The Blood Groove (Purgatory Wars Book 4) Read online

  Though that was hard to forget. Even lounging in one of the large reading chairs, with one of the freshly printed books from Olimurias sitting on one knee, the pages held up by a single lazy hand, Loki radiated the same charismatic power that Sobek did. Every inch of her seemed to crackle with potential – like Meg on mystical steroids. But there was something about needing to seduce her, about it being a strategic necessity in an upcoming war that was just...

  Wait, Liam thought. A sudden paroxysm of sheer panic rushed along his spine as he realized something. I’ve never seduced a woman in my life.

  Thinking back over all the women he had lain on Purgatory, he had never sought them out, beyond simple companionship. Megara had seduced him. Tethis and he had fallen in lust over the course of their adventuring together. Liv, too, had been won over more by his skill with the sword than his skill with the silver tongue. In fact, he was fairly certain that his talking had turned her off more than anything else.

  And here he was, trying to seduce a goddess?

  He couldn’t just go on an adventure with Loki and hope that she found him appealing. This needed to happen today.

  Well, he thought. Get to work then.

  Liam forced himself to walk over. “What are you reading?” he asked. He managed to not squeak.

  Loki looked up. “One of the books transcribed off your Eye-Pood,” she said, smiling and turning so the cover – with plain text etched on the front – was visible.

  “Ah, the history of metallurgy,” Liam said. Stay casual. Keep the conversation going. That had to help, right? “Not many people gravitate towards that. They tend to be more interested in my copy of The Black Prism or A Game of Thrones.”

  “Oh, I read them first,” Loki said, grinning broadly. “You humans, for having absolutely no access to magic, have an astounding diversity of it.”

  Liam laughed. He felt himself relaxing as he leaned backwards into his seat. “I’d be more worried if we didn’t.”

  “And why is that, Liam of Earth?” Loki asked, her eyes sparking with amusement as she snapped the book shut, her fingernails shifting to a rainbow hue of colors. She set the book down on the stand beside her chair.

  “Firstly,” Liam said, his throat suddenly dry. “It’s Liam of California. Secondly, because...” He paused. “Humans always want what they can never have. We dream of impossible futures and different yesterdays because...well...” He paused again. “It gives us something to work for.”

  Loki considered. “I sometimes wonder if the reason why you humans got so far, so fast, without us is because we kept you back.”

  Liam shrugged. “I can’t tell. Life didn’t change much for almost a thousand five hundred years after you left.” He snapped his finger. “Then boom. Things went nuts.”

  Loki smiled. “This may sound egotistical, but that is quite relieving.”

  There was silence for a moment. Liam let himself relax, let himself forget the needs of tomorrow and the dangers of today. Instead, he let his eyes slide along Loki’s form. The slender goddess seemed to revel in the attention – her skin glowed and she arched her back, fingers caressing the spine of the book. Loki sucked in a slow breath through her teeth, her eyes growing hooded as she watched Liam.

  Liam’s member hardened and rather than trying to conceal it, he spread his thighs ever so slightly. His kilt tented as his cock pressed against it.

  “I have to know,” Loki purred. “If you’re Christian, how do you...” She trailed off, groping for a word.

  “Reconcile?” Liam asked, thinking he knew what she was going for.

  Loki snapped her fingers.

  “Reconcile,” she said. “How do you reconcile your Church’s teaching with your own lifestyle?”

  Liam smiled. “The teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo had some really good parts to it. Free slaves. Don’t be assholes to Jews. But I really disagreed with the idea that God would create humanity to want to have sex nearly constantly and then send us to a big torture dungeon if we did it at the wrong time.”

  Loki chuckled. “I only send mortals to torture dungeons if it is really funny.”

  “That’s not your job, though,” Liam said, grinning.

  “Like I couldn’t get Hel to do whatever the fuck I wanted,” Loki said, rolling her head back as she leaned back against the chair. She spread her legs ever so slightly. Liam licked his lips. The temperature of the room felt as if it had gone up another tick. He reached up and ran his finger along his neck, wiping away a single dollop of sweat.

  “So, I gotta know,” Liam said, deciding to move the conversation towards something more... intimate. “Why the fuck didn’t you change out of a horse form when the stallion was getting close?”

  “Two things,” Loki said, lifting one finger. “The stallion of yore, who I needed to distract?” She grinned. “He wasn’t a horse, per say.”

  “Now this I’ve gotta hear,” Liam said.

  “Well, in the era before Christianity, there were humans who begged to be made other. Sometimes, they were those born in the wrong body – those who felt as if they were woman, but had a male... parts.” She grinned. “Some were something between, and wished to be other. Others still wanted to be...” She pursed her lips. “How to put it?”

  “Holy shit, furries?” Liam asked.

  Loki nodded. “It mostly came from interaction with traders who themselves had visited the empire of Egypt and met their, ah, Chosen.”

  Liam nodded. “So, the horse in the story was a...”

  Loki shifted. In a single flash of bright white light, gone was the petite woman. In her place was a tall, black furred fusion of horse and man. His shoulders were almost as broad as Liam’s, and his muscles were as finely defined as if they had been drawn by an artist. His belly was a compact six pack, and his thighs smoothly lifted from humanoid to a horse's hooves as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And there, sitting between his legs, was a shaft to make Liam’s feel inadequate. And that was something that he could safely say had never happened to him before.

  “This,” Loki purred as he stood, spreading his arms wide – as if to say: Here I am. “Is the first reason why I didn’t change out of the form of a mare.”

  Liam coughed. “I, ah, can see why.”

  “And the second reason?” Loki grinned. With a flash of light, she returned to her female form, clothed once more. Liam still felt the charge of sexual energy, coursing between the two, her eyes unwilling to leave his. She moved closer, sitting down on the arm of his chair. Her legs brushed against his as the chair... didn’t creak. Didn’t shift. It was as if she weighed nothing at all. “I wanted to win that godsdamned bet, Liam of California.”

  Liam grinned.

  “You said furry,” Loki murmured. “Are there people like this on Earth?”

  “Those who wish it, yes,” Liam said.

  “Are you one?” Loki’s eyes narrowed.

  “Not really,” Liam admitted, shrugging. “I won’t turn down a Chosen who looks like, say, a jackalgirl.” Memories of Neb’s firm breasts, filling his hands. The delicious sound of her yipping as he slapped her ass. Growling in her ear: You’re mine, slut.

  “Mmhmm.”

  Loki’s finger drew a slow circle along Liam’s wrist.

  “But I never wanted to be one,” Liam said. “So, I’m more of a furfucker.”

  Loki smiled. “I like the sound of it. This English you speak, it has such marvelous words. Fuck.” She said the word carefully, and Liam could tell that she had shifted from whatever language she had been using before to trying to recreate the sounds of modern English. “Fhu-ck. It... fits.”

  “Well, sometimes,” Liam said, quietly. His hand slid back and then forward, snatching Loki’s wrist. She didn’t resist as he lifted her arm to his mouth, kissing the pulse-point on below her palm.

  “Sometimes?”

  “I sometimes fuck Meg so hard she has to fly for the rest of the day,” Liam purred, exaggerating slightly. Only slightly.
“But sometimes, we make sweet love.”

  “Mmm.”

  Liam kissed her palm then.

  Loki breathed in, then out. “For someone who has never seduced someone in your life, you are quite good at this, Liam of California.”

  Liam froze

  “I’m a goddess, honey,” Loki said, as if that explained everything. Liam looked up at her and, using his best poker face, thought: I’m going to murder you. Loki continued smiling.

  “So, you are really good at reading people,” Liam said. “And know when to guess.”

  Loki blinked at him. Liam jerked on her wrist. The goddess yelped as she fell into his lap. Her firm rump pressed against his hardness – which responded by positively surging against his kilt. His hands went to her hips, holding her in place. Touching her, even through her clothes, made Liam’s fingertips buzz. Loki looked down into his eyes, her expression torn between irritation and utter delight. Liam decided to press his advantage. His hands cupped her ass, squeezing her firmly as he purred.

  “I figure you’ve tricked more than a few mortals into thinking you can read thoughts.”

  “It’s a useful myth,” Loki purred. “For a time, it even worked.”

  Liam’s brow furrowed. But then Loki was erasing all questions, all concerns. She did so with the effortless ease of a goddess – she did it with her mouth, with her tongue, with her hands. Her fingers slipped along Liam’s chest, pausing as she touched his crucifix, then dropped lower. The kilt didn’t slide off. It simply ceased to exist, crumbling to dust as Loki touched the hem. Loki broke the kiss, panting. Liam watched as her fingers touched the hem of her pants, then slid upwards. Where her fingers pressed, the clothing crumbled to dust, caking and crinkling and finally blowing away in a spectral breeze. Chunks flew away from belly and breasts, rolled off of shoulders, dropped from sleeves. Once the shimmering blue light of magic had faded, Loki was utterly nude as she sat atop Liam.

  Liam released a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding.

  “Holy fuck,” he whispered.

  “The most accurate description of what is about to happen I’ve ever heard,” Loki purred. Her hands dropped to his shoulders. “Now. Shape.”

  “Shape?” Liam blinked. He felt like he had lost a few hundred million IQ points. He was fairly sure that 'shape' meant something.

  Loki chortled. “Do you want me in this dull form of red hair and pale skin?” She murmured. “Or does something more exotic strike your fancy?” She focused and – rather than simply flashing to a new form - she let herself shift from shape to shape with the smoothness of liquid flowing downhill. Purple spread along her skin as her hair darkened to a pale green. Her eyes started to glow as her ears lengthened, tapered to points. She grinned at him, her teeth seeming oddly sharp. “Unseelie?”

  Liam managed to laugh. “N-nooo, I think, uh, I don’t want to spend the entire session worrying about eating you out.”

  Loki thought that over. Chuckled. “True. I’ve heard strict Courts can trap people in the Fey that way. Though, I usually hear the mortals don’t mind.” She grinned and her very sharp teeth flashed. “Though the fact you presume that you are going to spend a good portion of this with me sitting on your face pleases the great and powerful Loki.”

  Once more, her body flowed. A pair of ram like horns curled away from her forehead as her hair turned a silky white. Touching her skin suddenly felt like caressing someone who had just slipped in from the rain. Slick and damp and ever so slightly chilled. But rather than goosebumps, Liam felt nothing but glorious smoothness as her breasts swelled an extra two handfuls and pressed to his chest. Loki’s face became more welcoming, more beautifully curved and less angular. Liam felt a short, stubby tail flicking above the ass he was caressing lovingly.

  “Arctic Lilin?” she asked.

  Liam chuckled, looking her up and down. “Blizzard would sue.”

  Loki scowled. “You keep making these references and I am beginning to see why Meg punches you each time...”

  For a third and hopefully final time, Loki changed. Short, bristling fur grew underneath Liam’s fingers, the tail his hand caressed growing to fill his palm. Her hair lengthened, spilling down strong shoulders, while her face lengthened into a beautiful muzzle, her eyes becoming dark and deep as pools of water. Loki smirked knowingly.

  “This form pleases you?”

  Liam bit his lip.

  He had gone almost a year and a half without accessing the internet. Without visiting the dozens of image boards that provided images and pornography beyond the wildest dreams of even one man. Slowly, he licked his lips and let himself slide from decadence straight to hell. “Can you... maybe... make your fur more purple?” Loki smiled indulgently, shifting ever so slightly. “Now, uh, darken the hair. Add a red streak... here.” He touched her hair.

  Loki blinked, reaching up to touch her hair. A red streak slipped along her dark mane of hair. “Like this?”

  “Mmmhmm,” Liam murmured. “And, well, why not go for broke? Ever heard of a unicorn?”

  Loki looked at him as if he was insane. “Of course I’ve heard of them. I’ve ridden unicorns.”

  “Ladies love unicorns,” Liam said, grinning broadly.

  Loki punched his shoulder. “Not like that.” She paused. “Well, twice, but again, it was to win a bet.”

  “Suuuure it was,” Liam purred. A horn started to grow from the middle of Loki’s forehead. Liam leaned up and kissed where horn met skin. Loki moaned against his neck, her muzzle touching his chest as she bent her head forward. Liam’s hands slipped up along her back before cupping her breasts. His fingers found her bright pink nipples. They were hard nubs, begging to be teased and caressed. When he combined his tongue licking her horn to twisting her nips, Loki quivered against him, gasping desperately.

  “Oh fuck, I need this,” Loki whispered.

  Liam pushed her head up with one hand, kissing her. He had a lot of practice kissing women with muzzles. Hell, he had kissed a girl with a beak. But kissing someone who could shift their mouthparts ever so slightly, to make the connection deeper and easier. It was indescribable. Their tongues met and ground against one another as Loki bucked herself against his cock. Her hot, hot pussy pressed to his sex as she brought her hips up, then dropped them down. Neither of them had a hand to spare to guide Liam. Neither wanted to stop caressing, stroking, squeezing one another. Liam’s hand slapped against Loki’s ass and she broke the kiss, moaning loudly.

  “I heard something about sitting on my face,” Liam murmured. Loki stepped backwards, grabbing onto his hands. She pulled him into her embrace, then knelt down on the floor. The library was carpeted, to keep the temperature high during the evenings, when the deserts that surrounded Babylon drank in the heat of the day. His butt pressed to the carpets and he knew it would itch later. But right now?

  He couldn’t give a fuck.

  Loki’s hands slapped against his chest, sending Liam rolling back. He let himself lay on the carpet and watched with eager awe as Loki straddled him. Her thighs encompassed his head, and the last thing he saw before a warm, soft darkness surrounded him was her full breasts, her flat belly, and her glowing, eager eyes. Then her palms slapped to the ground behind his head and she sat on his face.

  Liam loved it. He was sometimes – often, really – the more dominant partner. But right now, when serving a god - even if it was not a god he worshiped - it seemed right to be on his back. There was something in the Ten Commandments about not taking other gods before God. But, well…

  He was pretty sure God wouldn’t want to sit on his face.

  Though, if He ever offered…

  Then Liam had no time for anything but the movement of his tongue, the press of his nose. The touching of hands to body, finding a place to grip and squeeze and stroke. One of his hands found and worked through her tail, squeezing her and rooting her, then pushing forward, dragging backwards to add an extra sawing motion to her sex against his face. His tongue dragged along t
hose dark purple lips, tasting juices that tingled along his tongue and caused his brain to spin.

  “Oh Liam,” Loki moaned. His name never sounded better than when it was being moaned by a woman. The only time it had sounded more beautiful was when that woman was Meg. He drew his mouth back just enough to breath, panting softly. He hoped Meg was doing what she normally did at times like this.

  Watching.

  Masturbating furiously.

  Thinking of that, he slid one hand down along Loki’s purple flank and then touched two fingers to her sex. They plunged in with a simultaneous squelch and gasp from the goddess.

  “F-Fuck!”

  She shuddered over him and a fresh cascade of her eager juices flowed along his palm, dripped onto his face. Liam opened his mouth and sucked on her pussy, firmly. Then Loki’s fingers laced through his hair and shoved his head back to the carpeted ground. Gently enough she didn’t knock him silly – but firmly enough to make it clear. She moved forward and Liam craned her head back.

  Loki crawled to the chair, leaning her breasts against it, her arms clutching to the back. She used it as a mounting, thrusting her ass up and out as she looked over her shoulders.

  She flushed.

  “I want it hard, Liam,” she whispered.

  Liam grinned, licking his lips. “Feeling submissive, Loki?”

  “Fuck, why do you think I screw mortals?” she said, slipping out of character for a moment. “My wife is the submissive one. I need to find one of you with more balls!”

  Her voice rose to an almost shriek as Liam grabbed her tail, lifted it up, and slammed into her with a single casual motion. There were advantages to being practiced at fucking the Chosen. They tended to have similar advantages. One of them being the tail. It was always tougher than it looked, and nearly always made them go wild when it was tugged. Gently, of course.

  "Uff. Good job I've been fucked by a horse before."

  Loki dropped her head forward as Liam thrust forward, his hips and her hips meeting again and again with loud, meaty slaps. His balls thumped against her belly as Loki gasped and bumped her head forward. She started to moan incoherently, barely able to keep herself upright. Liam didn’t mind supporting some of her weight, sliding his hand under her belly to hold her up. The chair started to creak as she rocked against it.