55
Prison for My Soul
After this day, everything started out perfect as now Draven knew how to deal with my meltdowns and he did this without a plastic sheet in sight. But like most things in life, when the getting is going good, the ‘getting’ decided to get a lot of messed up as it usually did when you least expected it, like today. And this cosmic version of ‘messed up’ started one day after lunch when my whole, perfect world felt like it had been dunked in a bucket of ice cold water.
And it did this with only three words,
“Takeshi is awake!” Zagan had said, rushing into the room where we were all sat down to eat. Sophia and Pip both looked at me. Along with Pythia, who Draven had had no choice but to finally announce was among us. Something I thought best to just act as if I accepted her visit with no explanation needed. I think, to be honest, he had been a little shocked by this, considering it was easy to ‘set me off’ these days. I had been paranoid for a moment when he looked at me strange, wondering if I had been too obvious. But then it turned out that a pregnant woman could pretty much get away with any strange behaviour, as it was a regular occurrence.
But now all three girls looked at me with the same barely hidden panic, I wasn’t sure I was doing a good enough job at hiding. Thankfully though, Draven seemed far too occupied in getting up and going to him as quickly as possible, to notice the change in his wife’s behaviour.
“Where is he now?” Draven asked pushing his chair back and standing.
“He is still in the Temple…Adam is with him,” Zagan said, looking to Ragnar to see him nod. Draven didn’t notice the action and I thought it a strange one, but in the end just shrugged it off.
“Good…I will be back shortly, stay here and wait for me,” Draven told me, barely waiting for my acknowledgement, before he was leaving with Zagan and Ragnar, with both of them looking back at me as if to check that I was staying put and doing as I was told.
I frowned, wondering what was going on as something didn’t feel right. So, I waited for them to leave the room and then pushed my chair back the same as Draven.
“What the hell are we going to…hey, what are you doing?” Sophia asked now noticing my actions.
“Something isn’t right. I am going to follow them,” I told them and when they all made a move to come with me, I stopped them.
“No, you stay here, it’s best if I go alone as there is less chance of getting caught,” I told them, now making all three of them frown at me in question.
“But why?” Pip complained, and Sophia argued.
“Yeah, we need to stick together and…” but then she was interrupted and this time it wasn’t by me or Pip.
“No, she’s right, something isn’t right about this but if we all go then I think it will end up being a mistake. She has to go alone,” Pythia said as if just now being hit with the same uneasy feeling.
“You see something?” Sophia asked.
“Only that I know she must hurry.” I nodded to her and instead of saying anything else, I dashed from the room. I know they hadn’t been gone long before me but with how tall the three of them were, then I knew they had no doubt made it some distance ahead of me already. This probably wasn’t a bad thing, as I needed to be far enough away that they wouldn’t spot me, smell me, or sense me following them…damn their Supernatural gifts.
I was just thankful that I had forgone the heels for the remainder of my pregnancy and was now wearing my comfy new converse. The ones I had kept from my pretty prison room in Draven’s tower. One now known as the Tower of Lust after that amazing night we had there.
I continued on through what I once considered as the maze that is Afterlife, now after all these years, finally knowing where I was going. And also, after all this time, not getting phased by the turning of gargoyle heads, side tracked by the sight of the room of sacred treasures or even freaked out by the crypt with the tree of life at its centre. Hell, I barely even flinched when sticking my hand through the collection of dead vines, knowing that with a stab of my hand, it would be my blood that would give enough power to the tree to grant me access.
It felt strange being down here again after so long and after such turbulent events, but right now I couldn’t allow myself the time to think about it. Something didn’t make sense and I wanted to know what it was. Because, if I knew one thing by the way Ragnar and Zagan had looked at me, and that was whatever it was, they didn’t want me anywhere near it. That I could bet my life on and with Takeshi now awake, then there was no telling how long that life would have left with Draven in it.
So, the second the branches slithered away like stone snakes, once more breathing life, the door was revealed, and it was one I quickly walked through. The bright light nearly blinded me as it always did. And it felt like fumbling around in the dark as you did so with no choice but to close your eyes. Finally, one more step was all it took for me to realise I was out of that strange portal and back into the world. A world that I knew held nothing but the worst of Draven’s kind that were all down here awaiting sentence. I remembered how I felt the first time I had seen Draven’s prison and terrified hadn’t been a strong enough word to describe it.
But now?
Well, now there was only one thing I was terrified of and it wasn’t the monsters held captive behind steel doors and iron bars. It was only what was left of my fate that Takeshi unknowingly held in his hands. But mainly, if I could get there in time to stop it.
That, or something else.
I had no clue what that something else could be, but I didn’t have long to wait as I heard voices and followed the sounds around the corner. I swallowed hard when I saw all five of them now stood around an open cell, one that was made of the strangest and most demonic looking bars. Ones that looked to be made more out of volcanic rock with veins of molten silver running through them, than your standard, run of the mill jail cell.
Actually, they reminded me more like bones or long fingers that were meant to keep whatever was inside tightly within their clutches. And at each point where a knuckle would have been, there was a flatter piece of metal with etched symbols carved there. I knew these must have been spells of some kind, but for what I had no clue.
And now the door was open, and the cell was empty. At first, I thought that someone must have escaped and that was the urgency. I started to relax the tension in my muscles as it would make sense, this being the reason why Zagan and Ragnar had been acting strange. They no doubt knew what could now be running around free and be concerned about me being put in danger or worrying about it. Now the second this thought started to take hold I tensed again, wondering what type of danger I had then put myself in now by risking coming down here. Because, taking one look at the bad ass cage, one that looked fit for the wildest of beasts, I knew it must have been something scary and powerful for it to work at containing it.
“What is the meaning of this?” Draven demanded, looking first to Takeshi and then behind his shoulder to Zagan, Adam and Ragnar who were all getting closer to him. I frowned seeing their actions as strange and now wondering what I had missed before I had arrived.
“I am sorry my Lord, but we have no choice.” Takeshi was the one to say before giving the others a nod and suddenly the blood in my veins filled with ice. I watched in horror as all three of them pounced on Draven at once, taking him off guard. The all wrestled with trying to take hold of him as Draven suddenly roared out. Then his body erupted into its demon form, knocking them all back in one explosive action with his arms being flung back.
Adam was flung back the furthest and landed hard against a wall before slumping to the floor. Draven then grabbed Zagan and spun with him before tossing him aside next to Takeshi. Ragnar looked torn about whether to charge or not and this wasn’t because was scared to, but more because it had once been his master he now faced.
But a word spoken from Takeshi and a nod of his head was all it took for him to ready himself to charge at Draven, who looked as if he could barely believe what had happened to his men. He took his stance, readying himself for the fight, but shook his head once as if trying to rid himself of the biggest question of all…
Why?
Why had he survived all through the war and the horrors of death that it brought, only to be facing off his own people now? So, with what looked like a heavy heart and one last warning, he stood there ready to take on someone he had trusted enough to protect his wife.
“Ragnar, don’t do this, old friend,” Draven said as if fearing what lengths he would have to go to in order to stop him. And I knew what these were, when he let one of his swords free, as it grew from his hand until it reached the floor.
A clear and definitive warning.
But there was only one flaw in this plan as now there was one Being among them that none of them could ever hope to defeat.
Including Draven.
And his name was one found in the depths of Hell after being made by the Devil himself…
Abaddon.
And as if Adam knew that it was the only way to win this fight, he allowed part of his other-self free from his mental cage, doing so enough just to transform one of his arms. It was like watching Doctor Jekyll fighting against his monstrous Mr Hyde. First his suit jacket ripped open along with his shirt underneath, before disgustingly his skin followed. It looked like human flesh peeling back to reveal a layer of overstretched, worn grey leather beneath. A monster’s skin being melted over hundreds of skulls as it grew to an impossible size of pure demonic muscle, reaching the floor. I couldn’t help but gag as I watched this transformation taking place and doing so without Draven’s knowledge, as he continued to fight, facing the other three.
I didn’t realise it until I felt the wet drops land on my chest that tears were streaming down my face at the horror of it all. He was their King and now they were betraying him, every single one of them. How could they do this to him? I just couldn’t understand it and my grip on the wall I was hiding up against became painful in my frustration at being unable to help him. If only I had my power back…then maybe I could…
“RAAAHHAA” The sound of all Hell breaking loose was what silenced my thoughts as the terrifying sound of Adam’s beast coming out to play had me silently screaming into my hands.
He was utterly terrifying!
And just as Draven’s other sword started to emerge from his hand, a half man, half beast stood up from where Draven had thrown him. And he did so now being a whole foot taller than Ragnar. He kept shaking his head as his neck was bulging, trying to complete the transformation all the way. The strain on Adam’s face looked pure raw pain as he started screaming the second he picked Draven up by his neck from behind and quickly threw him into the cell before then falling to his knees. I watched as Takeshi slammed the door shut and quickly turned the ancient, demonic looking key before Draven could get back to his feet.
But the second I had seen Draven in the hands of Hell’s most terrifying beast, something in my head snapped and I pushed off the wall running toward him screaming,
“NOOOO!” but this was to be in vain as the second I was seen Ragnar had me in his arms, holding me back. I screamed and clawed and hit and tried everything to get to Draven. And it was then when Adam raised his head up and saw me, roaring at the sight of me as he fought Abaddon for control. I don’t know how he won against it as for one minute it looked like was going to lose it, making Draven shout out at Ragnar,
“GET HER OUT OF HERE!” begging him to get me to safety, no matter that he had just betrayed him.
“NO!” I screamed back trying harder this time, when finally, the sight of me must have snapped something within Adam as he finally started to revert back to himself. His body shuddered and shook as if trapped in a silent storm, one only raging around his body until finally still enough to speak.
“I…I…Keira, I am…sorry…” Adam stuttered out as if his biggest fear had been to hurt me, when really, he hadn’t even been close to me. But the rest of them didn’t look like this had been a victory, which had me questioning their motives yet again.
“Go Adam, go and find your wife, old friend, we will take it from here,” Zagan told him, nodding his head to the exit. Adam didn’t need telling twice as he staggered from the room, falling into the wall next to me and Ragnar. The look he gave me was one of regret and pain, making me look away in anger.
It was only when he had gone that everyone but me looked relieved the danger was over, one that no one must have anticipated. But I just looked disgusted with all of them. That was until my eyes found Draven slumped back against the wall, holding his head in his hands as if the relief knowing I was safe, was near overwhelming him. A reaction that was taking precedence over his current situation.
“Take her away and we will finish this,” he then spoke before looking up at his men, eyes now filled with hate and disdain.
“NO! I am not going anywhere!” I screamed making his shoulder slump as if hating this side of me and now having to battle against it and do so, now locked in a cage.
“Ragnar, if you please,” Draven said again, only this time I’d had enough.
“LET ME GO!” I screamed as Ragnar nodded to his fallen King.
“As you wish, my Lord,” he repeated making me start fighting even harder against him, until finally that anger and power I had wished would come back…did.
“I SAID NO!” I roared, meaning that when that anger did return it did so with a bang. As one-minute Ragnar’s arms were around me and then, they were simply,
Gone.
Gone, along with the rest of his body. And all that was left of me was an angry girl with my fists clenched by my sides as I panted through my rage looking down and seeing sparks of power hissing around my skin like a layer of lightening. I don’t know how it had come back, but I was certainly happy right then that it had. Now, I just had to keep hold of it long enough to get Draven free from that cell and fight my way to do it if need be, for I was not leaving this place without him.
I heard a commotion behind me and looked to my side to see Ragnar was removing himself from the wall I had forced his body into. Now when he approached, he did so keeping a wide berth between me and him. In fact, looking at the three of them, they all did as they eyed my hands warily as if I would explode again any minute if they moved too quickly.
“Now give me that key!” I demanded in a voice that was barely my own and holding out a hand to Takeshi so that he could hand it to me.
“Keira, please don’t…” Zagan started to say but I cut him off with a slow precise move of my neck and a barely control response,
“I am your QUEEN!” I bellowed making them all flinch as I could feel both my fangs slip free and my eyes change, turning more to a demonic darkness as it started to take hold, at the sight of the man I loved being held in a cage.
“Now. Give. Me. That. Key.” I demanded once more and this time not one shred sounded like the old me. No, it all belonged to the demon in me.
“Please, my Lord, listen to me quickly, you must calm her down or she will get hurt, I promise you this,” Takeshi said appealing now to Draven and making me hiss at him. Draven also didn’t like the sound of this threat and he snarled a threat of his own,
“You touch her, and you die!”
“Not by me! By you, Dominic! You are the one we are protecting her from!” he shouted at him making me snap and before anyone could stop me, I had him up against the prison wall by his neck. I don’t know what was wrong with me, but whatever it was, I wasn’t in control of it any longer. All I knew was that this man, right here in my hands, was trying to take it all away from me. Was about to take everything.
“Fucking Gods, Dom, what he says is true! Now get her to let him go before she fucking kills him!” Zagan said looking to Draven and pleading with him. Meanwhile, Draven looked as though the information had slammed into his soul and was trying to make sense of the intrusion there.
“DOM!” Zagan roared at him looking as though he didn’t know what to do next.
“Keira, let him go, sweetheart.” Finally, that voice seemed to penetrate my subconscious, one that was currently being overrun by a demonic wrath of the likes I hadn’t known since facing Cronus. But his voice. It was enough to get me to drop Takeshi and shake myself free of the hold my own demon side had on me. I fell to my knees as I let it start to evaporate from me, falling forward so that my hands were flat to the floor over my head. It left me feeling weak, as if I had just been saved from drowning after treading water for hours.
“KEIRA! Let me out, she needs me, damn it!” Draven roared hitting out against the bars and making them spark with the clash of powers fighting against each other. His being the power to escape and the symbols’ power to keep him locked in.
“We…can’t,” Takeshi said now slumped against the wall with a knee up and his arm leaning against it. He looked exhausted as his other hand cradled his throat from where I had almost snapped it.
“Why not!?” Draven demanded snarling at him. This was when Takeshi took a deep breath, as if he hated being the bearer of devastating news and I couldn’t help it when I lifted my head enough to warn him,
“Please, don’t do it.” Hearing this Draven shot an accusing look down at me before demanding this time,
“Tell me!”
“No don’t!” I shouted again, but it was too late, he had already started,
“Because you will hurt her if you touch her,” he said making me now hang my head as the irreversible damage hit home.
“I would never hurt her, by the Gods have you gone mad, for she’s my pregnant wife for Gods’ sake, I could never…!”
“Fuck Dom, will you just listen to him!” Zagan snapped that famous cool of his. But it was so out of character that it was enough for Draven to take it seriously and he nodded for Takeshi to continue the horrific truth.
“It isn’t you that wants to hurt her but your…Your Demon,” he said as if it caused him pain to do so, but his pain was nowhere near as much as mine…or from the looks of things, now Draven’s as well. I looked up to see as Draven took a step back, as if he’d been struck, before he started shaking his head in denial.
“No, it…it can’t be possible.”
“I am afraid it is, and your wife knows it,” Takeshi said looking to me with sorrow in his eyes when he saw my tears fall on the ground.
“No…no it can’t…it…” he started speaking to himself before casting his focus back to me, after what Takeshi had just told him began to sink in.
“Keira…is this true?” he asked now meaning I had no other option than to come clean. I swallowed hard after sitting up and then knowing that I couldn’t speak yet, I simply sealed my fate and nodded. The looked of utter devastation on his face crushed me, ripping a small sob from me.
“But why…why by the Gods didn’t you tell me!?” he threw at me angrily and I flinched, bunching my shoulders as if I felt his verbal attack physically. They all looked down at me with pity, but only one was accusing me. The rest just looked as though they wanted to help me but were helpless to do so. For maybe they all knew too, deep down what Draven would do if he’d known. Maybe this was taking it all out of my hands and these bars weren’t just meant for him, but for me also…to keep him here.
“I didn’t know how to,” I told him in a small voice, one that nearly broke. He snarled at this reasoning, which even to me sounded pretty lame, but what else could I say. In the end I hadn’t needed to as Takeshi said it all for me.
“Tell me…what did you see Takeshi?” Draven snapped, and I flinched again having to look away from his hard, disappointed gaze, one he wouldn’t take away from me. No doubt doing this, so as to gauge my every reaction I had to whatever was said from this point on.
“The night of the banquet your demon was summoned to her, taking hold of her mind and in doing so, my mind too got caught in the crossfire,” he told him, now giving me insight as to what had happened.
“I saw it all, my Lord and all the times before,” he said making Draven snap his head at him, shock and anger directed his way.
“What do you mean, all the times before?!”
“She has known of this since it first happened shortly after the war was won, my Lord.” I released a shuddering sigh as Takeshi started sealing my fate, for there was no coming back from this.
“WHAT?!” he roared, and I sucked in a sob, trying not to cry, knowing that if I started now I would never stop.
“You knew…you knew all these weeks, Keira, and you didn’t tell me?!” he accused making me silently nod my head, telling him he was right, because what else could I say right now. I didn’t want my reasons why to have an audience.
“This control on her dreams, of her mind…tell me this is all I have done,” he asked sternly, his voice a barely contained anger. But I couldn’t help it, as I gave him his answer without details, when my eyes shot to Takeshi, ones now silently pleading with him not to go that far. Because none of this had been the worst part, no that had included Lucius and the lengths I had gone to in keeping my lies from him. It was a sticky web of lies that I had continued to weave until soon I had found it so big, I was trapped there surrounded by it all. And with that one look at Takeshi, well now he knew it too.
“I am sorry, my Queen,” Takeshi said before tearing his regretful eyes from me and turning once more to his king.
“Tell me!” Draven demanded, folding his arms across his chest, one that was growing with every deep breath he took.
“Please…oh God, please don’t do this anymore,” I pleaded, no longer caring that I was begging him. Takeshi closed his eyes against it before lowering his head and telling Draven the worst part,
“Your demon took control over you and yes…I believe you hurt her just before you were stopped.” Draven heard this and this time staggered back, having to brace himself against the wall as the true horror hit him.
“I…I harmed her, I hurt my…” He couldn’t even finish that sentence and the tears that threatened now were overflowing with the same pain he felt. I stood up and tried my best to deny it.
“No, Draven listen to me, you didn’t hurt me, not really…it was just…” Draven looked down at the floor with a disgusted look that broke my heart.
“Stop. Just stop it, Keira,” he said in a voice that sounded so broken it was barely from the man I knew.
“But I…” I tried again but this was when he found his limit.
“I said NO!” He roared making me flinch back as his demon side demanded this of me, not just the man I knew could control it. But right now, he just didn’t want to.
“I want to see it for myself,” Draven suddenly demanded after silence had descended on the room like a dead weight looming over us. And speaking of that dead weight, I also felt one drop in my stomach when I heard what this next demand was.
“No, that is too far, Takeshi don’t!” I warned as he started to take a step closer to his Lord. But thankfully my words made him stop and look to me for my reasons why.
“If you do this, then what is to stop his demon from coming out and this time, I may not be able to bring him back,” I said, no longer caring what Draven knew. It was too late to save myself that fate now, so I ignored the look my husband gave me, which was one of pure betrayal and pain.
Takeshi seemed to think about my words for a minute and he looked to Zagan who answered his silent question, replying,
“She may be right, we don’t know what would trigger it at this stage.”
“But he can no longer be a danger to her if he is behind the bars,” Ragnar added, making me frown at him, a look he ignored.
“Then what if his demon takes hold of Takeshi again and this time uses him, you also can’t risk that…”
“What else are you hiding from me?” Draven’s icy voice asked of me, cutting through my sentence with eerie calm, for he knew why I fought against this. I swallowed hard and was about to speak when he gave me another warning…
“And do not lie to me again!”
“I only do this to protect you,” I told him, letting him know I was refusing him this.
“Protect me! Protect me! You are the mother of my child, Keira, the only being alive you should be protecting is the one growing inside your belly!” he roared making me close my eyes as more tears fell and I took a step back, ripping my watery gaze from his and I threw myself against the wall to start sobbing. I felt him take a deep breath in order to calm himself and obviously hating the sight of seeing what his words had done. But he couldn’t go back now and besides, from his point of view, he had been right. Just being around him, and he was now considering each time had been a threat, so obviously he felt this way.
“Now fucking show me!” Draven snapped at Takeshi, who now was reconsidering giving his master what he wanted. I saw it in his eyes. My doubts had taken root and now he didn’t know what to do with them. He found himself at war between his King and his Queen. A King at war with his demon and a Queen at war with her heart. And it was clear he didn’t know which one to choose, but in the end, it was taken from him.
As his attention was elsewhere, along with everyone else’s, it that meant no one had seen what Draven had planned…or his actions. Draven had quietly been pulling forth his powers behind his back and I saw this as a snake of controlled purple flames coiled behind him like a long rope by his feet. No one else had noticed this and just as I called out,
“Takeshi, watch out!” it was too late. Draven, with a single snap of his wrist, had taken hold of Takeshi’s body and was yanking him hard to the bars so that he could reach through and cover his head with one of his large hands. I ran forward but soon found myself being restrained and this time by Zagan, who hissed,
“Don’t be foolish!”
And I guess, looking at Draven right now, who was closer to his Demon that anything else, it would have definitely been foolish. Takeshi’s head snapped back as Draven applied his will over him, demanding his visions from him. I knew this as Takeshi’s eyes looked up and started to turn milky white.
“No, no, no, please! Oh God, Draven don’t! Please, don’t do this.” I begged and, in the end, Zagan was half holding me upright as if trying to stop my body from crumpling to the floor. As I knew, unlike the others, that the worst was yet to come. But Draven wouldn’t listen. No, he was too far gone as the purple fire in his eyes flicked darker before glowing again, as everything up until the point of the banquet was playing out in front of him.
But I knew when the worst part came to him was when his wings erupted from behind him and now in his unspeakable rage they too started to fight against his demon. They started flickering and morphing back and forth into the dark wings of his angel and then into featherless skin between massive talon tipped limbs. I screamed at the sight and this sound was enough for Draven to rip himself free from Takeshi.
Takeshi would have fallen to the floor if it hadn’t been for Zagan’s quick actions as he spun me to Ragnar, before reaching out and catching his friend. A friend that was now once again unconscious. But Draven didn’t seem concerned by what he had done, because now he was only focused on one thing. I could see that the second he had stepped back and only death had taken hold of his eyes.
Death and one name snarled between bloodthirsty fangs…
“Lucius!”