Author's note: Thank you to all the people who has left me reviews so far! This is my first multi-chapter story, and I'm really glad to know it's working.
May 19. The Catskills.
Leah woke up at noon. Disoriented, melodramatically sprawled on the bed under a wrinkled sheet, and wondering if she would be able to cross her legs ever again. The bite on her shoulder hurt, not too much but there was an unpleasant sensation around the broken skin. All her muscles were sore, as if she had run a marathon.
Well, it turns out you can have too much of a good thing.
She didn't even try to move. She just lay there, in the dim light, staring at the ceiling, until she felt the sheet slide slowly from her body. Out of instinct, she reached for it and grabbed it just as it went past her thighs, sitting up in the process. Loki was crouched at the end of the bed, like a predator ready to pounce on her, and there was one of those wicked little smiles on his face.
"Ah, the lady awakes."
"Have you been stalking me while I slept?" Her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. She remembered herself screaming to the top of her lungs the night before, and mentally added her vocal chords to the list of body parts that weren't exactly functioning at top capacity.
"I like how peaceful you look while you sleep. And how quiet", he added with a smirk.
"Yesterday you said you liked my conversation. Have you changed your mind about the convenience of exchanging me for a blonde, brainless bimbo? Someone who would only say Yes, my Lord and No, my Lord until you die of boredom?" she said, tugging on the sheet and finally managing to get it back and cover herself.
"Right now I would not change you for any other woman in the universe."
She frowned. "I thought you were angry with me."
"I was. But today is another day, and you have done enough penance." He sat beside her on the edge of the bed and brushed his fingers over her thigh, stroking lightly upwards, before resting a hand on her hip. He wasn't smiling anymore. "Look at me, Leah."
And they say women have mood swings... I wish I knew what he's thinking, just once.
"I want you to swear that you will not keep anything from me again. Every thought that goes through your mind, every inch of your skin, every bit of air you breathe belongs to me."
"I don't understand why..."
"You do not need to understand." His voice was practically a growl and his fingers moved to the back of her neck, digging into her skin with just the right amount of force to send goosebumps down her spine. "You are mine."
"Sorry, but that sounds medieval."
"I do not care how it sounds."
"But if you want the absolute truth from me, you know that my mind doesn't work that way. That the idea of... submitting like that to someone else is something I can't stand." She sighed and reached for his hand. Why was his skin always so cold? "Look, I faked an orgasm. Once. One single, stupid time. I had my reasons, however selfish or wrong they were. And I already said I'm sorry."
"You are sorry because you got caught. If you saw yourself in the same situation again..."
"... yes, I would probably do the same thing."
Loki let out an exasperated grunt. "Is there a heart beating beneath those exquisite breasts, or have I been unlucky enough to get the only heartless woman on all Midgard?"
"What do you want with my heart now? The... agreement we had was to share your bed, and I only agreed to that under blackmail and moderately drunk. Now you suddenly ask for more, for an intimacy that I can't give you."
"That you do not want to give me." The look in his eyes was feverish, hungered.
"I just don't understand why it's so important to you."
His lips tensed for a moment, and he pressed his forehead to hers. "I want both your mind and your heart. I want you to accept that you belong to me, and that is all you need to know."
"We had an agreement."
"I am changing it." Before she could think of an answer, he stood up. "Come to the other room, I have something for you. Do not get dressed."
Do not get dressed? I hope the surprise isn't a sexy maid uniform. Things are already twisted enough without any kinky stuff.
She scurried out of bed as steadily as she could, wrapping the sheet around her, and followed Loki to the living room. The dirty dishes had disappeared from the table, and there were several boxes and shopping bags scattered all around the floor and the chairs.
"My memories of last night may be blurred, but I don't remember crawling out of bed and cleaning the dinner table. And I really can't picture you doing the dishes."
"Do not worry about that. If you enjoy cooking, you can keep doing it; the rest will be taken care of."
"Do you have an invisible housekeeper? Because that wouldn't be half creepy."
"It amazes me how you lose yourself in mundane matters when you should be looking at bigger things." He snickered and signaled at the boxes. "Those are for you."
Tying the sheet around her like an improvised sarong, Leah opened one of the shopping bags. Inside it there was a green silk cocktail dress. The box next to her contained two pairs of patent pumps. She went through the rest of the bags, revealing a few more dresses of different lengths and materials, several pairs of lace underwear, and finally a black wool cape. Everything was new, expensive, surprisingly elegant, and, except for one or two black items, everything fell within a color range that went from forest green to a deep dark emerald.
Maybe this isn't the best time to tell him that I never wear green because it clashes with my skintone.
She sat on the carpet and remained in silence for a while, dumbfounded, running her hands over the soft fabric of the cape. When she turned around to look at Loki she saw he was holding a square box with a bottle of perfume in it. Green, of course. He offered it to Leah with a mute gesture and an eager look in his eyes. He was clearly expecting some kind of answer from her, so she stood up and opened the box.
"Green." It seemed the only word her brain was able to process. "I mean... Poison by Dior. Wow. I hope it's not a metaphor for anything."
"I have been compared to a snake before. It seemed... appropriate."
"Thank you." She wasn't sure how to express gratitude, if at all. Showering her with gifts after what had transpired the night before was an unexpected move on his part. And accepting those gifts was sort of agreeing to prostitute herself further, but not accepting them didn't seem to be a viable option. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, but he suddenly moved and captured her lips in a demanding kiss while his hand wandered under the sheet. Leah found herself responding with more enthusiasm than she should to his insistent caresses.
"I... I should try those on. And make something for breakfast... brunch. Whatever meal is right for this time of day", she whispered when he finally let her go. "Don't you have to go plan an invasion, or something?"
"Not today, kitten. I am staying here all day."
"I live for the moment you run out of animals to compare me with."
"And I live for the moment you actually are at a loss for words", he remarked while she gathered the pile of clothes and disappeared towards the bedroom.
After taking a quick shower, and trying and discarding several outfits, Leah chose a simple knitted dress. A black one, because a part of her was still resenting all that green that had been shoved upon her, and she had always felt comfortable in black. Once in the kitchen, she checked the contents of the fridge and saw that the same invisible hand that had cleaned up after dinner had also replenished the groceries, and that there were two bottles of chilled white wine on the top tier. She poured herself a glass while she cut the vegetables, and then another while she waited for the oven to heat.
She was in a strange mood; a mix of sorry and grateful, sulky and nervous. Her strategy of "wait and see what happens" was working, to a point. On the other hand, she now knew how little was necessary to provoke the god's anger, and that was definitely an experience not to be repeated.
I can't think about this now or I'll go insane. I could do worse than being fucked proper and showered with designer clothes... let's concentrate on that.
Holding on to that thought, she managed to keep her mind on the food preparation for a while. An hour (and half a bottle of wine) later, she looked almost proudly at the freshly made pot of tomato soup on the stove, and the casserole of macaroni and cheese in the oven; she was definitely feeling a little better.
All I'm cooking since I arrived here is comfort food. Freud would have a field day with this.
When she returned to the living room she found Loki curled up on the couch with a book in his hand. He was examining the leather binding, leafing through the pages with a puzzled expression. It was The Count of Monte Cristo, the same old book that she had started reading, and later had discarded on the floor, the day before. He beckoned her to his side with a vague gesture.
"Do you know this book?"
"I've read it. Several times, in fact. It's a really good one."
"I am afraid I do not trust your Midgardian standards for goodness. What is it about?"
"People usually read the book to find out."
"I want to be sure it is worth my time. Tell me."
"Fine", she said, sitting close to him and snatching the book from his hands. "It's a tale of revenge... a brilliant one, if you ask me. A young man is betrayed by his close friends an imprisoned for many years. After he escapes, he plots a very complicated plan to ruin the life of the men who destroyed his happiness... And I'm not telling you the ending; you'll have to read it for yourself."
"Revenge. That is a mighty subject to write about", he mused. "As long as this Midgardian author has addressed it well."
"There's not much you can do about it if he didn't... He's been dead for almost one hundred and fifty years."
"We will see... Read it to me", he said, reclining on the sofa and pulling Leah to his lap.
"You can't be serious. In case you haven't noticed, I'm hoarse as a crow. And this is five hundred pages long." She squirmed, but his arm was like a steel grip around her waist.
"That is not important. Read." He didn't raise his voice to command. If anything, it sounded softer than before. Leah shifted on his lap trying to find a comfortable position, kicked off her shoes and started reading.
"Chapter 1. Marseilles. On the 24th of February, 1810, the look-out at Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the three-master, the Pharaon from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples. As usual, a pilot put off immediately, and rounding the Chateau d'If, got on board the vessel between Cape Morgion and Rion island..."
"Leah, wake up."
"Mmh?" She looked at her watch and grunted, stretching on the couch. She clearly remembered starting chapter ten, but she couldn't quite mark the moment when she had dozed off. Loki was now sitting on the carpet and, judging by the position of the bookmark, he had finished the rest of the novel in less than four hours.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the middle-of-the-forest six PM book club. Tonight, a classic tale of treason and revenge has been devoured by one of the most brilliant minds in the known universe."
"I would hate to cover that lovely mouth of yours, but you are a handful of words away from being gagged."
She pouted and stuck her tongue at him.
"And stop behaving like a child."
"I can't behave like an adult if you don't let me." She leaned towards him and ran a hand through his hair. "Funny."
"What is funny?"
"When I was in college, I swore to myself I'd never be with a guy with prettier hair than me. It was a tough call, in the late nineties, with all the boys sporting those long, blond grunge manes. And look at me now... you're making me go back on my principles."
"I am glad to hear that. Maybe you never had any principles to lose."
"Oh, but I did, back then. I was the most self-righteous, bookwormish, well behaved freshman in all Columbia. You should have seen me later, during Law School... I was absolutely sure I was going to be the next bloody Atticus Finch. Defending the innocent and the poor against the evil corporations."
Loki lifted an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"
"During my first year out of Law School I started working on a public interest law firm in Boston, assisting underrepresented people and lost causes in general. There was this very important employment discrimination case I wanted to win at any cost... I was ready for anything they could throw at me; I researched all relevant cases, consulted with several of my colleagues, worked on my statements for weeks as if the fate of the whole world depended on them."
"And you lost your case."
"More than that. I was brilliant, focused, I was full of purpose, and they thrashed me at court. Completely and utterly thrashed. The other part had a team of lawyers that looked like the Apocalypse riders, and my clients never stood a chance. I remember going back to the office after the trial, getting drunk on my own and falling asleep on my desk, hating myself for not being able to help those people. And then... I got a call, later that same night, from one of the Apocalypse guys. He wanted to hire me for his firm. I guess he saw something in me that I hadn't noticed... and he must have been right, because I accepted. I was so frustrated with my job, and so tired! Tired of the long hours working in a crappy office with no money, no resources and no prospects except for a lot more underpaid work. So I took a leap and changed sides."
"You made a decision, you chose a better future for yourself."
"And now I work for the same evil guys that I despised so much before. The funny thing is... I'm starting to see a pattern. When I accepted the offer from U&M I was desperate, exhausted and tipsy. And when you brought me here and I agreed to be your personal fuck doll I was exactly in the same state."
"Do not call yourself that."
"Then what? Whore? Plaything? Pet...? What am I exactly in your grand scheme? What do you want me to be?"
Loki held her face in his hands. "I already told you, I want everything. I want you to give yourself to me completely, without any reservations. To trust me with your life and your soul. There may be a name for that, but it is not any of those you just implied."
"Loki..."
He blinked, surprised. "Finally. Do you realize this is the first time you have pronounced my name?"
"I screamed it a couple of times yesterday night. At least I think I did."
"You did. Ever so beautifully, but you were not in full possession of your mental faculties yesterday night."
"And whose fault was that?"
"Why must every conversation with you be a fight, Leah? Why is so hard for you to just do what I want?"
"You were the one who didn't want a mindless body. Well, here I am, a body with a voice. Sometimes this voice is going to say things you won't like... and I think you want me exactly for that reason. Because if every word that came out of me was Yes, Loki or As you wish, Loki... you wouldn't want me anymore. For some reason I can't understand, you enjoy the fight."
Loki laughed, and Leah instinctively moved back to the far end of the couch. His laughter was slightly scarier than his anger. But then he sat close to her again and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "I am enjoying the fight... within reasonable limits. But be careful not to test my patience beyond those limits. You do not want to know what lies beyond them. Do not challenge me."
"I'm trying really hard not to." She burrowed into his arms, reluctantly at first, and rested her head against his chest. There was something in the slow pace of his heartbeat that always made her lose all her resolve. "I told you what happened to me. Now, can we talk about what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" Loki stiffened, and his eyes showed the usual hard, cold stare again.
"I'm not the only one of us who has hated herself at some point. I'm not the only one who's damaged", she said, in a trembling voice. "You say you want to invade this world, but what I saw in Stuttgart was a man who wanted to be worshipped. Admired."
"A god."
"Whatever. And then there's me. You say I'm here just to be fucked, but after just two days you want more. You threaten me with violence and right after that you cover me in gifts. Something is eating up your mind. I'm not an expert in psychology, but it's not hard to see that something happened to you, at some point in your life, and you're sort of overcompensating for it."
"My motivations are none of your concern. You speak of things you know nothing about, and it is best for you that you remain that way." He detached himself from her. "You have not eaten today. Get the dinner ready."
"Fine, have it your way." Leah let out an annoyed sigh. "Shall I get dressed for dinner? It's a pity that some of those gowns are so lovely when no one but you is going to see them."
"As a matter of fact, someone will. I have something to do in the city tomorrow, and you will come with me." He paused to let the news sink in Leah's brain. "To New York."
"Taking the pet for a walk? Do you think I'll be trained enough to behave in public without embarrassing you?"
He brought her face close to his and touched his lips to hers for a brief instant. "I know you will."