When our fingers finally touch, a warm sensation envelopes me, a rush of energy so intense I forget my hissing chest and numbness. She flicks her wrist and a green reflective beam begins to form. It grows, forming a bubble around us, a bubble that holds the creature back from us, and I know now she wasn’t planning on taking my hand so we could die together. She took it so she could save us both.
The beast pounds angrily on the barrier, roaring and snarling. With each attack the bubble fades a little as our protection weakens. She ignores the creature. Her head snaps up looking into the darkness and small smile forms on the corner of her lips and her eyes gleam as the rain pours down on her face. She turns to me, smiles and whispers.
“Sailor Monroe. You have proven yourself. Thank you.”
Her eyes close before I can respond and her tight grip on my fingers slackens. I know without any doubt that she’s dead. I don’t have time to mourn the woman who just saved my life, or at least prolonged it a little. creature just broke through the barrier.
It comes at me with unbridled rage. I refuse to die lying down, I don’t care how much it hurts; I’m dying on my feet. I push myself off the ground and stand strong, igniting a fresh wave of pain and warmth. The forest spins around me as I brace myself on the trunk of the tree. My arm covers the gaping hole in my chest, as if that will help me now. It won’t. I know I’m about to die. But heroes don’t die whimpering on the ground. I hold my head up high and look into the creature’s face with defiance.
The creature grabs the sword and raises it high above his head. I brace myself for the end and pray that my dad and Loki know how much I love them. And pray that my dad can find a way to exist after I’m gone. Losing my mom almost destroyed him, and now this.
Daddy I love you.
I see a flash of movement behind the creature and before the sword comes down, a figure comes out of the shadows, rips a tree from the ground and swings it at the creature knocking it away from me. He picks the creature up, lifting it high over his head and slams it down, causing the whole forest to shake. The figure pulls a bright blue electric sword out from seemingly nowhere and skillfully hacks the creature in two.
He comes toward me. I don’t think he’s human but he’s not scary like the creature. His presence feels different. Comforting. As he reaches me, the adrenaline rush I used to stand leaves my body all at once and my knees give way. He catches me before I fall and scoops me up into his arms. I mumble something about killing him if he tries something. He laughs. His laugh is big, warm, nice. I wish I could see his face, but everything is cloudy.
“The woman…” I mumble as I fight to keep my eyes open.
“She’s dead. Rest,” he orders with certainty.
“You…pulled the tree from…then picked up…creature…what are you?” I mumble.
He doesn’t reply. He just keeps taking long, large strides across the forest. A thought occurs to me as I give into the heavy darkness; I giggle to myself. It must be the blood loss.
“What’s so funny Wonder Woman?”
“You’re warm and you smell good,” I mumble fighting to stay awake.
I giggle again and he just looks at me.
“You’re a vampire.” I mutter, now completely delirious.
“Do I look pasty and cold?” he snaps. “I’m a God.”
I jolt up, sucking in a big breath and looking around me. Where the hell am I? I’m sitting in an incredibly soft bed, one that would put the Holiday Inn to shame. I look down, surprised to see I’m wearing only a large football jersey that practically swallows me whole.
Where are my clothes?
I glance around but don’t see them, and nothing about the room I’m in is familiar. There are no pictures, no dressers, and to be honest, nothing that looks like it came from this century. Just the bed, Loki, and my pounding headache.
“Come here, buddy,” I say to Loki, patting the bed beside me.
“Where are we, boy?”
He jumps up and licks my face excitedly and wags his tail as I wrap my arms around him and give him a squeeze. He isn’t exactly full of answers though. It’s up to me to work out what the hell is going on. I look around and try to take in where I am.
Wooden walls surround me, the kind of walls you see in cabins people stay in when they want a getaway in the woods. I have a bad feeling about this place. It has that deep-in-the-woods-where-nobody-can-hear-me-scream vibe. Muted sunlight peeks through a small window over the bed.
A cabin in the middle of...where exactly?
And then it all hits me. A woman with silver hair and an awful creature that came out of some sort of tear in the atmosphere. A portal of some kind. To another realm? Who knows? Me, jumping in like an idiot to save her and failing miserably, getting my chest ripped open. I look down. If what happened in the forest really did happen, I should be dead. Or at the very least severely injured, and yet I feel no pain. My hand moves to the spot where the massive claws raked me. I find nothing but smooth skin.
Did any of it really happen? The evidence on my chest suggests otherwise, yet here I am in a cabin who knows where. Did I trip and knock myself out and have some sort of dream? But if that’s the case, why am I here
