Warnings: Blood, Mentions of Addiction.

**This has been edited by Queen0fHearts

Chapter 12

It was hard trying to keep a low profile while also gathering allies to end a war. Hopping from city to city, continent to continent, Loki was getting tired of all the negotiating he had to do. Sure, some of the other gods owed him favors, but with most of them he had to try and weasel his way into their good will to even attempt to bring them on board. It wasn't the kind of work he enjoyed, though messing with some of the ones who refused was always fun. When he got the call from his priest, Loki dropped what he was doing and made his way to the gruff hunter. It had been a fight to get the Winchesters to leave, to accept that Loki was working on getting them reinforcements to help track down the horsemen, and that they couldn't storm the castle.

Appearing in front of Bobby, Loki wasn't surprised to notice that the human was behind his desk. Though he didn't know it, Loki had been watching him. The man was took tracking down Pestilence like it was a personal offense. If they didn't need his intel the god would have long ago given the task to someone else. Bobby was losing sleep, that much was clear, though he still got enough to function. There were shadows under his eyes that the god hated to see. Still his priest never missed an offering, and though he never made good on his promise to ravish the man, Loki found himself more and more tempted every day.

Sadly, work came before pleasure.

What had he become?

"You summoned?" the question was delivered with a smirk which Bobby must have noticed as he rolled his eyes.

"Figured you might want to know that the boys might be dealing with Famine. They think they have it covered, but knowing them they are in over their heads…" The god must have looked as horrified as he felt as Bobby trailed off, letting Loki speak.

"You're telling me Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon blood, is around Famine? Where are they?" the god could hardly believe his ears. If they managed to shove a demon or two at the hunter, it wouldn't take but a drop of blood to throw him off track and signing on the dotted line for Luci to ride his ass.

The second Bobby uttered the name of the town, Loki was gone. Tracking down the boys wasn't hard, though what was difficult was trying to fight off Famine himself while hunting them down. Looking into the only rundown motel he could find in the area, the god found Sam huddled in his motel room, chained in the bathroom sink while trying to fight down his need for demon blood. The boy looked a mess, and for the first time Loki could see how young the man really was. He was only in his mid-twenties, having given up any sense of childhood to the hunter's life. He didn't deserve this; none of them did.

"Loki?"

Stepping forward, Loki ignored the chains Sam was secured with and knelt beside the hunter. "Hi Hot-shot, I gotta say you and your brother really stepped in it this time. You should have prayed the second you knew who was in town. Really Sammy I thought we were past the whole secrets thing." While he was speaking, Loki knew his hands had been glowing as he warded the room, bypassing the warding the brothers would have done and covering the space of a city block. There wasn't going to be anything to tempt Sam, as Loki figured Famine had been planning.

"It's Sam," the words were said more out of reflex than anything else, but it let Loki know the hunter wasn't completely gone yet.

"Sorry I can't bring you to the party Kiddo. You're going to have to stay locked up for a bit while I bust your brother out of the fire." There was an edge to Sam's eyes, one Loki hated seeing there. It took a minute before the god was able to place it. "You're holding up a lot better than I thought you would. This is biblical level addiction, Sammy. Hunter you may be, but overall, you're only human. Just sit tight and I'll bring big bro back safe and sound."

The edge faded from Sam's eyes, which made Loki relax slightly. While originally taking in demon blood had been Sam's choice, this wasn't. He had been doing so well resisting the itch under his skin, and Loki wasn't about to let him think otherwise. "Be back in a flash, Kiddo." Snapping his fingers, Loki searched the town before finding the two he was looking for. Castiel was a mess. The angel was kneeling beside a pile of raw hamburger meat and scooping it into his mouth while Dean was held back by two demons who were protecting Famine. He wouldn't have a chance at helping without the horseman noticing.

Sneaking in was hard enough. While the demons were easy to fool it wasn't so simple to sneak past a horseman. Still as Loki crouched down beside Castiel, it was only the angel who cast him a quick glance, a question in his eyes before Loki reached inside the man's trench coat. "Sorry Wings, but I think I'm going to borrow this." Pulling his hand back, Loki winked at Castiel who looked horrified when he saw his own blade in the possession of the pagan. Once armed, it was quick work to kill the demons. Dean easily found an opening punching the ones who had been holding him until Loki could get to the human and stabbed the demons through the chest.

Tossing Dean the blade, the hunter didn't say a word as he sliced off Famine's ring, picking it up and breaking the connection between horseman and power source. The second the connection was lost, Castiel was on his feet and grabbed both Loki and Dean, flying them back to the motel room where Sam was locked up in the bathroom. "Dean?" asked Sam from behind the locked door, which the older Winchester wasted no time in opening. He helped Sam out of his cuffs as he explained what happened with Famine. Castiel's eyes never left Loki, his brows scrunched together in thought while his hand held the blade he had taken back when he flew them to Sam.

"There are seven human corpses surrounding the area with demon remains. What did you do?" asked Castiel, his stare never leaving Loki. Shrugging, the god glanced to Sam who was rubbing his wrists while Dean hovered over the younger brother, ignoring the severed finger he was holding.

"Warded the area, I packed it full of tricks and traps designed for demons. No chance any of them were going to turn into a slurpee for Sammy here." Crossing his arms over his chest, Loki was prepared for whatever they wanted to fire at him. What he wasn't prepared for was Dean speaking up.

"Thanks."

For a second Loki opened his mouth to say something sarcastic back when he caught the way Sam was glancing between Dean and him. This was an olive branch, one he probably wouldn't be offered again. Instead of saying what was on the tip of his tongue, Loki shrugged. "Wasn't about to let the family of my High Priest get killed." Lifting his hand about to snap away, the god paused when Castiel spoke, his deep voice echoing through the room.

"You have more power than you should, pagan. I don't know what kind of game you're playing or how you're gathering so much. No god should have been able to kill those demons the way you did."

Shaking his head, Loki grinned, his hand still raised. "I'm no mere pagan, Castiel, and you would do well to remember that you're not exactly up to par these days. I bet it wouldn't take but a push to have you cut off completely from whatever grace you have left, and then where would you be? You worry about getting the ring from Pestilence and stay out of my business." Glancing back to the Winchesters, Loki winked. "And you two should probably get that ring to Bobby for safe keeping, especially since it seems like I'm saving your asses every Tuesday."

Snapping his fingers, Loki vanished from the room, leaving the two humans and angel to think what they would. He would leave it to them to tell Bobby they had the ring. As much as he would have loved to release some stress with the other man, he had somewhere he needed to be. If Death was around he would be trying to gain the attention of Sam and Dean, and Loki planned on being there. Before he could ask for an audience with Death however, the god needed to go pick up his offering. Hopefully the guy still liked pie.

Finding Death turned out to be a lot easier than Loki intended. While he knew the horseman would be put to work once Luci got a hold of him, the god wasn't sure how. He was just in time to stop the being from doing something he knew would hurt his priest. "Death," began Loki, his voice thankfully not betraying how the situation was making him feel. The horseman paused, his hand hovering for a second above Karen Singer's grave before he placed it on his cane and turned to face him. Death was the same as Loki remembered, the same man and hopefully one with the same taste.

Holding out the bag of food he had bought the horseman, Loki swallowed for a second as Death took the bag and opened it. "I've been meaning to try this place, heard it has the best bacon cheeseburger this side of the Atlantic." Loki quickly snapped up a small table and two chairs. Death took his chair and opened the wrappers to start eating. Snapping up something for himself, Loki waited while Death ate, munching on some chocolate cake while he did so. The two ate in silence, in the middle of the graveyard where any human could come by and see them. Once Death wiped off his lips and sat back in his chair, Loki snapped their food wrappers away.

"I wasn't expecting you of all people to come looking for me. Last I heard you were in hiding. Tell me how has playing the part of pagan been treating you?"

The question wasn't something Loki had predicted, but with a long sigh he began to speak. "Honestly? It's boring. It's always the same with them, never trusting anyone and stabbing each other in the back. Don't get me wrong, some of them are fun to hang around with but overall…" Death's lips turned up slightly.

"Overall it's all the same, no?" asked the reaper to which Loki nodded; Death was right. He had left Heaven because of the backstabbing- because nobody knew who to trust anymore, and here he was in the same situation.

Death twirled his ring on his hand for a moment, his gaze glancing around the graveyard for a moment. "I know what you're planning. When the time comes, I will loan you my ring." About to thank Death, Loki was cut off as the man's eyes locked with his own. "But I would never give this kind of power to a pagan. You understand, yes?"

Nodding, Loki closed his eyes for a second. "Yes."

"Good," responded Death standing and glancing once again at the grave he had been about to raise. "I suppose I will take my leave. The clock is ticking Gabriel. I hope you're ready."

In a moment Death was gone and Loki was left alone in the graveyard in his conjured chair. Running a hand through his hair, the god snapped his fingers and vanished. It was almost time.

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