Then Thruor came roaring up, and Kara poured out of the car with her. The two Valkyries charged in, Kara wielding a heavy looking axe.

Now it was four against eight. I liked these odds better, but I couldn’t spare any time to greet them. I was bleeding, I was hurting, and I knew I’d be hurting a lot more once the adrenalin wore off. Holding my own, but hurting.

Another went down to Kara’s axe, but I couldn’t see Mike any more. If he was down…

That thought made me see red, and for once I let it happen, let my blade find target after target until there were no giants standing.

None standing. We’d done it. Kara stepped over to me. “Are you…”

“I will be.” I wasn’t sure I would be if I was human, but I didn’t feel as if I was about to collapse. Tired, but not…

“Let me…” She started to lead me over to the car. Hopefully they’d brought bandages.

Mike was on the ground. In a spreading pool of blood. His own, I knew. Fire giant blood didn’t stick around.

Neither, I’d half noticed, did mine. Which meant I wasn’t sure how much I’d lost.

Thruor was crouching over Mike’s body.

Body.

I was going to…I was going to kill them all several more times. He wasn’t moving and I knew, knew in the depths of myself that he was gone.

Well, going. I saw Thruor, her hair disheveled, lean over to kiss him on the lips one last time. Then there was a rainbow swirl and she vanished.

I wasn’t sure when I would see her again. Tears started in my eyes. Could it be as simple as that? He was just gone?

“Jane…”

I let Kara find some bandages. I knew I’d be fine, I wouldn’t even scar, that being the way of things.

I’d be fine. He wasn’t. Nothing would be fine again. And the worst part was the stab of guilt that accompanied the thought that it wasn’t my lover on the ground.

She hadn’t stayed with the body.

“She took him to Valhalla,” Kara said, softly.

That didn’t stop the tears. That knowledge wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to know that at some level he would be fine, to know where he was.

It wasn’t enough to stop the grief.