Very Much Alive (17 page)

“Mistress?” Jordan pictured her wrinkled old grandfather getting it on with another wrinkled, gray-haired lady. “Ew.”

He was dragging her down the steps as fast as she could go. “Don’t think of it as grandpa lovin’, because Grimm doesn’t really look like you think he looks. Remember, he’s a shapeshifter.”

“Right. Oh! You mean he’s hot under the wrinkles?” She thought about that as they took another corner at high speed. “Double-ew.” She landed hard on the next landing, but Kir didn’t stop tugging her on. “Why are we taking the stairs?”

“I’m hoping to beat the elevator to the bottom.” Kir took the next corner at speed.

“From the twenty-second floor?” Jordan was only grateful he’d grabbed her
good
hand to tug her along.

It took them a few minutes to run all the way down to the first floor and out the door. Jordan’s legs would probably never forgive her, but if Grimm had Logan the burn would be worth it. “Why is he vulnerable to Rina’s magic?”

“Opposite elements. Rina’s a frost Jotun, Logan’s a heat Jotun.”

“Oh.” They made it to the front door in time to see Logan stepping into a silver Porsche. He turned and looked at them and mouthed a word just as the car took off down the street to the blare of horns.

“Shit! Did you catch that?”

Jordan ran back into the building, Kir right behind her. “Yes.
Jamie
.”

She was dialing Travis’s number as she ran.

Chapter Nine

Kir drove like a bat out of hell to Grimm’s house, per Jordan’s orders. He had no intention of arguing with her. From the look on her face, she had something planned. “He’s not going to take Logan there.”

“I know.” Her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking as they pulled into the driveway. “Wait here.”

Kir watched as she got out of the car, stunned.
Oh, no. Kir is done playing good doggie.
He got out and followed behind as she rang the doorbell.

A flare of red and white flashed on the edges of his vision as Jordan’s magic countered Rina’s.
How in the hell did Grimm convince Frigg to let his mistress ward their house?
Fire won, melting the ice-magic.
Damn, she’s strong. Logan’s going to have to start training her right away.
He suppressed the shiver of fear that Logan wouldn’t be around to train her.

“Jordan?”

For the first time in over a millennium Kir looked in the face of his mother…and felt nothing.

“Hi, Grammy. We’ve got a problem.” Jordan turned and looked at him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the woman who’d mistreated his brother. All because Hodr was blind, and he wasn’t. She’d virtually ignored his brother, pushing him aside in favor of the “perfect” son.

Okay, the memories helped. Now, when he looked at her, he wanted to throw up.

“Baldur?” Frigg took a shaky step forward. “Is that you, Baldur?”

He frowned. “I was. A long time ago.”

She looked terrified. “Ragnarrok has come?”

He shook his head. If she wanted to play games with him, she was in for a surprise. He didn’t have time for this. “You know it hasn’t.” He stepped forward, allowing the rage in him to show in his eyes. She gasped as he grabbed her arm. “Where’s Logan?”

“Kir?”

He turned to see Jordan holding a silver flask. “Grammy’s tonic, lovingly made by Grimm.” She opened the cap and sniffed. Wrinkling her nose, she poured the contents onto the flowerbed. “Apples.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
So
some
of it wasn’t her fault.
“Where is Odin taking Loki?”

She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know.”

“Grammy?” He was surprised by the affection in Jordan’s voice. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“What?”

“Mistletoe. You need to get Mistletoe to promise not to hurt Kir.”

“Oliver said that wasn’t necessary, since Baldur…Baldur…” She sniffled.

“Kir’s not dead. He’s holding your arm.”

Frigg looked at Kir, confused, clearly befuddled by Grimm’s “tonic”. “His name is Baldur.”

Kir nodded, hoping…

“Baldur.” Frigg’s eyes cleared a little as she stared at him, measuring his features, stroking his cheek with a mother’s touch. “
Baldur.
” She pulled back, breaking free of his hold on her. “You
are
alive.”

He nodded again, watching as her face tightened.

“I’m going to
kill
him.”

“Grimm?”

“Loki. How
dare
he keep you from me?”

Kir rolled his eyes. “Loki saved my life. Long story, no time to tell it. Where do you think Grimm would take him?”

She shrugged. “I have no clue.”

It was obvious to him that she was lying. He smiled. Thunder sounded in the distance. “If you don’t tell me where Grimm took Logan, you’ll never be allowed to see my children. Your grandchildren.”

She gasped. “Nanna is alive, too?”

He gritted his teeth. “No. Grimm murdered her. Jordan is…ours.”

“Ours? What do you mean, ours?”

“Mine and Logan’s.”

She glared at Jordan. “You would sleep with Loki after sleeping with Baldur? How could you?”

“Because I love them both! Look, we don’t have
time
for this! Grimm has Jamie!”

Frigg hissed, “
What
?”

“That was the lure he used to get Logan to go with him. He kidnapped Jamie.”

“Why would Loki give a damn?”

“Because
I
give a damn.” Kir could tell Jordan was getting frustrated with Frigg, and couldn’t blame her. She’d probably only been exposed to the grandmother Grimm wanted her to appear to be, never the self-centered bitch everyone else knew she was. “Grammy,
please
.”

Frigg took a deep breath. “All right. For Jamie.” She turned to Kir. “I want Loki out of your life.”

Kir turned and walked back to the car. “When hell freezes over.”

“That can be arranged.”

“Grandmother.”

Kir saw the sprig of mistletoe hanging from the branch of a tree, and sighed.
He grows it on his property, just in case, and she never noticed. After all this is over, I have some apple trees that need chopping down.

He picked a sprig, and smiled.
But first, I have a little something to take care of…

Grimm smiled at Fred and Adam. “What do you think, gentlemen? Will we get him to talk? Or is he a lost cause?”

“I say we kill him now and then go looking for Jordan. Who knows what the son of a bitch has done to her.” Adam glared at the bruised and bleeding figure tied to the chair.

“Punish him more. Make him really hurt.” Fred smiled. “Bring in the snake.”

Grimm looked with approval at his oldest son, the one who’d never managed to disappoint him. “Very good! I like that.” He turned to Val. “Bring the snake, Val.”

Val nodded and left the room, his stride unhurried.

Grimm shook his head. If he hadn’t stepped up to the plate and brought him Loki, Val would have been the one tied to the chair. Maybe he could afford to give the boy a reprieve.

“You never did explain how you managed to get Loki to come out of hiding, you know.”

He looked at Fred with a smile, thinking of the girl he’d left tied, broken and bleeding, to the cross in the room off this one. “Let’s just say, I finally figured out his weakness.”
The traitorous bitch.
Jordan was going to find herself tied where Jamie was very shortly.

No one crossed Grimm and lived. Not his children and certainly not his grandchildren. When would they learn?

Val hurried into the room Jamie was tied in, his heart nearly stopping at the damage Grimm had inflicted. If he’d been present when Grimm had taken Jamie he would have risked everything to save her.

But he hadn’t. Grimm had acted without him.
Tricky bastard.

To save Jamie, Val had brought Loki to his father. The only thing he’d managed to salvage out of this whole fiasco was changing Grimm’s message from a compulsion to just that: a message.

Being half-Jotun had its uses.
And thank you, Loki, for stepping up to the plate and once again taking punishment you don’t deserve to save someone else.

He untied Jamie, careful of her wounds, and picked her up, brought near to tears when she moaned and sucked in a deep breath. Too much longer and she would have suffocated to death, the pressure of hanging by her wrists too much for her body to bear. He cradled her gently in his arms and walked out, feeling the shiver of power in the air.

Baldur was coming. And Grimm was finally going to pay. Too bad he wouldn’t be there to witness his brother being avenged.

“
Val
.”

He looked up to see Travis, horrified, staring at Jamie, and knew there was no way he could explain it. Not with the game he’d been playing for far too long. “It’s a trap.”

Travis’s eyes were turning blind, never a good sign in the God of Justice. He felt the god’s power wash over him, a cold breeze that slowly warmed inside him. “Tell me.”

“Grimm. He’s got Loki tied to a chair. He’s torturing him. Now hurry. I have to get Jamie to a hospital.”

Jamie groaned, distracting him. “Uncle Val?” She tried to open her eyes but they were too swollen and bruised.

He smiled down at her. “It’s okay, pumpkin. I’ve got you.” For however long Travis would let him live, anyway. He walked away, his shoulder blades itching the entire time, waiting for a blow that never came.

Logan groaned as yet another blow landed on his side.

“Where’s my daughter, you piece of shit?”

He laughed, knowing how it would infuriate Fred Grimm.

He was right. Fred freaked, digging his fingers into Logan’s side, right where some ribs were broken. Logan bit back a scream, laughing up in the other man’s face. He’d been the belle of the ball at this dance before; they weren’t getting anything out of him this time, either. He was in a ten by ten room with concrete floors, only one, tiny window way up high in the wall, and only one exit. Son of a bitches had gotten at least
one
thing right. There was no way to escape except through them. And since his one major weakness was the inability to fly in any form he took without some kind of magical assistance, he was well and truly stuck.

He glanced up at the security camera in the corner of the room. A simple twist of reality had activated it. It had been easy to do, during one of Fred’s swings. They’d been so captivated with making him hurt they hadn’t checked to see if he’d done anything other than laugh.

All of the Aesir and Vanir were now privy to his torture, no doubt glued to their chairs, sitting on their self-righteous asses as he got beat with Mjolnir.

“Where’s that damn snake?”

Hopefully it met a really big mongoose.

Grimm looked towards the door, his expression concerned. “I don’t know.” He looked back at Fred and frowned. “Perhaps I’d better go check.”

“No need.” Travis stepped through, glowing brightly, his eyes completely white.

Yee-haw, the cavalry is here. Ow.
He winced as he tried to straighten up with a pained smirk. “Hey, Lefty.”

“Hey, Hothead. Ready to go?”

“Oh, hell yes,” Logan chuckled painfully. “Right after you rip Grimm’s testicles off. I want to stick around to see that.”

He had to bite back another scream as Fred Grimm swung Mjolnir and broke his right arm.

Hell. Jordan had better stay far, far away from here.
If Kir brought her with him, I’m going to be supremely pissed off.
She did not need to see her father and stepfather torturing him.

“Your daughter is on the way to the hospital, Fred.”

Oh, shit. That meant Jamie was in bad shape.
He’d hoped that, by coming with Val peacefully, the sons of bitches wouldn’t hurt her too badly.

Guess he’d been wrong. Yet another thing to set at their doors and make them pay for.

Travis’s gaze remained locked on Grimm’s, his arms loose at his sides. He was waiting for the Old Man to make a move. From the look on his face, he was
eager
for it.

“Jordan?” Fred stepped away from Logan. His expression was filled with hope and fear.

“No. Jamie.” Travis smiled as Grimm’s eyes narrowed. He completely ignored Fred’s gasp. “Yes, Old Man. I found her. And I want to know one thing.” Travis’s body was suddenly glowing so brightly it hurt to look at him. “Did you rape her before you beat her and crucified her?”

Logan looked at Travis and shivered as the full blast of the God of Justice’s anger swept through the room. Grimm screamed, the power flowing through him, unable to stop the sheer magnitude that was Tyr in his justified wrath.

The shining figure of Tyr glided into the room, a glowing spear appearing in his left hand. Logan’s jaw dropped when he saw it. It was
Gungnir
, the Godspear, the symbol of Odin’s power.

So the rumors are true. Tyr handed Grimm the Godspear and stepped aside, letting him rule the gods. Son of a bitch.
Which meant two things. Tyr was the oldest of them all. And he had the power to take back the gift he’d given Odin.

Which he’d just done.

“You may not have raped her—”

Logan sagged in relief.

“—but you tortured her. Your own grandchild. You murdered women and children, sacrificed them on the altar of your greed and lust for power.
No more
.”

Grimm laughed, and it wasn’t a good one. “Fred. Adam. Stop him.”

Fred and Adam stood there, staring between the two men, fighting the compulsion in Grimm’s voice.

“He tortured your daughter, Fred. Made Jamie bleed, and now he’s blaming me for it. Do something!”

Fred blinked, and slowly began moving forward towards Tyr.

“Don’t bother.”

Kir.
Logan’s eyes closed in relief. Even with his healing, the shit they’d been doing to him had
hurt
. And now this little side-trip into Hell could come to an end.

Kir stepped in, glowing, to stand beside Tyr. Both gods were glaring at Grimm. “Hi,
Dad
. Miss me?”