Indignation (14 page)

“If I remember correctly, you were only after my crown. You wanted to rule so you could bathe with the blood of Yenta. You are a very twisted goddess.” He refers to the maid who Caledonia despised because she was especially put under the spell to follow his orders and only his. It also didn’t help that Yenta was one of his many mistresses of the time.

“I wanted to be queen and gain my freedom. As for that woman, I wanted to do more than bathe in her blood. That was going to be the ending.”

He grabs her chin rough with one hand, while the other wraps around her waist. He pulls her light body to his. “Yenta was a good woman. She had good judgment of character. That’s why she never liked you.”

She slides her fingers up his chest. “I am much better than her. She never would have showed you true passion like I have done.” She grabs the collar of black shirt and tugs on it. “Let me help you relive those times.”

He loosens his grip on her and takes a step back. “We have business to discuss.”

Caillech’s seductive manner abruptly changes. Her eyes show frustration and annoyance. “You were always a tease, Julian.”

“You were always easy, Caledonia.”

“You did not mind before.”

“I didn’t care to know. I still don’t.”

“You make it so easy for me to contradict. You care for me.”

“I only care for myself. You should now that by now.”

“You cared for Annalisa.”

Julian narrows his eyes at her. In the matter of seconds he appears behind her. He pulls on her golden locks and holds the blade of the Katana of Selene against her throat without touching her skin. “You know what this is?”

The Goddess doesn’t cower from him. A goddess never does. Although when it comes to Julian, fear should be acknowledged.

“I do not take threats lightly.” She hisses at him.

“This is the Katana of Selene. With one touch, your soul will be handled over to Hades to be imprisoned for eternity with no escape.” He breathes in the sweet scent of fear radiating off of her. The smell is a mixture of rotten corpses and dry blood.

“I miss that smell.” He hasn’t smelt that strong scent of fear for centuries. Usually everyone that knows him fears him, but that’s not fear of hopelessness like Caledonia sends off. It must be because she is a destroyer goddess meant to destroy and not be destroyed. That’s a logical explanation.

“Julian, Dias will-”

“The God will never touch me. If he wanted me dead he wouldn’t have made me an Elim.”

“If you release me then I will honor you with one desire.”

“I need you to escort me to see Shiva and Thoth.”

“Dias will never allow you to enter the gates to the Heavens.”

“You said one desire. That’s my desire.”

“I will escort you. Now release me.” She orders.

He drops her. She presses her fingers to her throat to feel any sort of damage caused. She breathes a sigh of relief when she gets her breathing back to normal. “There.” He runs his fingers down the blade of the Katana. “The Katana is nothing to fear, Caledonia.”

“Nothing to fear? You were going to trap me with Hades for eternity.”

“I thought you and Hades had a very… tolerant relationship.” He finishes without leaving the teasing in his voice.

She crosses her arms in repugnance. “Hades had given me to Dias as a reconciliation gift. I am not a slave. I am a goddess, a destroyer goddess of the underworld. Hades and I have never been on good terms. He hates the sight of me and I want to murder him with his own scepter. Then feed him to the monsters he generates.”

“I see your anger towards Hades hasn’t faltered.”

She maintains her distance from Julian’s reach although she knows that will be useless if he decides to attack her. He has the speed of a lightning bolt. “Neither has his to you. I hear Hades wants to claim you.”

He hangs the Katana where it belongs and adjusts his black leather jacket with boredom. “He wants many things he can’t have.”

She takes a look at the wall where Julian hung the Katana. There are multiple weapons hung in place. Most of the weaponry is from a different era, but there are a few modern ones. There’s riffles, a couple of rare knifes, and an ax. The Katana is the only one that has the aura of death.

“Dias will take my godship if I let you in the Heavens.” She states without any doubt in the world.

“That’s a possibility.”

Caillech’s eyes follow his every movement. A goddess should never be helpless in front of anyone. She can’t be attacked by a fallen king again and not fight. “Why do you need to see Shiva and Thoth?” She questions him.

“My reason is a secret.”

She sighs. “You ask for more than I can give Julian. My godship is all I have left in my immortality.” There’s a sad glint to her golden eyes. She is a seductive and twisted woman, but she has reasons to be the way she is. If her godship is stripped from her then all she can ever hope for is death. There will be no use in living when no one cares for her or notices her absence in the Heavens.

He takes a challenging step towards her. “You earned your godship by sleeping around with the minor gods.” He walks around her like a predator observing its prey. Their eyes never disconnect. “You were never respected as a goddess. You were never cherished as a woman. Hades gave immortality, but didn’t want you enough to keep you in his care. You have nothing to lose. Not even your godship is actually yours.” She lowers her eyes that threaten to show all her emotions. “You’re worthless, but with all those truths of reality, I actually see you differently.”

“What? What do you mean?”

He stops right behind her. His fingers run through the smoothness of her hair that looks like gold. “I see the real you, Caledonia.” He whispers. “You’re a woman who has the creative mind to do great things.” He presses his lips to the back of her head with an amusing smirk. He lowers himself to be a breath away from her ear. “All you want is revenge on the one person who caused all your pain and sorrows.” Julian turns her around slowly. Their eyes connect. Her eyes turn soft. She may have a twisted mind, with a bipolar effect, but she’s like every woman in the world. Caillech wants to be noticeable to those around her and respected by those above her. “You escort me to the Heavens to see Shiva and Thoth. In return I will grantee you that Hades will finally notice you enough to care about your next movement. Dias and everyone else who ignored you in the Heavens will know how dangerous you can really be.” Her golden eyes brighten at the thought of being noticed. Everyone will take her seriously as a destroyer goddess. No one will see her as a minor goddess. “Isn’t that all you want, Caledonia?”

She snaps out of her thoughts. She analyzes those black eyes that manipulate her mind. Julian is a horrible man, but he always keeps his word. She cups his face with her hands in a gentle caress. Their foreheads touch. “Julian.” She whispers before she presses her lips to his. He kisses her back with the same passion he showed her before he met Annalisa, who took him away from her.

Julian’s mind runs with the possibilities. The Underworlders and its Followers worship him as a king. Now he has a goddess who lives in the Heavens on his side. He’s another step closer.

Entrapment

Miranda paces back and forth in front of Gabriel in the bedroom of his loft. Her strawberry blonde hair is up in a lose ponytail. “I can’t pretend that everything is okay. Gabriel, you know exactly what Julian is capable of.” She stops her pacing to face him. Her icy blue eyes bore into his dark blue ones to show her worry. She has a bad feeling on everything surrounding her. It’s a feeling that won’t go away. She needs to figure out what her mind is trying to analyze before it’s too late.

He smirks with amusement. “You are finally learning how to properly speak in this era.” He proudly comments.

She frowns at him with no amusement showing in her eyes. “Don’t change the subject.” Miranda fixes the fallen strap of her pink tank top.

“Julian is dangerous. I will admit that, but he will not strike against Alyssa without us knowing. We have the guard Elims surrounding her and the area she’s in. Nothing will happen to her.”

“He called on a battle against us.” She points out. “If he follows through with that he could kill one of us.” She knows it in her heart that it’s true. Julian is capable of murder and so much more. If only anyone would listen to her worries without thinking it’s just an exaggeration.

Gabriel appears before her and lays his hands on her shoulder in a gentle caress only a lover can have. She meets his eyes with a sad glint in hers. “I would never let anything happen to you, Miranda.” His words comfort her, but it isn’t enough to calm her. She can feel it in her. Nothing good can come out of this situation without stopping it before it happens.

She lowers her eyes to the floor in concentration. “I’m not afraid of dying, I already did that.” She looks up to his eyes to find any sense of regret from her comment. Like millions of times before, she doesn’t find anything in them. She ignores the falling hope she feels. “I’m afraid he will do something he will regret later. He already has done so much harm throughout the centuries without Alyssa. Now she’s involved and it’s becoming worst. He’s changing. How can I stop him from doing more damage than he already has done?”

He shakes her. To a human a shake like that would harm them, but she is stronger than humans. It’s one of the many advantages to immortality. “You’re being paranoid. You can’t continue to protect him from punishment.” He slowly raises his voice to get through to her.

“He’s my friend.” She contradicts his logic.

“Who doesn’t care to call you an enemy.” He points out in a cold voice.

She shakes her head in denial. She knows it’s true. She protects Julian from many forms of punishment that has been placed on his head, but this time is different. There are many secrets that are being revealed. The more they are revealed, the more he could lose himself in it. The more he loses himself in those secrets is when the fallen king he used to be will arise to try to claim his throne. “He’s confused.” She tries to justify the fallen king. “The king within him is rising from its grave. He’s becoming his past life.” She’s trying to make the Authority Elim see her point of view.

Gabriel shakes his head at her nonsense. He runs his fingers through his dark hair before pulling away from her. He doesn’t have time to talk about a fallen king who’s throwing a tantrum. He walks to the dresser and looks into the mirror. His dark blue eyes are such a contradiction to her icy blue ones, but they are the same color all the same. They’re just different shades. Something as simple as the color of eyes can show you the intentions of that person. He has an idea of what Miranda will do, but he will ignore his gut feeling. He doesn’t know if he should fight with her like they constantly do or give into her. Julian is dangerous, but he’s under control now. That’s all that really matters. It’s up to the God to make orders if he finds endangerment to his daughter. He sighs and grabs a clean white shirt from his redwood dresser; not bothering to listen to Miranda, knowing that what he will chose will not please her.

She throws her hands up with exaggeration. “Are you ignoring me?” Her rhetorical question fills the bedroom. She knows that he is. That is immature for him to ignore her. She’s trying to have a serious conversation that will get them somewhere close to a solution and he won’t even listen to her.

Gabriel is a man who loves confrontation, but with Miranda it’s different. He knows she has a kind heart and an attitude of a lion. The downfall of her personality is that she risks too much to protect someone who’s worthless. Julian doesn’t deserve Miranda’s help after calling her an enemy. If the God ever knew that Gabriel and Miranda have a one way connection that she is able to see through his eyes, Miranda might be stripped from her name as an Adviser Elim. If he only knew that Miranda probably tells Julian most of the decisions the God has set against him, she will be sent to the Underworld to live an eternity as a prisoner to Hades.

“Are you going to continue to ignore me like a child?” She asks him.

“I don’t know what I can tell you.” He shrugs. 

“You think I’m trying to justify him, don’t you? You know I ever have. I know when Julian does something wrong, I confront him. I never justify him.”

He turns around to face her. His cold gaze meets her challenging one. “You always do.”

“He wasn’t trying to kill Alyssa before!” She practically yells. She’s frustrated that he won’t see things her way. She has always been right before when it came to things surrounding someone getting hurt.

“He was always trying to kill her!” Gabriel yells back. “You knew that from the beginning. Your feelings toward him don’t let you see clearly of his true motives.”

She’s taken back by his outburst. She knows exactly who Julian is. She knows he’s slowly losing his control. No one will listen to her until it actually happens. It’s been happening for years. Julian has his Moments of weakness. In small amounts he will have his episodes of the king he used to be. It scares her to think that one day he can snap and lose himself to the darkness he grew up in. Gabriel and the God don’t understand that.

“I see my friend following a dark path that no one notices. I see a woman who’s in danger. I don’t know what your definition of being an Elim is, but to me it’s about helping others find light to their lives. What if it was us? Would you even care?” He just stays silent. Her eyes never leave his. She sighs and nods her head in regret. As much as she would like to have him support her she knows better than to hope for that to happen. “I will do something about it. I can’t let him harm anyone in his condition. It’s not right and neither is trapping him like a dog.” Gabriel ignores her last comment. She knows exactly the solution he’s leaning towards if Julian poses a threat. Trapping a man in the Underworld with the Lost Souls is cruel to do when Julian can’t even control his dark side. If a Lost Soul enters his body then there will truly be no chance in saving him. Realization hits her. “I know why you would want to trap him with the Lost Souls. You want him to do something, that’s why you won’t-” She takes a deep breath from all the thoughts running through her mind. “You make me sick. How can you set him up like that?”