“I tell the truth, the King has taken another to his bed and therefore he must believe a mistake has been made. She must not be the Chosen.” Lucius actually growled at her and looked more terrifying than the heads of beasts that were situated either side of the balcony’s square design. It was a large open space void of any plant life or furniture. From what I could see it was made from a part of the mountain that jutted out from the rest. I looked down from where I stood and saw it was a sheer drop to the frozen lake below. I felt my stomach churn at the height.
“Not possible, she is the Electus!” Lucius said and I saw a brief flash of pain in Layla’s eyes.
“You know this for sure my Lord?”
“You doubt your Master? Yes, I know this for sure. I have not being planning this from her seventh year on a mere whim!” He snapped making me slap my hands to my mouth in shock. Since my seventh year? No, that couldn’t possibly mean what I thought it meant…could it?
“I do not doubt your trusted beliefs my Lord, but if Dom…the King doesn’t believe then he will not swap the girl for the spear and that makes having her here a liability.” At this Lucius nearly roared.
“Does your jealously know no bounds Layla, or is your memory of being slighted never at any point ready to fade?” At this she looked away.
“I come to you with this information because of what was asked of me. It was you my Lord who had me work closely with the King and become your eyes on the inside.”
“And I didn’t hear you complaining at the time. We both got what we wanted, some of us what we needed.” I don’t know why I felt surprised at hearing that Layla was a spy and it was obvious her gain came from being around Draven and fuelling her obsession. But for Lucius to go to such lengths, I couldn’t help but know I was missing huge chunks of the puzzle.
“Yes, I’m glad you think so my Lord.” Layla said bitterly.
“Remember your place Lahash!” Lucius warned and she lowered her head in defeat.
“How did you obtain this evidence?” He folded his arms and in his suit he looked nothing short of masterful.
“Afterlife is full of secret passages that I learnt of in my time there, I simply gained access and found one that led me to the King’s chambers. I took the footage on my phone when I saw him and his former lover in the act. I knew this would change things.” She said, trying so hard to keep her happiness of the fact in check. Lucius dragged his hand down his face in a show of stress and held his hand to the lower part of his face taking in this new information.
“This changes nothing. He will still come for the girl, I feel it.”
“But my Lord…”
“Enough! The girl will stay here until I choose otherwise. If Dominic has lost his head to his manhood then it is unlikely to be anything more than a carnal need in the girl’s absence.” At that point I wanted to take off my heels and haul them at his head! A carnal need in my absence! What the hell was that? A polite way of talking about blue balls and how men couldn’t possible do without for a bloody week!
“With respect my Lord I think you are wrong, I think the girl should be given to Malphas sooner than you planned.” This time I gasped before I could stop the noise but this was the past and this conversation had already taken place. I wasn’t going to be noticed even if I jumped in front of Layla and while flipping her the bird and poking her up her nose with my finger, while kicking her in the shin, while smacking her round the head a few dozen times, while….well you get the picture.
“There is never any respect telling your Master that you think they are wrong Layla.” He said with controlled rage. She saw the blood in his eyes and quickly dropped to her knees in front of him.
“Please my Lord, it is only my worry and loyalty for you that compels me to say these things.” She had grovelled over to him and with her head hanging down staring at his feet, I snorted in disgust. He took a sharp grip on her chin making her wince at his painful grip. He forced her head all the way up and he lowered his head to get in her face.
“Tell me, why were you no longer allowed to work at the King’s table?” He raised an eyebrow before she spoke and yanked her head further to his face making her moan in pain.
“And do NOT lie to me, Lahash!” With the word ‘not’ he sounded all predator.
“It is as I said my Lord, the King started to grow suspicious of all his staff and was looking into interrogating everyone, he was going to have his seeker, Takeshi looking into memories and only Karmun wasn’t vulnerable to his powers.” She spilled it out desperately.
“Then tell me, why is it that the girl flinches at just the sight of you?” He still wouldn’t release her face, even when she tried to look away which from where I was standing looked painful to do.
“Answer me!” He seethed.
“I think she must have been jealous my Lord. She never made an effort with her appearance and looked down at all others for doing so.” At hearing this he raised her body from the ground with just his hand on her chin. She made a strangled gargle at her rough treatment but Lucius was too far gone in his fury. When her feet came within reach of the floor she scrabbled to find footing, in order to take the weight from her face and throat. He tore her hand away from his hand that she tried desperately to get him to move. He pulled her just an inch away from his face.
“So you are telling me vanity is the reason she fears you? Fucking vanity!” He screamed in her face and even I flinched back. Then he dropped her and back handed her so fiercely she landed hard on the far side of the balcony.
“You LIE!” He roared, eyes transformed into two crimson suns burning into the woman that lay at his mercy.
“I saw your handy work on her body, Lahash! I didn’t know who had inflicted her hidden scar on her side but the touch of our kind can still be seen. I wondered at the time but it only became clear when I saw Keira holding her side in a memorable pain when I danced with you. I saw it in her eyes.” He moved over her and I thought for a moment he was going to kill her. I saw his fingers at his sides change and curl into lengthy claws that looked too eager to strike, twitching in waiting.
“You have seen her body?” Was all she said and it came out like a plea for it not to be true.
“I have been with her naked, Lahash and the vain creature you portray, she is not! I touched the evidence of your jealousy and even in sleep she flinches. I should tear your heart out but you are simply not worth my time!” At this she shot up and even though her lips had been busted open to the point a large section of it was now a bloody open flap hanging down, she didn’t seem to care.
“She is an abomination to our kind! I would have done the world a favour taking her life, as she in return has taken the one thing that meant anything in mine!” Lucius pulled his arm back wide as if to hit her again but stopped. She held her ground and said,
“Do it my Lord! It would be fitting by your hand.” She spoke with a sorrow I didn’t believe she processed and Lucius instead of following through with his action he lowered his clawed hand.
“Death is not deserved by you, so I will opt for a much harsher punishment. I banish you as my child and take from you the gift I bestowed.”
“NO! You can’t! I would rather die than have that part of me taken away. You can’t do this to me over a pathetic human! I am a child of Vampire and you cannot ever take that from me!” She said bravely but Lucius merely laughed at her, a hurtful and malicious sound.
“Maybe not at this moment in time but when I banish you for the rest of your years on this plane then your power will degrade the longer you’re apart from me. As your maker I have this right and it will be so that from the next moon cycle you will burn in the sun if you set foot in my presence again! Now go and salvage what is left of your pitiful life, for your power will start to die and with that, your host.” Lucius turned to leave and she spat at the floor where he was stood. Lucius barely gave her a glance but then she wasn’t quite finished.
“You have grown weak and pathetic over
a lesser being, a human parasite that is nothing more than a cockroach to this earth! I spit at your weakness and laugh when the time comes for you to hand the girl over to Malphas as was your deal. And what do you think he has in store for the precious Electus. Do you suppose he plans to dance with her and woo her into a trust that was never meant to stem from both sides. He plans to gut her, my Lord and when he does I will rejoice and my only regret is that my hand will not be able to touch the torn flesh which I could inflict. That I am not there to see the life drain from her shell, in which I could then bathe in her blood! SHE. WILL. DIE!” She screamed out this last part in such a rage that she flew at Lucius like a banshee, but it was a wasted energy. Lucius simply lifted his hand and she dropped to the ground and started to writhe in agony on the floor. She screamed over and over and clawed at her own skin as though it was too painful to wear. I saw it ripple like thousands of bulging bugs infested in her flesh and were eating her insides.
Lucius got down low and rested his arm on his bent knee to speak through her pain.
“I never intended to let Malphas have her Layla, he was only ever just another instrument to utilize. Keira is mine now and you…you will perish long before she ever does!” These were Lucius’ last words to her and she screamed out, through excruciating pain or through cavernous loss, I didn’t know but she continued screaming as she had received both.
My vision faded with the evidence of her torment vibrating in my mind. I opened my eyes to Pip and now I knew what she did, there was none of the usual humour in her features. She got off me and I sat up slowly, still trying to understand the depth of the deep shit I was in. I had learnt more in those ten minutes than I had in the entire time I had been here.
“So let me get this straight, first it was Lucius that had not only sent Karmun to spy but Layla as well?” I wasn’t even looking at Pip when I asked her. I was just staring into a nothingness that seemed to sum up my situation.
“Yes he did.”
“And he planned all along to double cross Draven and give me to this Malphas, like a fucking playing card?” I said so full of anger it felt too thick to swallow.
“Yes, he was.” She said gingerly.
“Was?”
“Yeah he was, but not anymore. I think there is something you should know.” I held up my hand to stop her.
“If you’re about to tell me he changed his mind thanks to some divine intervention, I think I am going to throw up! At this point Pip, I can’t see myself as anything other than what he told me I was. I am a bloody pawn, I always have been and just because he doesn’t want his pawn dead doesn’t mean diddley shit to me!” I said bitterly. I knew I was taking my anger out on Pip by being snappy and I felt guilty about it, so I tried to get a hold of my resentment and think logically.
“I’m sorry Pip, I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.” She waved me off and started pacing back and forth looking more agitated than I was.
“Oh, never mind all that Toots, we have bigger problems here.”
“Like what?”
“Like when Lucius has to tell Malphas that the deal is off! That is one dude that A – does not take kindly to the word ‘No’ and B- he is one scary and powerful son of a beehive!” Oh goodie…another powerful supernatural being that wanted me in pain or to hold me against my will, Christ was there a bloody club or something!
“I met him once and he spoke about me being the Chosen One but back then I knew nothing about it really…I suppose not a lot has changed on that front, I still don’t know what the hell I am supposed to do, I mean I don’t even know what it means…or what I am…or…”
“Ok, ok slow down there Jessie.”
“Jessie?” I asked thinking this question should have been lower down on my need to know list.
“You know, from Toy Story, geez Toots don’t you ever watch the flat screen?”
“Yeah me and Draven sit down and watch America’s next top model every week!”
“Really?” She said obviously getting excited by the idea but with one look at my face it told her I was being sarcastic.
“I’m sorry Pip but in between being attacked, drugged, kidnapped and finals at college then I haven’t really had much time for telly.” I said with slumped shoulders.
“And sex, there’s always time for sex and I can imagine with a boy toy like Draven there is little need for Buzz and the gang…Draven supplies woody I can bet!” She said waggling her eyebrows and I actually couldn’t hold in the laugh but then the thought of Draven and sex had me catapulted right back to the video footage of my boyfriend and Aurora.
“Pip, I need to know if what happened with Draven and Aurora was true. You need to send me to him before I go completely crazy.” She looked away at the door for a second as if she could hear someone coming.
“I will see what I can do Toots, but not tonight, I have to recharge and besides, you have company.” I was just about to ask her what she meant when Lucius stormed through the door looking masterful as usual.
“Leave us little Imp!” He ordered sternly and Pip stood up quickly and squared her shoulders before giving him a salute. She turned and winked at me and then left the room…skipping.
Lucius walked further in the room and stalked his way to the living space. He went up to the kitchenette and grabbed a spirit bottle from a cupboard, one I didn’t recognise as it was German, and filled a glass. He knocked it back and grabbed another glass in between his fingers to carry them both and the bottle, back to the coffee table. Lucius hadn’t yet said a word and I just watched him from the bed too afraid to move due to his obvious rage. And after seeing it in full throttle mode on Layla, I didn’t fancy getting the tail end.
He took off his tailored jacket and flung it to the three seater sofa. He was no longer wearing gloves as he hadn’t been in my vision and this brought me back to seeing him with claws so large that he would have made a wild jungle cat scatter. I gulped back the lump at the sight of broad shoulders under his shirt and his fitted dark striped waistcoat that hugged nicely at the waist. He had rolled up his sleeves so that muscled forearms could be seen and when he sat down he leaned back in the single chair before taking off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt to where the waistcoat tied. I wanted to say ‘Make yourself comfortable why don’t you!’ But thanks to the intense mix of steel grey and ice blue eyes drinking in my every movement I decided my sarcastic mouth was better under lock and key.
“Come here, Keira!” He said motioning with two fingers held together. I really didn’t want to but it had been said as an order not a request. I got up and walked very slowly to the seat opposite his, all the while it felt like I was being sized up as a meal. I suppressed a giggle at the thought of him seeing me as one of those cartoon cooked chickens like Wile e Coyote does in The Road Runner, only in my image I was still wearing a black dress. Surely thinking this meant I was losing my sanity!
“I want you to tell me what Layla did to you.” He said and then after giving me a minute to collect my thoughts he nodded to my side which I didn’t realise I was holding in a protective manner. He had been right, I must have been touching my side like this subconsciously when I was looking at Layla.
“I will start for you, should I?” He said and I couldn’t find my voice around him at the moment, not when he was like this. His look would have given me chills at how cold his mannerisms seemed, if it wasn’t for his heated gaze every time his eyes lingered on my body. And if his manhood was anything to go by then I would say with certainty that for this Vamp, rage and lust went hand in hand.
“Layla was working the club at my order, but at least that much you have no doubt gathered for yourself?” I nodded when he paused.
“Her mission was simple, befriend you and report to me on your progress.”
“Progress?” I questioned. He actually looked uncomfortable for a moment but it only showed in his expressive eyes, his body gave nothing away.
“I was waiting for Draven to yield his restraints and tak
e you as his.” I frowned at the thought of being played, the second my foot stepped off the plane.
“How did you even know I was ever going to meet him?”
“It is of little matter how I knew.” I think the noise that came out of me was an actual growl and a clear sign that I was spending far too much time around aggravating, pig headed men!
“To you maybe, but to me…well, I am very interested.” I crossed my arms over my chest and Lucius frowned at me.
“Later I may tell you, but for now I want to know about your painful exchange with Layla.”
“What does it matter now, you sent her to spy and she must have interpreted that as to stab. She always seemed a bit warped.” I added dryly and I couldn’t help but notice Lucius’ hand twitch when I said the word ‘stab’.
“My intent was never to hurt you Keira, it was only ever to…”
“Use me!” I finished for him, making his eyes flash red and his fists clench in a show of emotion. He had to wait until he could take back his ragged control before leaning back and resting his elbow on the arm of the chair. He held the lower part of his face in his hand and tapped his index finger on his cheek.
“You are right. As I made clear earlier, you were a pawn, a tool and a means to get what I need.” I was about to butt in with my own feelings on the matter when he held up his other hand for me to stop. When I remained silent he continued and placed his free hand back on his thigh and I couldn’t help but follow his fingers as they tapped on the firm muscle that they found there.
“However, at no point did I ever want any harm to come to you, those were my orders Keira.”
“Funny then that it was you who also broke them.” At this he shocked me and laughed.
“Yes and I do recall you were trying to give me a tan, I think we’re even.” He looked better smiling and for the first time that he walked in the room I found my shoulders relaxed.
“I think you started it,” I said trying not to grin.
“Yes and as you can see, I finished it. You are here now, under my…”
The Triple Goddess Page 35