Past Lives

by Kirsten Bij't Vuur

  she asked softly.

  Able to move again, Paul took the necklace from Hermes and carefully draped it across Aphrodite's graceful neck, walking around her to avoid touching her too closely when fastening the clasp. He checked the front and adjusted it a tiny bit. A servant presented her with a mirror.

  She took her time admiring it, and then she embraced her brother tightly, kissing him way too intimately for Victorian morals, and did the same to Paul.

  Melissa felt her heart quail, she had never been so anxious before to lose the love of her life as in that very moment, not excepting that moment she saw him fall that horrible night in the factory. This woman could rip out his will in a second, and have his body please her for all eternity.

  An elegant hand touched her, and a soothing voice said: 'Don't worry, divine beauty, I won't take your man from you. His love for you makes him the artist he is, it breathes life into these cold metal figurines. Without you, he would be without soul, an empty shell.

  But maybe you will lend him to me for a few hours? After I've put your de-horned admirer through his paces?

  And my goodness, brother, another one of her conquests? Don't let me catch you stealing the soul from this artist by bending his divine inspiration to your greedy will, or you'll have me to answer to as well as your son.'

  At this remark from his observant sister, Hermes shot a guilty look at Melissa, certain his secret was out and he was in big trouble. But in Melissa he read only incredible relief, and when she found his eyes on her in a most un-godlike expression, she took his hand, squeezed it, and stroked his short hair and clean shaven cheek, an almost encouraging gesture.

  A quick look at Lykos found him as relieved as Melissa, and not angry at all, so Hermes decided he had had a narrow escape, and to play the host, save his people, and see what happened.

  'Sis, I've learned a lot the last few months, I finally realize that bending mortals breaks them. Do you want dinner first, or work first?'

  'Work first, breaking that spell cannot be more than a minute's work, and then I can talk to your son and his friends in peace, whilst you negotiate with your daughter over the way you will save your people. That will take months, not minutes.'

  Hermes led all of them to a quiet room, where Aphrodite checked Katarina herself and said: 'Or a little more than a minute, and some help.

  Lykos, come here for a moment, I need you to show me how this all works, I can't just dismiss it, with a spell this powerful you need to understand exactly how it works, or you'll run the risk that bits stay behind and grow back. It might even suck me in, who knows?'

  Catching a look of triumph from Melissa, Lukas stood thinking for a moment, then said: 'Maybe you'd better take Melissa, she can see right through almost everything. She got me out when this spell got a hold of me.'

  A raised eyebrow in a gorgeous face was the only sign of doubt in Aphrodite's face, but she readily acceded and asked: 'Will you help me then, beautiful?'

  With a little trepidation, Melissa sat next to the goddess, and let her in her mind. They approached the spell together, and as Melissa used her sight to

  reveal the nature of the spell, a bridge between Katarina's love and her feelings combined with a nasty leach-spell, she felt Aphrodite's understanding.

  'Don't be worried now, this is going to make some fireworks,' was the message, and from a safe distance the goddess hit the spell with something bright. The leach really seemed alive, it cringed as it was hit at first, but then it attacked, trying to attach itself to other parts of Katarina's mind.

  But it didn't have a chance against Aphrodite's power, within seconds it started to shrivel and it soon disappeared. The goddess then dismissed the bridge, though she did seem quite interested in the feelings it connected.

  Melissa knew she'd find out how Katarina thought of the gods of her world, and it was not flattering. She also hoped Aphrodite would not tell Hermes that Katarina was not his daughter before Lukas had had a chance to tell him.

  The goddess offered Melissa a virtual hand, and together they went back to the now.

  Melissa was less tired than the last time she had met this spell, but of course she had wrestled with it on that occasion, and now Aphrodite had done all the hard work.

  The beautiful woman was quite taken with Melissa's accomplishment, apparently she could not see the exact way the spell was built up either. She observed: 'That is very unusual for a mortal, to see things a goddess cannot.

  But of course you are not from this world. You don't even have much personal power.'

  Of course Melissa had no idea why she shot a significant look at Hermes with that last remark, and she was very surprised to see the beautiful man look rather guilty when he caught that look. But who was she to meddle in the affairs of the gods?

  So she said: 'I've not been practising magic for very long yet, six months ago I didn't even know it existed. People don't use magic openly in our world.'

  That certainly surprised Aphrodite, and she observed: 'I'm glad I live in this one then, I like practising it. Shall we check the husband too?'

  Which they did immediately, finding a similar spell in his mind. This one was about as strong, but now Aphrodite knew what she was up against and she had it removed in a moment, though with Melissa's help.

  As they came back into the now, the goddess spoke: 'Glad you took him

  with you, or nothing would've changed, he had one too. You know who did this?'

  Hermes shook his head, but Aphrodite fixed Lukas in her gaze: 'You know, Lykos, but you want it to be untrue, for you thought he was your friend, and yourself of value to him, not just a pawn in the great game. If you had been just a pawn, you would have been dead instead of lost, and your father's people would have been dead weeks from now, for it was you who saved them. Tell him, and tell him the other thing too, so we can have dinner free of anxiety.'

  Lukas bent his head, and said to his father: 'Dad, it was Dionysus who did it, who had me abducted, spread the vile rumours, spelled your daughter to cause unrest and rebellion. Except....she is not your daughter, she is your granddaughter. Katarina is my child, born from a union that occurred only once, in a brief moment of weakness.'

  Hermes looked mad enough to boil for a few moments, then he visibly checked himself and he said: 'Your step-mother told me as I was recovering from her rejuvenation. She thought I might want to reconsider my plans because she shared her love with you. How can such a beautiful, smart woman, who understands that it is very unhealthy not to share love, keep thinking that that she is the only exception to that rule?

  But Dionysus, that piece of underhanded filth, you loved him, you gave him your everything. What do you suggest we do to him?'

  'Let's have dinner first, father, I'm actually hungry,' Lukas said, and Aphrodite suddenly seemed to think of something. 'Paul, Melissa, better let me check you out as well, you've been in contact with Katarina and Galan for a whole day and you're mortals, so you might be affected.'

  That didn't sit well with Melissa, going into someone else's head with a Greek goddess was bad enough, but to let one mess with her own head, that was another. Still, she didn't want one of the leach spells in there either.

  'Oh come on, you lovelies, I won't bite you,' the goddess spoke soothingly, 'you still don't trust me and I can't blame you, you've probably heard plenty of stories of my appetites and jealousies. But you're smart, and you must understand that the goddess of love cannot force anyone. I'd feel their hurt as if it were my own. Besides, Lykos is coming with me this time, this spell is nasty enough to make even me want an anchor.'

  Still apprehensive, but unwilling to goad the powerful woman further,

  Melissa sat before her to let her mind be checked. She didn't feel a thing, besides the elegant hands on her temples, until they tilted her face towards their owner and she was kissed gently but very passionately, the first time Melissa had ever been kissed by a woman, her lips and her touch softer somehow, and her scent very different
but also very enticing.

  'Join us, divine one, join your man and me when we share our love, and you can make sure I treat him with respect and dignity. You are so beautiful and talented, I want to love you too.'

  Aphrodite was very intense and very powerful, but not overwhelming.

  Melissa found herself considering her offer with a clear mind, and she decided she liked the idea of sharing love with a woman. Her kiss had been tantalizing.

  'I will, thank you,' she replied, 'did you find an infection in my mind?'

  'You will not regret it. You were clear, you have some kind of strange shield, very powerful stuff not your own. Whoever put that on you knew what they were doing, it was not easy to pass by. Do you have one of those too?' This at Paul.

  Paul nodded: 'I suppose so, Melissa's father put that on us.'

  'He is part of a powerful group then, I would not allow that kind of power in my realm, it might threaten me. Let me check you anyway,' and she touched his temples too, her hands entangled in his curls.

  'The same shield indeed, such power gives great responsibility, but I suppose the divine one would have a divine dad, better able to handle great power than that miserly Dionysus or spiteful Hera. You're free of tampering too, and as delicious as your lady.' Of course Paul got the same passionate kiss, and he answered it with relish.

  'Let's have dinner, flirting and removing spells makes even a goddess hungry, let alone her divinely beautiful mortal assistant!'

  During dinner, Hermes found his granddaughter and her husband excellent company, and they made plans to check on all the villages within Hermes' realm to see how the affected people were recovering. Katarina insisted on Hermes taking part personally, and was surprised that he agreed to join them.

  'Your mother and I were already planning to do that, she feels I need to be better known to my people, to prevent this from happening ever again. I like the idea of travelling with her, do you think horses can manage the paths?'

  Galan replied: 'If you can convince your ship's captain to ferry them from

  harbour to harbour you can use horses to reach villages from there. Mules could even cross the mountains, but why bother if you can ferry around?'

  'It's my ship and the world is full of captains, so I guess I'll convince either him, or his successor. No bending wills, just pulling rank,' Hermes said in reaction to their outraged expressions, 'even your mother rules her staff, Katarina, you know that. Will you move back in with her? She'd love that.'

  'I'm sorry Hermes, but we need to live close to a harbour to keep our businesses alive, we cannot live an extra two day's march from our market,'

  Galan commented.

  'You could teleport your wares straight to this place, and ship them from here. I'd even give you a reduced tax-rate,' was Hermes' cheeky comment.

  Katarina was thoughtful: 'I'd like to keep mother company, but you were going to do that, and besides, she needs to get out more.

  We hear a lot where we live, it is in the middle of your realm and we pick up news and problems really quickly. You need that information.'

  Hermes bowed to her insight, and said: 'You are right, you're better placed where you are. But maybe you will allow me to install a teleport in your home, so we can visit our grandchildren? Aphrodite's touch practically guarantees you'll have children soon.'

  Now it was Galan's turn to be cheeky: 'Then you'd better prepare to bring your own, for I seem to have heard my mother-in-law is now twenty years old again?'

  At another table Aphrodite was listening to Lykos with growing wonder.

  Did she really believe that the young upstart had been abducted and dumped in a demon-world, then landed in a cold world full of humans where her own reality was just a memory from a very, very distant past?

  She had never spent much thought on Lykos, she knew of him of course, had met him in his capacity of herald to Dionysus, and word of his sexual appetite and prowess had reached her, but she had thought to try it out herself only vaguely, mortals always overrated the prowess of other mortals.

  But he had changed, he still looked rakish, with the mop of curls and the dented lip, a delicious lip, and his narrow face, hardly masculine but rather boyish, the change seemed to be in the eyes and his bearing.

  This was a totally different Lykos, self-assured, elevated to godhood, depended on by his father and devoted to his people and his foreign friends.

  The things he told her about that world, steam-power, roads everywhere, buildings made of glass, electricity.

  'You want to go back there, don't you?' she asked him shrewdly.

  'I will, now my daughter is safe we will set a date for our return,' Lukas replied, 'I love my life there, though I'm afraid of the cold, they tell me it snows all winter. Ah well, Paul said I might hibernate in bed, and get pale and flabby.'

  His saucy remark directed Aphrodite's attention to his body, and though it was slim, it was very muscular, his thighs were incredibly developed, and she used her position next to him at the table to run a hand over one of them, feeling hard muscle covered with soft skin.

  Lykos' face didn't show any reaction to her bold touch, which of course challenged her to arouse him. Her hand followed the packed muscle upward, where she discovered an impressive tackle, as yet unresponsive and very soft to her touch. She fondled it, enjoying the feeling, she didn't often get to handle flaccid male parts, her first touch generally caused instant hardness.

  Impressed by his control, she observed detachedly how long it would take for him to rise and if his face would betray him eventually. Her gentle caresses could apparently please the master, his soft-skinned penis started to throb slightly and righted itself slowly, until it was as hard as the muscle on his thigh, and gratifyingly thick.

  He smiled at her benignly, where had he learned such control over his display of emotions? He must be raving with lust inside with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, stroking the part of him that had to all accounts ruled his life so far.

  She felt her own heat stirring as it hadn't in years. The combination of such a sizeable erection, highly developed thigh muscles and such control over his lust, inspired great hope to find his reputation for sexual prowess deserved. To complete her anticipation she reluctantly moved her hand away from his exquisite manhood to his stomach.

  That did for her, she had an idea of what she would find there, but to really feel the hard ridges of extreme musculature she had imagined him to have, gave her visions of feeling him slide inside her first, then exercise those muscles, slowly at first, then ever faster.

  He moved towards her, not to kiss her as she had hoped, but to whisper in her ear: 'If you would be so kind as to give me a few moments to regain my control, so as not to lose my dignity in my father's court, we might retreat to your quarters.

  I seem to have lost my appetite for food or talk.'

  He did seem to show some excitement now, but only his friends would recognize it, a courtier would just think he was playing the game of courtly flattery with a highly ranked visitor.

  She could see his point, it wouldn't do to to leave this very public hall with a huge erection sticking out from under his tunic, but she felt very reluctant to let go of his body.

  She managed, though, and as her hand felt the incredibly soft fabric of his tunic, she found the perfect diversion for both their heated minds: 'Your tunic looks simple, though the cut is just perfect and the colour and the trimming are in excellent taste, but touching it I feel the fabric is extraordinarily soft.

  This cannot be wool, can it?'

  Grateful for the totally innocuous subject, he stroked his own chest, as if to feel the stuff himself, and he replied: 'It is wool, my daughter makes this special quality in her workshop, isn't it fabulous? I guess it takes her a long time to weave even one tunic, but the result is well-worth the effort, and the cost. It is so thin and soft. She also knows how to dye the most brilliant colours.'

  His voice changed to dryness: 'All right, thanks for the
diversion, I'm good to go now, as long as you don't touch me until we're somewhere private.'

  'Don't you have to explain to your friends?' she asked.

  'They know, I've touched their minds. See? Let's go, and quickly, tell me how you get your dolphin friends to work as a group.'

  And indeed, the gorgeous foreign couple smiled broadly at Lykos and herself, then fed one another a few more titbits. Aphrodite felt flattered that they seemed to trust her with Lykos, realizing they claimed him as theirs, allowing her to share love with him, knowing he'd always return to them, and that Lykos actually like to be theirs.

  A god being claimed by mortals, and liking it? And she herself, glad to be allowed the privilege to have the use of him for a few hours? She was glad they were leaving, so she wouldn't have to do anything with her knowledge.

  She rather liked the three of them.

  Still talking of dolphins, and cloth, and the future where Lykos had been, they reached her apartment, where they dropped the act and both lost their clothes, kissing and fondling, rubbing against the other in intense heat.

  If Aphrodite expected Lykos to take her immediately, she was both a bit

  disappointed and pleasantly surprised, for he offered her his curly head, whilst he fondled and sucked her breasts. She had no idea what to do with the rough curls, until she stroked them with the heat his attention for her breasts gave her, and felt something hard under her hands.

  The stumps of his horns, and she moved the curls aside to have a look at them, for she hadn't expected there would be so much left of them, and they felt cool to the touch. Still shivering with anticipation of what Lykos would do with her, she saw the silver caps and studied them, touching the horn-stumps in the process.

  A shudder ran through him as she rubbed the base of the horn, and suddenly she understood why he had offered his head. He wanted those stumps scratched. She did so, very gently, but noted the exquisite work on the caps as well, very stimulating scenes. 'Paul's work?' she asked.

  Lykos looked up at her with glassy eyes, he really liked to have his horns scratched! Then he nodded, and kissed her.