Dreaming in Silver and Gold

Chapter 26

Liz walked through the solemn halls of the castle. The underworld was quiet almost like it knew that Klaus was gone. It seemed restless though, the darkness and shadows moving and dancing in impatience. Impatience for what? Liz didn’t know. The underworld was eagerly waiting on something.

She had been about to go to sleep when a note from Elaine had appeared in her room.

“We need to talk. Come to the vault.”

So instead of curling up in bed and drowning in her fear and worry, she went to go find Elaine.

Liz pushed open the heavy metal doors to the expansive vaults and spied Elaine sitting on a bench. A row of paintings hung in front of her and she was studying one of them intently. She had a half drunk bottle of amber liquid sitting on the floor in front of her and an empty tumbler in her hand. She was rolling the glass between her fingers absentmindedly.

“What do you need to speak to me about?” Liz asked.

She got a look at the painting that Elaine was staring at and wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. There was a couple in the painting. They looked regal and ruthless. The man in the painting was Demetre and the woman next to him was the most intoxicating person that Liz had ever seen.

Her bright orange hair was curly, wild, and spilled over her shoulders in a beautiful heap. Her eyes were bronze and sparkling like she knew something that you didn’t, and her mouth was curved up in a smug smile. A crown of gold and rubies sat on top of her curls and a matching votum was around her neck.

Elaine looked away from the painting and finally turned to Liz. “Sit down, I have a story to tell you.”

Elaine refilled her glass as Liz took a seat next to her.

“Not all of the gods were evil,” Elaine said quietly. “When the gods created angels, they created them to be messengers between them and the humans. They created the seraphim to run the heavens. The angels and seraphim loved the humans and they loved the gods and soon the gods used that love against them. They began to mistreat the creatures they made. The gods had “favorites”, these favorites were angels that were powerful or unique or interesting. Being a favorite was a living hell, those were the angels so so very close to the gods. They were the ones who were tortured for misbehaving or for fun. We were the playthings of the gods.”

“There was one god though that loved the angels and the seraphim and he stood up for them. Well, as much as he could. One god against ten is still vastly outnumbered. So, he gave the angels and seraphim resources. He taught them how to fight, he taught them how to use their powers, he taught them how to guard themselves. He did this even though the rest of the gods hated it.” Elaine took a deep breath.

“One day, he was teaching combat when one of the angels caught his eye. She was fresh, full of life and warmth. He told her once that she reminded him of the sun, wheat, and flowers. He thought that she would be a lovely archangel of nature or the archangel of the sun and sky, but she had no interest in being an archangel.” A small smile tugged at Elaine’s lips.

“And this angel was drawn to him. He was darkness and mischief. So different than any other creature she had met and they fell in love. It was a passionate love. He taught her how to conceal herself in plain sight, how to appear unimportant so the gods wouldn’t take an interest in her. He knew that if they saw what he did that she would become a favorite and be exposed to the cruelty of the gods. He also gifted her unimaginable power, power to slaughter whole armies, power to seize the body of her enemies, power to destroy.”