Chapter 37
He watched the campaigns his generals were making, but the plans they were trying to come up with in his absence were lacking. Some weren't half bad but they could of used a more strategic approach to them. They were too sloppy to guarantee a full victory with what they had so far and they had no back up plans in case their less then brilliant idea failed. Why was it that they could never grasp that if you had one plan then you needed to have another to always be one step ahead of your enemy? Nothing was fail proof and you needed to have already won the battle in your mind, several different scenarios that could happen to deter your plans and then readjusting your tactics to accommodate the new assault. Somehow they always failed to understand that. He sighed deeply at their stupidity and then the War God's eyes drifted over to the second portal that he had going side by side simultaneously with the first one.
He had begun to watch Xena more closely ever since he opened up a portal to her one day and noticed that there was something wrong with her. It was very faint but he noticed something in her eyes; a haunting look that had never been there before had settled on the surface of her sapphire eyes for the smallest instant before she chased the thought of it out of her mind. Something had happened to his Warrior Princess on one of the few times that he did not check in on her. Not knowing what it was bothered him tremendously and he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to know exactly what it was that bothered her so much- something inside of himself told him that if he did find out what had happened then he wouldn't like what he had found and the person that was responsible for it was going to have a very horrendously long unpleasant death for having caused her any type of harm. Ever since, he had made it a point of his to check up on her several times throughout the day, he had only seen that look once but it had been one time too many for his liking.
Xena wasn't doing much at that moment, but he took his delight in just watching her as she went about her day. He had found himself on more than a few different occasions that day just glued to watching her every movement, studying how she would react to things, how her brow would scrunch a small amount when she was agitated, the way her eyes would sparkle a little more when she found something amusing but didn't want anyone else to know. The satisfied smirk that would tug at the corner of her mouth when she was sparring as she trained with another warrior, letting Ares know that the rush that she was getting from the fight was exciting her and it would only invigorate him more.
The War God would get lost in the image of her and by some miracle he had managed to pull himself out of his haze and focus his attention back on his generals to make sure that they weren't veering too far off from what they were supposed to be doing. But every now and again his eyes would wander back over to her portal and linger there, taking her in, before he would realize what he was doing and he would shift his gaze back to what he was trying to do.
He couldn't believe that he was letting himself get this distracted by one mortal woman. But what a woman she was, everything that he had ever been looking for she contained within herself. And she was right there, within his grasp to take but yet he was being denied his reward. The having to stare at her through that wretched portal day in and day out was finally getting to him. He had watched her sleep many a nights and he wanted dreadfully several times to join her and the need to have her was only growing more and more unbearable as the days went on. She was an alluring temptation that he couldn't have, dangled in front of him day after day, but he wanted her desperately nonetheless. The War God tried to push the thought of her out of his mind and he waved his hand and shifted her portal a little bit away from the one of his generals, but he couldn't get himself to close it, wanting to try and focus on what he was supposed to be doing and in case things started to turn sour he would have a little escape and remind himself of what was waiting for him and that there was someone out there that he could count on to not disappoint him.
The War God was just sitting there bored, listening to what his generals were saying, stunned by the fact that each idea sounding as ridiculous as the last one. He started to wonder how some of them had even made it this far and got to this position. Was he drunk when he appointed them or something? He couldn't have made that decision with a clear mind, so that had to be it, he must have been drunk out of his mind the day he gave any of them the power to lead the small sections of his army, there was no other way he could have made that decision knowingly.
Just when he started to shake his head at some of the things they were coming up with, his gaze turned slightly in the direction of Xena's portal and his eyes glanced that way for a moment but he quickly managed to focus back on the one in front of him….He couldn't resist though, just as urgently he had to do a double take at what he had seen in her portal.
And there she was, dressed in next to nothing as she was preparing to take a bath. Ares growled out at the sight of her and he didn't even give it a second thought of what to do next and with a wave of his hand he closed off the portal of his generals and brought the one of Xena directly in front of him. His eyes excitedly roamed over the contours of her tantalizingly sexy body, taking in the teeny tiny shift that just clung to her. She had kneeled down to check the temperature of the water and as she leaned over the edge a little, the War God leaned forward in his throne as he tried to look as much as he could down the front of her shift as physically possible, drinking in the sight of her cleavage. Gods how he wanted to taste those voluptuous breasts of hers more than that little sample he had gotten so long ago. He had fantasized about her several times throughout his stay in this damn place, each one of his scenarios being very erotic and quite pleasing but it wasn't the real thing and he longed to be able to run his hands over her body again. To get to hear all her little sighs and moans as he pleasured her, to be able to feel her encasing him as he slowly took possession of her body and claimed her for himself once and for all.
Much to his displeasure, Xena stood back up and then walked over to a shelf. He frowned slightly at the lost of his view but it didn't last long as she was trying to reach something on the back of the shelf. The back of her was just as nice as the front and his eyes lingered on her bottom for awhile, the tiny shift stopping just below the curve of her ass and as she tried to get what she was reaching for, the fabric would lift a little revealing to him just a hint of that smooth forbidden skin. A primal growl tumbled its way out of the War God's mouth, teased when the fabric moved in and out of the way, blocking his view of what he so much longed to see, wishing that the fabric would just magically melt away. She had finally managed to get what she was reaching for and turned back towards her bath.
Xena had sat down on the edge of her hot tub and then stuck her legs into the water. She rested back against her hands and just moved her legs a bit through the water, arching her back some as she tried to relax. The War Gods mouth was just hanging open as he watched her, greedily running his eyes over every little inch of that luscious body. Her hair cascading down her back, the way she was sticking her breasts out, as if she knew the War God was watching her, cunningly trying to torture him to death. She then straightened up and dipped her hand into the water for a moment and then leaned back slightly and propped herself up on her left hand. She moved her wet right hand to her chest and gently started to run her hand over her skin as she dipped her head back and started at her neck and slowly worked her way down. Ares' mouth suddenly felt very dry and he licked his lips at the sight and if his jaw could have fallen to the floor then it would have done it the moment he heard her ever so soft sigh as she had moved her finger tips just the slightest inch under her shift towards her breast and how her nipples were now pushing against the fabric of her shift from the sensation of her soft caress against her skin.
She was driving him insane with those incredibly sensual movements and his hands gripped tightly the armrests of his throne, digging his fingers into it brutally as his arousal for her started to make itself more known. He shifted uncomfortably as his godhood pressed against his pants, wishing to be released, his eyes flaring with a feral desire as Xena's hand continued its journey over her body and for a moment he completely forgot all about the fact that he couldn't leave and he tried to dematerialize from the room to join his little seductress.
Reality came of course crushing down hard on his little plan of pleasuring every last inch of that succulent body as he made her scream out his name since he ended up going nowhere. He groaned out annoyed, frustrated by the whole situation that he now found himself in. He wanted her with a fierce passion and her hand moving against her own skin was tormenting him beyond imagination. The way it roamed so freely against her body, touching all the right places that he wanted to touch, how he wanted so badly to be the one to caress that silky smooth skin, exploring what made her tick and finding that spot that made her lose all control and just melt into him.
She slowly started to get up and Ares' eyes were still hungrily fixated on her every movement, not wanting to miss a single second of the Goddess that he had in front of him. Xena reached up and took a hold of the strap of her shift and the War God's eyes grew wider at the thought that she was finally going to let it fall and reveal to him what he had been fantasizing to see. She teasingly delayed it though, making him wait a bit longer as she just moved it faintly back and forward. Finally she let the strap fall ever so slowly down her arm and removed her arm from it, then she moved to the other one letting it causally slip from her shoulder and as she freed her limb she didn't let the shift fall completely though, preferring to hold it to her with her left hand.
The War God impatiently longed for her to let it fall but she stubbornly kept him waiting for it as she dipped her foot back in to the water to check the temperature one last time. A satisfied smile formed on her face, one that Ares was sure really meant that she was enjoying what she was doing to him and the distress that he was now in. He wanted nothing more than to tear that infuriating material off of her enticingly sexy form so he could roam his hands freely over every inch of it and lay her down and plunge himself deeply into her depths again and again. He wanted to hear her scream out his name as she slowly came undone in his arms as he steadily thrust himself within her, building a cloud of pure pleasurable bliss and making her want nothing else but to tumble over that abyss as he sunk his engorged shaft into her repeatedly.
"Now that is a beautiful looking woman."
As soon as the words reached his ears, Ares immediately frowned and just when his Xena finally let go of the annoying fabric that was keeping her from him, he instantly closed the portal the moment the material moved slightly down her breasts. He growled deep in his throat, aggravated by the very unwelcomed presence that had just interrupted him from what he had been patiently waiting to see. He looked to his left and saw Thor standing there, amused and maybe a bit depressed for not having gotten to see his princess naked.
"Why did you go and do that?" the God of Thunder asked, somewhat unhappy that he didn't get to see the rest of her, "She is hot and I'm sure the rest of that body would have been amazing. Can you imagine what her breasts look like? I mean they looked great in the fabric but out of it... I'm sure they would have been astounding."
"You will keep your eyes off of her, she is of no concern to you!" Ares growled out aggressively, not at all thrilled by the idea that someone else was ogling Xena while she was having a private moment.
"Whoa, calm down there, no need to get all possessive. I was only making an observation and she is hot. No wonder you are always secluded in here. If I had that to look at I wouldn't want to go anywhere either." he smiled smugly at the God of War, so he had a few things hidden away for his own private viewing.
The War God tried to remain calm as he talked about his Xena. A brawl with one of the Norse Gods would not do him any good and would only serve in making his already long stay there even longer. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it, not liking the arrogant smile that was forming on the intruding God's face.
"Is there a reason as to why you are here?" he breathed out, barely being able to reign in his urge to gouge his eyes out for having even looked at his Chosen.
"Actually I wanted to get your opinion on something... but I see I should have knocked first. You were obviously in the middle of something with that mortal woman." a superior smile formed on his face now when the War God narrowed his eyes at him when he brought up the girl again. Who was she to him?
"What is it that you want?"
"I figured I might be able to help you if you helped me." when Ares gestured for him to continue he made a chair appear and sat down on it, "You see I am having this little problem with drawing up this treaty to... well let's just say that I could use a skilled War God's brain to pick with sorting it out."
"Why would this treaty of yours hold any interest to me? There is nothing that I would want from you that I couldn't get myself."
"Not even if it was a way for you to go home, back to Greece at that breathtaking woman you don't want anyone else to see?"
The War God regarded him for a moment, glaring at him for having brought up his Chosen again, not sure how this offer of his was going to get him back to Xena. There wasn't anything that he wasn't willing to do to get back to Greece at this point
"How will this get me back to Greece?"
Thor simply smiled at him, noticing how he was keeping the girl out of the topic for discussion.
"Funny you should ask that. You see, you help me with this then I will talk to Odin and convince him that this alliance is holding up to its standards and that the Greek pantheon will be true to their word when the time comes, thus granting you the chance to leave this place already and get back to your uh... whatever she is. How long has it been anyway, eight months now? She must be feeling very lonely and probably found someone else to warm her bed in your excruciatingly long absence. A hot thing like that doesn't stay alone for long, you know."
"Let's get one thing straight, don't talk about her, she is none of your business!" the War God threatened, making it clear to the God that she was not an option for conversation from this point on, "I will do this on the sole condition that you help get me back to Greece. If I find out that you did not hold up your end of the bargain, I will make the rest of my stay here for you a living nightmare."
"Consider it done, brunettes are not my thing anyway..." he couldn't help but get one last jab in at the forbidden topic, "...they lack a certain spunk and in the end they are only good for one thing."
The War God had growled warningly at his comments and he couldn't help but smile more. She must have been something to be warranting all this aggression from him at the mere mention of her. As much as he would have liked to keep taunting the War God about her, seeing how much the God could control himself from his remarks before he finally blew his top, he needed his help. Thus, he decided that he would let it go on the lone circumstance that in the end they will both get what they wanted.
"Easy there, no need to go all crazy." Thor calmly stated as he gestured for the War God to sit back down, "So, do tell me, just how badly do you want to get back to Greece?