They made it back to Erik's with no real difficulty. Claire tried to ignore the intense stares coming from him as she drove in silence. Once inside the house, Erik plopped unceremoniously onto the couch.

She made him up some tea and handed a glass to him. As he brought the cold liquid to his lips she said, "Wouldn't it better suit you to be in your bed?"

He choked on the tea. "Well, if you consider a pile of furs a bed…unless you are offering to take me into yours…" He arched a brow at her.

A blush spread across her face. "I only meant because you were… it's impossible to make you think of something other than sex isn't it? And, technically the bed you are letting me use belongs to you therefore it is your bed."

"Well I have vengeance on my mind right now. If that suits you better."

"Vengeance? The reason you became a Dark-Hunter?"

"Well, that's there, sure. But what I meant was revenge for attacking me when I was weak and kneeing me in the balls." He casually sipped his tea. He had to admit the woman made damn good sweet tea.

"Oh, that." She refused to look at him. "Do you want to talk about it?" She said it in a near whisper some time later sitting beside him, apparently believing he would not harm her. Erik felt the grief flood through his veins yet again, remembering the last time a woman believed he would never harm her.

Claire thought he wasn't going to answer her at all when he spoke. "I was three and twenty at the time, next in line for the jarldom, and a renown warrior. A Berserker." He gazed at the wall as though seeing his past as clearly as any painting or photograph.

"In the heat of battle I became the battle. I felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. I was a death dealer, and from my hands anything living met with a certain death and I would not know it truly until the blood lust left me and I was once again aware. Men feared me. Some of my own kin feared me. But most importantly, the enemies I faced feared me so much that sometimes they would be cowardly and retreat, but that was rare. Many feared death, but longed for glory more and would welcome the chance to see Valhalla when I delivered them of the mortal coil."

Erik shifted and drained the contents of the glass before continuing. "Until I sheathed my sword, I was fury in itself. Fathers feared for their daughters not for their purity but for their lives. They all believed if I took a wife and she were to anger me I would go into a blind rage and kill her. The widows and thralls would welcome me to their beds, but never invited me to stay after the act was through. I became immune to the idea that I would forever be a bachelor, and even began to believe I'd kill a wife by accident myself."

The world seemed to fall away and Claire could almost see the events as they happened, as his story continued…

Erik was going to the lake by his home to wash the dirt off after a hard day of training with the other warriors, and that was when he saw her. A woman with fiery red hair that came down to her waist in waves that would make an erupting volcano tremble with envy. Her skin was porcelain white, not a single mark on it. She was bathing already and before he could think to stop himself, he approached her. She was humming a little tune and didn't see him coming until his hand fell on her bared shoulder. She spun around, screamed, and tried to flee. Erik pulled her against him and soothed her with reassurances that I wouldn't harm her. The bared chest was pressed against his own, and if he hadn't been half dressed still….

Her eyes were liquid gold, and when she looked into his eyes Erik thought to himself, "this is love, then."

She smiled at him, secretively, before she spoke in a voice that could only be compared to the sound of a gentle stream of water flowing over rocks to a smaller pool beneath. She told him that he had caught her fairly, and she would grant him whatever I asked of her. Blinded as he was by her beauty, he asked her to marry him that night. She consented, offering her name as Aud.

The villagers were curious when Erik announced the marriage upon returning with a beautiful woman, but his mother was thrilled to see his son finally taking a bride. His father, Thorvald, arranged everything with no question. The whole village came to the ceremony.

Erik was summoned from his new wife's bridal chamber early the next morning. Raiders had come to challenge them for livestock and other goods to get them through the rough Norwegian winter. Erik promised Aud that he would return soon.

"But I do not want you to go, Erik." Aud pleaded, attempted to pull him back into bed.

"I must. I will be jarl soon, and I must prove I am worthy of the title." Erik pulled on his helmet and strapped on his sword belt.

"There is something I must tell you, first." Aud sounded completely miserable.

"It can wait a few hours, I will return to you." Erik left the hut with only a mere glimpse back.

Erik's most trusted friend, Theorn, was not pleased with Erik's happy marriage. As his cousin he was in line for the jarldom himself after Erik should he die with no heirs. Having a wife meant he would undoubtedly father a son, and that could not happen. Theorn doubled back to the camp while the battle waged on the field near the village. Quietly he snuck into the keep where Erik's mother and sister were still in bed sleeping. He slaughtered them brutally before making his way to Erik's hut and the awaiting Aud.

Thinking it was Erik, returning from the battle Aud rushed to greet him only to fall short when seeing who it was.

"You?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes. Me. Erik's sister just fell ill, I need you to go find him and bring him back. He will be really upset if no one tells him before he returns."

"But, he.."

"Don't argue." Theorn held a hand up in protest. "There is no time for it. Erik is a good friend of mine, and as his wife you should be glad to fetch him for something that would be important for him."

Aud made to rush past him. "You can't go into the heart of battle wearing that!"

Aud glimpsed down at the woolen robe she wore. "What would I wear then? I am new here and I don't have any clothing."

"You will dress in Erik's clothing and tie your hair back as a man would. If the enemy sees a woman they will stop at no means to rape you or ransom you."

Aud consented, as Theorn made perfect sense. "Aye. I will do so."

"Good." Theorn said. I must head back to the keep with the family.

Erik was in his Berserker state when she made it past his kinsmen and into the path of his sword. Nobody recognized her as a woman, but thought she one of the warriors. When Aud came from behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder, Erik turned and sliced her from shoulder to hip and did not even realize he had done it until he didn't find her at home.

Erik called her name, but no one was in their hut. When he turned to leave, to look for her, another woman showed up. A woman with long golden hair, braided down her back, and garbed in robes the color of pearls.

"Who in the name of Hela are you?" Erik asked, stopping abruptly.

"You do not know me?" She laughed. "I am Freya."

"The godess?"

"No. the tree. Yes, the goddess. But I am here now because you have slain my Valkyrie."

"I did what?"

"Aud. She was a Valkyrie. You captured her, therefore you were able to enslave her and then you abused her by slicing her pretty body in two. Is that how you repay the gods for granting you with such a beautiful wife?"

"Dead? She's dead?" Erik felt his heart grow leaden with cold fear. Did he fulfill the prophecy everyone had predicted upon him. Did he kill his own wife?

"Yes, you daft idiot, didn't I just say that." Freya rolled her eyes. "Now, I have jewelry to steal from the dwarfs and brides to make beautiful, and all that routine nonsense, so let's get this over with."

"What?"

"Erik Thorvaldsson, I curse you for the slaughter of a Valkyrie. Though a great, noble fighter you may be, you shall never see the walls of Valhalla. To Niflheim you shall reside eternally, and Hela have mercy on your soul for she's in a right temper lately. Something about the Gods of Asgard calling her a frigid bitch or something. It's not our fault that Hel is a frozen, frigid, waste land and it does nothing for her attitude." With that she vanished.

Erik was torn between despair and disbelief. He didn't notice the torch light of the approaching mob until it was too late. He was consumed by grief by the time they came in to drag him out. He was kicked down into a kneeling position at the feet of the Jarl, his father. He scarcely heard his father list the charges of murdering his wife, his mother, and sister in cold blood. Shaking his head in disappointment, and glaring in rage he kicked dirt in Erik's face and spit on him. He walked away leaving Erik to the mercy of the villager's anger. The last thing he remembered seeing before his eyes were cut out was Theorn's laughing face from the back of the crowd.

The brutality of accusations and soon to be murder tore through him. The cry of rage he let out before they slit his throat drew Artemis to him.

He heard her voice in the darkness, soothing and welcoming. "Erik," she said, "Your gods have forsaken you. They are barbarous and weak. I can free you from the fate they cursed you to and give you the one thing they could never give you."

"And what's that."

"Revenge. Theorn killed your family. He sent Aud into battle knowing you would not recognize her in time to prevent the tragedy that occurred. I will let you take revenge, and all you have to do is give your soul to me."

"My soul?"

"You're dead already Erik, you don't need it anymore. You aren't allowed into Asgard, into Valhalla, but I can give you immortality. Would you fight eternally for me like you would for Odin? All for the simple price of your soul…you will be allowed vengeance, did I mention that?"

The anger, grief, and helplessness washed over him. He agreed without further thought. But when he was allowed his vengeance, Theorn was no where to be found and Acheron came to him instead to train him as a Dark-Hunter.