The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  I scanned back to the wider space and saw it was taken up by a massive rounded couch that could have easily sat ten people. It was plush black velvet with blood red piping around the edges. The base was thick dark oak carved into dragon’s feet and the talons were actually embedded into the wooden floorboards. It was both feminine and masculine, with its mix of comfy, soft looking material that curved into a plump backing that you could sink into and the striking red that lay next to the haunting black and dark cut wood that framed the whole piece. However, although the piece was beautiful in every way, it was crystal clear this was an unmistakable throne for the man who sat in the middle amongst his subjects.

  A fear so deep crept up my spine and kept going until my forehead broke out in a panicked sweat. I stopped dead in my tracks and couldn’t physically go any further. It was as if my shoes had been replaced by dead weights and moving would actually tear my legs from my feet. I still had my hood up and I wanted to pull it all the way down over my face so that I could hide like a child, using the theory that if you can’t see them they can’t see you.

  This was fear. This was my destination and this could be my end.

  This was Lucius.

  Chapter 6

  Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight.

  I was transported back to every image I had ever had of Lucius. Every memory that he had burned to my brain, whether I liked it or not, flooded every one of my senses and it all combined into one thought process…RUN!

  But I had nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide in a room full of God and the Devil only knew what. It didn’t just feel like I had been thrown to the wolves but into a pit full of lions, tigers, sharks, crocodiles, cobras, scorpions and even a few box jellyfish thrown in for good measure! Basically anything that would maim, poison and devour.

  I felt a slight push behind me and jumped, giving Adam a wide eyed Bambi look that was like watching as a truck was about plough into me. He gave me a frown before nodding to where Pip had trotted off to. I had no choice than to follow them all into that pit and I just prayed that none of them thought of me as dinner!

  I swallowed the frightened lump in my throat and put on my big girl boots that I have to tell ya, were getting a little worn around the edges. I walked further round and when it got too much I was gripped above the elbow and gently forced to walk to the front of the curved couch that had a great view of the whole club around all floors. It kind of reminded me of being at the theatre in one of those box seats that gives you the best view of the stage and everything below. I went to see Midsummer Night’s Dream once and now it seemed I was in the front row for Midwinter’s Nightmare and now sat casually in front of me in the centre of the massive gothic couch was the sadistic play’s star.

  Lucius.

  Now I really was about to wet myself. No big girl panties in sight!

  This devastatingly handsome creature in front of me had caused me the most pain in all my life and that was only the ‘him’ from my dreams, now he was here sat in front of me, in the flesh and every bit as, if not more, scary as I imagined.

  Once he saw me standing there he let go of the back of the girl’s neck he had a possessive hold on and pushed her further away like he was finished with a snack. I couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped when I saw the half-dressed girl turn to shift away and moved a hand to the side of her neck where blood dripped down from two puncture marks. I felt my nose wrinkle in disgust and thought… umm what do you know, Pip was right, I do wrinkle my nose sometimes.

  Lucius took note of my reaction and one side of his mouth curled in a brief sign of amusement. He leaned over to Pip who was now sat crossed legged next to him holding her knees swaying. He whispered something to her and she nodded in answer. While this was going on I had time to observe the man that had been the pinpoint of misery for me for months.

  He looked even more terrifying in person than he did in my dreams and I wondered if this was down to my subconscious knowing he wasn’t ever really there. But now…well that was so horrifyingly real. This wasn’t like some gorgeous evil baddie you found yourself attracted to in the movies or just some shadow of the darkness your mind conjured up. No this was real and it hurt to even look at him. He was the King of all my nightmares and by the look on his painfully handsome face he damn well knew it! It didn’t matter if he could no longer reach inside my mind and pull my dancing strings, he didn’t need that kind of control over me anymore…no he had an entirely different level of control and it included a very physical matter in the palm of one strong pale hand.

  He looked so powerful sat there dressed all in black with a casual air, he didn’t have to even remotely try. He was hard and cruel all wrapped and entwined into one simple entity. His flesh and bones made from fear and the blood of others running deep in his veins fuelling his hunger for dominance and power over others. Draven told me once that Lucius was the only one that could change a demon or angel into a vampire, giving them the chance to enhance the powers they had already. Then they automatically became his child of the night. He could control anyone, whether they had been turned or not. He had even been known to control Draven at one point but I knew very little of that story, only that the one time it happened was the reason the war between them started in the first place. I was the only one he couldn’t control and from the look he gave me as he stood, he knew it. I wondered if it gave him as much of a bitter aftertaste as it seemed to, given the way he stalked towards me. He reminded me of some sleek jungle cat eyeing up his dinner. Well at least I was nice and tender for him after the beating Klaus gave me.

  His long legs were encased in dark leather and he was one of the few men I had seen to be able to pull off this look without being a biker. His slim waist was the start of the V shape that was his upper body. His chest spanned out into muscular pecks and wide shoulders that would fit my folded frame with room to spare. I couldn’t see his arms but knew the power that lay beneath the black material that made up the shirt concealing his impressive torso. I couldn’t help but work my way up his body from his black army style boots to his stern chiselled face. He had cut his hair since my dreams and now instead of reaching down to the start of his spine it was side parted into a messy cut of choppy sand coloured strands that he pushed back from his face before reaching me. The last detail my vision took in was his incredible eyes. They were like grey ice with blue flecks coming from his pupil. They were ringed with black and were almond shaped giving him an exotic essence. Long thick lashes the shade of coal matched the natural black around his eyes, giving a gothic angel vibe. One honey coloured eyebrow rose at my scrutinising gaze.

  “What, surprised to see me without a tan?” He said in a voice so deep it felt like it could cut into my skin, crawl there and stay buried forever.

  “That was a clever parlour trick, my little Keira girl, but was nothing more than a minor annoyance.” He made the last few steps up to me and I dropped my head so that my hood covered all of my face back into the shadows I had been hiding in. He leaned down to face level and given his imposing height he had to bend his head fully. I could feel his breath brush the skin I was trying desperately to keep concealed from his touch.

  “I warned you all those times.” He whispered like a secret caress. I felt a determined thumb under my chin and it pushed my head up with little resistance. What could I do, he was an unstoppable force of nature without even trying. My palms felt sticky with a thick layer of sweat and my nails cut into my skin thanks to tortured fists. My head was raised so far back that I was looking up into his stunning eyes. My hood fell back and he stepped into me causing my face to come into view thanks to a spotlight on the ceiling. His eyes changed in slow motion, like watching someone injecting red liquid into the centre causing it to mix into the murky waters that were his eyes, before consuming them in blood and hatred.

  He pushed me back and at first I forgot about the glass barrier and thought I would go over the side into the dancing crowd below. I was being held by one grip on my shoul
der and one at my waist. He flexed his hand at the point of impact and saved me from slamming into the glass with too much force. He got down into my face and his lips snapped twice at me making me unable to look away from the fangs elongating down his bottom lip.

  “MINE!” He both hissed and shouted. It was laced with venom from the pits he once came from. I closed my eyes so tight the tears I didn’t know had formed squeezed from behind my closed lids. He scared the living shit out of me and I couldn’t help but shake in his hold. He tightened this hold momentarily before running his thumb in little circles down by my side. I think it was meant as a soothing gesture which confused me more than my brain could compute.

  “Step forward the one who dared touch what belongs to me!” He was livid, so much so that he looked as though he was trying to control his body into listening to the command not to shake in fury. Klaus stepped forward looking like he was very close to soiling himself. He stood against a wall to the right of us and it was at this point that I finally found my pity.

  Lucius didn’t look at him as he already knew who had done this to me. No, Lucius didn’t take his eyes from my face for even a second. He was studying me in depth and when I tried to look down he shook his head and held my chin firm. This close, my heart pounded to an uncontrollable beat of fear and shamefully… arousal. I didn’t want to be attracted to this creature of the damned but it was so hard knowing his past and what one mistake made him into. It was a combination of all the dreams where he had been soft and gentle but with an undercurrent of raw energy that coursed through a body of betrayal. Right now he was both.

  He gently examined my head, turning it one way and another to get a closer look at my bruised eye and the lump that had grown in my hairline. His gaze dropped to my lips and I couldn’t help but bite the bottom one. He released his hold on my chin and my waist to use both hands to touch my face. Each side was cupped by a hand that spanned the length of my head. He let one slide down to the column of my tender throat to find it bruised from when Klaus had held me there. His lips curled in a sneer and his fangs were still stained red from his earlier feed. His thumb slid across my bottom lip to prevent my teeth from finding a place there and he pressed in a little deeper until I felt the sting. He had my blood from the open slit on the pad of his thumb. He raised it to his lips and just before I thought he was going to taste me he raised it higher to his nose and inhaled deeply.

  “Mmm, suavissimo peccatum” (Means ‘The sweetest sin’ in Latin) the words flowed from within somewhere deep beneath a petrifying surface but I had no clue as to their meaning.

  “I gave you an easy command to follow and you failed me, Klaus.” Lucius said in a flat deadpan tone. He was still looking at me and I refused to meet his sharp eyes.

  “She is only human, my Lord.” Klaus stated and a flash of a spark came back to me and I whispered,

  “No shit, Sherlock!” Of course being close enough to crawl into my skin Lucius heard me. Was that a smirk I saw flash once before a scowl took its place?

  “Yes but she is MY human.” I tried to take a step back but remembered I was flush against the glass. So I opted for the welcome of a shiver to tremble along my skin.

  “But my Lord…”

  “BUT NOTHING!” Lucius roared making every sound on this floor cease with his demonic outburst. His eyes had flashed a deeper red giving the appearance of black blood seeping from the deepest of wounds. Once again I shut my eyes and was close to repeating over and over “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”. Mind you, if Dorothy had come here instead of Oz then I think she would have picked up one of those happy little yellow bricks and bashed her brains in with the bloody thing! This was a whole new level of crazy and I was the sanity that was smack bang in the middle of it.

  One of Lucius’ hands finally left my body and went behind his back. That was when I noticed the thin black straps that blended into his shirt that went under each arm.

  “Hold out your hand Klaus!” Lucius ordered and Klaus looked to where his hand was going to and all the colour drained from his face. I always wondered where all the extra blood went to?

  “But Master…” Oh yeah, he was so close to begging. It was so pitiful to watch that I looked down and shook my head in the sickness of it all. I had weight in my stomach that told me something bad was about to happen and I was not going to want to witness it.

  “Dignity or force?” Lucius said and after digging deep Klaus found his balls and raised his hand to the level of his face.

  Before a whisper could be breathed in, Lucius’ hand had produced a large blade that curved slightly at the end, getting wider on one side before coming to a deadly point. The knife sailed through the air with an audible whistle before pining Klaus’ hand to the wall. It had hit him dead centre in the palm and blood squirted in a spray around the ornate blade’s handle that was soon dripping red and the only thing left of the weapon showing.

  Klaus screamed out at the impact and the whole floor was now being given a new form of entertainment and they clearly loved it! One small girl was even being hoisted onto a man’s shoulders so that she could see better over the growing crowd. It felt like when a fight breaks out on the school playground only there wasn’t a single chant or whispered word. The air was charged with an impending death on the cards and I naively thought this was the only punishment he would get, however the next command out of Lucius was one that sent me to a new depth of terror.

  “Take the knife, slit your throat and die quickly.” He said and I moved my head to the side to hide this self-mutilation from view.

  “No, you will watch this, my Keira girl!” He grabbed my chin and forced my head back round to face the gruesome show. I closed my eyes just as Klaus pulled the knife from his hand and placed it at his throat without hesitation.

  “Wait!” Lucius said and my breath left me in a revealed whoosh. “I want your reason for death to watch.” He stated and my heart plummeted. He couldn’t be serious? I opened my eyes to see that he was…like a heart attack!

  “You will watch this or a mortal will die every second your eyes are closed.” My eyes snapped open the second he finished his whispered sentence in my ear.

  “Good girl, now time to enjoy the show.” He said in such a calm voice it made it downright sick which was a feeling I couldn’t keep hidden.

  “You’re sick!” I said as I turned my head with no other choice than to watch as Klaus raised the knife he had clutched in one hand back to his throat. I looked into the eyes that knew he was going to die at his own hand, and was no longer in his control. His pupils dilated and flashed red before he dragged the blade across his neck. Blood went everywhere at the force of his cut. I swallowed over and over trying to force the food and bile that threatened to come up, back down where it should be. All the time Lucius hadn’t taken his eyes off my face. It was like he was soaking up my emotions and feeding off me like I was a Goddamn happy meal! I knew he couldn’t but the looks he was burning me with made me more than a bit wary.

  Meanwhile the spluttering sound of one dying Klaus was getting too much for my sanity I was desperately trying to cling onto. When it finally got me to a point that made me turn to the side away from Lucius and start retching he made a little snort at my behaviour.

  “Very well.” He said and I shot up despite feeling sick and woozy.

  “No, no, please don’t kill anyone…I’m sorry I thought it was over….I’ll watch, bloody hell I’ll watch!” I said in a tumble of words, utterly terrified that he would turn his sadistic wrath on any poor mortal that was out for nothing more than a good night. He turned to me and placed a hand out on my forearm to steady me from swaying I felt that dizzy. He frowned and turned his head to the slumped body of Klaus that was still fighting for his life. I watched as Lucius rolled his eyes as if this was all very taxing on his time. He went to his belt and flipped open a hidden leather flap pulling from it a small blade that resembled a thick nail file.

  “Not qui
ck enough,” he said as he threw the little knife which landed perfectly in Klaus’ heart, without taking one look in the direction in which he threw the knife. I watched in sick fascination as the blade started to glow into poker red before Klaus’ body set alight and then crumbled into ash just as quickly. This all happened in seconds and soon all that was left of Klaus was a dark stain on the wooden floor.

  “Ruto, knife!” A figure came from behind the shadows like he had bent the darkness to his will. He seemed to have come from nowhere. He floated over to the non-existent remains of Klaus and I saw a pale hand swipe across the black stain on the floor a few times before the charred area the size of a paella dish started to turn into liquid wood. It was fascinating to watch as something so natural as wood became supernatural, as if this Ruto was opening a portal beneath his hand. Then I made a pathetic little noise as a hand that was dripping in blood barely visible on his black wrinkled skin came from the watery hole. In its grasp was the knife that Lucius had thrown the first time. Ruto took the blade and before the hand could retreat back to the depths from which it came, Ruto spun quickly and severed the hand. A great howl resulted, that and another hand shot out quickly to retrieve the vital part he had lost. The portal closed quickly once that hand disappeared to where I shuddered to think and the crowd lost interest after that, going back to their prior entertainment.

  The shadow that was named Ruto appeared in front of us in seconds since retrieving the knife and I couldn’t believe the face I was looking at. There was only one way to describe Ruto and that was a teenage punk. He couldn’t be more than thirteen or fourteen years old and although tall for his age, his face screamed adolescent. He was slim and undeveloped with baby smooth skin on a baby face. Although he was scowling, it was hard not to see the cute face he was masking with indifference. His hair hung longer at the front than the spicks at the back and covered one eye. He had bright turquoise eyes that shone with an experience he shouldn’t yet have. There was something in his manner that screamed this kid was not just smart but he was smarter than most of the people that surrounded him. I don’t know exactly what told me that but the look he gave made me feel that I was so far beneath his intellect that I was the child here, not this boy who looked more like some skater misfit.