The trickster God was not hard to find by any means, given he tended to find the most interesting thing around and when it had spread that they were looking for him, he had come to find them. Appearing out of a cloud of smoke with a wicked grin and muddy red eyes. He had two horns sticking out of the sides of his forehead and had strung gold chains between them.
He had blue-green skin and rich brown hair, his yellowish teeth all pointed and intimidating.
"I hear you've been looking for me," he said in a singsong voice, amused that the group had been so startled by his appearance in the human world. They had been planning to go into Faerie looking for him, but there he was standing before them.
His eyes flicked between each of them and then settled on her, amused by her and their games.
"We were," Daemon said but Loki lifted a finger and Kai squeaked as Daemon's mouth was suddenly gone.
Daemon glared, lifting a single finger of his own, to which Loki laughed at the rude gesture.
Approaching, his long shoes had bells on them, otherwise he wore nothing but a simple pair of brown pants and a grey shirt that was open to the navel.
He offered his hand to her, and she hesitated, uncertain but allowed him to take it, to which he bowed over it and kissed it lightly.
"Pleasure, little Queen," he sang, and she lifted a brow, his sharp grin wide and amused.
"The pleasure is all mine, Loki," she said quietly, considering him and all that he represented. He was a trickster, dangerous and unpredictable. That meant they couldn't entirely trust him or anything he said.
"You're a demon," she said, examining the horns that it seemed had been engraved with naked forms.
"I was before I became a God," he said cheerfully as he tugged her to her feet, pulling her playfully into a dance and though she didn't intend to, she found herself dancing with him though she was very aware that he was moving her further away from her companions.
She pulled him to a stop only when she knew they would be out of earshot and she smiled at him, her eyes wicked and his own eyes widened slightly.
"Tell me, Loki, what is it you hope to gain from finding us?" she purred, unsure if he would fall for the new ploy. He made her nervous and the quicker she could get the meeting over, the happier she would be.
"I was curious to know why you were hunting me. I hear things." He tapped his ears and grinned. "Hear little whispers of a Queen trying to reclaim her powers. Hear whispers of a Goddess trying to reclaim Faerie. Hear all things, I do."
She tilted her head slightly, this time pulling him into her and twirling him, his shoes jingling merrily.
"And what do you think this woman is trying to do?" she asked, drawing him back to her so that his back would be to her chest, their steps slow and careful though she no longer allowed him to draw her away.
"I? I think the little Fae brat is trying to gain power for another reason."
He took control of the dance and pulled her hard against him, his grin wicked and knowing.
"And what reason would that be?" she asked innocently, allowing him to dip her back, his eyes following the long line of her throat to her shoulders and back up again.
"I think she is trying to reclaim the power of creation," he said, and she controlled her face, refusing to show her surprise.
"What kind of creation are we talking about?" she asked, her hand lifting over her head as he spun her out and then back against him, his arm curling around her waist and trapping her there, the dance ending suddenly as his smile melted.
"The power to create worlds on a whim. I am no fool, little girl, though I may act as one," his voice was no longer singing and her smile melted with his, wary and alert to his change of mood.
"Mara, Hades, the Jiuwei Hu, The Dragon King, Yril'Lysyr. You are working your way through the powerful one by one. And for what? What is the purpose other than to become stronger? What is the point if not to reclaim what was yours from birth?"
Her hands pressed to his chest in a request for him to release her, but he held her. The question demanded an answer.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied, her eyes locked on his and his smile became cold.
"I am no fool, little Etania. I see and hear all, I saw what Eros was doing, I see everything. I know what you are, and I know why you have come to me."
"I believe it was you who came to us," she countered and hissed as he squeezed her waist.
"You cannot manipulate a trickster God with words, little girl. You want to be the Goddess of creation once more?" His tone was cold, his questions pointed and she found herself frowning at him, trying to take in his question.
"One cannot become a God in that manner," she said slowly.
"Of course you can. Any being can become a God with enough magic, or enough worship. New Gods are born every day when just enough humans believe in them."
She frowned at him, her head tilting to the side.
"Except that no humans believe in me."
He laughed then, taking her hand and spinning her out, drawing her back in and into another dance.
"Ah, but they do. I believe you are referred to as 'the deadly sin' or something like that. The kiss of death that has men begging for it. Flesh eater, the mistress of desire."
She was certain he was teasing her, and she laughed.
"No, that wasn't it. 'Pulchra Morte,' it was." His words sent a shiver down her spine, and she found her eyes going wide at the name.
She tried to translate it in her mind.
"The beautiful death," he supplied, and she shook her head, smiling at his new game.
"Very funny, Loki, humans do not think like that," she said finally, dismissing his teasing.
He smiled at her but let the subject go, making her anxious but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, instead focusing on the steps to the dance as he slowed.
"Do you have any more realistic theories on what it is I'm up to?" she asked, allowing herself to be drawn into him and when he dipped her this time, he held her there.
"Don't play coy with me, Etania, I have known your family since my Rose was taken from me by that wretched Eros and given to the doppelganger. I saw each and every step he took, I know what it is you are."
Her eyes met his and she lifted a brow in mock amusement.
"I think you have an overactive imagination," she countered and he growled, irritated.
Pulling her up, he hooked his arm around her and much to her surprise, he yanked her off her feet and up over his shoulder, the sudden change from warm to cold telling her he had taken her from their location.