Owner (Blood Brotherhood 2)

I step in something cold. Something wet. Something that makes me feel the grip of pure ice that turns oddly and nearly immediately to a perverse sense of warmth.

I’m sliding.

Slipping.

Going…

Gone.

Thor

I have been unspeakably stupid. I was so obsessed with the question of the hammer and why it works for Anita, I couldn’t see that I loved her. That was always at the core of it. Love at first sight. It was simple. I was too stupid to know it.

I knew I lusted after her, but she was so distracting, so challenging, so obnoxious it felt as though she could not possibly truly be a part of me. Someone I loved. Someone who meant more to me than life itself.

I brought her here for clarity. Now I have clarity, but I don’t have her. And it was all so obvious all along. From the moment our eyes first met and I felt not only the tingle of electric connection but the hand of fate upon me.

All she wanted was to be wanted. I see that now. I see so many yearnings and needs hidden in her horrific behavior. Every time she taunted me, she was begging for my attention, and every time she got it, she submitted perfectly. But I didn't see it. I saw a problem. I saw a pain. An obstacle.

“ANITA!” I scream her name to the night, but there is no response. She could be anywhere. I can't feel her. I can’t feel anything besides regret. The longer my search goes on, the worse I feel about it. There's something permanent in the air, something irreversible. It is one of those nights on which tragedies happen.

“Thor!” It is Skathi’s voice hailing me. I don’t want to hear her voice now. I want to hear Anita’s. For reasons I cannot put into language, hearing the goddess’ voice in the night is like the tolling of a bell that cannot be unrung.

I run toward her, desperate.

"She's gone, Thor.”

“NO!”

Anita is wet and blue, and blue is not a good color for people. She has been pulled from the water of the pond by my mother’s hand, just as I once was. But she is not being born anew. She is lying still. She is absent.

“Did she do this on purpose?” I ask.

“The pond was covered in leaves and snow. She didn't even know she was on ice, let alone thin ice. Poor thing.” There is great pity and sadness in my mother's voice.

“Save her, Skathi. Please.” I am begging her, but I already know she is going to refuse. If she were to save Anita, she would have already done so. Instead, she lets the girl lie there like so much frozen meat.

Skathi looks at me. “I can't save her, Thor. Not the way I saved you. Whatever I might bring back will not be what was lost.” She reaches for me with her cold hand. “I think it is time you learned what I have learned. Sometimes, it is best to let what is gone, go.”

13

Anita

I’m so fucking warm. Hot, even. I’m swimming about in a thick, viscous material. Contrary to the experience of my physical form, I didn't fall into a freezing Norwegian lake. I fell into a lake of fire. But I’m not burning. I’m not suffering at all. I’m just… me. After a few minutes of generally swimming about, I hear a voice calling for me.

“Anita!”

“ANITA!”

I paddle over to the edge of the lake and climb out. Someone is waiting for me. Someone tall, dark, and handsome. I don’t recognize him, or perhaps I do? He has pale skin, dark hair, and the cutest little horns poking out between his curling locks. He’s obviously not human — and obviously nor am I.

“Welcome home.”

“Home?”

“It’s so cute when they forget," he says to nobody in particular. He smiles. “I’m Noah.”

“You're a demon with a biblical name?”

“Technically, all demons have biblical names. Though you’ve always chosen differently, Anita.”

“You know me?”

“We all know you. Like I said. You're home.”

“I don’t remember coming from here.” I look down at myself. I am dripping lava in a very unconcerned way. I should really be melting into nothing, turning into an eternal shriek. But I’m not. I’m just here. Me.

“Nobody remembers where they come from. Now come. There are a lot of souls who have missed you in the twenty-six years since you left us. You’ll start to remember as you settle in.”

“There's someone I'd really like to get back to…"

The demon Noah shakes his head emphatically. “Can't do that, I’m afraid. You get one chance at a life every three hundred years. Those are the rules. You get slain or trip into a bath with a toaster, you have to wait your turn again. We can’t have the whole planet becoming demon infested. It's bad for their environment.”