67: Lucretia Dragović

Lucretia lived a great distance away from Hell’s gate, and walking there was nothing short of uncomfortable, especially since Sebastian and I still had to lug Demetri who had not even shown the slightest semblance of being sober yet, around. However, when we arrived, I was left speechless. Her home was on a large plot of land which, contrary to the rest of this burning void of agony, had a beautiful lawn of grass, actual green trees, a gorgeous stone path leading up to the grand wooden doors of a large house painted a soft lilac colour and around it was beautiful golden statues of each and every single flower you could ever have thought of. To keep this beauty protected on the large plot of land stood a large wall, enclosing the entire thing. However, right in the front middle stood a breakage in the wall which was filled by the space of a gate made of pure silver. The interior was just as astonishing as the exterior. The walls were covered in painted portraits of flowers and golden pots of flowers decorated each and every single surface. As a result, the entire house smelled of fresh, fragrant flowers and I found the sweetness of it rather pleasant.
“Have a seat,” she said as soon as we entered the lounge area. The couches were a rather pale red with soft silver flower patters against the fabric. Sebastian and I propped Demetri up on one of the couches… and he fell over almost immediately.
“I think you should just leave the sweetheart there.” Lucretia said, shooting him a rather amused glance.
I agreed, but only after making sure he was comfortable enough on the floor and secure enough against the front of the couch so that he wouldn’t fall over.
“I think I finally figured out why he gets so high off of those grounding stones.” Lucretia said. She glanced at Sebastian and I, and then her eyes settled on Vincent who was still stark naked.
“*You* need clothing, you filthy demon.” She uttered, before flicking her wrist. Immediately, Vincent was clothed in a pair of beige trousers and a loose white button-up shirt. He shot her a mischievous smirk and said, rather suggestively, “I thought you liked me being dirty.”
She raised an eyebrow but ignored his little remark. Instead, she shifted her eyes back on Sebastian and I. She still hadn’t said anything about her last name being the exact same as Sebastian’s, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I waited, knowing that my answers would come soon.
“It’s so obvious now that I think about it. Demetri’s blood is saturated with the magic of a Moon Goddess. In other words, it’s the magic that makes him immortal which reacts with the grounding abilities of those stone. Demetri, in a sense, is something similar to a demi-god, and so there is no real reason to let him ingest those stones. His soul and his body are too closely related for hell to even tell them apart. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
But it seemed Sebastian was not as patient as I was. This was evident when he cleared his throat and folded his arms rather expectantly. Lucretia sighed deeply and then leaned back into her seat. “But that’s not why you’re here. And I suppose I should explain the entire “Dragović” situation, before I even begin to tell you what I want to tell you.”
She then smiled and crossed her legs. “You see it’s actually quite a funny story. I’m Sebastian’s great, great grandmother.”
My jaw dropped at this, and I looked between Sebastian and Lucretia a few times before I could even breathe again. “Great, great g-grandmother?” I uttered.
She nodded. “Yes. The Dragović bloodline has always been… magical. You see, the Dragović family originated from a coven of witches, ancient witches. My son, however married a vampire. A young woman by the name of Grace. Their children, were blessed with immortality and not with magic, and so the Dragović bloodline changed from witchery to that of vampirism. It’s a long tale and one which I’d rather not spend too much time dwelling upon.” She said, averting her eyes to the floor. I could see that her past was painful, perhaps as painful as mine. But I was still confused about one thing.
“Why are *you* immortal. As far as I know, witches have almost similar lifespans to mortals.”
She chuckled and nodded, “That is true, yes. But I supposed I was a special case…” She then hesitated for a moment before glancing towards her clock and then back towards me. “I suppose I have a little time before your presence here is discovered. I might as well share this time old tale with you since I no longer have anyone else to share it with.”
As she said this, Sebastian reached out towards her and touched at her shoulder before giving her a soft, reassuring look.
“I loved someone once, Sebastian’s great, great, great grandfather. However, he died a few months after I fell pregnant. I couldn’t stand the thought of braving the world without him… of raising *our* baby without him. And so, I tried everything I could to bring him back. I dabbled in magic witches were at that time forbidden to dabble in. Black magic. Nothing worked though, no matter how hard I tried. I was just about to give up on life… on everything when suddenly a man appeared before me. He had the appearance of an angel, but surrounding him was nothing but a deep, foreboding darkness. It didn’t take me long to realise that the man before me was the devil himself. But he didn’t come empty handed. He brought with him an offer. A child in return for the life of my husband. Admittedly, the deal sounded tempting. But I was selfish. I wanted my child *and* my husband. And so, we came to a compromise. At the end of my lifetime, I would become the devil’s daughter, hence why most people know me as the daughter of hell. But as always, there was a trick to the contract. I died a month after the birth of my child. And so, my soul was sent straight here, to hell. Of course, I tried my best to escape, and to find my way back to my family. But by the time I got out of hell, centuries had passed by, and by then the remainder of my family had become vampires. I knew Sebastian’s father quite well, but we weren’t as close as Sebastian and I… mainly because Sebastian was just a little boy when I first met him. So, I watched him grow and fall in love with you. Sebastian would always talk about you every time I visited him, or he visited me.” By then Sebastian was smiling fondly at the memories, and a small pink blush had also made its way onto his face.
“Why did you keep it a secret though? Why does no one else know that you and Sebastian are related?” I asked.
“For Sebastian’s sanity. I am the greatest witch in existence, and as such, people always want something from me. If people knew Sebastian and I were related, they’d always pester him in order to get to me. And I didn’t want that for him. I wanted the people in his life there because they truly cared about him. And it worked, because now he has you.” She then paused, and glanced towards Vincent who nodded.
“But this is not the reason I wanted to see you once you were resurrected, despite it being so dangerous for you to be here in the first place.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt you,” I said, interrupting her, “but why am I not supposed to be here? Vincent said the same thing to me earlier.”
“I’m also curious, Lucretia.” Sebastian said, arching a brow.
Lucretia smiled and nodded, “I suppose I’ll start there then. According to the natural balance of things, you are not supposed to be alive. You died the moment Sebastian’s retched mother killed you. And so, your soul was supposed to enter the celestial realm. However, it did not. Instead, it stayed hidden in that beautiful little gem I conjured up. And so, you managed to cheat death, earning you a place here as well. Your soul is one of the most difficult challenges hell and the celestial realm face. Your soul belongs to either one of them, and neither are willing to give you up. And so, you being here, is extremely dangerous. But I won’t keep you longer than necessary.”
As soon as she said this, Sebastian and I exchanged worried glances for a moment before setting our attention back on Lucretia.
“Unfortunately, I made a mistake when I finally found my family. Your necklace, the Vita necklace, is not the first of its kind. There was another that I created before. One less powerful as the one you own, Phoenix.” Her face was now stern, and I could finally see the centuries written deep within the wisdom of her eyes.
“What are you trying to say here, Lucretia?”
“Bee… buzz buzz buzz.” It was Demetri who said that, preventing Lucretia from saying anything further. She sighed, smiled and then twirled her fingers in the air. Suddenly a lollipop appeared between her fingers and in one, swift movement, she shoved it into Demetri’s mouth, shushing the poor wolf up.
“What I’m trying to say,” she began, shifting back into her original place on the couch, “is that someone else has the ability to be resurrected… or rather *had* that ability.”
By now I was just itching to find out more. Clearly this person who had the ability to be resurrected as well, was somehow important. And so, I asked, rather enthusiastically, “Who is it?”
Lucretia stayed silent for a moment, and then her eyes wandered towards Sebastian. They held a silent gaze for a moment longer, before Sebastian gasped and stood up from his seat. “You can’t be serious Lucretia. Tell me you didn’t…”
Lucretia sighed deeply. I furrowed my eyes in confusion, wondering what Sebastian knew that I didn’t.
“I’m sorry Sebastian,” She said, now with tears streaming down her face, “but your mother has the first soul necklace.”
My eyes widened and I uttered out, rather breathlessly, “Has?”
Lucretia nodded and then looked me right in the eye before saying, “Yes. Katherine Dragović is alive. She has been alive for centuries now, awaiting Diana’s return… *your* return.”
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... Surprise!!! Mommy dearest is back... or rather, she has been back for quite a while!
I hope you all are still enjoying this novel!
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!