Flesh Wounds, page 15
part #1 of The Vampire Elite Series
“We, as a species, are barren. I’m researching a cure.” The situation was so ridiculous to him that he barely held back a laugh. First an obsession with some plaything, and now a baby?
“This is more than simply providing the throne with an heir, as Lunaria currently has none with Maragret gone.” A light growl escaped Akasha at the mention of her stepdaughter’s name, but it passed quickly.
“While the importance of that did cross my mind, it’s about a family. I want a family, with Enkil Jr.” The way she spoke reminded Draculastiltskin of the young princess he encountered that fateful night, and it pushed him over the edge. This foolishness had to end, and he took it upon himself to break Akasha’s heart in the most hurtful way possible.
“You would think twice about your supposed relationship if you only knew the truth.” Akasha frowned, arching an eyebrow in confusion.
“What do you mean? Enkil Jr has never lied to me, or given me any reason not to trust him.”
“It turns out that your secret isn’t a secret anymore: he’s been playing both sides, if you will.” He watched Akasha’s curiosity morph into hurt betrayal, the monarch letting loose a pained howl.
“I don’t believe you! He wouldn’t!” She rasped, voice cracking with raw emotion. “And even if I did, who told him? You? I swear to the gods if you have meddled in my life yet again I will”-
“You’ll do nothing and we both know it.” The Dark One snapped, effectively cutting off Akasha’s rant due to the fact that she realized he was right: she had been conditioned not to rebel against her creator and mentor from the newborn stage of her immortal life.
“Anyway, who else knows your secret? Me, your father, who would never risk the safety of his only daughter, and…” The Queen roared, throwing a fireball the size of her head across the room.
“Maragret ! That insufferable princess!” Akasha’s chest heaved with blind rage, and she suddenly felt the urge to slaughter an entire village for their blood. “I should have killed her the moment she saw me feed in the hallway! She’s poisoned Enkil Jr against me!”
“My informants tell me she hired Enkil Jr to assassinate you.” Draculastiltskin lied, reinforcing the lesson that love was weakness.
“This letter was found in Enkil Jr’s chambers last week. It spells out the terms of their arrangement.” From his experience, it was the one message that proved true time and time again, and it was vital that his pupil believe it. “He never really loved you! It was all an act!”
Akasha snatched the conjured note out of her mentor’s hands and read it furiously, wholeheartedly believing that the handwriting on the forged document was Enkil Jr’s own.
“I’m going to make her wish she was never born!” Akasha hissed, eyes dilated and teeth bared. “But first Enkil Jr will pay for his deception!”
With venomous tears streaking down her face, the Queen couldn’t help but remark on Ravenswood’s new occupant, Belle, and the Dark One’s personal relationship status.
“I hope you have better luck with your lover then I did mine!” She didn’t stay to hear his answer, returning to her own castle in a stormy vortex of violet smoke.
Enchanted Forest: Kingdom of Lunaria
Phobos Castle, 1560
The day that Akasha went inquiring about a solution to her infertility was the day that Enkil Jr decided to go deer hunting with a few members of the castle guard. He retuned late in the afternoon surprised to find his significant other on the warpath and ready to take his head.
“Been off playing in the woods, I see!” The snide remark was full of hurtful intent, and Enkil Jr had to blink a few times to ensure that he wasn’t dreaming.
Akasha was striding toward him in an all black corseted ensemble complete with dark and heavy makeup, rendering him breathless for all the wrong reasons: this was the Akasha he met three years ago.
“Akasha?” He voiced hesitantly, unsure of how to proceed. Enkil Jr had no idea what brought this on, but if it was his fault, he was going to fix it.
“It’s Your Majesty!” She barked, lifting her chin in an air of regal superiority.
“Care to tell me the truth, thief? Were you meeting with a certain princess in my absence?”
The longer Akasha masked her true emotions, the more they bled through, having the opposite effect on Enkil Jr. He knew he should be angry with her for throwing false accusations around, but the suffering in her eyes weakened his hostility.
“Of course not, Akasha!” While he refused to respond in kind, he couldn’t help but sound irritated. “Why would you think that? I would never betray your trust in that way!”
“You know what I am!” The Queen screamed, lunging for his throat. “There are only three people in the kingdom that know my secret, and she is one of them!” Akasha could feel Enkil Jr’s pulse accelerate as a reaction to her assault, but she was too angry to think about biting him.
“Did you ever love me, or was that an act as well?”
“What are you talking about, Akasha?” He genuinely had no idea what she was on about, and tried in vain to throw her off of him. Not that he feared that she would hurt him, he deeply believed that she cared about him too much to do that, but she wasn’t herself at the moment. Anything she did now, he knew she would regret later.
“I’m done listening to your lies!” She let go of his throat, but kept him pinned against the wall with one hand, the other moving to hover over his heart.
“I was going to kill you, but unfortunately I’ve grown rather fond of you.”
Akasha softened her demeanor for just a moment, allowing one stray tear to escape down her cheek, before disappearing behind her villainous persona.
“If you won’t choose to love me, I suppose I’ll just have to make you!” It happened like a flash of lightening: Akasha’s pale hand invaded his chest, causing him to yell in pain. He felt a sharp tug, and then nothing at all. The Queen withdrew her hand, revealing a pulsing red organ in its grasp: she had just stolen his heart.
“Now that I own you, be a good boy and go to my bedchamber, slave.” She hissed, speaking to the heart in her hand. “Your Queen demands that you fuck her until she can’t walk!”
While shocked at the request, her command was hypnotic, and he suddenly found himself unable to do anything other than what was ordered of him. He marched off to the north wing of the castle heartless and numb, distraught that the woman he adored above all else was lost to the darkness.
Akasha spiraled into madness over the next few months, no longer concerned with keeping up the pretense of being a benevolent monarch. She announced to her guard that they were to be focused on searching for Princess Maragret and nothing else; reporting to her any and all information about her stepdaughter’s location. To increase her chances of success, she decided to turn a small faction of her generals into vampires herself, calling her new order the Black Knights. With their military training, the vampire soldiers terrified the kingdom, feeding on helpless villagers when they couldn’t be of use to the cause.
Refusing to be idle, the Queen led the cavalry on raids that, due to her temper, often ended in a razed village full of dozens of scorched victims. The atrocity soon became her signature method of torture, earning her the title of “Evil Queen” by the remainder of her fearful citizens.
Enkil Jr remained her chained up lover, enduring long nights of strenuous and painful lovemaking that left him covered in bite marks and scratches he acquired while she fed off him mid-climax. While he initially detested being treated as her prey, he ultimately he came to enjoy it, attributing the change in behavior to his warped but desperate need for survival.
With each passing night spent in erotic agony, Prince Enkil Jr Locksley became more determined to heal Akasha’s blackened heart, even if it meant that he alone must suffer the dark and masochistic consequences of her sexual proclivities.
Into The Depths
The Underworld
Inner Sanctum, 1560
Deep below the heart of all realms lay the Underworld, a hellish purgatory for countless of tortured souls. Its original purpose was to guide the various deceased inhabitants through their transition to Olympus or Tartarus, depending on the individual’s worth. However, the Titan rulers on Olympus were eventually overthrown by their children and imprisoned in the fiery pits of Tartarus itself. To maintain their captivity, Zeus ordered his brother Hades to take up permanent residence in the blazing inferno, much to the younger god’s displeasure.
Not wanting to abandon the lavish Olympian lifestyle, the new Lord of Death constructed a massive palace from the existing mountains of obsidian and quartz in a prime location near the convergence point of the five vital rivers. Having no one to occupy it but himself, Hades quickly grew lonely and sculpted the Underworld’s first three-headed hellhound out of lava and ash, fondly naming the soon-to-be guardian of his domain, Cerberus.
As the centuries passed, Hades became incredibly bored of his job: the mortals who passed through his realm never seemed to learn from their ancestor’s mistakes. The warriors died in battle, the elders from disease, the wicked were murdered, the normal citizens from old age, and the infant souls were immediately granted passage to Elysium, so hardly any judgment piqued his interest. This all changed when he discovered that increasing the number of souls in the Underworld magnified his power.
Soon he stopped letting souls leave purgatory for his own selfish purposes, and the Underworld developed into a place of misery and sorrow, matching the continual mood of its overlord- for he still hadn’t found a wife. Hades resented his brother for that fact alone.
About halfway into the Enchanted Forest’s 16th century, Lord Death sat and brooded in his inner sanctum with Cerberus at his side, the hound provided what little comfort a canine could to his divine master. His bedchamber was as opulent as expected for a dark god; marble and gold among the materials selected to decorate the master suite.
A tiled mosaic depicting a war between angels and demons occupied the ceiling, while a Greek mural spread across all four walls. Hades sat out on the balcony overlooking the Styx with a first edition copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in his hand, harshly ordering his monstrous minions, Pain and Panic, to pour him ambrosia infused wine out of a golden bottle.
“How many times have we told you to avoid that sickening drivel?” Pain admonished, as he gestured to the leather tome with distaste. “It always puts you in a terrible mood.”
Panic nodded, as he filled Lord Death’s glass chalice with the alcoholic red liquid. “And may I add that every time we go through this, he never takes my advice? I’m telling you a single night with those brothel succubae solved all my problems!”
Hades threw a large blue fireball in the demon’s direction, effectively demonstrating what he thought of Panic’s good-willed suggestion.
“Hey! Watch it!” The teal creature moved out of the way at the last second, narrowly avoiding being burned to a crisp. “I’m still recovering from the last time you decided to use me for target practice!”
“Will you shut your trap, Panic? You’re going to get us both fed to Cerberus!” Pain growled, as he kicked the other imp in the shin.
“Silence!” Hades roared, as the top of his head exploded into a swirl of cerulean flames. “I will not entertain this uncivilized discussion any longer!”
The god shut his eyes and took a few calming breaths to rein in his legendary temper, realizing that he had set fire to his suit jacket in his anger.
Promptly extinguishing the flames, he continued on. “Now, can we please proceed to more relevant topics? I believe I asked you to monitor the Overworld and its mages, yes?”
The creatures looked to one another nervously, as they quickly hiding a small gem from their employer’s view.
“You did indeed, sir, and we did come across a witch who we thought you’d find particularly intriguing, except…” Pain hesitated, unsure of how Hades would react to their discovery. He took great interest in the magical advances of mortal sorcerers, but didn’t always agree with the more ambitious actions of some, and eliminated the threat to his throne in a blaze of fire and blood.
“Except what? Quit stalling and tell me what happened!” Lord Death snapped and transported all three of them to his war room, which was equipped with the celestial orb he used to observe the other realms. Rapidly running out of patience, he pushed the imps closer to the orb and gestured to move things along.
“Show me the sorceress!” At the forceful command, Pain took the viewing gem from his companion and dropped it into the pool of water surrounding the orb, causing an image of a familiar realm to ripple into view
“The Emerald Palace…” Hades muttered, as he recognized the unique interior décor from the memories of the long deceased Princess Ozma. Now that he had established which realm he was viewing, his mind began to consider the possible scenarios.
Hades lost his train of thought when a breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared before him, draped in the finest of silks and covered in emeralds. She was as pale as death, with eyes the same shade of aquamarine as the Caribbean and hair the color of vibrant copper. The witch seemed to stare directly at him, hypnotizing him for a brief moment, before she shifted her focus to the weathered tome that rested on a matching pedestal. The gem only captured bits and pieces of her apparent research, but it was clear to the god that she was hard at work on a time travel spell; chasing the impossible.
“We came across this peculiar little freak of nature a few days ago.” Panic commented, observing the god’s fixation on the mysterious mage. “Scared the hell right out of Pain with those teeth. We don’t think she’s mortal, but figured it was worth bringing it to your attention.”
Lord Death rolled his eyes at their ignorance without averting his gaze from the witch in the orb. “She’s a vampire, you nitwits! Obviously not from birth, but immortal nonetheless.”
“That explains a lot.” Pain remarked, embarrassed by his own stupidity.
“How do you kill a vampire, anyway? Stake through the heart? Classic silver dagger?” Panic rambled, which caused Hades to magically choke him out of irritation.
“I don’t plan to kill her. The talent and raw intelligence she possesses, to be as close to breaking the third law as she is, doesn’t come around every century. She’s far too valuable to dismiss based on some hypothetical future.”
Lord Death then plucked the gem from the pool, causing the redhead’s image to fade from view. He thus surprised both of his servants by conjuring a shimmering portal to Oz, intending on visiting his newest potential ally.
Just before he stepped through the portal, he proclaimed to his minions:
“The Underworld is in need of a queen, and I just might have found her!”
Oz: Central Region
Emerald Palace, 1560
“How many times do I have to tell the Lollipop Guild that if they want their damn yellow brick road repaired, they owe me ten pounds of gold!” Zelena huffed, as she took her frustration out on her flustered secretary.
“Why does no one understand that all magic comes with a price! If I used my powers for everything this realm would be in worse shape than it already is!”
“Duly noted, Your Highness.” Fiyero responded, as he scribbled out a message to be sent to Munchkin Land at the earliest convenience. “Will that be all?”
The Empress massaged her temples in attempt to rid herself of the headache she could feel developing. “For now. On your way out, could you arrange for a few glasses of my special sangria to be sent up? I’m parched.” She referred to the blood and wine concoction the kitchen staff prepared from prisoners on death row.
“Of course, Empress. I believe they made a fresh batch last night.” With that, Fiyero excused himself from her presence before she had the chance to feed off him instead. As he left, the Empress made herself comfortable on an upholstered chaise lounge, and decompressed from the day’s stress.
Zelena’s gift was common knowledge among the Emerald Palace personnel, as the vampire made no effort to hide what she was. Unlike those who preferred to keep their connection private, Zelena took pride in her supernatural status. It allowed the public to view her with a healthy mix of fear and deference.
“Finally, peace and quiet!” She tiredly exclaimed, choosing to look over her personal letters now that she was alone. Not surprisingly, the only unread letter was from Glinda up north, written for the sole purpose of informing her about the two new members she recruited for their coven: Oriana Gothel and Victoria Campana.
With her banishment lifted after Zelena’s coronation, Glinda took the opportunity to travel to the remote kingdom of Corona in the Enchanted Forest upon hearing of a witch imprisoned in a tower. According to her sources, this Oriana Gothel kidnapped Princess Rapunzel when she was an infant, causing King Frederic to trap her in an abandoned spire for life. Fully expecting to find a long dead corpse, Glinda was pleasantly surprised to find Oriana alive and well. She offered to help this blonde sorceress escape her prison if Gothel would return to Oz and join her coven. Having no human contact in decades, Oriana hastily agreed, becoming the cardinal Witch of the South.
