Between Worlds (TEMP HOLD)

Thirteen: New Acesories

The celebration was vivid and beautiful. Individual circular tables have been set up in the meal hall, and white tablecloths have been placed over it. Music was playing; there wasn't a band and there didn't need to be one. The overhead speakers made everything bounce and echo off the walls. The music was beautiful and had an old time feel to it. And the kitchen staff prepared anything you might have a taste for.

I began drinking when Xavier did. We each picked up our first glass of wine, and suffered through every congratulations and dance request. The gods knew how to throw a marvelous shindig.

Everyone was happy, and talkative and everyone forgot the inevitable. Everyone drank a little, and stuffed our faces full of food. We temporarily forgot entirely about Castiel, and the girls outside his room, waiting to kiss him. We forgot about new job positions, and about finding Jasmine.

Xander kept stepping on my toes while we were dancing. We drank two glasses of champagne, and giggled quietly when Xavier danced with Amphitrite. The three of us danced and laughed things that weren't funny, our obvious drunkenness getting the better of us. This was our last fun night together, and we spenders it how we wanted to.

During the night, a stranger with yellow eyes scooped me into his arms and asked, "May I have this dance?" He moved with grace, purpose. He made the world feel like it was fast-forwarding. His yellow, cat-like eyes scared me through my delirious state. He held me upright while we dance. He smells like cigarettes, and . . . Blood. His suit is clean cut, just like him, but no matter how much I try to remember his face, I find myself forgetting what he looks like as soon as I glance up at him.

"Who are you?" I couldn't help but ask. My words are slurred, and my breath must smell like champagne, because he cringed. Xavier was staring us down.

He smiles a little. "Quite a beautiful ceremony, Mrs Reyes," he twirls me and I feel like I might just vomit. We slow down, thankfully. "Who I am isn't important. I hold minor power here. I go by many names; but you may simply call me Knox." Knox introduces himself; the only thing that stuck with me. His words are slippery, and Knox is strange. Who is he? "I am here to warn you."

"W-warm me?" I thought I misheard him.

We stop dancing now, and Knox pulls me off to the side. He produces a Sterling silver card from the inside of his suit pocket, and hands it to me. "Your husband will meet a grisly end, Mrs Reyes. This happily ever after will soon be just a memory. I have left a wedding present for you in your room. You remember that necklace Castiel gave you, don't you?"

The neck . . . The necklace. My brain feels scrambled as I try to sort through memories. The ruby red heart necklace. When I woke up here, it had been taken, and I hadn't thought to ask. There hadn't been any need to ask. Until now. I glared at him, waiting for Knox to say more. But he's already said it all.

"It's in that box I have sent for you. And, as an added bonus, I have given you and your husband something so you'll never be apart. Wear it always, and it's the way you'll find each other. They want you to fail. But what use will you and this world be to me, then?" He offers his card out to me. "If you ever need help, if you're ever looking for a change of scenery, than give me a call." I glance down at Knox's shimmering card, and when I look back up, he's vanished.

Xavier appears by my side, and I jump. "Where have you been, darling? It's almost been an hour." An hour, how was that even possible? It felt like five minutes. "Are you okay? You look so pale. Should I grab you a drink?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine. Let's get another drink. I'm parched."

Aphrodite's daughters were drunk and hitting on the single guests. Ares was carving something into one of the wooden tables. Athena was sitting off to one corner, drinking a glass of champagne and watching the dancers. Hera was dancing with Poseidon. Amphirite was eating a bit of cake, chatting up happily with sea nymphs. Aphrodite was trying to hold her daughters together. "Climb down from there!" "Put that back on!" "Come on- " Had nobody else seen Knox? I glance towards the only clock on the wall, and indeed, an hour has passed.