Chapter 8
Half an hour later, we had gathered in a strange kind of throne room. It looked more like the interior of a Roman temple rather than the throne room of the devil. Columns lined both sides of the hall and the floor was created from thousands of tiny mosaic tiles. From where I stood, it looked like a blur of colours. Yet, when I lifted my gaze to the ceiling I was greeted by polished white crystal that acted as a barrier between this level and the next yet reflected the mosaicked floor like a mirror. It was beautiful, the images showing images of the fall of the Greek Underworld and the rise of Lucius’ reign. The two figures in the middle of the mosaic were holding hands in brotherhood – Lucius and Hades. It was strange to think that the two of them had been friends for so long.
Lucius was sat at the table with hit back stiff and his hand scrunched tightly into fists. He paid no heed to any other person within the room; he even ignored the presence of me as his gaze stared out of a window that overlooked his realm.
Cautiously I took a seat beside him, being careful not to make any sudden movements in case it provoked his anger. He was tensed - too tensed. It promised trouble to whoever evoked his wrath. I just prayed that it wouldn’t be me.
We sat in this painful silence for a long while. Neither of us daring to utter a single word and break the heaviness that was bearing down upon us. I felt as though I was physically hunched over because of it. The only relief came when the door to the throne room swung open and ricocheted off of the wall with a loud thud that caused the floor to tremble beneath my feet.
Glancing up, I saw Hades leading five winged people into the room. Two were women whereas the other three were men. I recognised my neighbour from dinner in all of his winger glory. It was none other than Castiel. The others I vaguely recognised from the dinner but I did not know their names. The first of the women was short, less than five foot by my accounts but, as is standard with Lucius and his friends, she was absolutely beautiful. Dark caramel skin that spoke of Middle Eastern roots was shown through the gaps of the beautiful clothes that adorned her body. An intricately patterned sari was draped over her shoulder finishing the entire look. She looked regal and would easily have men bowing to her if she were on the surface. Here with Lucius and his cohorts, she looked like she belonged as each was as beautiful as the last. The other woman was a few inches taller and hair the colour of amber. Even her eyes burnt with an orange haze even though they were as red as every other demon’s. The two men were equal in height and looks. They were twins by the looks of it though one had tattoo sleeves going up his bare arms while the other merely had dark cocoa skin that was completely unblemished, not a scar or imperfection in sight. Their eyes were what grabbed my attention most though. They were white – pure untarnished white. There wasn’t even an iris.
Lucius stood from the table and walked forwards to greet them all yet I could see that his mouth was set in grim line and his hands were in fists. He had cleverly his them behind his back so that the newcomers wouldn’t see. However, from the expression that formed on Castiel’s face, it was clear that they noticed all too well which kind of mood he was in.
“Savannah,” Lucius called back to me.
I jumped from my seat so abruptly, that the ornate chair fell to the ground with a crash drawing every eye to me. I shifted from foot to foot before bending down to retrieve the chair only to realise that I was bending over in front of 5 males. Probably not my best move. I straightened the chair as fast as my clumsy hands would allow before scurrying over and joining Lucius and the others.
“Savannah, I want you to meet some people these are what you call the managers,”
I nodded my head and smiled at the five of them, lingering a second on Castiel and giving him an even brighter smile than I afforded the others.
“Hey,” I offered with a small wave which was received with nods but rather emotionless stares.
“So we have Castiel who you met at dinner,” Lucius began gesturing to each as they passed. “This here is Binah, and this here is Clementine.” Both women beamed brightly at me which did nothing for my self-esteem considering I was still in my comfy worn pair of jeans and probably had bags under my eyes.
“And these two dolts are the twins, Caius and Caine.”
I nodded my head but was still clueless to who was who. I shook it off and followed them all as they approached the table where I had just been sitting and took seats. I sat on Lucius’ right hand side and to my relief Castiel sat beside me. I didn’t think that would remember all of their names so it was best to sit next to the familiar.
As soon as everyone settled, curious eyes landed upon Lucius, who gazing at the table. I could see his hands in his lap and they were still wrapped up in fists. Obviously Lucius’ distress would not be dwindling anytime soon. When he didn’t seem to be making any attempt at conversing with the group, Binah sat forward so that her hands were resting before her and she sent a smile to his bowed head.
“It’s good to see you brother, though I wish it was on better circumstances.” Her voice was exquisite to listen to. I felt myself leaning closer to her just so that I could be enthralled by the husky timbre of her voice. She giggled at me and offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, I forget sometimes how susceptible people are to me.”
“No worries,” I replied tightly as I forced myself as far back in my seat as I could go and gripped onto the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white.
Lucius cleared some of the awkwardness that descended upon the table by clearing his throat. I could have kissed the man in gratitude but instead I simply sat up a little straighter and tried to pay as much attention to the situation as I could.
“On to business, Savannah these are my most trusted and loyal friends. They are my family,” Lucius eyes drifted to the twins who were nudging each other with their elbows, trying to be discreet but failing miserably. He rolls his eyes before craning his head around to face me. “- unfortunately.”
There were protests and chuckles from around the table but it died out quickly when he cleared his throat. “Anyway, I called you here for an important reason. You are the only ones I trust with this information. Someone is trying to steal my throne and place as ruler of the Underverse. That would be my main concern if I hadn’t just found out that Star is missing. Anyone have something to add?”
“We thought she was with you, Luce.” Binah offered up as her brows drew together in a frown. “She left and then a few hours later the gates closed and we were all trapped. Because we didn’t find her down here we assumed that she had made it out before the gateway closed.”
Lucius growled. “You never assume everything.” He tugged on his thick dark hair with a growl and looked to the others.
“As Binah says,” Caine patter the short woman on her head. “She just left. She always follows you to the surface but when we got no messages from you or her we knew something was wrong. We tried to find her but we couldn’t get topside.”
I sat there patiently, listening to all of this with a sense of foreboding. Who was this star and why did she matter so much to Lucius?
“Well, it looks like we have some major problems on our hands.” Lucius looked around the group and was not surprised to see the steadfast loyalty burning in their gazes, if anything it allowed him to smile despite his grim circumstances. “I will have to have a ball tomorrow. We can do some investigative work then. Caine and Caius, I want you too to see who has contacted the Keeper of the Hellhounds. There probably won’t be any records but I want to make sure that we’re not overlooking anything. Anyone who has shown an interest in them or even visited the Keeper in the last 50 years, I want to know about it.”
Caine and Caius nodded their heads before pushing back from the table and leaving the room. I frowned at their abrupt departure but everyone else acted like it was perfectly acceptable. Shrugging it off, I waited to hear what would be happening next for me. I know that there were things Lucius had to return for but I didn’t understand my need to be here. I wasn’t all powerful. I didn’t have any authority over these people.
“Castiel, I need you to take care of Danny and Savannah for the rest of the day, I need to check on Tartarus but it’s not a good place for children or those that are living.” I caught a look that passed between the pair but I chose to shrug it off. In this new life I had learnt that ignorance really is bliss. Knowledge just means that you spend your life scared.
“Of course Lucius, sir.”
The formality that Castiel gave Lucius had my mouth dropping open in shock. I always forget that Lucius is the ruler around here because he is always so laid back around me.
“Hades, can you see if you can get in contact with your brothers and sisters and see if they know anything about Star? She might have gone to them for refuge if she couldn’t find me. Though I hope not because it is a lot more difficult leaving Olympus that it is getting there. Well, if you’re not a god that is.”
Hades nodded his head but made no move from the table. Instead he sat and listened to Lucius talk and talk he did before he finally looked at the two women.
“Lastly I need you two to outfit Savannah,” He nodded towards me and I should have felt insulted but even I knew that I looked like a tramp. “She needs to look regal, maybe make her look a bit Grecian as that is our theme for tomorrow’s ball. Oh and see to is that Morely gets on with the decorations. I want the people to think that my homecoming is a good thing. We all know how much the demonic love to party.”
I almost gagged as he winked at the two women and they left the table in a giggling me. Oh that is just so wrong. I hope I don’t get all girly and gooey eyed when he turns the charm on me.
When only Lucius, Danny, Hades and I were left, I turned to my boss and friend with a raised brow.
“So who exactly is this star?” Curiosity was burning inside me but it dampened when I saw the way that Lucius’ eyes shuttered and his gaze drifted down to his fisted hands.
Hades patted a consoling hand on his shoulder before his gaze met mine.
“Do you know what Lucifer stands for?” Hades asked to which he only received a shake of the head. “It means evening start. There is a reason Lucius is called Lucius and not Lucifer. There are two parts to Lucifer. You have Lucius and Farrah otherwise known as Star.”
I blinked and was about to open my mouth but Lucius chose to fill the silence. “I was the Evening, my temperament darker and volatile yet Star was always there to brighten my way and show me the light. We are two halves of a whole. We were designed to be together but knowing each other for all time changes you outlook, we knew each other before we became what we are. She was my sister in my past life and she is my sister in this one.”
My mouth dropped open into an ‘O’ as I examined him to see if this was some kind of joke. All these constant discoveries made me wish I had actually read the bible but Noah and the arc and the nativity story were pretty much the sum of all my knowledge. I suppose there were some things they had to leave out for people’s sanity. Knowledge isn’t always a good thing.
Deciding to think about it later, I smiled at the pair grimly.
“So, a ball?” I left the question open ended and immediately the two burst into raucous discussions about the details of the ball. Smiles and nods were passed onto them but I remained silent. I would find out everything I needed soon enough.
There was one thing for certain though. I had to get Danny to somewhere safe and the only place I could think of was Calantha and the rest of the earth people. Only a few days left and I could get Danny to safety and then start on with my charge. For some reason, I got the impression that my charge, whoever they were, was mixed up in all of this but the how or the why could be the biggest problem at all.