“It’s okay, calm down, he’s not going to hurt you.” I told her but she started shaking her head violently as if what I was saying was lies.
“Pythia stop!” I shouted getting concerned that if she didn’t calm down soon then she would have a full blown panic attack.
“Let me deal with this.” Lucius said taking charge and moving me out of his way. I watched as sheer horror glazed over her eyes and she reminded me of a small fawn caught in headlights, seeing the danger coming closer but too paralysed to do anything about it.
He knelt down in front of her and placed both hands either side of her head, ignoring her fearful little moans.
“What are you doing?” I asked getting worried that Lucius was going to back out of his vow to help me.
“Making her compliant,” he told me before turning his attention to Pythia.
“Look at me, girl.”
“I…I…knnnow whhhat …you…are,” she stammered out and it quickly had me wondering what it was she knew about Lucius that I didn’t?
“Then obey me and I won’t hurt you,” he told her in an eerie calm voice which he no doubt reserved for his victims.
“What do you…you want with me?” she asked and the grin he gave her was pure evil.
“I want you to show me what you have shown the Electus.”
“What?! No, Lucius, no, this wasn’t part of the deal!” I protested trying in vain to get him off her.
“There was no deal, Pet. There is only me helping you, now let me go so I can do that.” He ordered, turning to look at me and I noticed his eyes were turning their usual, frightening, demonic, blood red. I let him go knowing that I had no other choice than to trust him now. After all, the Oracle had already completed the task everyone seemed to be trying to prevent, which of course was telling me what the Fates had in store for me.
“Now show me.”
“I shouldn’t.” She told him after he asked this of her again.
“There are a lot of things in your dark past you shouldn’t have done little puppet, that I am well aware of, but I also know that if it didn’t stop you then, there is no reason it should stop you now.” Pythia blinked up at him as if she was a small child being called out for the wrongs she had done. I had to wonder with his words what exactly Pythia had done that she shouldn’t?
“Now you will drop your shields and show me, or I will simply take what I want and trust me Puppet, that will hurt you,” he said warning her and in turn I warned him by hissing his name,
“Lucius.”
“I will show you,” she said giving in to him and he nodded for her to begin. I watched on, with one arm wrapped around myself and the other bent up with my fist to my mouth, in trepidation. They both closed their eyes and for a moment nothing happened. I waited with bated breath and for long minutes it seemed as though time was locked, neither moving forward or back. But it wasn’t in the now either, just like time had fallen into an abyss of empty space that didn’t follow the rules of past, present or future…it didn’t follow the rules of anything because it was nothing and scarier still, in time everything you cared about turned into that same nothing.
I tried to make sense of what was happening and the darkness that was closing in around us but I couldn’t. I wanted to speak but suddenly I was standing on the edge of a hellish cliff side staring back over the open plains of Tartarus. I remembered this place. Its lack of life or colour, just stark hard crumbling ground circling the mountain where the Titans were imprisoned.
“Tartarus…the unbounded first-existing entity from which the Light and the Cosmos are born.” I spoke these words not from any will of my own or with any voice I knew, yet I heard them through my ears and spoke them through my mouth.
I looked to the sides when I heard a noise rumbling from behind me and saw a huge army of demons running towards where I stood. They had their crude weapons raised high, ones made from rock and flaming steel, forged not of Earth. Red skinned generals drove their legions onwards, bellowing orders in another language. Decaying skeletal creatures, dressed as knights in armour, ran quickly between the other ranks as if these were the pawns that needed to go first, charging into battle.
Suddenly my head snapped round and I saw the first of the Titans break free as the mountain erupted. Lava spewed up, bursting from the top like a red firework had exploded into Hell’s dark sky. My eyes were glued to the sight, as if not afraid at seeing the first of the Titans emerging and reaching out of his imprisonment. Then something made me look back.
The great army was getting closer but even this was something I didn’t fear. No, in fact my lips…I reached up to touch them only to find that they were smiling. I didn’t have much time to think too deeply about it as I heard the battle cries start to come closer as the demonic beasts howled in anticipation of battle and blood. Horned Gorgon Leeches which I saw now were much larger than I had seen them before. They were controlled by heavy chains, shackled around their curled horns, ones that barely looked strong enough to keep them in line. They snarled at their keepers, snapping their massive teeth at those who kept them from running too early into the fight.
I looked further back and each section of demons was all grouped together and at the front of each section was a mounted demon in charge. They were bigger and they were scarier than the rest, so it was obvious. Many even wore the evidence of previous victims on their body, whether it was bare skulls mounted on their shoulders or the charred bones which had been incorporated into their rocklike armour.
But what was obvious was who I didn’t see…
The one person leading them all into battle.
As I thought this and just as they were close to overtaking where I was stood, something happened. I gripped onto something hard at my hip and lifted it high above my head.
“KILL THE TITANS!” I screamed in that same voice I didn’t recognise and I looked round to hear the deafening sound of the army behind me responding to my battle cry. I thrust what I could now see was a flaming sword forward and pointed towards the escaping Titan; a sword that was pulled from the White Lady in the lake…and one that once belonged to Lucius.
I didn’t understand any of this, but more than that I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t cowering in fear as wave after wave of demons ran past me. And then it hit me…on a golden hue reflecting back at me as one demon passed with a shield of hammered gold held high…
High enough for me to see my reflection. And what did I see there, looking back at me?
Myself…as a demon
Not only was I a demon, but I was the one leading this entire army into war.
As soon as I saw this, my vision started to break away and the abyss I had been trapped in was finally caught up in the winds of time. I opened my eyes and at first thought I was trapped in yet another vision. I was staring at the back of Lucius in his other form and he looked like an Angel on fire. Stunning phoenix wings attached to gleaming white horns that curved out from his back were pulsating with power, flowing through his unusual flame coloured feathers. He was still knelt down with his hands holding onto Pythia and the both of them were frozen, locked in some strange place I couldn’t see.
I had to wonder, was this caused by Pythia or was I doing this?
The second I thought this was the second everything stopped. As though one of the Gods had clicked his fingers and snapped that cosmic chord back into place. Lucius lost his wings and his back was once more covered in black leather. Then instead of just letting Pythia go, he gently eased her body back and it was then I noticed that she was unconscious.
“Is she…?”
“She’s fine,” he told me softly and the second I heard his voice I knew something was wrong. He stood but kept his back to me with his shoulders tensed as if he was still seeing whatever it was the Oracle had shown him.
“Lucius?”
“Now is not the time for it, Keira,” he warned and just as I was reaching out to touch his shoulder I pulled back, stung by his word
s. But before I lowered my hand to my side, he quickly spun round and snatched it back up. Then he yanked me to him so I stumbled into his arms.
“I have never been the type to lose my sanity by giving power to false hope. But if I allowed myself to wish, then I would ask for so many things.”
“What do you wish for, Lucius?” I asked on a whisper, almost too afraid to ask but more afraid not to.
“I would wish for another life to be sacrificed. I would wish I was your only one and that you were free to love me the way…” He stopped before he finished, closing his eyes so that I could just see a single blood stained tear fall down his cheek. Then he pulled me closer, holding my head to his chest before he whispered the last part of his wish…
“The way I love you.”
After this he held me as I cried in his arms, knowing that this was our final moment of goodbye. Oh we would still see each other, no doubt when the fight came against the Titans or just before my own end. But right now, our goodbye wasn’t in the physical sense. No, we were saying goodbye to our forbidden love and setting it free forever. For deep down we both knew that our hearts weren’t free to choose. Our fates weren’t written like that. My heart belonged to only one man and did from the first moment I saw him. But what’s more, I knew that I did this freely, so my love for Lucius was hard to explain. It was almost as though that in itself was fated but for reasons yet unknown.
So we both walked away from that broken library a little different inside. Like a small piece of us would always remain there, a joint pain left to comfort each other as our souls turned their backs on love. The only thing I was left hoping was that Lucius found his chosen one and soon, because I already had my soul mate who would heal my heart the second I saw him.
But for Lucius…he had time to contend with.
As I had death.
Well that’s if Draven didn’t kill me first, I thought dryly. And if I didn’t answer my phone soon I knew this might just be a possibility. Okay, so I was being dramatic but considering what I found out from Lucius before we parted, then I could have only imagined what would have happened to the Oracle if Lucius hadn’t agreed to take her. Because as he picked up the sleeping Pythia, I had to ask him,
“Who commissioned you, Lucius?” He gave me a raised eyebrow and said,
“Who do you think?”
“Oh no, please tell me it wasn’t,” I said dreading what he would say next,
“Your husband.”
Chapter 26
Worth the Journey
“I’m not answering you!” I shouted at the endless buzzing of my phone before sinking back into my seat after an hour of just sitting there doing nothing. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose yourself in time, especially when your head was filled with as much crazy crap as mine was. I was left feeling more alone than ever now that I had seen the last of the Oracle.
Lucius had reluctantly agreed to take Pythia back to Germany with him as I knew she would be safer there. It wasn’t as if she could tell us anything more as she didn’t even know what we were planning. But I also knew that if there was anything important enough, then I could trust Lucius to send word.
I think that the very last push was all that Lucius needed to get him on board and that was when Pythia had shown him what I had seen.
He had opened the door for himself.
I thought back to the mess we left behind us and the state of the library. His men had been ordered to leave with him and they did so with heads hung low in shame, I wasn’t sure if it was from my beating or Lucius’. Either way they all left me standing in the middle of their destruction and it felt very much like a metaphor for my life at the moment. I looked around at all the windows void of glass letting the cold air inside and I held myself around the waist feeling vulnerable.
Then I spotted something that I shouldn’t have seen, hidden amongst all the chaos of broken wood, scattered shelves and torn book spines. I stepped over what I could without falling until I made my way to where Pythia’s little camp site had been set up. I knelt down and brushed off the dust of broken plaster from the ceiling and found it was the book Pythia had been reading…
“The Time Machine,” I said, pulling that same book from beneath my jacket, which I’d thrown on the passenger seat, and looking at it more closely. I don’t know what had compelled me to take this book, other than the obvious name, there was nothing in the story that I could think of that might aid me in my own journey through time. Then I opened it in the middle and flicked through the pages, startled when something fell out and landed in my lap.
“What do we have here then?” I asked myself as I reached down and picked up the black cord in between my fingers. I lifted it up so the large gold pendant was eye level and I could just make out both its sides as it spun around slowly. One side was that of a lion holding a curved blade, sat inside the sun and the other side was what looked like a bird with the head of a panther or something similar.
It looked old, ancient even with its crudely hammered symbols embedded on each side, but the thick cord looked new. This told me that it was probably something that the Oracle had worn for a very long time, having no doubt replaced the cord quite a few times before.
“Jesus!” I shouted as my phone started singing at me, making me jump. I scrambled to get to it before thinking about why I had been avoiding it in the first place and just answered it, slapping my forehead after I said that first hello.
“It’s me.”
“Lucius?” Okay, so much for not hearing from him for a while.
“I have had the pleasure of speaking with your husband, and when I say pleasure, what I actually mean is the shit storm he threw my way giving me no pleasure at all,” he said in his usual unamused dry manner.
“Ah.” I responded thinking that same shit storm was headed my way.
“Ah indeed.”
“Okay so lay it on me, how much shit am I in right now?” I asked trying to get a sense of how bad it was going to be.
“Well lucky for you I sorted it,” he said in a way I knew he was now grinning.
“You did! But how, what did you say, what do I need to say?”
“Okay, slow down there, Firebird and take a breath.” I did as he suggested and after a few deep breaths he told me what he had said.
“I told him that I got word that the Oracle had tried to contact you and told you to meet her at the Library.” At this my mouth actually dropped.
“You did what!?”
“Keira, please let me finish.” I nodded for him to, adding a huffy sounding,
“Go ahead.” When I realised that through the phone he couldn’t see me nodding like a fool.
“I told him that I got there before you arrived and at this point Pythia once more evaded capture as she must have suspected I was hunting her.” he informed me and I was starting to think that it wasn’t sounding as bad as I first thought.
“I told him this so that he thinks I am still hunting her and more importantly to him, keeping her from you. He believes that when turned up you were too late as neither one of us was there.” Right, so all I needed to do was come up with a reason I went to the library.
This might work.
“Speaking of Pythia, how is she?” I asked him and he huffed.
“Terrified of me but from what I remember, so were you at first…so no doubt she will warm to me, given time.” I laughed at this and rolled my eyes to myself.
“Yeah and it took me to fall into a frozen lake to ‘warm’ to you,” I joked and he grunted a laugh before saying,
“Yes and you must be the only being I know who falls into a frozen lake and can still find enough heated blood in her body to blush at the sight of me naked.” He said counteracting my sarcastic comment with one of his own.
“I didn’t blush!” I so did blush.
“Mmm.”
“What are you mmming at?” I asked him getting snippy and he laughed again,
“Oh nothing, it just took me bac
k to when you were also naked.”
“Yes well I remember that was your fault.” I told him trying not to let my smile seep into my words.
“And I do recall doing so in aid of saving your life with my gentle touch.”
“Ha! Gentle touch my ass! If I remember correctly, you and that gentle touch of yours also broke one of my ribs.”
“Well in that case I can’t help you with those two problems,” he replied calmly, luring me into his witty trap.
“What two problems?” I asked biting the bait.
“Having weak bones and an angry husband. Good luck, my little Keira girl. Until the next time you’re in trouble, Pet.” Then he hung up on me. I pulled the phone away to see the screen and gave myself the freedom to laugh at that whole conversation.
“Well it sure seems we are back to normal.” I said to myself, knowing we’d chatted as if nothing emotional had occurred just over an hour ago. Now it was back to the angry man in my life and this call I wasn’t looking forward to making. So I clicked on the caller log and my eyes widened at the number of missed calls displayed from him, before I pressed my finger on his name.
It only rang once.
“Keira.” The relief heard in the sound of his voice saying my name was huge.
“Okay so I know you must…”
“Where are you?” he asked interrupting me, quickly back to being pissed after his initial relief had passed.
“Uhh, well I’m not sure.” I told him looking round for any signs I could give him.
“What do you mean you’re not sure!?” He snapped out his question and I flinched. Oh yeah, he was majorly pissed.
“Well it’s dark and I can’t see a sign.” I told him and he growled in response.
“…How long until we get the trace?” he asked and I frowned not understanding what he was saying.
“Uh, sorry?”
“Are you by your car?” he asked ignoring me.
Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) Page 28
