AUTHORS NOTE: So I was thinking, you’ve only met Catt and her Muse so let’s take a peek at another character or two, all I’ll say right now is : meet Cleo and her Very Protective Djinn. That’s all they’ll let me say right now, they didn’t even want to leave my underground bunker! They prefer to stay quiet because, well, spoilers. But they agreed to pop out their heads for a bit, so please, enjoy.
“I need more saffron! Do I have to do everything myself?”
She pushed her eyemask up and threw her goblet in a fury across the large made-to-order bathroom.
Red wine and crystal shards dripped down the wall, pooling in puddles on the marble floor, bloodlike.
“Mitu!Get in here now,” she bellowed.
As she slipped down deeper into her steaming hot bath, bubbles slowly climbed over the tub as if to escape her potential wrath.
She hadn’t been this cranky in centuries.
The problem was she was bored out of her mind and needed something to break up the monotony of the day-after-day sameness.
Being immortal had it’s perks but at the moment Cleo couldn’t think of one thing she hadn’t already done a million times over.
“Mitu! Where the fuck are you!”
A swirl of mist took form as Mitu appeared, a distracted look on his face as he sprinkled more saffron into the bath waters of his mistress, his owner, his everything.
“I beg for your forgiveness Mistress! Please pardon my lateness most gracious one, I have failed you with my unpardonable tardiness and deserve to be put to death for my shameful neglect!”
“Enough with the histrionics Mitu, I’m beyond bored, knock it off already, the last thing I want to hear is your groveling. And why do you look so shifty? You’re hiding something from me aren’t you? Out with it. Now.”
His did his best to avoid looking in her eyes. He hated being the bearer of bad news.
Cleopatra, once the most powerful woman in the world, adored by the most powerful of men, huffed, rolling her eyes at her favorite Djinn as he backed away in fear.
Cleo sighed loudly.
“Mitu,” her voice held a warning in the tone. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Dear Sweet Mistress it pains me to be the bearer of such abhorrent information but you must know-” he stumbled over his words hating to see the look that would cross her face at his news.
“I would tear out my still beating heart rather than cause you dismay my most-”
“Mitu!” Cleo cut off his babble, “I assume you have a point? Get to it!”
The look of fear in his Djinn eyes was beginning to worry her, she’d never seen him in such a state. She’d grown rather fond of him over the centuries. She almost felt a twinge of guilt for shouting at him. Almost.
“It’s the end of the world,” he said in a rush.
Cleopatra jumped up from her bath naked, eyes sparkling, delicate hands clapping together excitedly.
“An apocalypse? It’s been so long! The perfect way to stir things up! Lets go!”
Mitu breathed for the first time since she shouted for him.
He thought of her as a surrogate daughter, nothing made him happier than seeing his charge smile.
“Your wish is my command Mistress.”
“I don’t mean go as in right-this-minute-now, silly,” Cleo reached over and pinched Mitu’s smooth blue cheek followed by a playful slap.
“I mean now as in after I decide what to wear. What does one wear to an apocalypse these days? It’s been so long…”
Her voice trailed off as she sauntered naked, dripping, dancing, and humming to herself, leaving saffron-infused bathwater in her wake.
Striding unashamed, her bare feet pattered across the bathroom tile onto the plush carpet leading to her near-ballroom-sized closet.
Mitu watched his beloved Cleopatra with a mixture of awe at his beautiful charge’s self-confidence and wonder at her ability to adapt to change.
Her Father had seen to it that his daughter had an army of Djinn at her disposal but Mitu had been bound to protect her eternally.
In a way, he owned her as much as she owned him.
Her Father’s oracles had foreseen what was to come through the years. Knowing she was to rule with her 10 year old brother, he’d given Mitu to Cleopatra before he died.
One of the most powerful Djinn of all, Mitu was devoted to his charge.
He would move The Heavens and Earth to keep her protected and had done so more than once throughout their long years together.
“Mitts, bring me my copper cuffs,” her voice was muffled by the sound of clothes being tossed about as she dug through her extensive wardrobe. “The bracelets Jules gave me.”
“Are you sure sweet Mistress? They are very powerful,” he reminded her.
“Duh!That’s the point Mitu,” she chided.
“Don’t be such a party-pooper, we can’t go to an apocalypse underdressed now can we?”
It had been so long since her eyes had sparkled with anything other than anger and he could refuse her nothing.
“As you wish.”
joannebest 