The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  The newly released energy had caused two walls being fed from the hands of two men I loved. Vincent’s face was an impassive blank wall that looked like he could take or leave what was happening. Draven was frowning but definitely not from over exertion, more from annoyance at having to deal with this inconvenience.

  “My army is waiting, my Lord.” Lucius said, coming down in the middle of Vincent and Draven from flying to keep out of their way.

  “Good to know.” Draven said and then looked to his brother.

  “You heard him Brother.” Draven waited for Vincent to acknowledge him and when they both nodded twice, the electrical walls started to close in on the soldiering hoard. It pushed them all together and they ended up with nowhere to go but into the deep crater with one destination. As the first line started going in, hands made of lava started to grab the soldiers by any means and some fought to scrabble away but it was useless.

  As soon as the last man was back in Hell, the gateway to the underworld started to close with hands still making desperate grabs at the air hoping for some more limbs to find and drag back down with them.

  “That should keep most of them busy so that they cannot be re-summoned. If Malphas keeps his legions coming at least my own army will slow him down as the fight continues beneath us.” Lucius said to Draven.

  “You’ve done well. Get to Keira and get her out of here while I deal with Malphas. I don’t want her to see what I have in store for him.” Draven replied and looked at me. Once he had scanned my body, he seemed to calm. I gathered that he was checking me for injuries and was satisfied when he found me in one piece. I whispered his name and he nodded to me in silent communication that he’d heard me.

  “You need to drop your shields around her for me to get through, Dom.” At that Draven looked around me and concentrated like he was trying to pull some unseen force back to him. Once the frown line disappeared from his forehead, he turned to Lucius and said,

  “It is done. Go.” Lucius made to leave but Draven grabbed him back by the arm and stopped him in his tracks.

  “Be careful where you touch her Lucius… never forget that she is MINE.” Draven growled out the word ‘mine’ in his demonic voice and I jolted at the sound of its echo. Lucius looked down at the arm holding him and snarled. Oh no, that’s last thing I wanted now was these two fighting when they had just been working together for the first time in over sixty years.

  Draven let him go and Lucius shrugged his tight leather jacket back straight before striding over to me still lying on this bloody altar like a slab of meat in a butchers shop!

  “Hey little Keira girl, nice dress.” He commented with glowing red eyes and now I was growling at him.

  “That’s cute doll, but it’s time for me and you to blow this joint, I would opt for dancing at my club but your boyfriend kind of trashed the place.” He said making my mouth drop…he trashed it?

  Lucius gave me a cocky grin before whipping out a blade from behind his back and proceeded to cut through the ropes with little effort. I lowered my arms and moaned as my muscles protested making Lucius tut at me.

  “You need to get more kinky action in the bedroom if you’re just moaning after that…what’s wrong, Draven not cutting it in the bedroom department?” Lucius said with a wink and I shook my head at him.

  “Well, I am out of practice as I have been holed up with right wanker for the last ten days…you might know him, massive ego…kind of alright with a blade.” He laughed before he pulled me up to a sitting position and lifted me down from the altar.

  “Last I heard, this ego saved your life I don’t know how many times, isn’t that right?”

  “Umm, he might have, but it’s all a little fuzzy round the edges, you might have to ask me when I haven’t just been nearly sacrificed…call me crazy but a girl needs a cuppa after shit like that.” This time he threw his head back and laughed harder. I couldn’t believe that after everything that had just happened I was now stood here, while the battle carried on and was laughing and joking with Lucius like best mates do.

  “Hold on sweetheart, time to take you for a test drive.” He said referring to his wings and I was amazed that even with Lucius in his other form he didn’t scare me anymore and like this it was still easy to see the Lucius underneath the mask Hell had knighted him with.

  Lucius turned round and motioned for me to climb on his back but I saw something flash quickly in the corner of my eye. I turned to face it and then everything happened so fast it was hard to think through the actions before instinct took over. Malphas had jumped onto the next altar and was stood over the redhead’s body and just as I screamed Lucius’ name I was too late to stop what was happening any other way.

  Malphas leapt in the air above us and was crashing down just as Lucius was turning to face him. I saw what was in his hand and knew I had to stop him. Without thinking I pushed Lucius with all my might and jumped in his place to take the end of the weapon Malphas had pointing down.

  “KERIA, NO!” I heard Draven’s call before I felt the pain and I looked down in shock as I saw the reason for his cry. I fell forward over the stone altar and looked up to watch as my blood gushed from my pumping heart. The sight of the wooden dagger protruding from my chest was enough to realise my sacrifice had been enough to save the life of my Vampire friend but not the rest of the world. I slumped down off the stone to the floor and watched in horror as my blood made the same journey as the other two and it slipped down either side of the waxing moon and dripped into the bloody pool below three dying bodies. My last thought before I let the pain take me to unconsciousness was…

  What had I done?

  Chapter 47

  The God’s Wrath

  I opened my eyes and saw myself as I had once before. I stood on the side lines of a Temple wall, all white marble, glass and stone. I looked around and saw the faces that I now knew to be my friends. They were all dressed in combat gear and ready for the battle to come. But something was wrong in this dream, it wasn’t like before. Last time I was here I was stood in the middle of the room dressed in white and bleeding from my chest. I started walking down the centre and I was screaming at myself to stop but this time was different, this time… I was dead.

  I looked down at myself and saw I was wearing the same pyjamas and with my hair plaited to one side as I did that night. It was just after I had found out from Draven when he first knew about me, the night I was born when Pythia the Oracle told him his time to claim the chosen was coming.

  I saw the utter horror on everyone’s faces and for the first time I saw Sophia crying. She had her face buried in Zagan’s shoulder and was sobbing but apart from her, no one else was making a noise. I looked and found an army at a standstill as if waiting for something to happen. Then I followed every gaze and I knew what I would see. There I was in my white dress that was now soaked crimson, with a knife only intended for Lucius, protruding from my heart.

  I cried out but I was the only one that heard my haunting echoes. So this was it then, I was now dead and this was where my Afterlife began. I didn’t try and stop my feet as I walked toward myself at the stone altar that was now glowing green and as I neared, I knew it was coming from my heart’s Chakra. I don’t know how I knew this but I was just bombarded with the knowledge that I had never known before. I also now knew it was the same powerful Chakras that had come from the other two deaths. Blue communication from the age of the world, red survival from the mother of the earth, yellow power from the moon’s Heaven and now my green for the love in my heart. The ritual was complete and now the Horned God would come.

  I made my way up to the altar and then the sound hit me as if someone had flicked a switch. Draven was speaking to me softly in another language and Lucius had bloody tears streaming down his face as he swore and cursed me for saving his own life. Then Draven gathered me up in his arms and laid me down so gently on the altar, it was as though I was made from thin sheets of ice, I looked so pale.

  “Kei
ra…Keira, hear me, you will not leave me, do you hear me?!” He spoke over me but it was clear as my skin that I was not there anymore. I cried out for him in desperation but no one heard me…of course they didn’t. I was dead.

  “Keira, come now, wake up…you…you’re not gone Keira, you’re still with me…Stay with me.” His voice was so fraught with pain I couldn’t bear to hear him like this.

  “Sweetheart…” He whispered and I heard Lucius swear behind me.

  “DOM, listen to me! We need to do something and NOW!” Lucius was frantic and I turned to see him pummel his fist into the side of one of the altars and half of it crumbled into the pool below letting the redheaded corpse’s legs dangle down.

  “Keira wake up my darling…Keira pleaseee!” He lay his head to my forehead but there was no movement from me at all. I then turned to see that Malphas’ body was floating on top of the bloody water with his own heart missing. I looked to Draven’s hand and saw it bloody up to his forearm, so it didn’t take a whole lot of thought process to know what had happened, especially with the discarded heart that had been smashed to the floor.

  “DRAVEN!” Lucius screamed and then Draven looked up from my face and started to glow once more, only this time there wasn’t an inch of him that was purple, it was now just red and being fuelled from Hell.

  “KERIA WAKE UP! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE ME! EVER…DO YOU HEAR ME…EVER!!!!” He reared his head up and roared causing the room to shake but just before his fury could get out of hand he was pushed away from me by Vincent, who I hadn’t seen emerge. He looked down at me and from this angle I saw a single stray tear roll down and land on my lips. I inhaled sharply as I felt it touch me like a kiss from Heaven but it didn’t make any difference to the lifeless me that was as still as the stone I lay on.

  “She is holding on brother but there is little time before the pull of Heaven calls her. I have bought you some more but you must hurry. She needs the blood of royal blood and it cannot be mine and yours for we are related and yours alone with not be strong enough.”

  “Then what!” Draven screamed at his brother but Vincent wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at Lucius.

  “Come here son of Lucifer and kneel before your King, for he has a gift to bestow on you.” Vincent said and motioned to Draven, who looked stunned.

  “What!?”

  “What!?” Both Draven and Lucius said at the same time but Vincent just crossed his arms over his chest and his wings erupted into blinding white light.

  “NOW!” Vincent shouted and it was the first time in my life that I had seen him loose his cool. But it worked and now Lucius walked over to Draven and dropped to his knees to then bow his head.

  “My Lord.” I knew at this point that what I was seeing was something as old as Lucius’ time as a Vampire. This was the very first act of loyalty that had happened all those years ago. Draven placed his hand on top of his head and said in a commanding voice,

  “Do you give your life to me as you once did?”

  “Yes My Lord, take my life and use it as you will, for the good of mankind and the balance in which we keep. My blood is yours.” Lucius said and I saw another blood tear drop from Lucius as Draven inhaled sharply.

  “Then be my brother once more and rise to accept your rightful place.” Lucius rose from his knees in a graceful manner and waited before his King.

  “Time is not on our side but what I am about to do is for the woman I love. Do not fail me with this added power, Lucius.”

  “No, My Lord” Lucius looked as if he didn’t have a clue what would happen and Draven then surprised everyone except Vincent as he spun Lucius round violently and pushed him to his knees.

  “Draven?” Lucius said uncertainly.

  “Shut up Luc and take it like the Gods have chosen you to!” Then Draven reached behind his back and at the top of his spine, hidden under the feathers of his wings, he dug deep, winced and made a hissing noise before producing a bloody metal triangle in his hands. Lucius couldn’t see what he was doing but he was shaking in anticipation. Did he think he was going to receive his punishment from his executioner or did he understand that Draven now held the tip that pierced the side of Jesus Christ. I could see it glowing in Draven’s hand and then with his free hand on Lucius’ shoulder to keep him steady, he plunged the tip deep into his back in the same place Draven had had it hidden.

  Lucius cried out and Draven held him steady and wrapped his arm around his neck in a choking hold. He rested his head on Lucius’ shoulder and then turned to his ear and said,

  “How’s my aim this time, asshole!” Vincent started laughing behind me and I turned to see him watching this play out like he knew all along this was the way things were going to happen. Then Lucius started to violently shake and Draven held him tighter to his chest.

  “Easy, just let it happen Luc, take control of it and let it happen…I need you in this.” He whispered soothingly and I watched as Draven held him steady as he started to convulse beneath his arms.

  “He is near, Dom.” Vincent warned and I held my breath as I witnessed the transformation in Lucius.

  “NOW!” Vincent called out suddenly and Draven let go and flew backwards just as Lucius erupted up from his knees and into the air as if being held there by some unseen force. His body went taut as a bow and all his muscles turned so tense they looked like they would burst the skin. His wings started shaking in quick vibrations. Then something started to change and the air around him became lighter and lighter until it started to seep into him and glow within his very veins like Draven’s did. The brightness dimmed slightly as his body took on the last of it into him and it warped his blood into pumping a new kind of energy. I watched it as it made its journey around his body and when it reached his back, he screamed out in pain. His wings stopped suddenly and then the most incredible thing happened.

  I watched in utter amazement as feathers started to emerge from the skin over his long boned fingers that connected his wings together. The first wave of feathers were white tipped and they flowed to the ends as the first lot found home, then as the waves continued they began to change in colour. They became pale yellow to rust and then in the centre of his back the last of the feathers to emerge as blood red and he reminded me of a giant phoenix, the fire bird rising from the ashes.

  “Keira…our child…come home, find your way.” I heard the voice in my head but something told me to ignore it and I even batted around my head as though it could touch me. I looked back to Lucius and tried to phase out the voices by concentrating back on what was happening.

  As soon as the last of his new feathers had come through he shook like a ruffled bird and then came back down to the ground. He rolled his shoulders and I noticed the flash of his horns were now more gleaming white and tipped at the edges with gold. His muscular frame looked slightly bigger, putting him at the same size as Draven. His hair had gone from looking sandy to a more golden colour, lighter like Vincent’s and his eyes were still red but now they were deeper with swirls of yellow ochre at the centres, making it seem as if looking into flames and glowing embers. They were wholly mesmerising.

  “I am ready my King!” Lucius’ voice had also gone a tone deeper and the natural dominance in his voice had gone one step further.

  “Yes, and now you are my King of great alliance.” Draven replied and then looked toward Vincent who had not moved from my bloody body.

  “The time is now or never, Dom. The Heavens are starting to reach out to her.” Draven’s and Lucius’ heads shot round to my body at the same time and both were at my side in a heartbeat…well for them not me. Wow, even dead I managed to keep my sense of humour, I thought weakly.

  “Do you have any idea what will happen to her if we do this?” Lucius asked but Draven growled.

  “I don’t care as long as it brings her back to me! On three, Luc.” They each grabbed the other’s arm and held them connected over my open chest. Draven ripped the wooden blade from my chest and threw it away angri
ly. Then he motioned to Vincent who drew a large sword from his feathers and it gleamed like Excalibur. It looked to be made from solid silver and the handle from solid gold and in the hands of this Heavenly Angel it looked the most fitting weapon for him. He didn’t look up or take his eyes from my face as he leant over, kissed my forehead and then said in a voice heavy with emotional turmoil, I was shocked to hear,

  “Bring her back to us, Brothers!”

  “One, two, three!” And then on Draven’s three, Vincent slit across their joined arms in one single, swift motion that left them bleeding into the hole in my chest. As soon as the first drop of their combined blood hit my organ, I doubled over and grabbed my chest as a pain shot through the centre of me like someone lighting me up from the inside. Then I looked down and saw my body start to flicker just like it did all those times I was sent back to Draven in my dreams.

  “It’s not working!” Draven cried out and looked to Vincent for guidance.

  “Give it time.” Vincent said and once more opened up the veins with a slice of his sword. I winced as the healing skin on their forearms was reopened and then I felt the pain again shoot through me at a greater force this time.

  “Time is not something we have left gentlemen…look.” Lucius said and nodded to where Malphas’ body was floating on the surface. My hands flew to my mouth when I saw his eyes flicker open and what was once a white mist was now consumed with darkness as black as the bloody water had turned. He rose out of the water with his back still straight and his arms still at his sides. It was like invisible hands had lifted him and when he was upright, he looked straight to Draven.