The Story Teller

Ricardo

One day, she asked her mother why she was never allowed to leave, but her mother just smiled and stroked her hair. 'It's too dangerous' she had said in a sickly-sweet voice, but Lily never really believed that...

'That's a rap!' Elena heard a deep baritone call behind her.

The children laughed as the remains of light fell as glitter onto their faces and laps and disappeared. Elena refused to look over her shoulder, she did not want to see him.

'You little guys need to find a way out of here before a monster comes,' he warned.

The children squealed and ran hurriedly to the hall behind her, their rush bringing a breeze to Elena's eyes. The only children that remained were Emily, Eli, and Eliot, the oldest of the group.

Eliot was another thing altogether, an entire web of stories, that we will not go into now.

Eli reached forward and gently tapped Elena's hand. She looked up and saw the very clear question in his eyes and smiled at him. The innocence of kids she wondered, is so beautiful, yet stupid at the same time.

She peered behind her shoulder and saw his red coat, his sickly white skin, pale in the afternoon, and could almost feel his appalling smile behind her...

She shot up like a rocket, Eli's hands still gripping hers in protest causing him to hang of her, like a butterfly to flowers. I honestly don't know why a description like that came to my mind, but the kid really was an angelic thing, much like a butterfly.

The man behind Elena, however, was every bit of despicable, quite the opposite of an honorable fella -quite the opposite of Eli- and had eyes on Elena for as long as he could remember. His gift was to be the smartest man in the whole village. People called him a demigod of Athena, people called him the new Lord, people called him all sorts of things, Elena called him an asshole, and if I was still alive and, in the chamber, I would probably wash my mouth with olive oil.

She peered at Eli and the others, hoping to spare them her anger. 'Why don't you go to the waiting hall?'

Eliot. 'But you're walking me...'

'Yes, I know. I haven't forgotten Eli or Emily either. I just need some time. Could you give me that?'

Emily hesitantly nodded and dragged Eli who had stubbornly stomped his feet. The little angel, Elena could have just...

Eliot looked the man up and down, hoping he got the message, before stalking after them. Elena watched them walk away from her and she smiled. What I wouldn't give for those kids...

'My angel,' she heard purr in his deep voice that sounded to Elena like a blender.

She turned to him, her expression sour.

'Ricardo.' She breathed.