As Glin left the kitchen with a sleeping Jenny in his arms, Gerda announced that it was time to start dinner, effectively bringing a sense of normality back to what had been a very strange afternoon. The sun had gone down some time ago and the windows were now a dark reflection of the inside of the large, yet cozy kitchen.

Tyr gave Astyr a warm hug before going to sit with Frey at the table to discuss the details of his upcoming visit with Queen Elianna to straighten out this mess with Glin. Laure joined them to help since she had a lot of insight into the workings of the Alfar royalty.

Astyr and Hakon took up the job of setting the dining table in the big formal dining room which was the only place large enough for the nine members of the household to eat together while Gerda and Grima started to fix the food.

When they were alone together in the dining room, Hakon came over to Astyr and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Don't worry about this, Astyr," he said warmly, "Your dad won't let Queen Elianna force you into anything, and I'd do anything to help you, too."

Astyr smiled as she looked up into his eyes. "I know that," she said as she squeezed him back. "Can you believe the nerve of Glin, busting in like that and saying I'm going to be his wife!" She started laughing at the memory and Hakon soon joined in.

"You should have seen his face when you pushed him aside on your march out the door!" Hakon added causing them to laugh even harder, "I would have fallen down laughing if I hadn't been so angry at him."

They were holding on to each other and trying to breathe through the hilarity of picturing Glin being shoved aside by an angry Astyr when they heard a loud explosion coming from in front of the house. They looked out the windows of the large French doors to see a blinding flash of light.

Hakon tightened his grip on Astyr and pulled her quickly away towards the door to the butler's pantry. As they swung the door open to cross through to the kitchen, they ran into Tyr who had a thunderous look on his face. He grabbed Astyr away from Hakon as he asked what had happened.

"I don't know," Hakon answered worriedly. "There was an explosion and a flash of light in front of the house. I was more concerned with getting Astyr back here to safety to stop and check it out."

Tyr grunted in approval. "You did fine, boy," he reassured Hakon as they all left the cramped space and returned to the kitchen.

Frey was closing his cell phone as they entered and Tyr looked to him expectantly.

"There was an explosion on the front driveway. The guards are going to go check it out and they'll let us know what's going on," Frey told him briefly.

Tyr's eyebrows drew together as he thought about the situation.

"Gerda, get some blood from the storage room, we should be prepared in case of an attack," he ordered before turning to address Grima, "Take Hakon and go get as many weapons as you can find."

As they went off to do as instructed, Tyr pulled Astyr aside. "I do not want you to leave this house for any reason. Do you understand?"

Astyr nodded but said to him, "I can help if you need me to. I know how to fight."

"This isn't about whether you can fight; I know how good you are, but you can't heal like the rest of us if you get hurt. I need you to promise me that you'll stay inside so that I can concentrate on what needs to be done out there."

"Ok, Dad," Astyr reassured him, "I'll stay here, unless I have to leave if someone gets in."

Tyr smiled at her. "Good girl. Stay with Hakon, he'll take care of you."

Astyr gave him a small smile back but she was beginning to feel a little afraid of what might be about to happen. She wished she could stay beside him but she knew it would be safer for him to be able to devote his efforts to fighting and not have to worry for her safety at the same time.

Gerda came back with a big box full of little plastic bags containing donated blood and Tyr insisted that Astyr drink some as well as everybody else. They didn't bother with glasses like they usually did; this wasn't a time to stand on ceremony so the little bags were ripped open and they drank straight from them.

Grima and Hakon came in carrying a stack of swords and spears and dropped them onto the table before coming over to the kitchen island to grab a few bags of blood for themselves.

Astyr had to stifle a giggle at the sight of all of them standing around sucking the blood out of the bags like a group of children at snack time having juice.

Frey's cell phone rang and he pushed the accept button and lifted the phone to his ear with a worried look on his face.

After listening for just a few seconds, he answered with a brusque, "Just hold them off, we'll be there soon."

He looked to Tyr as he put the phone back into his pocket. "He says it's a group of Nithavellir. They exploded a charge on the front driveway. He said there's about twenty of them."

"Nithavellir?" Laure asked in confusion. "What would they be doing here?"

Grima replied to her, "They often hire themselves out as mercenaries if there's a job that promises plenty of bloodshed. We need to be concerned more with who hired them; they're vicious but not really powerful."

"Grima's right," Tyr added, "we can easily deal with them. This looks too much like something Loki would do. I'll go out with Grima and Frey. If Loki is behind this, I want to be out there to take him down before he gets close to the house."

Astyr's stomach dropped in fear; she didn't want her father to go out there if Loki was here even though her head was telling her that her father was more than capable of defending himself.

She ran and gave him a quick hug while Grima and Frey were selecting weapons from the pile.

"Please be careful," she whispered to him urgently, "I only just found you." She left unsaid that it would be too much if she lost him now. She felt that it would be tempting fate to say it aloud.

Tyr bent down enough to kiss the top of her head. "Don't worry about me, dear. Just stay in the house."

With that he headed for the front door with Frey, who was carrying a large sword, and Grima, who was carrying one of her favorite spears.

"Dad! Wait!" Astyr called out to him in a panic. "You don't have a weapon!"

Tyr turned back with an amused grin, even Frey and Grima were smiling, "A sword would only get in my way," he said with a chuckle. "Don't forget the hunt."

Remembering her father taking down the enormous, eight-point buck at the Yule celebration sent a wave of reassurance through her and she gave him a brave smile as he walked out the door to face the threat.

After Tyr left with Grima and Frey there wasn't much to do to occupy the rest of them other than sit around and worry, and Astyr was doing plenty of that. They settled in the formal living room so that they could see the front entrance and the back yard at the same time. Hakon brought the rest of the swords and spears from the kitchen and they spent a few minutes picking out one of them, not really because they expected to use them but because it gave them something to do.

When they finished, Gerda switched off the lights in the house so that they could see out of the darkened windows and also so that they wouldn't be visible if someone snuck onto the patio.

Astyr was too nervous to sit still but she couldn't pace around either as the movement would give away her position if someone were to be watching from outside. Hakon drew her off to the side of the room into the shelter provided by the large fireplace and wrapped the arm that wasn't holding his sword around her shoulders as he pressed her up against the wall.

"Don't worry, Astyr," Hakon whispered to her, "your dad can take care of himself, and I'm going to take care of you."

"I know," Astyr whispered back, "I just have a bad feeling and I can't figure out what it is."

Hakon pressed his lips to her hair and tried to set her mind at ease. "You're probably just scared. You've never been in a situation like this before; it's normal to be nervous the first time."

"Shh!" Laure hissed from her position by the French doors. "I think I saw something out there."

Astyr froze in fear and Hakon tightened his hold on her as they waited for Laure to double-check.

"There's someone out there at the edge of the tree-line." Laure whispered to them. "I'm going to go out quietly and see who it is."

"No!" Gerda said as loudly as she could without raising her voice, "We have to stay together in here."

"Mom's right," Hakon added, "You don't know how many of them could be out there waiting for someone to come out. We need to stay inside, and together, until Dad, Tyr and Grima come back."

Laure didn't bother replying to this, she just stayed in her place among the heavy draperies looking out into the darkness that was faintly lit by the light of a thin slice of moon.

Nobody spoke again for a long while; they were all focusing intently on the glass that separated them from the unknown danger lurking behind the house. Finally, Laure spoke up again in her breathy whisper.

"There's only one person out there; I'm sure of it. I'm going to go out and see who it is. Stay here."

Before Gerda or Hakon could utter a protest, she passed smoothly through the closed French door without a sound and with no disturbance to the curtains or the air around her.

"Dammit!" Hakon breathed in frustration. "Stay right here, Astyr. Don't move unless I tell you to, ok."

Astyr nodded and he moved over to the windows where Laure had passed through to the outside to try to see where Laure was going.

Laure was moving silently along the wall of the patio, edging her way ever closer to the end of the shelter provided by the structure of the large house. When she ran out of wall, she pressed herself to the brick behind her and twisted her neck around to peek out at the spot by the trees where she had last seen the tall, shadowy figure. It was still right where she had first spotted it; it hadn't moved even one step closer to the house.

Laure pulled her head back around and concentrated on the jeans and thick sweater she was wearing. After just a moment, they both turned a murky gray color that blended in with the shadows around her. She edged around the corner once again and made her way through the few trees that were close to the house until she was among the thick line of trees that marked the beginning of the forest that grew along the riverbank. Laure could hear the gentle murmur of the river as it carried its heavy burden of water off to the sea but there were none of the usual sounds from the forest that one would normally hear in the woods that played host to large numbers of nocturnal life.

She felt a shiver run down her spine at the unnatural silence that enveloped her, emphasizing her isolation from the rest of the household, and in the eerie darkness, seemingly from all life.

She shook off the feelings that threatened to freeze her to the spot; she wasn't a warrior by training, but she was an Alfar and not one to be overcome so easily.

She moved herself into a position to see the spot where the mysterious person was hiding in shadows and her eyes widened in shock and disbelief as she recognized his distinctive profile.

She moved back to the edge of the trees closest to the house and checked to see that the intruder was still in place before making her way back to the side of the brick structure.

Before she could clear the one remaining gap, she felt a solid length of steel pass through the air just in front of her face. She came to a complete stop and looked over to see that the man had finally moved.

"Don't go back inside on my account, honey," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "We can have lots of fun out here together."

Laure felt her heart race in panic; being trapped by this beast was the last thing she wanted. She turned to face him as she began to slowly creep closer to the edge of the poolside patio.

"What are you doing here?" She asked loudly. There was no longer any reason to keep her voice down or to hide in the shadows; being seen by those who were still in the house might be her only chance at survival. "How can you be here?"

The man barked out a cruel laugh as he raised his arm and pointed the dark weapon straight at her heart and pulled the trigger.

*********************