“Yes, she is.”

  “That’s interesting.”

  Erik raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

  “Most men say ‘thank you’ when you say their wives are beautiful.”

  “You’re not complimenting me. Why should I thank you?”

  She laughed. “You don’t think it’s a compliment that someone noticed that you have a hot wife? It’s like a checkmark in the stud column for you.”

  He put his phone away. “If I have to measure my worth by the value of those around me, I’m not much of a man, am I? There are only two things that make a man valuable: his fame and his wealth. The beauty of my wife is a reflection on her, not on me.”

  Nina looked impressed. “That’s pretty progressive.”

  He had to laugh. “No, actually, it’s not. It’s a very old attitude.”

  “I haven’t encountered it before.”

  “Well, you haven’t encountered anyone like me before.”

  She gave him a look that could have burned down houses. “That’s for sure.”

  This was getting easier. He looked into her eyes. “Let’s go someplace quieter.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  They walked out of the bar together, and she took his hand when they reached the sidewalk outside. He squeezed her fingers gently. Without a word, she led him into the alley behind the bar.

  The alley was cleaner and smelled better than similar alleys in Stockholm, but it was still filthy. She went to the back wall of the bar and leaned against it, her back pressed flat against the brick, her hands slowly drawing her skirt up her thigh.

  Erik stepped up to her, one hand cupping her face. She smiled and leaned into his touch. He made eye contact with her again, and it took only a small exertion of his Draugr powers to make her his completely. He gently kissed her neck and turned her face away from him, his hand holding her chin and lifting it slightly. His other hand gripped her hip and held her fast against the wall.

  She sighed as he pressed his body against hers. She melted into him, and he took that opportunity to bring his fangs to bear. They emerged from their sockets above his human teeth, extending their wicked points toward her soft and yielding flesh. It was easy, so very easy, to penetrate her skin, thrusting his fangs gently into her vein.

  She sighed again as he began to drink. He took no more than he needed, and although the vampire in him cried for him to take everything she had, he released her. He licked the puncture wounds on her neck, and they healed immediately, not even a pink spot showing where they had been. He pulled back and looked into her eyes again.

  “Wait ten minutes,” he told her, “then go back into the bar. You will not remember this.”

  Lina nodded. He held her until she was steady on her feet. When he was certain she wouldn’t fall, he released his hold on her hip and went back to the barracks.

  Chapter Twelve

  Two weeks passed in a blur, each day filled with work followed by coming home to an empty house and missing Erik all night long. She sent him letters, and he responded twice. She tried texting him, but he had never activated that function on his cell phone, which amused her to no end. Sometimes his antiquity showed itself.

  She was in her office, working on labels for a new exhibit, when Professor Amari came in without knocking. He leaned on her desk with both hands, a look of annoyance on his face that was belied by a twinkle in his eyes.

  “You are avoiding me.”

  Nika was surprised enough that words failed her. “I – what?”

  “If you won’t have dinner with me, then at least have lunch. Today. We can go to the cafeteria.”

  “I…”

  “I won’t take no for an answer.”

  She glanced at the time and sighed. “Well, all right, then. Lunch it is.”

  He smiled. “Excellent.”

  They went upstairs to the cafeteria that served the public. They stood in line, made their selections, and then stood in line again to pay. Amari insisted on paying for her lunch, and she allowed it. They managed to find a table in the atrium and sat down to eat.

  “I should be very cross with you,” he told her.

  “I’m sorry, Professor. I’m just so busy, getting used to the way things are done here…”

  “Excuses.” He grinned. “I’m playing with you. And please, call me Rahim.”

  She looked down at her plate and toyed with her salad. “How is your research going?”

  “Very well. In fact, I’ve almost finished.” He gestured with his fork. “Now I just have to do the writing.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do a fine job,” she said, smiling.

  The conversation was strained. She could tell that he was trying to be charming, and she was trying to be friendly, but it was clear that he had more on his mind than research papers.

  “Thank you. I have news, by the way.”

  “Oh?”

  “I have accepted a position at Stockholm University.”

  “That’s wonderful! I’m very happy for you.” It was a lie. She felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach. He wasn’t leaving. She was beginning to feel hunted.

  “Thank you.” He looked down at his plate. “Have you heard from your boyfriend recently?”

  “Not in a few days. I’m sure he’s very busy.”

  “I would never be too busy for a woman like you.”

  That’s enough. Nika pushed her plate aside. “Professor, this is becoming inappropriate. I am not interested in pursuing any sort of relationship with you outside of the professional arena.” She rose. “Thank you for lunch.”

  She turned and began to walk away, but his next words stopped her in her tracks.

  “I know about the Veithimathr.”

  She turned. “What did you say?”

  “The inscription that you were asking about. I learned something about the Veithimathr.”

  Against her better judgment, she returned to the table and sat again. “What did you learn?”

  He grinned. “What, here? In front of all of these witnesses? Do you really want me to tell everyone about the Draugr?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “How…”

  “I have my ways.” He leaned forward. “Now I have your attention, I think.”

  “We should go to my office,” she said. “We can talk more there.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  They left the cafeteria for the privacy her office could provide, and once they were there, she closed the door. Amari looked immensely pleased with himself. She sat down behind her desk while he occupied a chair in front of it.

  “What do you know about the Draugr?”

  “I know everything… Ithunn.”

  As he spoke, his face began to change. The features shifted, and his skin faded from swarthy to pale. His grin remained undimmed as his appearance changed completely. Now muscular and tall with long blond hair and dancing green eyes, he was as strikingly handsome as he was frightening. Watching the transformation took her breath away.

  “You…”

  “I am not Rahim Amari, no. The good professor met with an… unfortunate accident while he was still in Baghdad.” He smiled, and she suddenly felt overcome by a wave of energy flowing out from him. He smiled more widely when he saw her reaction. “I am not Draugr, but I am older than they.”

  “What are you?”

  “A rude question, but at least I know the answer. I wonder, could you say the same?”

  She reached down toward her purse. She still had a can of mace in it from Central City. “What do you mean?”

  “Your Captain Thorvald has told you that you are Draugr, just because he gave you dreyri. That is not true.”

  She reached her purse and unzipped it. His eyebrow twitched, but he showed no other reaction. She repeated, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, my dear, you are not a Draugr yet. And to answer your question, I am called by many names. Shifter. Trickster. Nøkken. But you may call me Loki… or Sigurd, if you would prefer.”

  She grabbed her mace and sprayed it into his face. He recoiled, and she bolted from the room. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the security desk on the first floor. When she arrived, panting, the officer behind the counter looked up in alarm.

  “In my office,” she said. “Someone attacked me. I sprayed him with mace, but…”

  The officer frowned and called for one of his companions in Swedish. Nika nearly screamed in frustration. Of all times to have a language barrier!

  Someone put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she spun to see an old woman with kind eyes and thick white hair in a single braid down her back. The woman smiled softly.

  “These people cannot help you,” she said. “I am Ingrid. Come with me, Nika, vessel of Ithunn.”

  Shocked, she swallowed hard and obeyed.

  Ingrid walked her quickly out of the building and to a car parked directly across the street. She got behind the wheel while Nika quickly occupied the passenger seat. Almost as soon as Nika’s door was closed, Ingrid pulled into traffic and sped away.

  “How do you know who I am?” Nika asked, trying desperately to stave off panic. “Who are you?”

  “I am Ingrid. In other lifetimes, I was called Frigg.”

  She gasped. “Erik said I needed to speak to you!”

  “He was correct. I was waiting for him to bring you to me, but I realized when I sensed Loki’s arrival that it was too late for waiting.” She careened through the street, cutting off other drivers and nearly causing a dozen accidents. Nika gripped the seat tightly.

  “What is going on? I don’t understand anything.”

  Ingrid smiled sweetly. “Oh, my dear. You have so much to learn, and Thorvald has never been a very good teacher. He does his best, poor man, but he has his limitations. Men of action are seldom good at words.”

  She skidded around a corner and got onto an expressway headed north. Nika closed her eyes when a lane change took them a little too close for comfort to a massive truck. Ingrid chuckled.

  “We have a long drive ahead of us, Nika. Now is a good time to ask questions.”

  She had so many that they were like a logjam in her throat. She took a deep breath. “He said he was Loki, and that he was a Nøkken. How can that be? I thought all the gods were melded with Draugr.” She put a hand to her head. “I’m so confused.”

  “What confuses you, dear one?”

  “The Draugr were created as punishment by Odin. But then the gods were melded with the Draugr. Was that at the same time? Where do the Valtaeigr fit into this mess? Are all Valtaeigr vampires, or what? He tells me stories, but they’re so hard to follow!”

  Ingrid chuckled. “The first Draugr were Hakon and his band of raiders, turned into the undead by Odin as a punishment. Those fifteen men were the First. They were forced to live forever, which is actually a horrible curse for the hearts of men. They became unclean, doomed to exist only by swallowing the life force in human blood, marked by human hunters who wanted to destroy them because they were predators. They learned how to perpetuate their kind, using the secrets of death and blood and dark magic, and more Draugr were made. Then the gods fell out of favor and began to fade, and the best-hearted among the Draugr were selected to be Huntsmen. A few of the First were included in that number, like your Erik.

  “The Huntsmen carried on a rebellion against the Draugr kings. They served only the Aesir, and they stood as protectors of humanity against the worst Draugr excesses. Those were bloody days.

  “In time, the people stopped worshipping the old gods, switching instead to the veneration of the Nazarene. The gods became pale and weak, and they began to fade. They decided that they needed to meld with the undying into order to stay alive. They needed vessels.

  “A few Valtaeigr were also selected to be vessels. We are immortal, but only some of us – those who have been turned – are Draugr as well. We were created separately. We can use magic that the Draugr cannot.”

  Nika’s head was pounding. Every time she talked about this, she got a headache. “So all Valtaeigr are immortal, but not all of them are vampires. The Veithimathr are Draugr, but not all Draugr are Veithimathr, and not all Draugr are vessels.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So why isn’t Loki in a Draugr vessel?”

  “Well, that’s complicated.”

  “What isn’t?”

  Ingrid chuckled. “Loki was not in favor with Odin. In fact, he rarely ever was. He was prevented from melding with a Draugr soul for this reason. Loki is clever, though, and he found his own way to maintain his immortality.”

  She changed lanes abruptly. Nika was tempted to close her eyes. Ingrid kept talking while she drove.

  “He had long been worshipped and served by the Nøkken, who are shape shifters who used to live in waterways and lure people to untimely deaths. They are tricksters, like Loki himself, and usually up to no good. He went to them and they selected one of their number – I believe he was their chieftain’s son – to undergo the melding ritual. It worked.

  “The Nøkken can appear as anything in the world that they want to, and as anyone. Their native form is as a beautiful young man, the better to lure women to their deaths. They are not to be trusted, not at all. They consume humans, body and spirit. They are dangerous creatures.

  “Loki was banished from these lands by Odin after the melding rituals took place, and ever since then he has wandered the world. He wants nothing more than to reduce the Aesir and take his position on Odin’s throne, to take all of the gods’ power for himself. He wants to be king of the universe. He is ambitious, but he is not stupid. Odin watches and opposes him, and sometimes in the past that has been dire and painful for Loki. He would not have come back unless he had a very good reason to risk defying the All-Father.”

  “What do you think the reason is?”

  “I couldn’t begin to guess. But there is a way to find out.”

  “How?”

  She winked. “Magic.”

  “What kind of magic?”

  “I told you, the Valtaeigr can perform all kinds of sorcery,” Ingrid assured her. “You have much to learn.”

  They drove along in silence for a few minutes. “Where are we going?” Nika finally asked.

  “To my house. We’ll be safe there. Not even Loki would dare invade my space.”

  “I’ll take your word on it.”

  “Wise woman.” Ingrid smiled. “I like you already.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Things were starting to come together.

  Stenmark still hated him, of course, but that was unimportant. The important thing was that he was listening to Erik now, obeying his orders and accepting his instruction. The team behaved more like a cohesive unit, with the four humans falling into complementary roles that made the team stronger as a whole. He was proud of them.

  Major Ulvaeus called him to his office right after physical training. Erik took a fast shower and changed into a proper uniform before reporting to his commanding officer. When he arrived, another officer he did not know was in attendance.

  He came to attention and saluted. “Captain Thorvald as requested, sir.”

  Ulvaeus nodded. “At ease, captain. This is Kommendör Holm from Special Forces Command.”

  The commander was studying Erik with open curiosity and just a hint of hostility.

  “A pleasure, Kommendör,” Erik said.

  “Likewise,” replied Holm. “I’ve never met a Draugr face to face.”

  “Then that’s one thing you can strike off your bucket list, sir.”

  Ulvaeus chuckled. “Kommendör Holm, you will learn that Captain Thorvald has a very dry sense of humor.”

  Holm did not reply. Instead, he kept looking at Erik like a scientist with a new lab specimen. He was appraising the Draugr soldier, making judgments about his capabilities and his intentions. Erik had been studied like this before. Humans of power were always a bit askance when they first encountered one of their kind. The powerful disliked being introduced to someone more powerful than they. Erik bore the scrutiny with decorum, never breaking out of his parade rest.

  An awkward silence fell for a moment, and then Ulvaeus picked up the reins again.

  “As you know, we have been preparing your team to resume hunting rogue Draugr. According to your reports, they’re coming along well. Do you think they’re ready to go into the field for a live test?”

  Erik considered. “Well, sir, they’ve learned as much as they can here on the base. A live field test would be the logical next step.”

  Holm finally spoke up. “In two weeks’ time, the G8 will be having a summit in Stockholm. We absolutely must get all potential rogue vampires eliminated before the dignitaries arrive. I cannot stress enough the importance of this.”

  He was familiar with the G8, a political entity created from the eight largest economies in the world. The attendees at the G8 summits were generally the heads of state for the various countries. He could only imagine the damage that a Draugr with a bad attitude could do if he were able to kill or turn a sitting president or prime minister.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “SOG will be handling the security for the summit, along with the protective services from each of the different countries involved. It will be a logistical nightmare.” Holm already looked as if he’d been losing sleep. Erik was certain he’d be losing more before this event was over. “We cannot have any Draugr interfering.”

  “Sir,” Erik asked, “is there a particular Draugr that you were concerned about?”

  “Possibly.”

  Ulvaeus provided him with a dossier. Erik opened the folder and looked inside. The face in the photograph was lupine, with amber-brown eyes and a messy shock of red hair. The expression in his eyes was purely predatory.

  Erik thought the Draugr looked somewhat familiar, but he could not place any particular memories of him. Perhaps he had seen him in passing at some gathering. It was entirely possible they had encountered one another once before. The Draugr community was not as large as the human population, obviously. Predators were always outnumbered by the herds they hunted.