Erik and Gunnar searched the ground floor of the house, the upper floor with the bedrooms, and even the attic. There were signs everywhere of habitation, but the place was utterly vacant. There was no sign of Rolf or of the sword.
“Where is he?” Erik asked. Gunnar shook his head.
“I don’t know. He was supposed to meet us here. They certainly all cleared out…”
“Suspicious, isn’t it?”
Erik scanned the ceilings as he walked through the house, looking for the telltale signs of electronic surveillance. He could hear a soft whirring behind one door, but when he opened it, he found only a busily spinning clothes dryer on a timed cycle. He closed the door again.
“This feels all wrong,” he told Gunnar. “Let’s get out of here and regroup.”
They retreated to their vehicle, keeping their eyes on the skies, watching for the airborne return of their immortal enemies. They made it to the car unmolested and climbed in, keeping their weapons with them instead of returning them to the trunk. Erik threw the car into gear while Gunnar fired up his radio.
“Unit one to unit two, do you copy?”
A long moment of white noise ensued, then a crackling voice replied, “Unit two, copy. Go ahead, unit one.”
“Status?”
“All quiet. Dead man still dead.” Hrothgar sounded bored.
“Any word from Rolf?”
“No. Didn’t he make the rendezvous?”
“Negative. No contact.”
Hrothgar cursed colorfully in Old Norse. Erik nodded and muttered, “That’s what I’m sayin’.”
A thought occurred to him, and he took the radio out of Gunnar’s hand.
“Status on Diva?”
“She left here about an hour ago. Said she was going to lunch.” Hrothgar hesitated. “You know. Lunch.”
He meant that Astrid had gone to feed. Gunnar frowned. “In the middle of the day?”
Their colleague responded, “Hey, when the thirst hits…”
Erik frowned and handed the radio back to Gunnar, who told their friends, “Keep in touch with any changes.”
“Roger that.”
Gunnar put the radio away and looked at his partner. “Now what?”
He shook his head. “Everything feels wrong. This is… just…” He took a deep breath. “You don’t think Rolf switched sides, do you?”
“No. Absolutely not. He’d die first. We all would.”
“He said that the sword was there.”
“Yeah, well, it’s gone now…”
Erik scowled. “And so is he. Maybe he took it and ran when the house cleared out. But why wouldn’t he contact us? And why did the house clear out?”
It wasn’t unusual for a houseful of Draugr to empty at night, when they went out to hunt their human prey. During the day, though, they normally rested.
Gunnar fiddled with the dials on the radio and called out: “Unit one to unit three, over.”
There was no response. Erik drove them out of the suburban neighborhood and back toward the city. His partner tried again.
“Unit three, do you copy?”
The radio tweeted, and Astrid’s voice came through as steady and strong as if she were in the car. “Diva to unit one. Report.”
“This is unit one.” Erik shook his head sharply, and his companion amended what he had started to say. “Nothing to report. Heading out to the rendezvous site now.”
Erik nodded approvingly, and Gunnar warmed to his own lie.
Astrid’s response sounded very surprised. “You’re going just now?”
“Encountered some delays in the city,” he answered.
“Where are you now?”
Erik turned onto the eastbound lane of the local highway, and Gunnar said, “West bound to Hillsview. Three clicks to rendezvous.”
“Very well.” She sounded nonplussed. “Report back with what you encounter.”
“Roger that.” He turned the radio off. “She’s gone over to them.”
Erik nodded. “So it seems. She always was ambitious – I guess having the sword so close was more than she could stand. I’ll bet she had Rolf bring the sword to her.” He glanced at his partner. “Let’s go check her hotel room.”
***
Nika awoke to find herself bound at the ankles and wrists, lying on her side in the back seat of a limousine. Astrid was sitting on the seat facing her, her back to the driver, a wicked-looking dagger in her hand.
“Good morning, princess,” she greeted coldly. “So good of you to join us.”
In the rearview mirror, Nika could see that the woman Erik had called Sigrunn was driving the car. She tugged against her restraints but was held fast. She lay still again.
“You could have just invited me to take a drive with you,” she said, her mouth dry. “You didn’t have to choke me out.”
“You were hysterical. You would never have come without making a huge scene,” Astrid sniffed. “Honestly, I’m disappointed in you. I would have thought that a god’s vessel would have more intestinal fortitude.”
Nika scowled. “Well, pardon me. It was my first vampire attack.”
Sigrunn chuckled. “Won’t be your last.”
“Hush.” The reprimand was gently spoken, and it was received with a shrug. Astrid crossed her legs and leaned back, studying Nika. “He has had sex with you. I can smell it.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” She swung her foot idly. “I honestly don’t care where my husband sows his seed.”
She felt punched in the stomach. “Husband?”
“Yes,” she smiled. “Didn’t he tell you? Oh, well. I’m sure there’s a great deal he hasn’t told you yet. He’s full of secrets, our Erik.”
She should have known. It had been too good to be true. She closed her eyes. “Apparently.”
“He’s given your field a good plowing, but he hasn’t chosen you. Odd, considering.”
Her voice was flat. “Considering what?”
“Considering who you are to him.”
“And what’s that?”
Astrid chuckled. “Oh, my dear, if he hasn’t told you, then I’m certainly not going to say a word. I’ll leave that to you two love birds to sort out.”
She looked away from the other woman’s gloating expression, casting her gaze out the window. From her vantage point, she could see only electrical wires and the tops of trees. There were no buildings.
“We’re not in the city any longer.”
“No.”
Sigrunn volunteered, “We’re taking you someplace special.”
Whatever that meant, Nika decided that it couldn’t have been anything good. She pulled against her bonds again.
“It’s no use,” Astrid told her. “You’re not going to break free. You might as well just enjoy the ride, little Valtaeigr.”
“I thought you were Valtaeigr, too.”
“Yes,” she nodded, “but soon I’ll be so much more. You’ll help me with that, I hope.”
Nika looked away and stayed silent.
***
The entire team from Stockholm was staying in the same hotel, with rooms on the same corridor. Erik and Gunnar went directly to Astrid’s room.
“Do you have a key?” his partner asked.
Erik shook his head. “No. And I don’t need one.” He grasped the door handle and turned it with all of his strength. The mechanism within the lock shattered, and the door swung open.
He could sense the sword immediately. It took no time at all to find it, wrapped in a velvet cloth and tucked beneath the pillows of the bed. As soon as he picked it up, the runes in the blade flared and shifted, changing before their eyes.
The nonsense message that had been etched into the blade changed while they watched, the runes flowing together and changing until they spelled out a very legible message: What was lost has been found.
“By Odin,” Gunnar breathed.
The spot on the cross piece where the Sálsteinn should have been was a dull spot in the middle of the green glow from the runes. The void was dark and foreboding, and Erik was suddenly filled with the conviction that Nika was in danger.
“Go to the vault,” he told his partner. “They’re going to come for Hakon, and we can’t let them take him.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get the Soul Stone.” He tightened his grip on the sword. “May the gods smile on us all.”