The hood was ripped off and Nelson gagged at the pungent fumes burning his nostrils and making his eyes water as they struggled to adjust to the low light. It was a small blessing that its source was just a weak beam that spilled under the bedroom door.
Nelson wished for less as giant black eyes stared back at him, set in a sallow, sagging face with a long, beak-like nose. She was incredibly tall and stooped to avoid the angled ceiling by the fireplace. Ingrid was tall as well, but she was a beautiful woman, with long wavy auburn hair and lots of freckles, nothing like Hildr. He wondered if Hildr had always been ugly or if dark magick had ruined her.
What was left of Hildr’s hair was matted and there were bits of rancid flesh stuck to the filthy clumps, adding to the vile bouquet of aromas. She must have noticed that Nelson was staring at them. “Dead children are my favorite!” she whisperedexcitedly. “I dug one up last night and sat on his grandmother’s grave while I ate his skin. Mmmm!”
“That’s what Dùbhghlas has reduced you to? You used to be arealvalkyrie. You had a noble, glorious purpose before he turned you into soulless trash,” Nelson said tightly, choking on bile and his revulsion.
She wheezed in delight. “You’ll be like me soon enough and I’ll be the one that feeds you your first infant. And I’ll be there when you face your beloved and he incinerates you.”
“I’ll pass,” Nelson replied calmly. “It’s all going to hell in a hand basket out there, isn’t it?”
“What do you know?” she countered and Nelson’s neck craned.
“I don’t need to be an oracle to see that it’s all falling apart. Dùbhghlas’s plan didn’t go the way he intended and an army with real valkyrie is on its way.”
Her dark, dead eyes widened and her cracked lips pulled into a sneer, revealing blackened, broken teeth. “They do not scare me!”
Nelson’s head tipped sideways and he squinted. “I think they do!” he whispered. “I think you’re both desperate and now, you’re pinned down until MacIlwraith and Oglethorpe get here.”
“I can leave whenever I want,” she said, raising her chin defiantly.
“Good luck. You won’t get far looking like that and I have a feeling you were dead for a reason.”
“Don’t forget: we have a secret weapon!” she said with renewed glee.
“Is it me?” Nelson asked flatly, unimpressed. “Because that’s not happening. I told you, my soul is already taken and you aren’t strong enough to touch it.”
“You will submit to me!” Hildr hissed as she tossed the hood aside. She snatched a handful of Nelson’s hair and pulled hishead back. He could smell it burning as she lowered, making a throaty, clicking sound as she searched Nelson’s eyes. “You are nothing but a man!” she laughed. “Flesh and bone and full of fear.”
“I’m a lot more than that. I’mhisman,” Nelson answered, grunting when he was bashed in the face with her talon fist and knocked backwards.
The chair cracked along with something in Nelson’s side but the chair’s left arm jiggled as she stomped on his chest. She knelt, her knee digging into his gut and making him bite down on an agonized cry. Pain ricocheted through his body and he could taste blood and vomit but he clenched his jaw and breathed through the waves of dizziness and nausea.
For the first time in days, Nelson could feel an alluring pull and Nox’s soul as it yearned for him.
Hold on, I’m coming.
Nelson gasped out a strained laugh at the sound of Nox’s voice. Despite the pain, tears of relief spilled down his temples. “You will not break me.”
“We’ll see about that!” She swooped in, covering Nelson’s mouth with her sour, slimy lips, sucking the breath from his lungs as he was engulfed in blinding light and scorching heat.
Thousands of screams, as high and as loud as tea kettles whistled in his ears. Blood trickled out of his left ear and Nelson felt something stretching and tearing in his center, deep inside and behind his navel. He arched and bucked against the seat of the chair, defiant and enraged as she sucked harder, determined to take Nelson’s soul.
You are a treacherous abomination and unworthy!
The will of the god swelled from Nelson, an incandescent tide of fury and indignation at Hildr’s audacity and her betrayal of her sacred duty.
How dare you try to steal a gift that was bestowed upon a god? The very heart and the soul of Tuatha!
Righteous light—Nox’s light—burst from Nelson and the sound of bees buzzing and birds chirping overwhelmed the dizzying screams. Hildr tried to release Nelson and pull away but the force of his will and the heat of his light was too intense. She began to screech and begged as her eye sockets glowed like hot coals, burning away the rotting flesh around her eyes and melting her cheeks and her long, pointed nose.
For this, you will burn for an eternity.
He gathered up all of his fury and the god’s wrath and hurled them at Hildr, knocking her into the fireplace and destroying the chair beneath Nelson. It was still attached to his wrists and ankles but Nelson was able to yank his left wrist free and went to work on the knots around his other hand. Within seconds, it was loose enough to slide it out of the broken piece of chair.
Hildr let out a weak, garbled moan and Nelson threw himself on top of her and punched the foul thing in the face as hard as he could. Satisfied she was still incapacitated, Nelson went to work on the bindings around his ankles. As soon as they were free, Nelson braced his foot on the seat of the chair and broke off one of the heavier back legs.
“This is what you get for betraying the gods.” Nelson raised the leg like an axe and brought it down with all of his might, smashing the side of Hildr’s face.
