“My Queen, she often does things that we all think are unnecessary.” Olympia shrugged, “I don’t know. Look around, this pce is immacute.” Olympia tapped the floor. “I mean she even carpeted the floor. It’s better than looking at cobblestone.”

  Initially Vasia had designed the museum to look like a walk through an ancient Greek town and show the people how they lived so long ago. Her idea was to be as authentic as possible and had real paths of packed earth or cobblestone that weaved through the small town like an open maze so people could go to whatever part of the museum they wanted in order to learn about different aspects of ancient life. “It was unique. We had the ability to show off all of the work we six have done for so long.” Vasia made her way to another dispy and paused. “I liked that we had everything modern enough to be modur and still be fun to interact with and…” Vasia licked her lips, “...private enough to catch a drink in the quiet sections.” Under a box of tempered gss and temperature-controlled airspace, Vasia smiled wide. “The Lamp of Hestia. I wasn’t expecting Liz to dispy this.”

  “Oh mistress of midnight light,Grant this servant the gift of your sight,that the monsters of the jar,quiver from afar.”

  Silently appearing after the small poem she uttered, Ismini bowed once more to Vaisa. “My queen, the tome Sylvie, has been cataloged.” Ismini paused and studied the mp, “It is one of Pandora’s artifacts, it just so happened to be the one frustrating thing that nearly robbed us of sweet Elisavet.”

  “Her dedication is noble, Ismini.” Vasia closed her eyes and quickly visualized the coming dawn when Elisavet had unearthed the mp. “She hadn’t read the legends on the device.” She sighed and took Ismini’s arm so she was attended by both Seraphin. “A lesson to the danger of sunlight, My lovely Seraphin.” Vasia opened her eyes and read the text of the legend of the mp. “She wrote this herself. Look.” She pointed to the perfect script in both Greek and English. “Rumored to be a bright light to drive back the monsters of the night, the mp absorbed sunlight in the day and radiated all night as though it were a sun fre.” It took almost everything that Vasia had in reserves to get the two of them out of the mp's light as the sun peeked over the horizon. Using all but a fraction of her blood, Vasia had dug straight through the cliff, breaking rocks as though it was thin as paper. It was only after she colpsed the earth behind them that the hellish sunmp broke its beam and cast them back into the comfort of the inky bck. “It took all of my blood-blended ink to make it through the night, even though you were only a foot behind us, Olympia.”

  “I cked the blood to keep digging my queen. My concern was making sure that you were sheltered from the morning.” Olympia rubbed her burned wrists, “You weren’t alone, Highness. I am always with you.” She proudly grasped Vaisa’s arm tighter, reliving the superhuman event in her mind. Olympia had witnessed the way her queen’s mind jumped into action while the other four were still trying to figure out what was happening. “You jumped in front of…of…” Olympia closed her eyes and used Vasia’s presence to gather her courage back. “...this very mp.” Olympia tapped the gss. “You took the brunt of the burn, Highness. That was when I knew you would do it for all of us.”

  “Rest assured that it was the rising dawn that did the worst damage. I could feel the strength leaving my hands as I dug.” Vasia strolled past the next few art pieces and stone-carved texts and stopped in front of the legendary Pandora’s Jar. “Hard to believe that so much has been because of this infernal thing.” Vasia leaned closer to the gss and inspected the seal. “They all got out from a tiny crack, right there.” She pointed to a pinhole no wider than a thread. “If you believe in such things.”

  Silence descended on the three for a few minutes as they all looked at the ancient gold and iron vessel, complete with depictions of the demonic monsters held within. It was just after the three gazed on the lid that had the depiction of white lotus flowers, various butterflies all wrapped through a thick and vibrant olive branch that Vasia had heard the loudest of her Seraphin, Kyveli Mastrotzi.

  Laughing as hearty as she could and carrying a gss of wine that looked more like blood than the fruity alcohol, Kyveli approached her queen and fellow Seraphin. “Sentimental trash.” She downed the contents of the gss and tossed it to the ground so it burst into a thousand twinkling shards. “Admiring a fake woman, eh..” Kyveli bowed and then flipped her deep auburn hair behind her and then smiled, her green eyes sparkling for her queen. “Highness.” Kyveli pressed a pair of twin kisses to Vaisa’s cheeks. “Elisavet has turned our home into a damned maze.” She pointed behind her. “Right back there used…used to be the aquarium. Do you know how many people went there because it was dark? Made my blood requirements total cake. Now it’s some dirt-covered bronze pots or something.”

  “A delight to see you as well, Kyveli.” Vasia commented and twisted her lips into a wide smirk where her fangs peeked over her lower lip. “The aquarium was only on loan, sweet Kyveli. Elisavet was only filling the space.” Intent to change the conversation for her spunky vampire Vasia floated out from between Olympia and Ismini and then grasped both of Kyveli’s hands. “What have you been doing other than eating and arguing?”

  “Honestly, my queen?” Kyveli turned and pointed to the trail of broken cocktail and wine gsses behind her. “Doing everything I can to make Liz a little crazier than normal. I think her time in the sun fried her brain or something.” She waved her hand at Olympia and Ismini. “I am taking our queen, try and stop me.”

  “I was going to stroll the entire museum, Kyi. What are you in a hurry for?” Vasia asked while being hastily pulled towards the entrance of the museum.

  “Oh…” Kyveli snapped her fingers, “Happy Birthday and all that jazz, my queen.” She rolled her green eyes pyfully. “I am sure you adored this no-surprise, surprise party.” She stuck her blood-den tongue out at Olympia. “I know Miss Bck Ops told you, Highness.” Kyi ughed and half-snorted. “You keep secrets about as well as that jar supposedly kept monsters confined.” She wiggled her hand, “Boo!” Quickly assessing that her little py did nothing to Olympia’s rigid appearance, Kyveli reached the entrance. “Ah, here we go. Read the itinerary, my queen.”

  Once she’d given Kyveli a gentle kiss on her blue lips, Vasia grabbed the little list of events. “Never change Kyi.” She looked down at the time that had been scheduled and stopped in the lower half then looked up. “I am giving a speech?” A tiny grumble arose from Vasia’s chest a beat before her sand-colored eyes developed a small vexed storm. “I might help you yank the pink from her hair, Olympia.”

  “I’ll take the right side, Highness.” Olympia chuckled and hugged Ismini close. “This is going to be great, Issy.”

  With a bow as the corners of her mouth quirked upward, Kyveli opened her small leather purse and pulled out a small footbag and scrunched up her red glitter-den dress and started bouncing it fwlessly between her ankles and knees, drawing attention of the guests that had been milling around. “Highness.” She bounced the bean-bag on her knee. “I think these kind patrons want to watch and … er…um.. talk to the dy in red.”

  “More like the red dy. Have fun Kyveli.” Vasia took a few seconds to tie Kyveli’s hair back so it stayed out of her face. “Ladies…” Vasia faced Olympia and Ismini, “Time to find Liz, this is more than I expected.” She pointed to the program, “ What is she getting at with this…‘Best practices for preserving a dig in the dark’ as a topic?”

  Making their way past two bigger dispys The Sword of Athena and The Mirror of Banishment, the trio had made it most of the way to where Elisavet was still greeting townsfolk when Myrto appeared from the crowd as though she were there but not there. “Myrto?” Vasia offered and pointed up to Elisavet. “Bring her to me, Now.” Vasia commanded firmly yet in complete control.

  “Certainly My Queen.” Myrto nervously scratched her head. “Highness, Can I show you something first? It will only take a moment of your time.” She looked down at the red-carpeted floor. “This is more important than not doing a speech, My Queen.”

  “What could be more important than stopping Elisavet from this self-appointed crusade.” She pointed back to the sword, “Might as well be rallying all of Greece for all the attention she is bringing us this evening.”

  Graceful as a cat, Myrto took her pce between Olympia and Ismini and held them tightly. “My Queen, your pendant is missing.”

  “She dispyed that pendant?” Vasia took a deep and heated breath, “None of you thought to …” She stopped and unclenched her fists. “That is pointless. We can work out the details ter. Show me the dispy, Myrto.” She sighed, “Why my pendant…” Vasia trailed off as Myrto led the small group to the other side of the museum.