The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Abaddon was well known for his burning rage but number 616 managed at least to stay alive, but he was way too unpredictable on the battle fields to be used. The big lug didn’t think he had any masters and I guess if no one can destroy you or control you, then you’re a servant to no-one.” She finished the Vodka and threw the jug over her shoulder. It smashed and when I jumped she mouthed the word ‘sorry’ at me. I don’t know why she had turned a bit serious but I guess the rest of the story was going to enlighten me.

  “Right, well they now had a problem on their hands, one that Lucifer couldn’t even handle, so what did they do? The bastards threw him in his own caved realm of Hell and locked him there with a few meat headed guardians and I use the word guardians in the loosest sense of the word…like non-existent, like a cow pretending to be a pissing Reindeer I mean, can you see that, a bunch of cows pulling Santa?! Hell no, right!” She grabbed another jug and started with this one when it hit me what was wrong with her.

  “You felt sorry for him?” I asked quietly.

  “I loved that big beasty bastard before they even dangled me in there like a slab of beef in a noose!”

  “You did?”

  “Hell yeah, I mean they just locked him up Toots! They just created him and left him with a few play things and scraps. They made him and they were just waiting for the day we would die!” She was getting really angry now and I started to see her fingertip turn black and her skin become cloudy. I scooted round and I placed a hand on her arm and when she responded with shock at my touch it was as though she had only just realised I was still there.

  “It’s ok Pip, I understand. Nobody likes to think of someone they love ever being hurt or wronged, but it’s ok now, he’s got you.” This last part must have sunk in and she raised her eyes from where I touched her, showing me the watery green from unshed tears.

  She nodded to indicate she understood and I decided to help her continue.

  “Now, tell me the good part.” At this she gave me a beaming smile and I knew the old Pip was back.

  “Well first off I slipped my noose and turned around and gave the fleshy bastards the one fingered salute. Then I lost my nerve a bit when the mountains started to shake. I’m talking about one scary dude when mad and when I first met him he was always angry and why shouldn’t he be? It’s not like he had ever been shown any kindness or had any other reason not to be a rage monster…right?” I nodded not wanting to interrupt her flow.

  “So he came out of his cave, all hulk like, muscle guns blazing, looking for his fresh snack and what he got was bony little me. He looked so disappointed!” She laughed at what I presumed was the memory of his face.

  “I guess it’s like going to a famous steak house readying yourself for a big juicy porterhouse and the waiter turning round and telling you they’re all out of meat so try this stick of celery instead! At first he just seemed to look at me as if trying to find the meat.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Well I was close to crapping my little girl panties that’s what and when he picked me up by a leg then I think I did actually wee wee a bit. But then something weird happened.” Out of all the things that could have happened I really didn’t expect the next bit.

  “What happened?” I asked totally engrossed.

  “I giggled.”

  “What!”

  “Yeah I know right, here I am being held like King Kong’s got hold of me and I started giggling. But I just couldn’t help it, I mean I am really ticklish, just saying the word makes me smile, like now, so I thought well if I’m gonna die then I would do it laughing, so once I started I couldn’t stop. But he didn’t gobble me up or more like start picking his teeth like I was a handy size tooth pick, no he just looked at me like he was seeing something for the first time, which I now know that he was.” She was grinning and it was infectious.

  “I bet the meat heads stopped laughing.” I loved Karma.

  “You bet your didgeridoo they did. For the first time ever he was entertained. He set me back on the ground and waited to see what I would do next. So I started jumping around, making silly noises and singing to him. As time went on I even think I started to make him laugh, which kinda sounds like if a mountain could cough and grunt then that was Abaddon. It even caused landslides.”

  “I bet.” I didn’t really know what else to say but I knew one thing, I don’t think I was ever going to look at Adam in the same way ever again.

  “It eventually got that way where he started looking after me, feeding me, keeping me warm and safe. Once they knew I wasn’t going to be eaten anytime soon they made a big mistake and tried to take me off him…that didn’t go down too well and his rage ended up causing the 1667 Shamakhi earthquake that killed about 80,000 people. Needless to say they didn’t try doing that again in a hurry.” I shook my head at her words and just the thought of how Adam seemed to react when Pip was not around, which made me wonder…where was he now?

  “But it was cool, we became friends and it soon became clear that he loved me. It took a while for him to get used to having to care for me and he wasn’t all too gentle to begin with let me tell ya! One time I was dancing for him and he flicked me to get me to do it again, he ended up flinging me across the space of an air field! Boy, then was I angry, I don’t think I talked to him or entertained him for a week, but that was the only way he would learn and after some rock throwing, from my part, he learned to treat me with care.”

  “I can’t even picture it Pip, what was it like?”

  “Well it was pretty damn cool when nobody would mess with ya, Lucifer himself even paid me a visit. That was funny. He came over all big and powerful, you know these demanding ‘I’m the man, woman so kneel kind of shit heads’. Well he tried that bullshit with me and wanted me to control the beast. I told him straight.” Was she serious? Oh yeah, she was serious alright and she was damn proud of herself.

  “Good on you.”

  “Damn straight, down the tunnel and out the other side…of course it didn’t really go my way too much. See Lucifer wanted his battle tool and he wanted him controlled, which he now couldn’t do without me. Me! A little, nothing Shadow Imp who was used to being the one that was being controlled and I now I found myself holding the key to the supernatural world’s greatest threat and strongest Demon. Ha, well that, Honey Bee, was like winning the Demon Lotto, give me those two fat ladies cause I was singing and dancing. Not only was I in love big time, but the big fella loved me back!”

  “So Lucifer had to back off?”

  “Ah shit no!” Ok I had now lost count of how many times Pip had said shit, crap or the bull variety.

  “The sneaky bastard sent me packing.” Oh and there was ‘bastard’ too. Pip could quite easily make a builder blush.

  “What do you mean packing?”

  “Well, he said sentence revoked so it was ta ta Pipper, so get your ass out of Hell and don’t come back.” She saw my shock and laughed.

  “I know right, talk about sucking on the crapolia pipe, but don’t worry too much because the poo hit the propeller then.”

  “What happened?” I leaned forward needing to hear the end of this story. It was better than any episode of Corrie, Eastenders, Jeremy Kyle, Judge Judy and even good old Jerry Springer! Ok, so I didn’t watch most of those programmes but I knew the drama involved.

  “Abaddon missed me and he made it very, very clear. I think Lucifer planned to use me to control him but after I left Abaddon lost all control and started to destroy everything in sight, they couldn’t hold him, he just kept growing with his rage and nothing could stop him but me. Lucifer came to me and told me if I didn’t find him a host strong enough to hold him then the underworld really would go under.”

  “Why couldn’t they send you back, you know, to be with him?”

  “Because Lucifer had already given me my pardon and you can’t go back to Hell unless you do the crime and I wouldn’t do that again, besides I wanted him out and I knew if I found him the
right host, then we could be together without chance of him being used again. That’s when I met Lucius.” I was surprised when his name came into it and I don’t know why every time I heard his name a blush would creep across my skin and find home for a while. Pip gave me an ‘I know what you’re thinking’ kind of look but decided to bite her blue lips instead.

  “Right, well you know you’re gonna have to carry on with that one.” I said after I didn’t think she would continue. She bent forwards and looked up to the sky.

  “I guess we still have mucho timeo,” she said, running one pointed nail down to tap on her chin, I think this time it was a pineapple.

  “Any who, Lucius met with me, knowing I needed help finding a host but this time it was going to be different, this time it wasn’t just an empty vessel with no soul, naha, this time the host had to be willing to become the beast.” My mouth made an ‘o’ as I took in what she was saying.

  “Can that be done? And why? Wouldn’t that have killed him or would he have to have died?”

  “Whoa, slow down there Kicky Magoo, all will be revealed. Man, I feel like a professor at college ‘Supernatural tech’. Ok, so where was I before you boarded train runaway questions….?”

  “Ha, ha, come on Pip, I’m dying over here. You were at the point about a human host, soul and all.” She snapped her fingers at me and said,

  “YES!” as she was still pointing her clicked fingers at me.

  “Well, see the thing is, I needed to be with this guy, like every day for the rest of my long, universe type long existence, so I had to like the guy right?”

  “Makes sense.” I said and she nodded enthusiastically.

  “Sure does sister, so I went hunting and hunting of the best kind and with Lucius’ help he could make it so that the human host had a better chance at surviving the transition.”

  “How?”

  “He was going to make his human side a Vamp before the Beast took the host.”

  “Whoa whoa whoa, ok slow down a sec, He was going to turn a human…but I thought he couldn’t do that…Draven said…”

  “Yeah, yeah Draven said that Vamp’s can’t turn humans and he is right ’a’ roonie but that’s only because they can’t survive it. However…” She held up her hand palm in my face to stop my next question. Can’t say I blamed her, it must have been frustrating having someone keep interrupting and asking questions, but I just couldn’t help it.

  “…for the host in question, my hubby pie cream cake, would have to die anyway for the beast to accept the host but this way when the beast took hold, his body was stronger as a Vamp or he would have been ripped to shreds in the process. Vamps heal pretty damn quickly and it was touch and go for a while but they merged quite nicely. I think so anyway.”

  “So Adam is both a Vampire and this beast?” It was too much to even comprehend the power that Adam held.

  “He is and being another child of Lucius he is utterly faithful to him, which brings us back to sides and why there was no real choice to make. The Vamp in Adam’s human side has his loyalty to Lucius and the beast Abaddon in him has his loyalty to me and only me and considering I hold the kick ass side with my heart, nobody’s gonna mess with the little Imp girl! Boo yeah!” She slapped her hand out to mine in a girly high five and we laughed together, all the time my mind was going through its processing cycle.

  We were just getting up to leave when another question came to me.

  “Wait, but how did Lucius know you needed help?”

  “Draven told him to find me.” At this, I stopped her with a hand on her tattooed arm when hearing the one name in the world that meant the most to me.

  “Draven?”

  “Yeah, it was by his order.”

  “Why though, did he know you?” I asked hoping for a ‘yes’ and I could then squeeze every last drop of information from her time with him. Was he with anyone at that time?

  “Nope!” Well, there went my info but then she carried on and the next thing she told me I could never have thought possible.

  “But he was ordered to help Abaddon in finding a host.” What, someone could order Draven? I found it hard to believe.

  “Ordered, by who…Lucifer?” She laughed at me gently, like I was missing something huge. She patted my hand which was still gripping onto her arm.

  “No, not Lucifer but by Asmodeus, King of the 2nd Circle of Lust.” Oh, ok, so who was this guy? But before I could ask, she shot me a knowing grin before dropping an Atom bomb.

  “King Asmodeus is… Draven’s father!”

  Chapter 21

  The Rebirth of Adam Fitzwilliam

  We had made our way back to my room and I could have been walking through swarms of fire ants and I wouldn’t have noticed the burning on my legs for where my mind was. His Dad? Was it possible? Well of course it was, I mean he had to come from somewhere and he did tell me about him and his siblings being a product of an Angel and Demon naughty get together, so why was I finding it so difficult to comprehend. I think it was probably down to the fact that now I knew of at least one man that had a say in Draven’s life and no-one likes to piss off their Daddy!

  I burst out laughing at my next thought and Pip eyed me from the side as if I’d finally lost it. I just couldn’t help my reaction, I mean I was dating an offspring of the King of Lust! How perfect was that! And no bloody wonder he was such a God in the bedroom and Oh was I such a devoted believer…Amen to that! Of course the thought of him knowing I had slept in Lucius’ arms sobered me up quite quickly. I was just hoping that’s all he thought.

  Back in my room Pip finally couldn’t stand my silence, except for that one burst of crazy laughter.

  “Ok Missy Toot, what did I say this time?” She had her hands on her hips and it just made her look even more adorable.

  “It’s just when you mentioned Draven’s father, it took me by surprise that’s all and I never did get to hear how you finally met Adam.” This was another thing I really wanted to know. It was like the story wasn’t yet complete without this last part of the puzzle put in its place.

  “Well now, that I can remedy only in a really cool mumbo jumbo, ‘Pipper knows best’ kind of way! Come over here Sugar Pants and sit down!” I laughed at her name choice and walked over to the living space in the middle of the room that was more of an apartment in size.

  “Righty ho, this might feel a teensy bit weird but considering it’s you I’m talking to I can imagine it will be just a walk in a theme park for ya.” Ok, now I was sat here with an Imp positioning herself over me, telling me something she is about to do is going to be weird, I wasn’t so sure the puzzle needed that last piece.

  “Relax Chicarica, everything will be A ok, you’ll see and man will you see, and if you don’t just love that dress I’m wearing then I might not bring you back…only joking…sheesh you make one little cosmic joke and you tense up like a nun in porno! I do know what I’m doing you know!”

  “And what is that exactly, apart from strangling me like we’re about to make out?” She laughed and then slapped her hands on either side of my head making me jump.

  “My darling Toots, what I’m about to do is so much cooler than making out and it’s what I do best.”

  “Which is?” She leaned in so that her nose was only an inch from mine and said words that caused me to want to panic,

  “I’m filling in shadows.”

  I was just about to start my impression of a buckaroo game when my vision filled with a different world.

  Opening your eyes to the fact you have quite obviously just been catapulted into history is both fascinating and disturbing. One minute I was sat in my room with an Imp sat on my lap and the next I am staring at what I can only assume was a 17th century London street. The dark fog gave very little colour to the murky streets and it was startling to see such a contrast of classes. These days you can rarely tell one class of people from the next when on a high street shopping. Of course, it’s different if you saw one person going into Gucc
i and another into Primark, that is an obvious difference but this…well this went from dirty brown wool clothes made from necessity to the finest brocade dresses purely for showing ones wealth.

  I looked down and saw myself as I was, but as people passed I knew I was not part of this history or taken in by the eyes that now belonged to the earth on Holy ground. I was nothing here but an observer and what I was there to observe was an older child in an elegant dress walking out into what I presumed was a road for carriages, although there was very little to suggest it other than the runaway carriage heading for the doomed girl.

  On instinct I screamed out and went running to the girl’s aid but I was beaten there by a gentleman who had launched himself at the girl’s middle and tackled her to the ground, saving her life by a second and an inch. I watched the out of control carriage round a corner with the sound of wood splitting and horses in distress. What was left was a man that lay on top of a female form and when I got closer I gasped.

  It wasn’t an older child but a very small woman and it wasn’t just any woman but none other than Pip from a very different time. She looked so unlike the Pip I knew it was like finding a cookie trail in the woods. Each piece painted a picture…her little nose and lips void of metal, her perfect cherry curls that even with today’s hair dyes was hard to achieve. All piled neatly on top of her head and half hidden under a delicate little velvet hat. With her hair colouring and those remarkable green eyes, the shade of the deepest forests of the hidden world, she looked unearthly.

  For these reasons I wasn’t surprised that the man on top of her was stunned motionless. He just stared down at her, captured by her exquisite beauty before he could even find words and the words he did eventually find were not what I was expecting.