Pages

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Be Wary of Strangers, Part 9

Vampire: Loki/Thor x Reader
Part Nine

You wake when a heavy pounding echoes through the house. Moaning, you sit up, rubbing your eyes and feeling around for your slippers. When you can’t find them, you yawn and force your eyes open.
The first thing you notice: It’s daytime. The second thing: This isn’t your room.
Mouth agape, you bolt out shouting, “Loki!”
You find him downstairs in the foyer. You’re ready to rail at him, but the sight of two people dressed for war standing in the doorway stops you in your tracks.
Loki glances over his shoulder at you, brows raised. “Good morning.”
One of the people—a man with light leather armor, a crossbow, and stakes strapped to his arms and legs—eyes you. You shuffle uncomfortably, conscious of the cutesy design on your pajamas. You wonder if he can see the outline of the knife holder strapped to your arm.
The man addresses Loki. “Who is this? You said you were alone.”
“I’m a habitual liar,” Loki says easily. “It gets worse when unexpected guests decide to threaten me in my own home.”
The other—a woman with bandoleers strapped across her chest, two pistols, pouches, and a heavy silver cross necklace—huffs. “I take it you lied about the door being ravaged by vandals, then.”
“Of course.”
A wild plan begins to form in your mind. “Wolves!” you blurt. “It was wolves.”
Loki’s expression momentarily turns murderous. You do your best to make an unobtrusive “trust me I have a plan” face. As you don’t have much practice making that kind of face, you’re uncertain if you succeeded.
“There were so many wolves,” you continue, sounding panicked. “They were howling and scratching for days. Nights? And I swear I saw someone out there with them.”
The hunters’ eyes light in anticipation. The man’s gaze slides to Loki. “You said there were only wolves.”
Loki doesn’t look at you. He sighs. “The vampire is in the basement. I caught him last night. I hadn’t realized that my servant here had seen him; I had been hoping to avoid exciting her. It’s hard enough to keep help around here as it is.”
The hunters’ surprise is obvious. They glance at each other. The woman draws a pistol. “Would you mind taking us to him? The sooner we take care of this, the better.”
“I would rather you not,” Loki says slowly. “You see, he is—used to be—my brother. Is there any cure short of a second death?”
The hunters look sympathetic. “I’m afraid not,” the man said. “Not if he’s already died and returned.”
“I was afraid of that.” Loki heads towards the kitchen. “Follow me. We’ll have to use the outside entrance; I barricaded the house entry.”
“Smart.” The man nods. He follows, drawing his crossbow and giving you a wink. “Don’t worry, we’ll have this taken care of quicker than two shakes of a rabbit’s tail.” He grins at his companion. “Come on, Traci!”
Wondering what Loki is thinking, you follow, and hope this won’t end terribly. As you join him in leaving through the back door, Loki subtly presses a key into your hand. “Free him, but do not let him out of the basement.”
You glance behind you. The hunters aren’t that far off. “What about them?”
“They’ll think you’re me.”
“Huh?”

You enter the basement through the outside door, wondering if Loki’s plan would work. And why you want it to work. It would end in the deaths of the hunters. You’re not normally one for bloodlust, but can’t help a slight grin at the thought of not having to deal with them any more.
“This basement seems to have been prepared,” the man says, his eyes wary. “You said you caught him just last night?”
“Er, yes,” you say, discomfited at having to play the part of Loki. He didn’t get a chance to explain, but from what you can tell, you’re covered in an illusion of some sort, and somehow have Loki’s voice. Loki himself—disguised as you—is waiting outside. “I’m not certain who owned this mansion before,” you say. Hopefully Loki hadn’t bragged about building this place from the ground up. “There were quite a few other features that needed taking care of. I thought I’d leave this for last.”
“Hmm.”
You know you’re nearing Thor’s bedroom. You hold out the hand that’s not holding a flashlight and gesture for the hunters to wait. To your surprise, they don’t ask for a reason. They simply nod, crouch, and ready their weapons.
You turn a few corners and see Thor upon his bed. He’s curled up in his red bedsheets, asleep. You glance behind you to make sure the hunters haven’t followed. 
Hurrying up to Thor’s bed, you shake his shoulder and hiss his name. Even though he doesn’t respond, you open his shackles.
The click sounds unnaturally loud.
Bullets whiz past you, and an arrow embeds itself in the wall slightly above your head.
The hunters burst in, yowling and firing their weapons. “Thought you could betray us?!”
You scramble back, flailing, and fall behind the bed. “Thor!” you scream. From your vantage point, you see him rise in a low crouch. He leaps from the bed, growling sleepily.
The hunters’ shouts of victory change. You peek out from behind the bed. Though he seems like he’s still half-asleep, Thor is handling himself well.
He catches a crossbow in mid-air, snapping it in his fist. The bullets don’t seem to do much more than annoy him. He charges at the man, knocking him to the ground. A horrid CRUNCH echoes in the room.
“Rudy!” The woman flings some of the pouches. They puff on the ground around Thor.
Holding a hand over his mouth, Thor charges through the smelly mist. Sparks travel along his body. When he tackles her, he’s out of your sight.
You can still hear the fight, though: screaming, dark laughter, cracklings, a snap, wet slurps. The entire room smells like vampire repellent and burnt flesh. An odd shimmer surrounds you. Was it Loki’s spell fading?
Thor staggers back into the room. Blood dirties his mouth, trimmed beard, and no-longer-blue shirt front. His head lolls loosely. His uncovered eye is dark. He approaches and lays across the bed. Resting his chin on his arm, he smiles.
Heat rushes to your face.
“You feed me well.” You find yourself unable to move as he briefly caresses your cheek. “Thank you.” His fingers trace down the side of your face and rest on the flutter of your quickening pulse. He scoots closer, his mouth inches from your neck. Sounding sleepy, he asks, “You don’t mind…do you?”
“Uh—!”
“THOR!”
He jerks up. Sparks dance in his eyes. You teeter back and brace yourself against the wall, breathing fast.
Loki stands in the entry. “You still have a full body. Take that, leave the girl.”
“I’m unchained now. Did you plan that?” His voice is a low, smooth hiss.
“Remember yourself, brother.”
More sparks flit along his body. Then, it strengthens to arcs of electricity. Thor starts to shake. “I…I…” The light show dies down. He rapidly shakes his head. “What…oh! Who have I killed?” He turns and sees you. His eye—now a light blue—widens. “Did I hurt you?”
“N-no. I’m fine,” you croak.
Thor backs away, holding his hands out uncertainly. He glances at Loki. “Get her out.”
“Gladly.” 

No comments:

Post a Comment