Loki raised both his hands. “Peace, Wanderer, I didn’t come here to fight you.”
Lightning flashed down from the dark sky to illuminate Loki’s body in incandescence. Rafe held the tat aglow for a dozen or more seconds before the local charge petered out. He bent and took his knife from his boot. As he drew it, the silvery metal lengthened and widened into a katana.
As Rafe stepped forward, raising the sword over his head, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I could see Loki was still standing there, unharmed.
Loki made a show of brushing his hands against his sleeves as if brushing off dust. “Really, Wanderer? Lightning? You understand that my brother is the god of thunder, right? I learned how to handle his power millennia ago.”
Rafe closed the distance and swung his sword down in an arc that should have split Loki from neck to crotch. The blade hit the god’s armor and stopped as if it had struck an Abrams battle tank.
“Enough of this, Raphael,” Loki said. He caught Rafe’s wrists in his hands and held my mentor still. “You don’t have the power to hurt me. I don’t understand this hostility. You were pleasant enough the last time we met.”
I felt like I should be helping Rafe, but sheesh; it was Loki. The god had given me the amulet that had sped my healing. Why was Rafe so upset with him? Then I understood.
Rafe snarled. “If it hadn’t been for you I might have been able to prevent the shade from taking Laura.”
Rafe’s face was less than a foot from Loki’s. His face was reddening as he strained against the god’s power.
“Who? Oh, yes, the woman who bore your son. Well, you’re the one who killed her Wanderer. Why are you upset with me?”
“You delayed me you bastard. It took me hours to get back from where you transported me. If I’d been there, the shade would never have taken her. She’s dead because of you.”
Rafe pulled back out of Loki’s grasp, and his sword began to glow, black.
Oh, shit!
Loki’s expression changed to one of concern for the first time. He took a step back, drew his own sword, and prepared himself. “Think about what you’re doing, Wanderer. Do you seriously mean to attack me with night magic? You are supposed to be one of the good guys.”
“Rafe, are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked.
Rafe ignored my question just as he had ignored Loki’s.
A writhing black mass stretched out from Rafe’s blade. It was the spell I’d seen him use on some of our most recent attackers, but this time, it surged and throbbed as though the spell were alive. It reached out from his blade, groping toward Loki, and I saw Loki’s face pale. The god lowered his sword and in an instant, vanished.
Rafe swore loudly and vehemently. The black mass was absorbed back into his katana, and then Rafe changed it back into a tantō and sheathed it in his right boot.
For a full minute, neither of us moved. I was breathing hard, my body shaking with an adrenaline rush that had flooded my system with the onset of a fight or flight response much greater than the one which had hit me during the battle. At least then, I’d had the fight to burn off the adrenaline, but now…
Rafe’s shoulders were shaking and I walked, hesitantly toward him. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and felt for his mind. Shortly, I felt him opening up to me. He was much more upset than I was. He was going through his own fight or flight response, but while mine was from fear of Rafe’s safety, his was from pure rage. I’d never seen him so angry, not even after Laura’s death.
As we meshed, I tried to soothe his emotions as he had so often soothed mine. I was unsure of the exact technique, but I tried to send him love and comfort. After a minute or two, he turned toward me. His arms embraced me and his cheek leaned into my cheek. There was dampness on his skin. We held the embrace for long minutes until our hearts were beating at a reasonable level. Then Rafe turned his head, and my lips met his. The kiss was warm and tender and contained none of our usual passion.
Rafe pulled back, breaking the kiss and staring into my eyes. His brown eyes were moist, but then he blinked away the tears and gave me a weak smile. “I’m sorry, Tess. I guess I sort of lost it.”
“I understand. I just didn’t know you blamed Loki for what he did. Do you really believe that you would have gotten back in time to save Laura if not for him?”
His smile broke into a deep frown. He tried to pull back, but I held tight. He gave up without struggling against me and responded, “Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe the shade would still have possessed her even if Loki hadn’t delayed me. I–”
He stopped suddenly. I could feel the change that was coming over him through our meshing.
“Hell, I–I want it to be his fault. I want to have someone besides myself to blame for Laura’s death.”
“But you don’t really think his delaying was deliberate, just to keep you away from Laura until the shade had her?” I asked.
Rafe shook his head slowly. “No, if I thought that I would have tried to follow him through whatever portal he opened to escape. I think Beast could have tracked him for me.” He shook his head again. “No, I don’t think Loki is that evil. He’s a trickster. Someone who manipulates others for his own gain, but I don’t think he’s evil.”
“If he comes back are you going to attack him again?” I asked as I noticed movement between our familiars and us. I kept my eyes on Rafe’s and waited for his response.
He sighed deeply
