A/N: I am so, so sorry about the wait. I've got a severe wrist injury, which affects my fingers - I can't move them properly - and so pretty much no writing has been done in the last week. Which is why this chapter is so short. It took me a loooong time to write this out.

Also, I do apologise for my portrayal of Odin - in canon, I fully support the view of him as a caring but oblivious father who messed up a lot, but in this universe, he's different and he automatically discriminates against Loki because of his vampirism. Roll with it.

Chapter 6: Hold On To Anyone, Let Go Of Me

Slowly, we get too good and too holy
Helping one another, just a righteous brother
Night time, get me back in the night time
I don't want to be angel, just a little bit evil
I feel the devil in me

Holy Holy - David Bowie

"Father." Thor said, addressing the white-haired man he'd come to visit.

"Thor." Odin replied sternly from his place in his armchair.

They hadn't spoken since the last argument, where Thor had pointed out that Loki had been alive and was now dead, and Odin basically said the Burison family would not play host to vampire parasites. Thor had been outraged.

"Loki yet lives." Thor commented. "He was saved from death by a supernatural force. He now has powerful allies intent on destroying Hell."

The look in Odin's eyes was the universal parenting look of the child is a terror. "Why do you assume I'm interested in the life of a vampire?"

In some ways, Thor didn't blame Odin. After all, his parents and one brother had been killed by a nest of vampires, and his other brother, Ve, had been converted. Odin had killed Ve himself. There was a deep, ingrained hatred of vampires in this family and in Odin especially. But Thor didn't believe Loki should have been treated the way he was, even if father and adopted son had often argued.

"Because he is your son, Odin." Thor replied.

Odin snorted. "A monster is not my son."

Thor looked disgusted. "If I were to become a son of Eve, would that make me any less of a Burison? I do not think so. Loki deserves your acceptance and support."

Odin said nothing, so Thor continued. "I come to you today, father, because I wished to warn you of upcoming upheavals in the hunting world. While our relationship has been strained as of late, my leaving you in the dark is not what Mother would have wanted."

And that was Thor's trump card. The mention of their familial connection, of their deceased matriarch Frigga, was enough to have Odin sighing sadly and opening his mind to Thor's words. "Tell me about this danger, then."

Thor opened his mouth to spout a doctored version of Loki's tale. It really was turning into Chinese whispers.

-O.O-

Odin, despite his very human flaws, was still a source of good advice. He recommended trying to keep Thor's motley crew of hunters unified, rather than letting them stray off in different directions.

This was why Thor called Clint, Natasha, Tony, Bruce and Steve and asked them to meet in Tony's house in Malibu that evening.

Thor had considered inviting Loki; he'd thought about it a lot. But after hearing Clint and Natasha's aggression towards him? Perhaps it was safer to keep him away, for the good of the cohesion of the team.

They needed to talk, about their plans, about their fears, about Loki. Loki was the knife between them, where opinions were so harshly divided. That pretty vampire seemed to cause chaos and discord without even meaning to.

Steve promised to be there ASAP, after Tony gallantly offered him his Chrysler and said to not worry about speeding tickets, because Stark Industries would pay them. Steve declined and said he'd catch a public flight instead of driving for two days and being late anyway.

And so the plans were laid.

-O.O-

"Who is this?" Loki had started answering his phone with that harsh interrogative. Only humans had his phone number, and most of them he wouldn't trust if they bent over backwards and said Loki could drain them dry.

"It's Tony." The man said, and Loki smiled suddenly.

"Tony, dearest. What is it?" Loki said warmly.

"Er..." Tony, while moping around his Malibu house avoiding Pepper, had resolved to let Loki know the Avengers were meeting. Loki was one of them, right? Everything would be made better if everyone could just talk. "There's a thingie tonight."

"A thingie." Loki repeated in a deadpan. "Really."

"Sorry, I mean the Avengers are meeting tonight at my house. In Malibu. All of us. We're having a nice discussion and stuff." Tony explained.

"Ah. Am I invited?" Loki asked.

"Uh, yes. That's why I rang. Feel free to come. If you can get there, I guess; I mean, you're a busy guy." Tony felt oddly awkward now, like he was asking out his crush or something.

"I will see what can be done. Thank you, Tony." Loki said, and disconnected.

-O.O-

The meeting started badly. They all made it, sitting in Tony's meeting room around a large rectangular table. The division was obvious; Team Free Steve - Clint, Natasha and Steve - at one end and Thor and Tony at the other, with the more neutral Bruce and Pepper keeping the peace in the middle.

"I've been contacted." Steve announced. "Fury came to me."

"What did he say?" Bruce said, already taking notes on one of his many laptops.

"He said -" Steve's eyes flicked to Tony for a moment. "For us to keep away from Loki. He said Loki's dangerous."

"Fury's not wrong." Natasha noted. "The angel that's been in contact with us, Phillip said much the same thing."

Tony scowled. "There's nothing wrong with Loki. Of course the angels don't like him; he's a vampire and the angels are prejudiced. What a pile of shit."

"Don't talk about angels like that." Steve glowered.

"I'll talk about anyone however I feel like talking about them." Tony snapped right back.

Bruce hung his head in his hands. "See, this is where it all breaks down. We're not even a little bit unified. We're not a team, we're a time bomb."

"We'd be perfectly fine if it weren't for Loki." Clint noted.

"No, we wouldn't." Tony countered. "I'm not going to just jump on the angel boat 'cause they flap their wings around and glow a bit. Better to actually act with Earth's best interests in mind, right? Because if Loki's right-"

"He isn't." Clint cut in.

"-if Loki's right, Heaven doesn't give a flying fuck about any of us, not really." Tony finished.

"They're angels." Natasha insisted.

"Yeah, and history was written by the victors." Tony frowned. "The only sources we have of angelic goodness is human writings, and humans are pretty easily influenced by the idea of a higher power. Look at Jonestown! I'm not about to climb on board only to get stabbed in the back!"

"Tony is right." Thor said solemnly. "We have no reason to trust."

Natasha took a deep breath, before saying "What's our alternative? If you guys are right, and they don't care about us, then allying with them will at least save our skins. Rebelling would just get us all killed in the long run."

Tony thought about that for a moment. "That's where Loki is, too. If he turns against Angrboda, he's got Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Earth all wanting him dead, and if he gets caught, he'll be tortured for the rest of eternity in the monster afterlife, without a single chance of Angrboda bringing him back. He's actually trapped. I can't believe I didn't see that."

"What, so we should all just kiss and hug him and tell him he'll be okay?" Clint said dryly.

Tony pulled the finger at him. "No, asshole, I'm saying a little empathy might go a long way."

"Sympathy for the devil." A smooth voice said. "'Please allow me to introduce myself; I'm a man of wealth and taste.'"

Everyone whirled in shock at the same time to see Loki leaning against a floor-to-ceiling window, grinning like a crazy cat at his grand entrance.

"Loki!" Everyone barring Tony gasped in alarm.

Tony himself said "How the fuck did you get in here without us noticing?"

Loki just shrugged. "I have my ways."