Chapter 2
"You're a vampire," she turned to face him. He stood there, dumbfounded. From all the things she could have claimed him to be, he would have never guessed vampire.
"No, I'm not."
"Yeah that's just what a vampire would say."
"I'm not a vampire.
"So what are you? Cuz you're sure as hell not a normal person." No one who was that inept at sarcasm could be human.
"I'm an Aesir."
"And that's a kind of vampire, right?"
"No, it's nothing like a vampire."
"God dammit," she muttered. "I was all excited and everything." She collapsed to sit on the pile of sand.
"You wanted me to be a vampire?"
"Well yeah. I mean, who doesn't have fantasies about vampires?"
"So you were fantasizing about me?" Loki smirked, striding forward smoothly.
"No!" she nearly yelled, "Just…If you were a vampire, then I might've."
Loki knelt in front of Darcy, crawling over her and causing her to lay down on the sand, "I could always pretend if you'd like," he whispered against her neck. Darcy's widened and her pace quickened until she thought her head would explode. This guy was extremely attractive- definitely the classy bad boy type- and he was practically lying on top of her.
"I…Uh…"
"Something tells me you'd like that very much?" his voice was soft and low, like silk running across her brain.
"Are you sure you're not a vampire?"
"Quite positive," he purred.
"Well then no thanks," she shoved Loki off of her and sat up, dusting off her hands. Loki stared at her, baffled.
"Excuse me?"
"Look, not that you're not attractive or anything, but I'm just going through a bit of a phase and I'm afraid nothing other than a vampire can fix it. Thanks for the offer, though," Darcy stood, dusting the sand off of her pants and jacket, and walked back toward the lab. Loki remained sitting on the ground, staring at her as she shrank into the distance.
"Passed over because I'm a god and not some lowly, mortal creation?" he gaped, voicing his confusion. "I've been passed over in favor of Thor, sure, but never because I wasn't some sharp-toothed, immoral monster."
"Well you are a monster," a Loki, identical to the original, had appeared next to him on the sand.
"Oh god I've done it again."
"You really need to learn to control yourself. It's been a while since you've accidentally created a clone."
"I'm aware, thank you."
"Of course. Listen, if you want to talk about it, I know how you feel. She makes us a bit nervous, you can admit it."
"I am not nervous."
"Then why are our hearts beating so rapidly?"
"Because I'm frustrated, that's all."
"Yes, frustrated that she doesn't want us?"
"No," Loki hissed at his clone.
"Come on. Give us a kiss." The clone held his arms wide, waving Loki toward him with his fingers and batting his eyelashes.
"Shut up," Loki threw some sand at the clone, which dissolved into thin air. He looked back at the lab and could see Darcy in one of the windows. Was that her bedroom? It looked like it. It had a bed, just big enough for two people, but much smaller than the one Loki had in Asgard. Was Darcy getting ready for bed? She was peeling off the outer layers of her clothing- her jacket and a sweater- leaving her in just jeans and a tank top. The jeans were soon removed and Loki stared at her body. He felt his cheeks flush and a feeling of guilt and exhilaration crept through him. It was just like back in Asgard, when he and Thor were younger and they'd occasionally spied on some of the girls.
Loki blinked and looked away, clearing his throat. He may not be the most morally upright character, but he had certainly left his peeping schoolboy days behind him. He would only stare at Darcy undressing if she was aware that he was there.
He returned to the lab and went to his room after staring at Darcy's door for a few moments.
Loki awoke the next day, while the sun was shining but held at bay by the curtains of his room, and showered quickly. He dressed, his hair still damp, and walked into the kitchen to find Darcy drinking coffee.
"Well, you're up during daylight hours so I guess you really aren't a vampire. Dammit," she mumbled. Loki ignored the comment and sat down at the kitchen table.
"What on earth are you drinking?"
"Coffee. Want some? It's pretty dang good," she pour another cup, mixed in some English Almond Toffee creamer and set it down in front of Loki. He picked up the mug and sniffed it for a moment.
"This smells amazing."
"It tastes better," she nodded. Loki took a small sip to find that she was right. In a matter of seconds he drank the entire cup and was immediately at the coffee maker, pouring more. But this time he didn't bother with creamer, drinking it black. Darcy stared- most people didn't take their coffee black, and very little of those that did were able to start out drinking it black.
"Wow."
"Oh my Odin, this is fantastic. I feel amazing. Everything feels amazing!" Loki turned, beaming. His green eyes were a lighter shade. "I need to run!" He sprinted past Darcy, bursting out the front door of the lab and running down the street, with Darcy trailing after him.
"Dude! Wait up! What are you doing?"
"This is amazing!" he laughed, arms spread wide as he barreled down the sidewalk. "I feel so happy!"
And that's when he ran into the street.
Darcy gasped, covering her mouth as a silver Toyota Camry hit Loki, throwing him over the roof and back, and he landed on the concrete. But rather than lay there injured, Loki bounced up right away, laughing.
"That was fantastic! I want to do it again!" he ran off, through the street, weaving through traffic like a child imitating an airplane.
By the time Darcy caught up to him, he was laying six feet away from the side of the road, a few miles outside of Puento Antiguo.
"I don't feel so good," he groaned.
"Ya think it has something to do with you being hit by a car?" she leaned down and grabbed his arms, pulling him to his feet. His body went limp and he collapsed on top of her, almost causing her to fall to the ground.
"Seriously, no more coffee for you. I don't need to be chasing you around the desert for hours." And it had been hours. After leaving town, Loki had ran weaving through cacti and tumbleweeds, and at one point had run in obvious circles. He said something about making a tornado, like his big brother. It had been rather endearing to watch, like a six foot man-child or something. But the sun was already in the early stages of setting, and Darcy didn't want to be in the desert after dark.
So she found herself practically carrying Loki back to the lab.
"This is so not fair. Tomorrow, I'm gonna get you back for this."
They arrived at the lab and Darcy was exhausted. She refused to carry him to his bedroom, as that meant walking further while straining under his weight, so she dropped him onto the couch. She took the time to make sure his legs were straightened and he looked as comfortable as one could be on a couch, and grabbed a blanket to lay over him. But afterwards she felt like the walking dead.
"Well, even if you're not a vampire, I'm sleeping here tonight." Darcy pulled the blanket aside just enough to scoot underneath, close to Loki. She was extremely warm from dragging him home, and found his icy hand and placed it on her forehead.
"Yeah, that's nice," she mumbled. Loki was already fast asleep, his breath coming in deep and even inhales and exhales. Darcy herself was so tired that she barely noticed when Loki's hand moved from her forehead to wrap around her waist, pulling her slightly closer to him.
In the morning, Darcy woke up first, With Loki partially on top of her. She wiggled out from under him, falling to the floor, but quickly stood and adjusted her clothes before heading to the bathroom to shower and dress.
When Loki woke up, Darcy was back in the kitchen drinking more coffee. Loki strode over to the coffee maker, but Darcy smacked his hands when he reached for the pot.
"How dare-"
"I am not dragging your ass back home tonight, dude."
"Excuse me?"
"You had two cups of coffee yesterday and you were like a kindergartner on acid. What the hell was that? You ran around the desert for five hours."
"I wanted to run," he stated blankly, blinking at her.
"Yeah well not today," she took the pot and poured the coffee down the sink, ignoring Loki's small whine of protest. He pouted, but she ignored him. "You can have juice or something instead." Loki frowned and sat at the table, throwing his own kind of temper tantrum.
"But hey," Darcy began, "I guess you've proven that you're not a vampire. Cuz if you were, you wouldn't have had the coffee."
"So tell me exactly why you're in a…vampire phase?"
"I blame Twilight."
"What does the time of day have to do with-"
"No, it's a book. About a girl. And vampires."
"And it causes you to want a vampire?"
"Oh honey it causes millions of girls and moms to want vampires."
"But vampires are monsters."
"To some people. The way I see it, vampires drink blood, without it they die. You can't really hate something for surviving, can you? I mean sure most vampires go about it the wrong way, but there are some that do it right. Like Angel, he drinks animal blood. Same with the Twilight vampires. Well, the main Twilight vampires. That aren't the antagonists."
"But they're still monsters."
"All a matter of perspective, dude. Like, there are normal humans who brutally torture and kill other people, but there's nothing supernatural about them. Those are monsters. All the supernatural creatures, they're just trying to get by."
Loki thought for a moment. "So what's your opinion on someone who does bad things?"
"What do you mean, like stealing candy from babies bad or robbing banks bad?"
"Hypothetically, if someone were to cause what was to be his brother's most important day to be ruined, and then tricked him into getting cast out by the father, all so he could prove he was just as worthy of the father's love as said brother, what would that make him?"
"Hmm," Darcy paused. "Well, I guess the guy's intentions weren't completely bad. Like you're saying he just wanted to be loved by the dad, right? Like equal with the brother? Well that's not necessarily bad. The way he went around doing it sure isn't good, though. But hey, I'm not really one to talk. One time I hijacked my sister's study tapes- she listens to recordings of notes while she sleeps so she does better on tests- and replaced them with kiddy songs. She flunked. Didn't change how my parents treated me, though. If anything, it made them more pissed at me."
"That sucks."
"I know."
