Poisoned Pearls (16 page)

Of course, the cold hadn’t let up one bit.

Hunter was still hunting. We were close, but not there yet.
I had to take his arm more than once to keep him on the sidewalk as he
continued to search out the not-man.

I didn’t recognize my name until I heard someone call it for
a second time. “Cassandra. Cassandra!”

I turned us both around. “Mom?” I asked. “What are you doing
here? I thought you’d be in Florida by now.”

She wore a coat I’d never seen before, dark red wool with
gold buttons down the front, almost like a military coat. Her rabbit-fur
earmuffs were perfectly placed so as to not muss her hair. And her black boots
were sensible, stylish, as well as warm.

“I won’t be flying out until tomorrow,” Mom said, coming up.
She didn’t have to wrinkle her nose for me to see her distaste. “And why are
you here?” she asked. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

I nodded, understanding. This was Mom’s territory, and I’d
just crashed her party, uninvited.

“We’re looking for someone,” I told her. I glanced back up
at Hunter. “Hooker or drug dealer?”

Hunter shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“I see,” Mom said.

She was about to turn and go when I added, “Say, Mom? Would
it change your opinion of my sexual orientation if I told you I’d come into my
abilities finally?”

“Excuse me?” Mom asked, her eyes wide. “But you—you
never showed even the slightest abilities in any of the pretesting!”

“Those pretest centers. They aren’t run by the government,
are they?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.

“No, they’re administered by a private group,” Mom said.

“Jacobson Consortium,” I told her. “Yeah. Their tests are
actually meant to keep some people out of the government nets. So they end up
needing the company instead.”

“I know people on the board of the Jacobson Consortium,” Mom
said frostily. “They’re good people.”

“I have no doubt about that,” I told her. “But their mission
is skewed. Or rather, they’re a little more self-serving than you realize.”

“Can you prove it?” Mom asked, suddenly interested.

I shrugged. “Not tonight. And Sam already knows.”

“Sam?” Mom paused, then nodded. “That’s right. Samantha
Monroe. Lovely woman. Her family’s always been very charitable.”

I was about to point out to Mom that Sam was also very gay,
but decided against outing her. I had no idea if she was in the closet as far as
the general public was concerned, and it certainly wasn’t my place to burst my
mother’s bubble.

Hunter tugged on my arm. “This way,” he said firmly.

“Look, Mom, I’ve got to go,” I said, turning.

“Cassandra.”

I paused and looked back at her.

“I do love you,” Mom said. “You should never doubt that. I
might wish for something other for you, a better, easier life. But I also…I’d
also like to see you. More regularly.”

Huh. My own Christmas miracle.

Was it because I’d come into my abilities? Because she was
moving to Florida and wouldn’t have to actually keep her word? Or had my mom
finally seen some sort of light?

It didn’t matter. Maybe part of the miracle was that I,
after all these years, felt like saying yes.

“Okay,” I said.

“I’ll call you. After the holidays,” Mom said. “Good-bye,
and…good luck.”

She turned to go back to her perfectly normal life and her
perfectly normal husband-to-be.

While I turned to Hunter, ready to plunge into the chaos and
weirdness that was now my life.

***

“Here?” I asked, stopping, looking over my shoulder at
Hunter. “Are you sure?”

It wasn’t really an alley. It was more like a space between
two concrete garages. I could fit through and my hips wouldn’t touch the walls,
but just barely.

I’d seen nicer alleys. Hell, I’d been in bigger closets.

It gave me the creeps.

Even with the cold, the place smelled foul. As if bums had
been using it for a toilet for so long, the wood along the ground had all
rotted. The wind had died and the air had that quiet feeling the world gets
just before it snows, though there was no precipitation predicted in the
forecast. No snow marked the ground nearby, as if it wouldn’t dare trespass.

“Here,” Hunter growled.

I shook my head but finally pushed myself to go forward.
Eaves from the building on either side covered the space. Killer icicles hung
down, though I didn’t know when it had been warm enough for anything to melt,
or even when it would get warm again.

“Careful, or you’ll lose an eye,” I joked.

The space got darker. Were the two buildings’ roofs touching
now? And the stench was much more foul.

How long were these buildings, anyway?

I was about to turn back to complain when I saw a light up
ahead.

It wasn’t a natural light.

Fuck.

Were we too late? Had the non-man already done his work? Was
I seeing the past already?

I hurried forward, slipping more than once on the
treacherous snow and ice.

There was the non-man. Only he was human now.

Did that mean he was real?

“Hey, stop!” I shouted as I walked forward.

The
twink
on his knees in front of
the non-man looked up at us, guilty. “Sorry, man, not into threesomes,” he
muttered as he stood up quickly, zipping his own dick away. “Look. I’ll call
you. Or something,” the guy promised. “Excuse me,” he said, brushing past me,
his head down, his fair cheeks dark with shame.

The non-man stood in the gap between the buildings with a
huge grin on his face. He looked different in the flesh. He had a black eye
patch decorated with silver grapes, for one thing. He was just as tall, though,
with big hands, a big nose, and shaggy blond hair that fell into his pale blue
eyes.

And he still had that thing that looked like a camera slung
around his neck.

“You killed my friend,” I told him. “In the alley.”

“My dear, there’s been so many recently, I couldn’t possibly
know who you mean,” the guy said. “Could you be a little more specific?”

I growled at him. Hunter came up behind me, standing close
enough to my shoulder that he shared some of his warmth.

“You need to come with us. To go see the cops,” I said
firmly.

Hunter would make sure this guy couldn’t get away. No matter
how big or strong he seemed, Hunter was faster. Better trained.

The guy just laughed. “I’m sure it would be fun running the
police around in circles for the evening. But I don’t have time.”

“You’ll make the time,” I told him.

“Stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” he said. He walked
closer to me.

I held my ground, with Hunter at my back.

“What’s your name?” the man asked. His eyes were really
blue.

“Cassandra Lewis,” I told him. I shook my head. Good thing I
wasn’t into guys, cause he was kind of cute. “Who are you?”

“I’m the god Loki,” he said expansively.

“Yeah, right,” I told him. Great. Another crazy.

“You think I just kill these poor creatures. You couldn’t be
further from the truth,” Loki said.

“You take their souls,” Hunter said, finally joining in the
conversation. “Or their fighting spirit. Or something.”

“A seer!” Loki exclaimed. He peered over my shoulder at
Hunter. “Storyteller!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for ones like you.”

“What do you want with him? And why are you taking my
friends’ souls?” I asked.

Loki turned to look at me again. “They live on, you know. In
glorious battle. The whores make fine Valkyrie, to lift the victorious fallen,
to give them a chance to live again, make something of themselves. While the
others, they make good generals. Or soldiers. Depending.”

So that’s what Kyle was now? A Valkyrie? I couldn’t help but
shudder.

“You take their souls with that spider thing,” I said,
pointing to the camera he still wore around his neck.

“Two seers?” Loki asked, looking from me to Hunter and back
again. “But you don’t see like he does, do you?”

I wanted to lie, but found I couldn’t. “No. I see the past.
He sees the future.”

“You saw me, though. Both of you,” Loki said thoughtfully.

“Yes. And we stopped you,” I said fiercely, trying to
concentrate on the win here.

“You merely delayed a single conquest,” Loki said
dismissively.

“We’ll keep hunting you, no matter where you go,” I said
hotly. “Stop you every time.”

Loki cocked his head to one side to look at me curiously.
“And you truly believe that, as well. My, my. We seem to be at an impasse
here.”

“Why do you want soldiers?” Hunter asked.

“That’s right. You were a soldier once, weren’t you?” Loki
asked. “It’s the twilight of the gods. After the new moon, a new world will
arise.”

I shivered. The way he spoke the words made them shine
silver in the light, as if every word he said was destined to be true.

“Ragnarok,” I said, shivering.

“That word isn’t wholly inaccurate,” Loki murmured. “This
world will die. A new one will be born in its stead.”

“How many people are you going to kill in this crazy war of
yours?” I asked. I mean, if it was just happening over where Loki was, that
would be fine, wouldn’t it?

“All of them!” Loki said cheerily. “No, that’s not true. All
but two.”

Suddenly Loki was much closer, standing in my personal
space, close enough that I could smell the honeyed smoke of his hair. “You
could be one of them. One of the chosen two. All you’d have to do is pledge
yourself to me.”

I forced myself to stand still. “You’re not my type.”

“Too godly?” Loki asked, drawing back, giving me a huge
smile. He really was cute.

I shook my head. No. “Wrong plumbing,” I told him honestly.

That gave Loki pause for a moment. “Ah. That’s why you
weren’t more attracted to me earlier. Fascinating.”

I smirked at him. “Happens all the time.”

Loki cocked his head to one side, considering. “Not worth
changing for you.”

His face changed slightly. The female version of Loki stared
at me.

Damn
she was cute.

“I’ll just have to take the storyteller, then. His death
will help seal the fate of the world, make it stick,” Loki said.

“You can’t have Hunter,” I told him.

“Too late, my dear.”

I’d thought Hunter moved quickly. Loki was even faster. The
pair of them traveled down the end of the small walkway and were gone before
I’d taken a single step.

Damn it.

Was this Loki character really a god? It kind of fit, with
the taking of souls and everything. I shivered in the cool evening.

Which left me where? I had a crazy god on the loose who was
killing people to help him with the final battle of the world, and I’d just
lost Hunter, the only person who saw the same things I did, different futures
and pasts.

I needed to go after Loki. Get to the battle. Try to stop
him somehow.

Try to save the world.

Mom always did say I was destined for greatness.

Somehow, I don’t think she meant this.

The last person I expected to hear calling my name as I
walked toward the sports arena was Sam.

I didn’t want to stop for her. I was tired and cold. The
streets weren’t deserted, but the types who were hanging out weren’t those I’d
normally associate with—drunks and
fratboys
from the nearby bars. It was already drawing close to midnight. I’d finally
stopped and looked at the date—December twenty-first, the longest night
of the year.

Normally, that was something I’d celebrate. All that extra
loving time.

Right now, I knew that gave me fewer hours to prevent a war.
A war that I still wasn’t sure I believed in.

Still, I stopped for Sam, waited for her to join me on the
sidewalk walking toward the arena. “I’m not in the mood for being called
crazy,” I told her as way of greeting.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” Sam said. “Mostly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jeez. Would you make up your mind?” I
stalked off, down the street. Luckily, she had long legs and sensible boots and
was able to catch up quickly.

“I went to talk with one of my old professors, a teacher of
post-cogs,” Sam said as she fell into place beside me. “He said that the latest
theories prove you may be right. You may be seeing alternate pasts.”

That was progress, at least.

“And the other things?” I asked. “The Vikings, going off to
war?”

“I don’t know, Cassie,” Sam said with a sigh. “I know
you
think you’re seeing such things.”

“Not only that. Met a god tonight. Called himself Loki.” In
for a penny, in for a pound.

“
Uhmmm
,” Sam said, hesitating.

“Look, I know this is pretty far outside your normal realm
of things,” I admitted. “But this Loki character—he says it’s the end of
the world. The last battle. Ragnarok. And he took Hunter.”

“Hunter?” Sam asked. “The vet that gave you the enhancers?”

“Jealous?” I couldn’t help but flirt back.

Sam rolled her eyes at me. “Tell me everything.”

I slowed down. “I know this is going to sound crazy. I think
it sounds crazy. But I swear to you, everything I’m telling you is the truth.”

Sam nodded. “I know. That’s why I came back. That’s why
Ron—my professor—said to give you another chance. To really listen
to you, and see if we can figure this out together.”

I liked the sound of that word.
Together
. I knew she didn’t mean beyond that evening, but still. It
had been a long while since I’d had someone who wanted to do stuff with me.

It didn’t take long to tell her everything, of Josh and the
quick meeting with my mom, of Loki and how he’d just disappeared with Hunter.
Of his prediction of the end of days.

“Ragnarok was just a metaphor,” Sam said. “A rebirth of the
world, because everything dies and is reborn.”

“The armies I saw weren’t metaphors,” I told her. “And
neither was Loki. He wasn’t human. He was something else.”

Sam paused, peering at me strangely. “You know, you’re
taking all of this remarkably well. This whole change to your entire world. To
being able to
see
.”

I didn’t roll my eyes back at her, though I wanted to. “I
work in a sex & toy shop. Bizarre doesn’t bother me. I eat weirder than
this for breakfast. It’s normal things that always throw me off.” Like how to
have a regular relationship that didn’t end up in the trash.

“Show me,” Sam suddenly said.

“Huh?” I asked, as smooth as ever.

Sam turned and pulled us into the doorway of a building,
stripping off her gloves and reaching for mine.

“What?” I asked. “What are you trying to do?”

Did she really want to hold hands that much?

“It happened in the past. You have a lot of emotions around
it. Let’s see if you can show it to me,” Sam said.

I’d never seen this kind of thing even hinted at in the TV
shows. “All right,” I said, taking off my gloves and stuffing them in my
pocket. The air was freezing cold but her hands were warm in mine. They fit
nicely, smooth and strong.

“Close your eyes,” Sam instructed.

“I so want you to say those words in different
circumstances,” I told her.

“Hush, you. See the blue dot?”

“Yes.”

Sam guided me through finding the strand that was the
meeting with Loki. It was pretty high on my list of recent events. Then I had
to
push
it to her, drive it from my
consciousness into hers, show her the tiny lane and the
twink
and Loki and Hunter and everything.

Made my brain hurt.

“Again,” Sam said, when the thread fell apart.

I sighed, frustrated. I didn’t have
time
for this. I had a war to stop. A world to save.

I tried again anyway, remembering every detail, the stench
of the alley, the cold of the night, how Hunter had been warm at my shoulder,
how my heart had fallen when Loki had just taken him away, followed by my ready
anger, of course.

Finally, Sam
saw.
She saw the human form of Loki, at any rate, and followed along our
conversation about the end of the world.

When Sam was finished with her
seeing
she pulled her hands from mine and stepped back from me,
into the lee of the building.

“What?” I asked, pulling my own gloves back on, ready to be
rejected once again.

“I didn’t see him travel down the end of the lane,” Sam said
slowly. “It was more like—one moment he was there, then the next, he was
gone.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like that. People
don’t—can’t—do that. They can’t hide that way, either. Not from a
seeing
.”

“So you believe me?” I asked, surprised.

“Do you know how many post-cogs can share what they’ve seen,
what they’ve experienced?” Sam asked as she stepped back onto the sidewalk,
walking quickly.

“No? What?” I said. Smooth, always so smooth.

“Maybe three percent. If that,” Sam said. “I didn’t expect that
to work at all. I didn’t think you’d be able to share what you’d seen with me.
It means you’re really talented.”

“Or we’re just really aligned,” I told her, taking her hand
in mine.

Sam gave my gloved hand a squeeze before letting go. “I’m
not making any promises about being better aligned by morning, either,” she
said. “Let’s just see where tonight leads us, okay?”

If we were still alive in the morning, I was going to make
damned sure we were
aligned
.

***

I don’t know what cop card Sam pulled in order to get us
into the sports arena after hours. But the security guard let us in after a
single phone call.

“Do I want to know what you promised?” I asked as we started
into the darkened arena.

It was so much warmer inside than it had been outside. It would
be only a matter of time before I was sweating like a pig. Sam, of course,
would always look fresh.

“Only five more hours of police work,” Sam said breezily.

I looked at her pointedly.

“Per week. For a month,” she admitted.

“So cop work isn’t your only job?” I asked. I’d been
wondering. I didn’t think being a cop paid well enough for Sam’s lifestyle.

“No, I mostly work contracts for private firms,” Sam said.
“Which is something you could think about doing, now.”

I hadn’t really thought about it—hadn’t thought about
any of it, how my life would change with my new abilities. Sure, I could quit
the job at Chinaman Joe’s—but he’d been so good to me, giving me a chance
when no one else would. Did I really want to? Or maybe I could do something
part time—consulting, like Sam.

“Pay well?” I asked.

“Unbelievably well,” Sam said with a sly smile.

I might have enough money? Might be able to move out of my
shit apartment? Maybe even get a car?

I shook my head. It was too much to take in. I’d gotten my
abilities in order to help my friends. Did I want to work with the cops? Or
with Sam? Or what?

“Can’t worry about that now,” I told her, pushing the racing
thoughts from my head. I really couldn’t. It was a problem for tomorrow.

Right now, we were going to save the world.

If I wasn’t crazy.

I’d never been to the arena before, not to see an event or
anything. The hallway going in was huge, wide, but not very tall. Sam and I
walked down the center, the sound of our boots echoing. I kept looking around,
expecting to see warriors, but all I saw were the shadows and the darkness of
the hall.

When we reached the intersection of the entrance hall with a
wide, circling space, Sam turned to me. “Which way?”

I hadn’t a clue. How had Hunter followed the thread to find
Loki?

“North,” I said. Why not? That’s what he’d done. It was as
good a direction as any.

I could tell that Sam knew I was just guessing. After a
moment, though, she nodded and went to the right.

Silver, shuttered windows ran along the walls to our right.
The smell of baked pretzels and garlic fries lingered in the air. As the
hallway curved, I realized that it circled the entire arena—the building
was round, after all.

I had to make a decision. Just go. Or I’d end up circling
the space for the rest of the night.

“Here,” I said as we came to the next hallway.

Sam indulged me and followed me into the arena.

The place was huge. I mean, really huge. I don’t think I’d
ever been someplace so big that was indoors before. Like, football fields big. Or
more.

We came out mid-level. I immediately took the stairs down.
The floor of the arena. That’s where it was going to happen.

I found I was taking the stairs two at a time. I couldn’t
stop myself from rushing. I knew Sam was worried.

It didn’t matter. I was here.

I didn’t see anything, of course. Beyond row upon row of
dark seats, the brilliant gold of the wooden floor, lit dimly by the emergency
lights.

I hopped the barrier that separated the seats from the
floor, moving on autopilot. I wasn’t moving as smoothly as Hunter did, but I
heard a gasp from Sam as I cleared it with room to spare.

Maybe some of that grace had come to me as well.

As soon as my boots touched the floor, the place exploded in
light, sound, and people.

They were all fighting.

“Holy—” I said, ducking a man wielding an ax.

The sickening crunch as it hit his opponent turned my
stomach.

All across the arena floor, men and women were in desperate
struggle with each other.

I stepped back, off the floor.

“What are you seeing?” Sam asked quietly.

“Battle,” I whispered. It wasn’t something I’d ever wanted
to see. This death. This slaying. “They’re killing each other.”

No wonder vets were so messed up when they came back home,
if this was the sort of thing they witnessed regularly.

Hell. Not watched. Were a part of.

How the fuck was I going to stop this? The battle was
already well underway. Particularly if I was seeing the past and not the
present.

“Armies don’t think,” Sam whispered to me urgently.
“Generals think. Command. Where are the leaders?”

I threw her a grateful smile. It was hard as hell to tear my
attention away from the ongoing warfare, but she was right.

I couldn’t care about the men and women fighting and dying
in front of me. I needed to find the leader. The one directing them to this
slaughter.

It was time to find Loki and personally thwart him.

***

We circled the arena, looking for Loki and Hunter, but all I
saw were men and women battling. The sounds would follow me into nightmares.

The Valkyrie kept the battle going. They’d bring the dead to
the sidelines, who would recover there for a short while, then rush back into
battle. But the Valkyrie kept raising the dead, again and again, ensuring that
the battle would never end. Really, really creepy as fuck.

Both sides seemed to have their own Valkyrie. I could guess
which side was Loki’s—their horses were black with red eyes. They wore
pressed leather chest plates, decorated in strange styles—some looked
Greek—while others wore chainmail. One even looked like it was made of
feathers.

These women (and men) wore ridiculous amounts of makeup,
their faces as brightly painted as their armor.

One caught my eye and blew me a kiss.

I nearly choked when I realized it was Kyle.

That’s
what Loki had
done with him? Why Loki had stolen Kyle’s soul?

I couldn’t help the shudder I gave.

The Valkyrie for the other side looked positively demure in
their black furs and streaming gold hair. Still gave me the creeps.

“Who are you looking for?” Sam finally asked.

“Loki,” I told her.

“He’s a god, or thinks of himself as one, right?” Sam asked.

I nodded. “Arrogant bastard.”

“He’ll be in the sky boxes,” Sam said.

I had no idea where those were, what that meant, but it
sounded right. The gods looking down on the battle from the sky, right?

Sam led the way up the rows of seats. The cries of dying men
faded as we gained height. The smell of blood remained thick, coating the back
of my throat.

Lots of nightmares in my future.

The black boxes stuck out like a guarded citadel among the
open seats. Dark glass made up the three sides from where the boxes loomed over
the seats.

I stopped for a moment, looking at the box. Were the gods
there? Was Loki there?

Possibly. But Loki had to do something with Hunter first.
And he wouldn’t kill him in such a nice place.

“This way,” I said, leading Sam back toward the circular
hallway. Loki would stay behind the scenes until it was time for him to make
his grand entrance.

Stepping out into the hallway brought an instant quiet. My
senses dropped to nothing. It was like stepping into a dark room after being in
the sunlight.