by B C Morgan
I was hesitant to agree at first but decided that I would take her up on the offer, as long as there were no locks on the outside of the doors, I pretty much said that to her. Which was clearly to her horror as she quickly ushered me over to a winding spiral staircase, that clearly led to an antic.
“Do not be alarmed, I converted it many years ago, just in case a need for it ever arose, my room is down here and although I will not disturb you, there is a door that you can close, should the need arise.”
She led me up the staircase to a beautiful room, and I honestly do not believe that my description can do it justice.
The floor was a dark mahogany coloured wood, with the same white cobblestone and beams as downstairs, as dark beams ran across the ceiling, with a sky light that let light from the moon and stars shine through.
There was a four poster bed, adorned in a soft cotton sheet, with a lightweight blanket and very inviting looking fluffy pillows.
There was an Egyptian style rug on the floor and a window seat in front of black framed French windows, with a balcony outside and a beautiful baby piano just off to the side of the seat.
I spun around to look at her, silently questioning how she did all this.
“This cottage was unable to have a conversion in the official sense, so I weaved a little magic and this was the creation. I can make any changes that you may require, this room will be yours to use whenever you wish to take me up on the offer. The only thing I ask is that you do not bring any one around here, I have worked very hard to not be known by the underworld and I would like to keep it that way.”
With that said she pressed a fleeting kiss to my cheek and descended the stairs and I instantly collapsed onto the bed and allowed the mattress to pull me down into its welcoming comfort.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Unya
The next morning, I awoke to the mouth-watering scent of pancakes, I honestly believed in that moment, heaven must have felt like this.
A wardrobe had magically appeared in my room overnight, brimmed full of clothes in numerous styles, she obviously hadn’t wanted to presume anything so I was left with a wide variety.
I ended up choosing a blue satin blouse and a pair of black jeans, with a pair of flat heeled leather boots. I realised I had not automatically chosen my old style, and realised that Kat had rubbed off on me a little.
I practically bounded down the stairs and found Mihaela standing at the stove in the kitchen, she told me to take a seat at the table and presented me a plate of pancakes and various choices of toppings, there was syrup, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar and melted chocolate. I am not ashamed to say I tried every one of those, but thankfully saw the wisdom in not mixing them onto the same pancake.
I was truly ravenous and made fast work of my plate, then to her delight, I took up the job of dish washer and told her that it was the least I could do, after that we adjourned to our usual seat and she prepared herself to tell me the story that I was longing to hear.
Z
Mihaela
“You have obviously heard the tales of Hercules who completed his twelve trials and was awarded with the opportunity to live out the remainder of his eternal life In Olympus. Well what the history books don’t know about is his mad love affair with a beautiful Sorceress. She had hair as black as ebony, skin as pale as alabaster and eyes as green as emeralds. She was a sight to behold and she was often spurning the advance of the men that lived near her.
One day she happened to catch the eye of Hercules himself and he decided then and there that he had to have her. She rejected him time and time again, but it just made him all that more determined to win her affections.
He would serenade her at her window, create lavish picnics in a beautiful meadow he deemed their spot and often picked the most beautiful wild flowers and hand delivered them to her door.
She fought her attraction for him tooth and nail but in the end, she succumbed to his charm. He promised he would love her forever and would even denounce the Gods and his father Zeus if she would only agree to be his.
She fell for his words hook line and sinker and gave herself to him completely, heart, mind, body and soul.
They spent many a day and night locked away in her room, discovering new ways to love one another until one fateful day where he left to get something for them to celebrate the news that she had discovered she was pregnant and the scoundrel never returned.
Calliah waited for many days for her love to return to her, only later to discover that he had wed another, all she had been to him was a challenge that he had to conquer. The gods only know why he allowed it to go so far, but the moment he found out she was pregnant he had tucked his tail and ran as far as his legs would carry him.
He had never turned his back on the gods and had in fact married a woman of his father’s choosing.
Calliah cursed the very air he breathed and swore her revenge, unfortunately this betrayal ate away at her once kind heart until there was nothing left but a blackened husk of beating muscle.
She later gave birth to a son who she named Constantine, she raised him to hate the gods, twisting his mind until he was as angry and loathsome as she herself had become.
Now Constantine absolutely adored his mother and was blessed with incredible strength and the ability of a sorcerer. He later found love with a sweet young thing and decided that he would devote his all to her and never become like his father.
Unfortunately, Calliah was never blessed with the chance to rid herself of her pain and anger and began to gather anyone who would wish to see an end to the god rule. Many of them were admirers of her, who were deluding themselves into thinking that they could win her favour, unbeknownst to them that Calliah was unable to love anyone else other than her son.
So, she rallied her flock of humans, Sorcerers and even a few Minotaur’s, who lived for destruction. Sadly, things did not go her way and she met her demise at the hands of Hercules himself. He chose to stand by his father and protect him from her onslaught.
When Constantine heard of what happened he went into a blind rage, he used his powers to take control of a Pegasus and rode him to Olympus itself. Hercules was not inside when this occurred and Constantine’s rage just kept on growing.
He managed to disarm of all the gods, something that none of them had expected. We believe it was due more to the fact that they were caught off guard, rather than him being more powerful then all of them combined.
With Zeus’s last wisp of strength, he had summoned a lightning bolt and sent it hurtling into Constantine.
It didn’t seem to have any effect on him as he laughed it off and closed the doors on the palace. He conjured enough magic to place a lock that no being other than himself would be able to unlock.
The gods went crazy as they realised they had been made prisoners in their home, knowing those that dwelled in the underworld, including Hades and Persephone would be spared from what they considered Constantine’s cruelty.
The problem was once Constantine made contact with the earth, the lightning bolt began to take effect and ricocheted through the entirety of his body.
He managed to make it back to the arms of his loving wife and infant daughter. He begged them for their forgiveness over his rashness, which thankfully they gave to him before he took his last breath and passed away before their very eyes.”
Unfortunately, the darkness that had permeated Calliah’s soul while she was carrying Constantine, had somehow found a way to fuse with his very being.
For the duration of his life he had being walking along the precipice of darkness and light. The love that he found with his wife prevented him from becoming something entirely abhorrent, but it did not kill the darkness that was deeply set within his very core.
That very darkness became fused with the blessing or curse that was bestowed upon certain members of our family. It was predicted that we would have a deeper lure towards darkness ourselves, not all of our ancestors used their a
bilities for the light and were consumed by the darkness itself.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Unya
The story had been truly shocking, after all the stories you hear of the gods, how could they allow one of their own to treat somebody that way.
“Dear child, not a single one of those gods is good, power corrupts completely and they are truly corrupted. They never cared who they hurt as long as they got what they desired. Why would they expect Hercules to act any different?”
“What about this prophecy, the one you spoke of last night?” I inquired, hoping that she would not avoid the subject.
“I wish I could tell you what they said, but I do not know. I am so out of touch with that world, only those from the underworld may be familiar, but they don’t all speak the truth. You wouldn’t know if they were being honest with you or trying to mislead you.”
“I meant to ask you last night but was distracted by my outburst. You said Alina could basically control people, could she make them do something that would inevitably cause them harm or worse, end their life?”
Mihaela clucked her tongue as she pondered my question, probably wondering what would spur me on to ask such a thing.
“No, she could not do that, she spoke of it once and told me that there wasn’t someone out there that she knew of, that had such a strength of power to make someone ignore their own desire to live. You see that’s the problem with that kind of thing, our will to survive is stronger than any compulsion that could be put upon us. Of course, it happens on the telly and in books but not in real life. Now I must ask, why you would even ponder such a notion?”
I knew that she would have asked, but I was hesitant to tell her the reason, in case it changed her opinion of me and she turned her back on me.
“I’ve noticed on occasion that when I have ordered someone to do something, their eyes seemed to glaze over and then they followed out my command. It’s only happened on three different occasions and that was with two different people, both men if that would be important. Anyway, with Martin I had told him not to let Jackie touch me again, and he did it, he even held her in place when I told him too. At the time I didn’t realise it was because of that, but after what you said about Alina, it just seems to fit.
But the reason I asked is because I had got into an altercation with my now ex Darren, he was being spiteful and cruel. I didn’t mean to lose my cool but I found myself telling him to take a jump off of a high cliff, I heard him faintly say Ok, but didn’t think anything of it. It was the next day I discovered he had jumped right off of Hooken Cliff.”
So, does that mean I killed him, did I cause him to kill himself?” I asked, wishing I didn’t sound so cold, as I spoke the words.
“I doubt it child, as I said before, that sort of thing only happens on the telly. It was more than likely just a coincidence.”
“Mihaela you can’t even look me in the eyes and yet you expect me to believe that it could have just been a coincidence.”
Her lack of eye contact said more than her words did, it said to me that it was highly likely that I was to blame. If that was the case, then I really was a murderer, whether deliberate or not.
Z
After our conversion ended on such a dour mood, I knew that I had to get out of there to clear my head. Before I reached that decision, I tried unsuccessfully to ask Mihaela more questions, but she just answered with the bare minimum of information. I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with her, which made me want to leave even more. Don’t get me wrong, I was incredibly grateful for all she had given me and I had every intention of returning. I just really needed to get some space and clear my head.
I jumped in a taxi with no true destination in mind and somehow wound up standing outside Kat and Lawson’s place.
I was shielded by the wall that surrounded their home, unsure about whether or not I really wanted to see them. I was lost in my own thoughts when I spotted Marcus leaning against the wall on the other side of the fence.
Our gazes connected simultaneously and he cautiously made his way towards me, until he was once again leaning against the wall, with his ankles crossed, standing right beside me.
“I take it you wanted to see Kat,” it wasn’t a question in the least, I just stated how it appeared to me.
“She said that it was too painful to be around me, but I honestly feel like I can’t breathe when we are apart. The distance is killing me, but I know I have to respect her wishes, it’s just really hard you know.”
“I’m sorry Marcus, but I don’t understand it not in the slightest. I’ve never felt that all-consuming need for someone, my boyfriend killed himself and it didn’t even affect me. How sick must I be, that something like that doesn’t even register in my mind.”
“Unya I don’t think you are sick, but I agree that it is far from normal, unless you really despised the guy, but then I guess you may have at least felt relieved, but to feel nothing at all, I don’t even know where to begin to address that,” He replied, smirking only slightly.
“Well jeez, thanks for that Marcus dear, your bedside manner sure could use some work, I’ll give you that.”
He let out a deep belly laugh, shaking his head before shaking it off and staring at me thoughtfully.
“So, what are you doing here Unya? Clearly, we’ve addressed my innocent albeit slightly stalkerish visit, but I don’t sense you would need to do that with the occupants of this place. So why are you hiding?”
I pushed my hand through my hair, trying to think of the best way to answer his question and decided in that split second, maybe honesty really was the best policy.
“I have had my mind completely blown in the last two days and something Kat said, keeps running through my mind. She said that you two were different breeds and it made me wonder if you guys weren’t completely human either.”
His eyes zeroed in on me, he seemed completely lost for words and entirely gobsmacked and it made me feel like I had completely misread the signs. I wondered if he would soon be ringing someone to get me committed.
“You said ‘either’, are you saying that you’ve discovered the truth?” He asked and I swear he almost seemed hopeful by that possibility.
“I don’t know what you mean by the truth, but I’ve definitely had my eyes opened to a whole new world, one where gods and incubus’s and sorceresses walk this earth. One where I have no idea where it leaves me, other than being able to use an ability I don’t even understand, what the hell am I supposed to do with all of this?”
He held out his hand to me, with his palm facing up. “Do you trust me?” He asked, almost pleading me to do just that, with just the look in his eyes.
“I don’t even know you, how am I even supposed to know what the right answer is to that sort of question?”
He remained with his hand outstretched towards me and his next words had me placing my hand within his, he looked straight in my eyes and said: “I will tell you everything you need to know about this world and I think I am the only one who would be willing to make this offer.”
Once my palm connected with his, he closed his fingers around the top of my hand and began saying some words that were whispered so softly they could only be described as inaudible. In the next moment a bright blue light began to circle us and within a blink of an eye, we were no longer standing beside the wall that outlined Kat’s property, instead, we were standing in what appeared to be a basement with no way in or out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lawson
I had no idea what made me agree to train Unya, I told myself it was so I wouldn’t have to keep such a vigilant watch on her. One I am ashamed to admit, I had been failing in. I wouldn’t let myself humour the idea there may have been more to my acceptance than self-preservation, I couldn’t think of Unya as anything more than my target.
So why was I still so bothered by what happened between her and Malachi, I tried to kid myself that it was because he broke the rules, but that
had never been an issue in the past.
Once upon a time, we had been great friends, sparring together and keeping our minds active. He could never best me, but it never stopped him from giving it his all. I could try to pretend I had no idea why our relationship had turned so hostile, but I refused to be in denial regarding that.
I knew that he had never forgiven me for killing his Father in the most brutal of fashions, just like I could never forget that it had been his Father that had stolen the light from my life, the day he murdered Liliana before my very eyes.
I knew that I shouldn’t hold Malachi accountable for his father’s actions, but I still believed that he told his father where to find us. Which if that was the case than he would be as much to blame as his father was.
I keep telling myself that as I climb off of my bike and stroll over to his front door. He lives in a dilapidated looking two storey house; he clearly doesn’t spend a lot of his time here and I know he only really keeps it for appearances.
I don’t bother to knock as every particle that creates me begins to shift and pull away, until I am nothing more than dust in the wind. What I am doing is known as shifting, it’s where I come completely undone from my physical form and while I am in this condition, I am able to travel to any location I have been too before.
I shifted onto the other side of Malachi’s door and heard movement coming from the kitchen, I strolled through the door with purpose and connected my fist with his stunned face.
He landed hard as his back connected with the floor, but I don’t give him a chance to catch his breath, as I placed my booted foot on his throat and applied pressure.
I knew depriving him of oxygen wouldn’t actually kill him, but it would hurt like a bitch and also make him weaker. Not that he would ever stand a chance if we were to ever fight again, he knew I wouldn’t hold my punches and probably wouldn’t stop until his life was in my hands and fading fast.
“What the hell?” He choked out, as he struggled to pull air into his lungs.
