Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 10

A cop. I believed Mike when he said it wasn’t him. But a cop? What kind of cop would do something like this on the side?

Mike would.

But no. I just couldn’t believe it was him. It didn’t feel right. Which meant that somewhere on the force, there was somebody else who knew. Another hunter cop.

Maybe more than one. How many people knew? I knew most people didn’t. I knew the feeling of being surrounded by the initiated was just because I was seeking them out.

But I did wonder as I walked through the fall day. I wondered. It was almost Thanksgiving. I had no family to celebrate it with. I wasn’t even American, but so many people were talking about it…
The thought of inviting Loki and Thruor drifted into my head. For all I knew they…

…my thoughts seemed to shy again, and this time I forced myself to focus on it. They were related to me.

No.

It was Loki I didn’t want to be related to. And couldn’t be. I knew that for sure. I was no monster, I was pretty sure the Queen of the Dead couldn’t have kids, and the boys had died as children. And Loki himself had been in prison…

…with his wife right there. Oh no. I wasn’t even going to think about that. I wasn’t even going to let that thought enter my mind, but there it was.

Off limits.

Oh no. I turned on my heel and stalked towards Thruor’s pad. Which was empty. Not gone for good empty, but she was certainly not there. Dammit. I was going to ask her for the truth. Her, because I still didn’t trust him.

Or did I? He wouldn’t hurt me, but he might play games with my head. What would he say if I outright asked him? I realized I was trembling.

I realized how much I both wanted and didn’t want it to be the truth. The one person who could convince Loki…where his wife had apparently failed.

Sigyn.

Goddess of Fidelity. But I had no idea where to find her and it had been a man who had fired the shot.

It had definitely been a man, not a woman, and why had that thought even crossed my mind? A hunter cop.

No. Definitely not. My head was whirling with the edges of memories that refused to actually come back but, equally, refused to depart.

Thruor had alcohol, but she wasn’t there, and I wasn’t about to break in and raid her stash, and I couldn’t just buy it and…

…and I was in no state to be out on the street. I ducked into the alleyway, where I forced myself to breathe.

Loki. Damn him. Except he’d already done a quite good job of that himself, hadn’t he. I pushed down that anger.

I wasn’t about to let red rage consume me over this. It was Odin, anyway, who had blocked my memories and dumped me on the street in DC. Not Loki.

Right in that moment I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to do with either of them.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 9

Kanesha had made talking to Loki about what was bothering me impossible, although I knew he wasn’t that mad.

He’d left before he became mad. I was sure of that. But I did remember the story. One of his kids turned into a wolf by Odin so he’d savage the other. And they were, as far as I knew, both dead. Of course, there was also the kid that was a wolf.
Fenris.
The wolf who would devour the sun. The enemy made so by the Aesir’s fear and paranoia. No side was angelic in this. People assumed divine meant good.

I hadn’t done anything bad, though. Had I? Who had killed Mr. Clem? I still had no answer to that question and no answer to who I really was.

Which one did I pursue first? I was ignoring Loki’s baiting to hunt something less smelly than vampires for now.

Who killed Mr. Clem? That was probably the easiest to resolve. I knew it hadn’t been Mike. Mike would have left him alive to arrest.

But…maybe Mike could help me. The cop shop, Saturday morning. I was less uncomfortable each time I walked into the place, less uncertain of myself and what I was doing there.

I opened my mouth to ask if he was around right as he walked out of a back room, then over to me. “What’s up?”
“Privacy?” I was hardly going to talk to him in the squad room lobby. Then I added, “Donuts?”

He laughed and steered me back out the door. “No donuts, but I could use…and am entitled to…a break. What happened?”

“Off the record. Please. I don’t want to end up spending the rest of the day in an interview room. But…Victor Clem.”

“One shot, through the heart. You didn’t do it.”

“No, but only because somebody else got there first. I’m trying to find the somebody else.”

“Victor Clem pissed a lot of people off.”

I shook my head. “Whoever did it, did it because they thought I would appreciate it. I want to make sure they know otherwise before anyone else gets killed.”

“Your demon boyfriend?”

“He denied it. If it was him, that’s a case closed. He’s not coming back any time soon and if he does, I’ll just kick his butt again.” I quirked my lips at him.

“You finally got rid of him. Good.” Mike paused. “You didn’t see him.”

“He fired from behind me. I heard his voice, so I know it was a man.” Or a male, at any rate. “And obviously, a good shot. Ballistics…”

Mike frowned, then abruptly he walked away from the station leading me to follow. “That’s what we’re sitting on. He was shot with a 9mm. With hollow points.”

I knew that was significant somehow, but couldn’t place it. “And…”

“Police bullets. It was a cop that killed Mr. Clem. We just don’t know which one.”

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 8

Kanesha showed up while the two of us were flopped in the lounge, a plate of brownies fresh from the oven on the coffee table.

She took one without bothering to ask, or check whether they were cayenne or not, and munched on it as she sat down. She glanced at Loki, then at me.

“It’s he who shall not be named,” I quipped. “Don’t worry. He’s just here for the brownies.”

He snorted at her and claimed what was, I was sure, his third at least. “I helped make them,” he noted.

“That’s why they’re extra hot.” I looked at Kanesha. “He also said he might know of something more fun to hunt than vampires.”

She perked up visibly. “Werewolves?”

Loki tensed visibly, then he stood up and started to leave, the brownie still in one hand.

“I…”

“Psst. What happened to his kids?”

Kanesha’s mouth formed an o.

“People turning into wolves may be a sore point.” I sighed and settled back into the couch. “He’s probably leaving before he turns you into a toad.”

From outside the door, I heard, “Ribbit.” Which probably meant he wasn’t that mad.

“Now he won’t tell us what it was.”

“Oh, he probably wouldn’t have anyway. Just dropped hints and clues and watched us scramble. And claim it was to teach us to be better at stuff.”

“You’re right.” Kanesha sighed, then settled back into her chair. “I probably shouldn’t be looking for trouble anyway. I’ve just been itching for a big fight since what…”

“Since what happened to your dad. Even if he wasn’t much of a dad.” He was more of one than I had. Or was he?

“Yeah.”

“The vampires wasn’t a big fight.” I lowered my voice. “Seb couldn’t fight two vampires and had to come running for help.”

She giggled a bit. “He’ll get better.”

“I hope so. But I dealt with them. I didn’t invite you because there were only two of them.”

“And you needed the workout.”

I laughed, snagging another brownie. “I think I did.”

“I can’t decide whether to be jealous of you or not.”

“Don’t be. You don’t have fire giants trying to get in your pants.”

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 7

Vampires, dealt with. Well, I found something on the police blotter about the incident, but the description of me was suitably vague. Oddly, they hadn’t found the body.

Maybe they rotted away that quickly. Or maybe a hunter had stepped in for me. I should have gone back for it, but no.

I’d have been seen dragging it away. Either way, Seb was impossibly, puppy dog grateful for me for helping him and for not telling anyone it had only been two vampires.

Of course, that meant I had to deal with Kanesha’s reaction. “You fought vampires without me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you really want to be invited next time? You know they smell, right?”

She made a face. “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I just don’t want to be left out.

She had a point on that. “Okay. We’ll plan some kind of hunting expedition soon.”

Kanesha flickered me a grin. “In the mean time, you…” She was interrupted by the lesson bell, though, and I had to rush to get to first period. So I never found out what she meant to ask me.

It can’t have been that important, I thought later, as I headed back to the house. Or she’d have tracked me down. Maybe she just wanted more cayenne brownies. Actually, I wanted more cayenne brownies. There was only one answer to that and I stopped to get brownie mix.

As if attracted by the thought, Loki fell in next to me as I emerged from the store. I knew it was him even though he was wearing the form of a young black man.

“People will think we’re dating.”

“You know better. Kanesha knows better.”

I shrugged. “If you show up looking this hot, people will get jealous.”

He laughed. “Interested?”

“Not particularly, but…” I would have been if it hadn’t been him and if I hadn’t known it was him. But…yeah.

“Good.” He flickers a grin.

“I’m off limits. I know.” And in that moment I wanted to ask him why and I was sure I knew why, and I shied away from that knowledge. “Also, the brownies aren’t made yet.”

He laughed. “Maybe I should help.”

“No hitting on Kanesha.”

“Awww….oh, wait, you want her for yourself.” He fell in next to me as I walked.

“Not exactly. I might, but I’m worried that one of the other people who wants me will do something to her to get her out of the way. And she’s not…”

“Eh. Not one of us, but does that matter? Her lifespan would be a fling.” He sounded serious.

“It’s too risky. It’s…her choice to be involved, and I respect that, and she wants to go hunting vampires.”

“Don’t hunt vampires. I know something you can hunt that smells less.”

I laughed. “Brownies.”

He even kept his word on helping to make them.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 6

“What happened?” It was a balding man who got out of the car, the remnants of his hair closely resembling a tonsure.

“He just ran out into the street.” I tried to get between the two of them, having dropped the sword…hopefully, before the man saw it.

The vampire, of course, was not particularly damaged. It lunged at me. He seemed a reasonable gender now we were much closer. I grabbed it and tried to hold it at arm’s length. “He’s hopped up on something.”

“I’m calling an ambulance.” The man tugged out a cellphone.

Great. I couldn’t get rid of him and if the vampire ended up in an ambulance, it would end up with dead paramedics. Dead and eaten paramedics. But it was all I could do to restrain it.

Knock it out? It would come around quickly. I had to kill it, and I had to do so without letting this guy see anything.

I let it go. It thought better of biting me and then tried to run, limping off. I shot a glance at the man. “I’ll get him to the hospital or home or something.” And then I took off, but being careful not to catch it right away. Hopefully the sword wouldn’t be stolen, confiscated or used to cut something before I got back. Seb was probably following me anyway.

Seb had better be following me. I heard the car start up again behind me, but the man wasn’t sticking around. Now he knew there were drugged crazies involved, he’d decided to clear the area. That was my assumption, anyway.

Nice to know some people around here had sense. He’d probably report it to somebody, but hopefully not in enough detail to be traced to me.

I ran around the corner, and saw a broken picket fence. Snagging part of it to make for a makeshift stake, I lunged towards the injured vampire. He fell under my weight and I thrust the stake through his back into the heart.

He stiffened and went limp. Taken care of, I thought with satisfaction. I hated to leave his already fairly well decomposed form on the sidewalk, but I had no choice. As I jogged back, I saw Seb coming after me with my sword in one hand. He was holding it as if it might turn into a snake at any moment.

“I’ll take that.”

“Did you get him?”

“Yes, but you saw our little problem. Had to be a decent guy, didn’t it.”

“Of course.” Seb made a face. “Let’s not be here when and if the cops show up. Actually…”

“Let’s go swing by Thruor’s place. She doesn’t frown on underage drinking.” I could tell what he wanted.

Heck, it was about what I wanted, and I was definitely having those “old enough to fight” thoughts again. And I knew Thruor would have something.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 5

The one thing they don’t tell you about stakeouts in cop shows or detective novels…they’re boring. Well, okay, sometimes it’s mentioned in novels, but in cop shows they always cut to the good part.

I was bored very, very quickly indeed, but I couldn’t complain, because I knew if I did, Seb would realize how bored he was.
The vampires didn’t return for a couple of hours. When they did, they had prey. The prey wasn’t struggling that much despite not being marked. Probably drunk.

I wondered if vampires got drunk off of other people’s blood alcohol. It struck me as the kind of thing that might happen. But then, they had no inhibitions to start with. Or sense of refinement, or any lingering humanity.

Either way, I took the time to note that as they dragged the woman to the culvert, then moved at the last possible moment. I was glad the victim was all but senseless. It meant she would stay down as I struck one of the vampires, feet first, knocking him away from her.
Seb was spraying holy water into the face of the other. A good move, I thought, but I wasn’t about to wrestle with the vampire. I was stronger than he was, that I was sure, and the sword was out and in my hand in a moment.

The beast tried to run rather than bite me, and I took its head off from behind with one quick motion. I did wish they turned into dust like in some versions of the legend, but there wasn’t exactly much I could do about that.

Head and body dropped to the ground, stinking of rot, and I spun to stab into the one on Seb. The holy water had slowed it down only for a moment, and now it had him lifted off the ground, making a sort of growling, roaring sound. I say it, because I couldn’t quite tell if it had once been a man or a woman, but now it was neither. It dropped Seb to turn to face the real threat, not even bleeding from the wound.

Some instinct told me that meant it hadn’t fed recently, but this one didn’t go down as easily as the first. Seb was moving to drag the woman clear of the fight. That was totally the smartest thing for him to do. I cut the vampire’s hand off, but it ran, leaving it behind.

I was forced to chase it, so I did. It jumped over the fence at the back of the park, vaulting with its remaining hand. On the other side of the fence was a garden. From inside the house a deep barking came that sounded like a German Shepherd or the like. I was very glad the canine was inside the house. The vampire was running for the narrow gap between that house and the next. Somebody was yelling at the dog to shut up. In a moment, they’d look outside to see what it was barking at.

I ran. The vampire ran slightly faster, hopping over the side gate and running out into the street.

…where it was hit by a car. I stopped on the sidewalk, watching the body get tossed down the street, hoping against hope that the driver was a jerk and wouldn’t stop.

Of course, I got the one person in all of DC who wouldn’t do a hit and run. Of course.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 4

We stopped by the house to get my sword. Much easier to hide such a thing when it was cold enough (barely) to wear a long coat.

I definitely wanted to get Loki to teach me how to hide a sword. I was sure he could do it. Even Thruor might be able to. Or, heck, Thruor’s steed, although I’d seen no evidence that she could talk.

For now, I tucked it under my coat, and handed Seb a wooden stake. He had that and the holy water.

Two vampires? I could take them without him, but he needed to get his confidence back. And not get bitten again. I was definitely not going to let him get bitten again. That had to hurt, I thought.

We had to take a bus to the park he was talking about. I didn’t like that. I was armed and if the transit police spotted it, they’d arrest me for sure. And I couldn’t edit their memories the way the ravens could. Well, Munin could anyway. I was now sure that was Munin. Memory.

Lacking that, I had to be careful not to get arrested in the first place. I also didn’t want Seb getting hauled in.

Maybe Mike could get us out, I thought. Maybe I should have…nah. We didn’t need him. We could take these vampires.

A small neighborhood park, the kind of place that fell between blocks, between houses. It was likely nobody outside the development even knew it existed – except the county employees who mowed the grass, and who rather needed to mow it again, from the look of it. Especially around the culvert that ducked under a street at what I thought was the north end.

Maybe the vampires were scaring them off. “In there?”

“They may not be in there right now,” Seb pointed out. “It’s pretty dark.”

Meaning they might be awake and prowling people’s yards. I headed for the culvert nonetheless, and smelled a scent I recognized.

Vampire. Seb hadn’t lied to me. They didn’t quite smell of rotting corpse, but I remembered this oddly sweet scent from the last vampire den.

It was not as strong here. I looked into the culvert and saw that they had rough rags for sleeping. “You’re right. They’re not here. Hrm. Up for an all nighter?”

“A stake out, you mean? I could…”

“Easier for me than you, so if you aren’t up for it say.” I’d found that all nighters were easier for me now. I had more stamina.

You just have to know you can do it. Maybe gods needed to believe in themselves, although I still shied away from the idea that I was one. But maybe everyone needed to believe in themselves.

Seb certainly did right now.

“Alright,” he said. I looked around, then indicated the bushes above the culvert.

“They might smell us.”

I thought about that. “They won’t,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. It would probably help if Seb believed in me, too.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 3

I got halfway to the club. Which was honestly better than I should have thought I would. Halfway to the club when Seb showed up.

“Hey there.”

“Hey,” he said, a bit nervously.

I hoped the nerves didn’t mean he was going to be the next person hitting on me – although at least he was fairly harmless. “What’s…wrong?”

There seemed to be something wrong, so that was what came out instead of the more neutral what’s up.

“I could use your help.”

“Okay. I’m going to an all ages club…come with me?”

“People might think…”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care if people think you’re my boyfriend or date or whatever. It’s a good place to talk. Do you need somebody beating up?”

He looked down at his feet and mumbled something which might be a yes.

I continued towards the club. We could sit in a booth and discuss it with soda, like civilized people. I very much wanted to be civilized people that night. He followed, still looking at his feet.

Whatever was wrong, he was embarrassed about asking for help. I bought him a coke and guided him to a booth. “Talk to me.”

“I’m supposed to be good at this stuff, but…”

“What do you need beating up?”

“Couple of vampires. They’re hanging out in the park and now a kid’s gone missing and I should have taken them out before and I should be able to handle a vampire.”

Vampires had struck me as easy, but I didn’t say that. Seb had lost all of his cocky confidence. “Did they…”

“They have to actually intend to turn you. Or it’s just a nasty bite.” He rolled up his sleeve. Fang marks.

“Ow. You should maybe get antibiotics for that.”

“I did. I told them it was a stray dog. They made me get rabies shots too.”

Ugh. They might not inject them into the stomach any more, but rabies shots sucked. “Okay. How about we get something to eat and then go deal with them?”

“We?”

“We.” I wasn’t going to let him hide behind me, not when I knew he was going to be annoyed with himself for doing it. “We’ll need to swing by my place, I don’t have my sword with me.”

“Okay. Just don’t…”

“I don’t think I have to worry about being bitten. I’d give them indigestion.” A pause. “Do you have…”

“I have holy water. That helps.”

I nodded. “Okay. Food first.” Because I had a feeling he hadn’t eaten all day and now I thought about food, I was rather hungry myself. Food was one of those things you didn’t remember you needed until you thought about it, sometimes. The club had food…it wasn’t great, but you could get a sandwich. He ordered a club, I bought a croque monsieur, munched on it. Between munches. “So, they’re in a park?”

“There’s like this…tunnel kind of thing that I think they’re denning up in. You know how vampires are. They don’t exactly care about their living conditions.”

I remembered the state the previous vampire den had got into and shuddered. “I definitely do.”

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 2

“I think he really cares about me,” I said to Kanesha. It was lunch time, and we’d found a corner table so close to the banging kitchen door nobody else had joined us. Or could hear us.

“I think he…” Kanesha tailed off. “There’s nothing to say Loki couldn’t decide to like somebody, right?”

“No, I think there’s more to it than that. I mean, sure, he could just think I’m cool. And I think he does. But he implied I’d have been better off going with Tyz’vel and trying to avoid Ragnarok.”

“Then he thinks it’s inevitable. Now that he’s out, maybe it is.” Kanesha frowned. “The…”

“It’s not time for the world to end. Let’s change the subject? I’m starting to get depressed.” I didn’t want to think of everyone dying, and I didn’t care if there’d be an entire new world afterwards.

Or maybe Ragnarok was actually just climate change. There was a theory. Or any way the world ended. If humanity wrecked things enough, they might make it necessary.

Changing the subject of the conversation was possible. The subject in my head was more resistant. It stuck around through class, and it stuck around after class. It was nice not to have to worry about Martin at the school gate, though.

Well, except I almost missed him. Even an annoyance can become routine, almost comfortable. Maybe that was why so many women stayed with their abusers. That comfort could easily become Stockholm Syndrome.

But he was gone for now, although that didn’t mean there weren’t other threats out there. I didn’t see DC the same way I had. Now I saw the city as a potential nest of all sorts of things. There wouldn’t be vampires out in daylight, but was that very Goth girl a demon? No. I rolled my eyes at myself for stereotyping and headed home to finish homework and then maybe hit the club.

I should have known trying for a bit of normality was a bad idea, but it seemed like I had a rare opportunity to do so and I intended to take it. While it lasted, I could appreciate being just a girl.

One day I wouldn’t be able to be that any more, and maybe I thought, Odin had done me a favor after all. He’d given me a chance to experience that.

Just like other girls. With a sword under my bed and armed when I went to the club. That was starting to become routine. So was getting home as quickly as possible so I wouldn’t be out on the street without it. School had metal detectors, and I couldn’t risk it.

No.

It was already impossible to be just a girl for me, and I’d dragged Kanesha into it, but if we could stop the world from ending, it would be worth it.

Talk Loki into working against Ragnarok instead of for it?

And I knew that I had made the right decision. If I’d gone with Tyz’vel, then that would have been one less reason for the chaos god to put it off.

Why did he care about me so much? If I asked him, I’d get a lie. I knew that for sure. He was the silver tongued one, and the rare honesty had always been about me pushing my own capabilities.

Learning to protect myself. He didn’t want me hurt. Gods, I thought, but it wasn’t really, quite a swear word.

I’d never understand them.

Episode Eight: Bloodlines: Scene 1

I was in a real fix. There was no mundane way off of the roof – no doubt why Tyv’zel had picked it. I didn’t know how to fly, shapeshift into a bird, summon a winged steed or any of the stuff I quite probably could do if I had the knowledge and experience.

And somebody was clapping slowly. The kind of slow clapping you awarded somebody who had got themselves in a fix.

I scowled, not even turning around. “Loki. He’s the one who brought me up here.”

My guess was right. “But you didn’t think to look for stairs before banishing him back to Hell. Which you did quite neatly, by the way.”

I sighed. “Stop teasing me and show me a way down?” I turned around. He was leaning against the HVAC exhaust from the building, grinning.

“Now, now. You really need rescuing.”

“Yes I do. You might be able to grow a set of wings and fly down, but I can’t.”

“Now there’s an idea.” And indeed, a set of brown, feathered wings, sprouted from his shoulders. “Like the look?”

“You are almost as far from an angel as he was.” I indicated where Martin/Tyv’zel had been before he vanished.

“Almost. Do you want a ride down or not?” He offered me his hand and I took it.

I was fairly sure the wings were just for show, but we drifted down lightly. “I need to learn that trick.”

“A lot of it’s about knowing you can do it,” he said, quietly.

“I admit I did just consider jumping and seeing if I could work something out before I hit the ground.” We touched down and the wings vanished. “You’re still a long way from an angel, though.”

“Have you ever met an angel? They’re boring. They’re not allowed to do anything fun. Why do you think there are so many demons?”

I laughed a bit. “Surely there has to be a middle ground?”

He shrugged. “Their creator doesn’t think so. Watch out, though. If Tyv’zel finds his way back he might decide to humiliate you in revenge.”

“I know. But he was trying to get in my pants and he…he wanted to make me his consort. Offered to protect me from Ragnarok.”

I almost expected Loki to say he could do that. Instead, he frowned, then, “Maybe you should have taken him up on it.”

I smiled. “I don’t think I’d enjoy living in Hell very much.”

“You never know.” He turned and walked away.

Protected from Ragnarok. He’d as much as admitted he couldn’t do that for me himself – and as much as admitted he wished he could.