Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Celebration

Beleth follows a lady with a clipboard and I follow closely behind him. She offers him a hand to help him onto the float which is two feet off the ground. He doesn't take her hand and turns to me. He grabs my waist and lifts me up onto the float and then gets onto the float himself. He closely examines the float since they probably did not exist when he was alive before. He leads me up the steep path to the wide throne and he sits down and pulls me down into his lap suddenly. He holds me and I stay stiff, uncomfortable. The float starts to move and it goes forward past several streets before turning on a main one. The band walking in front and behind us starts playing music loudly. I slip off of his lap and put a couple inches between us. There are barricades blocking off the sidewalk so the hundreds of people that are there cannot cross. We slow down quite a lot. I glance at Beleth and he has a smile on his face and he starts waving. People are cheering and shouting already. I didn't know that there were this many Demons. Beleth looks over at me and stops waving.

"No need to be so stiff. Smile and Wave at the people." He wraps an arm around me, bringing me closer and continuing to wave again. I don't wave, but I put on a smile and look around. We travel really slowly down the road. Beleth's arm slips down from my shoulders to my waist. The band plays fast cheerful music as we continue to travel down.

"Are you okay?" Eli's voice suddenly breaks into my head and my eyes scan the crowd rapidly. I can't find him so I just discretely nod assuming he can see me well.

"Good... You look... amazing." His voice is genuine and my smile becomes a little more real. Eli doesn't speak into my mind anymore during the entire parade, but I keep my eye out in case he is still there. Beleth stands and continues to wave at the people who are excited he is back and I start to wonder how he was as a King. Beleth reaches back for my hand and I take his and he pulls me up. He sets his hand on the small of my back and stands close to me. He leads me down the steep path slowly and carefully and we stand on the lowest part of the float. We stand on this float for an hour traveling down this road before the barricades for the people end and we turn onto a blocked off road. The float stops and Beleth jumps down. I can't do that with my heels. Beleth reaches up and picks me up, gently setting me down. He leads me to a limo and opens the door for me, watching me closely as I step in. He lifts the train and puts it in the car while sliding in the car next to me. He shuts the door and he loosens his tie. The car begins to move and at some point, in the warmth, I drift off.

I wake up to the limo stopping and find that I am laying in the seat and my head is in Beleth's lap. I look up and he is staring out the window deep in his own thoughts. I sit up and he immediately snaps out of his thoughts and looks at me. We are parked in front of his palace. How long have we been sitting here?

"There is a party going on inside." He states and scans my face. "I'm suppose to be in there... But I'd rather stay out here with you."

"Don't like parties?" I question and he wraps an arm around me and tries to pull me into his lap. I let him pull me closer, but I do not get on his lap.

"I have a bad feeling about it." He states and looks back out the window. I give him a slightly confused look, but accept his statement.

"Yeah, but this party is for you. You should at least make a brief appearance." He looks back at me. He gives me a small smile.

"Okay." He opens the door and gets out, lightly taking my hand and helping me out of the car. I look around outside, there are very few cars.

"I thought you said there is a party going on, there are very few cars." I say with a questioning tone.

"This is my private entrance. Everyone parks and walks through at the front entrance." I nod and he leads me inside. We walk through several halls and through a massive kitchen to another hall. We come out to a giant ball room with big chandeliers and columns and windows. The room is filled with chatting people and light music. We walk out next to the steps up to a stage. Beleth leads me up the steps and he walks to the front middle of the stage and the room falls dead silent. I stay off to the side and scan the room for Eli or Dominic.

"Hello, it is nice to see so many familiar faces after being away for so long! I am not going to keep you all from enjoying your night so I'll keep it short. I want to thank all of you for being so welcoming and accommodating my return. I am glad to be back, to be alive again. Dying changes you. I have a whole new outlook on life, on Hell, on the mortal realm, on everything. I am going to make some changes and some may disagree with how things are going to change and that is okay, but they will see how this will help us soon enough." I feel like he is being very vague and I have no clue what he has planned. "Equally important as my return is the woman who helped me back from the pits." He gestures to me and I feel peoples' gazes shift to me. "First change, as announced at the time of my return, but in case it was missed, is that Trinity will be treated as one of us. I grant her nobility and declare that she has an equal standing as me. She is a wanted person and therefore we shall all protect her with our lives in the brewing war, even... if she is standing on the Angel side. If she is hurt by any of you, you will face me and your punishment will be death." I stare at him shocked. He glances back at me and gestures for me to stand with him at the front of the stage. I hesitantly go beside him, my dress train dragging behind me. "Now lets celebrate!" A lot of people cheer, but I see some people stare confused. Music starts playing again. Beleth leads me off the stage. I follow him into the crowd and he takes me over to a long table of fancy small foods to eat. Beside the table is a bar with a bartender.

"Eat." Beleth gestures to all the food. He turns and looks around. I pick up a crystal-clear saucer and scan the table. "I need to catch up with some people, I won't be far." I glance at him and nod while he hesitantly steps away. I set some of the small foods on the plate and walk down the table some more, looking at more foods. I walk away from the table and lean against a column, eating the one bite or two bite foods. There are so many people and I feel like more people keep strolling through the door in the back of the room. I set my plate down and go behind the column where there are less people. A partially open door is about four feet in front of me. I look around and walk to the door, peeking in. It's a small dark hall that leads to a dark room that is big, but not as big as the ball room the party is being held in. Someone suddenly shoves me into the dark hall and I trip because of my heels, falling to the ground. The light from the ball room dies out as the door is shut behind me. I roll onto my back and sit up, looking up at the dark figure above me.

"I really hate you."