Transfusion (Transfusion Saga #1)

Chapter 30

Broken Vows

Trapped in Steel

That was seven years ago, and I would have liked to be able to say that the pain he inflicted that day had faded...but it hadn’t.

No, instead it had just become a dull ache that I simply spent years learning how to ignore.

That was until the night he turned up, standing behind me at a gala.

The night my heart started to beat again for the first time in seven years.

And yet here I was once again, where that heartbreak all began.

Even now when I think back to how naive I was, standing in this same spot and looking up at the building, believing that I would be good enough to tempt a man like Lucius.

Ha! And to even think I thought someone like me could have tamed the beast.

I wanted to laugh at myself, but unfortunately all I could do was shake my head in pity.

Oh, but to have the chance just to go back to that time and save myself all that pain.

My advice would have been simple…run.

Run as fast as you can, run home and start living your life.

Ignore your dreams for the Fates have played a cruel trick on you.

There is no such thing as a Chosen One for anyone other than your mother and father who were lucky enough to have finally found each other.

But Lucius wasn’t a man who needed to be found or have a heart that needed to be claimed.

He was a man to be feared and nothing more.

Because, after that day, I knew that he was only capable of ever being more than that with only one person and it wasn’t me.

It had been my mother.

I remember the numb state I felt once I heard those words.

Words I couldn’t have run away from even if I had wanted to.

Because they were already free.

They were out there and could never be words unheard.

So, there it was.

The man I was cursed to love was also cursed by loving my mother.

A woman who was eternally in love with a man she was destined to be with.

So, you see, there was only one happy ever after in that story and unfortunately, it wasn’t ever going to be mine.

And nor was it to be Lucius’.

I knew that, as I had spent the last seven years resigning myself to that fact.

Another reason I had vowed never to come back to this place.

Yet, here I was and this time I wasn’t just here for Lucius.

So, I looked down at my hand and the same key card that I had once seen being used on that private elevator of his.

I didn’t ask how Bess had gotten hold of one or how she knew of an unguarded elevator at the back of the club that could only be accessed by a back door.

I also didn’t know how she had come to find out the key code to this one either.

But to be honest, the second I had seen this place again, then there wasn’t much that I had asked her.

I had just stood there across the street and found myself staring at the place as I listened to her plan.

All the while just asking myself was he in there? Would I walk through those doors into that VIP of his, that sexual playground, and find him as I had before?

Surrounded by blonde beauties to feed on, that painfully made me spend a full year asking myself, had he done this to remind him of my mother?

Needless to say, that for a while, this had made my relationship with my mum a difficult one, especially as I knew none of it was her fault.

But she didn’t know, and I kept it that way.

As far as I knew she just believed I was going through some difficult life questions and gave me the space that I needed.

It had been a blessing she gave me that, so she would never know the full extent of the problem.

At first, I wanted to hate her for what she had unknowingly taken away from me.

But in truth, I could never hate her, she was my mum and she… well, she was wonderful.

So, after about six months of not knowing what to do with myself and finding myself sat for long hours on the rooftop gardens of Afterlife just looking out to the world and asking myself why, I came to a decision.

I decided to throw myself into my only other passion in life…and it had worked.

I worked my ass off and instead of spending my youth at parties and singles nights out flirting with strangers, I had studied.

I had burnt the midnight oil and passed all my exams with the highest grades anyone could get.

A historical genius, one lecturer had claimed and boasted to my parents at my graduation, but in truth I had felt like a fraud.

Because what was the truth, that I had used it as therapy to get over the biggest heartbreak in my life so far? That every time he had plagued my thoughts, I found the only way to drive him back out again was to pick up my books and study.

To simply swap one obsession for another.

And it had worked.

I had made it my life and up until a little over a week ago, I had been happy.

I had my simple little life, which included my small group of friends, a warm and cozy little flat, one I had been so proud of owning and most of all, my independence.

And now, one by one they had all been taken away from me, the blindfolds removed from each element and it had left me naked to the truth.

My life was just a lie.

It was a smokescreen for what I really wanted, for what I could never have and by the Gods how I wanted it back! But first, I had a job to do and one that was far more important than what I wanted.

So, it was time to crack on then really, wasn’t it, I said to myself.

I had already turned around ready to say goodbye to my new friend only to find her gone.

This had been about ten minutes ago and since then I had been in some kind of trance, just staring at the place and convincing myself that I could do this.

You see, when she had first told me of her plan for me to get inside I had asked the obvious questions, as to why I couldn’t just do as I did last time and announce that Lucius knew who I was and would therefore just let me in.

But she had convinced me that this wouldn’t have been the case.

That, in fact, she had it on good authority that there were orders to ship me back off to Afterlife no matter what I said or did, for it was for my father to deal with me.

Gods, but I felt like a bloody, naughty child!

She also told me that Lucius had planned to ship the box off to someone in Egypt to look at, where it was rumored that plans were in place to try and take it during transit.

Something I knew I couldn’t let happen.

Bess told me that my only hope was to try and get to the box without him knowing and try and open it before this happened, so that the box was empty when it was stolen.

This all made sense other than the fact I wasn’t A: James Bond, B: A Ninja or C: A jewel thief… or even a member of Ocean’s Eleven which would have also been handy right about now.

No, instead I reminded her that she was dealing with a bookworm who collected toys, went to Star Trek conventions wearing fake Spock ears and whose idea of a crazy night was ordering extra jalapenos on my pizza.

Or even breaking out the wasabi when drunk and seeing between me and Wendy, who could eat the most of the stuff without breaking into a sweat and pulling a disgusted face first.

Hence, all these perfectly good reasons as to why I was the biggest flaw in this plan of hers.

Plus, not to mention the clumsy aspect to all of this as that was enough of a reason all on its own.

But my only reply to all this was her yanking her now bloodied scarf out of my hand, patting me on the back and saying,

“You will be fine.”

Then I had unknowingly talked to myself for about three minutes before realising that she was long gone, still feeling like an idiot even though no one was around to witness it.

So, with all that in mind and without one shred of confidence in me achieving even half of what was needed, I crossed the road after raising up my hood.

I walked around the back, to where she had pointed to, telling me there was a side door the staff used to get rid of rubbish.

But it was the fence at the back that she told me would be left unlocked ready for me to go through.

That way I could then go to the back of the building where I would soon discover was where all the vehicles were parked and was how Lucius and his people entered the building.

So, I did as she said and made my way back there, soon seeing for myself her idea of it being ‘unlocked’ was actually a hole cut in the fence with bolt cutters.

“Nice,”

I muttered sarcastically as I took off my jacket and rolled it up into a ball so I didn’t snag it on the fence, but instead fed it through and placed it on top of my bag that I had fed through there first.

Then I gave it all a little push out of the way before pulling the interlocking metal links back as far as they would go and scooting in there myself.

“Okay, so that’s step one down, only forty other impossible steps to take,”

I grumbled out loud to myself after putting my coat back on and tucking my bag strap diagonally across my shoulder to free up my hands.

Then I continued round, trying to stay out of view of the cameras and stay in the blind spots Bess had told me about.

I think I held my breath the entire time and looked up at those security lights as if I expected them not only to turn on, but also start screaming at me like a police siren.

Then I looked across the lot and saw that lines of parked, shiny new cars filled the open space with only a few that looked like something my dad would drool over.

Expensive, sleek supercars that took pride of place and were parked closest to the door.

I looked up and noticed now the high brick wall that surrounded the car park with large heavy metal gates at the entrance.

A gulp later at the security of the place and I turned to face where I needed to get to without those damn lights coming on.

But, thankfully, it also seemed that this was another successful step to tick off the list as I made it to the door and after entering the four-digit code she gave me, I could then tick off my third.

Wow, I was on a roll!

I slipped inside and again, as with the floodlights, I kind of expected some kind of alarm to go off, so froze for a moment as if waiting for it.

But again, when nothing happened I thanked my lucky stars and carried on.

The lobby was an elaborate one and definitely one suited to the private entrance of its rich owner.

But other than it being a room with luxurious black and red wallpaper and it having a glass table at the centre, then that was it.

Well, that wasn’t strictly true as it officially had one of the strangest sculptures I had ever seen, sat in the middle of it.

The piece was made from carved wood that had been charred black and was of a pair of demonic hands with their fingers interlinked at the top, with claws embedded in their own flesh.

And at its centre, nestled safely inside the hands, was a bleeding heart made of red glass.

I don’t know why, but I found myself staring at it as though it held some inner meaning I couldn’t figure out.

Then I finally tore my eyes away from it as I walked round to the double doors at the centre.

There were two other doors either side that I gathered took you straight into the main floor of the club, but it was the elevator I stood opposite now that held my interest.

So, I took a deep breath and took the card out of my pocket and slapped it to the scanner saying,

“Well, here goes nothing.”

I don’t know why but I found myself only half happy that they actually opened, and the card had worked.

Because now that meant I had no excuse to get myself out of this crazy situation.

No, instead, I stepped inside and pressed the button to the top floor.

Bess had told me where Lucius’ personal vault was as he had a false wall in his apartment and assured me that at this time of night it would be empty.

I had wanted to scoff at this almost asking what if he got lucky, but in the end, the very thought of it stopped me in my tracks, finding that the words were just kind of stuck there, too painful a thought to speak aloud.

By the time the doors opened again I had once more convinced myself that it was behind this door surely that I would be faced with a guard of some kind.

But there was no one.

So, after giving it a quick glance both ways and after sticking my head out in what no doubt looked a comical way, I stepped out into another lobby of sorts.

This one had a number of doors around its centre table and this time the sculpture was like the one downstairs only in reverse.

It was a carved wooden heart that was charred black, opening up as if the two glass hands inside were trying to break free, splitting the heart from within.

The difference in the hands was that they weren’t just made of red glass but this time, they were a pair of woman’s hands.

I wondered once more what it meant and if it was symbolic or personal to Lucius?

“No, it’s just a rich man’s art,”

I whispered to myself before getting on with what needed to be done.

I looked from left to right wondering which door it was.

Then I looked to the biggest set of doors straight ahead of the elevator and knew the second I saw them that this was Lucius’ apartment.

I remembered it now.

The day I ran from those doors shortly after hearing his secret confession.

Pip had tried to stop me, but he only ended up stopping her, telling her to let me go.

I had found my way downstairs somehow and into the waiting car ready to drive me directly back to the airstrip, where one of my father’s planes was fueled and ready to take me home.

I may not have remembered much after he said those words, but I remembered those doors.

Doors I had needed to brace myself against as at the time I had placed a fist in my mouth and cried around it so that he wouldn’t hear me.

I didn’t want him to see my tears or hear my pain, for he didn’t deserve them.

I don’t know why I was feeling this way now? Why not when I was back in London… was it because he was in my domain? Or was it just because being back here after so long and seeing the place again, just brought up painful memories and nothing more?

Back in London he had been different.

I had finally got to see him as a person not just the cruel king of his kingdom.

Not just the brutal killer I had barely witnessed that night.

I would often wake screaming in the night for him, just as I had done when inside that van.

But because of the drugs in my system I often asked myself what had been real and what had just been a warped memory?

Because, as much as I remembered seeing a tender side to Lucius when he found me, I couldn’t trust in any of it being real.

Not after piecing together everything that had happened as a whole.

The humiliation he put me through in front of all his people shortly before the attack…I shook my head just thinking about it and unconsciously was surprised when I found that, just like when I woke, I was doing the same thing.

With a hand to his door holding my body steady as the memories assaulted me.

But unlike then, this time I couldn’t run. Not until I had finished this mission.

So, with this in mind, I slapped both hands to the double doors and pushed hard, no longer caring who could have been in there, because let’s face it, if they were there, then I would be a goner anyway.

So, I walked inside and got my first glimpse of Lucius’ private world.

And what I did discover didn’t shock me…

Lucius’ world was cold.

I frowned as I walked further into the space that opened out into a spacious living room, asking myself where the life in this room was.

Oh, there was the personality of some control freak minimalist who wasn’t into his creature comforts.

Like a decent couch for that matter as it wasn’t exactly one for putting your feet up and watching TV relaxing at night.

No, it was functional and that was it.

As if he had called a designer and said, here is the money, now do anything you want but the only colour I like is blood red and nothing more.

Because the whole place was in different shades of grey and black, with the smallest amount of red accents dotted around the place.

One full wall was like bare grey concrete that held a few grouped pictures where each section made up a piece of the image.

But it was one you would have to stand back to see.

However, from what I could see just walking past then it looked like sections of the same tree.

This was hung over a large L shaped couch that was dark grey and looked about as comfy to sit on as a park bench.

It was low, wide and hard looking.

The only saving grace to it was the few big blood red cushions placed along it.

The rug in front of it was a lighter grey and was mostly covered by a glass coffee table the shape of a kite only arched at its rough edges.

It was a strange design and looking at it from a different angle you could have said it was a broken cross.

I tore my gaze from it and took in a few other aspects of the room, like the way it seemed to be sectioned off.

There was a small bar area that was all glass and chrome.

The floors were cold slate with panels of dark grey hardwood to help section off the rooms.

There was even a large dining table the further around you walked, that was a slab of what looked like black glass.

But on closer inspection I realised it was highly polished granite. I wondered briefly if this had been what he had broken when on the phone to me and he had fused it back together or just had the whole thing replaced?

I also couldn’t help wondering had it looked like this when my mother had been here? Or had he had it changed since then? Well, I can imagine you would certainly redecorate a place and it had been twenty-seven years at least.

Another painful thought that I ended up having to shake off as I continued on.

I had to keep my mind on the end game in all this and that was the box, nothing more.

So, I purposely walked into his bedroom and tried to ignore the space, looking right away for his walk-in closet that Bess had told me about.

I had to wonder again how she knew all this stuff, but then again, she was an Oracle.

But no matter how much I tried I couldn’t help but slap a hand to the entrance of the closet and lower my head, letting my shoulders slump.

I just wasn’t strong enough.

I had to look. I had to see if it was the same bed I had woken up in that day or had he changed it?

I didn’t know how I would feel either way so what was the point, I argued with myself and then lost, as I turned my head.

It was the same.

The second I saw it I knew my mistake as it brought back a flash of memory.

It flooded back to me with such force I felt my hand tighten around the wooden frame just to keep me still standing.

It was of him standing there with Pip, holding himself so still, so steady at the end of the bed as he gazed down at my misery.

His eyes, the way they tracked my tears as each one fell as if counting them and saving the memory of them for later.

He had not long ago told me that my eyes were beautiful, but when crying they were breathtaking.

Had he first thought this that day? Had he taken one look at my heartbreak and thought it beautiful?

So, the bed was the same, so what…what did that mean…? Nothing, that’s what!

“Get a grip Emm, time is wasting,”

I told myself and walked inside the closet trying to ignore the smell of Lucius that surrounded me from all of his clothes, making me wince with my eyes closing tight for a few seconds as if this would help with the way he assaulted my senses.

Then I walked over to the elaborate gold cross on the wall I knew would be there and shook my head when I did.

Well, so far Bess had been right about everything, but now this was the main test.

Was she right about this? So, I did as she told me to and grabbed hold of the cross and turned it until it was facing upside down, now making the sign of the Antichrist.

“Cute,”

I scoffed aloud then watched as a code panel appeared.

Now, this was when things got tricky as she said she didn’t know the code.

Which had me questioning how she knew everything else but this last part? I had asked her how I was supposed to get inside it and her answer hadn’t exactly been a confidence booster because it was a simple…

“Wing it.”

And unsurprisingly just repeating these two words in question and a slightly high-pitched tone didn’t get me any other answer but a shrug.

So now here I was, faced with 10,000 possible combinations to choose from, meaning it would most likely take me well into my thirties before I got it right.

But then again…

“Could it be?”

I asked myself before giving it a try as really, at this point, what did I have to lose? I punched in the number I thought it could be and I was right,

It was my birthday.

Just like the pin number for his card.

Now what the hell did that mean?!

Suddenly a heavy lock sounded to be moving and a false wall clicked open so that now I could push it open and the second I did, I gasped.

The room was a brightly lit space that was filled with, well everything you would expect from a man like Lucius.

A wall to my left was full of weapons, that held everything from swords, hammers, maces and daggers to guns in all sizes.

It was like a weapons collection of the ages, all behind glass cabinets and with what looked like a fingerprint recognition pad for them to open.

Well, I just hoped that the box wasn’t behind something like that or I was screwed.

Not unless I could wait until he fell asleep, bang him over the head before dragging his big ass in here.

“Yeah, well that’s not happening,”

I said mocking myself before turning around to take in the rest of his treasures.

There were your typical locked boxes like you find in a bank vault covering the wall opposite, making me wonder what lay inside.

A small giggle escaped me when I wondered if it was his stamp collection or something equally as geeky.

But then I stopped dead and my mouth dropped as I took in the centre of the room.

For there stood a huge sword held in its own glass case.

I knew instantly what sword it was so the historian in me gasped, and my hands flew to my face in shock.

“No…could it be, Caliburnus?”

I muttered its old name that was Latin for the better known, Excalibur.

It would make sense considering the setting for the sword was sat in a feminine stone hand that was reaching up through blue glass to represent the water, making it a piece of art in its own right.

See, a lot of people would question this and ask themselves why not an anvil, which is the better-known legend, but there was another one.

The true one, if supernatural belief was to be believed.

Excalibur was said to have been given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake sometime after he began his reign.

She told him that the sword was named Caliburnus, meaning the King’s sword, and held great magic.

The Lancelot-Grail, in which this legend takes place and is a major source of Arthurian legend that was written in French, is a series of five volumes that not only tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail but the more romantic element of the tale which was the famous romance of Lancelot and Guinevere.

Now, in these volumes it is told that Arthur was at the brink of death and so orders Griflet, one of his Knights of the Round Table, to throw the sword into the enchanted lake.

But after two failed attempts, failed because he simply believed that such a great sword should not be thrown away, Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request.

So, this time when he actually threw the sword into the lake a hand emerged from the water to catch it.

The supernatural element to this story isn’t the hand in the lake however, it is who it was said to be fated for next and who was to be next in line for such greatness.

And here it was.

I was utterly astonished by such a find, knowing that if ever something like this was discovered it would be one of the marvels of the modern world.

That was, if it could be proven to be real.

The historian in me was desperate to forget the damn box, hunt him down and demand he tell me all about it! I wasn’t sure how he would have felt about that, however.

I finally tore my eyes from the sword and looked towards the other side of the room on my right.

Hoping to then see what other secrets it held.

The whole wall was sectioned off into box shelving and each place held some kind of artifact, meaning that it was obvious that Lucius and I had something in common.

As it looked as though I wasn’t the only one who held a passion for history, not if that collection was anything to go by.

The huge difference between his collection and what you would find in any museum was that his all looked brand new and made only yesterday.

Making me realise that these weren’t just pieces he had picked up at some rich man’s auction or something found on the internet by some private buyer.

But these were actual possessions only ever owned by one person, the one who no doubt commissioned them…Lucius.

This was when I realised that out there in that apartment was just a cold hard front of a shell of the man he portrayed himself to be.

But in here, surrounded by a man’s long life and the things he owned, the things he treasured enough to keep safe…then this right here was the real side of him.

This was the man he kept hidden from the world…

A secret world I’d just broken into.

This thought suddenly filled me with dread and I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder at the door, wondering if I shouldn’t just make a run for it whilst I still could.

I played out every other scenario that didn’t include stealing that box, but every one ended with the possible death I would then forever have on my hands.

No, I couldn’t do it.

So, I needed to hurry, grab this damn box and run for it.

So, after scanning the wall for less than a second, I found it sat in the middle as if it had been placed there ready for me.

It was even at my height being eye level and therefore impossible for me to miss.

Looking at it now I couldn’t help but reach for it, feeling as though it was calling out to me, but at the same time warning me away.

I even thought about Indiana Jones and wondered if I would need a bag of sand to swap it with or something.

Then I shook off that silly thought and finally reached out for it.

But the second I did, it was starting to look as if that sand bag idea hadn’t been so silly after all.

As now I must have unknowingly triggered some kind of alarm.

I had barely even grazed it with my fingertips when an alarm was ringing out making me step back.

I looked all around me as massive metal doors all started crashing down at speed.

They came from the ceiling and down the front of the walls making me jump in fright when they slammed into the floor locking in place.

It started with the glass cabinets full of weapons and I screamed once it continued all around the room with metal coming down all around me.

The wall of lock boxes was next and then quickly after it the wall of artifacts in front of me.

I took another staggered step back then turned the second I heard a noise behind me.

I was just in time to see that even the glass box around the sword and its sculpture was now being quickly encased in steel that had risen up from the floor.

It was clear that the room was going on lock down and the second I realised this my eyes shot to the door.

This was when my panic really started to set in as I saw the heavy metal door now swinging inwards making me scream first in fright and then at my stupidity.

“NO!”

I shouted after I pointlessly ran for it just in time for it to swing shut in my face and sealing me inside for good.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

I shouted, banging a palm on the inside of the vault door, but it was useless.

It was locked and unless I was Bruce Banner and had unknowingly become the Hulk in the last five minutes then there was no way I was getting out.

I was trapped.

But worse than that, for now he must have known what I did.

Which meant only one thing…

Lucius had caught me.