Page 14 of Stolen By the Berserker

She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and opened the door.

The motion detection flood lights illuminated her front yard, where Sten stood surrounded by three of the freaky creatures. It had turned dark already. She had been passed out for a while.

The monsters looked like clones of each other, and there was something off about their movements. She thought the thing in the window wore a mask, but now realized these creatures weren’t human. They looked like they could be, but every hair on her body stood straight up and she just knew their DNA differed from hers. The insight made her shocked brain seize up.

One creature charged Sten with its claws raised. He side-stepped, and the monster’s down swipe hit nothing but air. Cassie remembered seeing gouges on Sten’s chest when she ripped off his t-shirt. She now knew how he’d gotten those wounds along. She bet the pattern perfectly matched the distance between these creatures’ talons.

Cassie forced herself to take a step forward. Her shoes scuffed the wooden boards of the wraparound porch. One monster turned around, those black orbs of eyes filled with malice. It moved toward her, and she instinctually pumped the bolt handle of the gun and chambered a slug. She placed the stock against her shoulder and stared down the sight at the creature. “Get the hell off my property.”

“Pretty woman,” the freak hissed, and kept coming. “Did I sow some discord between you and yoursjälsfrändewhen I made him think you’d betrayed him?” It moved quicker than anything Cassie had ever seen.

She didn’t think. On instinct, she pressed the bolt lock button and then fired.

The shot propelled the creature several feet away from the house and left an enormous gaping hole in its chest. She’d gone for center mass, just like her grandmother had taught her.

Her grandmother,the Valkyrie, apparently. She shook her head. She’d have to think about that insanity later.

The other two creatures and Sten stared at her. She pumped the gun again. “Anyone else want to play?”

Sten shook himself out of whatever stupor he’d entered and buried his knife in the creature's neck closest to him. The other freak screamed in high-pitched rage and shredded the back of Sten’s shirt with its claws. It wrapped an arm around Sten’s neck and lifted the other to skewer the Swede.

Cassie couldn’t get a clean shot, so she ran down the stairs and rammed the butt of the gun into the temple of the creature. It loosened its grip and instead turned on her.

Shit, it was too close to her. There wasn’t any room to maneuver the gun.

Sten pulled his knife out of the neck of the creature he’d killed.

The wet sucking noise made Cassie want to retch.

Before she’d even started the first gag reflex, Sten had buried the knife in the other freak’s neck. It sunk to the ground, and Sten bent over its body and sawed a vast gap in the front of its neck.

He turned and did the same to the one he’d first stabbed and then walked over and repeated the action on the creature Cassie had shot. He stood, holding the knife by his side as blood dripped from its blade. “We need to talk,” he said, his eyes flat.

“No shit.” Cassie turned and walked back into the house.

She kept the gun with her as she poured herself a tall glass of her grandmother’s medicinal brandy. She knocked back a large mouthful and then coughed as the amber liquid burned its way down her throat.

Sten closed the door behind him but remained in the entryway as he watched her. “Will your neighbors have called the cops when they heard the gunshot?”

“The closest house is far enough away that they probably didn’t hear it. And if they did, they’d assume I was shooting raccoons or coyotes.” She held up the brandy glass. “Want some.”

“I’m good.” He walked closer and reached out his hand as if to touch her, but let it drop back down again. “I brought danger to your door. For that, I am very sorry.”

Cassie stared at him. “Those creatures followed you here?”

He nodded, grimaced, and rolled a shoulder, making him wince.

She put down her glass. “I need to clean your wounds.” She retrieved her first aid kit from the kitchen. She insisted he’d sit down and bullied Sten into taking his shirt off. He had three long furrows down his back. She slathered them in antibacterial gel and leaned in for a closer look. They were already on their way to healing. What the fuck was going on? Cassie took a step back and grabbed her gun.

Sten turned around, a puzzled look on his face, and then his gaze landed on the gun. “I would never hurt you.” He sounded disappointed in her.

She snorted. “You came barreling in here not so long ago, shouting about betrayal and selling you out. Sounded like you wanted to hurt me plenty.”

“I would never have physically hurt you,” he insisted. “I’m here to protect all mortals in Midgard.”

More gobbledygook. She shook her head. “You’re not human either.”

He sighed. “Not completely, but I still have my humanity.”

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