If he’s dead, the status of Verndari is void.”

“You think it is that simple?” Marna growled. “It has its own protections in place – to safeguard it from people like you!”

“And you,” the man said quietly.

I was getting tired of listening to the monologing. Back and forth, forth and back. Shit, if they wanted me dead, then I wished they would just get on with it. I was tired of their stupid conversation. I was tired of hurting. And if Niko was dead… well, I didn’t care anyway. I’d rather be dead myself then live without my brother.

When I’d come back out of the gateway all those years ago, I’d promised myself that I’d never be alone again, and it was a promise I intended to keep. And no, it wasn’t some teenage Romeo and Juliet bullshit. It was what it was. Without Niko, I had nothing and I couldn’t live like that – I didn’t want to live like that.

Since I couldn’t move myself, I was hoping these dumb asses would help me along. Unfortunately, they seemed to like the sound of their own freaking voices. If I could have screamed, I would have. Was it too much to ask to bleed to death in peace?

Apparently the priestess felt the same.

“Cut the crap. Can you do it or not?”

“We’ll see, wont we?” The man replied. “Let’s wake up our guest of honour and say hello.”

A hand pressed to my forehead, followed by white hot pain that raced through my skull as if I’d been hit with a sledge hammer. My pain receptors weren’t too happy with the brutal wake up call, but I managed to prise my eyes open. I had no idea how, but whatever had kept me paralysed before was either wearing off or had been removed. I suspected it was the latter, but either way, I didn’t appreciate it. Every single niggling ache and bruise I had sustained in the last twenty-four hours hit me at once in an explosion of agony.

A moan of pain escaped my cracked lips before I could even contemplate preventing it. Not that I would have bothered. I was passed that macho bullshit routine. I wanted to crawl back into the darkness and let it take me. I didn’t care about putting on a brave face. Not any more.

The face hovering over me came into focus after a moment. Curly black hair framed the man’s face, and an untidy beard covered his chin. He was studying me with piercing blue eyes.

“Hello, Cal.”

“Where’s Nik…?” I managed to push the words through numb lips, coughing weakly. My chest felt like it was on fire, and to make things worse, I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Where the hell was I? And who the hell was this guy? I winced. "Personal... space... dude..." I growled hoarsely, "look up... the concept."

I rolled my gaze around the blurred room, slowly taking in my surroundings.

The room was painted in a light blue, but it looked similar to Robin’s own apartment. Trinkets were littered around everywhere and the bed I was lying on looked expensive. Too bad I was ruining the sheets. Blood… it was a bitch to get out. Funnily enough, I couldn’t find it in me to give a shit.

I hadn’t realised it before, but my hands and my feet were bound to the bed frame. It was bad enough I’d been stabbed in the back by a gibbering lunatic, but being trussed up like a hog roast was a little embarrassing. Not only that, but the pressure on my dislocated shoulder was unbearable now that I was fully awake. My entire arm was tingling with electric agony at being pulled over my head, but I ignored it – at least I tried to. I was all too aware that my brother was absent from this little side show and that worried the hell out of me.

“What have you done to my brother?” I demanded, my voice sounding a little stronger than it had previously.

“Quit worrying about your brother,” the man said with a smirk.

Smug sonuvabitch. I’d wipe that goddamn look off his face… well, I would have done if I could move. Instead, I settled for breathing through the pain that was engulfing my body, and blinking dazed at the ceiling.

“We need to get the Járngreipr off him,” I heard Marna say in a low voice. “The Mjolnir can’t be used without them.”

I twisted my neck carefully and saw the metal gauntlets were still locked onto my forearms. I had to admit that having the equivalent of an atom bomb strapped to my body had ice chips settling in the pit of my stomach.

“Since you put them on him, do you have any suggestions?” The man snapped.

“It was that or be killed by Prymar’s creatures,” she growled back. “Would you rather I had done nothing? Let them take the arsenal?”

“Of course not!” The man drawled. “It does create a problem however.”

Marna and the dark haired man stepped into my peripheral vision before moving closer. They were eyeing my tied arms as if they were… scared of them? I realised they were afraid. They didn’t want to touch them. Score one on the advantage sheet. Of course, having a chunk missing out of my leg and being tied to a bedstead somewhere in New York kind of voided my point. This situation brought a whole new meaning to being up shit creek without a paddle.

“Take them off,” Marna demanded, confirming my suspicions. Sometimes I hated being such a cynical bastard. I’d love to be one of those assholes who saw everything through rose tinted glasses. Most people saw half empty glasses. I didn’t even see the glass. “Take them off now.”

I almost laughed. Aside from the fact my arms were tied above my head, why the hell would I take off the only damn advantage I had?

“Do your own dirty work, Bonnie,” I murmured, my voice still slurring. My eyes started to close, but apparently I had slept too long. A sharp slap to the side of my face had me seeing stars, but my eyes flicked open. I wasn’t sure I could cope with another round of slap-happy Annie. My vision was already rolling.

“Not time to sleep yet, little boy,” Marna growled.

“So what?” I murmured, my voice slurring. “All that shit about wanting to help us was just crap?”

“In a word.”

“And that little stroll through the park…?”

Marna folded her arms over her chest. “I spent months hunting down the Mjolnir – months – and then you took it from me, which was bad enough - but you come complete with your own bodyguard. I knew there was no way in hell your brother would let me just take you.”

So she’d staged the whole thing… hoping that Prymar’s creatures would turn up and take Nik and Robin out of the picture. Kudos to the bitch, it had worked – a little too well in fact. Boy was I feeling like the biggest dumb ass in the world. It was all crap. She’d never wanted to help us. Hell, she had probably been planning this shit since the minute she’d slipped the stupid hammer of doom in my fucking pocket. God this was like a nightmare. I was bleeding out on sheets that would have made Loman proud for a damn piece of jewellery. Ok, so it had the ability to wipe out the entire world in one fell swoop, but it was all semantics. It was still nothing more than a trinket in my mind.

“And I thought your apology in the park was heartfelt,” I muttered, my eyes shuttering. I wished the damn room would hold still.

“No,” Marna replied with a twist of lips, “I actually was sorry. I would never have wished that on anyone.”

Either I’d missed half the conversation or she was talking some kind of language I wasn’t getting. At least it was English this time. I wasn’t sure I could deal with any more gibbering.

“Yeah, well, you were the one who slapped the gauntlets of the apocalypse on me in the first place, lady. Get over it.”

She winced, actually looking remorseful. “They have to come off, before it’s too late. Soon you will become one with it.”

I might have been floating on a pain-induced rollercoaster ride, and my head might have been off with the fairies, but her words hit me like another slap to the face.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

I’d known something wasn’t quite right back in the Park. I’d felt… different… after she’d put the gauntlets on me. It had been a familiar sensation, but I hadn’t been able to pinpoint why – something I’d put down at the time to having my leg chewed on like a KFC bargain bucket. But now I knew, I knew what it was. I knew what that feeling was, and I knew because it wasn’t the first time it had happened to me.

I wasn’t alone – and I don’t mean that I was suddenly surrounded by people - I mean, I wasn’t alone inside me. Co-habitation was the modern way, but after Darkling I’d sworn to myself that nothing was getting into me again. I’d broken that promise to myself. There was something in me, another awareness, foreign and unfamiliar, hiding in the back of my mind. I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly or work out what it was, but all things considered, I figured it wasn’t planning on making friends.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream my guts out. The fact I wasn’t alone was terrifying. Whatever was in me…? I wanted it out, and I wanted it out now. But reality was a fucking bitch, and wanting it out and actually getting it out were two very different things.

“What the hell did you do to me?” I growled, the beginnings of hysteria encroaching into my emotions. This shit could not be happening. Not again. I couldn’t deal with this.

“I didn’t do anything,” she fired back, “the Mjolnir is awake, Cal. The moment I put the gauntlets on you… it became aware. You are becoming linked to it.”

The destruction… the blood… Fenrir… had the Mjolnir done all of that? Had I done all of that? Robin… Nik… Jesus, I didn’t even want to go there. My brain was already overloading. It was too much. Too many memories, none of them good, assaulted me.

“Get… them… off… me,” I punctuated each syllable angrily.

“I can’t. If the Mjolnir thinks you are in danger it will try and protect you,” Marna explained. “The moment I touch the gauntlets, the Mjolnir will react.”

I thought back to the mess in Central Park and winced a little. Yeah, it had done a great job of protecting me. Fenrir had been melted into nothing more than a pile of fur and blood. A nice trick, but not really helpful under the circumstances.

“Untie me.” I’d do it my damn self if she wouldn’t, and then I was going to blow the bitch’s brains out.

“It won’t allow you to remove them – not until the status of Verndari is removed.”

“And how the hell do you remove that?”

“The Mjolnir chose you,” she retorted as if I was a stupid child, incapable of understanding what this all meant. In truth, she wasn’t far off. I didn’t have a fucking clue. All I did know was that I wanted them off, and I wanted the presence that was lurking in the back of my mind to leave. “You can’t just remove it.”

“You should never have put them on him in the first place,” the man snapped at the priestess.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Marna bit back. “You said you could remove the status of Verndari. Time to put your money where your mouth is.”

All this mindless chattering was getting on my nerves. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to tell either of them.

The room exploded. At least that was what I thought happened. Everything shook, the vibrations rattling my rib cage until my abused lungs protested, and a thick cloud of debris and dust mushroomed into the air. I coughed weakly, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to avoid the falling fragments of cracked wood that rained down into the room.

When it finally stopped and the dust cleared, I blinked sluggishly. Where the bedroom door had once been there was nothing more than a hole. It had been ripped right off the hinges.

“The Járngreipr suit you, little boy.”

My eyes drifted towards the unfamiliar voice, wishing I had my gun. Hell, I would have settled for being able to move at the moment, but instead my body favoured me with a dizzy spell that almost blinded me completely. Even when I was able to see again, my vision wasn’t as clear as it should have been. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was even conscious still, but miracles do happen and I had to put this shit down as miraculous.

A man emerged through the doorway, stepping over the twisted remains of the door with indifference. He was tall but almost disappointingly ordinary looking. He had long blond hair that touched his shoulders and his eyes were piercing blue, but his stance… I recognised it all too well. It was the same stance my brother adopted every waking moment of the day. This guy meant business.

“They’ll look even better severed from the rest of your body,” the man finished with a languid smirk as his eyes roved over my broken body, finally stopping on the gauntlets. Like psycho priestess and her sidekick weren’t enough to deal with, now I had the added bonus of this asshole… whoever this asshole was.

Marna placed herself in front of me, her lips curling into a snarl.

“Back off, Prymar.”

Prymar… of course. It had to be. He was the only asshole missing from this whole scenario, the only player we hadn’t met. I guess it was ironic that the bastard chose now of all times to show up. Now, when I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight, was nothing short of fucking useless.

“I’d say it was nice to meet you,” I muttered sluggishly, my eyes sliding shut of their own accord, “but I have a real issue with manners. Ask anyone.”

I was ignored, which was actually kind of a blessing in disguise. Everything was going fuzzy around me. My vision was rolling and bile was creeping up my throat. I wanted to give into the darkness that was bleeding into the edges of my vision but my stubborn ass was holding onto to consciousness with grim determination.

“I’m impressed,” Prymar said to Marna, a sickly smile on his face, “I wasn’t sure how you had managed to get Thor's arsenal from Freyja, but now I see you had help.” He turned to the dark haired man with a snarl. “Haven’t you learnt anything from the past, Loki?”

Loki… Loki… my brain was trawling through the vaults. I recognised the name, but I was starting to find it hard to focus on anything. I suddenly wished I’d actually paid more goddamn attention when Niko had been harping on about this crap.

The dark haired man shrugged. “I’m an opportunist.”

“Just give me the Mjolnir and Járngreipr and I’ll be on my way,” Prymar stated simply. He looked bored, as if this was just merely a nuisance to his grand scheme.

“Not a chance,” Marna growled.

“I wasn’t asking permission.” White teeth peeked from underneath thin lips as he moved towards me. Any trace of amusement was slowly leaching from his features and quickly turning into downright annoyance. “You have no right, no place in this fight. The Mjolnir and Járngreipr do not belong to you and I want them, now.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was something coarse beneath my bare feet, something hard behind my back and my throat was coated with the coppery taste of blood.

I blinked, prising my eyes open.

The room wavered momentarily, the pale blue walls dripping like paint down a canvas before sharpening and coming into focus once more. Plaster… it was the wall behind my back, and carpet beneath my feet. I wasn’t tied to the bed anymore; I was on the goddamn floor. Confused, I lowered my gaze.

The gauntlets covered my forearms, plain and unattractive, but thick rope was still knotted around my wrists. It looked as if I had pulled myself free from the bed. How the hell I hadn’t broken bones, I didn’t have a damn clue, but there were friction burns underneath the bindings and they were flaring angrily. I ignored the trickle of blood that was dribbling between my fingers, my eyes drawn to what I was gripping him my hand.

It was the Mjolnir – at least I assumed it was – and it was frigging huge. The amulet… well, it was no longer an amulet. It was now a full-sized sledge hammer.

The handle was silver, engraved with intricate knot work, about the length of my forearm, and the head was rectangular and flat. It looked like it was made from some kind of steel, but I was too frigging panicked to give a shit what it could have been. It was heavy in my hand, the head of it leaning on the floor, the handle pulled against my chest.

My pants were completely saturated with blood, the fabric torn, the skin… well, you get the picture... it looked like a slab of tenderised meat. I didn’t have a clue how I was still breathing; I should have been dead. I’d seen enough wounds to know this wasn’t one I could just sleep off with a handful of painkillers and a pat on the head from my brother.

My head turned, taking in my surrounding. It felt like I was looking through someone else’s eyes, like looking down a camera lens almost. The room was a mess. Furniture was broken into nothing more than shards of wood, obliterated into dust. Prymar… well, all I could see was blond hair… blond hair matted with crimson, crumpled against the opposite wall. Jesus Christ... what the hell had happened?

Then, I saw the priestess; or rather I saw what was left of her. Blood… blood smeared the wall behind her, pooled on the floor around her, shiny and slick, her dark hair curtaining her face.

The rest… I didn’t want to see. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block the image of her mangled body out of my head.

I didn’t remember anything. The last thing I could recall was Prymar… then waking up on the floor. How I had gotten there, and how I ended up surrounded by bodies, was a frigging mystery, and it wasn’t one I was sure I wanted to get to the bottom of.

“Not time to sleep yet,” someone murmured from the side of me.

Loki… it was Loki. I didn’t have a clue how the smug bastard had survived when Prymar and Marna were both swimming in their own bodily fluids, but he was alive, and he was bringing a whole new meaning to invading my personal space.

As his hand ghosted my forehead I opened my eyes, shrinking back from his touch. I pushed myself against the wall as far as I could without burrowing through the masonry – although I was giving that some serious thought. I wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want anyone near me, never mind this asshole.

My heart was racing, pounding uncontrollably beneath my aching ribs, and sweat was rolling in between my shoulder blades, plastering my t-shirt to my back. What the hell had I done? I wasn’t sure what scared me more, the blood that clung to the air and my nose with grim determination, or the fact I could have caused this massacre. Had I finally become the monster I had tried to avoid for so long?

I wanted to block that thought out, wanted to shove it so deep inside my head that it would take a frigging atomic bomb to dislodge it, but I needed to know. I had to find out if I had finally given into my Auphe heritage.

“W-what happened?” I pushed the words out clumsily, trying to ignore the trembles that were racking my body.

“Prymar tried to take the Járngreipr,” Loki said with a snort, curly black hair dripping into his eyes as he studied me intently. “He never did listen.”

The Mjolnir… Had it done this? Had it tried to protect me once again like it had with Fenrir? Or had I done this using the Mjolnir? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. I suddenly felt violated and the hammer seemed heavier against my body. Marna had said the Mjolnir was awake. I hadn’t understood what the hell she meant by that before, but now I knew. It was awake, and it was using me, like a puppet on a string, to dance to its tune. Bile was rising up my throat, threatening to make an appearance. I was losing control. I couldn’t do this shit again, I could not be that thing again.

Too many memories of the past were assaulting me. I hadn’t dealt with Darkling yet; I hadn’t wanted to. Now I was being forced to confront what had happened, and I didn’t have a goddamn choice in the matter; I was reliving it right now – only this time it wasn’t a homicidal creature, but an object. I wasn’t proud of the fact, but I was freaking out. I couldn’t lose control of myself. Not again. Not ever. The things I had done in the past… well, they say history has a way of repeating itself, and shit if I hadn’t done that.

I shifted my gaze to where the priestess was lying, hoping she would disappear, but she was still there, still swimming in her own blood.

“No…” I murmured, transfixed by the carnage. “No, no, no…”

“Cal,” Loki’s voice snapped like a slap to the face. “Calm down.”

Easier said than done, asshole. Under the circumstances I think I was pretty much entitled to one little freak out. Loki, evidently, did not agree.

“All I want is the arsenal. Once I have it, I’ll be on my merry way and you can go back to whatever it is that you class as normal life. No one else needs to die here.”

I rolled my eyes towards him, curling into myself protectively. I didn’t want to listen to this shit. If I could have found the strength, I would have pushed the bastard away from me. Hell, I probably would have knocked the shit out of him. I was sure that whatever the fuck had happened was something to do with Loki.

"What happened?" I repeated, ignoring the hoarseness in my voice, and the pathetic tremble.

“The priestess and Prymar were weak. They involved themselves in the affairs of beings higher than them.” Loki said quietly. “They shouldn’t have interfered, but then, I guess I should be grateful that Prymar’s stupidity got rid of the competition.”

Sick sonofabitch. I hadn’t exactly warmed to either of them, but I wouldn’t have wished… whatever the hell happened to them on anyone. Loki obviously didn’t share the same sentiments.

“I can end this nightmare for you,” Loki was speaking again. The asshole certainly liked the sound of his own voice. “All you have to do is submit the pieces to me.” Loki gave me a thin lipped smile. “Thor’s arsenal does not belong to you.”

“I think the Mjolnir says otherwise.”

Niko…

I blinked and rolled my heavy head across the wall, wondering if I had imagined my brother’s voice. It turned out I hadn’t. He was there. In the flesh and he looked pissed as hell.

He was covered in blood, limping ever so slightly, and the hunch of his shoulders told me he was in more pain than he was letting on. His grey eyes shifted minutely around the bloodshed before finally resting on me. I met his gaze with half-lidded eyes, trying to keep my emotions under check. My brother was alive and stood in front of me. It was almost enough to push me over the proverbial edge. I’d thought he was dead. I should have known better. As long as I was still breathing, my brother would try and save me. He didn’t know how to fail.

Niko growled, raising his sword. I hadn’t seen him this angry since Darkling had hitched a ride in me. His grey eyes were hard like granite, his lips curled into a snarl. I had to admit his expression was frightening.

“And you must be the knight on the white horse.” Loki barely glanced over his shoulder, not really acknowledging his presence. “You can’t save your brother. He and the Mjolnir are becoming one even as we speak.”

“Move.” One word, that was all Niko said. Just one word. He didn’t need to say anything else. His tone was enough to suggest he would do more damage than the apocalyptic hammer of doom ever could if Loki didn’t comply.

Loki gave me a simpering smile before rising to his feet and turning to face my brother.

“Or what?” The curly haired man held his arms out invitingly. “You wish to pit your strength against a god?”

“If that’s what it takes.” Niko’s voice was unfaltering, his expression more lethal than the multitude of weapons he kept concealed under his duster.

“I tracked these weapons across continents, they are mine,” Loki snarled. His patience had evidently worn out. “They belong to me! It was I who forged them; it was I who created them! You think I am going to let some piss-poor excuse of a hybrid take them from me?”

“That is not your decision to make. The Mjolnir made its choice.” Robin appeared in the doorway behind Niko, his sword point dragging across the floor.

He still looked as pasty as shit, but at least the blood liberally coating his face gave him a little colour. More importantly, he was still alive. I blinked again, clearing the haze from my sight once more. I was grateful as hell that the puck made it. The last time I’d seen him he’d looked like shit.

Loki’s gaze turned murderous when he caught sight of the puck. “You.”

Goodfellow’s grin was wicked.

“Oh, come on! Don’t sound so surprised. Didn’t you miss me, old friend?” It was said with neither humour nor warmth. I was guessing that Robin and Loki weren’t exactly bosom buddies - a point that the god more than verified for me when he spoke again.

“Friend?” Loki growled as he took a step forward. “I should have killed you centuries ago! I should have stuffed you and stuck you on my wall for all of eternity!”

Robin gave him a tight, grim smile. “You wouldn’t be the first to try – or fail.”

“I suggest you find yourself a nice little bar and forget all of this.”

“And let you take Thor’s arsenal?” Robin snorted incredulously, “I might be an over-sexed, lazy son of a bitch, but I’m not rolling over and letting you destroy the world, Loki – I’m actually quite fond of it.”

“Not really your choice, puck.” Loki smirked and closed his eyes, his head lowering on to his chest.

He murmured something under his breath, words tumbling over one another as he kept up the litany. I couldn’t understand the words, but I’d watched enough crappy movies to realise he probably wasn’t wishing us good health and prosperous lives.

God, I hated being right.

The entire building shook from the foundations up. The windows rattled in their frames, and ornaments slid off surfaces, crashing onto the floor, smashing into pieces.

And then it appeared, out of thin air. If I’d blinked I would have missed its grand entrance. As it was I thought I was hallucinating.

In the centre of the room was a huge snake – and I’m not talking about 'python' or 'anaconda' big - I mean the biggest goddamn snake I’d ever seen.

It must have been over three foot wide, and I didn’t even want to estimate how long. The tail end was coiled in a circle beneath the creature, pile upon pile of spiralling scales. Its eyes were sharp and sanguine, and its teeth… two huge fangs about the width of my arm were barred as it hissed and spat.

Niko and Robin both took a step back from the snake, their swords raised, but met the wall behind them. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and this thing took up most of the floor space. I also suspected swords would be useless against it. An enemy that could be killed with a simple slice-and-dice job? We weren’t that goddamn lucky.

The snake hissed, lunging forward, fangs seeking flesh. It was met with empty air. Niko and Loman both leapt to the side, out of its reach, barely missing being snake chow. The flick of silver blurred in the air as my brother and Robin slashed at the thing, trying desperately to kill it.

Robin’s movements were sluggish and guarded, but Niko was as sharp as always, barely even registering whatever injuries were concealed beneath his duster. I hoped to hell all of the blood covering him wasn’t my brother’s. Shit, if it was, I had to wonder how the hell he was still standing. It would have toppled lesser men. But then Niko wasn’t most men, and pain was apparently all in the mind. Nik had a mind that could have broken boards just by thinking about it. I was pretty sure he could master whatever the hell had happened to him back at the park.

“Well, that’s just wonderful,” I heard Robin growl as he hacked repeatedly at the giant snake, while trying to avoid the huge fangs. “You couldn’t just get kidnapped, could you, Cal? You had to get abducted by a raving lunatic god with an un-killable pet snake!”

I would have come back with a sarcastic comment, but Loki had moved back over to me. He knelt in front of me and eyed the gauntlets and hammer greedily. I was trying to focus on the fight, but my vision wasn’t exactly behaving, and the curly haired god in front of me was demanding attention like a spoiled toddler.

“I don’t know why the Mjolnir chose you as its protector, Cal, but its nothing more than bad luck that you got involved in all of this.” He sniffed impassively. “Life’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

Wasn't that the goddamn truth?

I pulled my heavy eyes from his face, shifting my glazed gaze towards my brother. He was still engaged with the super-snake, but he was tiring. To the untrained eye, my brother looked formidable. I knew better. His movements weren’t as fluid, they weren’t as quick. He was hurting - badly. I wanted to get up and help. I wanted to save him, like he had saved me so many times before, but I was barely holding onto consciousness as it was. I was pretty sure I would have been more hindrance than help in this fight.

“I’m sorry, Cal,” Loki said, drawing my attention back to him. “This really is nothing personal.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again. In front of my eyes, Loki was… changing… there was no other word to describe it. He changed, melting into a blond haired woman. Damn if that wasn’t a neat trick.

He was smaller in his new form, standing no more than five-foot-five, and his petite frame was offset by delicate facial features; the skin flawless and practically porcelain. Piercing green eyes blinked from under thick, black lashes as he glanced down at his new body, and smirked salaciously.

“I always did appreciate Freyja’s body.”

White hot fire ripped through my body suddenly, burning every nerve ending. My head felt as if acid had been poured into my skull. I convulsed, bucking with agony as it intensified until I felt like I was going to explode. If this was how it all ended, then I took it back – I didn’t want to die. I was hardly a stranger to pain, but Jesus, it was unbearable. I was being ripped apart, limb by limb.

And then it ended as abruptly as it had started. I blinked, opened one drowsy eye, followed by the other, and was met with panic. Loki, still in Freyja’s form, looked terrified. I had to admit I was right there with him. The awareness that had been lurking in the back of my mind was suddenly in the driver’s seat and that scared the shit out of me.

I stood up, slowly. I didn’t want to stand up, and my ribs, leg, and shoulder were screaming at the movement, but I wasn’t in command of my body at the moment. The lights were on, but I definitely wasn’t home. Or at least I’d been locked out and was sat on the doorstep waiting for the keys to arrive. Whatever was in me didn’t give a shit that I was in agony, or that the simple gesture of putting weight on my leg had my vision rolling.

I tried to look at my brother, but my eyes were lowering to my hand. I tried to fight it, I really did, but whatever was inside me wasn’t giving me a damn inch to play with. It was in full control and I was helpless to stop it. In many respects this was worse than Darkling. At least with that sonuvabitch we’d been one entity. I hadn’t existed as ‘Cal’. This was infinitely worse. I was awake. I was able to think for myself, I just couldn’t do anything. I’d been well and truly high-jacked and I was scared shitless. I knew the crap I’d pulled in the past. I wasn’t looking for a repeat performance. I already felt like a monster most of the time. I didn’t need that proving.

The hammer felt light in my grip and I raised it as if it was nothing, my gaze shifting to the god.

“No… no…” Loki murmured. “You can’t –“

“Can’t?” I spoke the word, but it wasn’t mine. I had no idea what the hell I was saying.

“You’ve got to fight it, Cal. Don’t let it take control.” Loki stepped back, his hands raised defensively.

Yeah, because I was really enjoying the invasion of the body snatchers. My entire body jarred as I stepped towards him, matching his movements. If I could have made my mouth work, I would have screamed. As it was, I settled for another wave of nausea and a dizzy spell that should have had me meeting the floor up close and personal. How I was still standing was beyond me.

“The Mjolnir and Járngreipr,” Loki pleaded pathetically, eyes wide and darting back and forth. “They’re mine, give them to me.”

I opened my mouth to tell Loki where the sonofabitch could shove that request, but it didn’t quite happen that way. What I was thinking and what I actually said were worlds apart.

“You cannot claim the weapons that belong to Freyja,” I said softly. Inwardly, I frowned. What the hell was that?

“Take them off.” Loki back peddled another step, his voice trembling.

My head cocked to the side. “Poor Loki, you’ve always had a flare for trouble.” My lips tugged into a smile. “You should have learnt from the past. I am stronger than you.”

Loki gave me a strangled look. “Freyja?”

My smile widened. “In part at least. You think I was stupid enough to leave the Mjolnir completely unprotected? I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came to claim the weapons of the Thunder God so I put a piece of myself into the most potent of the four.”

“Clever,” Loki muttered. “Very clever.”

“As, no doubt, you thought you were being,” I snorted softly, my gaze appraising the god coldly. “Did you think you could fool the Mjolnir with a parlour trick? You may look like me, but you are not me – and the Mjolnir knows it.” I let out a weary, almost remorseful breath. “You brought this on your own head, Loki.”

My hand raised and I swung the hammer back. All I heard was Loki’s scream and then everything went a little fuzzy. My ears were ringing, and I could smell the blood before a single drop had even fallen.

The hammer hit true, the full brunt taking the god in the chest. Loki staggered, his eyes widening, crimson droplets dripping off his chin. Electricity raced through him, sparking and spitting. He blinked, his mouth open in a wordless scream as he transformed, shifting from the blond woman back into the dark haired man. And then he was falling. He hit the floor with a thunk, his limbs tangling beneath his long frame, glazed eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling.

My head turned to the snake, but it had vanished the moment Loki had fallen. Evidently, the ability to change body's at will wasn't the only parlour trick the god knew.

My brother and Goodfellow were eying me warily. Nik took a step towards me, but the puck fisted a hand into his coat, holding him back.

"Careful, Niko, he's not exactly Cal at the moment," the puck cautioned.

I wanted to say something – anything. I didn’t get the chance. The presence was gone, but with it came pain. More pain than I had ever felt. My leg gave way first, driving me to my knees, and then hot agony raced through every inch of me. I would have face-planted, but strong hands suddenly grabbed me, stopping my descent.

“Cal?” It was Niko. I couldn’t see him, but I could smell him. That familiar scent of metal and oil, of leather and… and just Nik.

I shuttered my lids. I was dying; I knew it without being told. The Mjolnir had kept my injuries at bay, it had needed me in one piece, but once the goddess had relinquished her hold on me, I was fucked.

“Cal, stay with me, please.”

That worried me. Nik never begged, never pleaded, and that sounded suspiciously like he was. He pulled me against his warm chest, my heavy head lolling with the movement until he steadied me, calloused hands brushing my hair off my clammy face.

“Don’t you dare give up,” Niko murmured softly in my ear. I could hear the barely veiled panic in his tone. “Don’t you dare. I won't lose you... not again.”

I shifted my blurred gaze across the length of the floor, dark spots spilling across my vision. The gauntlets were on the carpet next to me, no longer attached to my forearms.

They were the last thing I saw before everything tunnelled and I passed into the darkness.

I was soaring, flying high above the ground, the wind beneath me, caught in an updraft. It was dark, and getting darker with each moment that passed, but it didn’t matter. I was content, tranquil. I was letting my body be dragged into the blackness, giving into the abyss that surrounded me.

“Cal…”

My name drifted through time and space, drifted through the stars, drifted through the nothingness. I ignored it and continued to float.

“Cal…”

This time it was followed by a sharp pain to my chest. Ok, that didn’t feel good. In fact, that felt pretty goddamn shitty. My heart gave a tremulous twitch, like a car being jump-started, and my lungs shuddered, suddenly expanding to take a shaky breath.

“Time to wake up.”

I complied – albeit it reluctantly.

Prising my eyes open was the hardest fucking thing I’d ever done. My lids felt like they were glued shut, and what I was seeing anyway was… well, I wasn’t seeing a lot. It was like looking through a dirty window. I blinked, trying to clear the fuzz, my head throbbing angrily.

“That’s it, buddy, just take it slowly.”

Even through the fog that was clinging with grim determination to my brain, I recognised the voice. Focusing on his face was a little more difficult, and trying to make my mouth work was even harder.

“Ra…Raff?” I sounded hoarse, like I hadn’t spoken in weeks, and my voice cracked and hitched. Swallowing cotton wool, I tried to moisten my dry mouth to little avail and instead settled for a racking cough that literally shook my ribcage.

“Yeah, Cal, it’s me,” the healer murmured, moving closer towards my face.

I shuttered my lids and after a few attempts the haze started to dissolve from my vision. Colours became sharper and Rafferty’s face came into focus – as did the rest of my surroundings.

I recognised the room. It wasn’t the worn surgery I’d been brought to after Niko had stabbed me – something that I was grateful as hell for. There wasn’t an inch of green linoleum in sight, no battered medical equipment, no IVs. Raff didn’t really need those things. When you could heal broken bodies the way he did, the best supplies on the market didn’t count for shit.

I was lying on my back on a large double bed, an old blue blanket covering my legs, my chest bare. Stark white bandages were tightly wrapped around my ribs and my left arm was cradled against my torso in a cream coloured sling. The walls were a drab beige, but there were a handful of oil-paintings that seemed to brighten the bleak tones. It was Raff’s own bedroom. Last time I’d stayed with the healer, I’d woken up in Catcher’s room. I’d been bumped to first class apparently.

I returned my sluggish gaze back to the healer. Rafferty’s expression was impassive, but I could see the barely veiled anxiety clearly lined around his eyes, his mouth pulled into a tight line. I wasn’t dead… at least I didn’t think I was. Closing my eyes again, I took another faltering breath.

“No, Cal, you’re not dead,” Rafferty replied slowly. “Although you probably should be.”

I frowned, not realising I had spoken aloud. I hadn’t meant to. Apparently my brain still wasn’t connected to the rest of me just yet. Not that it was usually, but at least this time I had an excuse for splurging the shit that was rolling around my head.

“Nik…?” I rolled my head to the side, my eyes clouding momentarily. I didn’t care. I needed to see my brother. I needed to know he had gotten out of this damn mess in one piece too.

“I’m here, Cal.” Niko’s voice sounded from the other side of the bed. I shifted my gaze towards my brother, and felt his warm hand circle my wrist. Warm… alive… my body relaxed with that knowledge because really, in the grand scheme of things, nothing else mattered.

“W-what happened?”

I tried to sit up, pushing my unslung hand underneath me, but I was immediately assaulted with a wave of dizziness that instantly had me sinking back into the pillows behind my head. Moving was definitely off the cards. Nik placed firm, restraining hands on my shoulders.

“Stay still, little brother,” he murmured softly.

I got the first proper look at my brother and frowned. He was blood stained still, much like he had been the last time I’d seen him. His free arm was curled around his ribs and he was hunched over, his shoulders tense. It was the most pained and the most scared I’d ever seen him look. Even after Darkling, my unfaltering big brother hadn’t looked this bad.

“You…you ok?” I asked, trying to focus my gaze on him. Dancing? Hell, my vision was pirouetting like a kid with ADHD pre-Ritalin.

“I’m fine,” Niko assured me, moving closer to the bed.

Nik could have been missing limbs and he would have still maintained he was ok. Complaining… it wasn’t my brother’s way. It would have ruined his ridiculously stoic, super-ninja reputation. After all, heroes don’t whine, do they? Me…? I was all for whining. Christ, I did it with fervour.

“What the hell happened?” Coughing weakly, I glanced between my brother and Rafferty. I had no idea how I was still breathing, let alone how I had ended up here.

“Later,” Niko said, squeezing my wrist, worry clouding his usually expressionless face, “rest now.”

I frowned at him. I didn’t want to rest. I wanted answers. The last thing I remembered was taking the hammer of doom to Loki. Nik had assured me my whole damn life that I wasn’t a monster, but I had to wonder. The last twenty-four hours had seen some pretty monstrous events from me. Marna… Prymar… Loki… I even suspected my brother’s own bloodshed was my doing. That thought twisted my insides into a knot.

Pulling out of Nik’s grip, I tried to rise onto my one working elbow only to be restrained by both my brother and Rafferty this time. They were gentle, but their hands on my chest were strong enough to suggest me moving wasn’t an option.

“Cal, take it easy,” Raff said in a surprisingly soothing tone that I hadn’t thought the man was capable of. “You’ve got to rest. You’re still healing.”

“Rest?” I snorted. I’d been ready to cash my chips in and walk away from the table the last time I’d been conscious. Now I was alive, in Raff’s house, and confused as shit. “How the hell did you even get involved in this?” I demanded, finally acquiescing and sinking back into the pillows.

I didn’t want to admit it but I was as weak as a newborn kitten. Rafferty alone could have laid my ass out flat if he chose to; my brother could have done worse. Hell, a six-year-old girl with pigtails probably could have wiped the floor with me at the moment.

“I called him,” Niko admitted quietly, “as soon as you went missing from the park.”

I raised a weary brow. “That was incredibly farsighted of you,” I snapped. I wasn’t angry really, well, I was, but I hated being treated like an ignorant kid.

Niko’s own brow arched, his expression hard, but it was Raff who spoke.

“Don’t make me regret bringing you back, buddy. I’d hate to have spent all that time sticking you back together just to have your brother strangle you.”

“I saw what Fenrir did to you, Cal,” Niko said softly, his eyes tightening slightly. “I knew it was too bad an injury to recover from. I knew you would need help - help I couldn’t give you.”

I saw the regret at that admission, saw the distress in every single line on Niko’s face and suddenly felt like a bastard. It was amazing. My brother was a damn travel agent for guilt trips. He could make me feel like the lowest form of pond scum without speaking a frigging word. Asshole.

“Jesus, Cyrano,” I muttered, brushing damp strands of dark hair off my face. I realised with icy clarity that they were wet with sweat; my sweat. Christ, how close a call had it been? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I’d already pissed fate off enough as it was and I was counting my lucky stars that she’d let me come out of this alive. I didn’t think my brother could have handled the alternative. Shit, if the shoe was on the other foot, I knew I couldn’t.

“I see a second near-death experience hasn’t improved your temperament, Caliban.”

I shifted my gaze towards the familiar voice. Robin was leaning haphazardly against the door frame, his arms folded over his chest. He was wearing an unfamiliar pair of blue slacks, and a button down shirt that was oddly inconspicuous – and definitely not the pucks. Normally, I would have found it amusing that Loman was so dressed down, would have made some kind of juvenile comment about him looking one step up from a hobo, but I couldn’t find it in myself to joke. He’d washed the blood off himself, but there was a weariness I’d never seen in the usually vibrant man. It was the weariness that came from being around me for any length of time. Trouble followed me like a fucking bloodhound. If Loman had had any goddamn sense, he would have ran for the goddamn hills after Darkling. I wouldn’t blame him for taking off now. I almost wished he’d take my brother with him. Niko… he didn’t deserve this shit. He didn’t deserve to spend his entire life pulling me out of the fire, fixing my booboos, fighting my monsters – especially considering the monsters I had following me. Nik deserved a normal life. He deserved a chance to be happy. He’d never get that while I was around; the proverbial ball and chain around his ankle. Shit, I wished he’d just driven away after I came out of Tumulus. It would have saved a helluva lot of heart ache.

“Its done wonders for yours, Loman,” I said, surprised by the hitch in my voice. Who knew I’d gotten so damn sensitive?

My thoughts were still on my brother though, and, try as I might, I couldn’t ignore the irritatingly dry voice in the back of mind that was telling me over and over again that Nik would be a damn sight better off without me.

My emotions must have been splashed all over my face like some sleazy gossip magazine. Niko latched a firm hand onto my good shoulder and squeezed it. It was hard enough to hurt, but it also told me that my brother wasn’t going anywhere, and – if I had a jot of sense left in my scrabbled brain – neither was I. Fixing him with a part grateful, part sad look, I sighed.

“Nik, you don’t have to-“

What? Stay? Reassure me? I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was going to say. I was almost thankful when Niko interrupted me.

“You even think about finishing that sentence, little brother,” Niko warned me in a level voice, “and I will kick your ass so hard that you won’t be able to sit down for a month.”

And I tended to believe him. My brother… Jesus. He’d taken a lot of shit over the years – most of it because of me – but he’d never let me go, he’d never give up on me, he’d never leave me and he’d do it for the same reason I never left. Because we were all each other had. Even before the Auphe, it had always been just me and Nik. He’d practically raised me – hell, he had raised me. Sophia had been too damn busy screwing everything with a pulse… although she wasn’t beyond screwing the undead too; I was living proof of that. Sophia wasn’t exactly fussy. I didn’t think ‘standards’ was a phrase she was familiar with. Money makes the world go around, and for Sophia that had been a personal mantra.

“Have you spoken to Promise?” Niko asked, turning his attention back to Goodfellow, his tone carefully neutral.

Robin’s lips twisted grimly. “She’ll be with us shortly.”

Niko gave him a tight smile that barely even reached his lips, let alone his eyes.

Loman nodded and let it drop there. Me? I wasn’t content to drop anything.

“What?” I questioned, my blood running cold at their grave expressions. I needed to know if my actions under the influence of the Mjolnir had caused any further damage to the people I actually gave a shit about. It was hard enough knowing I’d murdered three people already; I couldn’t deal with thinking I’d done something to her too. She was the first woman my brother had actually come to care about in… well, forever.

Niko squeezed my good shoulder reassuringly. “She’s fine, Cal,” he said, as always able to see right through me like I was made of glass.

“She may be fine, Niko, but your girlfriend knows some very disreputable individuals.” Robin shuddered visibly. “If I were you, I’d think about sleeping with one eye open from now on.”

“I do,” Niko replied without a hint of humour.

“Someone want to clue me in?” I demanded, feeling like a petulant five year old stomping his feet, but honestly, all this frigging secrecy was driving me crazy.

“She’s arranging the clean up at Loki’s hideout,” my brother told me.

I winced, my eyes squeezing shut. Maybe ignorance really was bliss. Suddenly, the room felt too small, too full. I wanted everyone to leave; I wanted to run and hide; I wanted to crawl into a ball and sleep. I didn’t want to face them. The clean up… for the mess I’d caused. The blood I’d spilt. Ok, so it was a self-pitying thought, but while I didn’t remember taking the hammer to Marna and Prymar, I remembered Loki all too well. I remembered the rush of excitement as I’d pulled it back, remembered the feelings that raced through me. They weren’t mine but they felt so strong that I couldn’t discern them from my own abhorrence.

I hesitated briefly before finding the balls to speak. “Nik…? What the hell did I do?”

My brother frowned. He actually frowned. “You didn’t do anything, Cal.”

I gave him a level stare. “That’s funny, ‘cause I sure as hell remember taking the apocalyptic hammer of doom to Loki.” I left out the part were I’d turned Marna and Prymar into mush.

Goodfellow moved into the room and hovered over the other side of the bed. “It wasn’t you, Cal,” the puck reiterated Nik’s words. “I told you that the Mjolnir was a living thing. It merely… used you for its own purposes.” He roved a scrutinizing eye over me. “Although, why the hell it chose you I don’t know; there’s bacteria with more ambition.”

I would have normally come back with a witty reply, but I wasn’t really finding this situation funny at all. My expression must have been pretty shitty because the smile slid of the pucks face.

“As far as I can tell, Cal, the Mjolnir used you to take out the people she considered a danger to her.”

Used me… I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. I’d danced like a puppet on a string to the Mjolnir’s tune. Christ, did that make me a killer or victim? The lines were so blurred that trying to figure it out gave me a headache. I gave up and instead let my eyes briefly close.

“From what Promise has been able to dig up, it seems that Marna was indeed the High Priestess of Freyja,” Niko picked up where Robin finished. “She betrayed the Goddess, intending to steal the arsenal for herself with Loki’s help.” His lips twisted. “Needless to say it didn’t quite go according to plan.”

Loman smiled fondly. “Freyja always was a clever bunny. There was this one time when Loki tried to-“

“So what happened?” I spoke over the puck, not wanting to get into a ten minute diversion. “Why didn’t Marna just take the damn arsenal and leave us out of this frigging mess?”

Goodfellow let out a long suffering sigh as he gave me a reproachful glare. “I imagine Freyja knew her Priestess was working against her and that’s why she sent the four pieces across the globe, as far from one another as she could. I’m guessing Marna came to take Thor’s weaponry and when she found it gone she and Loki began searching for it.”

And the two most potent pieces had just happened to end up in my possession. I would have rolled my eyes but I was too frigging tired. Nearly dying really took it out of you.

“So what the hell was with the whole ‘Verndari’ thing?”

Robin sucked thoughtfully on his bottom lip. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I think that Freyja put some kind of protection over the piece to make sure it couldn’t be used by unfriendly hands; choosing a protector was assured to keep it safe.”

Yet it had chosen me, the half monster. My family tree wasn’t exactly filled with rainbows and unicorns. I pulled a face. Marna had said she thought it had chosen me because of Nik. My brother’s protective streak had been the reason the hammer of doom had ended up in my pocket. It had been drawn to his willingness to sacrifice everything for me. Not that I was telling Niko that. My brother would never have forgiven himself.

I frowned as I took the information in. “Ok, so where the hell does Prymar fit into this?”

“Prymar…” Robin’s expression turned dark. “That malaka has been trying to get his hands on Thor’s weapons since they were made. It was probably nothing more than opportunism. Freyja hid the weapons for millennia. Once they were in the open, Prymar’s creatures could track it. They would have gotten wind of it immediately.”

“Yeah, well, I think he got a lot more than he bargained for.” I shuddered as I thought about the blood, the lifeless stare. “The first time I used the -” At my brother’s sharp glare, I rephrased and tried again, “The first time Mjolnir attacked, Marna and Prymar died straight away. Why didn’t Loki?”

Goodfellow considered the question carefully before speaking.

“Marna is human; the force of the Mjolnir’s power would have instantly killed her. As for Prymar… he’s immortal – mostly. Not in the same way as Loki, mind, but he still has a degree of power. That makes him a bitch to kill, but it’s still possible – with the right tools.”

The Mjolnir had certainly been the right tool, I thought sourly. Christ, it had made murder look like child’s play. I was guessing your average run-of-the-mill serial killer couldn’t have done a better job with a tree shredder and a bucket-full of craziness.

Robin rubbed a hand over his chin. “I guess the Mjolnir didn’t see Loki as a threat initially. Freyja knew the God well. She may not have suspected he was working against her.”

I glanced at my bare arms. The gauntlets were no longer on me, but I could still feel the cold kiss of steel on my skin. I pulled a face. “So this shit…? It’s over?”

The puck’s lips tightened but my brother remained expressionless.

“What?” I demanded, glancing between the two. I didn’t think I could deal with any more bad news, but it was better knowing than being in the dark.

Robin glanced at Niko uncertainly before speaking. I’d never known the puck to ask permission to open his damn mouth, and that was worrying in itself.

“As far as we can tell, Cal, you are still Verndari.”

I arched an incredulous brow. “What?”

Goodfellow looked contrite as hell. “I don’t think anyone short of Freyja herself can remove the title.”

Great. Like I didn’t have enough shit to deal with as it was.

“Ok, and how do we find her?”

Niko sighed wearily. “We’re working on it, Cal.”

Working on it? Jesus! I’d been saved from near death, but this shit still wasn’t over. I was starting to think I was frigging cursed.

It had been three days since I’d been brought back from near death by Rafferty. Three long days. Everything about the Mjolnir seemed like a blur, a distant memory. Yeah, big surprise I’d repressed as much of it as I possibly could. Hey, I was an expert in not dealing with crap – god knows the Auphe had given me enough damn practice.

Raff had been kind enough to offer us a roof over our heads while I recuperated – and while we looked for another apartment. Loman said he knew someone in real estate so Niko was pretty confident we’d get something. I didn’t care. I couldn’t think that far ahead.

Despite the assurances of my brother and the puck that I hadn’t caused any of this shit, that I hadn’t killed anyone, I still felt guilty as hell. It ate at me constantly. Nik refused to see me as a monster – even after Darkling – but I had to wonder. Once was unfortunate. Twice was more than a coincidence.

I’d spent the last three days avoiding my brother as much as possible, and the rest of the time avoiding talking about the apocalyptic hammer of doom. I knew my brother would give me space for a while, but I also knew he wouldn’t allow my brooding to continue relentlessly. When he collared me on the third day, I wasn’t that surprised.

I was sat out the back of Raff’s house, soaking in the environment. The largish house backed onto a reserve. Trees lined the back of the garden and it was tranquil as hell. I’d never admit it, but I relished the peace. I wasn’t sure I could have dealt with George or even Promise at the moment. Hell, I was barely dealing with Goodfellow when he turned up out of the blue. As loathe as I was to admit it, I was scared that they’d see me differently. It was fucking stupid, it really was, but I’d come to like these people. Friends… Jesus… how the hell had it gotten to this point? There was a reason I’d spent most of my life alone with just my brother. This was one of them. Guilt… what a bitch that was.

Niko moved quietly, sinking down on the grass next to me. I heard him approach from behind me, and I was silently grateful that he had given me the heads up. It gave me a chance to collect my thoughts.

I shifted my legs. Both limbs were stretched out in front of me, my injured one held more stiffly than the other. It was scarred to shit, huge ugly purple welts were the wolf had bitten me, but it was fully healed –thanks to Raff. Cosmetic surgery wasn’t his forte however. Not that I cared what it looked like. If anything it was a reminder of what I could become.

“You seem to be spending a lot of time out here, Cal. I wasn’t aware nature interested you that much.”

Nik's movements were still stiff, but thankfully he had come out of the whole ordeal with nothing more than a nasty gash to his head, and a couple of broken ribs. I'd later discovered that the blood coating him was a mixture of his own and Fenrir's. It was a small price to pay - all things considered. Raff had offered to heal him, but in true Niko fashion, he'd refused, preferring to let nature take its course. Stubborn asshole.

I snorted half-heartedly, but didn’t say anything. I knew what was coming and nothing was going to stop my brother from speaking his mind. Sure enough, Nik complied.

“You are not a monster, little brother. The Mjolnir – it killed those people, not you.” It was said seriously, so seriously I almost believed him – almost.

Brushing dark hair out of my face, I let out a low breath. “How many times does this have to happen before you stop making excuses for what I am?” I asked quietly.

My brother lost his temper there. Yeah, go figure. My stoic stalwart brother lost his rag completely. He whacked me on the back of the head hard enough to make my eyes roll in their sockets.

“It wasn’t you, Cal! I don’t know how many times I need to say it for it to get through that impenetrable skull of yours, but I’m sure I can think of a few ways to make it sink in.”

Like smacking me around the head… My brother was definitely a more practical, hands-on kind of teacher. Although, I had to admit, sometimes I needed that. It didn’t stop me from growling a curse, however.

“Shit, Nik,” I snapped, rubbing the back of my skull which was now stinging.

Niko gave me a hard look. “Do I really need to keep hitting you? Or do you understand?”

Not wanting to get whacked again, I reluctantly agreed. More sober this time, I sighed. “I can’t keep doing this.”

My brother matched my sigh, his eyes settling on the woodland in front of us. “Being possessed by something evil doesn’t make you evil, Cal,” he told me firmly. “This situation was no different from Darkling. You were not in control then and you were not in control here either.”

“Yeah, the lights were on but no one was home,” I grunted. “I just… I don’t want to…” I trailed off with a frown. Nik grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it.

“You aren’t like them. You may have their DNA but you are not Auphe. You are Cal Leandros. You are my little brother, and that is all.”

I picked absently at a clump of grass, unsure of how that made me feel. It was a long speech by Nik’s standards, but I think it made me feel better. I couldn’t feel any worse anyway. Clapping me on the back twice, he rose back to his feet, appraising me with unyielding eyes.

“Don’t think a near fatal wound gets you out of apartment hunting,” he told me firmly. “Goodfellow has made us an appointment to look at a place later today.”

I rolled my eyes, but I was thankful for the conversation change. “Jesus, Cyrano, I’m so not the homemaking type. As long as it has a sofa and a TV I’d be happy in a box.”

“Yes, I know. That is why I will be making the final decision on which place we choose.”

Like I’d expected it to be any different. Nik always handled this shit. I was happy being ignorant. I couldn’t care less were we lived. As long as we were together and alive anything else was a frigging bonus.

“Did Promise come up with anything yet on how to remove the Verndari status?”

The vampire had been looking into it for the last few days but so far had come up empty handed. She couldn’t find any trace of Freyja either – which was vaguely worrying. I wanted this crap over so I could at least pretend to move on.

“She will,” Niko reassured me. “In the meantime we simply keep the arsenal safe.”

I scowled. “Great, so back to babysitting – only this time we’ve got four pieces instead of two.” I hadn’t known at the time, but Nik had picked the staff and girdle off Prymar when he’d been killed. The words ‘look but don’t touch’ didn’t seem to apply to my brother. “I don’t know if you remember but we’re not exactly great at babysitting, bro.”

My brother slapped my arm but it was done gently. “I spent years babysitting your ungrateful ass, Cal.”

I snorted. “Yeah, and look how I turned out.”

My brother shrugged. “You turned out fine.”

I was pretty sure I blushed, but I covered it with a grin. “Yeah, I’ll remind you of that next time you’re busting my balls for being a lazy son of a bitch.”

Nik merely smiled. “Don’t forget, little brother, I’m in charge of your physiotherapy schedule.”

I could only groan in response. One thing I knew for sure... the next few weeks were going to suck. Niko would work me like a dog to get me back to full strength – our lives depended on me being able to fight; I couldn’t do that if my leg wasn’t working the way it should be. With that in mind, I couldn’t find it in myself to complain too much. I hadn’t expected to come out of this mess at all and so I could handle whatever the hell Nik threw at me. Not that I wouldn’t put on a damn good show of moaning about the gruelling regime he was bound to put in place. This was me we were talking about, after all.

The End...

   
 

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