Author's Note (Updated 9/25/17): I try to make my notes all at the beginning and the end so that you don't loose the flow of the story.
For those new to my stories, I write all of my Dark-Hunter fanfics as novella length continuations of the series, as best as I can. I try to avoid making any guesses as to where Sherilynn Kenyon is headed with her series, or over arching story lines. Instead, I simply wrote stories for some of my favorite characters who have yet to have their stories told, so I do guess at their backstory if it hasn't been shared in the DH books yet. Ms Kenyon could easily shatter each one of my stories as new books come out. And, that has in fact happened as I created a story that included Hecate as a character. Then Dragonmark came out and she is referenced in the book. It throws her whole role in my Achilles story out the door in so far as cannon goes. So, please take some of it with a grain of salt. These are just my attempts at giving more characters their happily connected relationships in one form or another.
Also be warned that I do write with Ms Kenyon's foundations of sex, violence and abuse. Though I may cuss a bit more. Depending on the story. They are all rated M for these reasons. And be aware that there may be SPOILERS if you have not read the DH series up to Dragonmark.
I started these stories two years ago and my writing has improved. I hope to spend some time going back to my earlier stories and seriously working on rewriting (not content, but fixing grammar and any major cannon issues as they popped in). I also gave all of the stories dates just to help me remember who was where as I wrote them, as several of the stories do overlap a fair amount.
This story, is written to follow Deimos's story. The main female character and anyone from her past is original to this story. Jenna and Ramsey are characters original to Deimos's story. Effy is an original character introduced in Achilles's story.
If you would like to read my other stories in chronological order, they are:
Achilles (ancient to modern), Deimos, Colt, Kell, Phobos, Morginne, Remi (has a broader timeline), Ethon (falls during Remi)
If you would wish to read things in clumped information, the order is:
Achilles and Remi can be read completely independently, before or after the other clumps. Clump one- Deimos and Phobos. Clump two- Colt and Kell. Clump three- Morginne and Ethon.
So, enough with my crap, on to the story...
Prologue
Asgard c. 775 AD
It has been foretold that all that is and all that will be in this world will one day be destroyed. The time of the Fate of the Gods shall come to pass and the world will be scrubbed clean to be built up anew… with only a tiny handful of survivors left...
Loki was furious.
The Norse god was desperate to figure this out. In all of his life, he had never met a woman so invigorating as Morginne. Sure, he had plenty of affairs before. But, his wife Sigyn was the woman he always returned to.
Yet, Morginne was so different. She was strong, dangerous and wholly up to no good. She made his blood boil.
But, his redheaded vixen was bound to the Greek goddess Artemis. She was an immortal warrior who sold her soul to the goddess for a single act of revenge. As such, Morginne was forbidden from having serious relationships with anyone, couldn't have children, and certainly couldn't run off to be Loki's mistress without the risk of starting an all out war between Asgard and the Greeks.
Morginne even tried to petition Artemis for her soul. But, the goddess refused. So, Loki had sought the help of the god of love, Baldr. Baldr had suggested that Loki and Morginne trick another mortal into giving up his soul to Loki, then use a spell to exchange the two souls. It was perfect, the other human would be bound to Artemis and Loki would have Morginne's soul. Not only would he have Morginne free from Artemis, but he could make sure that she never left him.
The hardest part was knowing that Morginne would have to seduce some poor sod to get his acceptance.
It worked! Or so Loki thought. He had a few months of perfection with Morginne, until he trusted her enough that he wanted to return her soul to her so that she could bare his child. But, when he went to do it, the spell had worn off and he was left with the man's soul that she had seduced. Artemis still held Morginne's. Damn it.
Morginne finally let her true colors show. That bitch had only used Loki to be free of her curse.
Morginne would suffer for her betrayal. Loki had her locked away. But, now he feared the outcome if anyone realized that he had a Greek Dark Hunter trapped under his thumb. What if Artemis tries to claim her again? And fuck Baldr for screwing it all up.
With rage, lack of rational thought, and an inability to reach Artemis, Loki directed all of his anger toward Baldr. The golden boy that his mother protected so. The wussy love god had a bad dream one night that foretold of his death. So rather than man up himself, he ran to mommy. The goddess Frigg ordered every plant, animal, and object in the world to swear to never do her son harm. Seriously?
But, Loki had heard that there was one plant that refused to swear the oath. For some reason Frigg allowed it. Loki chuckled. That was a serious mistake.
So, Loki set to work stripping and whittling down a branch of mistletoe. All he needed was the right moron to manipulate into throwing this at Baldr. The asshole deserved his fate for messing things up for Loki.
Loki walked into the great hall of his daughters realm. Hel was as beautiful as her mother with her walnut hair and grey eyes. She was the only one of his children that looked completely normal, at least most of the time. Since Loki is a shapeshifter, his children had a tendency of being... creative.
All three of his children with his first mistress were strong. So strong that the other gods feared them. In that fear, the gods banished each of them to separate locations. His son, Jormungandr, was sent to the mortal realm to live in the seas. Loki took great pride in his son being the great sea serpent that the human sailors fear. Then, there was Fenrir, the wolf. He grew fast and strong. To the point that the gods banded together to imprison him. Then, there was Loki's daughter Hel. The fools did not see the true danger of her. Yes, she is strong, but she is also smart, manipulative, and patient. But, she was sent to rule over one of the nine worlds of the Norse pantheon. She is the goddess of the underworld. All but the warriors destined for Valhalla will enter her gates eventually.
"What brings you to see me father?" She asked calmly.
He sighed. "Well my child, the Allfather is in search of me. I have once again let my anger get the better of my judgement."
She arched a brow at his words. "What am I to do?"
"I need you to make sure that you keep the god Baldr here. He is connected to the prophecy of Ragnarok. His recent death is the first of many events that will lead to the great battles that befall the gods of Asgard. Only then, after 'The Fate of the Gods' can he be released." He cupped her face.
"Then it will be so. Baldr will remain here in my hall, where I can watch over him to make sure that he does not leave."
He smiled. "Ragnarok will be the time of my release from imprisonment. As it will be for your brothers as well. Please my child, do what you can to make sure that the events happen and we are released. We have no love loss for Asgard and we will look forward to the day that we can bring them to their knees."
Loki paused as he weighed out his next words. "The prophecy says that I will die during the fall of the gods, as will your brothers. But, please Hel, you must make it so. To suffer eternity imprisoned is no life. And in the great battles, the world will be destroyed and rebuilt a new. You will survive. Your nephews, Skoll and Hati have a chance to survive. Just start everything fresh and take the power for yourself. Make sure that our family lives on."
She nodded acceptance and he kissed her cheek before Odin's guards burst through the doors of the hall to drag her father away.