Monster

Any animal or human grotesquely deviating from normal shape or behaviour.

Consciousness. A bitter reality. Within it, a vomit-inducing taste crested against her lips. She felt dizzy and sore. Her aching limbs were almost excruciating.

What the hell? Her eyes flashed open against the brightness of the rising morning sun that blinded her through the crack in the drapes. A hiss escaped her dry vocal cords. She tried to move but her limbs cried in agony against it.

"Argh", Fury's arm recoiled to her shield her blurred and burning sight. Her hand was covered and bulky. It was wrapped in a black cast from her knuckle to her forearm.

"What?", A whimper escaped her lips as her eyes settled upon the destruction of the room. Shattered glass surrounded her, smeared in layers of crimson splatter. Blood. Her heart began racing. Racing so fast she thought it might burst from her chest. Chained. She was chained against the wall like a beast. The shackle tore at the skin of her wrist with heartless malice.

She fell. She fell down the stairs. She was supposed to be dead. Instead, she was shackled to a wall in a white ward. A medical ward? Her gaze scanned the overturned bed and the tubular apparatus that still clung to it.

"It was a precaution...the chains", A voice echoed through the emptiness of the ward. The figure stepped towards her from the arched doorway. Thor. His tone was low and his eyes darted in avoidance. Her gaze caught the bandaging against his neck. A thick white gauze. Venom rose within her tone to disguise the hollowness that consumed her chest.

"What...w?"

The bitter taste against her tongue forced her chest to heave with realization. "No". It was blood. Blood that coated her tongue with a metallic aftertaste. She wanted to heave up what was left in her stomach but her throat was so dry and raw it burned just at the thought. She bit him... she splattered the crimson mess onto the floor. With no healers in sight, she could only assume that he wasn't the only victim.

"What happened?", Her voice was as coarse as sandpaper. He had never looked at her like she was a wild beast before. But he did now. His arms crossed over his chest as he neared her with cautious steps. He asked with an undertone of anger.

"What deal did you make with Loki?",

"Excuse me?", Fury replied with her mind in a boggle. A deal?. She would never. Not again. Her orbs watched his chest heave with uprising rage.

"His magic spared your life. He didn't do so out of kindness. What deal did you make to acquire the immortality of a God?", He was harsher this time, his voice so angry. She breathed out with the same anger.

"I didn't make a deal",

She pulled at the shackle on her wrist, hissing at the burning red mark it left. His blue orbs followed her struggle, daring to unchain the beast. His hand flicked open the latch and she was free. He met her eyes with a conflicted expression, his face contorted slightly at the sight. She asked "What?",

"I think it's best you see yourself", Thor held out an aiding hand and lead her to the mirror on the wall. One of the few objects that hadn't been torn off the wall.

She flickered her eyes toward the reflection. The sight caught her breath in her throat. Red...her eyes were red. Her fangs coated in Thor's blood. A vampire stared back at her. She blinked away from it but the vampire was still there when she opened her eyes. Every time. Every breath. Tears stung in a trail drown her cheek. Everywhere she looked there was blood.

"Go", She commanded with frailty. She knew he could see it in her eyes. The weakness and overwhelming turmoil that burned her in an avalanche of complete and utter despondence. It left her void of feeling. All but two emotions. She Hated Asgard, She hated it with all her being. She hated that Trickster. The God of Mischief. She hated him with all the fires of hell.

"Fury", She shied away from the God who despite his rage, enveloped her with a hesitant embrace. It wasn't unlike him to show affection but his hesitance was strange. His chest was warm. So warm that it made her realize she had been close to freezing against the floor. Words vibrated from the depths of his chest. A voice that was so deep and calming.

"You're cold",

"I know", She sniffled, bowing her head into his chest. Her voice was muffled and weak,

"Thor, I signed my power to Loki. I don't understand. What happened?",

The blonde-haired God opened his mouth to respond. To ask why, but he closed it once more.

"Fury. I can only tell you what I know and that is the healers found foreign energy within your body, keeping you alive. They matched it to a sample of Loki's blood. The same magic, the same energy...They refused to heal you any further.",

The blood contract. That mischievous little bastard. He tricked her. Shocker. But why? Why would he want her alive? To have his immortality.

Fury stepped out of his embrace, wiping the blood off her lips with her miserable cast.

"Thor", She hesitated, motioning to the gauze against his skin.

"...I'm sorry", Her voice was stronger than it had been as she surveyed the damage of the ward. She had never bitten anyone before. Never stained her teeth with the blood of another. She wasn't a vampire. She wasn't...

"How did I...", She cleared her throat, unable to complete her thought. Thor spoke softly, glancing at the broken glass on the floor.

"I don't know what you saw in your waking moments Furya. But you were livid when I came. You kept calling me 'Valerian' and then...well", He motioned to the bandage on his neck. "The healers barely had time to escape",

Furya? When did he ever call her Furya? It didn't matter. Goddamn Valerian. Had he found her? She knew she saw his shadow lurk at the top of the stairs, watching her die. The thought tingled her spine in a chill.

"Wait. Then whose blood is this?", Thor cleared his throat, meeting a piece of crumpled glass under his boot. He almost forgot that she didn't recall her outburst.

"...Sif shot you through the window with a spear when you...bit me. It's yours.",

Fury was silent. So silent. There was nothing she could say. Nothing that would rectify what she was being told. She must have hit the ground hard. It would have knocked her out. Someone must have healed her while she was sleeping. She should have felt the spear wound but she didn't. Who? Who would heal her? The woman who bargained with The God Of Mischief.

"Who's Valerian?", Thor spoke the words she hoped he wouldn't.

"My Husband", She silenced his pending question with ease. "Until death did us part". Her cast bound arm brandished the black prison tattoo. A reminder of her victory. The man she had burned alive.

"Thor", Sif entered the ward without warning, eyeing the dark marking on Fury with disdain.

"Odin seeks your council ", Her dark hair glistened under the dim lights and her armour clanged softly with her motion. He looked to Fury and hesitated in his obedience.

"I will look after her", She reassured with a vague smile. "Go",

Her smile faded quickly with his distancing footsteps. Sif eyed the woman who had once beaten her in a fight. Who now looked so weak and breakable.

"You have two days to leave Asgard...after that, I will not ask nicely." She carelessly tossed Fury some clean garments. "Now clean yourself, beast",

"Actually", Fury caught the clothes with her unbroken wrist, they crinkled in her iron grip, softening the fingernails that dug into her palm. A beast. She smiled a wicked smile, it was somewhat psychopathic. "I think I'll stay",