The phone rang, disturbed Gregory Helms looked up from his books, it was late and he didn’t like being disturbed when he was busy with his research. Sighing he slipped off his glasses and got out of his chair, making his way to the insistent ringing, he picked up the receiver,

“Helms”

“Doctor, we need you to come in immediately.”

He frowned, as a parapsychologist he never got calls of this nature, his field of study very seldomly got people all riled up as he delved into science without concrete proof.

“Who is this? Where did you get this number?”

“Sorry sir, this is nurse Fiona Walters from Green Gables.”

Gregory ran a hand over his eyes,

“Ma’am, I’m not a practicing doctor, I think you have me confused with a psychologist.”

There was a short silence on the other end,

“You are doctor Gregory Helms?”

“Yes?”

“Then there is no mistake, doctor Alice Winters asked me to call you and impress on you that you have to come over immediately.”

Alice Winters was an old friend, they still swap birthday and Christmas cards, but he can’t say that he ever believed her to be one to panic. He gave a soft sigh,

“Let me get into some clothes and I’ll come over.”

He was very well aware of where Green Gables were, every now and then he went to see Alice, but that was in the early stages of their relationship, things went South quickly after her marriage, her new husband staking out territory with a vengeance. Of course he was the tall, dark and handsome type which most women went crazy over and it seemed that he had Alice spell-bound as she had broken off contact with most of her male friends, something that was unlike her, but back then it did not bother Gregory and why he thought about it now, he was not sure either.

He pulled off the old bathrobe he usually wore right before bed time, in the summer he wore only his boxers underneath it and in the winter he added a t-shirt to his sleeping repertoire. He slipped into a pair of dark-blue jeans, a white t-shirt and pulled on a light jacket, he pulled on his day’s socks and slipped into dark-blue sneakers. On his way to Green Gables he wondered what kind of situation would call for the very able and level-headed Alice to call for him, she always held his own profession in high sceptism, so this was very much unlike her.

He pulled up to the gates, produced his identification and got waved inside as the gates swung open, Green Gables was a huge building, easily housing over two hundred people, with common rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and reception area. It was all very spacious, even the solitary, padded rooms had quite a bit of elbow room. He smiled at the old joke he always used in connection with the padded rooms. Around the building was well-kept lawns, flower beds and even a small duck pond, empty of course around this time of night as the ducks liked to sleep on the pond’s bank. He parked his car and barely made it out of the door when Alice came towards him from the front entrance.

He pushed his glasses into position and took out his leather attaché case; he could see that she was vexed about something big as she drew close, holding out her hand in greeting. He shook her hand, for the entire world just as professional as she was, she wore a dark green calf-length skirt, cream coloured blouse, black low-heeled shoes, her white lab coat and her hair tied back into a bun.

“Gregory, thank you so much for coming on such short notice and at this type of hour.”

“It’s no problem Alice, what’s got you so spooked?”

She gave a nervous laugh,

“Spooked is about the right word.”

They have ventured into the reception area, where a file lay on the reception desk; she picked it up and flicked it open,

“Elise Silverstedt, age twenty eight, no narcotic abuse history, medical records prove her to have been hospitalized only twice, once for tonsils and secondly for a broken femur. No head trauma, CAT scans normal, overall a very healthy young woman.”

Gregory frowned,

“This just tells me that you have a woman in here that should not be in here.”

Alice nodded,

“That much is true, case report is that she started drawing Nordic runes on herself during lunch time at her work, she chanted in a strange language and her co-workers called the Police immediately. She refused to stop drawing and it took four officers to restrain her, she screamed at them in the same language that she was chanting in. She underwent a tox-screen, results came back negative and she was transferred here, three days ago. We established that the language she used to be Old Norse, she should not know this language as she was born and raised here in Haddock.”

Gregory chuckled,

“Sounds like a flashback; did you try and hypnotize her to see if she remembers anything?”

Alice shuddered and flipped the file close, shoving it into his hands,

“I did, I explained to her what I was about to do and she answered me in Norse, I had no idea what she said, so I continued…”

Gregory fumbled the file a bit and opened it, the mug shot was that of a rather plain looking brunette, there was nothing extraordinary about her at all. He flicked through the pages and realized that Alice had gone silent,

“And?”

She stopped at a door,

“I called for you.”

She pushed open the door and stood aside, inside Gregory could see a steel top table, on the right hand side a video recorder stood in the corner, a padded chair stood close to the table and on the left hand side stood a similar chair judging from the feet. Bound by thick leather straps to the chair sat a woman. She did not represent Elise in any way, even with her head bowed, she radiated power and self-confidence. Gregory glanced at Alice and she nodded, he pulled the door close,

“That’s her?”

Again Alice nodded, making Gregory frown,

“And this happened during the hypnosis?”

“Yes, I called her out of it and she stayed this way, she speaks English with a faint accent.”

“You have this on tape?”

Alice nodded,

“Only problem is that the moment she went under, the camera shorted out, all we get is static feedback.”

Gregory shook his head,

“And that is when you had them phone me.”

“Yes, look Greg, there is a lot of things I can explain, you study the things that I can’t explain and this is one of those things.”

He pushed his glasses back into position,

“Transformation is kind of new for me, sure there’s many tales, but too bad I could not have studied this.”

“Would you like to speak to her?”

He absentmindedly chewed on his lower lip, then nodded,

“Sure, why not.”

Again the door swung open and this time he entered, he walked over to the open chair and sat down, very conscious about the one-way glass behind him. Curiously there seemed to dance small amounts of glitter in the air, he casually waved at them as he placed his attaché on the table and withdrew a pad and pen. Still the woman opposite him sat with her head bowed, her platinum blonde hair obscuring her face from his view, the garb revealed nothing about her, but the arms secured to the arm rests, seemed firm if not muscular.

“Good evening Elise, I’m doc…”

“I know who you are.”

The voice was soft, melodious and scary all at the same time; also the contents of the simple sentence made him blink his eyes as it took him completely by surprise.

“Well then you probably know why I’m here?”

The head slowly rose, the hair fell to the sides of her head, framing her face. The chin was strong, yet feminine, her cheeks slightly concave, reaching up for high, prominent cheekbones, her lips a light rose, full and damp. Her nose could be described as sharp, yet it seemed just as prominent as her cheekbones, her eyes though was what really held his attention, so blue that he was reminded of the ocean, a slight hue of violet seemed to intertwine with the blue.

“I am not omnipotent doctor; I only know who you are because the woman spoke your name.”

“You mean doctor Smith?”

A slight shake of the head,

“Nurse…”

She tilted her head to the left, her eyes glazing over slightly,

“Claire…strange how people use names as last names; I thought the practice to have fallen into disrepair.”

He scribbled ‘Reference to old customs’ on his pad,

“Not really, I am only guessing that you are not Elise?”

A small glint appeared for a brief moment in her eyes,

“Very good doctor, you are the first to actually say it, though I know everybody behind that thin glass behind you have been thinking it.”

“Ah and how do you know that they’ve been thinking it?”

“It was given to me.”

He paused for a moment and then decided to take a bold step,

“What do ravens mean to you?”

A slight smile came to her lips,

“Wisdom”

“And you can speak Norse?”

She nodded,

“Of course, it is the language of my father.”

“And does your father have one eye?”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, pausing for a long while,

“Yes, he does.”

He scribbled ‘Norse mythology’ on the pad,

“Can we do a brief word association? I promise I will not take up much more of your time.”

Her smile was bright and highly unexpected,

“Oh you can take up as much of my time as you need Greg. I do hate the thing they call a bed.”

He was amazed how a simple smile transformed her from a beautiful woman to an absolute stunner, he nervously cleared his throat and the quickly wrote a series of words down on the pad ‘Thunder’, ‘Trickster’, ‘Battle’, ‘Death’, ‘Dragon’, ‘Sword’ and ‘Heaven’, he then looked back at her

“This is how it works, I say a word and you say the first word that you think of when you hear the word. Understood?”

She nodded, her eyes intensely focused on the pad and pen, he started with his small list, writing down her answers as she gave them,

“Thunder”

“god”

“Trickster”

“Loki”

“Battle”

“Work”

This made him pause for a moment, what on earth did she mean with work?

“Death”

“Honor”

“Dragon”

“Ship”

“Sword”

“Tool”

“Heaven”

“Valhalla”

He looked at her replies and it suddenly started to make sense, he looked up to find her eyes looking at him,

“Does that answer you doctor?”

He shook his head,

“Not really no, it could explain a lot of things, you could have studied the letters as I made them and formulated your answers before I asked them, that way it would look genuine.”

She gave a slight smile,

“Can I ask you two words doctor?”

He sat back into his chair,

“Sure”

She leaned forward slightly,

“Shield maiden”

The only thing he could think of was of women fighting alongside their husbands or lovers,

“Dark Ages”

She shook her head,

“Valkyrie”

“Is that what you associate a shield maiden with?”

Again the shake of the head,

“No”

She considered him for a while,

“You are a smart man doctor, try and figure it out.”

She lowered her gaze, her hair falling in front of her face again, Gregory found that he felt dismissed at the time and that he missed those violet tinged eyes. He got to his feet, flipping the pad’s cover into place and clipping the pen to it, sliding the small package into the case, he signalled for the door to be opened as he stepped out. Alice was waiting for him outside; he took off his glasses,

“OK I want you to sedate her, keep her under constant surveillance, the moment your staff notice the slightest change I want them to write it up, note time, date and exactly what happened.”

Alice looked curiously at him,

“Why would you want to go such extremes Greg?”

He sighed and took out his handkerchief to clean the lenses of his glasses,

“I know you think that there is little science in my work Alice, I do not blame you. This woman is clearly taken over by an entity, it will be hard to explain this if I have not studied the case.”

She sighed,

“Posession? Then how on earth did it only happen when she went under hypnosis?”

Greg slipped his glasses back on and gave her a wry grin,

“You opened the gateway Alice, I bet that when you did the regression, the first question you asked her was who she is.”

A faint blush touched Alice’s cheeks,

“Yes…but it still doesn’t…”

He held up a hand,

“It doesn’t matter. It is all about how we figure this out. While you have the time, run a search on all kinds of patients you had, who held a strong belief in the Nordic mythology.”

She frowned, but did take out a small note book to make a note,

“Should I spread out the search? City, county, country?”

He shrugged,

“If you have the time and the resources, then sure why not?”

She flicked her note book close,

“This is so strange…”

He placed a hand on her shoulder,

“As long as we can help that poor girl in there? I think even a small bend of your popular blindness to the extraordinary will help.”

She shook her head,

“I have a few patients to see…”

He waved her words away,

“I know the way out, do you mind if I keep this file?”

She shook her head,

“We have it on computer, you can keep it.”

He turned to leave, her words halting him,

“And Greg? Thank you.”

He nodded and headed outside to his car, his drive home was filled with thoughts of Caspian sea blue eyes with violet tint seeming to dance around inside of them. Once home, he placed his case on top of the books on his desk, he glanced at the wall clock, he still had a few hours of sleep left, before he had to be at the university. He got into bed, placing his glasses on the nightstand and flicked off the night lamp.

A soft golden glow met his eyes when he opened them, he wasn’t sure what woke him, but he could feel a presence in the air, a soft whine, like he was close to a high tension power line. He turned onto his back and a movement made him sit upright, there in the doorway stood a figure. As crazy as it sounded to even his more liberal brain, the light seemed to have emanated from her, like the accounts from people who have met angels. The platinum blonde hair flowed past the sharp-featured face, resting on the rise of her breasts under the light-gray vest. The vest was tight, without clinging; it showed off the slenderness of her torso. Her legs was encased in the drab green of the mental institute where she should be and her feet was bare, her arms crossed just under her breasts, the muscles of her shoulders and arms clear and defined, without losing any of its feminine softness.

“Good evening Gregory.”

The soft voice rocked his already reeling brain, the soft melodic lilt making his skin crawl and yet it soothed him and raised a slight rash of goose skin. She uncrossed her arms and slowly sauntered over to his bed, as silent and as deadly as any wild cat that Gregory have ever seen,

“What…what are you doing here?”

The smile which crossed those lips mesmerized and troubled him at the same time, it did nothing to distract from the beauty of her face, nor did it add…like a twitch in a mask, it only touched her lips and nothing more.

“I go where I please Gregory.”

She lifted a knee, her slowly steady walk, turning into a sexy, seductive crawl as she slid onto her arms and moved onto his bed, her weight barely moving the covers.

“No walls can hold me…”

She have reached his side, her almost impassive face leaning closer to him, those violet tinted eyes boring into his soul, his breath caught in his throat as she leaned in, paralyzed he felt her soft lips on his neck, felt her teeth breaking the skin…

BZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

He woke with a start, his alarm seemed to try and scream in it’s electric way, he hit the snooze button. His first reaction was to look around, there was no sign of any intruder nor of any intrusion, his gaze travelled to his pillow, it lay there in spotless, cream coloured bliss. He gave a slight chuckle, it was a dream and nothing more, he slid out of bed, his feet finding his slippers automatically and his hands found his glasses out of pure habit. His mind ran over the images of his dream, how real it seemed in some cases and how unreal in other instances. After finishing with the toilet, he washed his hands, brushed his teeth and rinsed his face. He dried his hands and face on the hand towel next to the wash basin and then, he reached for his comb, looking at his own reflection in the mirror as his hand started it’s usual ritual to lay his hair into a much more organized pattern than the chaos sleep caused them.

And there his hand paused, it was not that his straight, black hair was too caked; it was more about the fact that his hazel coloured eyes have noticed something that was not quite right with his reflection. He turned his head to the left, tilting it slightly and there in the bright light of the overhead fluorescent lights he could see a discoloration…like a hickey…the comb dropped from nerveless fingers as his hand slowly fell to the spot, again he could feel those soft sensuous lips as they touched his skin, the strong teeth as they bit down on the bit of skin. It was there…but it was only a dream…wasn’t it?

For long moments he tried to make sense of it, in all his years of study, he has never experienced quite something like this. As his mind struggled to comprehend what had happened, his body went with it’s daily routine, he found himself unlocking his car with all he needed for his meeting in his arms. He gathered his wits as he drove, the meeting about what he could teach and perhaps get a more permanent assignment went rather well, the dean said that he would have to speak with the board since Gregory’s expertise in old Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology might come in handy with quite a few of their classes.

Gregory phoned Alice as he left from the college; she had no news on any change with Elise, their studies of the in-room camera only showed her sitting the whole night on her bed, cross legged with her hand folded in her lap. She also said that Gregory phoned at a good time, they had allowed Elise outside and she was doing some very strange exercises which they could not identify. Of course this gave Gregory the perfect excuse to drive over, to check out what Elise was up to and to see those eyes once more.

His arrival was met with Elise and her colleague Dr Bateman, Dr Bateman specialised in behavioural science and he was quite interested in Gregory’s deductions from his brief interview since Elise refused to talk to anybody else. Of course like any scientist he refused to accept Gregory’s theory of possession and rather went for the theory on subliminal messaging from the sub consciousness which would explain Elise’s radically changed behaviour…but of course he had no answer for the change in her appearance at all. The time it took them to exchange ideas, brought them to a window overlooking the grounds at the back of the facility, four white uniformed guards stood outside, their gazes fixed on the solitary figure moving about.

It was Elise or at least the woman claiming to not be her, despite the slight chill in the air, the only thing she wore was a black sports bra, which clung to her considerable bosom and purple hot pants. Greg watched her as she moved; her body muscular, yet feminine and sleek, an aura of power radiated from her, her moves precise, fluidly quick, yet Gregory could see the power she used to perform these moves. He glanced at Dr Bateman,

“It’s some fighting form isn’t it?”

Bateman nodded,

“I’m not very familiar with it, but from the movements of her arms and wrist, there should be a shield and a sword in her hands.”

Alice interjected,

“And she never had received any formal training in any martial art.”

“Yes, but her mind could still have picked up manoeuvres and she is just acting them out.”

Gregory shook his head,

“No, if she was untrained her movements would not be so precise, so fast and powerful…excuse me.”

He pushed open the patio door and stepped outside, keeping an eye on Elise as she moved about, he had to marvel at her, she was captivating. He stopped close to her area of movement, his eyes drawn to her body and the muscles which contracted and released as she flowed, the only disconcerting thing was the lack of expression on her face.

“Good morning Elise.”

There was no answer, not that he had really expected one, a thought struck him, he turned and walked over to two of the guards where they stood. With a slight bit of jostling and convincing he managed to secure the usage of two batons. He cradled them in his arms as he walked back to Elise, this time his approach drew reaction, those blue eyes followed his every move. He stopped in front of her, twirled one of the batons to present it to her with the handle first, no words was necessary, as Gregory had studied a bit of fencing in college and have studied with a few swords masters through the years as he studied the elusive “call of the blade”, a myth which many swordsmen have adopted to explain their particular skill.

She reached out and took hold of the handle, drawing it to her and studied the heft and balance with a few practice strokes. She looked back at him, a slight smile forming on her lips as he gripped the handle of his own baton and he gave her a slight smile as well. She crouched into a ready position and they started to circle slowly, he noticed that her footing was sure and she had no wasted moves, the sign of an experienced fighter. Her attack came suddenly, but he was watching her feet and the sudden shift in her balance warned him, he parried her attack and returned with a flurry of his own, she met it with an almost disdain, like she had no time for the testing of the opponent.

Her attacks came fast, furious and hard, he had to use every bit of his skill and clearly much less experience than what she displayed. He found that the only way to meet her was not with power as she had abundant, she was much fitter than him so it was basically a matter of time before he faltered and she would gain the first strike, so he dodged, parried, ducked and wove. But what really captured his attention was the smile she had, it was fierce, yet it lighted up her whole face, it was pure pleasure for her to face an opponent in a test of skill, balance and power. She came at him with a high-handed overhead swing, he had no place to go and took the hit on his baton, the force and power of the blow forced his arm down, with a twist of her wrist she flicked the baton to his head, he ducked and with a final thrust the dull point impacted with his trapezoid.

She backed away and the grin with twinkle in her eyes just showed how much she enjoyed their little bout, she brought the baton up to her face in a salute and then lowered it again. He returned the salute, it was a classical fencing salute and he just had to smile, it was like she knew exactly what his background was and worked a way around it. With a flourish she handed him the baton’s handle and he took it, walking back to the guards and handed their batons back. He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to see Elise looking after him and even at this distance he could see the blue of her eyes.

“What was that all about?”

Alice’s voice made him turn back to the door, she was standing in the doorway, Dr Bateman standing next to her, he gave the good Doctor a grin,

“Did that seem like a remembered sequence doc?”

Bateman snorted,

“You went through all of that just to disprove my theory?”

Gregory shook his head,

“I did it for my benefit, I learned more than what I knew.”

Bateman’s eyebrow shot up,

“Oh? What have you learned?”

“That the transformation was complete, there is no semblance of Elise Silverstedt in that woman out there. Either you pulled an elaborate prank or you have a classic case of full body possession by an entity. Not only is she highly trained and experienced in the use of bladed weapons, she is smart and love facing an opponent in combat even if it is just training.”

He pushed his fingers through his hair,

“Alice I will advise you to keep her under strict supervision, allow her time outside, but never allow anybody to aggravate her, it might just get out of hand quickly.”

Alice nodded, she seemed to take his advice seriously; Bateman just shook his head and turned to walk down the hallway. Gregory glanced over his shoulder to find Elise have slipped on a robe and was heading towards another entrance. He touched his neck, the memory quickly returned of how he saw her just a few hours before. He shook himself out of the reverie and met Alice’s gaze,

“Luckily she held back on that thrust, it could have hurt even with the blunt end of the baton.”

“You do know that you took one hell of a chance by handing her a weapon? If you were hurt we could have had loads of legal problems.”

Gregory shrugged,

“But it paid off didn’t it? You saw how her whole personality changed; she might even answer some of your questions by now you know?”

Alice just shook her head,

“You can go clean yourself up; I will schedule another meeting for you tomorrow.”

Gregory nodded,

“I’m free tomorrow, just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll come over, this case is very interesting indeed.”

Gregory found his way back to his car and once he got home, he took a shower, the rest of the day he spent with his books, there was something he was missing, he just didn’t know what it was yet. Reading through books of Norse mythology, explanation of the rune system, songs and poems of numerous bards (translated of course). He knew that what he read had to make sense, had to give him the answer that he needed to sort the enigmatic entity which was hosted in the body of Elise Silverstedt. He thought back at his dream the previous evening, how her body had moved with the sensuous movement of a born seductress, yet those eyes and her face held no alluring look, there was no mention or motion towards the erotic.

He flicked open his notepad, going through his notes, he had practically read everything that he had about Norwegian people, their customs and history. All her answers directed towards one thing, Norse mythology...what was that word she used? He knew that he had read it, but he just couldn’t remember, no matter how hard he tried. Finally with a frustrated huff, he got to his feet, clicked off his reading lamp and went to his bathroom to take a shower. Getting into his boxers, he headed for bed, clicking off the reading lamp and placing his glasses next to his clock. He closed his eyes and turned on to his side, strangely enough that even with his troubled thoughts and trying to rake his brain for that elusive word, sleep came rather quickly to him.

A soft whisper of sound woke him, a golden hue of light filled the room, he knew that he was not supposed to see everything so clearly, he wasn’t wearing his glasses. Yet there his room was, bathed in the soft golden glow which emanated from the woman resting on her knees on the foot of his bed. The grey t-shirt was replaced by a white vest, it only managed to accentuate the firm muscles, he realized how broad of shoulder she was and understood why she managed to overpower him earlier, but she wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Good evening Gregory.”

She leaned forward, placing her hands on the bed and slowly crept towards him,

“How?”

Still her face was impassive as she stopped next to him, her face mere inches from his own, he could feel her breath warm and soft against his skin.

“I told you, neither wall nor door can keep me. You need to start listening and stop thinking.”

He found himself unable to answer, lost in her eyes. There was a difference about her this time, a silent need, like something whispered in the back of his mind, a voice telling him what he wanted to know and yet he could not fully understand it.

“You proved to me that you are willing to believe, to understand and you also gave me a glimpse of your soul.”

A sudden fear sprang into his mind, a silent scream, only one word: Succubus! She chuckled softly, a sound like hundreds of tiny bells tingling inside a cavernous room.

“I am not a demon Gregory.”

He was sure that he had seen her move, but he could not be certain that he had seen her move. The thing that made him realize that she had moved was the fact that she was suddenly straddling him, only then did he realize that she was not wearing the drab green pants she had worn the previous evening. Instead she was only dressed in bright blue hot pants. The feeling of her warm, soft skin against him sent little shivers up his spine, for a moment he wondered where the duvet was and found it hanging half on and half off of the bed.

She shook her hair out behind her back, tilting her head slightly backward to do so and then fixed him with those blue orbs. Making him forget about the duvet, forget about the strange light emanating from her, forget about the crazy and highly impossible situation. What he did find in her gaze was a lust so deep and so profound that it was almost elemental in its ferocity. Her hands grasped the vest and instead of pulling it over her head as he expected, she practically ripped it apart.

Her body had the same golden-toned skin than her face, arms and legs, she wasn’t lithely built, her hips and shoulders were the same girth, her waist slightly concave and no ribs protruded, even though it was clear that she had almost no fat-covering. Her abdominal muscles was well-defined and he didn’t have to touch them to know that they were close to rock-hard, her breasts should have been much smaller, but they were not. Too big for the muscular body, yet perfectly shaped and placed, he could not find any fault with them, he was sure that this was the type of perfection most females wanted when they went under the knife. In practical accordance with her complexion and obvious heritage, her nipples was a bright pink, circled with pink areolas, her body untainted and untarnished by any mark, like the airbrushed models in men’s magazines.

“Do you wish to wake up now Gregory?”

He knew it. It was a dream. He felt her fingers on his side, felt her pinch him hard, his body jerked with the sudden pain...but he did not wake up. She leaned forward, her eyes now held a slight amused light in them, her forearms rested on his shoulders and he could feel her breasts brushing over his chest.

“This is real Gregory, accept it.”

Her voice was soft, yet held its musical lilt, her eyes seemed to search his own and then a slightly predatory smile crept over her perfectly formed lips. He could feel while she had smiled, despite the strangeness of the situation, his cock was starting to grow. There was no hiding nor denying it, he couldn’t recall having any particular sexual or even sensual thoughts of her, but her sudden baring of herself and the proximity of her body so close to his, surely woke up other feelings than the curiosity he had felt for her. She moved slightly and he could feel her crotch brushing over his stiffening shaft, if he had thought that the feel of her skin was electrifying, this touch really sent a bolt through him.

“No need to be shy Gregory, you know you want to.”

What was she talking about? He had no specific need...he silenced his thoughts when he found his own hands touching her soft skin, running over the firm muscles of her back, seeing the knowing look in her eyes, he started to faintly understand more about her. But there was no more time to understand and contemplate; there was no more need for confusion and guessing. It was like touching her skin had set off a massive dose of adrenaline into his body, his touch became almost feverish, hard, possessive and hinting at aggression. Instead of withdrawing from him, she seemed to revel in it, her short nails raked at his chest and sides, seemingly inflaming him further, he could feel a tug on his boxers, felt the air on his nakedness.

By now his shaft was throbbing, aching to where it should be, he had a hard nipple between his teeth, tugging on it as he felt her warm, wet fold folding around his shaft. There was no pre-amble, no foreplay and most certainly no tenderness. They were like two wild people, he was not sure how or when it happened, but he was on top of her, her breasts in his hands and the harder he squeezed them the more she wanted, the harder he pulled on her nipples the more excited she got. The thrusts which he delivered into her was hard and wild, she met his thrusts with her own, the lewd sounds of their groins slamming together filling the room along with their groans and her urgings.

It felt like ages and it could have been mere moments when he grabbed hold of her hips and got shot over the edge of all rational thought and into the embrace of ecstasy, he felt her body cling to him, her nails digging into his buttocks, holding him in place and dimly he could hear her shouting out, that she was experiencing her own orgasm was beyond doubt, but none of her words made any sense to his passion-filled mind...

BZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

He woke with a start, certain that he had overslept once more, a glance at the large luminous display proved it to be the first alarm. He sagged back into the cushions in relief and only found himself confused, the duvet was nowhere on the bed, his groggy mind also realized that he was completely naked. As he bolted up from his cushions once more, he winced at the sudden pain which coursed through him, looking down he saw numerous red marks covering his body. He grabbed his glasses and slipped them on, the red marks proved to be scratches, not deep enough to draw blood, but hard enough to have left marks. He glanced around, he could see the material of his boxers, or what was left of his boxers, laying on the ground next to his bed.

“Damn...”

Tenderly he got up and for the first time realized that it was no dream, there lay the white material of the torn vest, the two pieces tossed to the opposite sides of the bed, laying crumpled against the wall. There in the corner almost hidden behind his nightstand, lay the bright blue material of the hot pants. This defied all kinds of belief, it went beyond anything that he had ever come across, it was practically just impossible...yet he knew that if he phoned Green Gables, they would have footage of the woman, who was once Elise, confined to her room. How could she do this, just seem to materialize out of thin air and still have substance even is she wasn’t there? Was this some kind of elaborate scheme to frame him for something? His mind was in turmoil as he showered and got dressed.

He remembered that he had a meeting with the woman again, what did he take to the table? What did he ask her? He was drawing blanks when the word seemed to whisper in his mind: Valkyrie. Yes, that was the word that she had used two days ago after she asked him what response he had to the words Shield Maiden. He knew as well that he had read about them. Odin had several shield maidens who looked over the warriors during their battles. When a warrior fell, they conveyed his soul to Valhalla where he would prepare for Ragnarok, the End of days.

Well if she was a shield maiden, what was the previous evening all about? She definitely didn’t act like a maid and what had brought her to him in the first place? He sat down with his notebook and wrote down questions that Elise would not know the answer to, but only a person who had lived in the old Norway, when thanes held sway and honour was not bought, but earned through battle. He read again through poems of bards, through the stories told by runes and used it to write up the questions. He finished up almost half an hour to his meeting with Elise or rather the Valkyrie, perhaps he should just call her Val?

He got his attaché case ready, locked the door behind him, got into the car and drove towards the institute. As he came up to the final turn, his cellphone rang, he pressed the answer button on his steering wheel,

“Hello?”

“Gregory? Are you still coming?”

It was Alice and she sounded exactly like she had when she met him three days ago at the front door of the institute.

“Yes, I’m on my way. I’m coming up to the off ramp.”

“You’re not going to believe this.”

“Believe what?”

“She’s gone.”

It took him a few moments to get what she was saying,

“You mean Elise is gone?”

“No, that is the part that is hard to explain. Elise is here, the other woman is just...gone.”

So shocked was he with this development that he did not see the truck until the horn reached his hearing over the sound of the call. He looked up just as the Peterbilt ploughed into the driver’s side, there was shocked confusion, the sound of tearing metal, breaking glass and Alice calling his name over the speakers of his car, then all went silent and blank.

“Gregory.”

He stirred,

“Wake up Gregory.”

Was this another dream? No. He could feel the road surface underneath him, yet he felt no real pain. He opened his eyes and looked up into the blue, not the blue of the sky, but the clear blue eyes of Val.

“Come, we have a long way to travel.”

She straightened up and he sat up, only then did he realize that she was wearing a whole different get-up than he had seen her in. Leather boots covered her feet and stopped just above her calves, an chain-mail skirt covered her from midriff to about six inches above her knees, she wore an iron breastplate with the arms bare, leather bracers, a thick round shield and long spear. Next to her stood a white horse and around the both of them danced the golden light with the fine dust-like glitter. She took a helmet from the saddle of the horse and slipped it on, it covered half of her face, leaving her face bare from her nose downwards and over the ears were white, backswept wings.

“What? Who are you?”

She swung into the saddle of the horse,

“You know who I am Gregory. I know that you remembered a few hours ago.”

“But...if you’re a Valkyrie...why are you here for me?”

“The All-father wants you; I only came to fetch you.”

He looked around and with a shock noticed that his car was a crumpled wreck and inside...he shuddered as he saw what the impact had done to him. But for some strange reason it did not seem to bother him as much as he would have expected. It was almost like...it didn’t matter. The horse walked closer and when he looked up, she was holding out her hand for him.

“And last night?”

The question actually brought a sly smile to her lips and he could see her eyes glitter inside the helmet.

“I have been gone from Valhalla for three days, I know that you know what happens there. Now come along Gregory, Valhalla is calling.”

Seeing no real reason to delay, he took her hand.

 

I made the mistake of reading this tale at three in the morning when it was still dark outside. When the possessed woman first showed up in Gregory's house, I was scared. Then my body and senses jumped in fright when a dog howled painfully right then outside my window for the longest time. I can laugh about it now, but damn that was a shocker! The events and details in this story were done very well, characters solidly rendered. Excellent writing flow and sex with a Valkyrie.

 

Even read in broad daylight this story was scary because you set the mood so well. Very pleasurable.

 

A truly absorbing read with scares, paranormal science, mythology, solid characters, intriguing details, and hot sex put together quite well. Thank you, DeathsKnight.

 

I am a bit upset with myself for falling into my RP style of conversation. But if you enjoyed reading it, I am glad.

I will try and get to the other stories today and read them, I don't have to read this one though. In my eyes it is that one step above rubbish.

Anyroad, would you believe that I got the idea for this story from Age of Mythology? Guess what civilization I play LOL

 

Good, solid, well-written story based around a subject which obviously fascinates you and about which you are fairly knowledgeable. I like this a lot. I'd be interested in reading some more of your writing.

 

Yep, I agree with the above. Only minor complaint is that you need to use more periods and less commas. You have many, many instances of a comma at the end of a sentence, which is incorrect. If you want more of an explanation, PM me.

Overall, I thought this story was really good, I enjoyed it very much. I had no issue with the RP style of conversation save for the above mention of punctuation. I simply enjoyed reading this, period.

 

I've been trying to read this story for over 2-3 hours, and I finally did. Which is no fault of yours; I keep getting distracted by other things, but my point is if it wasn't as interesting as it was, I would have left it for the night, or tomorrow. While I haven't done much research on it as of yet, I do like the Norse mythology, and I think you've done a good job here.

 

Wow -just wow. I appreciate the research this must have taken and your attention to detail. You made each scene so clear, at one point I had goose bumps. I'm so impressed. Great story telling.

 

The good.

You have captured a truly solid writing that grabs the reader and pulls them through the story. The slowly developing power of the tale is amazing.

The bad

I saw grammatical mistakes that were a bit distracting.

The ugly

The stylized telling of the tell was not a match for the story told. This was told almost as a horror story but was more of a suspense.

 

Valhalla called and we rescued this little beauty from the darkness of page two

 

Thank you Hector, I am glad that you at least enjoyed it while I clearly didn't like the work I did

Heh! Horse we've been over this before and that is why I'm upset with myself for relapsing. I'm now working on getting my punctuation sorted, it should be evident in my next story.

Wow... ejls actually read and liked my story...

wow.

 

I liked this cautionary tale about the dangers of cell phone use while driving.

The story itself was very interesting, but I had some issues with the grammar and sentence structure in places.

 

If this were a technical writing class and I wore my professor hat, I'd get out my red pen.

It's not.

This was a cleverly written tale with either a ton of research or a wealth of prior knowledge. The pace, characters, and descriptions all worked to create a complete and rich story.

Bravo.

Oh, and get someone you trust to proofread.

 

Terrific bit of story-writing, I loved it!

Mystery, suspense, sex - great stuff!

As others have said, there's quite a few minor errors in punctuation, tense and the like, which could be sorted out by a good proof-reader, but I thoroughly enjoyed this, it is a deserving winner in the contest.

 

Gratz, DK. Now you need to think of a challenging theme for the next KAW.

Plus now that you have won one you cannot enter again, so I have a chance next time.

 

Heh! I thought KAW is only close to CAW winners. Darnit

And as much as I'd love to host a KAW, I must decline. I really can't fit that into my plate, between studies, work and trying to satisfy demanding fans (8 of them) I won't be able to host a KAW as well. So since this KAW was a success, can I nominate Norton? If he's interested?

 

I humbly decline, sir. You may, however, nominate someone else or wait until you feel that you're up for it as I did, which turned out to be quite a while.

 

No reason why you can't wait until you have time. The new CAW is up and we'll be concentrating our efforts there - as well as on the holiday season.

 

Absolutely - the next KAW could wait until early or even mid 2015. As it excludes some of us from entering it ought (in my humble opinion) to be more of an occasional compy, a diversion as it were between CAW's.