Page 26 of The Human Element (The Human Element Collection #1)
Daemon
Once they finished their breakfast, Daemon walked them outside to a new car that was in the spot of the nearly-destroyed one from before.
He was happy when Lorelei didn’t question him about what he did with the old one and how he acquired the new one, because even though he knew she understood he may need to use some unsavory methods to get them through this journey, he didn’t want to feel guilty for it right this second.
It was only a ten minute drive to Stonehenge and when they arrived, he handed them each the tickets he got and they waited in line to start the tour.
As they stood there, he assumed they looked like a family because an old English couple asked him and Lorelei how their kid ended up with such unruly, ginger-red hair.
When Lorelei spit out some lies about how her grandfather had red hair and “how it must’ve skipped a generation,” Daemon found it hard not to blush when they were then asked how long Daemon and her had been married.
When Lorelei was responding with some made up number of years, he saw one of the tour guides look their way; obviously intrigued by their conversation, and instantly put a little of his concealment spell around them which aided in concluding the conversation with the elderly couple and in turn, kept the attention of others off of them for the remainder of their wait.
Once they were out of everyone’s radar, he turned to Lorelei.
“How long have we been married for then, Sunflower?”
He knew sarcasm dripped off every word, but the idea of being married to Lorelei sparked a sense of pure joy inside him.
Although their time together had been brief, he knew with his whole heart and soul that he loved her more fiercely than he ever thought possible for himself.
When she laughed at him, he smiled, reminiscing in the sound of it.
“I think I said 8 years? But they must’ve thought we were older than we were because that would’ve made me be like…" She stopped to count. “14!”
She laughed loudly and the sound of it sent a charge of energy through him.
He looked over and saw Samuel was walking through the gift shop aimlessly, obviously giving Daemon as much space as possible.
For a moment, Daemon felt badly for how he was treating him.
But after reminding himself who Samuel was and more importantly, who his father was; Daemon knew he couldn’t let his guard down entirely yet.
Shifting his eyes back to Lorelei, she looked stunning.
Her eyes were sparkling today even though England had once again gone back to its usual overcast.
Finally, a bit of normalcy. All this sunshine recently has truly made this feel like England flipped on its head entirely. We already have Armageddon to stop—England can't go off the rails, too.
Finally, their tour guide corralled them together and started to explain the history of Stonehenge.
As he was talking, Lorelei left to grab Samuel and they all began walking the trail towards the massive stone structure.
It was a cold day, and even though Daemon’s body ran hotter than humans’, he even zipped up his leather jacket and stuck his hands inside its pockets.
Samuel walked sheepishly beside Lorelei and was asking her questions.
“The oracle you went to said you might find answers at Stonehenge?”
“Yes, but that’s all he said. He didn’t say how or what I might discover. Only that I am the only one who can discover whatever it is.”
Lorelei did her best to sound confident when responding, but Daemon knew she didn't have a clue what was supposed to happen.
Daemon knew that all in all, they had little to no information to go on for what they were meant to accomplish on this journey, which meant they were going to have a harder time figuring it all out with much less time to do so.
And although Magnus was an oracle, he was a pretty shit one, so Daemon only hoped he was right about this and Lorelei would be able to “discover” what they needed to. Daemon cut in with an airy tone.
“Well, Stonehenge is one of the places on Earth where the lines between the spiritual realm are far more blurred. According to our history, angel history that is. Stonehenge was originally built to help the ancient peoples of that time craft a space to connect their energies ceremonially to Heaven; a place to receive messages. They are perfectly placed on ley lines, similarly to the Giza pyramids you see in your dream. Angels influenced the humans to build these sites on these ley lines because of the increased energetic power between the realms here, enabling easier influence and more opportunity for ancients to remain connected to the Divine. Or so it’s said.
In my opinion, they are just a bunch of rocks and stones built in impressive ways; I mean—I was there during the construction of the pyramids; hot as hell, Egypt…
Anyways, I watched how meticulously they tried to place the monumental buggers, how much they truly believed the impact of the ley lines would bring them good fortune from their gods.
He’s never admitted it but I’m pretty sure Raphael played the role of Osiris—that cocky prick.
Off point, but still. It was bloody awful in my opinion, the treatment of the slaves who built them; and the Egyptians found out there were no rewards that came after its construction. ”
Daemon didn’t lie, he truly was there when the Giza pyramids were built, or at least right towards the end.
It was Raphael and Daemon’s meeting point that time, where they would go over their latest missions together.
Daemon finished up a particularly complicated operation in the capital Memphis, Egypt—where the pyramids were being built.
He was helping quiet an internal struggle there between the nobles and the poor.
The current Pharaoh was losing reign, with the construction of the pyramids, and the fact he couldn’t seem to produce an heir, tensions were high in the region, and faith in Pharaoh Pepi II was waning.
Daemon was in works to assist the local regime of Memphis to take control from the Pharoah, alleviating stress for the local population and allowing the poor to regain footing with shifting the balance of the workforce to enable the locals more profit.
But when the Nile River suddenly silted up and disappeared altogether, the inability to transport materials and goods deteriorated the entire endeavor.
Lack of water meant lack of food supply.
Famine was spreading and the main goal turned to helping the locals flee Memphis.
Daemon met with Raphael once the last group of humans were well on their way out of the city, and he’d made sure the demons who they found out were responsible for drying up of the Nile, were dealt with properly.
It was a cluster fuck. As was much of this period of time, though.
To Daemon, these “Wonders of the World,” often depicted nothing more than some of the worst times in human history.
Yes, a feat they were, but in the end, more harm than good came of these strides towards power and prestige that often destroyed the minds of those who initiated the construction.
It was hard to think that there was good to these structures when Daemon witnessed first hand the brutality often displayed towards those it least benefited.
Usually, Daemon found himself to be proud of the work he did, for he often got to rid the land of these tyrants firsthand, who claimed power over their brethren.
Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.
Many died from the creation of that blasted monument.
This was only one of the reasons Lorelei’s dream of the pyramids was so perplexing.
It was nothing more than a display of grandeur, and some tombs of people who many wished to forget to the winds of history.
Daemon included. He still remembered when he did meet up with Raphael as he asked him the point of so much human suffering for a few fortunate.
Daemon was met with the dogmatic remark of coldness from his dear friend, whom never deviated from the notion that there must be balance in the world, or else the Good would forever fail.
That was the first time Daemon questioned what he did and the purpose of it all.
Luckily, his thoughts were interrupted by Samuel’s subtle voice, the memory evaporating slowly, but evaporating all the same.
This entire journey brought up many challenging memories for Daemon, and it wasn’t at all pleasant to relive them.
He was happy for the reprieve. Whether Lorelei’s dream truly pointed them to the pyramids or if they were merely a metaphor for something else—he only hoped he was wrong in their significance, other than being a monument of misery and a damned, bloody pile of stones.
“I’ve read about those in a book about Earth’s geography; I snuck it out of the restricted section at my school’s library.
Typically, they don’t want us getting too familiar with Earth history unless it helps find the weak points in society to better exploit…
” Samuel’s voice trailed off momentarily, anxiety lacing his words, possibly feeling guilty for the admission, before he continued on.
"I also read another book about psychic abilities once and saw something about how some humans have the ability to feel an object’s energy, which can sometimes give them the ability to see flashes or visions of that object’s history.
Clairtangency is what they called it. Have you ever had anything like that happen to you? ”