Chapter 22: 22. Comings & Goings

"This was the house of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus," Marianne announced as she stopped and looked at the next ruined structure. Though like a lot of the places we'd seen here, it didn't actually look that bad. It was almost hard to believe it was destroyed by a volcano two thousand years earlier.

Eva and I stopped to look as well. After a few seconds I asked, "Was he someone important?"

My girlfriend shrugged, "Perhaps not, but he is very slightly famous nowadays. The central character in a well-known course used to teach Latin was loosely based on his life and family."

"Oh," I commented. I never took Latin so I had no idea, but I assumed Marianne would know. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd taken the course herself, considering how many languages she spoke.

It was Friday and needless to say, we hadn't had any success in our search for Eva's lover. I was still worried about our demon, but for now at least she seemed to be taking the situation in stride. Taking a break definitely seemed like the right decision though, and hopefully Pompeii was enough of a distraction to keep her mind off the negative stuff for a while.

We continued looking around the ruined villa for another couple minutes, and Marianne pulled her phone out to take some pictures.

After looking around a bit more I asked, "So this guy got famous because he's used in a textbook?"

Marianne smiled, "I suppose so Lexi. His name and his household are known to many people who took that course, but otherwise I think he was just another Roman citizen."

I nodded quietly, and eventually the three of us continued on our way. Eva and I let Marianne pick the pace and the route. I knew these ruins were from much later than the period she studied, but she was interested in all kinds of ancient history.

To me the ruined city was interesting, but it wasn't the sort of thing I'd go out of my way to see. Seeing it with Marianne was what made it special. And not just because she could explain the importance or identify various features, but because I enjoyed watching her get excited about things.

I had no idea what Eva thought of it though. She toured with us, she looked around and listened to what Marianne had to say, but she remained quiet. I couldn't help thinking it might be strange for her. Like from her perspective all this stuff happened a thousand years in the future, only now it was two thousand years in the past.

So we wandered around, we visited ruins, every now and then we stopped and Marianne would tell me and Eva about what we were looking at.

There were a few that stuck out for me, though a lot of it blended together in my head. The House of the Faun was interesting, mostly because of the dancing faun statue in the big courtyard. The Temple of Isis was another one that I found interesting, though that was mostly because I thought it was weird to have an Egyptian goddess worshiped in a Roman temple.

Then there were the two villas we saw outside the city walls, which stuck out because of their location along with their names. The Villa of the Mysteries just sounded cool, plus it had some really interesting frescos inside. And the Villa of Diomedes reminded me of a web novel I read a while back.

Finally there was one sight that would probably haunt me for a while. That was a dozen plaster casts of victims all laying near a wall where they died two thousand years earlier.

Marianne explained how archaeologists would find voids in the ash that contained bones, and after a while someone got the idea to fill those voids with plaster. They didn't always have a lot of detail, but they were enough to see adults and children as they were when they died, huddled together curled up on the ground. To me they looked like ghosts that had been frozen and turned to stone.

Eventually we took a break from the ruins and found a cafe where my girlfriend and I could get a light lunch. The three of us sat together at a little table outside, quietly enjoying the summer sun and watching other tourists and locals pass by.

It was then that Eva finally spoke up, after being quiet for much of the morning. She looked at Marianne and asked, "What happened here, why was this city destroyed? I know it wasn't one of the world wars, these ruins are too old for that."

My girlfriend was momentarily surprised by the question, then she gave our ghost friend an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Eva, I never thought to explain that. I forgot this was long after your time. And it is well-known enough nowadays that almost everyone's familiar with the story, or they've at least heard of it."

"Just under two thousand years ago, in the year seventy-nine there was a large devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius," Marianne explained.

She gestured, the three of us could see the mountain from where we were sitting outside the cafe.

"Pompeii is the most famous of the lost cities, but there were others such as Herculaneum and Stabiae. The eruption responsible for all these ruins is considered one of the worst in the history of Europe, and it is perhaps one of the most well-known in the world."

By the time Marianne finished her explanation all the colour had drained from our demon's face. She looked shocked, but she also seemed upset.

I asked in a worried tone, "Eva? Are you ok?"

"No," she replied quietly.

Her eyes slowly lowered till she was looking down at the ground. At the same time her shoulders slumped, and an expression of sadness and pain settled on her face. It looked for all the world like she'd just been told her best friend had died or something.

"Eva what's wrong?" Marianne asked in a worried voice. "Was it something I said?"

Our demon shook her head slightly. She hurriedly whispered, "Excuse me I have to go," then vanished before either of us could respond.

I felt her presence fade from my mind a moment after that, which usually meant she was resting. This time though I had a feeling she was hiding, but I wasn't sure what she was hiding from.

My girlfriend and I exchanged a worried look, then I looked towards the volcano and frowned.

"We're not too far from Naples here, are we?" I asked quietly. "It only took us about a half hour to get here this morning."

Marianne shook her head, "It's less than thirty kilometres. Why do you ask?"

I sighed, "I know Eva said her kind are very long lived, and I assume that means they're very hard to kill? But maybe a big volcanic eruption is enough to do it?"

"Of course," the beautiful brunette sighed. "She suspects that her lover may have perished in the eruption... Poor Eva."

That reminded me of something else and I responded, "When we were at Santorini she was looking up something about volcanoes in the Aegean. That can't be a coincidence."

"Probably not," Marianne agreed. "If you can, please tell her that it's not as bad as it might seem? Naples is close to the mountain, but it escaped serious damage. The eruption spread mostly to the south-east, away from Naples. Odds are her lover was spared."

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That made me feel better, and I smiled slightly "Thanks love. I'll tell Eva as soon as she's back. She's either resting or hiding right now."

After lunch Marianne and I continued our tour of Pompeii, but it wasn't quite the same without Eva. Even though our demon had mostly been quiet I was used to her wandering about nearby, acting curious and inquisitive as she explored with us.

Towards the end of the day the site was starting to close up, so we eventually made our way out and finally climbed back into our rental car. Both of us were mostly quiet for the drive back to Naples, which felt like it took a lot longer than it did in the morning. Though a lot of that was due to traffic, it seemed like Friday evening rush hour was bad no matter where in the world you were.

Once we were back in the city Marianne and I found somewhere nice to stop for dinner. The food was good, we enjoyed some more nice local wine, and we talked about the day's events. We didn't really discuss the situation with Eva, but instead talked about the ruins we'd seen.

We also talked about what we'd do tomorrow, my girlfriend suggested maybe we could visit Herculaneum but we didn't make any decisions yet. I wanted to make sure my demon was going to be ok before we dragged her through another ruined Roman city.

It was late when Marianne and I finally returned to the hotel room, but before we got ready for bed I decided to check and see if Eva was ready to talk.

Marianne and I sat down on the edge of the bed, then I focused and called inwardly. After a second or two I felt her presence again. A moment later she appeared, standing by the foot of the bed.

She still had that sad, forlorn look on her face which left me wishing I could hug her.

"Hi Eva," I said in a soft voice. "Sorry to bother you, but me and Marianne wanted to check on you? And we wanted to tell you something, maybe it will help?"

Our demon gave us both a sad smile, "I appreciate your concern Lexi, Marianne. What was it you wanted to say?"

My girlfriend spoke up, "It's about the eruption I mentioned earlier. Most of the destruction was to the south and east. It didn't really impact Naples, or at least nowhere near as badly as places like Pompeii."

"Your lover probably wasn't even hurt," I added. "Chances are she was nowhere near it, and living here in Naples she'd have been fine."

Eva slowly shook her head, "You don't understand. I'm not worried that she was killed by the volcano. Her death is almost certainly what caused the mountain to erupt."

"How is that possible?" Marianne asked. "How could her death cause that?"

Our demon sighed and sat facing us, crosslegged at the foot of the bed. She looked and sounded sad as she quietly explained, "My kind are supernatural, but we're still part of nature. In some ways it almost feels like we're connected more directly to the Earth than most others? Perhaps because of how long we exist. I wasn't around long enough to learn all the details, and perhaps some of my ideas are fanciful but..."

She shrugged and sighed again, before focusing once more on what she was saying. "The coming and going of a demon is a big event. It's very rare, and when it happens the world takes notice. Usually in the form of some kind of cataclysm or natural disaster."

She looked to Marianne and commented, "You've mentioned a few times about the volcano at Santorini being tied to the fall of the Minoan civilization, you know when that happened. And you know when my daughter was born. Surely you've noticed those two events coincided?"

"I noticed," my girlfriend nodded. "I thought it was a coincidence though? We don't have a firm date for when the eruption happened, they've narrowed it down to a range of years. And I thought you didn't have any exact dates for the events from your own life, because our calendar system wasn't invented till long after you were gone?"

Eva responded with a sad smile, "I don't need to know the exact dates on your calendar Marianne, I know what events happened together. My child's birth was heralded by the volcanic eruption and near-destruction of the island of Thera. Whether that led to the fall of the Minoan civilization, I can't say. I lived in what you call Scandinavia. I learned of her birth when my lover brought me the news, and gave me that gold bracelet as a gift."

I finally spoke up, "So that's why you were reading up on volcanoes in the Aegean? You were looking to see if any huge eruptions happened in the last three thousand years?"

"That's right Lexi," she still had that sad look on her face, "I was checking to make sure my child hadn't perished. If she had, there would surely have been another cataclysm in the region."

Marianne sighed, "A cataclysm like Vesuvius and the eruption of seventy-nine CE... Oh Eva, I'm so sorry!"

The look on my demon's face was tragic, and yet again I desperately wished I could hug her.

She was obviously doing her best to stay brave as she nodded, "Not every volcanic eruption has a demonic cause, but something as devastating as the one you told me about today... It's almost certain that was caused by a demonic birth or death. And I've sensed no trace of my lover, or any other demons during our time here."

With a deep sigh and a look of pain on her face she stated, "Vesuvius is practically on the doorstep of where Lilith once lived, in the heart of her territory. There's no other explanation. My lover was killed two thousand years ago, and her passing was marked by that eruption."

"I'm sorry Eva," I sighed. "Is there anything we can do?"

My demon shook her head, "No Lexi, but thank you for asking. I appreciate your concern, but I'll be ok."

"I may spend tomorrow by myself," she added. "I've tried to prepare myself for this possibility since you and I first met, but..."

"Of course," I nodded. "Take all the time you need."

Marianne asked, "We don't need to decide anything right now, but I guess this will change our plans going forward?"

Eva shrugged slightly, "We have this hotel room for another few days, if you two wish to continue touring and sight-seeing by all means do so. We can talk more later, but I think we should return to the Aegean. Now that I know Lilith is gone, I will focus my efforts on finding Mara instead."

"Thanks Eva," I replied. "Remember, if there's anything I can do for you just let me know ok?"

She nodded as she gave me a sad smile, then vanished without another word. And once again her presence faded from my mind.

Me and Marianne ended up just cuddling together on the bed after that. We both shared Eva's pain, and the sense of helpless loss of knowing there was nothing we could do about something that happened two thousand years ago.

We ended up having another early night, then Saturday was a quiet day. Neither of us felt like doing any touring or sight-seeing, it was a day for staying in and cuddling. I just wished Eva could have joined us, because I knew she needed it even more than Marianne and I.