sound of pain coming from a being that had wronged me would have been a sweet sound of satisfaction…but not today.
No, gone now was the usual arrogant, cold-hearted bastard, for now I was beyond fucking panicked! Which was why I grabbed the top head, using one of the Keeper’s own hands that were forced into ripping their own ears away, as was part of their cruel twisted curse. This meant that by adding pressure, it caused them to tear further enticing another cry of pain from them. At the same time, I grabbed the one whose fingers were embedded in the eye sockets belonging to the middle head. I then used this punishing hold to position them closer to the portal that had moments ago consumed my Chosen One.
I did this knowing what would be waiting for them should I lose my mind and challenge the Hellish Fates Keeper, in a way that would certainly make them take notice.
But fuck it, if war with Hell was what it would take to get my Chosen back, then so be fucking it!
“Nnnoo…my Lord of…ahhh” I cut off the stuttered and strained sentence with another dose of pain. This was before dragging them even closer, being nothing more than just a thread of fate away from throwing the fuckers back to Hell and letting Lucifer deal with what would be left of his abomination. Because the Keepers of Three had once been men just like I had, and their new beginning had been even more brutal than my own. After I had been turned by Lucifer, it soon became clear that I hadn’t been the first one…I had just been the only success in his warped mission for what he classed as perfection.
In fact, it was unclear just how many failures there had been before me, but I knew for certain that the twisted body of three combined most likely could have been considered the first. However, these were factors I had only learnt many years after my turning, naively believing there were only two of us. Two survived successes with only one of us being suited to rule of the Vampire race.
But then, like most things that included Lucifer and his demonic creations, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The proof of which was currently squirming in my deadly grasp, reminding me of an important lesson...never to underestimate the Devil.
As for the Keepers of Three, I had done my research over the years and like most of us, naturally they hadn’t started off life this way. In fact, they were once known as some of Rome’s greatest warriors. They were named the Horatii and were triplets, which in itself was a marvel of the ancient world due to the higher death rates of multiple births in those times. But then, as legend told it, they weren’t the only ones, for they soon had no choice but to face their Alban counterparts, known as the Curiatii on the battlefield.
This happened almost six hundred years before my rebirth and at a time known as the Kingdom era of Rome. This particular moment in history was during the reign of Tullus Hostilius, who was the third king of Rome, and in a time known as the regal period. It was the earliest period of Roman history, when the city and its territory were ruled by what was considered royal blood. But just like the rest of the ancient world, the power of Kings didn’t come from the blood of Gods but came from the blood spilt on the battlefield from the wars they waged and armies they were so eager to sacrifice in hopes of victory. Mortal lambs often led to the slaughter, dressed up in blood-soaked armour and with nothing more than a blunt sword in their exhausted hand and all in the name of their King. But I had seen enough wars fought to know that the real Kings were those who charged head on into battle, leading the way for their men.
War was a bloody business and not one often fought with the risk of losing its ruler. Men were thought to be expendable and Kings were not. However, this time Tullus Hostilius and its neighbouring city of Alba Longa, both agreed that fighting on the battlefield would be a costly war and would leave the door open for an Etruscan invasion. Neither could take the chance of that happening with what would no doubt have been a great loss on both