Under the Grave Read online

  All worry was gone as he came up to me and started to kiss me. I turned my head and kissed a soft line down the side of his throat before sinking my fangs into his flesh.

  He gasped and all his muscles tightened for a split second, then he relaxed into my arms and I held him between my body and a wall until I had my fill. He would be fine; all he would remember was making out with some strange woman right before she left him in an alley.

  Boude had done the same with one of the women I’d seen him with inside. We paid a cab driver to help them into the cab and drop them at the addresses listed on their licenses.

  Full and happy, we opened our eyes once more, back to the comfort and silence of Boude’s living room.

  Body after body, soul after soul… We had been making up for all of the time we lost while everything was in an uproar in the underworld, when Hades opening the doors had stopped people from dying in the living world for a few days. A lot of people die every day, so even just a brief pause caused us to get very backed up once things were moving again.

  Billy was digging beside me. He and Margaret were staying together almost every night now, and he was different. Not different in a bad way: he was more put together now, even when he was working. He had spent so much of his life alone, I was glad he had someone now.

  Soren and Billy had both dug up souls that hadn’t disappeared, so Soren offered to take them both into town to get assigned. I’m not sure if Billy or I was more surprised. Soren had definitely gotten more comfortable with going into town.

  Billy was whistling, and I found myself humming along.

  “Do you think you and Margaret will get married?” I asked out of the blue.

  He stopped whistling and pondered my question; he didn’t seem surprised that I had asked.

  “I’ve thought about it,” he said.

  “Do people get married here? I mean, now that I think about it, I haven’t heard of any weddings.”

  “If people plan to stay here, they can, or if they are moving on to the same place they might want to,” he told me.

  “That makes sense,” I said. “You told me once before you’d like to go to heaven. Is that still your plan?”

  Billy was a little quiet, and I realized I was probably being nosey.

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry—just talking,” I laughed, trying to ease the weighted mood I’d created.

  “No, you’re fine. It’s stuff I think about, but just don’t really say out loud.”

  “You don’t talk to Margaret about this sort of thing?” Now I was a little surprised.

  “Not a lot. I’m afraid if we have different ideas of where we’re going and what we want, that this won’t last. I’d rather just enjoy it while I can.” He shrugged.

  “I understand that, but isn’t it in the back of your mind even when you’re happy?” I asked.

  “A little, I guess.”

  “You should talk to her about it. The two of you seem to be on the same page about most things, anyway,” I suggested.

  “That’s a good point,” he agreed.

  I watched as a smile crept across his face.

  “What about you and Soren?”

  I gave him a look that said not to go down this road.

  He ignored it. “Do you think the two of you will get married?”

  “Ha!” I choked. “I don’t think he feels the same about marriage after his reunion with Eira—and what does forever even mean if you’re already dead?”

  “You’re awfully pessimistic about tying the knot for someone who wants me to do it,” he chuckled.

  “I didn’t say I wanted you to get married. I just asked if you were thinking about it.”

  “I left the two of you here to work!” Soren’s voice grumbled as he walked up to us. “I didn’t know you’d stand here and gossip.” He smiled as he came over to us and kissed me on the cheek.

  Billy and I ended our conversation, both feeling a little unsettled now, and resumed digging alongside Soren.

  I have such a great way with words…

  Hours passed and souls were reaped. Billy was the first to stop for a while, heading to his house to shower and change before going to have dinner with Margaret.

  After he left, Soren turned to me. “Do you want to go into town and have dinner together?”

  I kept shoveling while I said, “Sure, we can grab a bite. Let me finish this grave.”

  I felt Soren watching me. He walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. I stopped shoveling. “What is it?” I asked him.

  “No, I mean let’s get ready and go out for a nice dinner,” he said.

  “You mean like a fancy date?” I asked, unsure I was hearing him correctly.

  He smiled. “Yes, like a fancy date.”

  I raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “What’s brought this on?”

  “Women like to be treated special. It’s something we haven’t done before. I mean, we go out to grab food, but not like a date.” He had given this a lot of thought.

  I smiled at him. My introverted Viking wanted to take me on a fancy date, and I was pretty sure great sex was going to follow. There’s no way I was turning that down.

  “Of course I want to go on a fancy date with you.” I leaned towards him, and his lips met mine. “Would you mind finishing this grave for me? It’ll take me awhile to get ready.”

  Soren held his hand out for the shovel. I handed it to him and winked, before practically skipping to the house.

  I couldn’t recall if Soren had ever seen me looking truly nice or dressed up. He’d seen me outside of work clothes, sure, but not like I wanted to look tonight.

  I had a moment of near-panic, thinking there was nothing in my closet that was what I was hoping for, then I remembered a black dress that Grace and Andreas had insisted I take. It was absolutely not my usual style, much too fancy for anywhere that I would ever go. But I had seen it hanging in the boutique one day and tried it on on a whim. My friends had made such a big deal about how well it suited me, that I had kept it. Truthfully, it was even too nice for a fancy dinner. This was almost a ballroom dress—but what the hell.

  I showered, and put on a full face of makeup, with smokey eyes and a nude lipstick (so Soren could still kiss me). I curled my hair, and pinned it up loosely, and then put on my dress.

  It wasn’t me staring back from the mirror, it was a version of myself I didn’t recognize. She looked hot, though! More importantly, she looked happy.

  A knock came from my front door, and then it opened. “Are you ready, love?” Soren’s voice called through the small house.

  I stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the front of the house, a little nervous about him seeing me.

  Soren’s eyes flared with emotion, and he covered his mouth with his hand and then stroked his beard, but he said nothing.

  I was taken aback myself. Soren was standing there in a dark gray suit that looked as though it had been perfectly tailored to his body. The jacket was open, and he wasn’t wearing a tie, but his shiny black belt matched his shoes, and he had trimmed his beard so that is was perfectly neat.

  Neither of us had spoken, we were just staring at one another.

  I went to him, and he took my hands in his, looking me up and down. “My Hel, so incredibly beautiful. I just don’t have the words.”

  I kissed him lightly, the faintest brushing of lips. “My Viking cleans up nice,” I grinned, and rested my face against his neck, breathing him in.

  His big hands wrapped around the sides of my waist and I sighed.

  “Ya know, I’m not really hungry. We could just stay in,” I suggested.

  He gave a rich, warm laugh. “After all this work to get ready? I don’t think so.” He pulled my waist and hips towards himself even harder, and I could feel him through the slacks. He was as eager as me to get these clothes off. He cupped my face in his palm and stared into my eyes, “Let’s see how long we can stand it, hmm?”

  This was one challenge I didn’t care if I won.

  I was glad that I could still eat in the underworld. It would have been disappointing to have only sipped a glass of blood while watching Soren eat.

  There were still so many little places in the underworld that I hadn’t explored, and I was somehow always surprised by everything that was available. The restaurant Soren chose was lovely. The ambience was very romantic, with low lighting and candles on the table. A large crystal chandelier hung in the center of the dining room, and the servers wore impeccable uniforms. Soft violin music played, as the artist herself strolled around the room. I was not overdressed, and Soren should have worn a tie.

  I ordered herb roasted chicken and vegetables in a white wine sauce, and Soren was quite excited to find his favorite fish on the menu. We split a bottle of sauvignon blanc, and simply sat across from one another, smiling.

  The meal was delicious, and I had enjoyed every bite. I was also still ready to tear off Soren’s suit and have my way with him—again.

  “What now?” I asked. The food had sated one hunger, and it wasn’t my lust.

  “Now, we go dancing,” said Soren, with a grin that told me he knew exactly how sneaky he was being.

  “Dancing! Really?” I asked excitedly.

  Soren stood up and stepped beside my chair, holding out his hand to me.

  He didn’t take me far, just through the dining area of the restaurant and around the corner, into a room that was even more elegant than the one we had been in.

  The dance floor was black with swirls of gold running throughout. Another large chandelier hung overhead, only this one glittered and cast shadows across the room.

  A band stood on stage playing soft and easy music, while a beautiful woman with dark skin wearing a gold dress stood at the
microphone. Her voice was smooth and feminine, but had that depth that most women could never achieve—it made me want to drink scotch and smoke a cigar.

  Soren pulled me into his arms, and we glided across the dance floor with him leading me in every step and turn. Ray had taught me how to dance: we’d spent many afternoons in the cabin, listening to his old records and laughing as I stepped on his feet. He’d say, “Now, Hel, if you’d just let me lead, you wouldn’t even have to think about what to do next.”

  I smiled, as I followed Soren’s lead effortlessly. “Where did you learn to dance?”

  He dipped me, and said, “A man must have a few secrets.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and kissed him.

  Three women nearby caught my eye. I’d noticed them earlier in the dining area. When I looked directly at them, they looked perfectly normal—just pretty friends, out for a night of dinner and dancing. When they were out of focus and my eyes just caught glimpses, that’s when things were strange. I felt like I could see them watching me—like they were glaring at me—and in those moments, they were unsettling.

  One second, they appeared to be lovely young women, with long blonde hair, in pretty dresses. The next, they were old, with thin gray hair, dressed in rags, with faces that appeared more menacing than cheerful. They reminded me of the pained expressions I had seen in Hell.

  I stared at them until Soren kissed me again, and I decided that it was just the lighting playing tricks on me. I smiled at him, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes.

  “What’s wrong, my love?” he asked.

  “I think going to Hell left me with a few scars,” I told him.

  “I imagine it did. I know that I frequently have to pull you closer when we sleep because you have nightmares.” He pulled me in against him a little more, as if that’s what he was doing now.

  “Really?” I asked.

  He nodded. “You don’t remember them when you wake up, at least not that I can tell.”

  “I’m glad that I can’t,” I shivered.

  We kept dancing even closer and closer to one another, and if I pressed myself against him any harder we would have been indecent. “I’ve had a great time, but I kind of want to get out of here now.”

  “Are you surrendering to me?” Soren asked.

  “Always,” I grinned.

  “Yes,” he said with a sigh, “let’s get out of here.”

  “I’m going to go freshen up before we leave.” I kissed him again, and walked off to find the ladies room.

  The restroom was as luxurious as the rest of the place, decorated in shades of rose and gold. The entryway had a large pink couch, a dressing table with an ornate mirror, and plush rug on the floor. Once inside, the sinks were golden bowls on counters of white marble, and the lighting was soft and flattering. Three stalls were in the restroom, and the doors for them went from floor to ceiling, adding privacy and that touch of class that only toilets in the finer establishments had.

  I took my nude lipstick from my small clutch and leaned towards the mirror to re-apply it, as well as touch up my eyeliner—more out of habit than necessity. I had always been a fan of what eyeliner did for my eyes; now that I had the pupil-less eyes of a vampire, I liked it even more.

  I was just tucking my things back inside my bag, when all three stalls opened at the same time, and out stepped the three women who had been watching me.

  They were all much taller than they had appeared across the room—at least six feet tall each. The women were pretty, just as I’d seen them before, but I couldn’t help remembering how they had looked in my peripheral vision.

  They just stared at me in the mirror’s reflection, not speaking, or chatting, or moving forward to wash their hands. They had been waiting for me.

  I sighed, steadied myself, and turned to face them. “Do I know you?”

  “No, but you should,” the woman in the center replied.

  “I don’t recall meeting any of you.” My voice wasn’t the friendliest.

  “You wouldn’t,” said the one to the right.

  I couldn’t distinguish them from each other, yet they didn’t look exactly alike. It was the oddest thing. I wondered briefly if they were some of Rasputin’s lingering followers, but their eyes showed that they weren’t vampires.

  “You obviously know me. Can you please tell me what you want, so I can get back to my night?”

  The one in the center smiled. She wasn’t a vampire, but she wasn’t human. She didn’t move like a human.

  “We just thought it was time to make ourselves known,” she said.

  “Fine. Who are you?”

  “We are the Norns,” she introduced, holding her hands out to the other women at her sides.

  I felt a little shock of electricity in my stomach, but couldn’t understand what it was trying to tell me.

  “All of you? You don’t have individual names?” Maybe I was being slow, but “norns” wasn’t ringing any bells.

  “You’ll learn those in time. Enjoy your evening, we’ll be seeing you soon.”

  They moved towards the exit and their movements flowed into one another as they walked, timed perfectly so that there was almost no space between bodies. So strange.

  As the last one walked out the door, she turned back to me and said, “Be sure to tell Soren we said hello.” She winked, and closed the door.

  Her words left me with a knot in the pit of my stomach. How was Soren involved in this? Suddenly my overwhelming desire to get home and get naked was far away. I needed answers now.

  I couldn’t bear the thought that he had had something to do with these women and had kept it from me. He knew me well enough to know better than to keep secrets from me—and besides all of that, who were they, and what the fuck did they want?

  I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a grown-up, and for one of the first times I could recall, I felt old. So much for not aging after death. It was in that moment that I realized—age wasn’t crow’s feet, laugh lines, or dark circles under one’s eyes. Age was the accumulation of pain and joy: markings left on your soul that couldn’t be erased. It was a cruel irony that some of the most joyous moments of life were also the most painful to reflect upon.

  I sighed, and took a moment to admire myself: a vampire, daughter of Loki, a gravedigger, a reaper, a lover. When I died, I was sad that I would never see what I would become when I grew up. I had no idea that death would shape into this. I was so much stronger than I had ever imagined I would be. I didn’t want to face whatever was coming for me next. But I knew that I could, and that was good enough.

  Soren knew something was up when I came out of the restroom. He knew me, and was good at reading my expression.

  I walked up to him, cold and letting him feel the distance I wanted between us. “The Norns say hello.”

  His face stiffened, but he didn’t apologize or defend himself. He didn’t try to take my hand or distract me with a kiss. He held the door for me, and we walked quietly. We remained quiet all the way back home.

  The mood of the night was done. We walked inside my house, and Soren took off his suit jacket while I kicked off my shoes.

  “I’m going to make myself a drink. Do you want one?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He set my glass on the table, and for the first time in a long time, we sat across the table from each other instead of side by side on the bed.

  I took a small sip from my glass. The drink Soren had made me was good—smooth—but I didn’t want a big gulp of it. “How do you know them?” I asked.

  Soren finished his drink in one swig, and poured himself another from the bottle he had set on the table. I noticed he was drinking vodka; he was usually a whiskey guy. Normally I would have asked about the change, but not right now. I didn’t care what he drank.

  “I didn’t think it was anything at the time. Rather, I told myself it wasn’t anything,” he said.

  My train of thought shifted; not once had I thought that Soren would cheat on me—until this moment. Is that what this was about? I waited for him to go on, and tried to ready myself for whatever was coming next.

  “I had taken a soul to the Assignment Hall, and after I had the person in line, I turned to leave and there was a woman standing behind me—right behind me. When I tried to excuse myself and go around her, another woman stepped forward to block me, then another on the other side. I asked if they could move so I could be on my way, and they smiled. I knew they weren’t normal women—they were way too tall, and just looked… not right. They parted for me to walk between them, and as I moved, one put a hand on my shoulder. She said, ‘Soren, you should tell her she can’t win against fate.’” Soren paused, and took another drink of vodka. “I realized later that they must be the Norns.”