Chapter Eight

Vanth had been standing outside the door waiting for a good chance to enter with out startling either of her guests.

She covered her mouth trying not to laugh as she heard Lydia's yelled question.

Oh Betel, a way with words you don't have, she thought to herself.

She figured that she'd be nice and give Betel a break and stepped into the room wanting to check and see how the girl was now that she was awake.

Stepping into the room she waved her hand conjuring up a tea set, with steaming hot water and a selection of tea. "I thought that a bit of tea would be helpful while talking." She said watching the two of them.

Betelgeuse stood up and took the tray from Vanth. "Thanks Vanny… just was trying to explain things" he said a bit irritated that they were interrupted. But he had been fucking up things as usual, maybe it was a good thing she was there.

"Just was telling Lyd's about the whole bond thing."

Vanth nodded and looked over at the girl who still had a look of shock on her face. "Finding your bond mate is something very rare Betel."

Lydia looked between the two of them. "Wait, what is a bond… and a bond mate, I thought we were talking about marriage?" she was getting frustrated and the exhaustion was still taking a toll on her from her stay at the hospital. "Forget that, who are you and where am I?"

Betelgeuse glared at Vanth. "I was gettin' there before you had to butt your leather tits into the conversation." He muttered and turned back to Lydia. "Lyd's… this is Vanth. Gate Keeper to the underworld, Winged Demoness of Death, yada yada yada…" he trailed off and busied himself with making Lydia a cup of tea.

Lydia looked at the woman… demoness and tipped her head to the side slightly as she studied her. She had a leather breast plate on and no shirt, and a leather skirt that looked to be made from various furs. For a winged Demoness she was lacking in the wings department. She looked a the demon a bit puzzled by that. "Where are your wings?"

Vanth laughed softly and turned, her wings shimmering into view. "They are a pain in the ass if I leave them out all the time, think a cat and how its tail is and put two of them on your back." She smiled softly. "It's nice to meet you darling. I promise that you are safe here. No one can come in without me or Betel bringing them in." she assured her.

Lydia looked over at Betelgeuse and could see that he had changed since the last time that she had seen him. "Thank you both, I don't think that I would have lasted much longer there… I just, I don't know what's going on, why this happened." She said her voice dropping down into a whisper.

Betelgeuse sighed and looked at Vanth nodding at the door. This was something that he needed to tell her. He didn't think that she would take it all that great had it come from someone else.

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Vanth slipped out of the room shutting the door behind her. She headed for her office and sighed realizing that once again Semyaza was sitting there. "Do you want him to find you here? He wasn't happy to know you'd been here." She snapped out knowing that it would be any time now that those two would come to blows… and she would prefer her sanctum to remain in one piece.

Semyaza flipped through the book in his hands and looked at Vanth. "Don't you find it curious that she is having no issues being here in underworld." He asked curiously.

Vanth shook her head. "Not really, she's an awakening Necromancer, she shouldn't have any problems going from this plane to the one of the living."

Semyaza grinned his eyes dark as they sparkled with something in the hidden depths. "Oh, but Vanth, there is something so much more to it than that." He stood up and moved toward her. "You were just in the room with her and yet I can smell her power all over you, because she doesn't know how to pull it back, hide it…. Do you know who else has to do that?" he said nearly backing her into the wall.

Vanth reached out and put her hand to Semyaza's chest and held him there. "I don't know what you are talking about, but if you keep it up then Betel will know you are here." She said putting on a false bravado.

Semyaza wanted to rip his hair out. "You aren't getting it! That girl is not fully human! And it has nothing to do with her bloodline of Astarte." He growled. "You find out who that girl's father is before it comes back to bite us all in the fucking ass." He said and then with a frustrated growl slammed his hand against the wall before he disappeared.

Vanth slid down the wall trembling, hating herself for how weak that had made her feel. She needed to talk to Betelgeuse and find out what was going on.

hr

Betelgeuse brought over the cup of tea and handed it gently to Lydia as she sat up slowly in the bed more. "Look, I know there is a lot we have to talk about and there is going to be names thrown and probably books at my head… but one thing you gotta know babes, ain't nothing and no one gonna hurt you again."

He sat down in the chair he had been in the last day and a half and waited to see what she would do. He was so used to seeing her so vibrant with life, but now she was so thin, pale and lifeless. When he got his hands on those mother fucking Arch's they'd feel just how powerful he was.

It had taken him unleashing his energy against Azrael and Daniel to realize that his powers hadn't been bound, he had just forgotten how to use them properly. He'd been so used to siphoning them around the bindings that he had forgotten what it felt like to do it right.

Lydia watched Betelgeuse as she slowly sipped her tea, it was fixed just how she liked it and it made her wonder again, how much he had paid attention to her all those years before. "What's the difference." She asked finally breaking the silence.

"Difference in what babes?"

"Being married and being bonded." She said sipping her tea again her eyes never waivering from Betelgeuse's face.

Betelgeuse lifted his foot up crossing his ankle over his knee. " Marriage is for breathers… what we have… kind of goes beyond that. Its exactly what you think… we are connected together for eternity." He reached out and touched her letting his energy flow to her. "I can give you a bit of a boost… and you being bonded to me gives me a boost as well." He said.

Lydia narrowed her eyes at the feel of the soft warmth flowing through her fingers and up her arm. It felt like a warm fire on a cold day, soothing and seeping into her skin. "What kind of boost for you, does that mean that you aren't bound anymore… what about the thing on your name?"

Betelgeuse grinned his eyes sparking with mischief. "You can say my name as many times as you want to babes, I'm not going anywhere." He snapped his fingers and a steaming bowl of hot soup and fresh bread appeared on the tray. "Can you try and eat for me while I tell you what all has been going on."

Lydia could smell the soup; it was a rich chicken soup that had her mouth watering. She tore a piece of the bread off and let it soak up the broth before slowly taking a bite. It had been weeks since she'd had something that wasn't bland, boiled and over cooked. She savored the bite and closed her eyes as she chewed the bread slowly.

Watching Lydia eat shouldn't be as interesting as it was for Betelgeuse but for some reason, watching the life come back into her eyes, her cheeks getting a bit more color had him wanting to bring her everything and anything that she wanted. Just to see her getting back to a fraction of her old self. He wasn't going to answer her question about what kind of boost he got from the bond... just yet. It was something that would be answered when there wasn't so much distance between them.

"There are some books there, for you to go over when you are done eating and up for some book work." He said slowly trying to formulate in his head how to bring this up. "Back at the beginning times… things were a lot different. Archangels were known for fucking women and killing any children they had with them."

"Sometimes, the women would slip from their thrall and have the children alone, or they'd leave'm with another family to raise. But the thing is, having an Arch as a father… or even a Fallen as a father." He stopped seeing the confused look on Lydia's face. "Archangel or a Fallen Angel." He added for her understanding.

"Having either of them for a father meant that when that kid died, they didn't go on to the underworld like all other humans do…no, they get a life of immortality as a Demon, depending on how powerful the daddy is where they end up on the totem pole." He sighed. "But here is the tricky thing right, sometimes… something happens to throw fuck all over the rules. Purah, was a fallen angel who fell in love with a mortal woman, they had a daughter named Astarte." He stopped when he saw a far away look in Lydia's eyes.

Lydia felt like her world was closing in around her. She knew this story. Her mother had told her it when she was little. Telling her it was important for her to know it, to tell her daughter when it came time. She picked up the story where Betelgeuse left off. "Purah, who was the fallen angel of forgetfulness and conjuring the dead, loved his daughter and in her life gave her the gift of his magic. She is the mother of the arts, passed on from mother to daughter, line unbroken." She whispered and looked up at Betelgeuse.

"My mother… she told me that story when I was little. Told me it was important to remember it. I'd forgotten." She whispered.

Betelgeuse clench his jaw as he watched the uncertainty flash over Lydia's face. "Your mom was right. Not so much a story though." He said and cleared his throat. "You, are the last of the line, that bloodline that she has passed on." He watched her closely. "That's your birthright Lyd's." he said and reached out brushing his hand over the back of hers just to let her feel the bond, to know he was there.

Lydia's mouth was dry as she felt the surge of energy wash over her from Betelgeuse's touch. "Is it why the Archangels wanted me dead?" she whispered.

Betelgeuse nodded grimly. "Once you turn 18, you'll have your what they call 'awakening'. You'll come into your powers and begin to learn how to control them."

Lydia frowned again, it didn't make any sense… she didn't have any powers. She couldn't do anything to harm the Archangels, why would they want her out of the way? "What powers?" she asked her voice barely breaking a whisper. "What do they have to fear from me?"

Betelgeuse leaned back and looked at Lydia watching as she almost turned in on herself. "Think about it Lyds, you ain't no fucking slacker in the brains department. You know. If your momma taught you about Astarte's story. She told you more… think about it."

Lydia wanted to throw her soup at him but she held onto it instead. It was still steaming warm, the smell still enticing her to eat. But she had to know what was going on. She closed her eyes trying to remember everything that her mother had told her.

The whispered lessons of her childhood.

Cloaked in secrecy and fantasy… at least she had thought it to be fantasy at the time.

"Conjuring the dead… passed on from her father, to be passed on from mother to daughter." She opened her eyes and looked at Betelgeuse wanting to be wrong.

"Necromancy."

Betelgeuse grinned and clapped his hands.

"Bingo babes, you got it in one." His eyes held a darkness to them now that she hadn't seen before, but she found that still she wasn't afraid.

"Why do they want me dead." She asked needing that last piece of the puzzle for it to all make sense.

"What does one power player do when another equally powerful player suddenly comes onto the field and changes all the rules?" he asked watching her intently.

"Takes out the competition before they lose their power of course. And you my dear sweat Lydia… you are heads above the rest of the players and ready to burn the fucking rules to the ground."

Lydia could feel the shiver slip up her spine at his words. She should be telling him that he was wrong, but she knew deep down that he wasn't. She'd been told since she was a child old enough to remember that she would change the world.

Now she knew why.

She nodded once her jaw clenched in determination.

"Then I better make sure that I know everything before my birthday, then right?"

Betelgeuse let a slow smirk slip over his face as he leaned back in the chair watching the way that the acceptance had just rolled right over her, everything about her seemed to shift and he knew that this was just the beginning.

"I'll be right there by your side babes, till the end of time"