The sun had nearly touched the earth once again as we left the studio, Kili and I wished our new friends a farewell.
"Wow, a whole day of tattooing almost." Kili said as he looked at the time. I touched my back were the ink had penetrated my skin, the once sore skin was now healed and smooth. My healing was abnormally fast, perk of being a God. As we begun walking back to the hotel I wondered what the others had been up to today. Kili was telling me a story of his new lady friend when a presence caught my attention, I froze on the spot. It felt as if the world had stopped and I was floating, my eyes scanned the crowds for what was causing this trickery.
"Freydis..." A distant but familiar voice whispered. My eyes finally found the figure as my vision slightly blurred.
"Odin?" I asked myself. He stood by an alley way, hooded in dark robes with a large hat, with his large spear used as a walking stick. His ravens Huginn and Muninn sat on his shoulders and called out as he slowly turned and begun walking down the dark alley way. I begun walking towards my creator in a dizzy like state, across the quiet road and down the alley way. It was dark and cold, Odin stood at the end of the alley and looked at the ground where his ravens peaked and picked at the ground. As I got closer I found a body laying on the ground, the ravens peaked at his face where a black like flesh was forming.
"Dark Knight!" I yelled as I saw a transformation happening before me, this man had been tricked into coming into this alley way to become a host. My mind became clear and my vision cleared, Odin no longer stood by my side with his ravens, Kili came running down the alley way.
"Freya what the hell? You walked out in front of traffic!" Kili yelled as he jogged towards me.
"What is your problem..." He trailed off once he saw the body on the ground.
"I saw Odin, Kili. He led me here to this man. He has become a host, the black flesh on his face will spread soon and quickly. We needed to capture a Knight to show the humans? This is the man." I said as we both looked at the man before us. Kili pulled his phone out, he tapped a few buttons and placed it to his eat, I looked at him curiously.
"I'm calling Fiona, we need a car brought to us so we can take this man to the safe house." Kili said.
"Hey Fiona its me, can you meet me at this location? I'll send the pin to you, bring the car and the boys. Thanks." Kili put the phone back into his pocket once he was done. I knelt down and looked at the man before me, he was young, late 20s maybe. He dressed poorly and his face was drained off life, his body was thin and sickly. I looked at the gaping wound is his chest, what ever Knight did this, killed the man for the next Knight. An easier transition.
"He was either a drug addict or alcoholic, he may have been both." Kili said as he observed the man.
"Its possible he was poor from the addictions, he seeked a way to make more money or drugs. He was an easy target for the Knights." Kili said, I felt sympathy for the man. Nobody deserved a dishonourable death like this, scared, seeking power and greed to fuel their addiction. I looked at the black flesh on his face that was growing quickly, it would take about 3 days for the transformation to be complete. Soon he would be completely and utterly at his masters rule, I wanted nothing more to find out who it was. As soon as he was presented to the humans, I would see that he had a quick death and a funeral. As I rose to my feet, a car pulled into the alley way quickly, once the car stopped I could clearly see it was Fiona and the boys. Keon was out the car first and by my side.
"By Odin's beard, it's been sometime since I have I have witnessed a transformation. Judging by the size of it, it would of only happened a short time ago. How did you come by this?" Keon asked.
"Kili and I went to the tattoo parlour for the day, on our way home I saw Odin wandering. He led me here then disappeared." I said.
"The Gods are on our side, they want to see this put to past as well, good." Keon said as he walked to Kili and spoke quietly.
"You spent the day with Kili?" Vili asked as he stood by my side, crossing his large tattooed arms and staring at the body before us.
"Yes, I was going regardless. We bumped in the hallway and he showed me the way, we got coffee then tattoos, shared some stories with mortals before we came by this. Kili showed me some, interesting, things today." I said as I looked back at Fiona who was speaking with Keon and Kili, as much as I wanted to tell Vili of this it was not my place to do so.
"So, you copied me and got a tattoo?" Vili asked with a smile.
"You gave me the idea yes." I admitted.
"You've been looking at them? All of them?" He asked as he stared down at me with bold blue eyes, I avoided them at every cost. But I thought, why can't I play too? I turned and faced him, my brown eyes met his.
"Every, single, one of them. They suit you well." I said as I leaned into him, his eyes lit up with curiosity.
"Alright, lets load this body up." Keon said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. We all grabbed a body part while Fiona grabbed the boot of the car. We placed the body inside and closed the boot, we all silently got into the car and drove off. Kili and I sat in the front as Keon, Vili and Fiona sat in the back. The drive was longer than usual, the traffic was heavy through the city, but we were soon on the dirt road into the woods were the safe house was. As we pulled up Bjorn and two warriors walked out, they looked tired and worn out as if we had just woken them from a sleep.
"Tired brother?" Vili said as he approached Bjorn and gave him a arm shake.
"Some of us enjoy sleep Vili, rather than battling and drinking." Bjorn said with a smile, Vili and Kili laughed. As Fiona opened the boot to the car, Keon and I grabbed the man out and carried his body inside.
"Upstairs, first door on the left." Bjorn called after us. When we entered the room it was empty besides a bed that was in the centre, similar to the one in the tattoo parlour but it had chains and shackles. We placed the body on the bed and the room soon filled with people, the warriors strapped the mans arms and legs down, a necessary precaution. The Knights are dangerous.
"I've never seen this transformation so early, good find Freya." Bjorn said as he observed the man before us.
"The transformation will be complete soon. The leaders have agreed to meet us, I arranged the meeting to take place in Norway. The field we chose for battle seems to be a good place to meet the humans, they are hesitant and we will need to go with caution." Bjorn said as he looked at us. Our team was small but strong, with Bjorn's analysis their weapons won't ever be strong enough to hurt us, so whatever they did, this could only go one way.
"They meeting will take place in two days time, I advise you all go home, rest. Tomorrow you will fly to Norway in preparation to meet the leaders. If we time it right, the man will be fully formed by then." Bjorn said as we exited the room and headed outside. We all said goodbyes as we got into the car and headed home. I rested my head against the window as we drove, I needed to work out a plan for what we were going to tell the humans. I needed to make them believe what was threatening the human race, they needed to understand, even if it scared them. The sun had set as we made it back to the hotel, I was starved.
"Dinner will be ready in your rooms, I pre-ordered everything for you guys." Kili said as we all exited the car and walked inside. Before we reached the elevator, a young woman approached Kili and gave him a large hug. They smiled and shared a kiss, it must be the daughter of the building owner.
"I'll see you all tomorrow, don't be late!" Kili called as we all jumped into the elevator and he walked back outside with the woman. As the elevator took us up, the first stop was Fiona's floor. She looked back at us all and smiled.
"I'll see you all tomorrow." She said as she hoped off and walked into the hall to her chambers. The elevator continued the climb up. At our floor we all silent walked to our chambers.
"Good job today Freya, soon this meeting will take place. Shortly after, we will begin preparing for a battle. Rest, it may be the last decent rest you get for awhile." Keon said quietly, I could immediately sense his distress. His mind was wandering to the wars to come, he was anxious, a very unusable trait for Keon to feel before a battle. He smiled and headed to his chambers as Vili and I walked into ours, set on the table was masses of food. Vili and I looked at each other with a smile, this would all be gone within 10 minutes.
"I don't know how I feel about this wine, mead will always have my heart." Vili said as he took the last mouth full of his drink.
"Stop being a grump, its better than no drink." I said as I sipped on my own. I stood up and headed to the bath house for a shower. After I had showered and got into another thin white night gown, similar to the one the night before, I jumped into bed and decided to put Game of Thrones on. As I got comfortable and very much into my show, Vili walked in wearing nothing but his short pants. Without saying a word, he climbed into the other side of the bed and got comfortable.
"Uh, what are you doing?" I asked.
"I can't sleep, I always slept better with you. We've done this before so hush." Vili said as he left me speechless and with my jaw dropped.
"Yes but after we drowned ourselves in mead and were fully clothed." I argued.
"Whats a bit of skin to skin contact among friends." Vili said as he looked over at me and smiled with a devilish smile. I rolled my eyes and focused back onto my show, I didn't want to miss a thing. After the episode finished and the next one was about to start, Vili laughed to himself.
"Why do humans watch such a strange show." He laughed.
"Well, I enjoy it. It passes the time." I said as I looked at the time, 11pm.
"There much better things to do than watching this." Vili said in huff.
"Like what? What could beat this?" I asked as I looked down at him, a tiny smile pulled at his mouth as he thought for a moment. After awhile he looked back at me, his blue eyes full of mischief. After a moment I clued on to what he implied.
"You are disgusting." I said as I pushed his face away so he couldn't look at me as he laughed.
"Don't mock something you have never tried." He laughed as he swatted my hands away, I proceeded to lock my arms around him in a chock hold as he begun to squirm. The tighter I pulled, the more he laughed, the berserker in him was crazy, they loved pain and battle. They longed for it. We begun to wrestle like two young children, fists connected with body parts as we tried to pin and hurt one another, we laughed as we played.
"You cannot best me Freya." Vili said as he got behind me and got a headlock, he was good but not good enough.
"You cannot best the beast." I said as I connected my elbows with his ribs, he let out a gasp of air and laughter as I did. As I tried to escape, Vili caught me and threw me against the bed, my head colliding with the wooden head board. As I took a moment to rub my head, Vili jumped on top of my body and in between my legs, crushing my body. As he used his massive body as an advantage, I wriggled trying to escape.
"Okay Vili!" I shouted as he continued to pin me. He propped himself up onto his arms and looked down at me. The ruffled black hair on his head was a mess, his black beard messed up and his blue hooded eyes stayed on me.
"Are you saying you submit to me?" Vili asked with a smile. I was about to admit when I realised how we were laying. Vili was between my legs and had me pinned, we wore almost nothing as our skin touched, his face was inches from mine. This could go two ways, sensing my hesitation, Vili noticed what my mind was thinking. The playfulness in his eyes became lust, his free hand touched the side of my face softly.
"Freya." He whispered, I leaned up and planted my lips on his. He instantly returned the kiss as he leaned into me, our tongues intertwined as me kissed passionately. The further he deepened the kiss the more growls would erupt from his chest, his berserker side was not a gentle man, it was posssive and rough. The more we kissed, the more he touched and grabbed. His hand reached my hair and grabbed a fist full, turning my head to the side as he latched onto my neck. I made all sorts of noises as he did, my body become static and wet as he did. My mind begun to think, this was it, we were going to become one, but the sensation soon ended when Vili slowly stopped. He looked down at me, there was restraint in his eyes, why would he end a moment like this? I thought he wanted it too.
"I want you Freya, but not like this. Not in these foreign lands. I will take you in our homelands were the Gods can bare witness to our binding." He said as he kissed my swollen lips once again. He climbed off my body and pulled me into an embrace, he held my body from behind.
"Sleep my Queen, you need it." Vili said as my flustered mind began to drift.