Chapter 16

Odin sifted through the emotions he was getting from Freyja through the Link. They didn’t even come close to matching what he expected. He thought she’d be angry about how he had left the morgue. Certainly, she should be upset he had eaten three bodies while he was waiting in the cooler. There was still a chance she had missed that he had fed on the other corpses. They had strengthened his powers, but he still doubted he could win against her in a one on one fight. He wanted to keep that information from her, of course. If he had to face her he needed to have every advantage he could get. Secretly eating other people would certainly help.

“I don’t care,” Freyja said after a few minutes of silently driving through the night.

“Hrmm?” Odin chirped.

“I don’t care that you ate some other bodies. Honestly, it’ll help hide the fact that you ate the Old Man. I should feel bad for the families of the people you ate, but we’ve got other problems to deal with right now,” she explained.

“You...the Link, of course.”

“Didn’t mean to read your mind. You just think very loudly.”

“I do not believe I could defeat you.”

“I gathered that,” she said as she turned the car into the driveway of the Armory. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want to fight you. I think we should work together.”

“Against the Hive.”

She parked the car and cut the engine. “It’s not like you even want to invade and take over the Earth anyway, right?”

He got to his feet and stretched. Going against the Hive would be spitting on tradition, but then...what if their tradition had been built on lies?

Could Follower have lived?

Could Odin have gone back to him after this mission on Earth?

He had left Follower’s brain in such a way as to spare his Host any pain. The wounds he left were microscopic and easily healed even without shapeshifting. Follower hadn’t been as sharp as Freyja, but he had experienced what it was like to change form. It was possible he could have even understood how to heal himself if needed.

“You gonna sulk in the car all night?” Freyja asked as she leaned in through the open driver's side door.

She had exited the car while Odin was lost in his own head. She also had her backpack with her, which meant she had accessed the back seat to retrieve it without him noticing. If she wanted to kill him she could have done so any number of times in the last ten minutes alone. But he didn't sense any hostility from her at all.

Odin stepped over the center console and onto the trash bags that covered the seat. He hated the sound and texture of the plastic against his paws enough to hurry himself out of the vehicle onto the rough crushed rock of the driveway. The Human wordlessly shut the door and locked it. He wanted to be the leader. She was his Spark, not his boss. So, Odin ran ahead of her to the Armory, that is until Freyja called out to him.

“Wait, Odin, stop!”

He froze.

The hairs on his back stood on end. There, in the Link, was another mind beyond Freyja’s and his own that he had missed because he was so distracted lamenting the death of his former Host. Another member of the Hive was nearby, and getting closer. They were traveling from his left. He looked that direction, peering into the darkness of the back yard just as Freyja stepped over him and stared in the same direction. He didn't get the sense that she was doing so to protect him, but to assist him if necessary. Which felt strangely calming.

“Light colored cat with speckles,” she said.

Human eyes were not good enough to see that well given the dim light in front of the Armory. She had to have shapeshifted them to see what was coming. Surely enough, a small cat that was mostly white, with light cream and orange spots hopped over the fence and into the grass. They padded over, stopping on the crushed rock path that went between the buildings.

You’re alive, the young cat said via the Link as they sat down.

I am, Odin replied forcefully.

The little cat shot Freyja a look. You have a hostage?

I-

I'm the one with a hostage, Freyja cut Odin off. Want to join him?

The stranger jumped to their feet, arching their back and hissing. Disgust rolled off them through the Link. It was so strong that Odin wanted to sever the connection entirely, but he stood his ground, keeping his mind open to bear it.

How dare you allow your Spark to live!

He didn’t have much of a choice, Freyja replied. I don’t really want to kill you either, but I will if I have to.

You’ll let me live as your pet? How are you even standing? You should have succumbed to madness! The stranger hissed again while turning sideways. Their back bulged far more than was natural for a cat, but stopped just short of transforming into anything else.

Odin stepped forward. Please. I am not a hostage. We are allies.

Freyja let out a huff but didn’t contradict him.

Were you sent to take this arms cache? Odin asked.

Yes. After it was reported you had perished, the stranger said, their fur smoothing back down. They were still ready to fight. Odin didn't particularly want to see what Freyja would do if the stranger struck first. He could feel she had been serious about killing the newcomer.

I’m not keeping him from the weapons, Freyja said.

What? But you said he was your hostage.

She did, but she was getting ahead of herself. This Human has allied herself with me, Odin explained.

He didn’t need to explain that didn’t mean she supported the Hive, however. One or both of them was about to kill this stranger anyway, so, it didn’t really matter much. Did it?

When did they tell you he failed? Freyja asked.

The stranger calmed enough to sit, albeit still with tense muscles, ready for a fight. Three days ago, before I was dispatched.

“What?” Odin said out loud.

You dare speak audibly?

“Easy now,” Freyja said. She crouched down next to Odin. “That was before you even got here, right?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Someone will see you speaking!

“So, they wrote you off before you even had a chance to do your mission? That’s even worse than I thought,” she said as she held her chin while thinking.

“It is...disconcerting,” Odin agreed with a sigh.

Do not ignore me.

“What now?” Freyja asked.

“Check to see if they’re telling the truth,” Odin said.

He could try to force his way into the mind of the stranger himself, yes, but he wanted to see if Freyja was as capable of telepathically overpowering another member of the Hive as she was at overpowering him. All she did was look at the stranger, narrow her eyes, then suck air through her teeth for a moment.

“Hmm, yeah. Dude was told before he even left his last Host that you had failed and died. You guys really just plop into a funnel thing and trust no one’s going to flush you down a toilet?”

The stranger jumped to his feet and hissed again.

Odin ignored him, as he poked around in Freyja’s mind to check the memories she had just read. The dates were unmistakable. The Hive had told this stranger Odin had not only failed, but died well before he was even aboard his current Host.

They planned for me to die.

He momentarily tensed a little when Freyja gently pet his head, scratching him behind his ears. It was soothing, so he didn’t do anything to make her stop.

“You wanna kill this guy or should I?” Freyja asked nonchalantly. “I mean, I’ll feel bad about the cat he’s in but based on his memories he took even less time to kill his Host’s mind than you did. Nothing left of Sprinkles except the worm piloting his body and ugh, didn’t need to see that."

How are you in my mind?!

“You know the stories of the gods, yes?” Odin asked.

The stranger hissed again. Of course I do!

“She’s the incarnation of the gods,” Odin said flatly.

It was an outright lie, of course, but enough to make take the stranger off guard. He didn't expect the newcomer to believe it.

How?

“She saved me, is stable, she is Flesh, Blood, Water, Energy, and Thought. I’ve seen it myself. Her connection to the Link is stronger than anyone in the Hive. If she’s not the gods incarnate then I do not dare think of what else she could possibly be. It would be terrifying to think her kind could all be like this,” Odin said half wishing Freyja would stop him.

The stranger huffed before sitting down again, his tail whipping back and forth nervously. Nothing but lies.

It was obvious Sprinkles wanted to believe it.

“Don’t kill him, but show him, Freyja. No one is watching,” Odin ordered as if she'd actually obey him and do something.

In an instant the stranger was surrounded by bone spears that grew from Freyja's left shoulder. Each narrowly missed piercing the other cat's body, leaving them caged with no way to escape. Odin stared, unblinking as his own shock and fear were eclipsed by those of the stranger. Odin had never seen someone shapeshift that quickly before. It was even faster than when she'd nearly eaten him.

"Fuck," Sprinkles said.

"I said the same," Odin replied. He huffed out a little cough. "Very good, Freyja. As for you, do you believe me now?"

"Gods be praised. I'll do whatever you want."

"Good," Freyja said as she retracted her bone spears and stood. "Come with use into the Armory."

You're really letting us have the weapons?

"Why not? What good will they do me?" Freyja replied as she unlocked the door to the building.

Gods be praised. Flesh, Blood, Energy, Water and Thought, Sprinkles prayed to himself loud enough for everyone to hear.