The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  I felt hands slip down from the column of my neck, down to my shoulders. He gripped me harder in the pitch black and I couldn’t even see my breath anymore in the cold… a cold that no longer touched my skin. Inside this little cocoon heat seeped back into my body and I felt like a little caterpillar waiting safely until her wings grew.

  “No longer cold.” Lucius spoke to me or himself, I didn’t know, but his fingertips danced along the T-shirt’s neck and in the dark it heightened my senses enough to have me close to panting.

  “You spoke of secrets Keira, promises and trust…is this something you’re prepared to offer me? Are you ready to give me this part of yourself because there will be no going back little dove. Not now, not ever.” He leaned further down and whispered under my ear a gentle threat.

  “I will own it and never return it. Do you understand Keira?” When I didn’t answer him he bit my lobe and held it in his teeth applying more pressure increasing the pain until I yelped.

  “Say Yes Lucius!” He ordered after letting go only to take possession again to do the same.

  “Ach” I moaned and he hissed, while his hands dug into the junction where my neck met my shoulders.

  “Do it!” He snapped and I lowered my head in defeat.

  “Yes Lucius.” These words felt heavy and so wrong they warped into a right. What had I just given Lucius other than the trust I had offered? Or was I just being paranoid? If that was the case, then why did it feel like I had just passed him a piece of my soul under the table for him to play with?

  “Good girl.” He hummed in pleasure.

  I waited for him to speak next but when I felt the rumbling in his chest I moved to step away but the deep red glow stopped me. Light started to pass through the fingers on his wings, like it was being squeezed through from behind me. It lit the small space in an eerie luminosity that burned brighter at the bone covered by skin, skin that was now made somewhat translucent by the light. It looked like what Libby and I used to do as kids, in the night under the bed covers with a powerful torch.

  It was a startling colour of deep veined blood that spread out along the thinnest lines on his wings and I didn’t even think before I felt them for myself. I felt him shudder under my fingertips, much like he did when touching his back.

  “You know, that tickles.” His voice sounded at my ear, when I hadn’t even felt him move and it gave me a startled jump but he spun me around to face him just as quickly. Looking up at his face in red shadows, I could see his eyes scorching hot as he took in my expression of shock.

  “You’re ticklish?” I don’t know why I asked him this question but it seemed to be the first thing my brain wanted to know, thanks to his comment. Thankfully this brought a smile to his face, the kind of smile that tilted up on one side, which let the view of one fang look even deadlier in the glare of the blood coloured power pulsating through his veins.

  He picked up one of my hands and brought it up to his mouth, which made me bite my lip in confusion.

  “I am if… Soft. Little. Beautiful. Pale. Fingers, are doing the touching.” He had nipped at each fingertip with every singled out word and the pressure on my bottom lip increased. He raised an eyebrow when seeing what my teeth were doing to myself and I let my lip slip from them slowly. My action caused Lucius’ eyes to flash red and he couldn’t seem to take his lustful gaze from them. I cleared my throat and his stare was dragged from his point of interest. I was thankful that by the time they reached my eyelevel, the blood radiance had diminished from the whites of his eyes.

  “So Keira, you wanted to know my secrets but first I want to know what it showed you.” It was weird the way he referred to ‘it’ like it wasn’t a part of him but I knew better thanks to the vision, so I told him as much.

  “But it is a part of you.” He smiled softly at me and I don’t think any other look could have made me feel quite as innocent.

  “No Keira, it lives within me but not until it is complete will its power be fully restored and with it, my own.” My eyes widened as the vision and his words clicked together.

  “That’s why you want it isn’t it…because…?”

  “Go on…finish that sentence Keira.” His tone turned hard and once again he was gripping my shoulders, showing me to take caution but I couldn’t find the strength to hold back what I knew. It all made sense now…it wasn’t just a holy relic to be used to control armies like the vision had given me glimpses of. All those battle clad kings at the head of a sea of soldiers, waiting until the sight of the Gods power in the hands of mere mortal men. But even then it was all wrong.

  “Power. The power of the Spear in your back is missing the tip and Draven has it…doesn’t he?” Lucius nodded silently and confirmed my vision. The Holy Spear showed me a flash of history leading right back to the very day it gained its incredible power and was used to pierce the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross. As the instrument that aided in taking the life of the Son of God, the very blood that stains its blade was the most powerful part. And only two beings in the world had their piece of it. Two pieces of equal power, but together meant an unstoppable force.

  When I touched Lucius’ back it had communicated with me in such a way that no matter the strength of my barriers, it had been like tearing through tissue paper. I had seen its beginning start in the hands of a Roman soldier named Longinus who was ordered to make sure that Jesus was dead and unwittingly stabbed him in the side too hard. But upon removing the spear from his side the tip snapped off, still embedded in Jesus’ side.

  It then flipped to the heart-breaking part that was never documented. Judas wrenched the spear from its owner in rage and snapped the pole from the blades head only to then be captured himself, but this time it was by his brothers in faith. Once judged as a traitor and left to be tortured by burning sun and choking on the payment that was never truthfully received, his body was ripped open by the very spear that he had gained possession of and left embedded in his open gut.

  As he was finally left alone to die, the blood of Christ mixed with his own and sent him to a very different God, one that wanted to use his powers for his own side of the balance. This is how Lucius became the Vampire King and still, to this day, that same spear never left his body.

  The Holy Lance in Rome, Vienna, Echmiadzin, Antioch and even more places that I had never seen or heard of, mixed into one long stream of events of people using what they believed to be the real spear, all this time using an unknowing fake in their attempts at more power. Even with cities given as payment for its possession, it travelled the seas and passed from ruler to ruler, and all that time it belonged to only one man and now I understood why it made it rightfully so. The spear had both taken his life and granted him his new one.

  “And so Draven has the other piece but wait…how did he even get it?” I asked and the mention of this was enough to get Lucius’ blood pumping faster. I knew this of course because I could see it in the cage his wings had me trapped in. Lucius fury was a brighter red place to be caged in.

  “A Being of his position… it’s simple Keira…he took it.” When I gave a quizzical stare up at him he gave me a frown back.

  “What do you mean? Took it from whom?” At that he actually rolled his eyes before stating what he must have thought the obvious.

  “Let me make this ever the more clear for you little Keira, he walked up to the Son of God, bent on one knee and dug his fingers into his flesh on that very same day and with Jesus’ blood still warm on his hands, he simply got back up and walked away without a word…the tip of the Holy Lance in hand.” At this I cried out my shock.

  “NO! That’s a lie…that didn’t happen!” I was outraged at the thought he painted. That couldn’t have happened, not Draven…not the Draven I knew.

  “Is that what you believe?” Lucius said more calmly than I would have thought at being called a liar.

  “Yes!” I said, holding my ground and my belief in Draven, stubbornly. But the look Lucius gave me wasn’t smu
g and arrogant, that I could have used and turned into anger, but pity...! What was I to do with that?

  “And why Keira…why would you hold that certain belief in this untruth?” He asked me far too gently for my liking. I felt the tears form and I wiped one away angrily, trying hard to stop anymore from escaping and showing a weakness in the belief he spoke of.

  “That is what he told me.” I said honestly but the sight of his pity increased and my dread doubled. He leaned down to me, held my face in his hands, dwarfing my size and wiped away more rebellious tears that had slipped down my cheeks, using gentle thumbs. He gave me a long look and even in this unusual light, I saw his eyes crystal over the lightest grey before he whispered the words I didn’t want to believe,

  “Then Keira… he lied to you.”

  Chapter 35

  Beauty in the Dark

  We walked down the endless spiral staircase in utter silence and only Lucius’ hand that held mine in his strong grip had me believing I wasn’t as alone as I felt. Everything I had just learned was still spinning round in my head, much like the way this staircase was causing havoc with my equilibrium. Draven had lied to me… again.

  The thought was one I could taste like acid in my mouth. It was a bitter feeling of betrayal, one I was coming accustomed to at an increasing rate. He told me about that day and when I had asked if he had been there, he had told me no. I had been so shocked about the whole thing that I had even asked him why not. Why he didn’t intervene and his answer had been simple…it was not what the Gods had wanted.

  Why had he kept the truth from me? What did he ever think to gain from it? The questions for when we met again were certainly stacking up and none were going to be in his favour.

  I stumbled over an uneven stone but Lucius caught me by turning quickly so that I landed in his chest as one hand still held my hand and the other carried a lit torch. He had turned back to his usual form after opening his wings like a pair of doors you were likely to find in Hell and lost that part of himself just as quickly.

  “You steady?” It was the first thing he had said to me since the rooftop garden that had looked more frozen in time than in winter. I nodded once and with a quick touch of my cheek, he retook possession of my hand and led me further down.

  I don’t know how long we walked for but before I knew it, I was being led in another direction than the way I had come with Pip that day.

  “Where are we going?” I said pulling back on his hand when it came to the junction that would lead me back to my room. And considering I was still just in his T-shirt and my knickers I was getting close to being desperate for simple comforts…like girl clothes that didn’t smell like lake water and the most masculine of scents.

  “I do not trust for you to be alone right now.”

  “Why?” I asked, wondering if he thought I would just be sat in my room, crying my eyes out, while being half submerged in a tub of ice cream and listening to songs about lonely cowboys, with a bottle of Jack in my hand!

  “Because Layla has not yet been captured and I told you that I would not be leaving you alone again.” Oh…ok, so I really should have given him more credit for that one. When the thought he planted about Layla came in my mind I couldn’t stop the shiver that shook me once. Lucius noted my reaction and pulled me a little closer to him.

  “Can I not just change first?” I said feeling like a small child in adults clothing. Lucius’ T-shirt was baggy from his wide upper body muscle and long thanks to his height so it looked more like a short dress but it was still bloody freezing to walk around in.

  “You can change when we get where we are headed.” He said simply and tugged me to continue walking.

  “And where is that exactly?”

  “Questions!” I heard him mutter before he pulled me along to walk down the hallway that looked more like a rock tunnel. The walls had been smoothed down to create the path but you could still see the damp stone and the patterns of the different minerals that shone on the surface when wet.

  The fire torch that Lucius still held in its metal holder, danced light along the rock and instead of just seeing the roughness of a crudely made walk way, I saw the essence of its natural beauty. I even had to stop at one part because what I saw had me locked to the spot in its utter splendour. All along this part of the wall the minerals had turned into the deepest of blues and brightest greens that swirled together in large clumps in the wall. The combination of colours reminded me of peacock feathers and when the fire light touched on them they came alive in stunning allurement.

  “Kupfernickel.” Lucius spoke softly in my ear as he came closer to the wall I was mesmerized at.

  “What does it mean?” I asked just as softly, as though I was caught in some sort of spell. He moved to stand next to me and our sides became flush against each other, He moved the flame across the wall and the colours almost lit up like someone had switched a bulb on behind coloured glass.

  “In Germany this deceptive mineral came to be known as kupfernickel, which literally means ‘copper demon’ but it is more wildly known as Azurite and has other minerals mixed with it. Are you interested in this?” Lucius asked and I looked up to find him staring down at me with a half-smile and wide eyes.

  “I love beautiful things, I guess it’s the artist in me but I love nothing more than to paint natural beauty in its own environment.” I said emphasising the word ‘natural’ because it was important to me. I loved capturing things in the world where they were meant to stay, yes gemstones were fabulous, all cut and polished but crack open a plain looking rock and find a small sparkling treasure inside and to me, the beauty intensified tenfold.

  “Like yourself?”

  “Yes…I mean…no! umm, I…” I flustered with my words as Lucius started to laugh.

  “Come on, you beautiful thing, let’s go before those cheeks of yours explode all over this wall and give new meaning to the ‘copper demon’.” He took my hand in his and pulled me along until we came to some more steps that dipped deeper down into the mountain. Man, my calves were going to be sore in the morning, I mean just how many steps can one person go down in a night?

  Lucius explained as we walked, the meaning behind the nickname for the glittering mineral and how, because it resembled other minerals in simpler colour, this resulted in occasional attempts to try and smelt nickeline in the belief that it was copper ore. But these attempts always failed due to high smelting temperatures needed to reduce nickel. This part I didn’t find practically very interesting as such, but it piqued my curiosity again when he told me, that for some unknown reason the supernatural were drawn to the mineral and that was how he found this place and more to the right facts of how it got its name.

  “So was this place already built when you found it or…?”

  “Always so many questions Keira. Here’s one for you, did you drive your parents crazy as a child?” I laughed out loud which echoed down the tunnels we walked causing me to slap a hand over my mouth.

  “Sorry, that laugh probably woke some people up.” I said feeling guilty at the idea and now it was Lucius causing echoes with his own laughter.

  “I very much doubt you will be waking our dead with that one, but Vampires no. It is not yet dawn and as you know we sleep in the day.” He pushed on a door at the end of this section and it groaned along the stone floor.

  “So…umm…”

  “Another question, Keira?” He asked with humour clear in his tone.

  “Ha Ha, yes, I know I ask a lot of questions but come on…I mean, do you really blame me? There is still so much I don’t know and Draven isn’t exactly forthcoming and brimming over with answers for me.” He looked like he was going to make a derogatory comment about Draven but then he held himself back, which I was thankful for. I didn’t feel in the mood to start battling for Draven’s side but I didn’t want to hear his name being dragged in the dirt either.

  “Ask your question Keira!” He said dryly and I jumped when the door slammed shut behin
d us.

  “Umm, oh yeah, I wanted to know about when you sleep…do you…um…like die or anything or are you just asleep like the rest of us?” At this he gave me a chilling smile which immediately had me sorry I had asked. He turned full circle and was looking down at me with one hand held high with the fire crackling next to his head. Did he not feel the burning heat?

  “Ah, finally one question I do not have to answer.” He said with cruel knowing in his eyes.

  “Why not?” I was almost too scared to ask. His smile deepened and his face came closer to mine, casting unnerving shadows across his face thanks to the light at his side.

  “Because it is one you will soon be finding out for yourself.” He kissed my cheek when he heard me inhale sharply and outstretched his arm to one side to show me a heavy looking door at the far end of yet another corridor. Then he said something that sent chills to every pore on my body,

  “My bedchamber, my lady!”

  Chapter 36

  Lucius’ Lair

  The door at the end was like a siren of danger screaming at me to run. Cherry red, high gloss painted doors cried out from the end of the corridor like some portal lay behind them as a gateway straight to Hell and beyond. When I didn’t move I heard Lucius start to laugh before he grabbed the top of my arm and pulled me from my anxiety.

  “Don’t look so worried Doll, nothing is going to eat you.” He said light-heartedly. But no matter his tone, I think if he had even sung it out Julie Andrew’s style I would have still felt the same way about that door. It symbolised every step I didn’t want to make in its direction. Red for the colour of STOP, DANGER, WARNING. You name it, it was saying it!

  As we got closer I saw the heavy iron work on each side that ran three times in great swirls back in on itself from the pointed spike. One that was directed at each mental ring in the same design that worked as the doors knocker in their centres. The shining black of the metal against the deep red painted wood was an unusual thing to see down here in the heart of the mountain and even more so being situated against the two stone pillars either side, that were a perfect match to the cave stone corridor.