The Bee Gees fill the room with their familiar comforting tones, and Jules makes his appearance only moments after Xion’s heavy footfall fades out to nothing.
“I brought you a blanket, it’s pretty chilly around here… I haven’t been lighting any of the fires just in case… well, you know,” he shrugs, looking nervous as he hands me a thick plaid blanket.
“Thanks. I appreciate it,” I reply, moving to uncover a love seat near the far wall so I can sit. I wrap the blanket around me, letting the music and the feel of warmth envelop me in its embrace.
Jules hands me a cup of cocoa, with exactly seven marshmallows bobbing atop the chocolate froth, and then holds out my cell phone.
“What’s this for?” I ask him, blowing on the hot drink which is warming my palms as I look up at him.
“You need to call Peter, tell him what happened. He’s away on business right now, but coming back here, well, it might put him in danger,” he explains, and I realise he’s right, though I didn’t even notice my Uncle had left… I don’t know what that says about our family connection, but I’m sure it’s not good.
“Alright.” I take the phone off him and turn it on. In all honesty, I hardly ever use my phone. I’ve tried social media once, and it was a disaster, mainly because I became a huge target for people looking for a quick buck.
I’d had hundreds of sob stories flood my inbox from strangers, so after that, I deleted my accounts and kept things simple. I’m surprised, when the phone powers up, to find a string of missed calls, maybe thirty, from an unknown number, so shrug, deleting the notification and brushing it off as a keen cold caller.
Dialling Peter’s number, I put the phone to my ear as I take a sip of my cocoa. The marshmallows have melted into the chocolate, and the thick creaminess of the beverage coats the back of my throat. I hum, the taste filling me with warm and momentary satisfaction.
Peter answers on the third ring.
“Sephy, what is it?” He sounds surprised to see me calling, which I’m sure he is. I mean, I never call him. Not ever. If I ever need anything I just call Jules.
Jules moves to turn the volume down on the record player as I clear my throat.
“Look, I’ll keep this simple. I’ve become a huge target, the Demon Lords, they know where I am. I’m going into hiding until they’ve stopped hunting me… Xion’s taking me to Mortaria. I’ll have Jules lock up the estate, but you should stay clear for a while. Maybe take a long vacation. It’s just not safe to be associated with me or this place at the moment.” I hear him inhale, coughing a few times on the end of the line, like he’s choked on a drink or something before his sullen tone reaches me once more.
“What about the business? The directors?” Now it’s my turn to be surprised. He’s seriously concerned about the stupid business after all this?
“Gee, thanks for your concern!” I hang up, angry and not wanting to deal with him a moment longer. Then I pause as I lower the phone from my ear and turn it off.
Does he know I killed his sister? Does he blame me?
I exhale hard, and Jules looks at me, cocking an eyebrow.
“He asked me about the goddamn business. Like that matters right now! I’m more concerned about what I’m going to do with… oh I don’t know, the fact I’m being hunted by demons… that I’m having to relocate to… oh I dunno, HELL. And what am I gonna do with the dog?” I look to Jules for help, suddenly overwhelmed by the idea of running and hiding. Most people would think of that as the easier option, but for me, someone who is used to dealing with most stuff head on, I’m not relishing wasting a whole bunch of time being a target and hiding out in caves or something.
“Well, you can take Cerb with you. He’s not exactly from here,” Jules makes this comment and I stare at him with wide eyes. “He was Haedes’. He gave him to your mother in case she ever became a target. He’s got quite the nose for demons,” he announces, and I think back. He had barked before the Banshee attack. Now I think about it, he should probably be dead by now with how old he is.
“Is my dog… immortal?” I ask him, stunned, and he nods.
“Yeah, I think everyone was kind of hoping you’d just ignore the fact he’s getting on in years.” He shrugs and I laugh, glad, finally, at some of the news he has to impart.
“Well, I guess that’s something. How does that even work?” I enquire, and he laughs.
“Something to do with the effect of the Mortarian sun on animals… they take a lot less exposure to keep alive indefinitely. Besides, Xion used to tend to him, walk him in The Underworld while you were away at school. He probably should have had him taken back to Mortaria indefinitely… but I guess Haedes couldn’t stand the sight of him after how much that dog loved your mother. I imagine he probably reminded him of her a great deal,” Jules says, thoughtful, and I feel my whole past unravelling before my eyes. Have I been blind, or has everyone really been that good at hiding things and lying to me for all these years?
“I see. I’m just… I’m afraid,” I admit, changing the subject, and he nods.
“You’d be insane if you weren’t. You are one the most fearless people I’ve ever met, but with this, you need to be scared. Fear will keep you safe.” He puts the tray down that he’s holding in front of his thighs, which are clad in his black pyjamas, and sits down beside me.
“This cocoa is really good,” I compliment him as he places an arm around my shoulders. He looks deeply into my eyes, reflecting my own fear back at me. I expect him to cry, to become sentimental, but he doesn’t. Showing he knows me perhaps better than anyone else, he puts a hand on my knee and simply says,
“I’ll make it for you anytime. You need only ask, and I’ll be there.”
LUCE
Thane’s lips rise, shining and wet, spreading in a grin from the apex of my thighs. Her hollow cheekbones cast shadows, making her ghostliness only more apparent in the flickering candlelight of our room.
Crawling over my body like a predator, her nipples trace the silhouette of my hourglass figure, caressing the expanse of silken, milk-white skin which covers my skeleton like a masquerade mask. It’s beautiful; hiding the bloody reality of muscle and bone beneath, masking the hammering of my heart, which pounds against alabaster bars, reminding me I am mortal, reminding me I am supposedly trapped in a prison, which I love, which I covet and worship as though it were the Goddess and not I.
Thane’s stormy grey eyes feast upon my flesh, hungry and insatiable as she licks her bottom lip, relishing the taste of us and climbing my body like a vine.
Twisting her limbs around me, she pins me to the bed as my legs fall apart and limpness follows. I swallow hard and narrow my eyes, challenging her as she reaches over to the smoky quartz nightstand and grabs a red delicious apple from the curve of a faceted garnet fruit bowl. Pulling it up to her lips, her dark hair comes to surround her face, and her eyes turn wicked. She draws them back, moving to bite, but stops inches away from the glistening flesh of the fruit.
“No. You,” she whispers, caressing the side of my cheek with her long dark fingernails. “Bite,” she commands, stern this time, laying her entire weight atop me as her edgy, androgynous frame grinds against my smoothness. Her long fingers curve around the sphere of the apple as she tightens her grip and lowers it to me, letting me raise my head and take a large, cool bite.
Juice runs from the Mortarian grown produce, dripping down my chin in a sugary, tart stream, as Thane buries her fingers in my blonde hair and pulls my head back against the black velvet of the pillows beneath. She exposes my neck, moving to lick my sensitive skin; starting at the hollow of my collarbone before moving up to just beneath my ear.
“Ready to go again?” She promises so much with these words and I feel the lust starting to grow between us once more. As I move to try and kiss her fully, a knock at the door disturbs our fun.
“Damn.” Thane smirks, rising in a cat-like and agile leap from my body, relinquishing her touch and taking the fruit with her. I po
ut, unsatisfied despite our hours of time together.
“This better be important,” I growl under my breath, picking up a floor length black velvet robe, that’s embroidered with vines, from the floor and searching for my headdress. Thane moves silently, watching me as she enters from the other room quickly, now dressed in leather pants and a baggy white dress shirt. Her hair is spikey and her thick lashes make me weep internally. She’s so beautiful. Too beautiful.
Whoever is disturbing us better be about to expire.
“Have you seen my headdress?” I ask her, rummaging around the bedside table as she cocks an eyebrow.
“What, getting horny for our visitor?” she demands, and I smirk, finding my horns discarded next to the garnet fruit bowl.
“Always, darling.” I wink at her, puckering my lips and letting my eyes rise suggestively, sweeping over her jutting angles and deliciously butch stature. I take the horns in my hands, placing the headband between my long locks of hair and then turn to face her straight on as she spreads out, sitting sideways, across a black velvet armchair in the corner of our bedchamber.
“You know you don’t have to wear those… that whole horned image concocted by the muses was a long time ago. You could just let it go.” Thane suggests, taking a bite out of the apple and remaining, as ever, utterly relaxed.
“Why should I? They tried to make me an object of fear, to slander my good name. Besides, I look damn good with horns…” I wink at her again, feeling reluctant to let go of the playfulness between us.
“Remind me to get you a little pitchfork for Halloween,” Thane laughs between bites of the apple. Her shockingly white teeth make my heart falter, reminding me of my mortal coil.
“Don’t tempt me, baby. You might find yourself pleasurably impaled.” I promise her darkly, and she smiles at me, turning to face me so that her shirt falls open and I can see her breasts, perfectly pert, tempting me.
Walking from the room with this delicious threat still rife in the air between us, I stride over to the door of the suite, straightening my horns as I go and owning the regality of the robe covering my naked body as it sweeps behind me. I reach the door and open it, revealing him.
“Xion?” I say his name as he is revealed. I haven’t been expecting to see him for a while, let alone less than forty-eight hours after Sephy had returned to the estate.
“Barbas. He knows where she is. They all do. He sent the Phobias.” He brushes past me, stalking across the threshold in a flurry of angst and emotion.
“Woah, hold on. How is that possible? More demon activity in the mortal world? How are they getting through?” I feel myself becoming anxious as I watch him pacing across the rug in front of the hearth, where Beelz watches him with an unimpressed and lazy eye.
“I don’t know… I don’t know!” He throws his hands up in the air and continues to pace. I slowly close the door.
“Xion, stop!” I exclaim, turning and grabbing his wrists as they descend from his prior gesticulation. I look into his crazed expression, into the worry in his eyes.
Woah.
“Calm down,” I plead, stroking the back of his hand with my long fingernails and trying to soothe him. Beelz stirs at my heels, sensing the tension as I walk Xion over to the couch and sit him down.
“I’m sorry… I just got worked up on the trip over here. You should have seen her, Luce. Barbas… he went right for where he knew she was hurting.” His mouth forms a grim line, and I wince slightly.
“Her parents.” I finish the sentiment for him, and he nods.
“Yes. She was so pale, screaming, rocking back and forth… it was… I couldn’t stand it.” He’s visibly shaking with rage now, and I worry momentarily he’s going to go full on demonic right here on my newly upholstered furniture.
“I might have something for that. One second.” I move across the room, over to my drafts cabinet, a gift from Haedes made from an old coffin, which I open, running my long nail along the line of neatly labelled bottles inside.
Within the vials swirl everything you can imagine, from a fiery blaze or infatuation, to temporary calm or sleep. I select the one I’m looking for, moving back over to Xion gracefully and passing him the bottle with a delicate wave of my hand.
“Have her drink this; it’ll settle her nerves. Now, take a deep breath. She’s fine now, yes?” I ask him, trying to focus on the positive. I hear the partition between this room and the next slide sideways, and Thane steps into the room to join us.
“What’s going on?” she demands, and Xion turns, resting a balled fist atop the back of the couch.
“Sephy, she’s been attacked. I want to bring her here. She can’t stay at that estate. She’s already been attacked there twice now.” I hear his words and know at last why it is he’s come to me.
“You want me to talk to Haedes.” I sigh and he nods.
“You saw him before; he won’t listen to me. I need her to have a suite here. It’s the most well-protected place in Mortaria. You know that.” His gaze is desperate, and I cock my head slightly. It’s an odd look on him, one I’ve never seen.
I frown a little, concern rising in my gut surrounding the entire situation, but know I must act quickly, before I too have blood on my hands.
“Go back to her… prepare her. Let her know that what happened to her parents isn’t her fault. I’ll deal with Haedes,” I vow, and he slouches, relieved.
“Thank you, Luce. Really, thank you. I know you don’t owe her anything.” He runs his fingers through his hair, the stress evident as he cannot be stopped in motion as he rises to his feet.
“I didn’t owe you anything either, but I still took you in and taught you to control your demon half, didn’t I? It’s not about owing Xion; you should know that by now. We take care of our own. She’s one of us now.” I look to Thane and then back to Xion again, remembering the terrified teenager that Haedes had brought to me, intending to use him as bait against Abraxis.
He’s certainly changed, not the scrawny, twitchy, guilt ridden boy he had been back then. But still, something in recent days has evolved on a deeper level.
I watch him, rushing toward the door and smile, realising finally what it is I’m seeing.
“Look after her, Xion,” I call after him as he turns, hand on the door handle, eyes blazing.
“I never stopped, and I don’t intend to now,” he retorts, storming out of the suite and slamming the door behind him.
I grin wickedly to myself, licking my bottom lip and turning to my lover.
That much, child, is more evident than you know.
Chapter Thirteen
Here I Go Again
LUCE
I approach his chambers with a reserved coolness of attitude. I don’t know how I’ll find him. I never know, but I know that when I leave, I’ll most likely be frustrated as hell. The sound of Whitesnake leaks down the hallway, the song Here I Go Again thudding in the air around me.
I purse my lips, preferring a much softer melody, but continue onward anyway, knowing that I have to keep moving forward. After all, this issue is nothing if not pressing.
The corridor is wide, with sconces set into the slick black walls at too quick intervals. They burn a blue flame, making the entire atmosphere chill and melancholy despite casting a light brighter than what would be produced by the Eternal Flame. The Resurrection Flame is never far from him, which is hardly surprising considering his vanity. I remember how he had faired when I had first arrived here, finding that Zeus’ punishment was far more devious than he had originally intended. Putting the soul of a god in a mortal body is dangerous for one, but also, it causes the mortal body to break down at an increased rate. If it weren’t for Haedes’ ability over The Resurrection Flame, we’d all be dead and floating around in the Nether by now, which I’m entirely sure was Zeus’ intention. All in all, Mortaria has become a dumping ground for the unwanted.
“Yes! Harder!” I hear his voice, a guttural growl, and my stomach begins to churn.
Oh Lord, why me? I cuss, moving to open the door as I reach it, not breaking stride but instead plunging headfirst into his den of iniquity.
The scene would shock most people.
A nun on her knees, giving head to the god of The Underworld. Haedes’ face is contorted with anger and pleasure melded into one, and Annie’s eyes are wide and tear filled, staring up at him as he continues to thrust himself into her mouth.
At the intrusion, they both turn from where they are positioned. Her at the foot of the bed, and him towering over her, both hands grasping the black wood of the bed post with white knuckles.
I cough, clearing my voice as Annie’s gaze becomes slightly terrified. She’s bound at the wrists and ankles with black silk, unable to move, but clearly mortified. Her blonde hair falls from beneath the ceremonial wimple he always makes her wear, for a reason I can’t understand, as her jaw slackens and he turns to me, fully naked.
“Your daughter, and yes, she is your daughter – is under attack from the Demon Lords. She’s coming to stay with us. Thought you’d like to know,” I announce, keeping my chin tilted high and spinning on one heel.
I don’t want him to complain, barter or try to stop the motion of these events, I merely want him to accept them so Xion can get on with the job of protecting the girl.
“Luce… what… WAIT!” I hear him call after me but don’t break my stride, letting the sound I focus on be that of my steps and the long silk skirt trailing against the slick floor in my wake.
I make my way down into the main entrance hall of the Exilia, treading across the smoky quartz of the floor at increasing speed, I know there’s no point, not really. If Haedes wants to catch me, he will, but it’s something about the thrill of my heart beating so rapidly in my chest, my blood pulsating through my limbs as I flee from him, which urges me on. Being mortal is something you just can’t beat. Or at least, not in my opinion.
As I pass several envy sinners, women in heavy dark armour, they look me up and down and frown at their own lack of regality. I nod to them as I pass, hoping that merely my presence brings them one step closer to redemption, to leaving this place once and for all.
The Opal Blade (The Ashen Touch Trilogy Book 1) Page 18
