The Triple Goddess

by Stephanie Hudson

  I braced myself for the solid impact of ice that would no doubt break my spine into paralysis before drowning my lungs with winter lake water but it didn’t happen like that. Oh, I landed all right and my body knew it with the feeling of a thousand pins all piercing my skin at the same time but there was no ice, only water.

  Freezing ice cold water.

  The pain of it stole my breath at the worst time as it was one much needed to stay alive longer. I saw the cloud of white bubbles my impact caused come up around me and find the surface…a surface I couldn’t reach. My body moved slowly in the black depths like it wasn’t my own. It turned and twisted round and I saw the reason for my landing in water fading into the dark. The stone gargoyle was falling away to where I feared I was soon to follow. But wait, I was still alive and more importantly I was far away from the bitch with a fondness for sharp objects that she was determined to keep sticking in me. I could get out of this and might survive.

  I found myself sending down a silent thank you to the headless gargoyle and decided to fight. I tried to move but at first it was like every muscle was closing down and refusing to co-operate. But then as the last of my air left my floating body I made a desperate attempt at reaching the broken ice. I raise my arms above me and dragged them back, pulling myself upward with a relentless pain that coursed through me with every move. But I didn’t give up and I wanted to live damn it! I felt like I was dragging myself through sand but slowly and just before I passed out from lack of oxygen I burst through the surface.

  I spluttered and coughed as I dragged in as much air as I could but it never seemed enough. My throat burned like every mouthful was mixed with an acid cloud but soon my breaths calmed and I looked around to see myself bobbing up and down in the moonlit night.

  The crashing down of the gargoyle had no doubt saved my life and it had left a mighty big hole in its wake. The ice was floating around in angular shards of different sized islands and I saw the edge of the frozen lake. I knew I wasn’t out of danger yet because I knew if I didn’t get out of this water soon, I would freeze to death. My teeth chattered so hard it felt as though they could punch holes through steel and the feeling in my fingertips was lost to me. I moved my arms around and started shifting the great chunks of ice out of my way when something bad started to happen.

  At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me as I saw the sides getting closer and closer without me moving quick enough. What was happening now?! I stopped trying to get close to see if it was really happening and when the ice started to close in on me I cried out. The lake was re-freezing where the hole was and I looked all around as it started to speed up. How was I ever going to get out without first being frozen into an ice sculpture.

  I looked back up at the mountain I had just fallen from and barely saw the well concealed balcony, actually if I hadn’t just fell from it I wouldn’t have known it was even there. But the balcony wasn’t the only thing I saw and when I could just see the small image of a person staring down from the rocks, I knew the ice was Layla’s final way of saying goodbye…indefinitely.

  With the ice closing in I had two choices, one, I could be left half sticking out of the lake like some frozen ice maiden or two I could die with a little more dignity and not give her the satisfaction of seeing me at my death. So just in time I took my last gulp of air and ducked back under just as the ice joined above my head.

  This was it and with one last fist banged on the ice to check it couldn’t be broken I finally gave up the last of my hope. I saw my skin under the bluish night sky that managed to penetrate the thick cover above me and it looked as though I was already at death’s door, knocking and just waiting for someone to answer.

  My arms started to float in front of me as the weight of my body, without air, dragged me down and I saw the blood seep out in red ribbons from the slice in my arm. I was fascinated that instead of the blood mixing with the water it was like crimson oil snaking through denser liquid. It felt like I could reach out and hold it only the freezing temperatures had other ideas about me moving.

  Then, just as I was floating to my final resting place I saw something I couldn’t put understanding to. It was a shadow moving above the ice and I could hear the hollowed sound like someone was calling out in a storm. What was that? I saw it move closer above me and when I saw the distinct shape of two black footprints I screamed losing the last of my air. My own voice was lost, echoing in darkness and a liquid void so vast that no one would ever hear me. I watched in desperate horror as the last remaining life source left me to escape in bubbles to the surface. Then I saw a knee join the floor of the ice like someone was searching for me…well any second now they would be too late, as I could feel the lack of air finally start to shut down my thoughts.

  The last thing I saw must have been a trick of my brain functions crashing as I saw a hand print lay flat next to the foot and then the blood that had left me shot towards it like nails to a magnet. The streamers of red that still hadn’t mixed with the water hit the ice and landed directly on the hand print. I saw my hair float forwards like every strand wanted to join them and just as the blackness overtook me completely I felt the lake tremble around me. It vibrated through me like little shockwaves and I when my hair moved aside from the undercurrent waves, I saw the cause. The hand had not only turned into two but they had also turned into fists that were pounding down on to the icy lid that was keeping me trapped.

  Someone had come but they were too late…just too late. My head rolled back and my mind finally found the darkness that mirrored my surroundings. The last sense to go was my hearing as what was followed by the thick snap of cracking ice was a murmured yell that sounded like ‘NO!’ but it was still too late I had already gone and I wished I could say that it felt like going home but I couldn’t because it felt like I was being lost…

  Until I was touched by an Angel.

  “Keira…Keira…” I heard someone calling my name and I shuddered as I recognised the voice,

  “Draven?” I asked and heard his whispered ‘yes’ in my ear before I felt his lips at my neck.

  “It’s time to come back to me little vixen,” he said against my jaw line and I opened my eyes to find myself in the familiar comforts of home. I was lay in Draven’s bed and as the wood carvings above the large four posts came into focus I felt the body next to me shift. An arm shot out across my middle to prevent me from sitting up and I heard a growl.

  “Stay!” The command came out hoarse and different to the whispered words that still lingered on my skin.

  “Draven?” I said his name again only this time it wasn’t because I was unsure of the man, but unsure as to his actions.

  “I will never let you leave. NEVER. Do you understand?!” I saw his perfect features turn rigid at the idea and I didn’t know what to do. Why was he being like this? What had happened? I searched through my memories for the answers and like a horror movie on fast forward it hit me all at once. The plane. The kidnapping. Lucius. Malphas…

  Layla.

  All were puzzle pieces that fit together to tell a grim story of my life or more like my end. So what was this? Was this my last chance at goodbye or had Draven managed to get to me in time?

  “What happened?” I choked out but Draven covered my mouth with two fingers and merely shook his head at me in silent reprimand.

  “Don’t speak and don’t ever…go.” The last word sounded like it had been ripped out of him and I couldn’t help the tears that escaped and trickled down onto his hand. He watched every tear make its journey and everyone that landed on his olive skin made a cracking sound that echoed in every corner of the room.

  “Keira…Please, I have you now…let me keep you!” He said and even more tears came overflowing and even more cracking sounded as loud as a siren.

  “Wh…what’s… happening?” I whispered through my sobs and the sight of his own tear filled eyes found mine looking like two black orbs that showed the future of nothing but despair and suffering.
I saw as his face came closer to mine and as he leaned down to lay a gentle kiss on my fingers that had unconsciously entwined with his, I saw the dam break and a single tear fell from under a pillow of long thick lashes and when it landed on the top of my hand the walls of the room started to shake.

  “Draven!” I shouted but he looked so absent in his own misery and I couldn’t understand what was happening. I looked around the room and saw at all points it had started to crack like an immense weight was pushing it inwards, forcing everything around me to crumble.

  “Draven!” Finally he looked up and what I saw made me gasp. It was Draven, the love and owner of my heart but not as I had ever seen him before. From his eyes, bled tears that streaked his face with bloody lines and when the first one landed on my hand it burned and sizzled away my skin like acid.

  “Ouch!” I pulled back and saw the image of a man that was slowly exchanging upset for anger. He raised his head and the tender Draven I knew left me for one that wasn’t even trying to get a hold of his rage. He grabbed my arms as I moved back and crushed me to his chest so that I couldn’t move.

  “NO! You will stay! Come back! Keira! Keira!” What I was hearing didn’t make sense. I heard the cries of desperation from two voices but right now I couldn’t see the face of either. I could smell damp earth and cold flesh but none were the man that held me. I felt my chest being crushed even tighter and knew if Draven didn’t let me go that he would break me beyond even his repair.

  “Let me go!” I screamed with the last bit of breath left but after that Draven wouldn’t allow my chest to refill.

  “NO!” Draven screamed out and the walls finally split open and water came flooding in the room moving like blue fire. I could no longer scream as his arms tightened until I could feel the pressure on my ribs increase. Jesus, he was killing me! Why was he doing this…why was he killing me?

  The water filled the floor rapidly but not only that, the water was defying gravity and started to flow up the walls, over my head on the ceiling. I could only just see past the bulky muscle that was to be the cause of my death and as far as deaths go, I think dying in the arms of my lover wasn’t as I thought it would be….I certainly didn’t think they would be the cause. But here I was, sat on his bed, wrapped in the deadly tight grip of a Demon King that had lost all sight of the Angel half of his soul.

  The lights in the room popped and burst as the water shorted out the power plunging my death into a darkness I was strangely familiar with…

  Death and water.

  The words were like an old friend whose name I couldn’t remember.

  “Keira! Come back! KEIRA!” A voice screamed my name and Draven’s hold on me started to loosen but the water was coming up the bed and seeping into the covers we sat on. I looked down and saw Draven’s tears of blood drop into the water like oil…like something I had seen before.

  Blood that didn’t mix. Blood that stood alone and became a force of its own. A life force…my life force. I had seen it, but where? The darkness had allowed me to see the blood in the water but how? I turned to face the glass doors that led onto the balcony and saw the moon’s glow coming through them but the doors weren’t glass, they were…ice.

  ICE!

  The room exploded into a dark lake and as the last of the water filled the remaining space turning my death into the memory of it. I saw Draven in front of me with his eyes closed and I screamed out his name under the water. Like before, the air left my body and I watched it bubble up to the frozen top of the lake. I looked back at Draven and panicked when I couldn’t find him. I twisted and turned until I looked down and there I found him. I watched in devastation as his body lifelessly floated down to an end I couldn’t see. His arms were above him and the hair, I loved nothing more than running my hands through, was waving in mock goodbye.

  “Keira” My head whipped round at hearing my name in the water and I saw Lucius floating right next to me, but before I could react he hit out at me, punching me in the chest so hard I spat up a lung full of blood.

  “Keira! For fuck sake Keira answer me! Damn it Keira, I am not letting you go! Do you hear me…YOU’RE NOT HAVING HER!” I heard Lucius screaming and I turned my head to spit out the blood…only it wasn’t blood, it was…water?

  “Keira?” I heard Lucius’ voice but it sounded strange, it sounded…hopeful.

  I opened my eyes and was confused by my surroundings. I coughed and more water came up, burning my throat and nostrils. I looked down where I was hacking up onto and saw frosted earth? And white snow with patches of grass underneath where a body’s movements had disturbed it.

  “Keira!” Lucius said my name again and I felt arms coming round me bringing me back to when Draven was crushing me. I flinched in his hold and felt a sharp pain stab at my ribs.

  “Oh shit, I hurt you. I’m sorry Keira but I didn’t think you were going to come back…I might have pushed too hard.” I looked up at him and saw a mixture of relief and regret swamp his features. In this light, pale and with skin glistening with droplets of water he looked like a fallen Angel, a guardian of the lake ready and waiting to save freezing females from an early grave.

  “Lu..Lu..ci..usss?” I croaked and stuttered feeling the burn even more and he lay me back down being gentler than I had ever felt in his touch before.

  “I’m here and I am not leaving you….ever!” He added and I shivered with his promise. It was the same promise Draven had always made to me but what did it all mean? But more importantly…could I get any colder?! I started to shake uncontrollably or maybe I already was and was only now noticing.

  “I need to get you warm before you get hypothermia or go into shock. I am going to strip you, ok.” It wasn’t a question it was a warning, as before I could utter a word he had ripped my dress in two and was pulling it from my frozen skin. I then watched him remove his own clothes with the same urgency that he had used on me and his wet T-shirt was removed with one swift action. The material had clung to each strong line of muscle but now the moon light made his skin glow white, like wet marble in one of the fountains in Rome.

  “Wwwh…t…ddd…ing?” I couldn’t speak from numb lips and a shaking body.

  “Ssssh, don’t try to speak Keira. I am going to do what I can,” he said as he lay down on top of me and encased me in his long, thick body that swamped me in size.

  “Fuck! It’s like lying on a block of ice! By the Gods your will must rival those of the undead.” He muttered the last part shaking his head as he laid more weight over me. He leaned on his elbows by my head and held my face in his hands. With his wet body stretched out across mine and my head locked in his hands, I felt the life coming back to my limbs and a tingling dance up my spine.

  “Not enough!” He whispered as his thumb caressed my trembling lips that were no doubt a bruised blue colour. He never took his eyes off me and just before his face lowered further he winked at me before touching his lips to mine. The kiss was too light to feel at first but then he demanded more from me and before I could utter a protest he gained entrance. This is when I realised his goal.

  The sun.

  The light erupted and transformed this little patch of frozen plant life into a summers day and with it, the snow melted to reveal lush green trees surrounding us, a velvet blanket of soft grass underneath and a topaz sky above. I felt the heat of the sun through the body above me and it felt divine. I raised my hands to hold his heated shoulders and he growled in my mouth before taking the kiss to a new level. With both our lips at the right angle, locked together, tasting and fighting each other for deeper possession something in me clicked. Both our bodies were not only now warm but they were near to steaming and yet neither one of us had tried to break the kiss. If anything, we held onto each other as if this was the very last time and it was only when a single face appeared in the forefront of my mind that I managed to break the spell. Draven.

  I pushed on his shoulders and after a little nip to my bottom lip he finally let me go. He held h
imself over me with only a hair’s breadth between us touching and we both panted like the wild and untamed animals we had acted. The sun started to fade softly, putting an end to this heated joining and I saw the loss of it in Lucius’ crystal eyes that were still smoky grey with lustful fever.

  He ran the back of his hand down my cheek and I closed my eyes as he moved lower still until my breast peaked under his touch. I couldn’t find the words to stop him as I knew in my veins that this would be the last time we touched in such a way. He had saved my life yet again, and yet again I let him take his payment in silence.

  “I am glad to see you warm easily, my little Keira girl.” His voice sounded deep and thick, with a thirst I couldn’t allow myself to fully sate. His hand held my body captive but when I felt his grip move from my chest to stop at my side he no doubt felt and heard my relief escape in a sigh.

  “Don’t worry Keira girl, you’re not yet mine to take but make no mistake, that one day, you will be…soon.” He placed his lips gently to mine in a kiss that spoke volumes despite its feather like softness. It was meant as nothing short of a promise of things to come, that I could be certain of and the thought both terrified me and shook my core into shameless wanting.

  “But in the meantime, it is best you get that naked behind indoors before I have to warm you up again.” When I didn’t move, I saw him raise an eyebrow and give me a cheeky grin before pushing further,

  “Or maybe you like the idea of another round?” I swallowed hard and he laughed as he got from his position on top of me, which left me with a bitter blow of cold air to flow over my naked form.

  “No, no, I think we should get indoors.” I said quickly, making him laugh. He offered me a hand and I tried to look anywhere but at the great part of him that stood to attention, ready for what he or I, wouldn’t allow.