Escape From Helheim Novels & Stories

My eyes fluttered shut, and I slipped into darkness. A nightmare hit me hard. I was back in the dungeon, Jasper’s twisted grin looming over me as he squeezed my throat, laughing like a maniac. Estrella was there too, her claws slashing my face, screaming, “You’ll never be free!” I thrashed, trying to escape, but the ropes held me tight, their voices drowning me. My heart raced, my body shaking even in sleep.

Stomach churned, but I needed the fuel to keep standing, let alone fighting. The shelter sat deep underground, behind thick doors and layers of stone and packed earth. Twenty feet of barrier between the children and the chaos topside. Guards nodded us through every checkpoint. Helena ran it tight—shifts rotating, supplies stocked, escape tunnels mapped just in case. We found Erica in the main chamber, cross-legged on blankets with a cluster of little ones. She read from a worn picture book, voice steady, about a brave wolf who outsmarted hunters to save her pack. The kids leaned in, wide-eyed, hanging on every word. She kept them calm, distracted.

"Public. Familiar territory. Somewhere he has an exit route memorized." "Petrov's," Zariel said again, her pulse picking up speed. "It has to be Petrov's. There's a back exit through the kitchen that leads straight into an alley. He showed me once. He said it was his emergency hatch in case a client ever got violent over a botched fake date." Kaelen reached for the phone again.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure, but I did as he asked, and that's when I encountered you guys and figured Balor had set up a trap to have you guys capture me. And then you planned to go to the black market, so I took the chance to try and escape with Helga. It didn't go as planned, and I instead ended up in the realm of Nightmares with Damon. We trekked through the realm without magic and had to kill some disgusting monsters before finally making it to the rift I created years ago. We got through the rift and fell into the witch's realm and then made our way back here to you guys." Drabek let out a low whistle. "Well, you got yourself into a doozy, lass. Now, what are we to do?" I pu

scared to even hear the answer. “If you think eyes were not watching you at all times, you are stupider than I thought.” “What are we doing out here?” I looked around at where here was. “I am so glad you asked, this will be your new home.” He responded with arms wide open like he was showing me something grand. “Oh, and you won’t be escaping. Once I leave, this place will be rigged to blow if any of the windows or doors are tampered with. So, I wouldn’t try and escape. But just in case….” He smiled evilly and went to a closet. Inside he pulled out a fifty-foot log chain.

Not more half spoken confessions and no more confessions. I rested my head against the tree, allowing myself to close my eyes for just a moment. The soft creak of a wooden door snapped them open. I sat up immediately. There she was. Helena stepped out of the house as quietly as a thief. She paused on the doorstep, a small travel bundle, the one she had last night. Clutched tightly against her chest.

She smiled back, waving her hand as I left the hall. I walked over to the supply closet, gathered the cleaning tools and fresh linens I needed, and headed straight up to the master's wing. I pushed open the first heavy door, entering the space that belonged to Valerius. A familiar chill ran down my spine. As usual, the room was dimly lit. Since they were supposed to be thousands of miles away in Russia, I had planned to escape through the back door tonight. Once the rooms were flawlessly presentable, I slipped out of their suffocating rooms and made my way down to the gardens to meet Leo. The crisp evening air felt like a lifeline.

As he steps out of the car, the passenger side opens, and his beta, Moses, a tall brown-haired man with a few strands of gray that weren’t there before, does likewise. He offers me a smile small, and I instantly return it, because out of everyone, he’s the only one I’m happy to see. Behind him, my father’s enforcer, Ivan, a man who spent most of my life acting as if I didn’t exist, emerges like a black specter from the backseat. Moses and Ivan accompanying my father isn’t anything new. But a person I hadn’t expected to see is Helena, a shifter who only joined our pack maybe five years ago.

Alas, just when they were steps away from the exit, a stocky, bald man who was naked waist up blocked them from the door. "You… Step aside. We're leaving." Samatha stepped up and raised her voice. "You're delusional if you think you can beat up one of my men and leave. People at the Jazzy Blues are not doormats, you know?" Kristoff Hummel looked intimidating with his jowls. Those who were standing outside the exit dared not re-enter the bar when they saw his presence. Samantha and Alexis were understandably scared to leave as well. His words made them turn white. How could they possibly leave safely if the blond man just now was one of his men?