The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Saada tüdruk!” (Means ‘Get the girl’ in Estonian) Once Carrick had spoken I found Karmun pulling the seat forward giving me room to get out. I decided not to fight and just get out peacefully. I didn’t know when I would get my next opportunity to run, so I wanted to save my energy for battles I could win. As soon as I had my feet firmly on the ground my whole body hummed with anticipation, ready to fire my limbs into action. Ok, so I wasn’t utterly convinced I would get away and outrun a Demon or an Angel but every fibre in my body was screaming that I had to at least try. All I needed was to get away long enough to find somewhere to hide and then wait for Draven to find me. It was a nice dream and one could only hope, so that was precisely what I did. I kept myself pumped and ready to go at any moment.

  “Why aren’t they here?” Karmun asked, clearly getting upset.

  “Patience, Angel.” Carrick said, taking out a mobile phone from his beige suit jacket after loosening his blood red tie. He flipped it open, pressed a button and then snapped,

  “Speak to me!” In clipped tones. He nodded once before closing it again and depositing it back in his pocket.

  “They will be here in but a moment.” At this Karmun’s shoulders relaxed considerably. However mine took their place and tensed until my neck ached. Of course it didn’t help when another black SUV came into view. What was it with bad guys, did they have a specialist car dealership they all went to or did they just walk in and ask for something dark, threatening and with enough boot space for a body, to kidnap young mortal girls!

  Like the one I had been in, the windows were all blacked out and when it stopped opposite us I couldn’t help but move a few steps back. The doors opened and Karmun made a dramatic cry as a body was pushed out and thrown to the ground. He had been tied with his hands behind his back and it was clear he had been beaten many times as his face held a mixture of bruises, some almost healed and others fresh and angry looking. Karmun ran over to him and took his bruised mottled face in both hands.

  “Gods, what have they done to you?” He wept as the other man was just coming round from his punch drunk slumber.

  “K..Kar?” The man mumbled.

  “Yes it’s me... it’s me, I’m here now.” Karmun was sobbing and holding his friend’s beaten face to his own as both their foreheads met. It was such a touching moment I didn’t realise that I too was shedding my own tears. It was quite clear that not only was this man Constantine but he was also Karmun’s captured lover. So this was why Karmun had done what he had...he didn’t have a bloody choice! They had taken someone he loved away and tortured him until Karmun had all other options taken from him. Could I blame him anymore...? I looked deep but couldn’t find the hate there that I had felt not so long ago. What wouldn’t we do in life for our loved ones? Where was the line we wouldn’t cross because looking at the scene in front of me, I think that line had been whipped away and replaced with a silver lining of hope. Tunnel vision and a mission to keep going until nothing else stood between these two and I could not find any blame in my soul to hold onto, so when men dressed in black got out and tore the two apart I couldn’t help but cry harder for them.

  “LET THEM GO!” I screamed moving forward towards them both with all past fear lost in my anger. Everyone stopped dead and turned to stare at me, including the two damned lovers. Carrick grabbed me back by my jacket and I twisted to try and get free.

  “Calm yourself, young one.” He whispered in my ear before nodding towards the thugs in black. They let Karmun and Constantine go and like magnets to metal they sprung forward into each other’s arms.

  “Tell me, oh God tell me that isn’t her!” Constantine said in a desperate voice that matched desperate eyes staring my way. Karmun just nodded and hung his head in shame.

  “NO, NO, NO! Kar what have you done?” He was shaking his head back and to and I could see the colours of red, purple and blue blurring on his face.

  “I had no choice.” Karmun spoke in low cast words that were only just audible.

  “Had no choice! We always have a choice and we both lived by the prophecy for a reason! We took an oath to our King and it was always going to be life binding. Oh Karmun, what have you done?” He said hanging his head as though he couldn’t look at him any longer.

  “Your life means more to me that any prophecy and I am not going to apologise for that!” Karmun sounded adamant in this statement but Constantine just silently shook his head. Karmun let the silence invade the underground space for minutes more before helping Constantine back to his feet. He led him over to where Carrick and I still stood waiting for this tragic scene to play out. It was now, as he came closer, that I could make out more than just his bloodied features.

  A breath caught in my throat as I couldn’t believe how young he looked. Surely this person standing in front of me couldn’t have been more than sixteen! He wasn’t at all manly, being too cute and baby faced to be classed as a man but so much more of a boy. His soft brown eyes looked like brown sugar, which were framed by curled lashes with tips that touched his femininely shaped eyebrows. His pale milky skin put mine to shame being almost translucent and was such a contrast to Karmun’s mocha toned skin. It was like yin and yang, the differences were startling. Even with their hair, where Karmun’s was as straight as a pin and black as night, Constantine’s was almost white and cut very close to his skull. His clothes were dirty and torn beyond repair but I could imagine they were once fashionable when new. He had even lost a shoe and my heart melted into a pity puddle at just the sight of this boy that looked far more broken than what he portrayed. I couldn’t help the tear that slipped down my cheek at the thought of what had been done to him, what he had been through since he had been taken. I knew what it was like to be a prisoner and I’m not talking the cushy kind where you get three square meals a day and can go out and breathe the fresh air. I am talking about torture both in body and soul. Torture so deep that it seeps into your blood and invades not only your every nerve but every thought, every single one, to a point that you crave only the unthinkable...

  Death.

  I wondered if Constantine had been this way. What a morbid thought that I just couldn’t hold back.

  “What did you do to him?” I asked before I bit my lip. I expected Carrick to answer me in his usual unmoved manner but it was Constantine himself that approached me.

  “Do not cry for me Electus, I have enough to be sorry about without adding to my old bones.” At this I couldn’t hide my shock and disbelief.

  “Trust me child, I am older than I look,” he said whilst catching an escaping tear. His lip was torn and the cut spread to a painful point as he gave me an endearing smile. A single drop of blood fell from the split that reminded me of a bloodied tear and a few of his teeth were missing, but this didn’t take away from his beauty by any means.

  “I am sorry for what is happening to you and I tried to help you but it just wasn’t enough, at the time I wasn’t strong enough.” He looked behind him towards Karmun and Carrick just scoffed at this, which was ignored on all fronts.

  “That was you that night?” Karmun asked, slightly baffled. Well he wasn’t the only one.

  “Help me how?” I added to the questioning.

  “Yes it was me and despite the beatings that followed that action, it was all to be in vain.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “The night that the warning appeared on your window was with the blood of the guilty.” He turned to face Karmun now with a face full of disappointment.

  “I saw what you did, how you controlled her protector, the Viking. How you used your own blood to write the Vampire King’s message. How you let him use you like a puppet on his arm. I had to do something, beating or no beating, I had to try and counteract what you had done. I never thought it would get this far, that you would go this far. If only my message would have gotten through enough to alert the King.” He was shaking his head and for the second time Karmun looked away from his lover in shame. M
eanwhile I was going through that awful night like a flicker book of horrors. I remembered seeing the words that I naively thought were red paint at the time, words that spelled out my doomed fate that weeks later came true. But I also remembered the words that Constantine was talking about. After running back to my car to get my keys, I found the earlier threat gone and replaced with sound advice,

  Tell Draven…. Everything.

  Now that I thought back to it I could remember every time that I had battled with myself. I tried so hard sometimes to find enough inside that would have made me tell Draven but it never came and now I knew why. Every drink served, every little voice in my head that screamed doubt and even the phone call my sister received saying how Draven didn’t want to see me after our argument. It was all down to Karmun.

  Did Draven know?

  “I think that is enough confessions don’t you? Time is getting on and coming to an end for you both. Say goodbye Keira.” Carrick said and motioned for someone to take me away. Just as I was about to move away Carrick’s hand circled above my elbow and held me in place. Karmun finally looked to me and I noticed his eyes glistening. He approached me and Carrick’s grasp tightened.

  “Keira I...Please...” He struggled with the words and I shook my head about to tell him he didn’t need to say anything. I understood now. I saw it all the second his eyes met those of his love. What wouldn’t I do for Draven or what wouldn’t any of us do for a loved one, a sister, a husband or more importantly, a child. No, I couldn’t hate this man. I couldn’t even find it in myself to blame him.

  “Karmun there’s no need. I understand.” I said trying to hold back the tears.

  “You are a pure soul Keira and along with that comes a strong heart. You will survive because you are a fighter and more importantly you are chosen by the Gods themselves. I am just sorry that I wasn’t strong enough for you but mostly...” He came closer to me and lifted one of my hands in his, making Carrick’s grip grow painful. He lifted it to his lips and before kissing my knuckles he whispered,

  “….I am just plain sorry.” Then he gave me one last glimpse of the old Karmun I knew and loved by giving me his usual easy going grin. Then he was gone. He had turned his back on me in a silent goodbye and I couldn’t help but cry.

  Then, pulling out of my inner turmoil, I watched a man dressed in black combat gear walk around from the van and flick a cigarette to the ground causing little orange sparks to bounce from the cement. He was like every other bad guy extra from some action flick that I had ever seen. He was tall, rippled with muscles and wore a scowl to match the hard lines of his face. He grabbed me none too gently and walked me over towards the SUV that Constantine had been pushed out of. I tried to dig in my heels at one point but the man just growled at me like a dog. While I was being half dragged away I looked back to see Karmun and Constantine turn to face each other and hold onto each other’s arms in half an embrace.

  “Get in and shut up girly!” The brute said in a gruff voice that had obviously been smoking his body weight in nicotine daily. I did as I was told without taking my eyes off the two men who were now getting on their knees without breaking their hold. Carrick stood slightly back as though waiting for something. I was practically pushed into the van and the door slammed shut sealing me in. Yet I still couldn’t take my eyes off the two men. They looked like they were whispering to each other and then they closed the distance and met each other half way to seal their lips in what looked like a departing kiss. A single tear slipped free from my right eye and I let it travel the length of my cheek without wiping it away. I wanted to shed tears, I wanted to let my emotion free as did the lovers who quite clearly were about to meet their fate.

  They broke away but remained close enough to touch their foreheads to one another. They both closed their eyes and even from here I could see the last words spoken,

  ‘I love you’.

  Then without warning Carrick pulled a spear from behind his tall frame and when he swung it round in front of his body the world around him changed. For about three metres around them all the concrete turned to crumbling ash, the walls bubbled black tar and melted into mounds of steaming lava. The ground shook and on the few cars that had them, their alarms started to voice their protests. Some of the older models that couldn’t take the pressure had their windows shatter and their tyres burst. I couldn’t decide where to put my hands as the urge to place them both over my ears and over my mouth to prevent the scream was confusing.

  Carrick stood there in all his hell wielding wrath and became the Soul Collector whom I had seen fight Ragnar. His hood hung over to hide his face but the cloak did nothing to hide the rest. His fleshy bones held the weight I knew not how, but bulky arms that still had meat on swung the spear high above ready to strike. I felt the pain shoot up my arms as I hit the window with side on fists.

  “NO!” I screamed as I pounded and pounded hoping to stop the work of Hell’s henchman, but when the room let out a flash of blinding red light I blinked a few times in time to see the staff being driven into the two bodies still entwined in a lover’s embrace. The staff pierced both hearts and not one sound was made by either of them. Their faces still locked in peace, not one shred of shock or pain touched their features unlike mine which wore a mask of horror. I screamed out and hit the window until it vibrated beneath my sore fists.

  Then something began to happen. From the floor upwards the ash covered their legs and worked its way up their bodies until covering them completely, like statues in a mausoleum. Their skin became the same shade of pale grey and their eyes turned into wet ice. Once the very last tip of their hair was covered, Carrick, still gripping the spear, pulled back his arm in an exaggerated manner and spun round, turning his back which caused the spear to leave the lovers’ bodies.

  Carrick then turned the spear round in his hand at such a speed it was hard to see properly, like a propeller on a helicopter and then, with a blur, it was gone. The change began as the sight of ash and bubbling fire started to turn to stone and fade away into dust. He walked back around the locked stone bodies and with each step his body changed back to the businessman in a plain beige suit. First the legs appeared from under a smoky cloak and then human tissue started to wrap around each bare bone until it formed solid muscle that went from bloody red to fleshy pink and then finally to a pale skin tone. It looked as though imaginary hands were wrapping flesh coloured ribbon around each bone and I don’t know why but some sick twisted version of a maypole came to mind.

  The last thing to disappear was his hood before showing me the most gruesome face. I gasped and scrambled backwards on the seat to get away. His face was elongated, with yellowing skin that stretched across high cheek bones like burning plastic. His eyes were huge and missing eyelids as it was obvious that they had once been cut away with a very blunt object. His lips were also absent with only blackened teeth that were longer and thinner than regular teeth. His hair was reduced to thin straggly bits that were long and growing only from the base of his skull, leaving most of his wrinkly head bare. But this was nothing compared to his soulless eyes. They pierced my spirit and it felt as though it had shattered into a million shards, like delicate pieces of a stained glass window hanging high up in a church tower. They burned yellow and when he blinked the pupils folded in on themselves causing his eyeballs to bleed when opened. I badly wanted to vomit but thankfully I withheld it long enough for the rest of the transformation to take effect.

  When he opened the side door I was cowering as far away as I could get and Carrick looked unaffected by my reaction. He shouted something I didn’t understand and got in to sit next to me before slamming the door home. I jumped at the sound and let out a pathetic little yelp. I so wanted to be brave and strong and all the things that Karmun had said to me but I couldn’t find it. I was shaking and kept fisting my hands to try and control myself. Two of the men got in the front and soon we were on the move again.

  I glanced back one last time at the statues sti
ll locked together wondering what would become of them now, when my question was answered. Their bodies started to waver in an impossible wind that seemed trapped indoors somehow. As the wind got stronger it whipped and licked around their stone skin and kept taking pieces away with it. As it grew so did the pieces until eventually as we turned a corner I saw the last of their faces get taken away and I could only hope,

  To a better place.

  Chapter 3

  Henchmen.

  I didn’t know how much time passed before my nerves calmed enough to take in what was happening around me. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours, although hours seemed unlikely. It was as though time had stood still and no longer mattered. My mind kept returning back to the fading statue of love and how symbolic it was to my situation. Every mile that was placed in between me and Draven was like a Hell’s wedge driving through us inch by inch. I tried not to think about it that way but my nerves were shot to pieces and normally, right about now, Draven would be the one convincing me that it was foolish to think such things...but where was he now? What was he doing...was he trying to find me?

  At that point I actually found myself slapping my palm to my head. I was being ridiculous! Of course he was trying to find me and I needed to keep that faith if I was to survive this.

  Carrick had raised his eyes at me when I hit myself and if he was thinking that I had truly lost it this time, he kept quiet on the matter. I resigned myself to looking out of the window and taking his lead by keeping quiet. I had nothing to say anyway, nothing that wouldn’t be followed by screaming profanities at him. I saw a city’s lights flashing as we went speeding past but what city I couldn’t tell you. It was an upsetting feeling, not knowing where you were in the world and it had only ever happened to me once before. But that dark place I was staying far away from.