Walking from the elevators onto the floor where Total Point Media was situated felt like just another annoyance that I could have done without. Like most things my company had a hand in, I refused to be the face of it. And despite having the power to eradicate my eternal image from the minds of mortals under my employment, I found it easier to simply be known as the CEO, and that was all.
Of course, this wish was, at times, impractical and naturally unavoidable on occasion, but right now, there were over a hundred other places I could have been. A million other things my time would have been better spent on. There were an endless number of people in my employment who could be taking this meeting. Could be making decisions without my involvement. So then why had I insisted on being present this time? A question I was still asking myself even as I walked from the mortal invention I hated. I loathed being in that metal box with nothing but cables keeping me suspended and contained.
Perhaps an irrational annoyance, for I refused to call it a fear. And for a demon, half-breed Fae being no less, but alas, it was there all the same.
And if I was being truthful with myself, there was only one reason I was here right now.
A single name that had piqued my interest.
Shadowmere.
Miss Shadowmere. No first name, just a surname given for the woman who would be presenting the idea for the new campaign for my Adamas Diamonds. This, after the idea to branch out into our own jewelry line was first presented to me a few months ago.
Now, just what I was hoping to discover about this woman with a name I knew still evaded me. But here I was, far more than just a billionaire destined to spend his days at the top of a castle in the sky made from steel and glass. More than wasted hours spent sitting behind a desk in an office overlooking the city below, and at the very top of some mortal financial food chain.
Because first and foremost, I was one of the King of Kings’ Enforcers. And just like the King I served, I too was a result of a forbidden love. A demon king in love with an Elemental being. Which meant that I was born into the blood of both, finding my life spent in Hell due to the instant banishment that would have happened had my mother ever been discovered.
She was a powerful elvish witch, and the story started with how she had unknowingly summoned a demonic king by mistake after a spell had gone wrong. My mother was a unique character who had been in training at the time and she wasn’t the typical reserved Fae being. Which was why my father, who despite the annoyance of being summoned, had been far too intrigued to leave on his own accord after encountering my mother. Of course, many others would have just killed heroutright for the inconvenience, especially one as powerful as my father. Yet the story my father reminisced, was always done so with a glint of what I perceived to be love and hope in his gaze.
Now, as for my mother, she’d had no choice but to hand me over for fear that I would be discovered and taken from her under nefarious means. Or worse, that the rulers of the Elemental realm would deem me too dangerous to let live. Something Hell had no such rules for or concern, as immense power was always welcomed and most definitely encouraged. Especially when it aided in the ruling of a King, just like my father.
King Minos, Lord of the Oblivion realm, one also known in mortal myth as the circle of Limbo. He was known as being the Judge of the Damned, and he was therefore tasked by Lucifer, Hell’s King of Kings, to judge every soul damned to Hell. This, before determining which of the realms, or Nine Circles, a particular soul was condemned to spend their eternity.
Which was why I made an ideal candidate to become one of the King’s Enforcers when I made the decision to join the mortal realm. Just like some of the other Enforcers that helped the King to rule over the Supernatural world. The ones who had chosen to make Earth’s realm their home. Some of them, too, could claim similar parentage, being born to a father from one of the realms in Hell. Just like the Wrath brothers, and Ryker Wyeth, Son of Greed, being only a few examples of many.
Enforcers I could trust and had great respect for. But as for myself, well…I was considered unique.As I was not only a demonic warrior in both strength and royal blood, but I was, in fact, a powerful Fae Sorcerer combined.
A Lord of Oblivion.
Or to the mortal world, Wyedari Minos. Of course, this lengthy name, more often than not, got shortened to a simple Wye by those closest to me. For its full meaning was acombination of my parentage. In the Fae Realm, Wye meant ‘war strength’, and in ancient Sumerian, Dari meant ‘Eternal’. Naturally, though, the mortals were more relaxed with Mr. Minos, a billionaire businessman. Not Lord Oblivion, that even the most powerful sorcerers in the mortal realm knew me as.
Which brings me to why seeing that name had caused such a profound effect. As if I could still feel my mother’s farewell hand touching my cheek as a child. The moment before she had been forced to say goodbye. One last word she had whispered to me had been,
Shadowmere.
But of course, I knew it was most likely nothing but a simple coincidence. However, this knowledge hadn’t been enough to stop me from being here today. From discovering for myself and seeing whether this chance meeting held merit to my mother’s last word. Whether or not this woman was somehow linked to my fate. That she could be one of the Lost Si…
My train of thought evaporated the second I felt the impact of a body bumping into me. My hands instantly steadied her, and in that split second, I wished I had held on much longer. But the vision that hit me was one so powerful that I found myself reacting to stop it rather than tethering the connection more firmly.
“I am so sorry,” I heard the voice of the woman who had accidentally knocked into me say, causing my briefcase to fall just as a duffel bag she had been carrying did the same. But I never got to see her face as she bent down, picking it back up as she went.
“My regrets, Miss…” I started to say, however, she interrupted me in a zestful way, renaming herself,
“Miss gotta go! Gonna be soooo late!”
I lifted my head in time to see her back to me, that hourglass figure made even more mouthwatering with the flareof her skirt. A design I would not have ever expected to see here in the corporate world. In fact, I could have sworn that those were summoning runes upon her dress. Something that wasn’t unusual to see these days, as gothic attire had become increasingly popular over the last three decades. And therefore, designers had clearly decided to do their homework when creating these designs. However, I was pretty certain some of them had been Sumerian in nature, and well…that was unusual.
I remembered chuckling to myself only a few weeks ago when I saw a woman crossing the street wearing a demonic symbol for Agiel, the Lord of Calamity. But most had no clue what it was they wore. But the important thing was that none of them had the power to do anything with these symbols.
As for my own kind, well this wasn’t the case. Which was why Enforcers were so important for keeping the peace and maintaining the balance in this world. Something that constantly managed to keep me busy.
And speaking of which, I was unconsciously following the woman toward the restrooms when my cell phone started ringing. I found myself frowning at the interruption as I had wanted to hear her alluring voice once more. The impulse was so strong, in fact, that for once I was contemplating not answering my cell. Something that wasn’t like me at all and was enough for me to ask myself, had this woman cast some kind of spell to entrap me?
The vision had only been a mere glimpse, and strangely, it had been of myself, in my true form, sitting upon my throne in my family home in Hell. A sight not many in Earth’s realm would have ever borne witness to.
Why, then, had a brief contact with this woman made me see myself through her? Naturally, in this realm, I had to hide elements of my true self, for my appearance was mainly that of aFae being. Long white hair, arrow-tipped ears, and a connection to Oblivion that could take on physical form and surround me at will.
Now, as for having the power to summon anything from my world, it was nothing but a foolhardy thought indeed. As mortals rarely displayed much more than a flicker of power, and not nearly enough to cast spells strong enough to overpower my senses.
