"The air," Sigurd panted from her side as they trudged through a particular dense patch of underbrush. "It's becoming heavier, almost too heavy to breathe."

Bonnie placed a hand on Sigurd's back, allowing her magic to cloak him with a barrier spell. Once erected, he exhaled his relief. "Spells and curses are at work. The deeper we go the stronger they become. Your good now, though. I've placed a protection spell on you."

"Have I not spoken to you of addressing offensive sorcery?" Floki questioned from ahead of them, while swiping errant bushes and branches from their path. "Doing so only calls into question your authority, leaving an opening for any usurper who think themselves powerful enough to challenge your rule."

"This sorcery is not offensive it's Bennett magic, and although I'm now the supreme of my line, I respect the queens who came before me, even Qetsiyah." Bonnie swiped at a few twigs Floki missed. "It's how grams raised me."

"Then I stand corrected," Floki said, stepping into the clearing that Ayanna's shack sat upon.

"As you should, Immortal," Ayanna said, stepping from behind the cloth barrier hanging over the entrance of her keep. "Why have you come here with a son of Ragnar and one of the biggest mistakes of our family line?"

"Is she your kin?" Sigurd asked, looking from Bonnie to Ayanna and back.

Bonnie nodded once, "Yeah, something like that."

"What'd you mean one of the biggest mistakes?" Floki straightened his posture and pulled back his shoulders. "Bonnie's a product of that mistake and she's the greatest defender we have against what's to come."

Ayanna lifted her chin, while folding her arms across her chest. "And what do you know of what's to come?"

"Not nearly what we should," Bonnie stepped from the sidelines to stand in the sparking zone. "That's why we're here. I need to know what you learned from the discernment spell you cast on me."

One of Ayanna's shoulders rose and fell. "Nothing much I haven't heard spoken afore. There, however, was a few unforeseen insights which should be explored." She cast her gaze around the forest. "Come, there are eyes and ears on the wind, in the trees. We'll speak more inside." With that she turned and walked into the keep.

They followed her in and gathered in the small front room. She waved at a stone bench and two wooden chairs. Bonnie took one of the wooden chairs, Floki took the bench and Sigurd sat across from her in the other chair. She glanced around at the bare walls and floors. The keep look more like a prison cell than a home. It's a wonder she didn't freeze to death in the winter. She'd have to bring some things back to help her through the colder months.

"Ansel told me he came upon you over a fortnight ago," Ayanna said, adding wood to the hearth. "Said that you communed with the spirits, and they ordained you supreme of our entire familial line." She turned to stare at Bonnie, her brow arched and her expression disbelieving. "And they bowed before you, even Qetsiyah?"

"Yes," Bonnie nodded. "Even Qetsiyah."

"Although impressive, she's not just supreme of the Bennett line," Floki said.

Confusion wrinkled Ayanna's brow. "The Bennett line? What is this Bennett line you speak of, Immortal?"

"That's the name you'll give our family when you make it to the new world," Bonnie answered, without putting much thought into censoring herself for Sigurd's benefit. His gaze snapped to hers and fifty-eleven questions danced within his eyes. "I'll explain everything to you once we make it back to Kattegat. You have my word." He nodded and relaxed a bit.

"Humph, I see you've already decided on your enforcer/confessor." Ayanna walked over to Sigurd and placed her hand over his heart. Surprise flared her eyes wide as a small smile captured her lips. "You've chosen well. This one will lie, kill, and die for you a thousand times if given a thousand lives. Does he nourish you as well?"

"Excuse me?" Bonnie asked, just knowing Ayanna wasn't asking if Sigurd was her juice box.

Floki waved off Ayanna as if she'd asked a dumb ass question. "Of course, he is how else would she have managed otherwise?"

"As I always have," Bonnie snapped, swinging her glare from Floki to Ayanna. "I'm not a damn vampire who needs a blood bag every two minutes to get by. In fact, I don't even crave it."

"Yet, your aura seems more vibrant sense last we met," Ayanna said, eyeing the area around her. "You've fed recently."

"Bonnie you must nourish yourself in order to realize the full extent of your powers," Floki scolded. "Why do you think I keep Helga around?"

"Because you love her," Bonnie answered.

"Yes I love her now, but that wasn't always the case," Floki said, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees as he regarded her. "Love came in time, but sustenance came first."

"The boy will be more than sustenance to her. Their bond will be synergistic in nature," Ayanna stated moving away from Sigurd to cross over to Floki. "He'll offer up himself and she will give unto him. This will brand their bond with the eternity blood knot once he forsakes what he's always known for her."

Sigurd studied Bonnie for a moment, his face devoid of all emotion. "I will and I do."

"Sigurd, don't say that," Bonnie shook her head at him. "I don't even know what this title will ask of you."

"The eternity blood knot? To utilize such a knot as a brand, she'd have to be able to create an immortal with her blood alone," Floki moved to the edge of the bench.

Ayanna raised a finger, "Not alone, not until she and her mate are joined. For now, to turn a supernatural immortal she'll need to locate nature's most powerful but foolish mistake."

"Doppelgängers," Bonnie, Ayanna, and Floki said in unison.

Bonnie tilted her head to the side. "Let me get this right, the immortal witch spell has given me the power to turn anyone into an immortal?"

"Only those under your dominion," Ayanna corrected.

Bonnie glanced at Floki for clarification.

"She means supernaturals," Floki mansplained.

Her eyes rolled to meet the ceiling. "I know, Floki, but what of the dormant supernaturals. The ones who carries sorcery in their blood and yet they have no active way of utilizing the energy." She allowed her gaze to fall on Sigurd.

"They belong to you as well and so too can be remade," Ayanna said, taking a seat on the opposite end of the stone bench on which Floki sat. "You also have the authority to awaken the dormant energy within them once they're immortal. If I were you, I'd thank the mother of all for such a gift. They are warriors you'll need for the enemy who lies in wait plotting your downfall. For even in death her legion of followers grow."

The temperature of her sorcery skyrocketed in her veins. Searing the inner lining of her vessels as if she had molten lava shooting through her arteries. "The Hollow!"

"Ragnarök!" Floki uttered at the same time.

"Ragnarök?" Sigurd questioned, his disturbed gaze darting over every occupant in the room.

"You wanted to know why the spell brought you back here?" Ayanna nodded toward Sigurd. "You're here for them. The sons of Ragnar are the stone which may very well tip the scales in the favor of whom they should decide to swear their allegiance. And do not think claiming their pledge will be a small fete. For there is another immortal who's been planting seeds since the beginning and now means to reap." She paused to give them all pointed stares. "He goes by many names and twice as many faces. Some know him as the All-Father, while others refer to him as-,"

"Odin," Floki and Sigurd said in unison.

Bonnie nearly left her seat. "There god is an immortal?"

"One of the oldest," Ayanna shrugged, like she didn't just rock the very foundation of what they all assumed stood rock solid. "It's been spoken he was the second most powerful witch to ever live."

"What of Valhalla?" Sigurd question, looking as if someone were about to tell him the North Pole was just the ass crack of winter and not the magical place Santa lived.

"You mean the Otherside he created for his supernatural warriors?" Ayanna asked, giving zero fucks that her revelations were blasting holes in someone else's faith and religion. "Believe me not? His anchor resides just there in Kattegat. The kingdom of his most favored descendant."

The penny soared high into the stratosphere. Bonnie cast her gaze to the unseen in an attempt to visualize what she'd somehow missed. A sea a visions rushed her third eye like an endless reel of YouTube edits. The penny plummeted back to the ground. "The Seer."

"So, now I'm to wage war on two different fronts?" Bonnie couldn't understand how she always found herself in those predicaments. This time she couldn't even blame the Mystic Falls squad. No this was a situation of her own making.

"Not if you can get Odin to align with you," Floki said, coming out of his trance to help shovel her out of the shit in which she'd found herself. "If you're able to gain his allegiance, you'll have use of the many warriors who awaits the final battle in Valhalla."

"And why would he? Here we are in the fourth quarter and here I come off the bench about to win his game," Bonnie shook her head. "I don't see it happening."

"Oh, he'll be obliged if you agreed to offer him the place at your side," Ayanna eyed her with a knowing look. "Make him the other half of the prophecy."

"Impossible, I'm not spending my eternity with an immortal I've never met," Bonnie flapped a hand to wave off the idea. "Besides, Ubbe and I are to be married when I return from the Mediterranean Sea. He'll look good fulfilling the prophecy."

Floki's eyes rolled, Sigurd just stared at his feet refusing to make eye contact with anyone, and Ayanna deteriorated into body jerks of laughter.

Exhaling her irritation, her gaze darted from Floki to Ayanna. "What else is there to do other than prostituting myself out for an army?"

This cut Ayanna's laughter to nothing, Floki's cheeks developed a tinge of red, and Sigurd still remained detached. Her gaze fixed on him. She could relate with the shit storm she imagined blowing at a category five in his head. Discovering the shades of gray in the world you always believed to be black and white could do damage on a fundamental level. She would know, she was seventeen when grams flipped her world. In one drunken heart to heart not only did she discover magic was real, but she also learned of her witch heritage. Talk about an overdue conversation with her therapist.

"Then you'll have to do what he's done," Sigurd said without withdrawing his gaze from the floor. "You'll have to elevate yourself before the people's eyes. As my father did, as my mother's father did. Perform acts ordinary men cannot achieve. Not anything blatant that will terrify, but deeds which will separate you as divine. And once you have them, if you expect them to forsake Valhalla, you have to give them in return something as equally as great in measure."

Why did fate always come off as one big coincidence? "There's a place. I created it several years ago for my boyfriend after he was killed. But those events won't occur for hundreds of years."

"It matters not," Ayanna stated, with a shake of the head. "The Otherside exists outside the bounds of reality. If you created such a place, then it will exist as if it has always been there despite the time which it was conceived into corporeality."

"And what if it doesn't live up to their Valhalla? Truth is, I don't even know what the hell it looks like over there. It could be where broken hearts go when they can't find their way home for all I know!" She snapped. Damn, did she really just bring Queen Whitney into this? Wow, she was so fucking stressed.

"Simply think what you want, and so it shall be," Ayanna said dismissively like her words had granted Bonnie the meaning to all.

Keeping her frustration in check, she decided to search out her leave. "We should be going. Ubbe is to discuss our marriage contract with Bjorn today. I'd like to be present for the discussions."

"Go if you must," Ayanna waved yet another dismissive hand. "But come again on the morrow. The immortal and I should begin instructing you on wielding your sorcery. And if my third eye is to be trusted you should learn how to wield a battle ax and other such barbaric weaponry."

Bonnie nodded not bothering to tell Ayanna that she knew her way around just about every weapon known to man. She'd acquired and retained Rayna's skills as a vampire huntress when she'd inherited her lifespan. From increased speed, massive strength, to a mix martial arts street fighting style, she held an advantage her opponent would never see coming. And that's only if she was of a mind to physically engage. Yet, who knew what the future held when fate chose to remain unseen to one's second sight. She waited until Floki and Sigurd exited the keep to question Ayanna about something which she still couldn't force her mind around.

Ayanna flicked an assessing stare over her as she peeped to make sure her companions didn't turn back when they realized she'd lingered. Once satisfied, she centered her attention on her foremother. "When I invoked this spell in my time I was-," she broke off to clear her throat, "I was twenty-seven years old." Confusion crumpled Ayanna's features. Bonnie tried again. "I'd seen twenty-seven summers." Ayanna's gaze flared in understanding. "But now I'm back here looking like I did when I'd only seen eighteen! And to make matters worse, I'm in possession of something I haven't claimed since my nineteenth summer. Can you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

Ayanna regarded her as if her hollow headedness had been confirmed by an echo bouncing off the walls of her mind. "This is the nature of the spell you invoked. It returns you to the state of when your sorcery crested the pinnacle of its potency. If you were in possession of your maidenhead at the time...," she shrugged a non-verbal, I don't know what to tell you.

"So you mean to tell me I have to do eighteen all over again?" Bonnie growled as she dropped her face in her palm.

"I mean to tell you that you'll have the look of one who's only seen eighteen summers for an eternity," Ayanna clarified.

****

Bjorn stood within the great hall of Kattegat. His gaze drifted over Queen Aslaug who sat perched on her throne as if it were her gods given right to rule, then to Hvitserk who stood huddled to the side with the slave girl he'd gifted them with from his last raid, moving on to Ivar who watched him in return from his seat on his father's throne, and finally settling upon Ubbe who sat in one of the favored seats near the throne. Torvi stood next to him, rubbing her protruding belly looking as if she wanted to be anywhere but there.

"Bjorn, I understand you're here to decide upon a marriage contract between Ubbe and Bonnie," Queen Aslaug said, her mouth twisting just so over the coupling of Ubbe's and Bonnie's names.

Ubbe straightened in his seat. "Which will have to be postponed since Bonnie must've been delayed."

"If you wish this marriage to go forth then we'll come to an agreement now." Bonnie's absence was an advantage he indeed planned to extort. "There is no reason for Bonnie to trouble herself with such matters. I'm her protector and this allows me leave to negotiate on her behalf."

"To what end?" Ivar questioned, staring down upon him as if he truly had claim to the throne on which he sat. "What are you hoping to profit from these negotiations?"

"A better existence for Bonnie. I believe the precise marriage contract may allow fate's will for Bonnie's life to prevail. Which we all agree is not Ubbe," Bjorn finished with a scrunched face.

Ubbe darted from his seat. "What task must I carry out to prove to you Bonnie and I are fated to be together, brother?"

"Alright, I'll step aside and allow your betrothal to commence without any interference from me if you can speak to me of how often you dreamed of her before she arrived upon these shores." Bjorn began to pace as secrets tumbled from him he'd never meant to tell another. "Can you speak to me of the pain she endured throughout her years of neglect. Or what of the agony she suffered when the only person who genuinely cared for her passed from this life to the next. If not her pain then what of her courage. Tell me of the fire which burns within her mystical eyes when she stares down an enemy she believes far greater than she. Do you know anything of the heart you so wish to claim? Of the sacrifice she's willing to make to protect those she considers hers? Speak to me about any of those things and I will stand aside."

Ubbe stood with his mouth open and yet without a word to emerge. Ivar and Aslaug exchanged glances. Hvitserk crossed the room to join the fray. After a moment of timid reluctance, he spoke.

"I imagine she must've suffered much over never being favored by her mother or father. That's why she mourns, Siggy, your first child so," His voice fractured, and he paused to clear his throat. "She likens herself to being unloved, discarded, and forgotten by those who've sworn to protect her. As Siggy was in life and now death. And though her grandmother cared for her deeply, Bonnie carries other losses with her. Losses which still dwells in her eyes."

He placed his hand over his heart as he stared off into the distance at nothing. "That is why when she smiles the smile that shines brighter than the light basking from within the gates of Valhalla it never quite reaches her verdant hued eyes."

His gaze drifted back to Bjorn's. "You want to know of her courage? It rivals that of Lagertha's. Every time she went into battle, the expectation of death accompanied her. Bonnie is prepared to die for those she love. For her heart, Bjorn Ironside, is bigger than the oceans you sail and although she's already given it to our brother," his gaze darted to Ivar, and then back to him. "I hope the fates have been kind enough to set but a piece of it to the side for me. Though I may not have dreamed of her, something within me recognize her the moment I saw her."

Bjorn studied Hvitserk. He was not prepared for such revelations of Bonnie coming from his most ill-defined brother. From the expression from the others, he wasn't alone in his judgment. The only one who appeared unsurprised by Hvitserk's declarations was Aslaug. In verity, she looked pleased with herself and discerning. Almost as if she knew something they'd all failed to comprehend.

"Your insight on Bonnie is thorough and accurate, but since you're not the one seeking to marry Bonnie, it's not called for," His gaze darted to Ubbe, "You'll be expected to honor the standard contract of our people, with an additional decree."

"What?" Ubbe's frown was in place before the word was spoken.

"You'll not couple with Bonnie until your wedding ritual is performed and your marriage legalized. You will swear this upon your sacred arm ring and your right to call yourself Ragnar's son. To dishonor this vow is to shame the gods and forfeit your birth right," Bjorn said leveling him with a glare. "Will you agree?"

Ubbe swallowed, and then glanced to Aslaug who gave a shrug of indifference. "Yes, I agree and swear it."

****