A/N: Hey guys, I'm back, and writing weirder stuff than ever! Sorry about the wait, I've been busy and whatnots.

And a note that will be relevant in a long while - I made a mistake in the first story. I now have retconned myself. I bow down and beg for forgiveness. But it's no longer Coulson who chased Loki out of Alaska, it's Hank Pym, because Coulson is needed in...other places. Hehe.

Chapter 1: The Beagle And The Fox

"Remember, just cause we've only been following one doesn't mean it doesn't have a partner." Tony warned as he and Loki headed towards the nice suburban house they'd seen a Vetala move in and out of several times in the last two days.

"Do I look like a fool?" Loki said, silver knife ready in his hand, scimitar swinging at his waist.

"Yep. When you're on your back begging. Not so much at the moment, but hey, that could change." Tony said flippantly.

"It could." Loki conceded, tugging his hat over his face to keep out the sunlight. "I hardly think now is the time, though."

When they were close enough to be audible, they shot each other a look developed from the last few months of working together; hunting time now, radio silence.

They moved with a practiced precision, Loki creeping around the side of the house to slip in through an partially open window and secure the Vetala's victims, Tony going for the front door as a distraction.

Tony rang the doorbell. A slim young woman answered, a winning smile on her face. This was the same smile Tony had seen her give while casually punching someone out and dragging them into her car. Therefore Tony didn't fall for it.

He heard Loki give the all clear, so he drew his silver knife and slammed it into the Vetala's heart. She looked angry, then surprised, then her face went blank. Hoping no one had seen him knife a seemingly innocent girl on her own doorstep, Tony snuck inside and closed the door.

Loki was untying the semi- and unconscious victims. He looked up when Tony crept in, a triumphant half-smile on his face.

Then Tony heard a noise behind him and Loki gave a cry of alarm just as the other Vetala struck out to kill his partner. Tony spun, knife in hand, but Loki got there first, crossing the room with his supernatural speed and burying his blade in her chest. Just like the other one, she collapsed pathetically to the ground.

"Thanks." Tony breathed, still a little horrified.

"Most welcome." Loki purred, wiping his blade on the curtain. "Now, let us take these poor people to a hospital."

-O.O-

Two months. Since Steve had been virginnapped, since Tony had made Loki a deal, since Clint and Natasha broke that deal, since Tony decided to save Loki's life.

Two months since Tony had realised the vampire he'd been hunting on and off for te past few years was a funny, smart, (horny) talented hunter with a psycho streak a mile long.

And, obviously, two months since they started hunting together. They worked surprisingly well, not much need for communication because their somewhat similar personalities put them on the same wavelength most of the time.

After the Vetala hunt, they were blasting down the highway, both singing along to Back In Black - Loki liked AC/DC, who knew? - in Tony's favourite car. After growing well and truly sick of Corollaine, they'd ditched the Corolla and gone for something more Tony's style, a 1975 black Chrysler Valiant that Tony had fixed up himself. Loki often felt like he was competing for Tony's affection with the bloody car.

Just then, Tony's phone started playing War Pigs, contrasting with the heavy metal already playing, and he turned off the music and tossed the phone to Loki to answer.

"Greetings." Loki said smoothly.

"Tony?" A woman asked.

"No, this is his life-model decoy. Please state your name so I can decide whether or not I should throw this phone out the window." Loki said dryly.

"Put them on speaker." Tony said.

Loki fumbled with the phone until he hit the speaker button, and then the woman's voice rang out loudly in the car as she said "Hello? Tony?"

"Pepper!" Tony exclaimed brightly. "Sorry, I'm driving, and my faithful assistant isn't the most polite guy."

"Who is it? It's not Steve, so..." Pepper replied.

Loki was confused for a moment until he remembered - Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, technically Tony's personal assistant, in reality the driving force behind his company.

"Loki Laufeyson." Loki said smoothly. "I have heard much about you, Miss Potts, though it seems Tony has neglected to inform you of me."

"What? Tony, where's Steve?" Pepper said confusedly.

"Um. That's more of a face to face thing. What're you calling about?" Tony said.

"The fact that you broke your promise." Pepper said irritably.

"What promise? Pepper, if it's about that omelette again-"

"It's about how you promised to come into work at least once every few months. I've got people asking where you are, why you haven't signed anything, so where are you?" Pepper said demandingly.

Loki decided he didn't like her.

"On our way to Malibu." Tony sighed.

"You'd better be." Pepper said, and hung up.

"I was under the impression we were going to Washington State." Loki said.

"One does not simply say no to Pepper." Tony sighed, checking the road was clear before swerving into a U-turn.

-O.O-

"Malibu!" Tony declared. "Part of California, and hunting capitol of America!"

"It's fucking sunny." Loki hissed, cringing away from the light even though his window was tinted and he was wrapped up in long clothes.

"It's California. Of course it's sunny. Sorry, I sort of forgot." Tony winced.

"Hunting capitol of the country. So, of course, you brought the fox here." Loki sighed.

Tony always noted Loki's tendency to call himself a fox whenever referencing other hunters, just because catching Loki had become somewhat of a challenge or sport.

"You're not a fox anymore." Tony said teasingly. "You're a beagle."

"Beagles are notoriously unintelligent." Loki said churlishly. "I think not. You may be a beagle, Tony, but I can aim higher than that."

"Hey, I'm not stupid!" Tony protested.

They bickered affectionately all the way to Stark Industries, pulling up outside the breezy building after a cruise through town.

Loki anxiously arranged his hat and gloves to keep himself safe as he climbed from the car and followed Tony into the building.

Pepper was standing in the foyer, looking decidedly unimpressed as Tony affectionately greeted her with a hug. She was a lot more impressed by his slender companion, who'd fixed his most charming smile on.

"Loki Laufeyson." Loki said. "My apologies for my distasteful conduct on the phone." Then instead of shaking it, he kissed the back of her hand, and Tony glowered at him.

"No, no... It's fine, really, it is." Pepper stuttered, unconsciously adjusting her hair.

Tony was especially irritated by the fact Loki was using his inexplicable accent as an offensive weapon. "Stop it. Both of you. It's sickening."

"Whatever was I doing, Tony?" Loki said innocently.

Pepper seemed to snap out of it. "First, where's Steve? And who's Loki?"

"Let's get into your office and I'll explain everything." Tony said.

-O.O-

"And I've figured out the missing piece." Pepper said once Tony was finished. "You two are sleeping together."

Loki, who had forsaken the formal chair and was in fact upside-down in an armchair, enjoying the shade, hair just brushing the ground, let his mouth curl in what was clearly amusement. "Well done, Miss Potts. Sherlockian piece of deduction."

"A vampire, Tony, seriously?" Pepper muttered across her desk.

Tony was playing with one of those perpetual motion gizmos. It was really pissing him off, how it wouldn't stop spinning. When Pepper spoke, he shrugged and said in the same quiet tone "He's not crazy."

"Vampires are renowned for their excellent hearing." Loki said casually.

Pepper winced. "Sorry."

"A fox may hear the hounds bay." Loki said, disinterested to a fault.

"What?" Pepper said. "And Tony, you need to stay in town for a few days. Shake some hands and sign some papers, and then you're free to go and hunt vampires or sleep with vampires or whatever you do."

-O.O-

Tony wasn't about to do something ridiculous like actually get any work done that evening. Instead he dragged Loki out to a plain, bland suburban house to meet Bruce.

Bruce was Tony's confidante, and his main source of information. There weren't many things in Tony's head that Bruce didn't know too. Hell, they were best friends. Every oncewhile Tony would take a break from his life and just sit around with Bruce, drinking beer and committing acts of science.

Now was not one of those times. He had Loki with him, his friend/hunting partner/almost boyfriend, so what was there to do but go out and try to get Bruce laid?

When Tony went out, Loki generally didn't come. He couldn't eat or drink anything, and by nature he disliked most people anyway, never mind the meticulous scrub-teeth-then-entire-body-to-ensure-you-didn't-smell-like-blood routine. Plus the overwearing of cologne to cover up any bloody scents. Too much work to do something he didn't really enjoy in the first place.

On this night, Tony had managed to coax Loki into going with them, under the provision they didn't go to any bar frequented by hunters.

Loki was most certainly not helping with the quest to have Bruce get some. This was because the three most attractive girls in the bar were flocked around him like flamingoes.

Normally Tony got the girls, but he was more focused on Bruce and Loki had turned his surprising charm up to all new levels. They were hanging on his every word.

Tony wasn't sure if he was jealous. Well, he was, but he didn't know if he should fish Loki out or not.

His decision was made for him when one of the girls and Loki left. He then realised he should have fished Loki out.

But Loki came back after half an hour or so, looking rather pleased with himself. Then, when the other two girls tried to continue his conversation, he introduced them both to Bruce and told Tony he'd been waiting with that girl for her boyfriend to pick her up because she was scared of the dark, and he was heading back to Tony's house. Having already been there briefly, JARVIS, Tony's AI, would let him in.

One of the girls was all over the socially awkward yet perfectly adorkable Bruce, so Tony counted this as mission complete and headed home about an hour after Loki, wondering exactly what his vampire had been up to.

-O.O-

Tony was sitting in one of his living rooms, eating bacon and watching TV as he waited for Loki to get his pale ass out of the shower.

To his surprise, Loki had been more than keen for sex when he got home last night, pinning him against the front door and kissing him senseless, before they slowly made their way to Tony's room and Loki had him on his knees begging.

As said, more than keen.

But then there was breaking news and he had to stop remembering happy times.

A body had been found. Okay.

Near the bar they'd been at last night. Huh.

Bite marks on the throat and no blood in the body. Shit.

And then they posted a photo of the victim, and it was the girl Loki had walked out with last night, and Tony's pulse was skyrocketing, because he'd trusted Loki and all the evidence pointed towards his partner having killed the bitch and oh no Loki was walking in wearing just a towel around his waist.

The news story replayed for impact, and Loki watched it all, brilliant green eyes wide and surprised, but he was a fantastic actor so Tony wasn't convinced.

"Was that you?" Tony asked bluntly.

"Wha- no! Tony, I would never! We have a deal!" Loki protested.

"I really want to believe that." Tony groaned. "But it's the same girl, Lo'."

"I stood there and her boyfriend picked her up!" Loki said angrily.

Tony had no idea what to say. He trusted Loki, he had to, but then all the evidence pointed the other way and...

Loki glared at Tony's apparent reluctance to believe him.. "Fine, then, Stark. I will prove it to you." He grabbed his gloves and hat from the front door, went and got dressed, and then stormed out without another word.