The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

“You know I find it amazing how one little cold human can still find the much needed blood flow to flush cheeks at her embarrassment. Well at least some places won’t be getting cold anytime soon.” He commented making my cheeks heat further which was made worse when his eyes drank in their naked fill of me. I covered my breasts with my hands and he found a frown his way when he made the journey to my face but the bastard just laughed again.

  “Come on Rosy, time to get off this little rock.” I looked around at our situation and couldn’t see a way of doing that. We seemed to be on a tiny little island close to the mountain side and it was only big enough to hold five fir trees. I looked up at the rock side and couldn’t tell where the castle behind it stood. Were we even close or was I further away than I thought? No wonder no-one ever saw it, it was hard to believe even for me and I had seen it first-hand. No-one in a million years would guess the amount of bodies the mountain concealed or the number of rooms that were buried deep within. As far as hideaways and secret lairs went, this one was a clear winner!

  “And just how do you think…?” I was cut off as I turned round to the sight of a very different Lucius.

  “Holy shit!” I said on impulse, as I was now looking at Lucius in his demon form for the first time in person and holy shit didn’t even begin to cover it!

  He cocked his head to one side and seemed amused with my reaction at seeing him this way…well I’m glad one of us was having a good time I thought sarcastically. There he stood like the Master of the Caves and his appearance would give new meaning to the comic hero Batman.

  His pale skin was now marred with dark veins that crept in at his sides and lower stomach. Thankfully he had put his trousers back on so I didn’t have to discover the differences down in that department, as I think I had enough to contend with up the other end!

  Two massive horns came from his shoulder blades at the back which were the start to his unusual wings. It was like a patchwork of black charred skin that was in no particular pattern, all sewn together to create a set of bat shaped wings. Each end curled upwards at the bottom and had dagger edges that look far too deadly to touch. These weren’t just a means of flight, they were a means to kill, dismember and disembowel!

  They were worn and broken in places with little holes nearer the edges and each side met finger like claws that only added to the arsenal of natural made weapons. The dark grey/blue eyes had disappeared completely and I now found two red eyes staring at me, which reminded me of looking into the depths of two uncut rubies. When his gaze travelled the length of me once more they started to glow, making me take a step back.

  “Come here!” The simple command had me nearly staggering. That was the last place I wanted to go but what was I to do, I was stuck on a tiny island with a Vampire and right now, he looked nothing short of one!

  I saw him pick something off the ground but in the shadows of the trees I couldn’t see what it was. I took another step back as he took one towards me.

  “Keira!” He said my name in warning but what did he expect? This wasn’t the Lucius I knew that could show kindness, no, this was the Lucius that had haunted my dreams and turned everyone into nightmares. Nightmares of burning girls and ending of worlds, nightmares of a room full of dead friends and bloody relatives. God, how could I have forgotten about those things so easily? What was wrong with me?

  “Easy, Keira.” He said just before I took another step back which would have proven fatal. I was now at the edge of the island and on this side the lake was still frozen. I don’t know how thick the ice was but I wasn’t sure I wanted to put it to the test.

  “Come now, you know me and I am sure you have seen far worse.” He tried to sound light hearted but in a deeper voice that belonged to this Demon side of him, it was nearly impossible to accomplish. He came closer then and my body reacted before I gave it much thought. I stepped back and heard a slight pop under my foot as I stepped onto the ice. It was a sickening sound but I was thankful that’s all it was.

  “I suggest you don’t move, Keira!” He warned and I did as I was told. I was being foolish, deep down I knew that, but the sight of him brought back too many horrendous memories that it was hard to decipher logic from instinct.

  “Ch..change back.” I said, now once again starting to shiver, which was bound to happen considering I was stood at the foot of a frozen lake, naked and holding my body with both arms, not doing a very good job at trying to hide myself.

  “Keira, you know I can’t, not if you want us to get off this island.” As his words sank in I took another step back, now placing both my feet on the ice. It made another crack that echoed along the lake and sounded like someone hitting high tension wire with a bat. He wanted to fly us both off here in that form and I couldn’t even bring myself to go near him…this wasn’t looking good!

  My feet were so cold on the ice that I looked down just to make sure they weren’t going blue and my toes hadn’t yet fallen off. I was more than happy to see them in one piece but when I looked back up at Lucius he was now right in front of me and I screamed.

  “AHHH!” I would have fallen backwards onto the ice but Lucius grabbed me and yanked me to his chest and back onto the solid earth.

  “You little fool! I mean for Demon’s sake woman, if you wanted me to kiss you again you had only ask!” He pulled me backwards and wouldn’t give an inch when I tried to get away. I started shaking in his hold and he lifted my arms with ease, despite my struggles, and the thing he picked up earlier, he whipped over my head until most of my body was covered in his t-shirt. It should have been wet but thanks to our heated kiss before, it had dried out a lot more than our bodies.

  I looked up at him with clear panic in my eyes and the red glow seemed to simmer down.

  “I know why you’re afraid of me Keira, but those things…the nightmares I gave you…I…they…Oh fuck it!” He grabbed me by the waist, lifted me up to his head height and then took off with one powerful push from bent knees. We were both launched upwards into the sky and I let out a yelp that was unheard thanks to the icy wind that lashed at our bodies.

  I wanted to close my eyes but I couldn’t keep from staring at his wings and the way they moved. They didn’t move like Draven’s mighty mass of feathers that found a smooth and gentle rhythm at catching the air, bending the elements to his will. No, these blurred in their movement, being too fast for the eye to see. But one thing I was sure about and that was the speed at which we were travelling. We made it back up the mountain in seconds and as I was being flown around the side of the cliff face I made the mistake of looking down.

  “Oh Shit!” I said as I buried my head into his naked torso. I felt his chuckling through my forehead that was plastered into his neck and his grip tightened despite the humour he found in my reaction. One thing I did see before freaking out was the part of the lake that I had fallen into. Only now it looked very different to how I remembered. The massive space that must have been one third of the lake’s size was now broken up into loads of icy pieces, a bit like looking down at a giant shattered window.

  Lucius had done this to get me out and save my life. Not just this man, but this Demon, who carried me to safety now and I hadn’t trusted him when the time came. Was I being foolish like he said or was I finally getting it? I really couldn’t trust anyone in this supernatural life I was thrown into, but surely if someone continued to protect me and save me from those who wanted to harm me, then what was left to think?

  These were the questions I needed answers to, but before I could find my answers, I needed to go back to history…I needed to go back to Lucius and Draven’s history, one that was filled with anger, betrayal and lost friendships but weirdest of all…

  One filled with Nazi’s.

  Chapter 34

  Past Buried Deep and Hidden in Bone

  I didn’t think my grip could get any tighter as we turned and when Lucius started to take us down I was practically climbing up him.

  “I guess it’s all flying you hat
e, not just helicopters?” Lucius joked as we came gently back to the earth but even though I knew we were back on safe ground, I still couldn’t pry my face from his neck and my fingers from their hold.

  “Hey.” He said softly.

  “You’re safe Keira, come on now.” He prompted when I didn’t react and he set my feet lower, let go of my waist and tried to peel me away from his neck. I finally let go but he didn’t let me step away from him. He lifted my chin up and his eyes searched deep inside making me feel even more naked than when I was just in my knickers.

  He ran his fingertips down my cheek and I couldn’t help but look up further and lean into his touch, one I found so comforting it was scaring me. They travelled along my jaw and over my lips that were quivering for another reason.

  “Fuck, you’re beautiful!” He said in a growl. I swallowed the thickness down that was a reminder of all the impossibilities standing between us but under the winter night I felt the lunar pull to a different moon…one called Lucius.

  What was it about this man that had my insides doing back flips and tying in knots before the landing in my belly? Was it made worse because the image of Draven with Aurora still rang true in my gut or was it just down to the scorned man buried beneath another Demon King?

  I tried to tell myself that two wrongs didn’t make it right and my attraction to Lucius was nothing compared to the combustible feelings that Draven held over me but that heat had been tainted by what I had seen. I needed to sort my head out but in order to do that I first needed to see Draven. And this time not in any dreams or half souls connecting, no, this time I had to be there, body, soul and level mind and this time I needed the truth once and for all.

  But for all of this… I needed to go home.

  I pulled back and his hand dropped as if he had seen for himself all the emotions playing around my mind as though on a video loop.

  “Beautiful, but still a mess!” He said shaking his head at my appearance. I looked down and I had to agree with him completely. My hair hung down in wavy knotted tubes and brushed along the waist of a battered body. I felt my arm being lifted and I looked up to see Lucius looking at the slice there. It didn’t look as bad without all the blood and if anything, it looked as if it was in the process of healing. More like it had been done days ago instead of hours and once again, because I didn’t know all the answers, I put it down to Draven’s effect on my blood. Was that why I had even survived as long as I did? And surely thinking back to the drop, would I even have survived that?

  Lucius’ face twisted in anger and the right name hissed from his lips,

  “Layla!” I nodded and bit my lip.

  “She was waiting for me on the balcony when you left.” I said softly but it didn’t matter how gentle the words, the reaction was the same. He let go of my arm and turned so suddenly I missed most of the action but one thing I didn’t miss was the loud roar and Lucius punching his fist into a thick stone wall next to us. His hand disappeared through the hole he made and a crack appeared around all sides that travelled out in a ten foot circumference.

  I had jumped back at sight of his rage in Vampire form and it was my first view of his back. His wing span was huge and spread out but where before I would have compared it to a bat, seeing it this way, I was wrong. The only thing that did resemble the creature was the stretched black skin and the ends that were finger like with deadly nailed spikes protruding from the tips. The shape was much bigger than that of the sleek wing span you find on bats.

  These started at the two great horns that curled slightly and were positioned outwards from his back. They must have each been six feet long and the points at the end were like circular daggers. They were also black and the deep ridges in them made bumps along the tops that gave them the appearance of a spine.

  The winged part started underneath the horns and I could see the long, thick fingers in between the skin that bent outwards and down to the ground, which gave them their distinct shape. The bottom finger curled round past the front of his body and each ended with a long curved razor claw the length of my hand.

  All of this came from a thicker black spine at the centre of his back, one which was covered in a fine black fur that looked so soft I had a strange urge to touch it. I couldn’t stop myself even if my brain had kicked in to the danger that lurked beneath the Demon image. I took a step forward just as Lucius was removing his hand from the wall and only then did I realise where we were.

  The silent garden looked different at night and the pale stone on the floor and surrounding walls gleamed under the high moon. It cast the place in an ethereal glamour and the thick snow was like a sparkling blanket that covered every surface. But none of that held more interest to me than what my hands were stretching out to touch. I felt drawn in and before Lucius could realise what I was doing, I reached out and touched the part of him that was more animal than monster. It was like I was coming into contact with his core and the very soul of him. I couldn’t understand it but I was wanted to be close, to hold on to this feeling for as long as humanly possible.

  I felt him stiffen under my fingers but I didn’t care nor did I take heed of his warning growl. The hypnotic feeling took over my senses and my fingers felt their way up and over every velvety ridge. It was like someone had covered the strongest metal in the softest material but it was all alive. I could feel it pulsing underneath my fingers like it was excited I was there, like it was responding to me in some way.

  I shook my head as an image flashed through my mind as if something had just put it there. The part on his back that was looking less and less like a spine started to vibrate and the image flashed again only this time I understood it.

  Lucius broke the spell too late, as I had already seen what I was never supposed to. He turned and grabbed my wrist to prevent me from going any further and his expression was clear…frustration.

  “It can’t be…” I said more to myself than to him but I got a reply all the same, one that was a lie.

  “IT is not!” He snapped and turned to storm away but I wouldn’t let it go, not after such a vision and not after the proof. I grabbed his arm back, no longer afraid of the Vampire side of him that was close to shaking in outrage.

  “But I saw it!” I said and he shot me a look, first down at me and then to the part of his arm I was still gripping onto. I stupidly didn’t let go.

  “You saw nothing!” He shouted but I shook my head feeling so strongly about the other sight that it felt too heavenly to be wrong.

  “I felt it!” I shouted back and this time instead of looking angry he just looked…well, he looked sad.

  “Keira please, just let it go.” For every word spoken he might as well have been on his knees for it was nothing short of begging.

  “Lucius, don’t ask me that, can’t you just…”

  “Tell you!” He snapped in for me but I shook my head.

  “Trust me.” I finished my own sentence the way it was meant to finish and the surprise in his face was evident. He stared at me and the colour in his eyes turned into slate.

  “And why would I do that Keira, after all, your alliance is not to me.” He said with bitter after tones. I stepped round his wings and came face to face with him. Up this close and in his other form, I could see the length and size of his fangs…a size that made me shudder. But I bravely placed a hand on his right wing, in between the large gap of his fingers and the skin was smoother than it looked. I saw the ends of each claw twitch and I could only hope it wasn’t because they were getting ready to swipe out at me.

  “Because you saved my life and therefore, you have my trust in return. And that is not a claim I wouldn’t base my soul on Lucius, I give you my word.” When I said this it sent a tremor through the wing I still held and my eyes darted to the lethal talons that curled round closer to me. When they twitched again I jumped closer to Lucius’ bare chest and I felt a little rumble causing me to look up at him. Now instead of anger, there was a little light in his eyes that show
ed humour and Lucius’ usual playfulness. This look told me he had done it on purpose.

  “They will never hurt you, Keira.” He said looking down at me and as if to prove his point he curled them further around his body until I flinched when I felt something smooth at my legs. I turned and looked down to see the longest and last finger bend so far inwards that the back of the claw brushed dangerously on my ankle.

  The other side started to do the same and then the rest followed suit and bent in around me, pushing me further back into Lucius’ chest. My back was flush against him and a deep thundering underneath his ribs and shoulders started to beat against the thin material of his T-shirt I was wearing. I was about to move but I felt the weight of his hands hold onto my shoulders, anchoring me in place.

  The thundering continued to beat against my back and whatever the cause, it also affected Lucius’ hands as they too echoed the movement on my neck and shoulders. I saw the two ends of his wings coming closer together, getting ready to meet. I shuddered under his hold and he leaned down to my ear and whispered in another language,

  “Vær stille og ikke frykte meg liten en.” (Means ‘Be still and do not fear me little one.’ In Norwegian) I don’t know what he said to me but his words soothed me all the same. He made a contented sound when I relaxed under his hands and they made their way further up my neck, still holding me close to him. I saw the bottom set of fingers come together first and the edges seemed to fuse at the seams, creating a skinned pod, made impenetrable to open by the interlocking of his claws. I watched the outside world disappear inch by inch as if someone was zipping up a sleeping bag and the sound of the locks were nailed shut with a clicking together of lengthy talons.

  When they reached over my head I thought this was going to be it but then the vibrating increased at my back and I looked up and over to find the source. Lucius’ great horns were twisting round in his back and moving to face his front, which brought the rest of the black skinned wings to the join up completely. The last section of night was blacked out when the horns stopped moving and locked together at their tips high above Lucius’ head.