Muffins - Loki & Ylva alternate universe stories

Love with a bite I

Author's note: A new Loki & Ylva story and what a story it is! ;-) 

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Loki has been trying to ignore the sounds that are coming from the room next to his for almost half an hour now, yet he can't ignore it any longer. The annoying tingle of bells pulls him out of his book every time it reaches him through the walls. He tosses his book on the divan and draws himself up to his full height, arms stretched out to the high ceiling of his room.

A soft glow of light comes from the edges of the room, the source of the light concealed in the ceiling. The whole apartment is decorated by an interior designer with a love for the futuristic. Steel, glass and white surfaces alternate each other throughout the penthouse that takes up the top two floors of one of the most expensive apartment buildings in New York City. The only colour comes from the contemporary paintings and blown up photographs on the walls, almost all with blood red as their central theme.

To Loki it's all a little impersonal and too modern, yet it's what Thor and his posse seem to prefer. Thor always says a king needs to keep up appearances, or maybe that's Lady Sif talking. Loki doesn't see how a pristine white apartment shows the status of a vampire king, but he has always been a little more old-school than his adoptive brother. Thor has really taken the characteristics of being a vampire into the next century, digging himself in deep in the nightlife of the infamous city that never sleeps. He's the uncrowned king of the night, respected and revered by both vampires and humans on this side of the planet.

Loki is not a permanent inhabitant of the Manhattan apartment, though he has made this room his during the years. The Victorian furniture in his room clashes with the sleek lines of its architecture, though it's a good clash; it makes the boldly carved furniture stand out even more. In the center of the room is the large four-poster bed with its moss green canopy. The dark green and creamy whites fabrics that upholster his furniture are an esthetically pleasing match to the dark wood with its intricate carvings.

The plush carpet is soft against his bare feet and Loki almost reluctantly slips into a pair of loafers that is standing next to the door before he leaves his room and goes to the room next to his. The door is opened to a crack and the sounds that annoyed him before are even louder now. He can also hear the low hum of rhythmic chanting, the vibrations of it filling the room. Loki pushes the door open, letting it slam against the opposite wall on purpose. The hum dies out, the ring of a single bell alone in the room.

Hogun is sitting cross-legged in the center of his room, on a low platform made of carved wood. Besides a four-poster bed with heavy canopies, a low chair and an antique Chinese cabinet the room is empty. The vampire warrior is wearing nothing more than a simple cloth around his loins, barely covering the necessities.
"What do you want, Loki?" he asks with closed eyes, his voice monotone and revealing nothing of his emotions about Loki's sudden entrance.

"For you to cut it out with those annoying bells. Christmas on Midgard is bad enough already, you don't have to stretch it out into january." Loki rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in front of his chest, the silk of his dressing robe soft against his skin.

Hogun opens one eye, not moving from his cross-legged meditation position. "Are you comparing my meditation chimes to jingle bells?"

"Your words, not mine," the prince shrugs. "Call 'm what you want, as long as I can't hear 'm." He turns back to leave the room, flicking his finger against the gong next to the door, knowing full well it will annoy Hogun if he touches his things. With another subtle move of his hand he closes the door behind him, slamming it in the frame.

Loki doesn't feel like reading anymore, he's much too agitated for that; Hogun may use those bells for meditation, on Loki they have a complete opposite effect. Maybe a hot cup of tea will calm him down a little. The sound of his loafers is soft against the smooth wooden floors of the apartment and a little louder on the stairwell of reinforced glass and stainless steel that takes him to the top floor of the penthouse. The bedrooms and the gym with sauna are downstairs, upstairs is a large living area, an almost equally big kitchen and an office.