We had been on several missions together, mostly simple stuff. Loki had stopped trying to kill me after the first day, as I hoped he would. He was smart enough to realise it was not going to get him anywhere.

We worked well together, to both our surprise. Loki was smart, observant and charismatic. He had far more knowledge of the occult than I had too. It helped he liked to show off his knowledge and while he usually sounded belligerent as he did so, I learned a lot from him.

I also realised quickly that Loki responded well to praise. And since I am not shy of letting people know when I appreciate their help, he got plenty of it. On top of that, he was genuinely funny, if at times in a sardonic kind of way, and I found it was easy to forget sometimes who he truly was.

"Today we've got a simple "Spank and Pray", I told Loki as we left London. He was wearing the same suit as before, it didn't seem they allowed him an extensive wardrobe.

His eyebrows shot upwards. "A what now?"

"Spank and Pray," I grinned.

He looked at his feet while he bit his bottom lip. When he looked up again his eyes were crinkled up as he tried to bite back his laughter.

"That sounds rather kinky", he blurted out with a grin.

"Oh, it is," I answered immediately," you dress up as a priest, I wear a sexy French Maid uniform that is not much more than an apron and a feather duster and…" to my own annoyance I couldn't finish the joke without blushing bright red.

Loki threw back his head and laughed.

"Oh, my, you are truly adorable at times, you know that?" his laughter was infectious. "But really, what are we doing today?" he asked.

"A Spank and Pray," I repeated while laughing, still rather red-faced.

"Usually it refers to a haunted building or item. We'll have to fight the spirit, or demon, or whatever entity it is first…"

"That's the spanking part," he interrupted. He was still smiling, but listening intently. He always paid careful attention when I was explaining a job, he did not like going in unprepared.

"Exactly," I confirmed, "And then once we are done we perform an Exorcism."

I suddenly hesitated. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"What is?" Loki looked at me, uncertain what I meant.

"The Exorcism part," I wasn't really sure how to say it. 'That you are a pagan god'? 'That most religions would probably see you as being closer to the devil than anything?' It felt a bit rude to me.

"That you are well, you know, you," I said lamely.

Loki chuckled.

" I won't burst out in flames if that's what you are asking. I might break out in hives though," he winked. He was making fun of me.

"Listen, I'm still not sure how all of this works," I said a bit annoyed, "with you being a god and all."

It still felt incredibly strange to me. Most of the time I'd forget about it and saw Loki as just another magician, albeit far not as powerful as before I defeated him, but every now and again I was reminded he was a god. The god of Mischief. Whatever that meant exactly.

He sighed and took pity on me. He was far too good at guessing what was going on in my mind if you asked me.

"If your Christian god had the power to smite me, certainly he would have done so a long time ago. I can safely set foot in a church, or take part in any Christian ceremony you can imagine. I can even perform certain rites myself and have done so in the past when I was leading a Christian cult."

I knew the Morninglight cult wasn't the first cult he had been involved with. In his long history as a con artist he'd been involved with several of them, even ran a few of them himself.

"Your god holds no power over me," Loki reassured me.

"He's not my god," I said, a bit stroppy. I didn't like to be reminded of Loki's past, it made it harder to justify that I liked working with him. "I'm agnostic".

"Truly?" Loki asked in surprise, eyeing the crucifix around my neck.

"A gift from my daughter," I explained, "Jessie worries about me. I didn't raise her religiously, but she got it for me anyway. It makes her feel better about her mum being out there fighting who-knows-what. Better safe than sorry, right?"

I expected him to make fun of that, but he just nodded.

The haunting was caused by a possessed painting, the poltergeist had been relatively easy to defeat.

"Well, got your bell, book and candle ready?" Loki asked mockingly while wiping a strand of hair out of his face. The Poltergeist had tossed both of us around like rag dolls before we got control of the situation and Loki hadn't been too happy about it.

"Welcome to the twenty-first Century," I grinned as I whipped my phone out. I scrolled through my playlist. Loki bounced behind me, trying to catch a glimpse of what I was doing, but I deftly turned around.

"What? Are you going to play some music to set the atmosphere?" he grinned.

"I'm going to Rickroll it!" I grinned back, unable to help myself.

I found the right file, and a male voice began chanting in Latin.

"No!" Loki exclaimed horrified, "please tell me you are not performing an exorcism by simply playing an MP3 file. Where's the fun in that? The workmanship?"

I giggled "It's a lot easier this way!"

"But certainly there is more to it than that? Please tell me you are at least going to sprinkle around some holy water," he pleaded. "This is not at all like the movies, I'm terribly disappointed," he added glumly.

I almost felt sorry for him. It was rather anticlimactic.

"There's a flask of Holy Water in my backpack if you really want to sprinkle some around," I told him. The voice on my phone kept chanting.

"Oh, may I?" he immediately began rooting through the backpack I was wearing on my back. "The green flask?" he asked.

Soon enough he was going around the room, gleefully sprinkling holy water everywhere. I couldn't help but smile at his boyish joy, he was so weird sometimes!

It was still early afternoon by the time we were done, and as we went outside the sun broke through the clouds. Loki was standing with his eyes closed facing the sun. It was really a nice afternoon and I felt sorry that he had to go back to his cell again on a day like this.

"Hey, I was thinking, there's no need to call it in just yet, what do you think?"

"That is your choice," he answered cautiously.

"There was a park nearby, just around the corner. Want to go for a walk?"

It was the first time we spent time together because we wanted to, not because we had to. I looked at Loki as he walked next to me, tall and graceful, his long dark hair curling around the collar of his charcoal grey woollen coat. He was handsome. More than handsome, he was beautiful. It wasn't hard to believe he was a god, not really. It wasn't just the way he looked, it was the way he moved, the way he talked. He had a commanding presence, people noticed him when he walked into a room.

He was clever and charming, he could diffuse situations by saying a few words, or, if he wanted to, rile people up into a mindless fury with his sharp tongue.

He had a boundless amount of energy, he could run and fight all day. He had no problems keeping up with me. I would be tired after a long day at work sometimes, not physically but mentally and emotionally. He would seem just as fresh and perky as when I picked him up in the morning.

Loki was curious about everything and everything. Sometimes he would ask dozens of questions, other times he'd just listen. He was a good listener, and I found myself telling him far more than I'd often meant to.

When I am comfortable with people, I talk a lot. I say almost anything that comes up in my head, I have no filter sometimes. And I was comfortable with him, I realised.

Loki himself rarely shared information. When asked, he would dodge questions, change the subject, or blatantly lie. I didn't really know that much about him at all.

We walked in comfortable silence for a bit, the park was quiet and there weren't really any other people around. There was a pond with some benches around it, and we sat down.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" I asked him, as I started rooting through my backpack. Loki looked at me and chuckled. My backpack was a constant source of amusement to him. I didn't pack like a special agent, I packed like a mum. There was always a spare sweater, a raincoat, multiple packets of tissues, wet wipes, plasters (not that either of us needed those), a small bag with some make-up, a mirror and a pair of scissors, a torch and pliers. I always packed a lunch for both of us because I was never sure how long we'd be away and if there would be a place where we could eat, a bottle of water, a few thermos flasks, protein bars, some fruit and bars of chocolate.

"And what did you bring today, if I dare ask?"

"Tea or hot chocolate?" I asked in return, holding up both thermos flasks.

"Tea please" Loki grinned, taking the blue flask out of my hands before I could offer. He already knew from past shared lunches which flask was which. I rooted deeper in my bag. "I've got homemade cupcakes", I said holding up a Tupperware box triumphantly.

Loki groaned and put his head in his hand, shaking his head.

"Who are you?" he asked, pretending to sound horrified.

"Please tell me, for the love of everything that is still good and holy in this world, that you did not have a Tupperware box with you on the day you defeated me? I could bear a lot, I have borne a lot, I truly have. But to be defeated by a woman with a Tupperware box in her bag is more than I could bear."

"I can tell you that if it makes you happy," I grinned. I secretly enjoyed it when he was being over-dramatic.

We hadn't really talked a lot about the fight where I had defeated him, and I was surprised he brought it up. I didn't think it was the best memory for him. But he seemed to be joking about it now.

"But would it be the truth?" he begged, "Or would you just be humouring me?" Despite his dramatic words, his eyes sparkled as he met mine.

"If you want to believe it's the truth, I won't stand in your way." I laughed, then opened the tub and offered him the contents "Cupcake?"

We sat side by side in the sun. His long legs were spread out wide, and his knee was touching my leg. I was acutely aware of it, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted him to move his leg or not. Should I move mine? I nervously tore at the cupcake wrapper.

Loki asked for a second cupcake, but instead of eating it, he began breaking off little bits and throwing them at the ducks in the pond.

I was looking at his long slender fingers. "I bet you he'd make a great pianist," I thought to myself. I suddenly wished I had worn something nicer than my blue jeans and baggy red woollen sweater. Loki was talking to me. I was so distracted by how close he was to me that I hadn't heard him.

"I could not help but notice you did not call upon Mjolnir during the fight", he repeated.

"I don't use it every fight," I admitted, "I'm still not sure if it belongs to me or if I'm just borrowing it when I summon it."

"How did you come to wield it?" Loki asked. He wasn't looking at me, his eyes were on the ducks as he was aiming carefully to make sure they'd all get a piece.

I told him how I had gone to the runic standing stones at Solomon Island and how I had been greeted by Huginn and Muninn with a riddle at each stone.

"I googled the answers of course," I admitted before he could ask.

"Oooh, you cheated," he teased, tapping his knee against my leg, "how delightfully naughty of you!"

I blushed, "I didn't really think someone communicating through ravens would quite understand that so I figured I'd be okay."

Loki reached around me to grab another cupcake from the tub that I had placed on the other side of me, his arm brushing against my body as he did so. He smelled good, I noticed.

"At each stone, they told me a bit more about what happened centuries ago when the Vikings arrived on the island." Thankfully, my voice was calm as if nothing had just happened.

"Did they now?" his voice stayed carefully neutral too. "And what did they tell you?"

I told him the story they'd told me to the best of my recollection, including Loki's part in it and that they warned me Loki was on the island.

"Yes, that was about expected. I thought I had remained hidden well enough but the Allfather was always too cunning for my liking. I knew he'd figure out I was the one who took the sword and he would try to meddle somehow."

"Were they really sent by Odin?" I asked.

"I don't know, "Loki admitted, "I haven't been in Asgard in centuries. But it could be."

I knew I had to be very careful with my questions. I was so curious about everything to do with Odin, Thor, Mjolnir and Asgard but I knew that if I'd said the wrong thing he'd change the subject and I wouldn't learn anything.

"Anyway, after I spoke to Huginn and Muninn at each stone I was granted a gift."

"Mjolnir?"

"No," I giggled, "a pair of black woollen socks!"

"What?" he dropped the last bit of cupcake he was holding on the ground in surprise, "Surely you are joking?"

"No, really. They gave me a pair of black woollen socks." I loved telling that anecdote, it was so funny. "The science guys tested it to see if they are magical or anything, but they aren't, they are just socks made out of goat wool. I got them back in the end, but they are very itchy so I don't really wear them."

Loki didn't seem to find it half as funny as I did. "Socks is more than he ever gave me," he muttered bitterly.

I decided to drop the subject of the socks. I still didn't know what his relationship with the other gods was. I knew the Templars had questioned Loki after he was brought in, but they never got a straight answer out of him. The story just changed each time to anything from the Poetic Edda to the Marvel comic book version, to Loki claiming to be the archangel Gabriel. In the end, they gave up because there was no way to verify what the truth was anyway.

"After you had tricked me into letting you into the cave with the Gaia engine and expelled me, I went back to the Wabanaki, who told me to reactivate the wards at the altars. As the last altar was cleansed, a bolt of lightning came down, and Mjolnir stood on the altar."

Loki nodded. "But it does not stay in your hand, does it?"

"No, I can summon it and then throw it a few times, but after that, it disappears back to where it came from and I can't summon it again for a while."

"What happens when you hold on to it instead of throwing it?"

"It starts pulling away by itself and it's stronger than I can hold."

Loki leaned forward and rubbed his forehead, thinking. I waited, playing with a button on my coat.

"Did the ravens ever talk to you again? Did any of the gods ever try to communicate with you?"

"The ravens never spoke to me again, and they stopped following me after I defeated you," I said. "I still say hello to every wild raven I see, just in case." I felt a bit silly admitting it, but I really did. "They never talk back though."

I hesitated and then admitted: "We tried sticking a sticky note to Mjolnir to see if we could exchange notes with Thor, but the note fell off."

Loki laughed and shook his head. "And who is 'we'?" he asked.

"Jess and I. We also tried to tie a note to the handle with a hair scrunchy but I can't hold on to Mjolnir for long enough to tie it securely."

He chuckled.

"I just wanted to know if Thor is using the hammer himself," I explained, "and if it disappears for him when I summon it. It would kind of suck for him if he was fighting with it and if I summoned it away at a crucial moment. "

Loki was laughing, his shoulders shaking as he hid his face in his hands. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to be there and see that! The thought of that big oaf standing on the battlefield with his hands empty. The joy it would bring me!"

I laughed along despite myself, his laughter was so infectious it was hard not to.

"It wouldn't be very nice though, so I was wondering if we'd maybe come to an arrangement or something to prevent that from happening."

"Like shared custody!" Loki howled with laughter. "Oh, my dear Sorcha, I can not remember when I last laughed like that!" he wiped his eyes.

"I really can't", he said softly himself, suddenly looking a bit sad. Without thinking a put my hand on his leg. Just as our eyes met, my phone rang.

"I have to take that," I said, sounding far more breathless than I was comfortable with.

"Yes of course," he said, his face suddenly a careful mask.

It was Richard, asking what we were doing since the tracker on Loki's collar now indicated we weren't at the location of the haunting anymore.

I explained I had decided to stop for something to eat and drink before we went back. I agreed to return Loki right back to Temple Hall. We were both quiet on the way back. I looked at Loki from underneath my eyelashes, but I couldn't read his face at all.

That night I had trouble sleeping. I kept remembering the feeling of Loki's knee against my leg, the way he smiled, the way he laughed. The way his arm had brushed against me. The sound of his voice. The way he smelled so good.

What on earth was wrong with me? Surely I wasn't falling in love with the god of Mischief? How stupid would that be?