Chapter 7

Thea returned to her office after finally finishing her very long meeting with Darius. Several new tasks in hand, she prayed everything was up and running in her office. But mostly, she hoped there was a cold soda and snack waiting for her, she was starving.

As she approached Celia, she couldn’t help but smile as she was handed just the soda and snack she needed. “You know, it really is wonderful how that connection of yours works.”

“Isn’t it though. Everything in your office is ready and waiting for you. Marcus just called and asked to sit down with you this afternoon,” Celia smiled.

“That’s fine. It looks like I’ll be eating lunch at my desk today. Darius is having me jump back in full force so his list of tasks for me is long and of course urgent. I want to get as much done before I get tied up with Marcus and Keyx, the new investigator working with Marcus.”

“Ok, I’ll call Liam and have him whip up something for you. When did Marcus get a new investigator?”

“Today,” Thea replied. “He’s from one of the smaller offices in Athens. He was a hottie and quite the gentleman.”

“He was the hot guy from the airport?”

“Yup, that was a pleasant surprise.” Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she handed it to her, “Can you take care of this for me? Unless the world is coming to a fiery end and I need to duck and cover under my desk so that only my ass is burnt, I don’t want to be bothered until either food or they arrive.”

“And if Darius calls?”

“Feel free to quote me. His reaction should be quite entertaining. Beyond that I leave to your fine judgment,” she answered as she headed into her office.

Celia couldn’t help but laugh as she sat down at her desk. A few minutes later, Celia cringed at the emotions she felt and swear words she heard coming from Thea. Just as she got up to help, Thea came out of her office.

“I’m going to the archives. While I’m gone, call IT and tell them to disconnect my link to the archives until it actually works. Seriously, how hard is it to get a program they’ve been working on for years to actually work. ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ is not a book about the Assyrians no matter how hard they try to think it is...” On and on she muttered as she walked away from Celia’s desk and headed to the archives.

As Thea stomped ever closer to the archives department, she didn’t notice Marcus walking towards her with Keyx in tow, in part due to her continued ranting. “Wait till I see Ryan! Doesn’t he realize I’ve enough to deal with from Darius crawling up my butt without the IT Department causing me more issues? Now I have to go see the crazy koots in Archives...”

“Crap! Duck your head so she doesn’t see us,” Marcus whispered to Keyx.

Keyx, after ducking his head, continued watching the irate little lady with bright pink hair wildly open a pair of double doors and continue her tirade inside as the doors closed behind her.

“Phew, ok she’s gone. It’s never wise to interact with Thea when she’s on a tirade,” Marcus exclaimed, rushing them down the hall.

“Why is that?”

“Theanna Daniels is one of the more eccentric Mythics here. She is also one of the very few clearance level 9’s and she just happens to be best friends with Kira Brown, my girlfriend. When she’s low on caffeine or on a tirade she scares even the Centurions,” Marcus explained as they rounded a corner and headed back to their offices.

“You mentioned before that Innara is her grandmother. How is she connected to Prince Damian?” Keyx asked.

“Let’s sit down in my office and I’ll explain what I know.” After they had gotten comfortable he continued, “Thea is a Linguist and Cypher and a Mythic with a very powerful lineage. She is part Celestian, part Daemoni, part Illuminare and part human.

“When she was being summoned you may have noticed her Daemoni horns. They’re linked to her emotions. The darker the emotion, the longer the horns, and the closer to the surface her Daemoni side is. When the full Daemoness emerges, she becomes Nihasia. I’ve only heard of that happening once, before my start here, but from the reports I’ve read, it seems that as Nihasia she’s even more powerful than Innara.”

“Wait... Nihasia... you mean the Daemoness that destroyed a realm of hell because they tried to attack her? That Nihasia?”

“Yeah. That Nihasia. She didn’t just destroy it. She consumed every soul inside it and then devoured Prince Azorack for fun.”

“Wow! Ok... so if Innara is her grandmother then that accounts for the Daemoni side. Before you mentioned she was also part Celestian. Does that mean that Darius is a Celestian?”

“It does indeed. Celestian and Illuminare. Let me see if I can remember this right... Thea’s great-grandmother is Gaia the Goddess, who is mother to Darius. His father, it is said, was a member of the Illuminare elite. We know very little about the Illuminare due to their extreme secrecy and desire to keep to themselves but I’ve heard rumor that his father was Lord Uriel himself.

“Darius then fathered Nira, Thea’s mother, with a human. Thea’s father, Mikael, was the only son of Innara, the High Daemoni Queen and of Lucifer, the Dark Lord. Mikael was known as the Cursed One until Nira saved him. They fell in love and had Thea. When Mikael was released from his curse Innara wanted nothing to do with him. This is where it gets crazy. Innara was also Mordecai’s lover. Unfortunately, Nira and Mikael were killed when Thea was quite young, by Mordecai, who was Darius’ twin brother.”

“Dang! This sounds like one of those crazy dramas my mother watches all the time. Ok, what is Prince Damian’s connection to Thea?” Keyx asked.

“His connection to Thea is also quite complicated. They were betrothed before she was born. Are they currently a couple or even friends? I honestly don’t know. They had a major falling out over a year ago but the details were kept very quiet,” Marcus shrugged. “Now I’m starving, how about we grab some lunch in the café and prepare for our meeting with Thea?”

“That works,” Keyx smiled, his mind on the lady with pink hair, beautiful smile, and immense family insanity.