I replied turning to leave and only stopping when he suddenly asked,
“And this being who might know where she is, where will you find them, for if I need to reach you?” I paused and turned slightly to look back at him without my horns getting in the way. Then I told him,
“The Kingdom of Lust.” Naturally, my reply surprised him, making me wonder if even that being said had been given too much away. For he very well knew, as all did, who the King of Lust was connected too.
Dominic Draven.
“Now that is interesting,” he mused making me grit my teeth and snap,
“The only interest in it I want from you is the interest you show in ways of finding what belongs to me, anything other than that is an expelled energy I will not be happy to hear you have wasted.” The moment I said it I knew my mistake for this would only drive him to be more curious, his cunning grin told me this and made the next words out of his mouth a lie.
“But of course, my Šeš.” So, I took a deep breath and finally made my point, speaking in a way that was, granted, more suited to behind closed doors. But it was imperative that he understood the deeper meaning he would find in just speaking his name aloud,
“I mean it, Dariush…” I paused, narrowed my gaze and said,
“Don’t fail me, Brother.”
10
Portals and Poets
I left my brother, no doubt to ponder my words and stew on my reasons given. Again, he wasn’t stupid and could no doubt read between the complicated lines of my being here. But then, deception was no stranger to either of us. For keeping up the ruse of him merely being nothing more than my second in command was a necessary evil in our world. The fact was that we both decided that living this lie was an important element for our combined rule to work as smoothly as it did.
No one knew about Dariush, other than Keira, for she discovered this during her time travelling trip to the past where she first encountered him. He was without doubt my best kept secret, as this was what we both agreed was for mutual benefit. Hence the reason not even my former King, Dominic, knew of his existence. And as far as I knew, Keira had kept my secret out of respect for my wishes for her to do so. After all, I was her maker.
Now, at some point I knew that I would have to explain about the history of my brother to Amelia. And well, seeing as we were now in Hell together, then that time would likely be sooner rather than later, after of course I had first found the girl!
In fact, I had expected one of the first things from her lips after being made to experience my past first-hand was to ask me why I never mentioned him. But then it quickly occurred to me that our joint father had obviously kept his word. Lucifer had, at our request, kept the knowledge of Dariush a secret, and in doing so needed to erase that part of him from my life. This was so that even the Fates weren’t able to make his existence known. Which meant manipulating Lucifer’s first creation, the Keepers of Three. The Fates had deemed them connected to my life, seeing every piece of it as being the ones trusted with the Tree of Souls. But that didn’t mean Lucifer didn’t still have his influence over their mind.
It was the reason Amelia hadn’t seen Dariush in my memories and until that moment I had never known that Lucifer had in fact kept his end of the bargain. But then again, it wasn’t like this plan wasn’t to Lucifer’s advantage either. Especially not when more than two thousand years later he would use this secret son of his to help him in getting his Chosen One back.
But secrecy was the key when it came to Dariush, for his power rivalled my own but only when he was in Hell. You see, Lucifer’s goal when creating the perfect being and one intended to rule over the growing problem the Vampire race was creating, was one he achieved in me. But throughout the years I discovered there had been many failures and only two mortals turned successfully. And out of us both, it was only me that was suited to rule, for when Dariush was