Dreaming in Silver and Gold

Chapter 25

Liz woke slowly and groggily as she tried to figure out her surroundings. She was vaguely aware of a scraping sound but she ignored it as her mind tried to wade through her muddled thoughts. The room was unfamiliar and so was the bed. For a minute she was confused before she remembered where she was. The ocean realm. Her body relaxed and she stretched like a cat as she tried to find a more comfortable position.

Liz sighed, went to curl up next to Klaus and suddenly realized he wasn’t next to her. The room was almost pitch black, the fire had burned to ashes leaving a faint glow in the hearth. She was concerned about Klaus not sleeping. If she could convince him to talk to her then maybe she could help him work through whatever was bothering him.

Movement in the corner of the large room caught her attention and she froze when the light from the fire illuminated the creature looking at her. A demon was creeping towards her slowly. At first, she thought that it was Klaus and for some reason, he had shifted during the night. Then the demon’s eyes flashed and they were a bright blue color, not the same as Klaus.’

She commanded her claws to lengthen and she was relieved when her body obeyed. She had no idea how to fight, but she wouldn’t go down without landing a few hits on the beast stalking towards her. An involuntary snarl ripped through her and her fangs lengthened.

The demon lunged at her when suddenly the door to her bedroom was flung open. A golden arrow flew into the room and hit the beast in the shoulder. It roared in pain before turning in anger to look at the figure shadowed in the light of the doorway.

Theodora was standing in full armor smirking at the demon. She moved into the room with Randy on her heels.

“Secure that door for me, darling,” Theodora spoke casually. She fired another arrow and hit the demon square in one of its eyes. The beast dropped to the floor heavily and Liz winced at the sound. Randy placed his palms flat against the door and began to mutter a string of spells.

“Up and at ‘em.” Theodora motioned to Liz.

“What’s going on?” Liz demanded as she scrambled out of the bed.

“The castle is under attack, lovely. Demons are pouring into this realm as we speak. Lucky for you, Randy and I decided to check in on you and Klaus. Good thing we did,” Theodora nudged the dead demon with the toe of her boot. “Or you might’ve been dinner.”

She clapped her hands together in order to emphasize the word and tilted her head as she looked Liz over.

“Where’s Klaus?”

“I don’t know.”

“How could you not know? Weren’t you sleeping next to him?” Theodora asked.

“I was. What about you? Any reason you and Randy are together in the middle of the night?”

A slow smile spread across Theodora’s face and she tilted her head. “Well, we-”

“Oh god, I don’t want to know,” Liz replied quickly. “I can certainly imagine.”

Theodora’s eyes flashed and her smile widened.

“I don’t know how to shift my clothing yet and I don’t think a pair of cotton pants and a tank top is appropriate battle attire.” Liz motioned to her body.