Episode Nineteen: Infernal: Scene 27

I slipped the disc into my pocket. Turn cold…I’d better keep it myself. It might give anyone else frostbite.

Odin was scary. Hel was…Hel was intimidating and beautiful in her own way. She was not, though, a monster. I was sure of that. Maybe a monster in appearance, but not in reality.

And I had to trust her anyway. I had to. I wished I hadn’t been too scared to ask what I wanted to know.

Yeah. I wasn’t about to admit I was scared, but I finished the glass of wine before I headed out of there, hiding the bottle.

About Kanesha. About Monica. About mortals. I wasn’t worried about Mike. He had a valkyrie on his side.

On the other hand, didn’t that mean… I shivered. I wasn’t supposed to…but I did. I loved them all, in different ways.

I didn’t care that they were supposed to die at some point. I still didn’t want them to. I wasn’t afraid of dying myself – even knowing it could happen.

No, my fear was all for my friends. But I headed home. Where I found Kanesha studying. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I talked to Hel. She gave me something that might help.”

“Oh?” She set the book she was reading to one side.

“An early warning talisman. If Anansi starts draining power from Brother Death, we’ll know.”

“He seemed to want us to stay out of it. Which is probably why…”

I put my hand on hers. “Why we have to be involved.”

“What’s she like?” Kanesha asked, softly.

“Beautiful and terrible. Kind of like Galadriel in Lord of the Rings.”

She grinned a bit. “I suppose I can see that. But…”
“No. She’s still beautiful.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “And scary.”

“Scary to you?”

“I can still die, you know. And you certainly can. And…” And I had to trust her.

Kanesha was mine, but every death belonged to the Queen of the Underworld. I knew that, and I understood it.
Hel wouldn’t even release Baldur for Odin.

But maybe…one day she would. Maybe it would be after Ragnarok, but…

She was a monster with more power, in some ways, than Odin himself.

“I suppose. Oddly, I’m not too afraid of the idea. I trust you.”

I decided not to repeat my thoughts to her. Instead, I pulled her towards me and kissed her.

Trusting me. I wasn’t sure if she should, but I had to let her.

I had to.

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