Blood Cruel (Gods of Blood and Shadow Book 1) Read online

  “There,” Arne said proudly. “The Church of Fenrir’s Father.”

  Katie followed him across the square and looked up at the church. It didn’t have a steeple, or anything fancy about it. It wasn’t even painted. Instead, it was just a dark, wooden building. She worried for a moment about going into the church with Arne alone, but realised she could overpower him if he tried anything.

  He unlocked the door to the church with a mottled iron key and pushed his way inside, holding the door for her. Inside, the church was even darker. There were only a few slits for windows and it reeked of smoke.

  Arne lit a lantern and handed it to her, then lit one himself. She hadn’t seen an old-fashioned, oil-burning lantern like that before. It looked like an antique.

  “The ten thousand?” Arne asked.

  Katie pulled her remaining lump of gold from her pocket and handed it over.

  With a smile, he put it away in his robes. “Good. Then let’s get started. Don’t worry. We’re going to get you the greatest god who’s ever existed.”

  She opened her mouth to ask, but remembered Charlie’s words again. She couldn’t get the greatest god, not for ten thousand. Arne was just giving her his sales patter. It didn’t matter. She hadn’t any other options. If she didn’t get a god now, she… well, she didn’t even want to think about it.

  With the lantern lit, she could see around the church. Instead of pews, there were a few rough-hewn benches. And in the centre, a fire in a stone pit was smoking. Arne moved to the fire and threw something onto it, making the flames leap up and burn in blues and greens.

  She moved closer and sat on a bench, putting her lantern beside her.

  “Father of Fenrir,” Arne said. “Father of Jormungandr. Husband of Sigyn, and rider of Svaoilfari, I have a new host for you.”

  The air in the church grew heavy. She felt her ears block and had to swallow to clear them.

  “Son of Farbauti and Laufrey,” Arne intoned. “I summon you by name. Loki, come and find your new subject.”

  Katie stared at Arne. She’d heard of Loki. He was the trickster, the liar who played pranks on the other gods. He’d even made it into some human films, he was so famous. “Loki?”

  “Yes?” a demonic face appeared in front of her, hovering in the air. “Hello, Katie Spears.”

  She jumped to her feet and ran from the church, fleeing across the square. She didn’t stop until she got to the metal exit from Church Street, where she had to pause, out of breath.

  Charlie gave her an inquisitive look.

  “Let me out,” she said. “I need to go home, right now.”

  He shrugged, getting to his feet and opening the door for her. He moved to the outer door and threw all the bolts back. She barely waited for the door to open before she slipped out and dashed up the alley. The need to get far away from that priest and his demon god pushed her on. She didn’t know what she could tell her father, but whatever it was had to be better than having Loki as her god.

  By the time she reached the train station, her legs ached. She’d fallen to a quick walk, her gaze flicking around her. A few people gave her odd looks, but she ignored them. They couldn’t know what she was running from. If she told them, they wouldn’t know how to help anyway.

  Once inside the station, she let herself take a breath and relax. The priest hadn’t completed the ritual, so Loki wouldn’t be bound to her. He could keep her gold, she wasn’t going back for it. She wondered if there were Godchosen police she could report him to.

  On the main information board, she saw her train was due in only ten minutes. She could get back to her father and explain it all. He’d know what to do. She should have gone back to him at once. Maybe they could sell their car, their meagre possessions, and scrape together enough to buy a weak god. Aidan would be better at negotiating than her, too. He could get a good deal.

  She walked to her platform and stood waiting. There weren’t any people, everyone choosing to stay inside until the train arrived. It was cold, but Katie didn’t feel it after her race to get away from Church Street.

  “Boo!” the demonic face appeared out of thin air in front of her.

  She stumbled back, falling onto the platform, then scrambled up, shaking her head. “I got away before the priest finished the ritual. You’re not my god. Go away.”

  “He has your gold,” Loki said. “He’s sacrificing it to me as we speak. I am your god, Katie, until the day you die.”

  “I’ll have you exorcised.”

  “You can’t exorcise a god.”

  “You’re not a god. You’re a demon.”

  Loki’s body appeared to join his face and he stood in front of her on the platform. “That’s just bad press. People can’t help wanting a villain.”

  She stared at the figure in front of her. He had an over-sized hooked nose, long hair, and a pointed black beard. He wore outlandish red clothes and appeared to have a pot belly. His twinkling eyes watched her examining him.

  “Impressive, right?” Loki said.

  “Not really,” she said. “Not compared to Thor.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “Trying to make me jealous? Don’t worry, I don’t envy that lunk head. You ever notice the ones making the most noise are the stupidest? All that thunder is just the echoes from inside his empty head.”

  “You’re not a demon?”

  “I’m a bona fide god. Promise. And I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

  “Waiting for me?”’

  “For someone as noble as you. You’re special.”

  “That’s what all con-men say,” Katie said.

  Loki grinned and spread his hands. “You got me. I was getting a little desperate. It’s been a decade since I had a host. You do seem quite noble, though. Giving up your god for your father is a nice thing to do. So tell me about yourself.”

  She suddenly felt awkward. “I’m Katie Spears. I’m seventeen and I go to school.”

  “What do you dream of? What do you want to be? Who do you love? Who do you hate?”

  “I want to work on a space program. And I don’t hate anyone.”

  “So you do love someone.”

  “That’s none of your business.” She blushed.

  “For another time,” Loki said. “I’m afraid you won’t be working on any space program. You’re going to be a vampire hunter.”

  “A vampire hunter?”

  “Well,” Loki said. “General hunter of the forces of darkness. But Katie Spears, vampire hunter, has a better ring to it than Katie Spears, general hunter of the forces of darkness, including, but not exclusively, vampires.”

  “How am I meant to hunt something that doesn’t exist?”

  “Like Godchosen don’t exist? Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to fight them. My apprentices rarely die.”

  “Die?”

  “Rarely,” Loki said. “I’m quite old, you know, and pretty powerful. I can move a lot more things than most gods.”

  “Like what?” Katie asked.

  Loki looked around them and pointed to a wastepaper bin nearby. It rocked back and forth in the wind, seeming on the precipice of tipping. As he pointed, it fell over.

  “Wow,” Katie said. “I’m impressed. When do we start fighting vampires with your incredible powers of vandalism?”

  “Don’t be cheeky.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. You keep your powers and I’ll go back to my normal life.”

  Something tugged at her hand and her fingers separated, her train ticket slipping out. It tumbled through the air to land on the tracks in front of her. She turned and scowled at Loki. “Give that back.”

  “No. Not if you’re going to keep being rude.”

  “I’m sorry. Give it back. I don’t have money for another one.”

  “I’ll make a deal with you,” Loki said. “A ticket for a symbol.”

  “What symbol?”

  “My symbol. When you get home, you have to carve my symbol onto a piece of wood and carr
y it with you.”

  “To become a vampire hunter?”

  “That comes later,” Loki said. “Vampires are repelled by religious symbols, so long as the person believes in the god. If you carve my symbol, it can protect you from any vampires you might encounter in your day-to-day life.”

  “My name isn’t Buffy,” Katie said.

  Loki frowned. “No, it’s Katie. Do we have a deal? A ticket for a symbol?”

  “Fine,” she said. “A ticket for a symbol, but no vampire hunting.”

  Loki shrugged and frowned at the ticket on the tracks. It fluttered in the wind and didn’t move.

  “Having trouble?” Katie asked.

  The ticket flapped and flew up, looping through the air to land on the next platform.

  “You couldn’t have brought it back to me?” she asked, hurrying around to fetch it. When she got back to her place, she put the ticket in her backpack, zipping it inside.

  “I have to believe in your symbol?” she asked.

  “No.” Loki faded until he was just a face again. “You just have to believe in me.”

  He disappeared from view, leaving her with a whisper. “Katie Spears, vampire hunter.”

  She shook her head, unable to stop herself smiling. But as her thoughts settled, the smile faded. It vanished as the train pulled into the station and she got on. How was she meant to explain this to her father? He’d know something had happened, when Sonneillon stopped tormenting him. How was she meant to tell him she had Loki as her god?

  Chapter 8

  Home

  Katie paused at the front door of her house, her hand on her key. There was no screaming from inside, no sounds of breaking furniture. She’d thought of her excuse on the train, consulting online sources for a way to avoid telling her father without lying. Now she was on the verge, however, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it.

  With a click, the front door opened, her father standing there, frowning in concern. “Katie?”

  “Dad.”

  “Come in, we need to talk.” Aidan led the way to the living room, which was much tidier than it had been earlier. She assumed he’d spent the day cleaning it.

  “Sit,” he said, pointing to the sofa. “I’m not feeling Sonneillon anymore. At all. At first, it was an empty space where he used to be, but now there’s someone else there instead. A demon calling himself Meizur.”

  She sat where he’d indicated. “I know. I can explain.”

  “You don’t have to. I know what you did. That money was for you, Katie. It was meant to set you up with an incredible god. One who could make all your dreams come true. You could have gone to space.”

  “I don’t want to go to space, if it means leaving you in pain.”

  Aidan sat beside her. “Thank you, Katie. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such a selfless daughter. But what about your god?”

  “I got a weak one called Thokk. She makes sure envelopes stay sealed.”

  He sighed, but Katie noticed relief among the disappointment. He reached over and hugged her. “As long as you got someone, that’s the main thing. I didn’t tell you, but it was very important to get a god before your eighteenth birthday.”

  “I heard. Arch-demons, right?”

  He nodded. “Horrible things. Now, go get ready. We need to have that dinner you wanted.”

  She got up, then paused. “Can we go in an hour? There’s something I need to do first.”

  “Of course. Whatever you like.”

  She smiled and made her way through the house to the utility room. She found her father’s whittling knife and a random off-cut of wood from a repair Aidan had done. Both held close to her side, she took them to her room and shut the door. She almost locked it automatically, but realised with a smile she wouldn’t have to. Not anymore.

  She went to her desk and pushed her keyboard aside, putting the wood down. “You still there?”

  Loki appeared nearby, smiling at her. “I haven’t been Thokk in centuries. How did you know?”

  “I read it on my phone.” Katie held the device up. “It’s like an encyclopedia.”

  He shimmered in front of her and became an old woman, stooped and with red cheeks. She looked ill, on the verge of collapse. With another shimmer, Loki was back. “You got the wood for my symbol.”

  She held it up. “Obviously.”

  “Make a straight line with a figure eight on top of it.”

  She took up the knife and cut into the wood. The tip didn’t go where she wanted it to, instead bending and twisting with the grain of the wood. In the end, she managed to get a rough line with an eight on top of it.

  “Good,” Loki said. “You’ll have to make something better in time, but it’ll do for now.”

  “Why? What should it look like?”

  Loki gestured and a piece of paper jumped from Katie’s printer. A pencil rose from the desk and danced across the paper, creating the image of a tree with a snake curled around it. The tail and head of the snake were at the top, the snake’s jaws ready to bite into its own tail.

  The pencil dropped, and she picked up the paper to look at it. “A snake eating itself. That seems to indicate you’re self-destructive.”

  “Oh,” Loki said. “I’m not the snake. I’m the tree.”

  She frowned at the image, wondering if she was the snake, but didn’t dare ask. “Get out of here. I need to get dressed.”

  “I’m not able to leave. But I can become invisible again, if that makes you more comfortable.”

  She blushed. If what he said was true, he’d be there every time she had to shower or change her clothes.

  “If it helps,” Loki said. “I’m not really a man. Wait… I know what’ll make this better.”

  With another shimmer, he vanished. For a moment, she thought he’d gone invisible, but then she spotted a fly buzzing in the air where he’d been. The fly flew to her desk and turned to face the wall, using its legs to wash its eyes.

  For a moment, she was tempted to drop a book on it, but she couldn’t kill her god. He was with her for life. At least he seemed to be doing the right thing and not looking.

  She found fresh clothes and dressed hurriedly, keeping her eyes on the fly on her desk. After arranging her clothes, she cleared her throat. The fly vanished and instead Loki was sitting on her desk, leaning back on his hands. “Don’t forget the symbol.”

  Katie slipped the piece of wood into a pocket of her jeans, then her phone into the other.

  ***

  Dinner passed uneventfully, her father unable to contain his joy at being out in public. It had been so long, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him smile so much. The fact that he kept picking his nose every five minutes seemed a small price to pay. She guessed that was Meizur’s influence. She caught the waitress grimacing at Aidan’s obsessive attention to her nostrils, but it was better than him tearing the restaurant apart.

  After dinner, they returned home, and he gave her a hug. “Thank you for doing this, monkey.”

  “You’re welcome, dad,” Katie said. “I’m just glad you have your life back.”

  “Me too. I can finally look for a proper job. One that doesn’t require listening to people shout and hang up on me all day.”

  “With your own office… because of the nose thing.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe that would be a good idea. I’m going to watch TV. Want to join me?”

  She shook her head. “I have homework to do. Maybe tomorrow.”

  She gave him another hug, then turned and walked up the steps to her room. Closing the door, she smiled and gave a contented sigh.

  “Right.” Loki appeared nearby. “Now for phase two.”

  “Phase two?” Katie asked. “What’s phase two?”

  “I need to show you what I can do for you. What will make it worth your while to hunt vampires for me?”

  “I don’t want anything. I told you, I just want my normal life.”

  “Humour me. Go for a w
alk and I’ll show you something worthwhile.”

  She sighed, her eyes going to her computer. Her needing to do homework hadn’t been a lie. She had to do something about her grades, or she might even fail the subjects she was doing well in. “Fine. One hour, then we have to get back here.”

  “An hour,” Loki said. “Perfect. Head toward the bridge and I’ll show you something fun.”

  She apologised silently to her weary feet, pulled on her jacket, and made for the door. As she walked down the stairs, she heard sounds of destruction coming from the living room. But for once, they were televised and not local. She cracked open the living room door and saw a Hollywood blockbuster destroying Los Angeles on the television. “I’m heading out for a walk.”

  “Okay, monkey.” Aidan’s gaze only momentarily left the TV. “Stay where it’s light.”

  She nodded and closed the door, going out of the house into the darkness. It was only nine o’clock, but it seemed like the dead of night. Norwegian evenings seemed darker than the blackest Irish night. She made for the street and walked for the bridge to the town centre. She considered taking the bus for a moment, but she didn’t have the money for it. It would take her thirty minutes to reach the bridge and thirty minutes back. Making a nice round hour, like she’d agreed to.

  “What are we looking for?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Trust me.”

  She didn’t trust him, but she didn’t want to say that out loud. He seemed to take offence when she argued with him, and she didn’t want any of her things blowing into the road. At the thought, her hand went to her phone. She took it out and dialled on instinct.

  Jaden answered after a few rings. “Hello?”

  “It’s Katie.”

  “I know. I saw your name. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. I shouldn’t have run off like that.”

  She felt her cheeks turn red. In the chaos of her day, she’d forgotten about her slobbering over Jaden’s cheek. “I’m the one that should apologise. I stepped over a line.”

  He was silent for a long while, long enough for her to think he’d hung up, but then he spoke. “We should probably just be friends.”