Release Me When the Sun Goes Down (26 page)

There were no servants, no security guards, the front door wasn’t even locked.  Where the heck was Gunnar?  Lee’s hand closed over mine on the doorknob, his head canted to one side as he sniffed at the marine breeze.  “Out back,” he drawled, pointing with two fingers and I caught the faint murmur of gentle conversation.    

The gate around the side slipped open easily enough, the golden flagstones leading us to a well manicured back yard, completely open to the private beach.  Hanna sat next to Lodinn on a free standing glider swing built for two, her golden head lying against his shoulder as they looked out at the waves crashing over the rocks below.  A stone fire pit glowed with banked coals, sending the occasional spark up into the sky.  It would’ve been the ideal romantic getaway if not for the controlling jerkwad at her side. 

I didn’t bother pussyfooting around, but continued on to the fire pit, blocking their view of the water.  “
Jakob is in my house.  There, I’ve told you where he is, now release my sister.”

Lodinn’s head tilted to one side as he peered up at me, neither surprised nor disturbed by our sudden arrival.  “
I would’ve been more impressed if you’d told me
before
I heard it from your sister, but I’ll let it slide.  However, that wasn’t the deal. I can hardly get in there to go after him,” he pointed out.

“
It wasn’t the deal for you to steal Hanna away again either.  You said she could stay with me.”

“
I can’t help it if she wants me,” he said with a tight lipped grin, leaning down to kiss her temple. 

“Of course
you can,” I scowled.  “You know it’s not real.”

“It sure
feels
real,” he leered, and I had to bite my lip to keep from trying to smack his smirky face in. 

“What do you want me to do?  I can’t force Jakob to leave the house and I’m not burning it down.”

“Invite me in.”

“I can’t.  You were there, you saw what happened when I tried to invite you in before, the house won’t let me.”

“Handy spell, that.  Well then, I guess we find ourselves at an impasse.  What do you suggest we do next?”

Not that I thought he’d go for it for an instant, but I had to try.  “How about you let my sister go –
completely go, and you can go wait for Jakob to get desperate enough to make a blood run?”

“Hm, doesn’t sound like much fun.  How about you drop the spell from the house and let me in?”

“I… have no idea how to even do that.”  I assumed it could be done, but I didn’t know if Leila would have to do it or what.  And I sure as heck wasn’t going to invite her to step into my mess.  “What if I trade places with Hanna?  Unscramble her mind and let her go and I give you my word I’ll stay here with you, no compulsion needed.” 

“And here I thought you had a thing for your bodyguard.  Or is it all bodyguards?”  He looked to
Lee, who remained unruffled and held his tongue.  “No deal.  Compulsion or not, I’d rather not spend my time waiting for your people to keep trying to spring you.   Besides, I’ve grown fond of my current bargaining chip.”  Lodinn kissed Hanna on top of her head again and she turned her face up to receive a proper kiss.  Did he sincerely like her, or was he trying to be the most obnoxious guy on the planet since Vinnie Van Lowe?

“He’s right,” Lee chimed in beside me.  “Rob wouldn’t stand for it and neither would a lot of other folks.  It’d just end up in more bloodshed.  You might want to think on it a
spell before you go makin’ rash offers like that.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” I hissed.  “I can’t leave my sister here with that… that…”

“Careful now, I don’t think you’d like to see me in a bad mood,” Lodinn warned, and I scowled at him. 

“I’m sure you’d make the Hulk quake in his purple pants.”  With great effort, I forced a calming breath.  “It’s obvious you have something else in mind here.  Tell me how you want me to fix it.”

“You could always kill Jakob for me.”

He had to be joking.  “I could never do that.”

“If there’s anyone in this world who can pull it off, I’m pretty sure it’s you.  You could get close to him and he’d never suspect it was coming.”

He wasn’t getting it.  “No, you don’t understand.  I mean I could never do that.  Not just that I can’t physically best him, but I couldn’t carry out a murder in cold blood like that.  I just couldn’t.” 

“Not even to save your sister?  Who is doing a fabulous job at the let’s be quiet game this time,” he smiled indulgently at her, giving her a brief kiss which she soaked up like sunshine. 

“What do you want me to say?  I’d slit my own wrists to save her if you asked me to, but I couldn’t trade one life for another like that.”  Sure, I talked a big game about letting them duke it out and God knew Jakob had been getting on my last nerve lately, but I couldn’t turn into a coldhearted killer like that, not even to save my sister. 

“Fine then, I’ll exchange Hanna for
Gungnir
.”  He looked at me like I was supposed to know what he was talking about, but I stared at him blankly.

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“Don’t you know anything at all?  I weep for the future.” He shook his head sadly.  “It’s not a who, it’s a what.  You’ve never heard of
Gungnir
, the spear of Odin?”

“I knew he had a spear, I didn’t realize it had a name.” 
Or that it was in any way real.
  I wracked my brains for anything pertaining to said spear in my mythology class back in high school, but I came up empty.  “How am I supposed to find this spear?”  It seemed like a Herculean task and I was short a demi-god to carry it out. 

“
I’ll tell you exactly where it is, on the count of what a nice guy I am,” Lodinn beamed, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the catch was. 

“If you know exactly where it is, why
don’t you get it yourself?”

“
Because only one with a pure heart can retrieve the spear,” he replied in a ringing voice.  “From what I hear, that sounds like you.  Or did you want me to compel a nun to go after it?”

Was he for real?  “
No, but I’m not as pure as you might think.”  I was pretty sure someone who’d committed murder, even unintentional, didn’t merit a mention on the purity scale. 

“Sounds like my kind of lady,” he winked.  “
Actually, I’m kidding with all that pure heart jazz.  But it is in a place where I can’t go, so I need you to nip over there and get it for me.”

“What kind of place is that?”  My imagination immediately spun a scenario of alternate worlds or even – was there a way to get to Asgard?  Holy schnikes, was I about to try and thieve the spear from Odin himself?

“It lies in a hidden valley in the Sogn district in Norway near Vadheim.”

Not quite as magical as I’d hoped, but infinitely easier to get to.  The name tugged at my memory until I made the connection.  “
That’s where Jakob is from, isn’t it?”

“
Yes, that was our village, we grew up together.”

And I was going to get to see it!  Maybe Jakob would take me there himself and I’d get to see first hand where mythology blended with history.  I’d always wanted to visit the Scandinavian countries and see the lands of my forefathers, but I figured that was more of a someday kind of dream.  Heck, I would’ve taken up this challenge even if it didn’t mean saving my sister. 

But then reality set in – this wasn’t about to be a rose petal strewn path.  There had to be a catch, otherwise he’d have retrieved the spear long ago.  “Why can’t you go there?”

“
Why is the sky blue?  What makes a rainbow?  What difference does it fucking make!” he thundered, and I tried not to jump back at the sudden shift in his temperament.  Hanna remained silent by his side, but her eyes did pop wider.  

“I’m sorry, I was just wondering is all,” leaked out immediately
.  “I’m trying to make sure I understand this right.  If I go there, is it mine for the taking?  Do I have to go hiking through hidden caves and carve it out of an ancient glacier or something?  Are there people guarding it or do I have to navigate my way through a maze of posts with a glass of water in my hand?”

“What kind of movies have you been watching?”  Lodinn’s anger slipped away as fast as it had appeared, his face twisting in an effort to puzzle through my references.  “There are no secret mazes or tombs to raid, so you can leave your spelunking equipment at home.  It’s in the main hall of the village, you can’t miss it.”

“A relic like that’s got to be under heavy guard though.  How am I supposed to get it?”

“That’s where you have to use that pretty head of yours and charm it away from her.” 

“Her who?”

“Maeja, she’s the keeper of the spear.  Did I forget to mention her?  That’s part of why I can’t go there.  She and I don’t get along.”

I can’t imagine why…
  I barely managed to keep from saying that in my head instead of out loud.  “Because of this spear?”

“Let’s just say I’ve quibbled with her over its ownership in the past.” 

Keeper of the spear… why did the sound of that make my insides turn to Jello?  “Please tell me I don’t have to fight her to the death over it or something like that.”  I could only imagine how tough this Maeja must be to guard a precious artifact like that.  

“I seriously doubt she’s ever picked the thing up apart from when Daddy gave it to her, unless it’s to give herself a manicure with it.  She’s not exactly the valkyrie type.” 

His sarcasm did nothing to assuage the panic at the casually given revelation.  “She’s the daughter of Odin?”  Boy howdy, was I out of my league!  I’d been picturing a long line of guardians keeping the spear safe as a sort of holy relic.  Badass, sure, but maybe I could take them with Rob and Lee by my side.  But another
Ellri
?  Especially one of such distinguished lineage?  I didn’t stand a chance.

“Don’t bust a vein over it, it’s not like she grew up at his right hand or anything.  All she got was a neat parting gift and some jumbo sized Daddy issues out of it.  Odin’s not known for his touchy feely parenting skills.  Still, you are outclassed if it came down to a fight, you’re right about that.  I suggest you try and make a good case for why you need it.  Hell, maybe tell her you want to kill me with it, she might hand it over like that.”  Lodinn snapped his fingers. 

“Why do you need this spear anyway?  To hear Jakob tell it, you’re pretty fearsome without it.  At least I assume that’s why he’s hiding out in my house like a scared little girl.”

“
Flattery will get you everywhere, princess,” he grinned.  “It’s very simple, actually.  I don’t want to be the one that kills him.”

“
I don’t understand.”  Wasn’t that the entire point of his revenge?

“
I want it to be your hand that does him in.”  Lodinn’s dark eyes flashed with a malevolence that made me recoil a foot or two.  “I want to watch as you carve his heart out.  I want to see him bleed knowing it was his own beloved progeny who ended it all.”

“
I can’t do that. I told you before, I can’t deliberately take a life.  Besides, it’s against the law to strike against an
Ellri
.” 

“That’s not my problem.  To save your sister
, you’re going to get it for me and then you’re going to betray your maker.”

“I
’ll get the spear for you, but I can’t lift a hand against Jakob.  Law or no law, I can’t do it.”

“
You bring the spear to me, I’ll take care of your motivation problems.”  He grinned with enough confidence to make me doubt myself.  I didn’t want to even begin to speculate what he could mean by that.  Would he compel me to attack Jakob, or just threaten Hanna again until I caved?

“
Fine, we have a deal.  I’ll get you the spear, but you have to let my sister go, and I mean completely get out of her head this time.”

Lodinn didn’t look at me, instead he brushed the hair back over her ear.  “
Hanna will stay here with me.”

“
Why?  You have all the power here, you can move against her or me at any time.  I said I’d go get your spear, there’s no reason to hold onto her.”

“
I like the way she brightens up the room,” he smiled, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip.  I began to envision a world in which Lodinn got everything he wanted.  Jakob dead by my hand, Hanna on his knee, the spear of Odin within his grasp while the rest of us danced to his tune.  If I’d found Jakob’s rule restrictive, how would I feel about serving an
Ellri
who felt no compunction about compelling us to be his puppets at all? But what choice did I have? 

“Fine,” I agreed, my shoulders sagging in defeat.  “One more thing though.  Where’s Gunnar?”  I braced myself for the worst.  It couldn’t be good that I didn’t sense him anywhere in the tiny beach house. 

“Oh, I sent him out for ice cream.  If you want, you can stick around and have some.  Blueberry cheesecake, yum.”  He rubbed his tummy. 

“No thanks, I’ll pass.  Just, please tell him I asked after him.”