Loki

Chapter 10

Loki followed Darcy back to the camp, completely unaware that his prayers were already in the process being answered. Still, shouting his pain to the sky had been rather therapeutic, and he was able to turn his thoughts to more immediate matters…like his imminent pseudo-relationship with Darcy.

Darcy wasn't as clever as Jane, nor was she as pretty…and yet, Loki somehow preferred his current situation to attempting to seduce Jane out of her feelings for his brother. Loki wasn't quite sure what to expect from such a mundane mortal girl, but on the other hand, it seemed that perhaps Darcy could sympathize with him better. Besides which, she had stood up for him - which, all things considered, was a serious risk on her part…

Loki couldn't help but chuckle as it occurred to him that, between Jane and Darcy, it seemed that mortal girls were very willing to take stupid risks for the sake of an attractive male.

"What's so funny?" asked Darcy.

He shook his head slightly. "Nothing important," he said dismissively.

"So, what, you're not even going to talk to me?" she asked, sounding almost hurt.

He chuckled again. "Darcy, I thought we agreed to use each other," he said. "While I may be staying with you, whatever parts we may pretend to play will only be performances." he thought for a moment. "Why?" he asked her. "How far did you think we were going to take this?"

"Uh…" Loki didn't even have to look at Darcy to know she was blushing again. She was too easy to toy with - it was actually already starting to become boring.

When she proved unable to say any more, Loki decided to have a bit of mercy. "How far are we going to take this?" he asked her. "I suppose I should give you some say in it, if we are to be using one another equally."

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to help. "Uh…" she said again.

Loki rolled his eyes; it seemed that, in the end, she really was just a stupid mortal…

"Well, um, if we're going to be, like, honest about it, um…I'd like to…uh…go all the way," Darcy said hesitantly.

Loki stopped and put a hand on her arm, forcing her to turn to face him; even in the moonlight, her face was bright red. "Meaning what, exactly?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…" She made a very embarrassed face, and that was all the answer Loki needed.

He wanted to role his eyes and comment on how barbaric her kind must be for her to even consider that. He couldn't resist having a little fun with her, though, so instead he smiled and said, "I think I know what you mean…and I don't see why not."

She blinked.

He let her squirm for a minute, then pretended to realize something and said, "Except for one thing: Are you a maiden?"

"Huh?" Darcy asked.

"Are you a maiden?" Loki repeated.