Disenthrall

To set free


The dark forest, a place where no mortal or God should have lingered, was thick with the promise of snow in the breeze. Beyond the thick clusters of trees and dead leaves, Fury lingered, treading through the moist ground that was as slick as a sheet of ice. Her bare shoulders resented the flakes of ice descending from the sky. Shaking them off with distaste. At least it wasn't raining.

She waited for Loki, arms crossed at her buckled bodice. It was absolutely freezing. He had better hurry or she'd leave before she froze. Furya breathed out a visible puff of air into the night, watching it rise. It entrapped the clear flakes of ice from the sky in a layer of fog.

Snow. She huffed. She hadn't seen snow in a century before coming to Asgard. A century.

Vanaheim had once harboured inescapable whiteouts. It had sealed Valerian and herself within the black castle for a few days one violent winter. They found other things to do. Fury visibly shuddered at the memory. Hoping that Dastan would fare better with the conquest she saw him sneaking off with into the kitchen staff's quarters.

"Mischief", Her voice drawled, sensing his presence before his tall and slender body befell her eyes. She turned on her heel, speaking into the wind. "Enjoy your swim?", her eyes squinted through the shadows. But he didn't speak. His eyes were locked onto the bustling of creatures from the thick shrubbery. She felt daft for forgetting no benevolent creature would ever exist in the enchanted forest. But what was it? Another inexplicably sinister monster perhaps. She squared her shoulders, sweeping her blue eyes into the distance. The loud rustling grew closer. Luring her into danger. She was curious more than afraid.

"It was quite cold", Loki's voice spoke softly in her ear, clamping a hand over her mouth to not alert the creature to her presence. His soaked raven hair brushed her face. Followed by the wet sleeve that draped over her waist. It ushered her backwards, away from the beast beyond the foliage. Fury shivered, tearing his hand away from her red lips. Why was he running?

"What is it?", Furya hissed in a low tone, turning into his water-drenched chest. His viridian eyes spiked with fear as he explained. "No creature bearing goodwill lingers in the dark forest", He turned her shoulders back to observe the beast that crept from the darkness. Fury sucked in a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. That night was supposed to be fight free. A simple day was all she asked. She huffed, stiffening as a patch of dark fur came into light. Followed by glowing green eyes that watched her from the shadows. Loki abruptly shielded her in manner selfless and brave, pushing himself before the beast that snarled with drool covered teeth. "What is it?!", She hissed, louder this time. With enough volume to catch the beast's eye. He ordered her to run. And To keep running.

A loud scoff signified that fierce defiance within her. She didn't need a hero. And that's exactly what she told him as she swept past his form. Eyeing the Panther-like creature with a displeased examination. It's iris' were an aperture of flaming peridot lined with a solid ring of purple. Beside the violet iris, it's pupil dilated so wide it voided the eye of colour. Fury cocked her neck as it glanced to Loki with a deep guttural growl. Slender fingers grabbed her waist. Her arm. Anything he could grip onto.

But the titan sized panther didn't launch itself at her. No. He bowed his head to her like an old friend and bounded into the woods. The knife in her palm left her hand at just the opportune moment.

The slender cat was swift but not fast enough to dodge her cursed blade that nicked the beast's shadow covered neck. She wasn't sure she hit anything until a soft groan met her ears. Followed by a soft metallic drop. The thick frost would have silenced it completely to her mortal hearing. The towering creature hesitated but continued fleeing at the brisk noise of her feet chasing it down.

"Furya", Loki warned, appearing at her side as she knelt to retrieve the metallic medallion the beast had stopped for. Her fingers wiped the grime off its face. An insignia peeked from the gunk. But what was it? Waves like a fire painted the face. Then symbols, etchings she didn't know.

"A spy", her voice droned from her throat in a guttural hiss. Monotonic and mean. Of Who? Valerian? A beast willing to venture through the dark forest was desperate or stupid. Under Valerian's rule, she couldn't cross either out.

"You hit it", Loki pointed to the green splatter on the snow, trailing further through the forest. "If I miss. I die", The words escaped her without thought. A phrase common to her a few months ago now seemed so foreign. Loki was silent for a moment. He forgot what she was. More often than not. A hunter. Sometimes a killer. That's what she'd been. Trading lives for means to live. But he didn't know. Not what she'd kept forgotten beneath her mind of steel.

Magical beings were her speciality. She'd hunted Loki's kind from the rich smell of their power alone. She'd wanted to do the same to him. To Frigga. In any other realm, she would have been spat at and barred from their establishments. Her and Dastan had worn out any welcome on too many planets. She'd gained too many enemies of many means. It was a dangerous time to be a Witch Hunter. But Asgard was old and unmoving with the modernity of its neighbouring planets. She was thankful for that.

The longer she carefully examined the God the more she began to realise that his expression wasn't even about her. It was Contemplative. His face riddled with guilt. She watched him straighten his posture with a cool demeanour, straightening his wet coat. But his eyes delved beyond the forest. Into the heart of Wildmen country.

"What?", She asked with a warning. Not sure she was ready for anymore of his surprises. Though the darkness shielded him his pale face couldn't be protected from her sight. "You have one chance to tell me", Furya wasn't lying when she said it. If he was in bed with Valerian or anyone else she needed to know now. "Loki!", Her booming voice ricocheted off the dense trees, startling him with the slightest fear. Perhaps she was wrong to back away like he were a rabid beast. She wasn't sure it was a lie. "You're working with Valerian aren't you..." Fury concluded. Her heart void of friendship and compassion for him. Loki snapped his sight toward her and the guilt grew twofold. "No",

She didn't believe him. "Then what?", She asked, palming that small knife she had strapped to her thigh. Her footsteps stopped, halted by the green mist that spawned Loki's breath at her neck. "When you cross the border between Asgard and Wildmen territory there is no magic. It is stripped completely.", his voice spoke in a soft tone. The spy would die from its cursed wound when it crossed that border. No magic could shield it.

Furya breathed a forceful laugh from her nose. Her head shook in disbelief, freeing herself from the deceptive God. She was an absolute joke to him. An insult on his prim and proper society. The fool he sent into the woods to be eaten by the panthers. And if she died then who would miss her? No one.

Words could never portray her devastation. The agony of never truly being wanted. She would always be a vampire half-breed. Nothing would ever change. A demon Goddess. Well, that was simply laughable. Fury looked evil as hell itself. Why disappoint?

Fury flattened the satin material at her thigh. White fangs draped over the corners of her red painted lips. An unnerving smile pressed forcefully upon them. Unceasing as the snow fluttered from the sky crusted over with frost. Falling down like deathly sharp icicles. Loki deflected them like she was an ant trying to hurt him. "You cannot impale me", He stated with a stale disinterest.

"No",

That knife in her palm jittered with impatience. She needed answers and she'd get them. Forcefully or no. It was his choice.

"Why waste your time training me in sorcery and witchcraft for it to be rendered useless In the end?", Fury asked her voice as stern as steel.

He was still behind her. His cool breath bouncing off her shoulder. It drew deeper as she turned on her heel and he couldn't hide from her wrath.

"Why bind yourself to me?", Loki retorted. It made Furya grit her teeth together. "So this is petty revenge for a trick of words and paper? For the contract?", She growled, crossing her arms over her chest.

His eyes were hollow and glassy as he asked, "How? how did you defile an unbreakable contract?", Furya cocked her head. Was he listening to her at all?

"Magic within a blood contract is as old as time itself. It is ancient and evil. To take from it you must give in return...An eye for an eye.", Fury smiled, letting her arms loll at her side. "Or an inexplicably dark power for half of your own,",

She had known the game and to survive she would've dragged him six feet below. While he may have been an all-powerful God. She was the wife of pure evil. The mistress of the devil. Darkness was her domain. And contracts were goddamned child's play.

Loki was surprisingly calm, he seemed to admire her ruthlessness. That smile burst through his scowl, scaring away his terrifying expression that promised a slow and agonising death. "And I only strengthened you with immortality", He observed, trying so very valiantly to suppress the bewilderment that befell him. She was meant to fall into his trap. To be intoxicated by his brilliance. She wasn't supposed to challenge him and he loathed that she did. He didn't revel in the taste of being made a fool. He did love the trickery, however.

"You're quite terrifying", Loki bowed his head with defeat. But Furya didn't forget so easily what he'd told her.

"Why, Loki?, Why train me in a power useless against the Wildmen?",

"Because I wanted It to destroy you",

It left her speechless. The ease that he said it. Furya embraced a wordless gape. It had destroyed her. In every way possible. This immortal vessel. It had left her weeping into the luscious carpet of Asgard or wailing for death to take her as her bones cracked out of place and then in again. It was agony. It was the price she had unknowingly paid.

"I hate you", She hissed, watching him flinch at the words. He stepped back but she curled her hand around his soaking wet sleeve, falling into step. His emerald eyes clashed into hers with darkness. She couldn't comprehend the wickedness that dwelled within him. His need to hurt her. But perhaps that was what he saw when he glared back into her luminous blue eyes. The eyes of a demon. A vampire. A wicked beast.

They had hurt each other well and so easily. Their relationship was toxic and sick. It was so unbelievably weird.

"I hate you", She growled, gripping the solid bone of his wrist. Loki's eyes softened, opening his mouth to speak. "Then let go",

Let go of him. Of their odd friendship. Of the brand.

"No", Furya drawled viciously and he stopped fighting against her. Shocked and slightly confused, slinking out of her grasp with a strong tug. He spoke. "Then I will give you a reason to",

Magic ignited the forest in a Viridian cloud, sweeping throughout the woods like a rolling fog. Fury was just quick enough to meet the creature that spawned from behind her formally dressed figure. She clashed her knife with a beast that made her core spring to life with flame. Valerian. Dozens upon dozens of clones of the demon sprung from the forest floor like flowers blooming to life. She froze. Turning to the God that summoned them.

What was he doing? Fury tugged on the tendrils of power that intertwined them and she felt nothing. Shit. Was he truly trying to kill her? Here and now?

He had let her be impaled before. Perhaps it was opportune to get her alone. To gain her trust. She was a fool. A goddamned fool. He'd distracted her with shiny jewels and powerful magic to come through on his promise. An agonising and intimate death.

Sweat clung the satin material of her dress to her hips in rolling beads. She thought she had read Loki. She felt his warming heart. She goddamn thawed it out for months. Fury dive beneath the veil of magic. Into that unbreakable bond. Only to bounce off the shield erected within his mind and his heart. "Shit", her heart erupted into a loud thrum that forced a wicked smile upon his lips. And she couldn't think or move. She was paralysed by it. The fear that blushed her cheeks a magnificent shade of red. Suddenly the snow seemed to singe her skin and she wasn't shivering. The frost became a sauna for her death. "Indeed", Loki purred, falling behind a shield of illusions bearing Valerian's likeness.

Run. Her consciousness screamed. Retreating in that weak stuttering human-vampire that Valerian had first met. 'My precious little bat, What have you done?', That voice stung her ears.

No, he wouldn't see her tears. She wasn't afraid of him. Not anymore. She was strong and unyielding. Fury sniffled away the redness of her face and gathered the magic in the outline of her tattoo, summoning it forward with little grace or dignity. She knew better than to wrestle with magic when her anger became too much to bear. The consequence would be dire. But that fantastic ability within her veins, it burst through her like a fucking beacon. Aflame and deadly.

Loki, like a puppet master watching his prized dolls burn. His eyes widened. Opening wider than she had ever seen. With an impossible amount of awe as she burned through the flock. Burning them into embers. Leaving but one. Fury opened her mouth, flicking her wrist in the same motion.

"Here's to us", She wasn't sure she had even said the words from the heat that fogged her senses in rage. The forest was a black outline, dancing in her white light. It was entrancing and spectacular.

Valerian, the illusion, leapt to his feet. His chain at his chest rattling through the harsh wind. But the beast didn't attack. No. He was a minion of her control. She could feel herself unlinking Loki's binds. And yet the spellbound Valerian acted out his own will. A memory within her mind that triggered at those haunting words he'd muttered. She had forgotten much over 300 years but those words were something she'd never be able to erase.

Fury begged it to end. To disappear from her sight.

But no matter how she pleaded the memory burst into a live theatre before Loki's awe. Fury screamed for it to stop but it only made Valerian's form corporeal at her feet. Springing an image of herself to life. Younger. Less scarred.

"Shit", Furya hissed, flexing her hand toward Valerian in a final attempt to destroy it. She couldn't. Loki's power was fuelled by control in emotion. And control was not what she had on it. The magic rejected her, zapping her skin as she reached to erase it.

Loki surveyed the unfolding theatrics before him with crossed arms. Eyeing Furya in a younger state. Her hands were bound together and knotted to a wooden altar anchored into stone.

"Enough", She breathed out, bowing her head to the snow. It hurt. It physically hurt her like she was the one being bound. A gasp escaped her at the red wound that itched her wrist like she were a voodoo doll to her former self. "No", She growled. This couldn't be the price for a flame that had once been hers.

"Furya", Loki's facade faded. "You must let it take what is owed", His eyes dipped to the snow. She remembered what he had told her 'Magic does not take or give. To take from it more than you are owed would mean dire consequence',

Leave. Leave me

Fury ground out. Her dress strangled her in heavy beads of sweat. The black material combatted the satin shirt she had worn in the ruins behind Vaniria. The place no one would hear a single scream. She swallowed hard. Her knees were bruised from the spiderwebbed stone beneath them. Her thick breaches torn and bloodied. And that face. It was so scared. So tainted with thick blue bruises and peeling wounds.

She felt them. She felt every one. Every breath and each step that distanced Valerian from the bareness of her spine. Flinching as he tore the material away from her skin with his sword, taking no care in missing the flesh beneath it.

Valerian held that five tongued whip in his palm, each might as well have been set alight. She was on her knees, quivering against her restraint. Against any sound that he made. She pleaded for Valerian, her husband, to stop. To reconsider. It was all she heard until that leather whip reeled back.

Her eyes closed before the tongues licked her spine in a vicious line of blood and welts. She had screamed then but not now. Even as a hot line sizzled her shoulder.

Loki seemed to sink with her into the snow. "How many?", He asked softly but she didn't reply. Knowing 100 more were to come. "Go", She hissed but he didn't. He stayed at her hip, keeping her upright.

"Count out 100 lashings. Aloud, Furya!", Valerian smiled with that blood-splattered whip at his control. Loki's breath hitched in his throat.

"One for every Vanir that tried to sneak past our arms. Out behind the lake. Rest assured Furya, they didn't get far. The children were much too slow for Halien.",

101 was the death toll that day. 101 lines scared into her skin. One hundred Vanir prisoners.

When Valerian raised that whip once more Loki clamped onto her hand. One. Fury gritted her teeth. Two. Three. Four. She howled like an injured beast in the night. It seared her skin like a knife being run up and down her spine. Dug in harder and harder. Blood poured a hot and sticky stream into the white snow, melting it to the leaves beneath.

Another and another searing her, numbing her shoulder in a fiery sting. She wanted to weep to scream as her lungs begged her to. But she locked her sight onto that silver-haired girl counting each flay, her throat hoarse from screaming. She wept and begged to that beast in a way Fury could never. So she sealed her mouth with gritted teeth. Writhing beneath the pinch of leather.

"I...died", Fury spat between lash 30 and 31. Loki, who muttered words and spells beneath his breath glanced to her tear-filled eyes. Flinching as the whip flung back and she growled. Her limbs shaking. She didn't want him to witness this...She didn't want anyone to. "Loki", She pressed her lips together to suppress her agonised wail. Water rimmed her eyes as she sunk her gaze into the floor of frost that fell in endless drops.

"I'm...", Fury started, absorbing the agonising lick of the whip. "I'm not a", She buckled, her lips trembling. "Protector...between realms". The confession poured from her like the river of blood that pooled in the snow. She wasn't watching Valerian's ghost but Loki was. He was watching her young body reel back and writhe. Hearing her howls into the dead night. His eyes were rimmed with malice and his hands coated a stream of her fresh blood that slipped off her waist and onto the ground. "Furya", He calmed her, clashing with her eyes. "Witch Hunter", She ground out between number 66 and 67. Resting her eyes for just a small moment.


Louder and louder her shaking voice had counted with each flogging until her tone was but a whimper. Her left shoulder was torn apart like a wolf had sunken its claws into her skin. A mess of blood, bone and sinew. With each whipping, her body sank lower toward to ground until her forehead was buried into the snow. Loki's hands gripped her sweat-drenched arms. Shuddering with each flay that splattered the white icy floor in red.

Magic the colour of a candied apple swirled around her torso in a spiral. Waiting. Just waiting until that small voice called out 100 flays. But she felt herself fading long before then. He would've whipped her dead body had she not held out. He'd have waited for her to heal and then done it again. Blood coated her in more hue than her skin. Raging in stinging pools. By number 80 he was whipping through bone on her shoulder and spine. Cutting through her breaches with longer strokes just to create a new mess wounds he could see.

"Furya", Loki, softly curled his hand at her waist and shoulder. Knelt in the frost she jolted in an agonising manner. Hearing his voice so far in the distance. She shifted her head on the icy floor, clashing with those emerald eyes under the moonlight. He was blurred with tears. She blinked. Drained and weak. No more. No more.

"How did he save you?", Loki's expression was grim. His hope of healing her in time fading.

The Spring Equinox

Loki hesitated. And she knew. She knew that there was no hope. No magical day to draw power from. Nothing. The equinox on Asgard would not appear for a month at least. In the realms, it was a day where light and dark are equal. Life and death are as one. And magic, to those who hold it pulses like wildfire through the veins of the realm. Life is eternal. You cannot die on such a day.

Get Dastan away from Asgard. Far away.

Furya groaned at the consistent pain the spiked at one particular place on her spine. Her mind fogged and she closed her eyes for a moment or two. She needed to sleep. To sleep for a week or a month.

Furya

"101",

Fury crashed flat onto the sunken earth on the last flay of the whip. Tears stung her eyes and her knees quivered at the agonising slices in the bodice of her dress. Blood was sticky at her knees in a shallow pool. She vomited a vile stream of crimson in disgust. But there was little more she could do before the darkness took her.

Green light was all she saw chase away the black dots that encompassed her in death. She felt it's cruel pulled luring her into a realm of ghosts and monsters. She wanted to go.

"Valerian", She whimpered to the fresh shaven boy that ushered her toward a blinding pulse of ethereal light. She wasn't afraid. "Come with me", his young voice called to her. Distant in range. Barely loud enough to hear. The words flipped the whole world upon her and she growled. Loud enough for the undead to hear.

"No",

"Furya", Loki's soft voice erupted into her mind. It was silent at first but ever-growing. He found her within that miserable afterlife and snatched her back by the shoulder. He was a tall shadow in that realm. But she knew it was him. She knew that voice. It was shaken and loud as his green magic forced the blackness from her sight.


A breath. Freezing cold and painful as hell expelled from her chest. And Fury could open her eyes long enough to see the remnants of glassy tears within a sea of Viridian haze. Loki held her against the wetness of his chest. Strung over his knees like a corpse. And defeat plagued him. She could feel it pulsing from him in agonising beats. His white skin was bloodied in smears. Some fresher than others.

"Leave me", She wheezed weakly, laying because she had no other choice. She couldn't move. From pain or fear. She didn't know.

"No", Loki sniffled, wincing at the copious blood that splattered the snow in crimson. His magic roamed her sweat-drenched body. Sewing the whipped mess on her back and arms.

He had conjured her nightmare. She couldn't forgive him for that.

The cold frost kissed the wound shut and allowed her limbs free from paralysis. She removed herself from him swiftly, pushing his chest away with her palm. Though her limbs could move her sight erupted in black swirls and blurry blobs.

"I'm sorry", It was soft. Barely audible amidst the chirping bugs and the pounding in her ears.

"Shut up", Fury hissed, holding her skull like it would explode.

Ugh. All she could taste was the bitterness of vomit and blood against her tongue. It was disgusting. Fury spat the remaining crimson liquid from her mouth and like Loki could feel her ill-ease he conjured a pitcher of water. Holding it to her to take. She downed the liquid in a swift second, noting the minty aftertaste. She shivered. It wasn't water. It tasted like a tingly mouthwash. An elixir that replenished the strength within her bones.

"How?", She asked, shivering in the damn near-freezing weather. She didn't need to say any more. He understood the question.

"You are bound to me Furya. Wherever you go. I am never far", Loki explained, having grabbed her from that ungodly place and run. She nodded slowly. Had he not been a large factor in her death she might have been touched. Been thankful. She settled on solemn silence while Loki's magic examined her bloodied form and swept away the evidence of her altercation.


After 10 minutes Loki spoke, guessing correctly that her mood wouldn't fade. He took the pitcher from her hand, tossing it onto the snow-frosted soil. His face was devoid of malicious intent as he breathed out a sigh, staring into the vastness of the woods then dropping his sight onto her battered body. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he murmured, "Why won't you run from me?",

Furya pitied the man who had always thought himself undeserving. But it didn't soothe the hurt he had invoked. "Why do you want me to?", she bit, slowly standing with the support of the whispy willow that marked the heart of the woods. "I don't...", Loki confessed, hounding her steps. He had been willing to wait until she could move fluidly enough to make it to the palace. Waiting for her foul scowl to settle.

Fury sighed a deeply frustrated and rage motivated sigh. He was infuriating. It's why she didn't allow him any closer than an arm's length, holding her palm against his chest to distance herself from his usual unsolicited closeness. "Then what do you want?", She asked but didn't particularly care.

Loki drew a deep breath, knowing his answer could forge an empire or tear it down. He thought carefully about the words that defended him. "It hardly matters-

"Why not?", Furya examined him, flattening her palm onto the threads of his dark shirt. She tapped his chest twice with her index knuckle before she spoke. "Is it because you got what you dreamt of only to find it wasn't truly what you wanted in the end?",

"Something like that", He affirmed. She'd never seen someone so powerful be so very miserable. So alone. If that was the price to be the God of Mischief then she didn't want the title. She wasn't sure he did either.

He was fearful of his own destructive affinity. That innate ability he had to reign terror and chaos was incurable. He knew it. The longer she bore his brand the more she knew it too.

"What is the point in being the most powerful sorcerer between the nine realms when you are alone and hated?",

"Dear Fury. You do forget that I am the Villain", Loki interjected, raising his brow.

"I would rather live a mortal life. A boring life", Fury breathed out. A mortal life. How pathetic.

And was it a lie? That was for her to decide because there was one thing worse than being hated. Being weak. And to Gods humans were nothing but ants. Ants with a strong bite but in the end, they were small and powerless.

"No, you wouldn't", Loki laughed, looking her up and down. "You revel in chaos much too passionately. What would you be without electric eyes and hair the colour of pearl? Without lies and fights with Asgardian's?", He chuckled, breaking through her barrier between them. Fury dropped her arm to her side, knocking her shoulder against the moist bark of the willow tree. "You are far too nefarious for any mortal life", Loki smiled, leaning dangerously close with that dazzling smile. She huffed a soft puff of air. "How many mortals could say they've knocked the God of Mischief on his ass?". Fury teased, sweeping her eyes to meet the green light that shined underneath a ray of moonlight. Snow began to gather at her heels. Only an inch if that. It blanketed the forest in white. "Very few", He taunted in a voice like silk that melted her frostbitten core. His hands swept past her waist, unfearing of any recompense. Furya stroked his cheek with her thumb and index finger. Allowing her red nails to softly scrape past his lips that glowed beneath the moonlight.

In many ways he was perfectly suited to her but there was a glimmer of doubt within the back of her mind that shunned him away. Fury breathed out a frost coated breath, overriding the small but persistent feeling that scraped at her brain. The tension between them was nothing new. But her ability to ward him off was washing away. How long could she when they were bound by magic? When she longed to hear that low and teasing accent. When she wasn't sure she wanted to.

Loki pressed her into his chest that rippled with lean muscle, sweeping away the stray hair that clung to her face. In a move that made her stomach flutter.

"My dear Furya...", He breathed hot air against her cheek. Words failed whatever it was he meant to say. But she felt something she could only describe as warmth beating beneath his skin, racing faster than the rapidness of his pulse. It enveloped her. Furya held her finger over his lips to silence him. Clashing with green eyes.

Inexplicably Pulchritudinous

Loki lowered her hand from his lips. His soft smile capturing her wholly. Magic curled around them in tendrils, wringing out the water from his suit. She felt it wick away from her hands at his chest. When it was gone nothing could stand in his way. Like she was a light in the darkness he pulled her closer. She moulded into his tall form, breathing in the scent of parchment and leather that bound itself to him. He held her like she'd shatter into a million pieces if he didn't. Protective and guilt-ridden as his fingers swept over the torn leather at her shoulder.


"This is not how I envisioned tonight proceeding", Loki breathed out, tracing the red stain at Furya's shoulder. He recalled that bloodcurdling scream before that memory had replayed itself before him. He couldn't stop it. Not as the tasselled leather licked her skin with crimson welts.

Loki couldn't help but blame himself for the blood that had appeared on her godly form. He hadn't intended to hurt her. Hadn't anticipated what horrors would unfold.

"Oh?", Fury enquired, fiddling with the button on his shirt. "Did you expect this night to be an exception to our chaotic schedule? " She flattened her hand on his sternum. Dazzling him with her fanged smile that emerged under red lips. Loki frowned, examining her exquisite ball gown crafted from pure midnight. Perhaps he had hoped for a moment alone. Even just a lull in the chaos to tell her. But he couldn't. Not now. Around him she was too easily harmed. So perishable despite her immortality.

"We always do take things much too far", Fury smiled in a way he didn't want her to. He had hurt her. Physically wounded her. Countless times. Never with his own hands but always...It was always orchestrated by him. He'd get her killed if he didn't back away.

Loki breathed out into the icy air, stepping from her touch. She cocked her eyebrow.

"Perhaps...", His arms folded in an impenetrable shield across his chest where her warmth still lingered, "Come. We should return to the palace". Loki ordered a fraction too late upon realising who he was talking to. Fury let her surprise cross her face for a moment, shaking the ice remnants from her hair the same colour as the moon. Strung up in waves of silver. Those eyes that glowed in the dark like his beloved tesseract lowered to the leaf-covered ground. She breathed out a foggy breath that tore him in half.

"Your choice", The words were little more than a murmur but he heard each as if she had screamed them.

It was his choice of whether he'd leave her a broken mess or a warrior victorious upon his grave. There would be no in between. Not when she found out who he had been conspiring with.

Their love would have the potential to raze cities to the ground in a fiery inferno.

He'd chosen nothing For himself but trickery and chaos. But he could choose to let her be free of him. To spare her the inevitable agony he foresaw. He'd let her have that.

"The palace", Loki ordered once more. A tone too cold. Answered too fast.

"As you wish", Fury feigned a smile, bowing her head to him before trampling through the thick snow. No. He begged his legs that followed her. Let her go. He growled, shaking the branch of icicles with his tone.

A witch hunter. She was a witch hunter. A traitor to her kind. Loki shrivelled his face in indecision. The revelation only made her more coveted. And unbelievably forbidden in the eyes of Odin. To associate with her would be catastrophic. World ending.

But that woman. Her goddamned mischief and secrecy. It called to him.

"...Shit", Loki chuckled, sweeping in his hands, a portal to Furya.


Fury held her satin dress at her thigh, careful of the treacherous ice that slid beneath her boots. It was a perfectly spooky night with fog dancing through the darkness in heavy bounds. Bobbing and weaving before her sight. So thick she could see but a fading light atop the cylindrical palace a few hundred metres in front of her. She admired the view to tear away the feeling of unrequited affection. It was idiotic. So depraved that she had thought...not even thought. She had felt it. Yet she didn't hear the soft patter of his footsteps sinking into the ice. She didn't sense him through the fog where sight failed her. She was alone. Abandoned by him.

Her boots stopped in the snow, wafting freezing air to the split at her leg. Ankle-high frost hugged her heels in bouts of cold then marginally bearable temperatures. Her lips trembled against it. But she would not cry. Not for Loki. Her captive and mission. That was her own doing.

All she needed was a long boiling shower and to pry herself out of this dress. Perhaps she'd sneak down to the kitchens for a snack and then she planned to sleep for a day. Perhaps two. In the comfort of her warm bed while she still had one.

This lavish life she had been living was only to end when she chased after these 'Wildmen'. Then what? Death? Or a small chance of glory?

Fury touched the flake of snow that descended to the ground, watching it melt into nothing but a pool of water on her finger. "Hmm", She observed with a defeated breath.

Whoosh

Her blue eyes surveyed Loki bounding through the fog. He strode with purpose. His face carved from stone. A creature wrapped in darkness and mystery. There was no time to retaliate not while he hoisted her into his arms like she were weightless. He met her lips mid manoeuvre and kissed her beneath the moonlight. His hand sweeping tantalising at her thigh. The other held her steadily at his waist. His soft lips sparked a fire within her core that shined through her skin in white magic. Steadying as her legs curled around his middle.

Bewilderment riddled her.

Months of fighting. Of bickering. Of blood. And tears. Yet when she touched his face and she felt the rush of his emotions flood her chest it all faded into nothingness. She parted her lips. Unable to breathe. He leaned closer than she thought possible. Wielding that damned intoxicating kiss that crushed into her lips. It swept away any objection she may have had. She felt it unleash that part within herself she had kept buried. And it was not like she had never been kissed. She had never been kissed in a way that burnt her soul and claimed her wholly. Not until that night.

She knew she needed more. More than his raven hair slick at her fingers. More than the skin of his hand propped at the split in her skirt. How it burned her.

"Furya", He spoke into her mouth in his low voice. Ragged from the heavy and breathless kiss. Fury parted from his kiss, watching that beautiful sinister smile shine like a glittering jewel beneath the dull moonlight. "I want that gown in ribbons on the floor", He spoke lowly in a rough tone that made her smirk, touching her clavicle so softly. "And those talons", Loki enclosed his hand around her own, luring her closer to his face "Against my skin as you moan my name, Witch Hunter",

She kissed him in response, softly biting his lower lip with her fangs. It provoked a low growl within his chest. Almost untamable as she allowed him entry to her mouth, gripping her rougher while his tongue roamed, meeting hers in the middle. She ran her hand underneath his shirt, softly digging her nails into the muscle that rippled through his shoulders. Talons burst through her skin in pointed and softly sharp peaks. She ran a singular one down his spine and hardness rose to meet her. Somewhat ignored before but now it dug into her like a dagger. She smiled at his soft groan. His eyes surveyed her spiked nails with lust.

She allowed herself to lean in close, her breath hot on his neck. "Tell me more.", Fury trailed kisses up his neck, soft and enticing, "...In the morning", She nipped with her fangs in a way that stood the hair on his skin straight up. Loki sucked in a deep breath of air. His mind settling just enough to transport them to the comforts of his chamber. He unzipped her dress. The plush black carpet cushioning her back as he laid her down in front of the fireplace that roared with magical flame.

Pressed beneath his body she untangled the shirt at his chest. Spraying onyx buttons onto the carpet. She felt him smile into her mouth, widening as he tossed aside the razor-thin knife that had been buried at her thigh. She ran her hands over the ripples of his lean chest. Sweeping away the material at his shoulders. He removed it at her request with her hips straddled between his thighs. The moonlight illuminated his muscled chest that was defiled with a long glossy scar from his collar to the indent of his sternum. It was jagged and poorly healed but old. Older than her. She would like to have met the person who had tried to cleave through his chest. Fury frowned and lightly traced the raised skin with her fingers. Meeting his lips halfway and kicking off her boots.

Loki hoisted her into his arms, pressing her closer into his bare chest while he tore the tight black dress from her skin in a swift manoeuvre. Carelessly ripping through the zip at the dip of her back. Tearing away the ancient satin with a soft growl that undid her. One more movement and she was stark against him, combatting his pearl coloured skin that was bathed in moonlight. He tossed the black dress into the distance. Launching it beyond sight. When he set his gaze on her naked body his eyes reflected the flame of the fireplace. Illuminating as he touched between her breast, following the lines of her tattoos that trailed down further than he could ever imagine.

That wicked smile crested on his lips as he laid her back down on the carpet. Examining the ink with an insatiable hunger. It twisted and whorled at her hips then further south. Her hair stood on her skin as she sucked the air between her teeth. Her hands unzipping the crotch of his pants between air deprived kisses. He deepened their kiss with a harsh growl. Provoking Fury to extend a razor-sharp talon on each hand, cleaving through the fabric of his black dress pants. She ran her hand along his thigh, helping him out of his attire.

Behave

Fury caught an inkling of his depraved thought. He spoke a single defiant word in response.

"No",

A line of bruises marked his journey from her collar bone to just below her ear. Fury shivered at the lengthy body that hovered over her. Free of the restraints of clothing. His eyes burning a hole through the necklace that accompanied her black dress. He snapped the jewellery in a vicious tendril of green that evoked a feline smile from her. It flung into the fire a moment later. She liked that it popped like a kernel of popcorn under the flame. He did too from his mirroring smirk.

For a moment he just looked at her. Clashing against her blue eyes with an expression that fluttered her chest. The ink at his collar sung to her and sparked a blue flame in whorls of indescribable magic. She had laid claim to him. This lonesome mischievous creature. In a manner that didn't mark him as property but simply marked him as hers. Her friend. Her lover. Her equal.

You cannot claim me

Loki teased. His eyebrow cocked in a quizzical manner. She traced that ink at his collar. A smile curled at her lips.

I already have

Her breath escaped through her lungs in a visible puff of icy air. He surveyed her for a moment like he had never heard the words. It tore at her. Perhaps it was the wrong thing to say to someone who she had no right to claim. But he nudged her lips with his own. Speaking his peace without a single word. A soft but euphoric kiss that ignited a fire in her heart.

Her breath sharpened as his tongue trailed lower. Covering her nipple in flicks of his tongue while his hands dipped between her thighs. Smirking at the wetness that greeted him. Fury suppressed a moan. He rose back to meet her lips, draping his hand so gingerly on the inside of her thigh. She softly scraped her fangs against his chest in response. Gripping the hardness that drove into her hip like skin covered steel. It teased her mercilessly until she held it in her palm. Her fingers stroked it softly at first. Revelling in his deep sensual groan. Then she held it more tantalisingly rough in her jerking movement until he couldn't bear it.

He groaned from deep within his throat. Hovering above. Emerald eyes watched her throat bob as his fingers pressed into her wrists. Binding them above her head with sinister intent. His hand parted her knees. Enough to catch the breath in her throat. But it wasn't enough. Not as he thrust into her core. She arched against him. Softly moaning at the rough repetition that provoked those sharp talons to extend from her red fingertips. It undid her entirely.

Pointed nails ran down his muscle-bound back with lines of red. She had learned how those talons excited him. He shivered with his whole body. Leaning into her claws that swept to the nape of his neck. Green eyes bore down on her, darkened with desire. They told her she was about to murmur a long list of profanities by his hand.

"My dear, Furya", He breathed in the air between his teeth. Stroking her lips with his thumb in a single swipe. They twitched beneath his fingers. She craved the slender fingers that drifted to her neck, curling perfectly around it. "You are wicked", He panted in her ear.

Loki hoisted her from the ground in a single action. His lanky body crashed her spine into the tapered wall beside the fire. Furya muttered a curse and gripped the mantel for dear life. Goddamn. He would be her end. She moaned. Knocking an assortment of objects off the shelf. A crystal vase crashed to the floor, shattering with impact.

Something feral unleashed within him at the sound. He became a dark, magnificent creature. That powerful God who had saved her in Vaniria. It made her lips curl into a smile. That darkness she could never touch.

Fury crushed her mouth into his, flicking her tongue over his teeth. Each thrust had her nails grasping anything they could. His shoulder. His hair. A soft moan was cut off by the hunger of his ragged kiss that undid her at the seams. He had her at breaking point. Watching her breast heave up and down. He revelled in her back that arched with pleasure. It begged him to keep going. If he stopped now she felt like she'd catch flame.

Her bare chest rose and fell. Stifling a breath that flung her arm into the bookshelf. Pain rippled through her wrist while it connected with the wooden cabinet. She growled, barely able to watch the books tumble to the shiny floor.

"Fuck", The word slipped off her tongue. His body crushed her into the wall. Shaking the floor beneath them. She moulded into his icy flesh. Savouring the pressure at her hips that lifted her up and down in waves of sweeping euphoria. Her skin glistened with sweat.

She felt alive. More alive than she had since she had come to Asgard. Alive against the small curl of his lips. Those lips murmured a foul profanity. Fury couldn't help but snicker. Not as particles of magic floated in the cold air. Binding and whorling with every breathless kiss.

Absolutely filthy

She teased into his mouth. Softly biting his lower lip. He smiled, darting his lips to the nape of her neck. He nipped hard enough to provoke a feral snarl. She bared her fangs, biting into the flesh of his muscled shoulder. Loki quivered at the pinholes that drew a small drop of blood. She bit again closer to his neck. Feeling the coolness of his hands pressing into her back. He thrust harder. Enough to provoke a curse. Pressed against the tapered wall she growled. Rising and falling with him. She gripped the frame of the painting above her for dear life. Cracking it in her hands at the feeling of his mouth on her breast. Leaving purple bruises in his wake. She tossed the shattered fragments of wood to the floor and embraced him with a ravaging kiss.

Her hands curled. Scraping nails on his chest. Breathlessly. She moved with him, watching his face twist in animalistic desire. Bathed in orange light. She matched his wildness move for move. But he was magnificent. Fluid in his motion that was so beautifully untamed. 1000 years he had lived. Fury was glad for that. She whimpered a curse, allowing him entry into her mouth. She was close. So close.

Her vision blurred in ecstasy. "Loki", She moaned, running a fingernail up the length of his spine. A low growl signified his own climax at her sharp line on his skin. It undid him entirely. He huffed of a low sensual noise that sent chills through her core and replaced his lips on hers in a kiss that told her they were far from done.