Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,15
try to find it.’
‘That’s your suggestion?’ Orus complained. ‘Just fly north?’
‘Do you have a better idea?’
The raven ruffled his feathers. ‘Well, no, not exactly.’
Suddenly a door behind her opened and two men emerged on to the roof. Their eyes flew open when they saw her.
‘What are you doing up here?’ a tall, dark-skinned man with greying hair demanded as he looked her up and down.
‘Yeah, kid,’ said the other. ‘How’d you get up here? The door was locked and the roof is off limits to the public.’ He was pale and much shorter and heavier than the first man. He had a thick beard and shaved head. His bare arms were covered in tattoos.
‘I flew here,’ Freya answered.
‘Sure you did, kid,’ the tattooed man challenged her. ‘And I’m the Easter Bunny. Now, get off this roof before I throw you off it.’
Freya was hit with the force of all the terrible things he had dove. Her Valkyrie senses could see beyond his exterior into what lay beneath. This was a dangerous man. In him, Freya recognized all the things she despised about the human race.
She opened her wings, drew her sword and advanced on him. ‘Are you threatening me?’
Their mouths dropped. The taller man fell instantly to his knees and lowered his head. ‘Please forgive me,’ he begged. ‘I meant no disrespect.’
It was the shorter man who she confronted. ‘I do not like people who threaten me. And I especially do not like men who hurt others for their own pleasure. You cannot hide what you are from me, human. I see right into your heart.’
‘What are you?’ he demanded.
‘Joe, get down on your knees,’ the taller man warned, and made to reach for him. ‘Can’t you see she’s an angel? Show some respect.’
‘That thing ain’t no angel,’ Joe insisted. ‘Angels ain’t got black wings and they don’t carry no swords or wear no armour. This is some kind of demon straight from the gates of hell.’ He focused his cruel eyes on Freya. ‘And that’s just where I’m sending it back to.’
Freya could feel his violent intentions long before he lunged at her.
‘I am not a demon!’ she fired as she stepped forward to meet his charge.
She knew she couldn’t touch him with her bare hands. One touch would reap him and risk sending him to Asgard. There could be no explaining that to Odin. Instead she moved quicker than his eye could follow and struck him in the jaw with the pummel of her sword.
He collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.
‘You,’ she said, pointing her sword at the taller man. ‘Rise. Tell me your name.’
He gained his feet, standing much taller than her, but kept his eyes cast down to the ground. ‘Curtis,’ he mumbled. ‘Curtis Banks.’
Freya could feel the fear coming from him. She put her sword back in its sheath. ‘Do not fear me, Curtis Banks; I am not here to hurt you. I need your help.’
Curtis’s dark eyes rose to hers. ‘How could I possibly help you? I’m just a simple man.’
‘A man who knows this area, I hope,’ Freya said.
‘I – I’ve lived in Chicago all my life.’ His voice trembled.
‘Can you tell me how to find a place called Lincolnwood?’
‘Lincolnwood?’ he repeated. ‘That’s not too far from here. No more than ten miles.’ He walked up to the edge of the building and pointed north. ‘It’s in that direction – you can almost see it from here. If you follow the Chicago river down below us, it passes right beside it. There’s a bus you can catch that will take you right there.’
‘I will find it, thank you,’ Freya said.
‘Who are you?’ Curtis asked timidly. ‘Why do you need to get to Lincolnwood?’
‘I cannot tell you who I am,’ Freya answered. ‘Just know that I am here to save a family who are in grave danger. I promised their dead father, a soldier, that I would protect them. They live in Lincolnwood.’
‘What kind of danger are they in?’
‘I don’t know. All I know is they are in trouble and there is no one to help them now that Tyrone is dead—’
‘Freya, stop! Don’t say any more,’ Orus warned her. ‘You are already risking too much speaking with him.’
‘Why?’ Freya turned to the raven.
‘He may tell others you are here. He could endanger you.’
‘He won’t. I can trust him. His heart is true.’
The raven sighed. ‘You are too trusting. First Loki and now this man. It will lead to no good.’