Inkwell Ch. 07

"Because I have bonded with so many the secrets hidden among them are being revealed to me." He said.

"Yes. You are a clever guardian." She said.

"I probably would have figured that out for myself later so no harm right?" He said.

"Yes." Clotho said in amazement.

He walked to the counter, picked up the vinegar bottle with the imp in it and headed it to her. Nemeses looked at him with disgust and Clotho with confusion. Anthony and Ducici walked in coming to a halt. Clotho looked at them and at Estephan. She gave him a wink and grabbed Nemeses by the arm and faded away with the winged warrioress.

"Guardian, you want to clue in use minions." Galenee said.

"Perhaps I can help." Ishara said.

"You're the child of one of the Muses." Estephan said flatly.

The room went so quiet he could hear the radio in his neighbor's apartment. He walked to the loveseat and sat down. Grainger was the first to move. He walked to Ishara's side as if he had always been there. The bonds between them went beyond ones he had placed.

"When did you know?" Grainger asked.

"When you started spouting off about Lucifer." He said. "She wasn't surprised, she wanted to beat the shit out of you. That and how many detectives can just drop everything and take a weekend off with little to no notice?"

"You mad at me?" Ishara asked.

"For keeping your mother's secret? Why would I be?" He said.

"For trying to get close to you for other reasons."

"Such as?" He asked.

"If I am ever to have children, it would have to be with someone like me. A half breed can't mate with a mortal human, and I want a family." She said. Others dropped jaw at her candor.

"We can't mate." Grainger said.

"Your kind can't." Estephan said. "As is true with others of the higher realm. Which is what raises the question, why aren't you allowed to mingle? Hence the longer you spend with each other the more of the secrets hidden amongst you start coming out. Which is where they come in," Gesturing at the trolls "Learned a secret or two but could not be killed. Imprisoned in their own flesh right in front of every ones face. Wonder if Ms. Wingspan knows that?"

"I don't..." Joxifa started to answer.

"I wasn't really asking." Estephan said. "And you want a family? With me?"

"It would be most preferred. I am not talking about this minute." She said.

"You'd give up police work to have a child?" He asked.

"In a second." She said.

"Maybe. You would have to understand that later any child of mine would become titan later in life." He said realizing what that meant from the other side. He couldn't have a mortal wife. "I don't think my mother is going to understand this."

"So what is going to happen to us?" Cindy asked fearfully from the hallway.

He looked over to see Sara and Cindy looking around the room suspiciously. This was going to be an interesting conversation. He crossed the room towards them. Their eyes watched to see what he would change into. He could understand how they felt. One minute the world is one thing, the next it holds all the wonders you dreamed as a child just to be told they weren't real. Yet there they were, sharing some of your most adult fantasies and pleasures.

"Nothing is going to happen to you." He said to them.

"But... She has wings." Pointing at Shesin. "And she? What is she?" Pointing at Mesaduce. Sara muttered.

"We going to remember any of this?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, and Mace is a Gorgon." Estephan said.

"A what?" Sara asked.

"Like Medusa, didn't you take Classical Theater with me two semesters ago?" Cindy asked.

"Mesaduce is her sister." He said.

"So why isn't anyone here turned to stone?" Sara asked fearfully.

"I'm not nearly the bitch my sister was." Mace said.

"Okay, why don't the two of you come out here? We'll sit down and do the introductions. That would include you." He said directing the last part of that at Ishara.

"It will be fun. Maybe I might even figure out a thing or two." Ducici said bouncing over and taking Cindy's arm.

"We don't bite, unless you want us to." Mace said taking Sara by the arm.

"Everyone sit down. Nikita would you please go first. You were the one that introduced me to everyone else." Estephan said.

"Okay, I can't believe you're doing this." She said back at him. "I am Nike, divine charioteer and messenger. I came to the mortal realm to inspire and search for the missing Muses."

"You're not a Muse?" Sara asked.

"We'll get to that later." Estephan said.

"Originally the plan is to find an artist, introduce them to the higher realm and bring my companions to the mortal realm." She said. "Thalia the Grace and Eirene the Hour."

"Thalia, if you would?" Estephan asked.

"Right, I am one of the Graces." Thalia said. "I bring richness and abundance. I have two sisters."

"So you are like a genie?" Sara asked.

"Not like that. I don't grant wishes." Thalia said.

"And you Eirene?" Estephan asked not letting Sara interrupt too much.

"I am one of three Horae, Goddess of law and order, we watch over the flow of nature and time."

Sara looked like she was about to ask something again but Mace put her hand on her arm and shook her head. Sara's eyebrows raised but she remained silent. Estephan looked back to Nikita and gestured for her to continue.

"Since the Muses went missing, the higher realm lost its line of communication with the mortal realm. We became out of touch. Uninformed of the world's changes. The rise of global conflict." She said.

"The World Wars." Thalia added.

"Right urged the Fates to find them. For if they were to die..." Nikita said.

"That which they inspire could die with them." Estephan said flatly.

"Yes." Nikita said.

"But you are all here. Doing what Muses do right?" Cindy asked.

"No, we aren't." Nikita said.

"Muses inspire. We nurture creativity, bring relief to stress and financial burden. We can't inspire." Eirene said.

"So why are the rest of you here? If it was only supposed to be the three of you?" Cindy asked looking from Nikita to Thalia then back to Eirene.

"That would be my fault?" Estephan asked.

"Kinda yeah. See when I first got here I wondered for three years. It is discouraged to follow a family. Estephan's father was host years ago. After talking with the Fates, they suggested him, even thou it might cause problems. The industrialization of this age left very little hands on artistry." Nikita said.

"But why all of them?" Mace asked. "I don't get it."

"I'm getting to that. So I introduce myself to Estephan and like always it takes a little time to adjust to the idea but he comes around." Nikita said.

"Yeah, all of those runes and glyphs." Estephan said.

"So he agrees to put the tattoos on me. He worked for hours and we talked. About the higher realm and beings of legend and myth. I could feel the strength of his spirit as he worked. Then it was gone. He was exhausted. He got to the car and passed out, in the passenger seat. I drove him home. I couldn't wake him. It was like I wasn't even there." Nikita said. "I tried calling the two of you but... the tattoo wasn't done. In fact I started flipping out. I couldn't get back to the higher realm. So I started calling for assistance from those that I could beat down if them screwed up."

"You didn't just us?" Yerni asked

"Yes I trusted you. Anyway I called Ducici she was closest and of the mortal realm. We still couldn't move or wake him. So I went further, Galenee and Yerni. Even then we could move him but not safely." Nikita said.

"We could have dragged him." Galenee said.

"Not a nice thing to do to the hot guy you want to be friendly with." Lyrusi said.

"So I finely call her," Pointing at Lyrusi. "She starts to purr and coo over him. It gets at least part of his attention. But it also made him lighter. Easier to carry. We got him into the apartment and his bedroom. I thanked them all and let them return. Only..." Nikita said.

"They couldn't." Estephan said.

"Right, I didn't want to say anything because you didn't do anything wrong. And when you woke up and found them all, it didn't freak you out horribly or anger you." She said.

"So we all just went along with helping, not that we didn't want too in the first place." Galenee said.

"Clotho showed up asking questions and just smiled. She said if we wanted to stay that we would have to help with the tests and agree to the verdict. Plus it had to be all of us or we all had to leave." Yerni said.

"So a lot of you are here by accident?" Cindy asked bewildered.

"More like serendipitously." Galenee said.

"And I am a Gorgon, one of seven sisters." Mesaduce said. "I was rescued by Nikita after ending up on this side of reality."

"Which brings us at last to you, Ishara. How did you get to be here?" Estephan asked.

"What about him?" Sara said pointing at Anthony.

"Me? I'm a mortal." Tony said.

"Don't get ahead of the story Sara, I'll get to that." Estephan said. "Ishara?"

"I'm a demi-titan, mortal but not without the powers of my immortal parent. Erato is the Muse of Lyrical Poetry. I have photographic memory, impeccable time keeping and a very lovely singing voice as gifts of my mother. I do not know who my father is and when asked my mother simply says he was a good man." Ishara said.

"She meet me when she was in college. Some rich kid twit with a gothic delusion of anarchy managed to call me to the mortal realm. Quite by accident." Grainger said.

"I kept him for killing the guy. You all might know him as the Mayor." Ishara said nodding.

"So you studied law and got through school doing online shows. Caught a demon summoned by the now Mayor and ended up being a cop?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, my time in college was a blur." Ishara said.

"And here I was bitching about the lack of face time my professor put in." Sara said.

"Well that brings us to me." Estephan said. "In less than ... 20, no 18 hours I will no longer classify as mortal. It would seem I am earthbound descended of Selene. Goddess of the moon, maybe Mesaduce can tell me what that means?"

"Which part?" Mace asked.

"Moon goddesses weren't a big part of my college studies." He said.

"She held the moon as her chariot and took Endymion as a lover. They had fifty daughters." Mesaduce said. "Her brother is Helios of the sun."

"And what did... 50?" Estephan asked.

"50 not counting the child with Zeus." She said.

"SO it runs in the family?" Yerni asked.

"What?" Lyrusi asked.

"The need to have lots of sex?" Yerni said.

Laughter rolled around the room. Not being human not being much of a hang up apparently. Sara and Cindy relaxed visibly as the conversation flowed over myth verse truth. How time and human editing changed the higher realm into demons and angels. Where the different powers came from and how they worked in the mortal realm as opposed to fiction.

"That was sugar coating it for them you know?" Nikita asked him.

"Yes it was and I would think you of all people would want it kept that way." He answered. "Are you willing to drop the truth about why Shesin and Joxifa are here? They haven't asked and I didn't volunteer. Their comfortable with what they have been told and are willing to trust us with what they haven't been told."

"And Ishara? You willing to father a child for her?" Nikita asked.

"You jealous? I haven't thought about it. Would it change things if I did?" He asked.

"It might, any of your children would be heir to your legacy. Guardian of the Mortal Realm." She said.

He stopped to think about that. As a titan he would be able to give Ishara a child thou that might not be a good thing. She was a mixed blood. Would a child follow her powers or his, would it have both?

"Got you thinking don't I?" Nikita said.

"Yeah, I have something for you. Shesin showed me how. Is there knowledge of the higher realm you think I should have that would take too long to teach?" He asked.

"You want to trade knowledge with me?" She asked.

"Does it come with flashy detail tattoos like Shesin's?" Yerni asked.

"Does it hurt?" Joxifa asked.

"Would it act as a second bound?" Galenee asked.

"I would still be special, right?" Shesin asked.

"Hold it. All of you want to share with me?" Estephan asked.

"Well yeah, Shesin can tattoo as well as you. I think I would like doing that." Thalia said.

"Alright, two things you need to remember. You all are from the higher realm any mark you leave is a link right to you. Secondly none of you have license to do it. Not even Shesin. If any of you were to give a tattoo and normal human health code types find out and I am out of work or worst in jail. Now I am willing to share my knowledge with the understanding none of you are going to use it without going through the normal mundane hoops of getting licensed." He said.

"We can mock and temp for you thou right?" Joxifa asked.

"What?" Estephan asked. "Any of you could do that now. If all of you want markers and pencils I can get those wholesale. Drawing up temp-tattoos or costume tattoos you can do anywhere. You don't need to know how to tattoo for real to do that."

"So could we make the parlor bigger for doing those?" Lyrusi asked.

"Maybe put in a place for piercing?" Anthony asked.

"How did this go from introductions to let's buy the whole strip mall?" Estephan asked.

"Not the whole mall, just from the parlor to the flower shop." Shesin purred. "Not like there is anything in them anyway."

"And where do I get that kinda money? I'm hocked to the hilt as it is." Estephan said.

"We can fix that, if you let us. Call it a birthday present." Eirene said. "Or did you miss the part were Thalia said 'relief from financial burden'?"

"You all are that ready to share yourselves with the world?" He asked.

Looking around his apartment only glittering eyes and smiles came back at him. Anthony fearfully scanned the women around the room. Cindy and Sara bounced like five years olds about to get ice cream. He shook his head.

"Well it is my birthday, show me what you got." Estephan said.