The Afterlife

Chapter Three: La Garé Du Nord

"France/Paris: December 2018"

They heard the growls when they were a few blocks from 'La Garé Du Nord'.

"They brought the vargr, we have to hurry or they'll catch us before we get to the station" Perenelle said as they were crossing the Parisian streets which were unusually calm that night with only a few people and even less traffic.

"Something's wrong." Ivan said pointing out his concern.

"Definitely, but if we get to the station they probably won't attack us; it is one of the busiest train stations in the whole Europe." Even though Nicholas said that he knew very well that their enemies were very resourceful and they would do anything to catch him alone, now that he was with the twins it was a whole new different story; their enemies would even burn a whole country to ash in order to find them.

Apart from their unusual pace the four of them looked like a normal family; a crazy geeky father wearing an oversized t-shirt and baggy jeans, an into the clouds mother wearing a yellow summer dress which was definitely out of season and twins who would be adorable if they weren't too much into gothic fashion.

They had just gotten to the street which opened up to the station when they heard the growls again, and this time they were much closer, probably only one block away which was ultimately close for a vargr.

"They are catching up, we need to hurry." Perenelle called to her fake family.

"Why do we have to run anyway? We can take care of them can't we?" Ivan chided trying to get the attention of Nicholas who simply waved away his question and continued to walk towards the station.

The group broke into the station in a rush and were surprised to find that it was empty; not a single soul was in the large hall which could hold hundreds of thousands of people.

"Remind me to kill the one who said that this is the busiest station in Europe." Ivan said eyeing the alchemist with accusation.

Though the twin was probably joking his words freaked Nicholas out; the boy wasn't known for being very forgiving in his past, he only hoped nobody saw how really scared he was, or maybe that they would think he was afraid of their pursuers, which he was not."What do we do?" He asked trying to clear his mind.

"They probably knew we were coming here all along, they must know that we want to leave the city...." Evelyn said while analysing all the possibilities "...we are going to do something they don't expect us to do; we are going to wait for them here and fight them."

"Finally something I like." Ivan said with his usual grin and tried to give a hi-five to his sister who ultimately declined.

He had just said that when a four feet tall wild wolf with unnaturally long sharp canines, long claws and glistening dark brown fur broke into the hall of the station destroying a whole chunk of the eastern wall. The beast snarled and growled as it approached the small group with strong cautious steps. "I hate the vargr." Perenelle mumbled under her breath.

"At least there is only one, we will deal with it quite easily."

Evelyn had just said that when two other vargr broke the western wall and surrounded them pacing slowly, growling and snarling but refraining from any kind of attack. "Sis, I had forgotten how wrong you could be sometimes."

Weapons instantly materialised in the twins' hands; four different sword which only looked equally threatening; so much that the four beats surrounding them seemed to move back a step, but they soon regained their murderous concern.

It was not the beasts only who were amazed by the sight of the swords, the Flamels looked equally dumbfounded. "Are those really?..." Nicholas started in a voice which was nearly audible but Evelyn cut him off fast,"Lævateinn,Fragrach, Durendal and the Claiomh Solaia; the relics we brought from the underworld, now can we fight these things now before even more join in?"

As if on cue two more vargr entered the hall and joined the others around the small group. "Guys we're outnumbered" Nicholas said slowly looking around facing each of the five beats which were now totally surrounding them. "Thank you so much we hadn't noticed." Ivan grumbled and raised his sword getting ready to fight.

One of the beasts lunged at him, only to get its head slashed clean off with one swing of the thick grey sword in his left hand, the other beasts hesitated at the sight of this but then attacked on their turn.

Evelyn blocked the teeth of one of the beasts as it tried to lunge at her with her shirt greenish sword but the impact made her skid a few feet backwards, she slashed with the sword in her other hand; an iron sword which looked way to big and heavy for her, but the vargr just jumped backwards and avoided the blow. It's joy was not long-lived since the girl lurched forward and stabbed the vargr right between the eyes, blood squirted out of the wound and stained the white marble floor with messy patterns.

Nicholas had not had this much fun for a very long time; he had started to think that he would forget his alchemy due to lack of practice, but the way things were turning out he was going to have to use his power even more than he wanted to.

"Come on, don't be afraid of the old man." The alchemist said as one of the vargr pounced at him. In a swift movement he dodged the beast's attack the punched it in the chest, a seemingly harmless move but the poor creature erupted into flames and turned into ash instantly on the contact with the alchemist's hand. "Wow, I didn't know I could feel so alive even after my death. Perenelle, do you need any help there?" He said as he faced his wife who had just turned the last of the vargr into a mound of sand with the other one transformed in a gracious stone statue. "As a matter of fact I don't." Perenelle replied with a smile.

They had just started to celebrate their victory when a pack of a dozen vargr entered the station.

"Well it seems we have more visitors." Ivan said with his grin as beaming as ever.

The vargr attacked and the fight continued with the twins slashing and killing the beasts and the Flamels using their alchemy. In no time all the beasts were either lying dead on the marble floor or transformed into rather harmless forms.

"These things are way too weak, unless..." Evelyn's voice trailed off as she made her conclusion. "Unless what?" Nicholas asked with concern.

"Unless they were just buying time for someone to arrive." Ivan finished but rather than facing the alchemist he was looking directly at the entrance of the station which made the alchemist do the same.

Indeed at the entrance stood five men in full Viking armor. All of them were tall in height though one was noticeably taller than the rest, they all shared some features like long blond hair though not styled in the same way, deep blue eyes and they all had the same fierce looks on their faces.

"Fine deduction kid, this was indeed a trap and you fell right in it." The tallest one said. "You are the ones who killed Sigurd so we have decided that we want to test your power ourselves, of course before sending you to meet the king and face your punishment."

"Your speech was kinda sweet before you started talking about punishments." Ivan said not losing an inch of his grin "Though I have to say; Sigurd was pretty strong, he didn't let himself die easily. I hope you provide as much entertainment."

"Always smart mouthed ain't you kid?" The tall man continued to talk "Sigurd was strong, no wonder why you destroyed a whole block in Montparnasse just to kill him. But we are way stronger, we are the sons of Ragnar..."

"Blah blah blah we know who you are; Ivar The Boneless, Ubba, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Bjorn Ironside and Hvitserk sons of Ragnar Lothbrock you really have quite a legacy" Perenelle cut in.

"No, it is not Lothbrock it is pronounced Ragnar Loðbrók..." Ivar clarified with a pressed Scandinavian accent. "Anyway, it won't serve you since you will be dead"

The bersekers unsheathed their weapons; swords which were almost as tall as the twins and battle axes which were definitely heavier than the twins.

"Trust me these will be the worst deaths in your lives" the Viking said as he and his brothers attacked.