The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 38

The room around you erupted into chaos when Sera arrived. The wall behind the fake tribunal exploded as she burst in. You looked up at her with relief in your eyes when you saw her and Loki on her back. She roared and fire burst from her mouth as she did.

The witch hunters scrambled to get back to their feet from the explosions as they turned to face the dangers of the dragon and the angry god. Loki hopped down gracefully from Sera's back and you worried over your love in the heat, especially the additional heat of the fire, but you realized that Sera had set the fire well. She had set it so the witch hunters who had captured you were trapped in the room, but there was a big open area around you that was safe from the fire.

In the chaos of the witch hunters trying to organize themselves to fight a dragon, you struggled from under the men pinning you to the floor. You didn't have to struggle long as Loki was there in an instant, hauling men off of you. "Stop them, Y/N!" One of the witch hunters ordered you and you felt the mark on your hand blaze. You growled and fought off the compulsion spells in the spelled tattoo, even as Loki pulled you to your feet.

"Darling? Are you alright?" Loki asked as he hugged you tightly to him.

"Compulsion spells," you snarled through gritted teeth.

Loki cursed. "Can you-?"

"I'm fighting it, but I can't fight the spells and the witch hunters at the same time. I'm sorry-" you mewed at him, hating being useless to the fight, but it was taking all your effort to fight the orders of the compulsion spells. You weren't called the brightest witch of your age for no reason, and you used your magic to fight though the compulsion spells etched into your skin. It helped that the witch hunters weren't full wizards. Had you been unprepared they may have been able to overpower your magic, but you'd known what they were up to and had fought against them. You were burning power at an alarming rate to do it, and you didn't have that much to spare.

"Nonsense, love, it's impressive enough that you can fight the compulsions at all," he told you gently.

Sera roared after she ripped a man in half.

You really didn't need the image of a man being ripped in half by a dragon in your brain and yet it was there. And would stay there for eternity.

It was not a pleasant sight.

The scent of burning bodies was also unpleasant and you would never forget the acrid scent that smelled like cooking ham. People should not smell like cooking ham.

Loki pulled you away from the chaos and settled you in a chair at the edge of the chaos where you'd be safe and could focus on fighting the compulsions until the men were dead. After he looked you over to make sure you weren't injured, he kissed your forehead and rushed into the battle to help Sera.

Not that she needed help.

She was doing really well roasting witch hunters alive. And eating them. And ripping them to pieces.

Seriously, the sight of what the dragon did to those men should have had you puking, but you were in too much shock and too focused on not helping the enemy. Even Loki wasn't that vicious in killing them, though he was just as angry and they ended up just as dead.

You sighed in relief when the last one died and the compulsion spell died with him. The mark was still on your hand, though, and these weren't the only witch hunters. You weren't completely free of them, but you were free of this group. You stood from your chair and went to Loki and Sera.

You hugged Loki tightly. "You came for me," you told him softly as his arms wrapped around you.

"Of course I did, my darling. I'm just sorry that I did not arrive sooner," he said sadly as he lifted your hand to look at the mark there. You flushed at it.

"We'll figure out how to get rid of it, and the compulsion spells in it. I somehow doubt that tattoo removal lasers are going to work..." You hugged Loki again before you turned to Sera.

You should've gone to her first.

She looked... feral... as she surveyed the carnage around her. She roared again, a sound of pain and anguish. Not at the carnage she caused, you realized, but at the fact that you'd been taken from her and harmed.

She didn't feel like she had punished these people enough.

Fuck

You took a step toward her, another.

"Sera? Sera, darling, it's alright now. You saved me," you told her gently as you stepped toward her. She was bigger now than even her usual toothless-sized dragon form. Her front legs ended in paws that resembled more taloned hands than true paws. She was huge now and she was so angry and hurt.

"The humans harmed my soul sister!" She keened, the sound of her keening broke your heart.

"Shh, dearheart, it's alright now. I'm here, I'm safe," you soothed her as you stepped carefully closer. She hunched like she was going to take a swipe at you. You knew she wouldn't. She was scared, but she wouldn't hurt you. You had to believe she wouldn't hurt you. "It's alright. Everything's ok now. I'm here. I'm safe," you repeated gently, determined to reassure her.

Determined to stop her.

You shouldn't have let her kill all of these men.

You should have known better.

You saw the feral glint in her eyes.

You practically saw the considerations.

"No, soul sister. You are not safe. The humans hurt you. But I will make you safe," Sera told you, cooing over you now like her child.

Shit fuck damn. What did that mean?

"Sera? What do you mean, dearest?" You asked her gently, calmly, reaching out to stroke her nose. You had to calm her.

"The humans!" She protested at you, clearly frustrated that you didn't understand. "I will keep you safe from them,"

"I'm safe now, Sera. The humans aren't going to hurt me. It was the witch hunters. Not the humans,"

"All. Humans. Are. The. Same," she snarled with venom in her voice.

Oh shit.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit

Fuck it all to hell.

This was bad.

"No, Sera, no dearheart. Not all humans are the same," you tried to reassure her quickly, but you saw that you weren't getting through to her. "Our friends at the tower? The Avengers? They aren't like the witch hunters who hurt me,"

"All humans," she snarled.

Before you could say or so anything else, she had grabbed you around the waist in one of her taloned front paws, and leapt out the hole in the wall she had made, taking to the skies with you held firmly in her grip.