Past Lives

by Kirsten Bij't Vuur

  That delicious mouth, almost feminine in its softness, but not in its eagerness, besides, she felt his hardness firm against her thighs, promising release later. But she didn't want it later, she wanted it now, and she had a hunch how to get what she wanted immediately.

  Still kissing, she reached out for the horns and scratched, a lot firmer this time.

  His fervour exploded, his eyes shot fire and he lifted her against the wall.

  She wrapped him in her arms and legs, and as she felt him plunge right into her, so did her lust explode. They rutted like beasts, groaning and heaving, and his touch inside her sent waves of intense pleasure all through her body.

  She had a triumphant climax, and as she felt it recede slowly, he speeded up his thrusting beyond her considerable experience, beyond her wildest dreams.

  That was so good, she wished it could last forever, but it didn't, all too soon they both reached a high. He was breathing fast, still connected to her, kissing her, and she felt very good,enveloped in his arms and surrounded by his delightful musky scent.

  As soon as he had his breath back, he lifted her with surprising strength, and gently deposited her on the bed.

  And there he continued where he had left off to release her impatient need, he touched and kissed every part of her gorgeous body, treating her like the goddess she was, stroking her and tasting her until her skin tingled and

  her passion took over again, before he had even touched an intimate part of her body.

  Those were next, her breasts, her inner thighs, they were stroked and kissed and licked until they too, tingled and seemed to reach out after him.

  And only then did he spread her legs gently, kneeling between them, licking her until she was shuddering with ecstasy, and found release time after time, until she was so sated she thought that must be it, a bit disappointed she would not feel that delicious maleness inside her again.

  He rose above her, still kneeling but upright now, his penis erect again and standing out gloriously from his mottled body. He lovingly stroked her long, slim legs and draped them over his shoulders one by one, then carefully penetrated her once more, and at the very moment she felt his hard flesh touch her inside, she acknowledged his title with all her heart.

  That was the best feeling she'd ever had, no exceptions, and her sated body exploded in bliss once more. His smile broadened, he had clearly picked up on her feelings and her recognition of his skills.

  But of course that was just the beginning, for he slowly started to thrust, touching that hidden spot inside her again and again, sending a shock through her each time. She could not help herself anymore, she exclaimed each time he thrust himself in her up to his rock hard stomach.

  Her ardour rose quickly, higher and higher, until she came with a startled cry at the force of her release. And as Lykos speeded up once more, this time until he actually blurred from the waist down, she saw him smile in bliss, not in triumph.

  He had gone all the way for her, not to prove his superiority over all her former lovers, but to share his all, to let the goddess of love experience the height of the art, a pinnacle she had the right to know could be reached.

  He seemed to know exactly what stimulated her most, and managed to get one more climax out of her satiated body before he arched in his own high and collapsed right next to her on the bed. As he lay panting, but laughing in delight, she felt she still had one need left in her.

  All the attention had gone to her, she had touched him only very shortly, and she wanted to feel him now.

  'May I hold you, or do you reserve that for your mortals?' Aphrodite asked.

  'I have no reserves for you, dear aunt, you are due every bit of love a man has to give.'

  A very diplomatic answer, but she took him up on his word anyway and gathered him to her and held his slim but solid shape against her with a distinct feeling of love.

  If he noticed, he didn't show, and he let her stroke him everywhere. She enjoyed the feel of his soft mottled skin, and his tiny firm buttocks with the frisky tail. She had had satyr lovers before, but never had she felt the need to stroke the longer hair on their legs, she had always concentrated on their human parts.

  With Lykos still in her arms, Aphrodite talked with him on many subjects, his youth, her own realm, the nature of love, children. She could see he wanted children in his life very much, and though he expected to never have any more of his own to raise, he accepted that.

  After some time they fell asleep, until Lykos awoke in the middle of the night, thanked her for her love, and told her he needed to spend the rest of the night with his friends: 'Sharing love is difficult for them, I've brought them here and they may need me. Good night!'

  Never in her long life had Aphrodite been tempted so much to tie someone to her as she was then. But as with any artist, forcing him would break him, and she knew love could not be taken. Besides, he was a god himself, and she suspected he was a lot stronger than he chose to appear to her. Maybe he would love her once more before he left, that was the most she could hope for.

  Chapter 12

  Katarina and Galan retreated to their own room soon after Lukas had left, pleading exhaustion. They probably lived a very quiet life in their small village, and Melissa couldn't fault them for feeling the strain of the last few weeks, and things were by no means over, they would have their work cut out for them once they returned.

  Hermes now joined her and Paul at their table and observed: 'They want to go back tomorrow, via the teleport to Ophelie to deliberate on how to proceed and then on to their own village. Their lives will be in upheaval for months, but I will assist them as soon as I have seen to Dionysus.'

  With an effort he appeared less tired and in a better mood: 'Let's have some fun now, the members of my court have been wanting to get acquainted with you since your arrival, but I have been claiming your time unfairly. It is your holiday and you should enjoy singing and dancing, and some really excellent wine.

  They removed to a different hall, where music sounded gay and totally unfamiliar, and where a number of couples was already dancing. The dance seemed rather intimate, but when Hermes asked them to try she readily acceded and so did Paul.

  Of course they needed someone to lead them through the steps the first few times, and Paul soon had a choice of partners. Hermes checked out the ladies and said: 'Vavara, if you show master Paul the steps, the rest of you will get a chance later.'

  Then at Melissa: 'Will you do me the honour of letting me teach you myself?'

  She accepted readily, for there seemed enough interest from the gentlemen, but Melissa didn't feel like dancing so intimately with just any man.

  Somehow that was different for a man, she guessed, watching Paul take his first steps through the dance with a sweet looking petite girl with huge dark eyes and a really large nose and long black hair, she saw he was having

  a good time.

  He imitated the girl's steps and she smiled at him and said something, and soon they danced away. Melissa felt a tentative touch on her hand, and heard Hermes say softly: 'I'm sorry, do you mind him dancing with another girl? I constantly forget that you are not used to sharing, it was easier to remember in London, where everything was different.'

  She found she really didn't mind, and said: 'I don't really mind, I just like to see Paul dance, he is so elegant, those new shoes look so good on him.

  Besides, once we both know the steps we can dance together again.'

  Hermes held out his arms for Melissa, and she entered his embrace willingly and followed his steps, trying to remember them as quickly as possible to not look big and clumsy amidst the elegant petite Greek ladies.

  It was not a difficult dance, nor did she feel uncomfortable in the arms of this powerful man, she had come to know him quite well and in a way she rather liked him. And to be honest, he was extremely easy on the eye.

  He still looked like the twenty year old boy, short hair, perfect features, and his athletic posture was very smo
oth and still very sleek.

  He wore sand-coloured loose trousers of a very thin fabric, and a black silk shirt, which made him look even more like a sleek black tomcat. He moved noiselessly, and led her as strongly as Tristan had, a very nice experience.

  Melissa was only slightly smaller than him, and she was not planning to cling to his neck as she saw some of the ladies do, or rest her head on his chest.

  She did allow him to come very close, and when he leaned over with his cheek against her head and his face in her copper hair, and sent her a cheeky look over his forwardness, she said: 'I don't mind, Hermes, I find I kind of like you. We've all become a lot looser here, you may take any liberty that is allowed in this dance.'

  This caused him to laugh out loud, saying: 'I thank you, and I would love to take you up on that offer, but I am not going to, for that would include kissing and rubbing my intimate parts against yours.'

  And he looked around significantly, where indeed several couples were doing just that.

  Seeing the humour in the situation, she smiled and felt his face back in her hair. Her command of the dance was greatly improved already, and she started to enjoy the unusual music and the jaunty steps. When the dance was

  finished, they danced together once more, the music slightly different and the steps matching it logically.

  Paul had been claimed by another girl, who was taking some liberties with him that he submitted to. He pulled a face at Melissa where the girl couldn't see it, to show what he thought of her intimacies. Melissa decided to dance the next dance with him and ask if he was still enjoying this. She could imagine him feeling hunted again.

  Meanwhile, Hermes was really enjoying their closeness, he was still leading but his head was resting on her shoulder, eyes closed, and if she continued her sleek tomcat analogy, he must be purring by now.

  She stroked his hair and his face gently, and the eyes opened in pleased surprise, fire rising in them, head no longer resting on her shoulder but really close to her own.

  She offered to kiss him, touching his lips with hers, and he answered it very slowly, making the most of every second.

  He smelled great and he tasted great, and just as they finished their kiss, the dance finished too, and she said: 'I'm going to dance with my husband for a while, see if he still enjoys himself, save another dance for me tonight.'

  As it turned out, Paul was planning to dance with her too, as she went to look for him he was already on his way and they fell into the other's arms. He led her away as the music started, and Melissa drank in the sight of him, his hair longer and lighter than usual, his cheeks clean-shaven, but the same beacon of love and trust he had been to her since she met him for the first time. She had chased him shamelessly, using every natural advantage she had, though she knew he had fallen for her mind and her person before she had gotten him to really see her beautiful body.

  She could not help kissing him, it felt so right to be in his arms, this was where she belonged, and the tightness of his grip on her, the love overflowing in his eyes, proved he felt exactly the same.

  To them, this was love, and they needed no-one else.

  They went through one dance in total silence, Melissa following Paul through the dance, remembering their time together so far and finding nothing wrong in it. She laid her head on his chest and smelled his scent, lacking the smoke and the etching fluid that were usually an integral part of it, but with that little extra that a lot of sun added to the scent of skin.

  And a bit of cologne, probably transferred from one of those ladies he had danced with. Ah well, once they were back in England, that would be done

  with.

  Paul kissed her once more and stroked her hair back from her face. After a long time of just being together he broke the silence: 'You're still the most beautiful woman I know, Melissa, even Aphrodite does not compare.'

  She was thrilled and replied: 'Thank you love, I was just thinking the same.'

  He smiled cheekily and asked: 'You realized you were more beautiful than the goddess of love?

  Giving him a firm poke in his solid chest she retorted: 'You know what I meant. I remembered how I chased you, and caught you at last, and how I still feel safe and loved with you. And how nice you smell even when you're not working in the forge.'

  'You like it when I stink of smoke and sweat?' he asked with some real surprise. She nodded and breathed in his ear: 'I love it!'

  Kissing her once more he observed: 'I smell Mr Sleek on you, better get it over with soon, so he can go back to his lady. She'll thank you for indulging him I'm sure.'

  Seriously now, Melissa said: 'If you don't want me to, I won't. I'm not going to risk our understanding, you know I love you more than anything.'

  'I do, love, and I truly don't mind anymore. I find I kind of like our father-in-law, and I truly think it is unhealthy for him to have this kind of an unanswered crush. If you do him, he can go back to Ophelie and live happily ever after.'

  Melissa just couldn't believe how much he'd grown, and she was still musing on that when he said: '

  I guess I have to choose one of these ladies for tonight, will you pick me one? I'll be glad to be back in good old Victorian England with its stuffy morals. You're good enough for me always! You and that outrageous billy-goat of course, let's not forget him, if his aunt doesn't burn him out.'

  'These feisty Greek ladies have more chance of burning you out!' Melissa offered him a chance to tell her what he really thought of the situation.

  'True, and you were going to choose one for me to try to please. The taller lady I danced with told me her uncle is an important person and she would honour me with her love, the smaller girl, with the big nose, told me her father is a member of the staff here.

  I suppose not the cook or the gardener, or she wouldn't be at court. She

  didn't talk of love, but I know she wants me. Of course there were four other girls who wanted a piece of me, you may pick any of those as well.'

  If there had not been true humour in his voice as he said this, Melissa would have taken him back to their own room, insult or not.

  But as it was, she took a good look at all of the ladies in question, and she did not particularly like the girl who had taken such liberties with her husband, she thought the girl might claim him. She was dancing with Hermes now and showing some of that behaviour too.

  That one was out, and Melissa kind of liked the tiny girl, she seemed shy and gentle, Paul liked a little less spirit she thought. 'Take the tiny girl, she looks nice and not too possessive,' she decided, and Paul seemed happy with her choice, 'you'll be back tonight, won't you?'

  'Of course,' he replied, 'I have no wish to sleep with anyone else but you.

  We'll just do our duty to propriety and then we'll be together again. Kiss me once more, please?'

  Paul's use of the term propriety made an impression on Melissa, it was indeed as if the morals of both worlds were exactly opposite, and though Melissa had often been opposed to Victorian propriety, in this case she preferred her own world.

  They kissed and hugged, and when that dance was through they both changed partners once again. Melissa danced with Ophius, sneaking a peek at him with sight and wondering why he didn't light up with magic talent all the time. Could it be a difference between their worlds? Aphrodite and Hermes had not shown any sign of having magic talent unless they were practising magic, and Melissa had not even known Katarina had any.

  She decided to ask him, and his reply confirmed what she had thought.

  They talked a little about Lukas' youth, and Ophius asked: 'Do you have children?' Melissa replied: 'Not yet, but I'd like to have children someday. Do you?'

  'Actually, your husband is dancing with my eldest right now. She likes him a lot,' Ophius turned a little so Melissa could see Paul dancing with the tiny girl with the rather large nose again. 'Your wife is a human?' she asked.

  Ophius nodded, and observed: 'Two of our children are satyrs, two are human.'


  'Katarina looks human but she has mottled skin, does that happen often?'

  Melissa asked. Ophius replied: 'No, usually children are either the one, or the other. No-one knows why. Lykos told me that on your world he cannot show

  his hoofs or his horns?'

  'That is true, our people don't know satyrs, his looks would frighten people and they'd hurt him, even kill him. Humans in our world are aggressive.'

  Ophius shook his head and said: 'And still he wants to go back. He must love you both very much. But he'd better take care not to sire a child, what if it is a satyr?'

  'Lykos cannot sire a child on our world, he is an alien species, there would be no danger of any woman getting a satyr baby from him,' Melissa said.

  'You are in our world now, what if you were to become pregnant here?

  Did Aphrodite touch you?' Ophius seemed really serious, so she answered him seriously: 'She checked me for infection with the spell, why do you ask?'

  'Just wondering, I'd expect her to be jealous of your exotic beauty, but Hermes said she seemed to like you.'

  'Surprisingly she seemed to, yes. But you think I could get pregnant of a satyr baby if I sleep with Lykos here?' this upset Melissa , 'I already did, many times. A satyr child would have no life in my world.'

  Ophius looked at her kindly, and said soothingly: 'Next time you speak to Aphrodite, tell her this, and I'm certain she will make it right for you. She can, you know.'

  'Won't there be a price to pay? And what could she do?' Melissa asked suspiciously.

  This made Ophius laugh and he said: 'How well you know our gods already, but they have to tell you their price before they do anything, no nasty surprises. Please don't worry too much, I'm sure everything will work out fine. Try to enjoy yourself as long as you are here.'

  Soon after this, that dance ended, and Hermes was waiting for her. 'Do you want to sit down for a moment, shall I get you a drink?' he asked. She did feel like sitting down so she assented, and he took her to a little table overlooking the dance floor. Paul was no longer there, gone to do his duty to propriety, she guessed.