ORIGIN (#3, Gods Among Us)

Chapter 54 - Sacrifice

"Do you surrender?"

The pale-haired woman spoke, but the words flowed through me without meaning. All I saw, every cell of my being focused, my vision tunnelled on the horror in front of me. The growing red ruin spread across the glistening pure white snow. The hellhounds and vrykolakas growled and snapped at each other as they fought over bloody pieces of flesh.

Pieces of Shannon.

"I love you."

Already on my knees, I lost everything in my stomach and then some, heaving until the blood vessels in my eyes burst. What did I need my eyes for, anyway? Shannon was dead.

Dead.

She'd never leave Helheim. I didn't want to leave either. Could I stay here and find her? Was her soul on its way to the Hall of Judgment, lining up in those long queues?

"Do you surrender?"

I stayed on my hands and knees. The spearing pain in my chest more than a mortal wound. What did I care what happened to me now? We couldn't even save her son. The potion to restore Baldur was gone. Spilled like Shannon's life blood on the cold, dead, unfeeling snow.

We'd failed.

We'd failed, and Shannon was dead. I should be dead. My heart was gone. Why? Why should I live when Shannon was dead?

I held Loki to me. I had to protect him.

The look in her hazel eyes when she'd met our gazes as the hellhounds and vrykolakas killed her. Slashed her open with vicious teeth and claws.

"I love you."

Loki's scream and the explosion of black seidhr that turned white to black, killing every hellhound and vrykolakas around us, but left him unconscious. Vulnerable to the sea of creatures that swarmed into the vacuum.

Agony had ripped open my soul as I held him and fended off the beasts until the pale-haired woman arrived with her companions. Other women. And all the while, the hellhounds and vrykolakas tore into Shannon, ripping her apart in an obscene wet slurping, a meaty rending accompanied by the hideous crunch of bone.

"I love you."

I hadn't seen Baldur go down. Or where he'd disappeared. Had the creatures eaten him, too? I couldn't look away from her remains. I couldn't breathe past the torment weighing down my chest. Yet Loki still lived. I had to protect him. I had to.

"Do you surrender?"

"Yes," I rasped out, unable to avoid seeing Shannon's blood coating the muzzles of the creatures as they forced me to my feet. The stink of copper on their breath. Polluting my nose. Coating my throat. I gagged, unable to get the taste and scent out of my mouth, my nose, and one-handed, I fumbled at my face, desperate to get it out.

The women tore Loki from my grasp, and I fought to get him back until they placed him on a litter the pale-haired one had made appear. Stronger than they appeared, they carried him away.

Stumbling, they pushed me forward, and I walked. My limbs leaden, barely responding enough to keep me upright. But I'd crawl if I had to. Wherever Loki was going, I would be there. It's what Shannon would have wanted.

"I love you."

The jagged mouth of an ice cavern loomed, ominous, with deadly icicles hanging from the opening. But as we entered, it was more elaborate than it first appeared. Smooth frozen walls formed graceful corridors with a soft blue light emanating from every ice surface. The pale-haired woman pushed open a door to a large bed chamber, and they carried Loki inside, placing him on the plush, dark blue bedding. She rested her hand on his head and closed her eyes.

My vision blurred, her face wavering in front of me. I fell to my knees. "Please. Whatever you need. Please help him. If you need my life to save his, take it," I offered. I couldn't lose Loki. Not him, too. If there was anything I could do to save Loki, I'd do it. Anything. Anything at all.

She cocked her head, ice-blue eyes holding mine. "Even after the loss of your other soulmate, you would give your life to save his?"

"Yes," I blurted. I didn't even hesitate. There was no question within me. "My life, my soul, anything." I stripped the pack from my back and held it out. "I also have a Fomorian power module that puts out more energy than a soul. Take it all. Take everything. Please, just save him."

A small smile appeared at the edge of her lips. "Perhaps I'll take you up on the power module."

Blindly, I dug into my pack and found it by feel. I activated it and handed it to her.

Her smile widened, and she lifted her hand from Loki's head to place it over the module in her other hand. "Now, this is a useful little thing."

I crawled over to beside the bed. "Will Loki be alright?" I asked, studying his closed eyes and pale face. Was there any improvement? His eyes moved under his lashes, but he didn't regain consciousness.

"He'll sleep for a number of hours. He burned out his energy resources, even though he has considerable at his age. Given he is part Jotun, he will recharge while he sleeps, even here in Helheim, so let him rest. It's the best thing for him right now. I've healed the bruise on his brain that seems to have caused him considerable trouble." Her voice was quietly confident, reassuring in her calm tone.

"Thank you," I said, my voice choking on the last word. Tears ran unchecked. Knowing he would be okay, my grief swelled. It was a fist around my throat, a gaping pit where my heart used to be.

"Get some rest, Elatha. You need to heal as well," she said. She walked to the door, then stopped just before leaving. "I'll have some water sent for you, and your food supplies are available to you."

The door closed behind her, and I crawled into the bed beside Loki. Carefully, I gathered him to me, curling around him, and putting my body between him and the door. There was no healing from this. We'd lost her. But by the first shell, if they were going to hurt him again, they'd have to go through me. With my hand on his chest, I felt his heart beat.

A calm, steady rhythm.

"I love you."

The tears flowed faster, and I sobbed until exhaustion pulled me under.

A/N: Do you hate me now?