Down below

Chapter 22. xxx

She felt Loki's hands sliding slowly under her T-shirt, flattening on her stomach, pause for a little, then his lips breathing a light kiss on her neck. She let out a shaky breath. He answered with a low sigh, his tongue teasing that spot between her ear and her jaw. She closed her arms around his neck, allowing him to claim her mouth while his hand slid between her legs. She spread them apart, moaning as his fingers probed her folds, stroking and teasing until she bucked her hips to get more. He bowed his head and lapped on her nipple, leaving wet trails on her T-shirt, while sliding a finger inside her, pleasuring her skillfully.

'You are so wet.' she heard that low, rich voice and fear gripped her throat.

Her head sprung up to those silver eyes locking onto hers as he sucked on her nipple. She screamed and suddenly she was back in that dark chamber, hanging from the ceiling half naked, her arms and legs chained, Hades circling her slowly as he did many times before, holding that book in one hand, a spiked chain whip in the other.

'All warfare is based on deception.' he read out loud and hit her hard until she started to scream, then he stopped and continued. 'Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. And my personal favorite: Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.'

'Go to Hell.' she groaned.

Hades let out a chuckle.

'We are in Hell.' he said, grabbing her hair, forcing her to look at him. 'And you will stay here until you learn to obey me, until you learn to follow orders, until you understand the importance of your mission and stop indulging yourself in emotions. You failed the test miserably, Elianah. You are not up there to party, you are there to enforce order, to show my subjects what happens when they disobey me. Your life above is just a cover, nothing more. You belong to the darkness. You are my best head hunter, the youngest and most skilled despite your origins, yet you dare to embarrass me with your despicable need to belong.'

A series of whip lashes landed on her back, tearing into her skin. She managed to swallow back the screams wanting to escape her throat, turning them into yelp.

'And if you don't, I will skin your friend alive, slowly, intimately until he's begging for death and I will heal his wounds just to play with him some more, making you watch. For every minute, he dared to desire you, for every second he laid a finger on you, I will make him regret that he ever met you. I will crush his mind, break him to my will and by the time I'm through, he will despise you and see you for who you really are: a worthless, ungrateful little bitch, desperate for attention.'

Elianah was sobbing, she retched, but nothing came up.

'Who knows? I might even convince him to work for me, making him a living reminder of what happens when you cross me. Now, let the branding begin.'

She jolted awake in Loki's arms with a scream.

'It's OK. You were dreaming. It's OK.' he said, holding her tight.

She could feel the symbol on her back burning. She pushed him away and tore her T-shirt off, turning around, inspecting it, but it was untouched. Loki watched her and his eyes grew wide. Her back was a horrible abstract painting of scars, burn marks, zig-zags of different sized welts, deep and shallow. He understood at that moment, that she didn't fully lift the illusion back on Asgard, she kept the other marks hidden from him, only showing him the infinity symbol. Elianah realized he was staring, she felt nauseated and darted out of the bed, locking herself in the bathroom. Loki could hear her vomit. He got up and walked to the door. A few minutes passed and he wasn't sure if he should just use his magic and go in or wait and talk to her. Yet what could he say? Asking her if she was alright seemed idiotic, she was clearly fighting her own demons. He knocked on the door.