Loki's Daughter Book 2

Hela

But today, the day marking half way through winter, a bad feeling sweeps over me. I drop my spoon and run out of the room.

'Why do you even bother with her? She will never be here for longer than a few minutes,' someone remarks. I run down the hallway making a portal in front of me and run through it and out in the bush near Val's home.

'Val! Wait!' I yell as I run towards her.

'Hey Ray, nice to see you. When was the last time you came to see me?'

I come to a stop, huff and cross my arms. 'Any way do you have your gun on you? I have a bad feeling.'

'I work at a hospital, I don't need a gun,' she jumps in to her car and starts it.

'Val please, I can't shake this feeling.'

She smiles at me and opens up her glovebox, showing me her gun lying in there. It does little to relax me.

'Raven, I am the daughter of a god. I'll be fine,' she shuts the door and backs out and drives off.

Hours later I teleport near Val's home. She should be back by now.

'Help!' I hear Alec yell. I run, opening yet another portal and keep running towards him. Loki and Thor follow me through and we see Val on the ground with Alec next to her.

'She's alive,' he tells us.

'Dad, Loki s...she H...Hela...' she can't talk. Alec picks her up and takes her inside. We follow in silence. He lies her down on the couch and she loses conscious.

I kneel next to the couch watching her carefully, pushing my racing thoughts away. Her hands moves to her throat and a moment later she begins screaming.

'Val, wake up,' I call to her. She wakes up, her breathing racing. She looks around and sees that we've surrounded her.

'Get away from me!' she yells. Her anxiety building up.

'Thor, she needs space,' I tell them. They don't move. I get up and pull them way.

'Val, calm down please,' I put my hand on her shoulder. She sets herself on fire and I pull my hand away. I wasn't fast enough and she burnt it.

Alec moves up, 'Hey I need you to calm down. Please baby I love you,' she collapses in to his arms bawling. I stand up and walk away. Thor and Loki follow me.

'Speak Raven. You knew and you didn't even stop her.'

'I told you. I see things in the future and it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't stop it. I saw Valarie coming back injured. I only worked it out this morning during breakfast. I ran to stop her,' I bite my cheek and turn away nursing my burnt hand. I deserved it.

'Daughter, what do you mean? Did you try?'

'I did. She wasn't going to stop. I should have tried harder,' my gaze flickers over Thor for a moment than back on to the couch. Recognition of something. Loki does something and the next moment I'm inside of Thor's head.

'Broken arm. Winded. Fine otherwise,' Loki tells us.

I scoop my daughter off the ground and glare at Raven. Her hair is wild. She looks just like her father and she has that smug grin on her face. She doesn't care. Of course not. Why would she.

'It's all your fault. You shouldn't have turned the both of you invisible.' You should have tried harder to protect her, I add silently. Her face falls a little and the grin becomes smaller but it's still there.

'How is it her fault? Valarie took her. And it's not Raven's job to look after a girl whose nearly two years older than herself!' Loki rises his voice at me. Something I'm not used too.

'Leave it Loki. Let Sparkles have his say. Words aren't going to hurt me,' she sneers as she turns and walks off. I don't know why I expect her to protect Valarie but that's her job. It's the only reason why Odin let her-

'Val, what happened?' father's voice brings me out. Thor gazes at me silently. I keep quiet despite curiosity burning through me. Odin let me do what? And why does Thor expect me to protect his daughter? Why is it my job? So many questions race through me but I focus on Valarie's voice letting it ground me to here and now.

'I was just about to check out when I looked behind the counter. Jaimee was there with a dagger in her chest. A bomb went off...it was Hela and she has a daughter. She wanted to know where you were. She killed two innocent children because of it. She tortured me for answers. I refused to give her what she wanted. She stabbed me where it hurt the most. She killed my c...colleagues. To make it worse. She has a daughter,' a tear trickles down Valarie's cheek. I frown. Why did she repeat that?

'Would you excuse me for a sec,' she runs out of the house and I chase her down to the lake. She falls to the ground sobbing.

'Val, we will take her down,' I sit next to her and gaze out over the lake.

'I will kill her or find a way to kill her. She killed a six-year-old and an unborn child.'

'Unborn? Wait...oh fuck...Val,' it clicks. She was pregnant. She was telling us...sort of. She bursts into another wave of tears. I grab hold of her and hold her gently. 'I'm promise you we will avenge those who lives were lost.'

'Is...isn't...that...the Avengers...job?' she hiccups.

'So what? It's mine...ours now.'

I wait until her tears are silent than ask her, 'How long before it was due?'

'She not it...' Val wipes her eyes. 'Five months.'

I look down. Blood still trickles out of her and it's spreading all other me.

'Can you heal yourself?'

'I can. But not the babe.'

Memories crash at me. I struggle to get rid of them. 'Val, I know this is going to sound really harsh but just listen to me,' I hold my hand up as she protests. 'I'm going to walk you back to your home once you've healed yourself but then I'm going to leave. I will come and check on you. I...I just need some time to work something out,' I stand up.

She doesn't heal herself but rather stands up and starts walking back to her home.

'Val!' I call out. She doesn't answer and keeps walking. I have no choice but to follow her back.

I watch her as she enters the home before turning and teleporting back to my bed room to get a few minutes of sleep. I'm so tired.