Up In Flames

Loki's entire life had been flipped upside down by one simple human girl. The part of him he'd thought he'd killed, the part of him he'd left behind in the biblical ages, had been easily dug out and thrown open for the world to see. Well, maybe no the world but at least for her. Sure, Loki was a demon, through and through, corrupted by forbidden Divine Magik but his true being, the part of him that existed, was Angel; the being originally created by Mayaria. No matter how evil he became or how merciless he became, there would always be a part of him that would remain his vulnerability. The trip to Greece was almost like a dream to Loki. Something that had happened where only he knew about it. But, as soon as they were back on the plane and crossing state lines, Loki felt his walls begin to lift back up. He knew Ren was here and if he let his guard down now, everything would go to shit. He'd be killed this time, Ren would make sure of that and then there wouldn't be a soul alive who could stop him. Loki wasn't sure how far Ren was willing to go but he didn't want to put it past him to put something else in his cross hairs after he was killed.

As promised, Loki gave Anya a bit of free reign when they returned. She promised to return to him and, every night, she did just that and always with a smile on her face. If he was going to trust her to keep tabs on Ren, he needed to be able to trust her with simple things such as this. However, since she hardly ever returned during the day, he decided to conduct some business before she returned. He had an office at his home as well. The one at the casino was merely for the show of his clients. He mostly worked from home. He was lounged out in his desk chair, feet propped up on his desk as he fiddled with the blue tooth in his ear. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. In his ear, there was indistinct chatter. He quickly cut off whoever was talking.

"I don't give a rat's ass who is the progeny of who!" Here, he pulled his legs down from the desk and stood up, leaning his palms against the top of his desk. "Oliver will do his job and I'll get Las Vegas handed on a plate, whether those blood suckers are on my side or not. I gave Oliver the body he has because he could easily take them all out. I'm not worried about Kaia. Her own weakness for him will get her killed if she doesn't submit." There was indistinct chatter on the blue tooth and Loki smirked, straightening up and sitting back down in his chair, as if satisfied. "Good. A little vampire chaos will be sufficient to set my plans in motion. Take out the Queen and the workers will be confused. I like it. Keep me updated on Oliver's progress." On his desk, his phone sat open and he reached over, hanging up with whomever was on the phone. With a satisfied sigh, he pulled the blue tooth from his ear and tossed it onto his desk before leaning back in his chair, a smile on his face.

He didn't even flinch at the sound of her voice. Since returning to Vegas, Loki has begun to revert back to his previous self. He'd given Anya the semblance of freedom she had wanted and no longer held onto her proverbial leash but that didn't mean he had to keep his walls down. After all, he was a crime lord and he needed to keep up appearance. Of course, his latest project was more than a few hundreds years in the making. Loki had always hated the vampires at, especially, the Queen Bee, Kaia Rion. Following her for years, Loki was able to read into personal life enough to know how she ticked and what could make her stop. And that came in the form of Oliver Hannibal. But he only kept this project to a few trusted people, including Oliver. No need to rile up anyone else. He smirked when he looked over it. "Oh, I count on it."

He stood and came around his desk till he was standing in front of her. He moved a piece of hair from her shoulder. "I'm not worried about what they'll do to me." he said absently, seeming to be more interested in the color of the strand of hair than the look on her face. "By far, I'm the superior being but it won't look too good for them in the human eye when they start going on a rampage, will it? A group of vampires who control a city have so far, managed to keep a semblance of control and obedience and then one day, POOF! Everything goes to shit." He chuckled, his blue eyes finally shifting to meet her steely ones as his grin turned feral. "It will be wonderful chaos that I'll be looking forward to. But don't you worry your pretty little head." he sneered, walking away from her to stand by his desk where he picked up his phone. "I'm not lifting a finger."

He couldn't help the sneer that cross his face as he watched her leave, his eyes turning black. Perfect! He'd been getting rather antsy lately and her little stunt in Greece had made his skin crawl thinking about it. He'd transformed himself into the narcissist and egotistical asshole he was today for a reason. Ren had made it a point that holding onto the things that created humanity was their main weakness. The Demi Gods, the very beings who had gifted them with their magik, had been void of humanity. It had been simple to teach the Angels their magik by making them forgo their humanity. To return to such a state was to betray the demon race and ultimately, have yourself killed. In reality, Loki feared Ren and what he could do. As children, Ren had taken Loki under his wing and protected him, even if they had been in his own harsh way. But he had also taught Loki the most valuable lessons of all; never let anyone in. The fact that Anya had been able to get under his skin so easily and bring out his humanity, was something, in Loki's eyes, that was unforgivable. She should have just been grateful he was no longer treating her like a pet when they'd return.

He laughed, a laugh that could have easily been from a movie villain before his wings burst from his back, knocking over even more things. "Run, my pet!" he sneered. "Run as fast as you can because death will soon catch up!" With a malicious laugh, Loki threw his shadows at the window behind his desk and disappeared out of it, taking to the skies. He hadn't been on a "hunt" in a long time.

He flew above the buildings like an avenging angel, keeping low as he followed her scent. Everything about her, down to her bringing his carefully constructed walls, bashed around in his brain. Memories surfaced, scents flourished and feelings bounded. He was an ancient demon, taught to kill all those beneath him and to lock his true self away and yet, she had been able to bring them out and remind him of things he didn't want to remember. That part of him, the part she had drawn out, was questioning his current motives. In the past, he had killed without reason and never thought about anyone ever again. Why was she so different? He didn't remember forming any sort of bond with her that would consider her a friend or, even, family and yet, he was beginning to feel that killing her was a step too far.

She was easy to find. She hadn't gone far. She was storming down the sidewalk like a toddler having a temper tantrum and Loki smirked, landing on the flag pole of the nearest building, pulling his wings in for balance. Shadows swirled around him, waiting for his command but his body hesitated even as his mind spoke otherwise. He cursed loudly, hating this random indecision. Why did he give a shit about a lowly creature? Even as he fought with his conscious, Loki watched a car pull up beside her and a whole troop of black clad figures appear, quickly throwing a hood over Anya's head and throwing her into one of the open doors before they filed back in and sped off. Loki blinked and watched the car drive off. That was different... His body didn't wait for his mind to catch up or change tactics. He was already opening his wings and following them. There was no real presence alerting him so he figured those in the car were either human or lower class supernatural. He probably could have stopped the car easily but still feeling pissed at her actions, wanted to see how far these "kidnappers" would go. After all, whatever they did to her was probably better than what he had originally planned for her.

As soon as he saw where the car was headed, Loki knew Anya was in trouble and the part of him that had been against killing Anya in the first place finally took over and he found himself formulating a plan to get her out. They were an expert group on capturing the supernatural for whatever reason a client might want one. Loki had a feeling Anya's abduction wasn't random. As the car pulled into the main gates, he kept his distance, for now. He landed just down the street and his wings returned to tattoo form as he fixed his shirt back over himself. These guys would be no match for him but it didn't mean he wanted to enter recklessly. He waited till Anya's limp body was taken from the car and carried inside and the car drove away till he approached the main gate, knocked out the gate guard with his elbow and ran inside. Using his Magik at this point would only reveal his trump card. As long as he had the surprise, these mercenaries would be no trouble.

He made his way inside and took out the two guards with quick twists of their necks. He felt energy surging through his veins as he remembered just how fun this was, slaughtering lives as easily as swatting a fly. He jumped and slid over the desk and quickly brought up the security cameras. He watched as Anya was led through a series of doors that Loki immediately recognized. He swore. Magik detecting. Any supernatural creature that walked through those doors would sound the alarm and with his magik far surpassing any worldly supernatural creature, he'd probably active every anti-magik gate in the facility. He needed to think smart about this one. No doubt they were taking her beneath ground where it was harder to be rescued. He continued to pound the key that flipped between security cameras and BINGO! He found what he was looking for. It was an odd angle but he could see the sensor for the anti-magik gate. He raised his hand and tiny threads of shadow slithered to him from beneath the desk. He directed them with his fingers, all the while concentrating on the monitor screen. It wasn't hard to direct shadows from long range. He'd done if before, mostly on conference calls. All he needed was to see shadows on the other screen. However, these cameras were for night vision and were currently in the blinding light. He couldn't see a shadow even if he wanted to. So he was stuck with manipulating those closest to him and directing them to go a longer range. It took time and patience but before long, he watched them slither onto the monitor screen and flash in front of the sensor. Immediately, a large alarm sounded and his computer monitor flashed with warning signs. The whole facility came alive. He ducked down behind the desk, drawing more shadows around him to use as a camouflage and followed the ensuing chaos to the lower levels. Moving silently and slowly using the shadows as camouflage, he was able to move without being seen. It was a trick he'd long mastered after thousands of years and as long as no one touched him or he didn't make any sudden moves, he could remain almost invisible.

When he reached the lower level, it was easy to follow Anya's scent to a hallway of holding cells. At the moment, the hallway was deserted and he quickly found hers, using a shadow to insert into the lock and break it. He ripped open the door and rushed in, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. "Anya!" he said urgently. "Get up! We're out of here." Now that Anya was before him, he began to wonder why he had even done this. What had been the point? His eyes got a good look at her body and he felt a rising anger. First question, why the fuck did he care immediately followed by, who did this to her?

There was a shout from the entrance of the cell as he was spotted and he lashed out angrily, shadows racing from every corner of the cell and ripping the man apart as he had once done to Anya and as he had done to the waitress at the club. The man's screams ended in gurgles as he collapsed onto the floor. "Anya!" Loki snarled angrily, shaking her again. "Get the fuck up or I"m leaving you here to die!" He'd give her ten more seconds before he was out of here. She wasn't worth his own death.

He clenched his jaw in anger, attacking two more guards simutaniously as they came down the hall, they're screams ending in gurgles. She was just as damn stubborn as when she was conscious.

"Do you want me to?" He asked her with a growl. He grabbed her one arm and slung it up and over his shoulder, picking her up in his arms like a sac of feathers, her body cradled against his chest. There wasnt much in this world that could hurt him but he recognized when someone was in agony and knew berating Anya wasn't going to get them anywhere any faster. He was just going to have to take matters into his own hands.

They made it down the hallway without problems but just as he was going to round the corner, a barrage of artillary assaulted them. Loki ducked back behind the wall again with a curse. He inspected the rounds that had the opposite wall and he found himself grinning. They didn't know what creature he was. An array of different kinds of artillary where plunged into the wall including Silver bullets and wooden bullets. He could use this to his advantage. He set Anya down in the floor before he shrugged his shirt off and his wings unfurled. With quick motions, he summoned the shadows around him, a huge cloud appearing before he directed it down the hallway. As soon as the confusion set in, Loki bent and picked Anya up once more and used his wings to fly them at top speed past the armed group and back outside.

He flew a ways away before he found a barren building roof and landef, setting her down against the air conditioning units. He sat back with a groan, hating himelf for running to her rescue.

Loki was crouched in front of her, his attention drawn back the way they had come as if he was listening to what was happening. When her hushed thank you met his ears, however, he turned back to her with a look of surprise. Of course, leave it to Loki to ruin the moment. He smirked at her, he moved a lock of hair out of her face, whether intentional or absently. "A master must always protects his pets." he told her with a chuckle. "Without a license, they would have put you down for sure so I had to take matters into my own hands." He brushed off her thanks like it was petty but there was a smugness to his features now that could only be described that he was proud of himself.

He moved his hand, in one swift motion, from her hair to her forehead where he gently pressed it against her skin, frowning only slightly. Wolfsbane. No wonder she couldn't move. He had no way to help her but he could at least get her to feel a little less in pain. "I'm going to move your once more. Curse me all you want but when we stop again, I won't move you again." He didn't even wait for her approval before he bent and scooped her up once more and taking to the air, his large black wings creating a rhythm as they beat the air. They only flew for a few minutes before he touched back down and surprised her with opening her bedroom door and laying her down on her own bed. He set a glass of water beside her bed on the night stand before falling into a sitting position against her bed on the floor, his wings still splayed out. He sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. Sure he was demon royalty and a lot stronger than most supernatural beasts but carrying her for those long extended periods of time had worn him out. If she decided to go back to sleep, he didn't see why he couldn't take a quick nap himself...