Chapter Twenty

Daniel’s museum quickly filled to capacity as people dressed in lavish costumes but without masks came through the door single file after having shown their invitation and identification then having a metal detector passed over them to be sure no one was hiding any dangerous weapons.  The artsy-fartsy people dressed in their costumes for the night groused and bitched at the high security but most of them took it in stride knowing full well t his may be the last such gala they would attend here in the magickal kingdom of Altair Ain.  There was much buzz in the air about Calla’s paintings and the paintings of her students all of whom were in attendance this evening.  Press was kept to a minimum and forced to stay outside in a corralled area where they snapped pictures of those attending the event as they entered the museum and tried to corner the same for on-the-spot interviews.

Of course what everyone really wanted to see was Calla. The highest buzz in the room wasn’t about her paintings but about her and whether or not she would be well enough to make even a small appearance tonight. Those who knew and liked her hoped she would be while those who’d come here with an eye toward investment purposes hoped she wasn’t. 

An impeccably costumed wait staff wandered around with large round silver trays laden with finger foods ranging from miniature soufflés to rumaki and sushi.  Other trays were full of slender glasses filled with white wine.  A full buffet sat along the back wall of the middle room in the museum where guests were free to grab a plate and fill it to capacity then walk a few feet to the open bar.  None of the high-class company was having any troubles helping themselves as they commented on the artwork around them.

Part of the fun in Calla’s masquerade balls was that no one was allowed to say who they were or what they did until mid-night.  With the masks to hide their faces people were much more brazen in what they said and who they spoke to.  But not tonight, no masks on this Halloween only the lavish costumes and their accompanying wigs and accessories. An air of despair hung over the party-goers in the wake of Calla’s absence.

Daniel walked around in a daze talking to people he barely knew about artistic concepts he barely understood and, of course, informing people of Calla’s condition and how her recovery was coming along.  Wandering around among the crowd he spotted two people he didn’t think he knew, one was dressed as Rasputin of all people and the other appeared to be a younger man dressed as Tsar Nicholas.  “Interesting costumes,” Daniel commented as he walked up to them. “Very authentic.”

“Thank you,” the man dressed as Rasputin said in return.  He’d seen Daniel walk across the room from out of the corner of his eye and so was not surprised when the man spoke to them. “Where is your costume tonight?”

“Back at the house. I’m Daniel.” He held out his hand to the man with the thick Russian accent.

“Gregory,” said the man with the strange eyes and unkempt beard which Daniel could swear was real and not part of any costume.  “This is my nephew Ivan.”

“Zdravstvuyte kak dela?”

The man with the wild eyes let out a laugh. “Very good, I am fine, how are you tonight, King Daniel?”

“I’ve been better,” he admitted.  “I don’t think I know you.”

Gregory stroked his long beard. “This is our first time here.” He offered. “Would you like to see our invitations?” He reached into the long woolen coat he was wearing. A forger of great ability who was also a friend of Rasputin’s had very carefully made two invitations for them to bring tonight. Rasputin was very proud of the craftsmanship as was the forger.

“No,” Daniel managed a grin. If they’d gotten past the heavy security tonight, the last line of which was Ares himself, then they must belong here.

Rasputin let go of the fake invitations in his inner pocket and brought his hand out once more. “Ivan is an aspiring painter.” He put an arm on the very tall and young man’s shoulder. “He’s applied to Lady Calla’s school but we understand she may not be teaching come summer.”

Daniel hadn’t thought that far ahead yet but Gregory was probably right and her little art college wouldn’t be open this summer.  The young man must have a strong talent if Calla invited him here to the gala before he’d even attended school.  “We’ll have to see about that.”

Ivan spoke. “We’re holding good thoughts for her and the future of this place.”

The young man’s voice was deep and commanding. It seemed to have a familiar ring to it.  “Thank you,” Daniel stammered. “Please, have a good time.”

“We will.” Gregory said in return as he watched Daniel wander off.  Rasputin looked up at Wolfgar and gave an approving smile.  Daniel had no idea who they really were. “Good job.” He complimented on Wolfgar’s ability to disguise his magick from those around him—his own Grandfather no less!— and to keep his cool in an unexpected situation.  Earlier tonight they had wandered around Altair Ain freely with a hundred or more other outsiders. They’d met the UPs and poked around in their shops getting a good feel for the people while also obtaining a solid lay of the land. Come spring Wolfgar would be living here and they thought it important and wise to get a head start on things.  Getting near the manor house, however, was near impossible.  Beginning fifty yards from the house guards stood at regular intervals with another row some thirty yards beyond them and one more standing close to each entrance.  Without teleporting getting into the house was out of the question. That was too bad but they would enjoy the night anyway.

Daniel thought that maybe he was just off tonight but something about those two gave him the creeps and set the hairs on the back of his neck to standing on end.  Drink in hand Daniel wandered around among the guests for a little while longer.  Slowly as he looked around and looked past all of the lavish costumes his eyes began to settle on the artwork gracing the walls and he realized he hadn’t seen any of it before.  Morgan and Duncan took care of tonight’s festivities as far as guests and catering went. Colleen had been in charge of hanging the paintings and their placement on the walls.  Standing here looking at her amazing talent he realized he couldn’t remember the last time she’d presented him with a new painting, showed him her work or told him what she was working on.  Last year he’d spent six months away from home in his search for a cure for Calla and he’d missed all of this.  For a little while as he stared at a particularly dreary painting of a fading rose he wondered if Morgan wasn’t right and he should stop looking and stay home with her before he missed what little remained of her life. Daniel looked down at the card next to the painting to see Calla had entitled it “Self-Portrait”.

Daniel knew that flower and that cracked white pot with the little purple flowers painted so delicately upon it.  That rose plant grew on his balcony and Calla tended it very lovingly.  In the background of the painting Calla had captured the last of the purple light in the sky and brought its warm glow to the painted pot where the plant was dying.  There was but the single fading rose left as the light drifted from the sky, its leaves were brown and curled up at the edges as were its dying pink petals.  The head drooped forward ever so slightly as though the flower was tired and ready for a long nap. The rose in the painting may be dying but Daniel knew that spring would come soon enough and it would bud and be beautiful once more.  So would she.  Those around him who would tell him to stay at home just didn’t understand how important his mission was.  He turned to walk away from the painting and go on to the next.

“I like that one.”  Someone, a man, said from behind him.  “It must be just how she feels right now.”

Daniel stopped but didn’t turn around.

“Yes,” someone else, a woman, agreed.  “I think I’ll bid on this one.”

“No, I’m going to bid on it.” Argued the man. “You know this time next year it could be worth a bloody fortune.”  He lowered his voice. “Did you see that Michael D’Angelo is here? He’s going to gobble everything he can get his hands on and put it in Hartley’s collection.”

That was news to Daniel.  Someone from Hartley’s estate was snooping around. Even in death that son of a bitch just wouldn’t go away. The great majority of Calla’s paintings were in private hands very few of them hung in museums or galleries just yet but they would in the future.  She never allowed prints to be made of her work. There was only the original oil painting photographic copies were allowed only for educational purposes in text books.  That made the value of her work skyrocket.

“D’Angelo’s not going to get it,” the woman said. “I am and you’re right, when she dies which no doubt will be soon it’s going to be worth a lot of money.”

“Yes. It’s a shame, isn’t it? She was so beautiful once and now look at her; sitting in a diaper full of her own excrement and drooling on herself.”

In the bedroom Calla started to moan as she listened to the couple talk and her eyes welled with tears. Were they all just waiting for her to die? Vultures!

“It’s ok, Sunshine. You’re not gonna leave us any time soon.”  David pulled her a little closer wishing he could go down there and punch that chubby socialite in her botoxed mouth.  He didn’t have to. “Hey look.”

“Excuse me,” Daniel said as he turned around and got his first look at the couple dressed as Napoleon and Josephine.  “I think you should leave now.”  Across the room he caught Ares’ eye and motioned for the Big Man to come over.   Perplexed at being beckoned Ares excused himself from the conversation he was holding with two lovely ladies. “These two were just leaving, would you show them to the door please?”

Ares didn’t know what they did but from the looks on their faces they were very surprised as being asked to leave. He gestured toward the way out with a large hand. “If you’ll follow me, please.” He said in a tone that was more than mere suggestion.

“We’ve never been treated so rudely!” The woman protested with her hands on her ample hips. “Do you know who we are?”

“More importantly,” Daniel said with a smile, “do you know who I am?”

That shut her up.  Yes, he knew exactly who they were and was very glad to be rid of them when they stormed off with Ares close behind them making sure they found the door and were unable to find their way back through it.  They had been friends of dear old Andrew Hartley and Daniel had seen them at several of Calla’s events. They were Jean Robert Francois and Michelle Le Grande, two of the art world’s more famous dealers and collectors.  Well they wouldn’t be taking home a Calla Jackson tonight and neither would D’Angelo if Daniel could find him in the crowd.

“See there, Sunshine, they took care of it.” David soothed as she trembled next to him and shook her befuddled head.  “It’s ok.”

It wasn’t ok! It wasn’t going to be ok!  They may have been unintentionally cruel but they were also right. She had been brilliant and vibrant, even beautiful, once upon a time but no longer. Calla did her best to turn away from him but the braces wouldn’t let her roll over onto her right side.

“Don’t listen to them, gurl, they’re just talkin’ out their asses. They don’t know you, they don’t know how strong you are.” David encouraged as he rubbed her back. “I know it don’t seem like it right now but you’re gonna beat this. You’re gonna walk and talk and dance again.”

Calla wished she could be as sure of those things as he seemed to be. They seemed so long ago and far away now. As though she’d never get them back if she’d ever had them at all.

It didn’t take Daniel very long to find D’Angelo who was also ejected from the gala much to his displeasure. Daniel told him there had been some oversight in inviting him and anyone who still had anything to do with Andrew Hartley’s affairs was not welcome to Altair Ain.  Ares was only to happy to act as bouncer for anyone Daniel wanted to throw out he thought holding the gala was a lousy idea to begin with. After that Daniel found Colleen and told her that the painting entitled ‘Self-Portrait’ wasn’t for sale and she was to take it down and remove it from the auction.

“No, Dad, it was with her paintings, I swear it was.” Coley said as she stood there in a golden gown and black wig all done up like Cleopatra.  “She wanted to sell it.”

“Yeah, well I don’t. Take it down.”  He turned to walk away but then turned back. “How old is that painting? It doesn’t have a date on it.”

Colleen remembered seeing her Mother paint that picture and how she and Paddy went out that night while Mom took care of the kids.  “Five years give or take.” She said with a shrug.  “If you want me to put it away I will, Dad.”

“Please.” Daniel said in a calmer voice. “I’d appreciate it.”

Just before the auction kicked off at midnight an unexpected visitor arrived who made Daniel’s blood run cold on first sight. “What are you doing here?” Daniel hissed at Hades as he got the God of Death in a corner.

“Relax, my King. I’m not here for Calla.” Hades said as easily as he could. “This is my night, you know that. I am here for the festivities.”

That much was true, Calla did hold the ball on Halloween expressly so that Hades could attend.  It was the one night a year Hades could walk around the Upperworld without killing anyone by touching them or looking at them cross. Since he was here, Daniel thought it a good time to keep him cornered and get some answers.  He asked point blank if Calla had, indeed, been Guinevere in her past life.

“I can’t tell you.” Hades said with a shake of his dark head. “No one is to know their past in that way.  Why does it interest you so?”

“Don’t play games with me just answer me.” Daniel demanded. “As you pointed out I am your King, I will order you to tell me if I have to.”

“Still you search for a way to keep her from me, why?” Hades asked with all sincerity. “I have no plans to harm her in fact I have a beautiful cabin for her in the Elysian Fields, she is sure to love it. It’s very peaceful and serene, she can even have a garden if she likes and….”

“Jesus H. Christ!” Daniel tried to keep his voice down. “You talk about it like she’s going off on some friggin’ vacation! She’s going to die!”

“All souls die,” Hades reminded him as gently as he could, “Calla is no different and neither are you. You can visit with her as often as you like until she is ready to be reborn…”

“Yeah, that’s the problem.” Daniel hissed so those around him couldn’t hear. He was unaware of the camera with its microphone not four feet away.  “She isn’t going to be reborn this time.”  If she was and if he could just go and visit her as often as he liked while she rested in the Elysian Fields then maybe he wouldn’t have such a problem letting her go. However, that wasn’t the way this was going to play out. Even if that wasn’t so he still wouldn’t like it. The Underworld was a different place, a place where he could go visit her if she wasn’t damned but he could never again touch her, kiss her or feel her body close to his. Never again wake up to her beautiful face as she smiled and said; ‘Good morning, my love.’  Visiting would be sheer torture under those circumstances.

“What are you talking about? Of course she will be.”

Daniel took a step back and narrowed his eyes on Hades. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

The sight of the two with their heads to close together and speaking in such low whispers drew Ares’ attention and he wandered over to where they were talking.

“She isn’t going to the Elysian Fields, Hades. Calla is damned. I’m not going to stand here and watch her die so she can suffer an eternity in Tartarus!”

Hades mouth dropped open and he held a hand to his heart. “No, that can’t be true. How would you know this?” Even Hades, the God of Death and the Underworld, didn’t know Calla’s ultimate fate.

“Yes, Daniel, how would you know this?” Ares asked as he joined the conversation. “I don’t believe it.”

Daniel told of how he’d come upon the Judges so many years ago when he chased after Calla to retrieve her from the Underworld. “If you don’t believe me, go to the Dividing Road and ask the Judges yourself.” Daniel dared.  “There has got to be a way to save her.  If she was Guinevere and I was Arthur…” he started to babble as the thoughts jumped around in his head and he knew he wasn’t making much sense so he cut to the chase. “Father, Brother, Husband, Lover. Me, David….” Daniel looked over and up at Ares with a glare of disbelief, “him…and?...come on fill in the blank for me I have to find the fourth man…now who is it?”

Hades didn’t answer right away.  Instead he closed his dark eyes and let out a groan as though he’d been kicked in the gut. It was true and it could not be undone.  So long ago he’d forgotten the reason Aphrodite came to live with him. Calla had only been a child; innocent with no malice or intent.

“Why should she be damned?” Ares asked hotly. “What has she done to deserve such harsh punishment?”

“She killed her Mother,” Daniel said through gritted teeth. “Nothing she’s done after that seems to count.”

Ares stood there dumbfounded trying to comprehend that Calla had once been his lovely Guinevere.  Was that part of why he always felt so drawn to her?  He had loved Guinevere so.  Ares would have married her, would have given Guinevere his heart, his soul and all that he had if she would have only stayed with him.  She felt so guilty for betraying Arthur that she couldn’t stand to look at Ares. If Daniel had been Arthur then he was always standing in Ares’ way. “If that’s true, then it is only karmic revenge,” Ares offered in Calla’s defense, “if she was Guinevere then she had every right to kill Aphrodite who once killed her.” He tried to hold back the roar that his voice wanted to become. “Hades! Do something!”

Still deep in thought Hades looked at each of them in turn. “What makes you so sure about David? Just because he’s your brother?”

“Eros was Calla’s Brother.” Ares interjected. “We all know he’s dead.”

“Very much so.” Hades said in a thoughtful tone.

If it wasn’t David then who else?  “It’s David,” Daniel said in a strong voice, “it has to be David not because he’s my brother but because he’s her Lover in this lifetime.”

Ares thought he was just as likely to fall into that category given his night on the beach with Calla and the way they felt about each other deep down.  “You still let him into your bed? Even though she is bound to you once more? What kind of Husband are you?” Daniel refused to answer his Father in-law. Then again he didn’t have to. Ares was there on Poker Night when David crawled into bed with Calla.  He would have sworn they’d done nothing other than sleep.

“I will ask the Judges what her Fate is but first tell me, what will you do when you find these mysterious men of yours?” Hades inquired. “The four of you are going to jump into bed with her? Like you did with David, huh? You’d subject a frail old woman to that?  You think some passionate round of group sex will keep her from the Underworld?”  He looked up at Ares and held back the laugh. “More than anything else, I can hardly believe you’d share a bed with him, Daniel.”

“If it saves her life I’ll share the bed with Satan himself.” Daniel countered and sharing with Ares was certainly close enough in Daniel’s book. Still, if Ares was no longer capable of making love to her—or any woman for that matter—what was the point in keeping him in the equation? What good would he be to her if all of them were to make love to her?

“But will she?  That’s the real question, my King.” There were laws and rules most of which carried swift and severe consequences if broker or even bent.  Hades to be sure before he told Daniel who the two men were that he was seeking. “If you’ll excuse me I’ll speak with the Judges now but then I want to visit with my niece.”

“You’re more perverse than I ever thought,” Ares said to Daniel as they watched Hades make his way toward the exit. “I won’t take part in this,” Ares said without looking at him. “If you’ve got that in mind you can count me out, Daniel, not even if you order me as my King will I do it.  She is too fragile for such things and I won’t humiliate her like that. She deserves better.”  It was Ares turn to walk away leaving Daniel standing there alone near the microphone.

“Oh yes you will,” Daniel muttered more to himself than anyone else. Funny, Ares hadn’t protested that he couldn’t take part, didn’t say the he didn’t have the proper equipment any longer.  Daniel didn’t have to wonder why that was as he slumped against the wall still holding a slender champagne glass in one hand.  Even on the very top of Mount Cernunnous Daniel felt Ares’ lust and his passion though he’d hoped it was Nick and Annie he was in tune with.  Standing there alone amongst the hundreds of party-goers he understood that Calla had repaired Ares and probably long ago at that. Sex was like breathing to Ares and she’d never leave him that way not if there was something she could do about it even if it took her last ounce of magick.  As for why he hadn’t been let in on the little secret that was obvious; Calla had never been as close with Ares as she had been over these last few years.  She loved him, hell part of her was in love with him and it always would be Daniel came to accept that a long time ago even though he didn’t like it. However, the larger part of her just wanted to be Ares’ Daughter to be loved by him as her Father and to be close to him.  Ares’ dick was the only thing that truly stood in the way of that so if everyone thought he didn’t have it any longer then Calla and Ares would be left alone and no longer upon with suspicion and distrust.  Did he think she’d been unfaithful with Ares?  Not for a minute.  Taking down the last of the warming champagne in his glass Daniel looked up. “What the?”  Was that a camera?  He looked around the main room of the museum and saw the larger cameras in every corner the ones which were hooked up to the security system but this wasn’t one of those.  Almost instinctively he reached out and waved a hand past the lens.  A closer inspection showed him the microphone.  David.  He must have put this here so that Calla could watch the party from their bedroom.  “Oh fuck,” he mumbled under his breath knowing Calla saw and heard everything.

The cell phone in his pocket let out a little blip-sound indicating he had a new text message at first he thought it was probably from Calla who couldn’t talk but could text quite well.  Then he heard the sound of another cell-phone going off and then another. Daniel looked around to see Annie searching in her purse for her phone while Morgan did the same.  “What’s going on?” Daniel said angrily and pulled the phone from his pocket to see he had a text message from Sam.  It was only two words but they were two words that made his ailing heart soar; It Works!

Altair Ain had a future even if Calla didn’t.

End of Chapter Twenty of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
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Chapter Twenty-One