Nelly's loud screams jolted the man from his reverie. The long distant look on his face was now replaced with a blank one. He sighed and sat in a relaxed position, leisurely staring at the girl now talking to her mother whom had just arrived to pick her up. His gaze followed as the woman walked Nelly to a blue car and soon drove away. Soon after, someone materialized himself and sat next to the man with a funny grin over his face.
"Geez, I thought they'd never leave." The newly arrived man spoke.
"How many times must I tell you to quit showing up like that. Someone might see you one of these days." Heracles sounded annoyed as he said this.
"They can see me, what do I care?" The man shrugged. "The girl is actually fun to watch. No wonder you seem to enjoy spending your boring hours watching her." He smirked, brought out a dagger with a white handkerchief and began to wipe it clean. "I must say, you look terrible by the way." He teased.
"You going on a hunt?" Heracles questioned when he noticed the dagger and ignored the man's mockery.
"Yep. Those bloody wretched demons sometimes escape the underworld. I don't know how the portal opened a bit but it seems someone or something has greater control over it than the hell keeper himself."
"What happened to Cerberus?"
"He's struggling with something of his own. I'm suspecting it's the reason he's struggling with keeping those bloody creatures under control."
"So you go round haunting them down."
"Mostly. I send them back where they came from unless one poses difficult to corporate with." The man grinned in mischief.
"I see." Heracles nodded thoughtfully. "Any news?"
The man pushed the dagger into his pocket and turned to Heracles with an strange look on his face. "Is it time for Eliot's awakening yet?"
Heracles frowned. "I suppose so."
"You'd be shock to hear something I found out about the girl and I'm convinced it's the reason she's connected to Eliot's awakening. Heracles turned to the man in a questioning manner.
"I asked the teller of secrets to look into the family's background of Nelly and found out she was not exactly the daughter of Jezebel and Wren." Heracles gasped.
"How's that possible?"
The man looked around for a moment and whispered, "Jezebel met a fellow by the name Helga years back. She was on the verge of birth but was not in the right frame of mind. The teller of secrets would not tell me anything more about her but I did a few digging myself. Helga was said to be violated by a lesser god whose identity I could not find and ever since she conceived his child, she had partially lost her sanity. I don't know how Jezebel chanced upon the woman but she helped her until she gave birth. It was rather unfortunate Helga died right after birth and Jezebel and Wren took the child in as their own. That explains why Nelly has that ginger hair contrary to the couple." The man paused, allowing the new revelation to sink into Heracles' mind. He continued. "From the ancient book of spells, I found that if a person was cast into a crystal, someone of the bloodline of a god can set the person free. Heracles, Helga was human. This means Nelly is part human and part goddess but I don't understand how that child can free Eliot. The white fae queen herself cast the spell. The child is not strong enough to pull such a feat and I doubt she has even unleashed her skills yet." Silence soon fell upon them with Heracles staring far into space. It was all making sense to him now yet a few pieces could not fit into place.
"So you are saying the kid cannot free Eliot, then what about Asmo's vision?"
"I don't know." The man shrugged and leaned back on his elbow. Time seemed to pass slowly with Heracles' mind wondering off to many places.
This was indeed a big revelation to him. He turned to the man, "Illyas, I feel there are things Asmodeus might not be telling me. For all I know, his only goal now is to leave his son to his fate. Which is death."
"Really?" The man by the name Illyas questioned with amusement sounding in his voice but Heracles only wore a serious look and ignored him.
"Henceforth, you'll be my eyes. I want you to look into the future and tell me everything you see. I need to know why Balam wants to marry Tezznin. Something does not feel right."
"You know I don't do that anymore. Willingly looking into the future comes with a prize. An equivalent exchange that may alter what happens. I don't want to be mixed up with that boy." Illyas explained with finality sounding in his voice.
"But you have already gotten yourself into this by getting me dopes on the girl."
"That's different. As I said, I don't want to be mixed up in this. I'm sorry but I have haunts to go on."Illyas said and soon disappeared before Heracles could protest.
...
"Tezznin." Gaia called. Tezznin rushed to the kitchen where Gaia was busily cooking. The woman turned to the door and wiped away the beads of sweat on her forehead with a small towel as she smiled widely at her daughter. "Tezznin dear, mama is sorry, but she just realized she's run out of eggs and you know, today's meal is very special. Could you get some for her?" Tezznin stared blankly at the woman and wondered why she was referring to herself in the third person. She shook her head slightly with a slight smile and nodded in affirmation. "Here." Gaia said and dropped some notes in her palm.
Once Tezznin had bought the eggs, she started for the exit. She hummed a tune as she clutched the eggs in one hand and tried to open the door with the other, but, someone from nowhere suddenly bumped into her as she pulled the door open. Having lost her balance, she found herself falling back clumsily. Her eyes abruptly darted about and fell on the eggs that laid broken on the floor. Time seemed to suddenly stand still with her mouth left agape. Her mind had immediately gone blank and it was only a matter of time before her mind would fully register everything and snap at whoever bumped into her. Her eyes travelled from the view of devastation to the person and met with a view of a very good-looking man in black suit staring down at her apologetically. She found herself staring sheepishly at him.
"I'm sorry my lady, I didn't see you there. How much did you buy it miss? Let me pay you back." The man who was like an angel in her eyes said while he offered his hand to her to help her up. Tezznin took his hand steadily, rose but all her mind could register at that moment was how breathtaking he was, and nothing he said sank into her frozen mind.
"Miss, miss." The man spoke again in a very gentle voice. Tezznin forcefully shook herself from her trance and parted her lips to say something when from the corners of her eyes; she spotted another man walking towards them. Her mouth dropped to the floor. If she ever thought the man before her was beautiful then his beauty suddenly paled in comparison to the one coming. Her line of sight trailed after a tall, fully bodied figure nearing them in a fluid rhythm. She was thrown aback even more now as she realized that the closer he got, the more alluring he look. She drooled over the creature and suddenly felt hot and sweaty. Gosh, she wanted to instantly melt.
"Blake… What's going on here?" A slightly deep and masculine voice sounded in her ears. Her silly gaze was upon the new man now. How could a man be this gorgeous and those long lashes and sensual lips of his made his looks more arresting. She felt like suddenly jumping into his arms to have a feel of the warmth of his longs arms around her with her head probably resting on his broad chest that promised the comfort of a lifetime.
In her state of fantasizing things, she had not realized when the other man explained things to the new man. Apparently, her senses were all blocked out that she could not make out anything going on around her. The new man turned to her.
"Tezznin Empusa. I must say I'm actually very pleased to meet you in person though not under such circumstance." He said, flashing the girl a heart-melting smile. "I do apologize for my driver's mistake though and certainly promise to replace the eggs for you." He added.
Having lost her voice, Tezznin parted her dry lips and forced herself to say something. "You know me?" She could not believe her ears at the mention of her name. The man chuckled.
"Yeah. Vincent Empusa's daughter, who doesn't know you? I'm Balam by the way." He introduced and pushed his hand forward for a handshake. Tezznin stared down at his hand for a moment and shook his with a light blush over her cheeks. "I would have loved to have a chat with you but I really have some place to be. Oh and I would see to it that Blake gets you your eggs."
The man whom had just introduced himself as Balam said, walking off to a fancy black car with Blake trailing behind him. Tezznin'z gaze lingered on them as they sat in the car and disappeared off into the distance and then she snapped. Her eggs, what was she to tell Gaia? That some beautiful creature broke all of them and went away. She froze.
Tezznin made her way to the house not exactly sure what to tell her mother. She walked to the kitchen where the sweet aroma of the soup her mother was preparing wafted through her nostrils. Gaia turned to pick up a tray when her eyes fell on Tezznin by the door.
"Oh dear, I'm glad you are here. Do go to your room now and change into the dress your father has got for you." Gaia instructed.
"Mom, what's so special about today? Are we having guests?"
"Oh yes. Now don't you bother yourself so much about this and do as I have told you." The girl stared for a while at the woman and sighed.
"Where's Kyle?"
"Probably with his old man doing something." Her mother shrugged and went on to continue with her cooking.