Lost Souls

Chapter Twenty

Catherine awoke to find herself lying in Loki's strong arms in what she quickly realised was his bed. She felt the warm air against her bare skin and realised they were both naked. Her senses returned to her as she felt his body against her side. She looked up at him and saw that he was still asleep, head on the pillow, face very close to hers.

She closed her eyes and gently placed her lips against his lovingly. As she grazed his lips, she felt his move against hers. She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her softly. She cupped his cheek and leant in to kiss him again. He kissed her back a little more as his hand reached up to hold the back of her head, holding her there as they kissed. She moaned gently against his mouth with a smile as he pulled her head even closer. She pulled back after a moment and smiled at him before returning her head to the pillow. He was watching her with a growing grin on his face.

"Morning," he murmured stroking down her neck and over the soft flesh of her breast. She hummed in approval as his thumb grazed her nipple before sighing as he gently ran his hand over her stomach. He was watching her curiously and she continued to stroke his cheek tenderly before pulling her hand away. She felt his hand move to her hip and remain there. She trailed her hand down his arm and rested it on his hand on her hip.

"Morning," she replied. Memories of the night before were engraved on her brain and she blushed a little bit as she remembered what they'd done. "That was quite a night last night," she whispered.

Loki grinned at her. "It certainly was; I'd missed being with you that way, you were amazing."

Catherine nodded. "So did I and you were pretty amazing yourself," she said.

Loki smiled warmly at her. "I can't help but think it felt right. I know you said you wanted to wait until-" he began but Catherine placed a finger on his lips.

"-until you proved yourself, which you did. Admittedly I was also scared of the possibility of getting pregnant but… honestly, Loki, I'm just as pleased last night happened as you did." Catherine explained with as much honesty and tenderness as she could.

Loki looked a little relieved. "Good because I'd hate to have made you angry by disregarding your wishes," he said with a slight smirk as though her being angry amused him.

"If I recall," said Catherine. "I started it and I wanted you to take me," she said with a grin. "The only thing you masterminded was the counter adventure," she said grinning. "Oh and I hope you let the staff know they might want to clean the place," she added playfully.

Loki laughed. "I left instructions on the housekeeper's door."

"All in all, it was a fun night," smiled Catherine. "It felt like old times… well old times before we started having sex," she said in amusement.

"Oh but the sex is definitely a bonus," said Loki pulling her closer and kissing her. She grinned against his lips and kissed him back.

"Oh, undoubtedly," Catherine agreed murmuring against his mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled as he rolled on top of her. His hands gently stroked her hair back and she smiled up at him. "It's a complete pleasure," she said giggling some more as he trailed kisses down her neck and over her collarbone. She let out gasps of delight as he trailed his kisses down to her breasts. "Loki…" she said caught up in pleasure. She gasped when he took her nipple into his mouth and started playing with it. Her breathing became more ragged the more he teased. "Loki!" she called out to him. She groaned when he did the same thing to her other nipple and she arched her back,

When he finally returned his mouth to hers, she met his lips lovingly before they both pulled apart. She looked up at him, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath. He gently rubbed her hips and chuckled down at her. "We should probably get cleaned up after last night," he said with a grin. He rolled off her and climbed out of bed. He stood there naked in front of her smirking and offering a hand. "Coming for a shower my lady? Or do you want to announce to the whole household what I did to you last night?" he teased.

Catherine grinned back at him and climbed out of bed. "A shower sounds wonderful," she said and followed him into the bathroom. After he'd adjusted the shower, he stepped in and pulled her in after him. The shower temperature was perfect and they both sighed in contentment as the hot water rushed all over their bodies.

Loki gently turned Catherine around and began to lather some body gel onto his hands. He began to slowly rub her back and shoulders making her lean her head back in rapture. That felt absolutely amazing. She heard him lathering some more soap and she shivered as he rubbed down her arms, his own arms around her as he reached her wrists. The smell of the body gel was beautiful; like an assortment of different fruits, it was incredible.

Loki gently rubbed more gel between his hands before reaching around Catherine and lathering the soap over her chest, moving around her breasts, tenderly massaging them. She lay her head against his shoulder slightly breathlessly especially when his thumbs rubbed the suds into her nipples. He moved his hands lower to her stomach and hips. Her breath hitched when one of his hands wandered further downwards to gently apply the soap to her womanhood. More soap was applied and Catherine moaned with a grin at the feel of his hands moving down her rear, thighs and legs. She felt him kneel down behind her so he could reach her shins.

Once he was done he stood up and handed the bottle to her. She took it and lathered a lot of soap onto her hands before putting the bottle aside. She gestured for him to turn around and began to rub the soap into his back as softly and deeply as she could. She then rubbed some into his shoulders and neck before putting some more on her hands and reaching down to gently rub the soap over his own rear, grinning cheekily up at him as he looked down over his shoulder at her. "You look like you're enjoying that too much," he smirked.

"Well I have a nice view," Catherine said flirtily. She rubbed soap into the backs of his legs and reached around to rub it into his thighs and the front of his legs. She stood up and applied more soap, getting him to turn around. She reached up and lathered soap on his chest with a sexy smile up at him. He reached down and kissed her roughly. She met his kiss, her tongue asking for entrance which he easily granted. She explored his mouth as she ran her soapy hands over his chest and to his stomach. She pulled back and lathered her hands with soap again as she moved her hands down.

She lathered his hips with it again and moved her hands closer to his member. She gently grasped it in her soapy hand and used her other to spread the soap elsewhere in that region. She glanced up at him with a smirk as he tilted his head back in pleasure. She then placed some more soap on her hands and began to spread it over his arms before finally rinsing her hands off. She stood closer to him, letting the shower soak her hair.

Loki reached up and began to run his fingers through her hair repeatedly. Catherine almost purred liking that movement. It was only when a new smell hit her nostrils that she realised he'd been using his magic to cleanse her hair. She touched her head in confusion. "How-?" she looked down and saw that he held a bottle of his own hair product.

"I changed the smell for you and changed it into a woman's shampoo," Loki murmured. "And yes I remembered to make it violets," he grinned, making her laugh. She took the bottle of him and poured some into her hands. Putting the bottle aside, she began to spread his shampoo into his hair, gently and sensually. Loki's closed his eyes in bliss as she did this.

Once she was done they both stood there letting the water rinse off their soapy bodies and hair. Catherine leant up, wrapping her arms around Loki and they kissed deeply as the water poured all over them. Loki's arms encircled Catherine's hips, pulling her closer.

They were soon both clean and Loki turned the shower off. He stepped out of the shower and Catherine followed him. He grabbed a towel off the rail and wrapped it around the both of them. Waving his hand at the towel to use magic to keep it up, he put his arms around her again and led her back into his room. Stopping in the centre, he began to kiss her again slowly and intimately. She had her arms around his neck and she tilted her head to deepen the kiss.

They had to pull away for air sometime and when they did, Catherine tugged at the towel so it fell away from Loki and then wrapped it around herself. "I better go and get dressed," she said smiling.

Loki laughed at her coyness. "I shall see you in the dining room then?" he said before turning to get changed. Catherine laughed and headed to her own quarters to dress.

Once there Catherine stared at the outfits in her wardrobe wondering what to wear again. She picked out a soft black dress and was reminded of her gold dress from Loki back in Asgard. She immediately wished she had it with her. She wanted to dress like an Asgardian again and she was so comfortable with that dress but unfortunately she would probably never see it again. She looked at the black dress and in a quick burst of magic, transformed it into a replica of the gold dress. Technically Loki had had these clothes bought for her so it was a gift of sorts. She used her magic to dry her hair and give it some body. She then prepared to go downstairs.

As she was emerging from her room, she saw Loki appear from his. He stopped short at the sight of her, making her blush a little before he regained control of his legs and walked over to her. "That dress…" he murmured.

"It's a replica," said Catherine. "It's the closest I'll get to the real thing but the dress I transformed was a gift from you so I figured…" she stopped seeing him smile. She was rambling. She looked down embarrassed before she felt him tilt her chin up. He offered her his arm and she took it. They made their way downstairs where Barton was waiting for them.

"Agent Barton?" drawled Loki. "Have you any news for us?"

"I've created a fake seminar for the prodigies to attend; twenty are confirmed to be attending but we are waiting on a few." Barton informed Loki who nodded slowly.

"Twenty will be enough; anyone who doesn't come will be missing out and subjugated to the rest of the population's level," Loki shrugged. "Are any of them architecturally inclined?" he added looking at Barton. "Or in engineering, weapon building?"

Barton nodded. "Out of the ones attending we have; seven scientists, three architects, four engineers, four weapons developers and two politicians."

"Politicians?" Catherine asked in confusion. "What do we need them for?"

"Until we conquer the planet we could use people in high places," Loki pointed out. "After that we might still find a use for them; messengers, heralds, that sort of thing." He turned to Barton. "When have you set the seminar and where will it be held?"

"Next Thursday in Paris," Barton explained.

Catherine frowned. "But Loki might get recognised…"

"I'll use a disguise," said Loki.

"We'll need a picture of your disguise so the people know what you look like," said Barton. "After that we're all set."

Loki nodded. "Very well," he turned to Catherine. "Go to the dining room, I'll join you there in a few moments," he told her. She nodded and set off down the corridor.

XMARVELX

Loki followed Barton to the laboratory and posed against a white background with his disguise, a 5"8, brown haired mousy looking man with glasses and a rather extravagant looking purple suit complete with gold shirt and black tie. It was a ridiculous disguise but whatever didn't scream Loki to his enemies was good enough for him to use. Once he'd had the photo taken he went to leave the room when a pulsing noise began in his head, replaced by dizziness and a familiar one at that.

He found his subconscious form facing the Chitauri henchman again. Loki kept his face impassive knowing that the Chitauri were about to give him seven barrels of hell for what he had done to them. He tightened his grip on the sceptre his subconscious form held.

"You tricked the Chitauri," Astar growled at him. "You expect to get away with that?"

"I was protecting my Queen. My plan is in motion and if you want the Tessaract returned to you then I suggest you agree to my terms. You have no way of reaching the sceptre or me or you would have come for the Tessaract yourself." Loki smirked as he spoke. "So you should count yourself lucky that I am willing to agree to our original terms albeit with a new condition," he said smirking sinisterly now at the Chitauri. "You have proved to be impatient and reckless and you threatened the safety of a close ally of mine; therefore you will have the Tessaract when I have no more need of it provided that your forces take Earth for me. But you will now have to wait the few weeks I told you of, to receive your prize. If you do not agree to these terms then you will soon find the Tessaract will be lost to you forever," Loki threatened darkly.

At first Astar did not say anything. Loki looked around at the gathered Chitauri and then back to Astar. Which would he choose: giving up on the Tessaract and save being at the mercy of an outside or swallow his pride for the Tessaract? A few more minutes passed and eventually Astar growled.

"Very well, however if you do not relinquish the Tessaract, we will make sure to kill your precious Queen and make you watch. You think you know pain? You will know it when we make this happen."

Loki tensed, trying not to react to the threat against Catherine. He stayed still and nodded. "Have your army ready when the portal opens and when Earth is mine you shall have your prize."

Astar nodded once and Loki felt a sharp pain as he was pulled back to reality. He took a calming breath and headed for the dining room. He smirked to himself as he pondered just how stupid the Chitauri really were; as if he would ever give up the Tessaract.