The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Nice!” I didn’t know what else to say but I really did wonder where on earth he would find a gift like that, the ‘tacky meets top notch’ store?

  “Well I think so. You know you can’t go out like that, don’t you?” She looked me up and down causing me to burst out laughing. I was still wrapped up in the covers and the look on her face told me she was serious.

  “You don’t like the outfit?” I teased making her wrinkle her cute little nose.

  “Not really, it doesn’t do a lot for your figure that’s for sure, plus Lucius had some others clothes bought for you, they’re in the wardrobe and they’re a mountain amount bigger and better than that ugly thing, you look like a grub with a pretty head and…”

  “Pip stop. I am teasing you, this is just the bed covers, not a dress!” I said stopping her before she went on a tandem of crazy reasons why this was not the best thing to wear. Mind you, given what she was wearing I think my choice was more practical…didn’t she ever feel the cold? Along with the jewellery choice of ‘crazy’, to these she added faded denim short dungarees that had bleeding butterflies on the pockets, pop art tights that had too many colours to mention in the comic book style pictures and the T-shirt was something else completely! It was yet another 80’s cartoon but with a Pip twist.

  It was sunny yellow with a picture of three of the Care Bears and if I remembered my bears correctly there was pink ‘Cheer Bear’ with a rainbow, ‘Friendship Bear’ with flowers and ‘Funshine’ Bear with a sun. The words below said ‘Without a Care ‘Bear’ in the world’.

  I laughed until she turned around and I saw the back. All three bears were still there but looking a little worse for wear, now all being zombies. One had half his face ripped off and was eating his own bear intestines, another had his eye hanging from its socket and instead of the sun on his belly he had the word ‘Fukshine’ in bloody writing. And the last was giving you the finger with one hand and the other held a bottle of beer.

  It was one hell of a T-shirt.

  I followed her out and saw that the only practical part of her outfit which was suitable for going outside in this weather was her over the knee wellies that had Pick and Mix print on them. It looked a bit like two rainbows had sex and Pip was born!

  “So where are we going today?” I asked feeling a bit excited about the idea of getting out of this stronghold and getting to the fresh air.

  “To the Silent Garden or did Lucius say to take you to the forest?” I remembered the warning she’d received from Lucius and after last night’s horrific events I decided I really didn’t need any more near death experiences.

  “He said no forest Pip,” I said walking past her to get into the wardrobe that I was praying contained some ‘normal’ clothes. I picked up an expensive looking package that had the name ‘William Rast’ and I gathered that was the designer. I opened it up and nearly wept with joy at seeing a pair of jeans. I ripped my way into the other bags being far too excited about seeing real clothes for the first time in days. I found a long sleeved top that had those trusty thumb holes by a French designer that I couldn’t pronounce and the last box had a designers name imprinted with gold lettering that had me gulping.

  It had a round Greek coin design and in the middle was the picture of the mythological beast Medusa. Underneath was the word ‘Versace’. After staring at it for a while, Pip made a tutting sound which brought me back around to the now. I opened it and inside was the most beautiful red coat that I was sure had been made by the Heavens. I lifted it, noting its thick material and heavy weight.

  “Ooooh, me likes!” Pip said confirming that she wasn’t the one who chose it. Looking at all her colours I was happy about this.

  After a quick shower I got dressed, making Pip wait for me in the living room, although I was pretty sure she would have kept me company in the bathroom if I had let her. I noticed in the shower that the bandages from my fingers had gone and the only evidence that the Demon had bitten me were the tiny little red dots that looked like week old scars.

  Once dressed, I felt comfortable for the first time since leaving my sister’s house. The jeans were made from the softest denim that fit my legs as though they had been made with a plaster cast of my lower half, they were that perfect. The top was also so soft to my skin, being made from fine cotton. But it was the jacket that made me feel as if I was being wrapped in an expensive cloud. It was a deep red cashmere fitted jacket that went down past the knees and flared out like a rippling skirt whenever I moved. It reminded me more of a dress it was so gorgeous and well fitted. The top curved over my chest with tailored panels and the neck was a long floppy scarf that tied into a loose big bow that made the outfit look cute. And the best bit…it was deliciously warm.

  Pip threw a little bag that had red cashmere gloves to match that weren’t full length but thanks to my top I didn’t need them to. I popped them on. After also finding some new lace up boots and sorting out my hair in its usual twist, I was ready for the outside world.

  The outside world was unlike one I had ever seen before. It was like some horror version of a winter wonderland. It would have been a great view to put on a gothic Christmas card!

  After listening to half an hour of Pip talking non-stop about everything and every cartoon in between, we had finally just walked through the last door after managing a turret full of spiral steps. It made me realise what my New Year’s resolution was going to be and it involved the word ‘GYM’.

  I had followed Pip who didn’t ever look like she would lose her breath, even after hundreds of steps. If anything it had looked as if I was holding her up most of the time. She would run round and round and then be sat on one of the steps waiting for me and still chatting away like I had heard every word. I hadn’t found the extra breath to tell her I didn’t know what she was going on about.

  We had just come through the top and I looked back at the turret and saw a large jutted piece of the mountain that had been smoothed into a rounded shaped on the door side. The cliff face didn’t look anything other than mountain and I now realised why no human beings would ever know what was hidden here. It truly was an underground castle.

  I looked around and instead of seeing all the snowy tops of rolling mountains all I got was white. Everywhere was thick with fog and it felt like I was so close to the heavens I half expected to see the Pearly Gates. It was clear we were on top of the mountain and it had been flattened out for outside space. I had watched Pip skip along on the snow covered ground that was lay out between the stone walls like a celebrity white blanket.

  It opened up into a huge circular area also covered in a thick layer of snow. Around the edge was a crumbling arched wall that showed the foggy distance from the framed stone ruins. The top of the wall was a twisted tree root that was grey and looked long ago dead. It was the thickness of my body and must have travelled a circumference of about half a football field. Next to the stone walls were cut hedges that spiralled inwards until it met with the paved stone slabs that could only be seen in patches thanks to someone’s foot prints.

  In the middle of the whole garden was an enormous dead tree that was devoid of bark and was a funny shape, like some colossal giant had come along and tried to twist it free from the ground. What was even stranger than its position in the garden was the fact it was the only thing around that wasn’t layered with snow and it was the first tree I had ever seen that had a hollow at the base big enough for at least six people to sit inside all at once. It was like a natural made tepee tent.

  The further we went down into the garden, the more I started to see inside the tree which was set up like a Gothic tea party. Pip clapped her hands twice and ran down the steps to stand next to her work and said,

  “Voila!” As she held both her arms out wide and tilted her body to the side like someone welcoming you to a freak show circus.

  “Do you like it?” She asked me proudly, motioning for me to enter. The space was so big that I only just needed to duck under, unlike Pi
p who was small enough to walk inside. We both sat down opposite each other and when Pip crossed her legs I did the same.

  I looked around in awe at my crazy surroundings.

  “Did you do all this?” I asked staring at the inside of a tree that had been transformed into an outside tea room with a twist.

  “I did and I even made the bunting with some old clothes.” She was referring to the triangles of leather, flowered brocade, latex and black and red embroidered velvet all connected together with thick, white satin ribbon that hung all around the inside of the tree walls.

  “It all looks great but what’s the occasion?” I asked looking at all the craziness between us, spread out like some Halloween party feast.

  “I just thought that you might like some girl time. I have always wanted to do this and never had anyone to invite and dolls and bears don’t gossip, now that Barbie is a right slut! Did you know that you can get dominatrix Barbie, I have two of those and slave Ken or is it Blaine? I tell ya I can’t keep up with that girl! I think you have had a rough couple of days and needed to relax.” I couldn’t help the beaming smile that broke out across my face thanks to Pip’s effort in helping me relax, that and hearing how she thought Barbie was a slut!

  “Well, I appreciate it and I am starving.” I said looking down at all the themed food. There were finger sandwiches all piled high on three tier cake stands made from black glass and had acrylic skeleton spines through the middle that met the skull at the top which were the handles. There was another stand that had legs like the wicked witch that Dorothy’s house landed on. This one had meats, cheeses, crackers and chutneys in little black caldrons.

  The last stand was a tall black wired bird cage which held a two tiered cake that was iced purple with a black cobweb draped around the bottom tier. The second tier had dripping red calligraphy around the sides whereas the finishing touch was the edible top hat that was complete with part of a head, covered in what looked like raspberry sauce to represent blood. Well I hoped it was raspberry sauce anyway! The cake had a butcher’s knife sticking out of the top hat to one side and with the glint coming off the blade I doubted very much it was edible and if it was, then let’s just say that Pip would be going first.

  Of course, no tea party would be complete without the tea set and here we had three. One was a very tall pot with matching cream and sugar pots all in black and white stripes. This one went the best with our outside surroundings as the only colour seen in this wonderland was inside this tree. Even the sky was ghostly white.

  Another set was also white but the tea cups were painted to look like they had been handled by a slasher movie victim with bloody handprints and drops of blood. Without the red paint the set would have been cute, with a dumpy little tea pot and a fat little jug for milk. However each had the appearance that the contents were filled with blood and over flowing down the sides and out of the spouts.

  The last set was very cool in a creepy, it’s great for Halloween, type of way. It was a set that was made to look like it was straight out of Victor Frankenstein's lab. The tea pot was made from green glass and looked like some lab equipment that was being used in an experiment. There was writing on the front of the squat glass container that said ‘Arsenic’ on a fake aged label. The matching set included a beaker for the milk that said ‘Toxic’ in the same design and a test tube in a metal holder that had the poison symbol on the front, this wasn’t far from the truth as my mother would agree because it contained sugar, which we all know rots kid’s teeth….it’s still tasty though!

  Pip handed me a dark blue and white chintzy china cup and saucer only instead of me using for actual tea it was already filled with a cupcake. It had navy blue frosting swirled high with a black candy heart sticking out of the side. With this she handed me a black napkin folded up with a red ribbon and held together with a black waxed seal with the letter P.

  “Wow, you really went to town Pip!” I commented taking off my gloves before I reached for a tea spoon to eat my cake with and would you blow me down, they were also part of the gothic theme, being both black and having the face of a skull. I mean bloody hell, where did she even get all this stuff from anyway…ebay?! I bet there was a sale on at Goth ‘R’ Us!

  “Yeah, you think this is cool, you should see what I do for Adam’s birthday, last year it was a Rocky Horror Show theme and Adam looked so cute in a costume.” I nearly snorted my blue frosting at this image!

  “Makes me wonder what Lucius wore?” Why did I just ask that?! And what was I doing thinking about Lucius anyway and after the train wreck last night had turned into!

  “Oh but of course he had to be ‘Rocky Horror’ you know, the blonde God created by the crazy Doc and Lucius does have the beef to pack out those gold shorts.” Ok, so this time I started to choke on that bloody frosting!

  “No way!” I said after drinking something that definitely wasn’t tea.

  “And why not, Lucius does have a sense of humour and when you look that good naked, I don’t suppose he got any complaints.” She winked at me and I was just shocked to hear that one, the great Vamp King would dress up at all and two…he had a sense of humour?

  “Let me guess, you went as Columbia?” I said just picturing her as a little, blue haired Dr. Frank-N-Furter groupie.

  “Yep and I even had the gold glitter top hat and everything! And if I recall, Liessa was Magenta, Ruto was Riff Raff and Liessa even made Caspian dress up as Eddie which he only did ‘cause he got to wear leathers! If you had been there you would have made a great Janet.” I giggled as I imagined them all sat round dressed as these characters. It was just too weird to picture without laughing.

  “And I don’t need to tell you what the birthday boy was, although he refused the first outfit he wore in the movie. He finally agreed to the one where Dr. Frank-N-Furter wears the green surgeon’s gown but he had to be naked underneath, those were my rules!”

  “Why am I not surprised?” I said making her smile before licking the frosting off her own cupcake that was almost the same colour as her lips.

  “You know this was a perfect idea and I have been gagging for a cup of tea for what seems like forever.” I said reaching for another tea pot when Pip started giggling.

  “It’s not one of those parties…sorry?” I frowned at what she could mean.

  “I don’t get it? What other types are there?” I was almost too scared to ask.

  “Umm…the ones with no tea, just lots of yummy scrummy alcohol.”

  “PIP! You do remember what happened the last time you made me drink, right?”

  “Yeah and if I recall you went travelling supersonic style, brain waves floating across space and shit and the outcome was one fine assed living God named Draven, who could no doubt not only could kick Superman’s spandex ass but the whole X-men crew along with him, so what d’ya say, fancy a drink Janet?” During this little speech she had been filling one of the many crazy tea cups with an ‘Imp’ only knows what. She gave it a little shake in my direction without spilling a drop.

  “You’re bad…you know that, right?” I said taking the cup from dainty hands taking note of the choice of nails today, each one painted a different fruit. Strawberry was my favourite.

  “Bad to bone, honey bee!” She said, taking her own cup and chinking it to mine.

  After a while I was stunned at all the things we had talked about and I was even able to get a few things about Draven off my chest. I kind of forgot the supernatural being thing and although there was no getting away from the quirkiness (Not that I would want too) it was kind of like having a chat with a good friend, like RJ or even with my sister Libby. Those thoughts caused me to be quiet for a few minutes as the lump in my throat formed from how much I missed them all.

  Luckily Pip was busy concocting our new mix of cocktails. I soon found out that all the tea pots and their matching ‘milk’ jugs all held different forms of alcohol and mixers, so we had silly fun experimenting.

  “Sooo, you have heard
all about me but what about you? I mean you’re a married Imp who’s sat at Lucius’ table every night…what’s that like?” I asked trying not to let the drink get to me but man, the Imp mixed a mean cocktail!

  “Well, it sure didn’t start out as my career choice I will tell ya but Adam is Lucius’ Lieutenant so it kinda comes with the marriage. Like buy one and get an Imp for free. It’s a bit risky for others to be around Adam without me being there…let’s just say he gets…cranky.” I frowned at this. How could she just stop at that rubic cube!

  “Ok, you’re gonna have to give me more than that Squeak, you’re killin’ me here.” I said calling her the nick name she told me to use and I thought it fit her so well. She had a musical, high pitched voice and reminded me of some colourful but crazy fairy. I bet if I let go of my mental walls I would see cute little iridescent wings and adorable pointy ears. I was almost tempted.

  She laughed as she opened up the bird cage to get to the massive cake. The thing opened on a double door hinge and she gripped the large knife and I kid you not, she did a comical Karate chop, even adding,

  “Hi-ya!” She then placed a wedge on a black plate and handed it to me.

  “It’s red!” I said referring to the sponge inside, that was a beautiful rich colour.

  “No, it’s red velvet and you should try it, it’s a yummy mummy!” She said taking the whole wedge and trying to cram it in her mouth sideways. I took her advice and gave it a bite and then I was making noises that should only be reserved for the bedroom. It was good. It was my new friend. And it made me want more.

  “I knew you would like it, Vincent said you have a sweet tooth.” Wait…what!

  “What do you mean…you’ve spoken to Vincent?” My heart started hammering in my chest at the sound of his name. Then the immediate image of being in his arms and him holding me to him in a protective way had me close to making the same noises I had made eating the cake.

  “Oh, no I guess I didn’t tell you but I heard from Vincent and he asked me to make sure you were getting enough food, which I realised that no, you weren’t, so I did this and filled your fridge with sweet stuff. You even have some candy canes under your pillow…you know in case you wake up needing to suck on something sweet.” She winked at me and I nearly spat red cake everywhere. She then had me in a fit of giggles and passed me another cup filled with I didn’t even want to guess. It tasted good though.