The Sacrifice: Fallen | Loki | Book 2

Chapter 15: Burnt

"Take me away."  My voice was so broken, I was hardly understanding myself. It must've been no more than a slur. "Please." 

"To where? To Loki, to heaven, to the kebab shop? I might be an angel, or whatever one likes to call this state-in-between, but I can't heal you any faster. And in that state of yours, believe me, you don't want to go anywhere." 

Of course. This was Xenia. 

I sighed, at least something which didn't inflict excruciating pain on me. Apparently, I wasn't dead, or not yet. I had been lost, my memories did not fail me. Who dived into the fire and pulled me out? Was she the one who saved me? 

"Jeez, you sure were smarter when I left." She joked sarcastically. This was Xenia without doubt. "I'm afraid you don't have that many allies, which makes me being your gracious savior quite likely." 

"Stop reading my mind."  It had been unpleasant enough to share most of my memories with that monster of a man. 

"I'm not. You're not that heard to read, my darling. Loki's quite ahead of you there, gotta hand this to him." She replied and proceeded with putting a soothing ointment on my skin. My skin! Yes, the fire, all that fire - 

"What is left of me?" 

Was I still human? Not that I ever really was, but, did I still look  human?

"From what I saw you have no severe internal injuries, but... let's say, when I pulled you out of there you looked like a piece of cinder."  She said and looked away. I saw much clearer then, a true blessing. I couldn't read Xenia as she read me. 

"After you pulled me out? How long have I been asleep?" My heartbeat quickened. Every minute, every second I had slept, he had her in his cold grasp. I remembered that night, how Loki looked, it was chilling. Every bit of restraint, of inhibition, it was all gone. There was no mortal sin too wicked for him anymore. "God, no - "

"Hey, first of all, calm down. I can't work like this."  Xenia retorted sternly. She meant it. I tried to pull myself together for a few more moments, just so I could get answers. She had the upper hand. When she deemed me calm enough, she continued.

"I put you in an artificial coma, you can thank me later. I needed you to rest so your skin could heal properly. Damn, third-degree burns almost everywhere, and you needed a skin transplant. I suppose you've met Agent Barton?"

My eyes shot open at her. Agent Barton?!

"What? Agent Barton? No, he's a doctor, he worked with Caroline." 

Caroline.

Memories continued hitting me. I remembered how he took her away, how terribly hurt she looked and how terribly hurt I was. Physically and mentally. A cripple, who lost everything.

She was forlorn. Loki was violent and short-tempered. Life was a living hell with him, and something inside me was telling, it was far worse than that.

"Dude, did you live under a rock? He's one of the Avengers, never heard of them?"  Xenia asked me with that 'duh'-attitude. I despised it, always told Caroline how disrespectful it was. Yes, I knew the Avengers, but I never made that connection.

"He fixed my skin?" 

That was just too much. How many days had I been asleep if they'd had time enough for all of this?

"Oh, no, I did the transplant while he held the lamp - of course he fixed your skin!" 

"Will you please stop talking to me like that?"