Questions like, why did I see him on a rooftop with my uncle Vincent, stalking someone who looked like my Aunty Ari from a different time? Especially if the oil lamps, cobbled streets of London and period dress were anything to go by.
But then, something even more shocking was watching as Lucius walked out of a bunker that I recognised as being Führerbunker, wearing a German SS uniform. This had been where Hitler had famously shot himself and where Eva Braun, his wife of less than forty hours, took cyanide. However, when Lucius calmly put the gun that was still in his hand back into the holster on his uniform and got into an old black car, I had to question those once believed historical facts.
Especially as Lucius was now clearly stealing Hitler’s armoured Mercedes Grosser and from the looks of things, he was doing this just after shooting the Führer himself!
Gods, but there just seemed like an endless amount of questions I would need to ask once this was all over and I would have dwelled longer on each of them had the next vision not started to take hold of my mind. Because this was soon the point when I found myself witnessing modern day as it finally came around, meaning that even more questions took precedence than those before.
Dangerous questions that arose the second I saw the other most important person enter Lucius’ life.
That being, of course….
My mother.
Chapter 5
A Hand on Little Keira Girl
I sucked in a harsh, ragged breath, for I knew these were the years that would be the hardest to witness. But I was soon dumbfounded, as the first time seeing her wasn’t when I thought it would have been. It hadn’t been when he had ordered Pip and Adam to kidnap her like the stories I had heard. Or even before this, when she had first arrived at Afterlife, as it made sense that he would spy on her before making his move. No, instead it had been when my mother was only a child, shocking me that he had known of her so many years before the point in time he had first made himself known to her.
At a guess she looked about seven years old and was currently stood in line for some kid’s ride at what looked like a travelling fairground. Lucius was just standing at the edge of it all silently watching, with his arms folded and a mean looking black Lamborghini Diablo at his back. But then, as the passenger side door went up, I gritted my teeth as I recognised bitch face emerging.
“The witch will be here soon,” she said after pulling down the hem of her tight red dress that had ridden up when getting out of the low car. Big, blonde hair and heavy makeup made her look like a whore and I would have sniggered at the bitchy thoughts had she not tried to curl herself against Lucius’ side. I was at least glad to see that he didn’t reciprocate the affection, but just remained as he was. It made me realise that even all those years ago, she had been dreaming, thinking that she meant anything to him and just seeing his cold treatment of her, then it was little wonder why she hated me so much.
“Who is this little rodent anyway for you to be so interested?” Lucius reacted slightly to this, shrugging her off his shoulder before telling her in a hard tone,
“Just call it a Pet project of mine, one whose memory you will not hold with you past this day.” As he said this he raised a hand to her face and I tensed thinking that it might have been in a tender gesture but the second I saw her eyes glaze over I knew that he was actually stealing her memories and controlling her mind.
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Good, now get your ass back in the car!” he snapped after dropping his hand, one I noticed was not covered in a glove and was just like his other; pale, large and strong. Layla seemed to snap out of the trance he had put her in and huffed in a spoilt way before doing as he ordered. After this he went back to watching my mother as a child as she giggled and threw her hands up in the air. She was currently sat inside the first car of the rollercoaster, its head a huge fire-breathing dragon. It also looked like she was next to her older sister, my aunty Libby, as her bright red curls were easy to spot anywhere.
But like Lucius, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off her. She looked so happy and carefree, just as any child should be. Which made me question when it was in her life that she started to see Demons and Angels, just like I did. It didn’t look as though it could have been now, as I doubted she would have looked quite as joyful as she did.
Of course, I had been born with this gift, but the difference was that I had grown up seeing them and viewing them as people I cared deeply for and called family. But my mother didn’t have this, for she grew up in the human world, meaning that the rest of it had to be utterly terrifying for her. I honestly couldn’t imagine it!
The next person to enter the vision of the past was who I quickly recognised as Lucius’ witch, Nesteemia. This was when I started to have a bad feeling about this and shot a panicked look towards my mother who was now just getting off the ride and walking back to my grandparents.
“You found her, my Lord,” Nesteemia asked as she approached, looking every bit the gypsy witch.
“I have,” he replied in a cool tone that gave nothing away.
“What would you have me do?” Nesteemia asked looking wary and unsure.
“Start the process,” was Lucius’ unfeeling reply, making me flinch at the sound. He just sounded so heartless.
“You’re sure about this?” she asked, obviously not agreeing with his decision. Lucius didn’t react other than to say,
“The girl’s fate was sealed the moment she was born for him. Might as well get her used to the life, for she cannot escape it now,” he replied making Nesteemia nod in understanding, bowing her head in respect as Lucius turned around and opened the driver’s side door. His witch started to walk towards the fairground, the only human in her sights being that of my mother.
“And, Nesta…”
“Yes, my Lord?” The witch stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. Lucius then looked one more time at my mother, who looked now to be trying to drag her sister over to a sweet stall.
“Let her enjoy the day at least, for come her seventh birthday… it will be one of her last,” he said before folding himself inside his 90’s supercar and making it the only evidence for me to witness that even during this time,
Lucius had a heart.
After this time sped up, creating a montage of times when he would be watching her. But as the years of my mother’s life flashed by, it seemed that this stalking was more in a protective way. Because not once during this time did he ever cross a line. He never watched her from the foot of her bed or creep in the shadows as she undressed. It was never anything like that and he gave her as much distance as he deemed necessary, not once coming close enough that she ever saw him.
But then came the first time that the rule of distance kept between them was shattered and I felt my whole body tense at the sight. However, it had nothing to do with jealously or anything like that, but more to do with the horror of the situation that forced him to break that rule. I knew the moment he entered a hospital, walked down a corridor and entered one of the rooms, exactly what this was going to be. It was why a sob was caught in my throat the second I was made to endure the sight of my poor mother as I had never seen her before…
Utterly Broken.
I thought back to the horrific experience she had obviously been forced to live through and the fresh bandages on her arms made me want to cry. They were stained slightly as the fresh wounds still wept with blood and her face was so pained it was as though she could still feel the injuries being inflicted. I felt sickened by what had been done to her, knowing that with her being there, that it must have only just happened.
But where had her protector in the dark been during this time?
Another question to add to the many, I guess. Lucius stood in the corner of the room and with his hands balled into fists by his sides, I knew of the rage he felt at seeing her this way. He walked to her bedside seeing as it was safe to do so with her being asleep and gently brushe
d back a piece of her hair. Then he looked at the monitor at her bedside for her vitals as they spiked by his touch. However, she didn’t stir, so he continued to lean down and laid a kiss on her forehead doing so now with a vow,
“I failed to get to you in time, but have no fear my little Keira girl, he will pay for what he did to you, by my hand or that of your King.” After this he watched as she started to moan in her sleep, so before he left, he adjusted her medication and she quickly fell back into a state of unconsciousness with the extra drugs in her system. After this he left with only one promise issued,
“Soon, little Chosen One, soon.” I swallowed hard and hated the jealousy that seeped inside me, like a coiled snake hissing its poison. I knew this was irrational as it was years before I had even been born, but the sight of such would still haunt me, because I found myself questioning every word in that statement made. Did he think her to be his Chosen One or named her such because he knew she belonged to my father?
Something I hoped to discover when time sped up once more.
Although, I had to say I was at least thankful that the time Lucius spent with my mother was quick and brief, but I wondered if this was because I could hear myself utter the moment she came into view,
“Oh no, not this.”
Had the Keepers of Three wanted to spare me the heartache? Because I was pretty sure this had been classed as an important time in Lucius’ life. But then I was the one clearly running this show and they were the ones obliging me with this vision fest. So, as it sped through time, showing brief moments at Blood Rock I was at least thankful it happened quickly. However, there were times, like when he danced with my mother in the same place he had danced with me, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and bear it.
It was the same when seeing things like the altercation he had with the likes of Layla, which must have been when he banished her. The many times he seemed to save my mother’s life, one ending in a battle scene. It was in what looked like a crumbling temple and it especially caught my attention as it seemed to be when Lucius changed from just a Vampire to something more…
Something gifted this time from Heaven.
But again, it happened so fast that I didn’t get chance to see all of it, only the moment his wings broke out of their demonic mould and into that of a flaming phoenix for the first time. Then time shot forward again, to an even stranger one of my mother, who looked to be trapped in a giant birdcage.
I shook my head as a blurred image of them both together in some sort of bell tower had me questioning what they had been doing as all I saw was the mere hint of naked flesh? I quickly decided that I didn’t want to fucking know and was nearly on the cusp of shouting out for the Keepers of Three to stop it all.
As I couldn’t stand it any longer!
But when I finally did shout out, it wasn’t for it to end like I thought it would have been. No, instead it was for the vision to slow down so I could see the next event that changed Lucius’ life forever!
“Wait!” I demanded, because suddenly Lucius was back in Hell and looked as if he had just been fighting in some demonic battle on the edge of being forced into the belly of a volcano. Huge waves of lava splashed up against the sides of the flat rock a few others were stood on, but they were shadows as my vision focused on only one man.
The platform seemed to be getting smaller as the whole thing shook, with giant pieces of it breaking off at the sides and crashing into the river of molten death below. Blurred figures of people started moving backwards the second the lava rose up and burst over the sides. Even I thought that this was it, they were all done for as only those who had wings had a chance of surviving this. But then something started to happen, as the molten rock started to form into shapes.
It started to flow over itself instead of its continued journey forward, now creating giant uneven black bricks on top of each other like a pyramid. And as it built up higher, the flowing magma defied gravity by following it, now running up the sides of what was beginning to look like something built by the Aztecs. Then, when the flow of lava reached the top of the pyramid, it disappeared in what I assumed was a way inside. And speaking of a way inside, high up the structure, the last part to form was an arched doorway. It was one created by cooled lava that formed a crust of black rock and was decorated with a strange keystone. It looked like the angry face of a God, that had no choice but to drop open its mouth, despite the obvious rage at being forced to do so.
“Duty calls,” Lucius said before giving way to his demon side, one that yet again had changed. Because now it looked exactly like the one I had seen that night when he had saved me from the Hellhounds. Something had happened to him yet again that had changed him into this, and it made me question what. What had I purposely been forced to miss in the visions that led to this point?
Well, I was about to witness at least one more event in Lucius’ life that answered a question…what had happened to his hand? One that Lucius looked down at now after first flying up to the arched doorway. Then he fisted it before bringing it to his lips and biting into it, more viciously than I had seen him do before. It was as if he needed a greater amount of blood to flow.
“Gods, no!” I found myself shouting out, despite it being a plea unheard in this time, as Lucius then held himself rigid as he plunged his hand into the open mouth, obviously needing to feed it his tainted blood. It then became the second time I heard Lucius’ screams and I knew why the second the mouth locked down around his arm, before the sickening crunch of bone and flesh could be heard.
Lucius staggered back the second it released him and lost consciousness just as he went tumbling over the edge of the pyramid. His wings caused his body to spiral down a little as they vibrated in the air, cradling only half of his body as they were unused in his descent. It happened so quickly, in the time it took me to suck in a panicked breath his body had landed, doing so hard enough that it cracked the stone beneath him as a cloud of dust rose before settling. And as it did, it revealed the unconscious form of Lucius, in a mass of twisted demonic wings and a pool of his own blood.
That, and a piece of him that had been completely severed.
His hand.
I felt myself crying, whispering his name in a different time,
“Oh, Lucius.” However, by the time it made it past my lips, the vision was no more. Instead, his days that followed merged into weeks, months and then into years. It skipped through them with haste and brief moments were getting even harder to make out. Like a quick bus journey, which was gone in a second where he had looked to be sat next to my mother. Then the fast forwarded destruction of some college library. After which came the battle of the start of what was known to us all as the Blood of the Infinity Wars. But by this point I could make out nothing but a blur of a past life lived through that clearly was not my right to witness.
Was this because time could still be affected in some way if I had? After all, to know of the past would undoubtedly affect the future and clearly the Fates had some sort of plan for me. But speaking of my future, now it was time for the entirety of it to be explained, as I had finally arrived at the one memory that could answer the biggest question of all.
“Oh Gods, this is it,” I muttered the second I knew which part it had slowed right down to. The time that I had wanted to see the most and the sole reason I had asked the Keeper of Three to show me everything.
As it was none other than the day Lucius had stolen two pieces of my soul. He had stolen the Angel in me and that of the first natural born Vampire.
But most importantly, now it was time to find out not only how but mainly…
Why?
Chapter 6
A Hungry Soul
The start of my fate began looking more like a celebration than what I would have expected someone stealing your soul would have been like. Although, what had I been expecting, Lucius hiding in the shadows of a child’s nursery like the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? He wasn’t some thief in the n
ight waiting to strike with an oversized soul catching net over his shoulder.
It all started when suddenly my visions had come to a soundless halt, stopping at what looked to be a party. And it didn’t take me long to discover what it was for, as now I was looking around the walls of Afterlife. Walls, that certainly hadn’t changed much, despite the decorations that now adorned the stone. And this claim also included the people now standing within them…
My family.
But like I said, the only difference now was the room had been decorated within an inch of its life and the culprit soon went skipping by with green and blue hair. Aunty Pip was carrying a massive bunch of baby pink balloons and she had drawn pictures in black marker on them all. Some were just smiling baby faces but others looked like a warning sign. This consisted of a crudely drawn condom with a circle around it and a line across. Underneath were the words,
‘No condoms were harmed during the making of this baby!’
Needless to say, as she passed, some people just shook their heads and others sniggered after first looking towards the baby making pair…
My parents.
Gods, but they looked so happy! My mother was utterly beaming down at the baby in her arms, which was obviously me. My father was positioned behind her, with his arm around her shoulders, tucking her close as he nearly always did. He, too, was beaming down at the sight of me as a baby but whenever he glanced back at my mother, the emotion was one that was easy to see…Pride.
The drawing room, where the celebration was being held, was overflowing with gifts, decorations and party food. Which from the rainbow of colours, it looked as if Aunty Pip had been in charge of it all. Even my human grandparents were there, looking nearly thirty years younger than I ever would have remembered seeing them.
Kingdoms Of Hell: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Book 7) Page 5