Lucky and the Killer ✔

Divinity

There were no little noises in Deraindium. There was barely any wind at all. The ice was clearer than it should have been, and the only thing that slowed Lucky down was the veritgo. Running over waves was actually kind of hard to wrap your mind around. She couldn't help but feel a little sea-sick.

She hesitated before placing her palm against the trunk of a nearby, frosty tree. When it didn't kill her, she fell against it entirely. She gasped for air with burning lungs and looked down at the tree's roots to calm her nerves. They spun beneath the glass and into the waves below—stitched into the water like wooden needles. It was hard to tell which way was up.

She could hear the heartbeat coming near. It was just a side effect of being on edge. She had to say, it gave her a certain advantage at least. The heartbeat passed the trees and came up upon her.

"Hello," Creston said. "How do you like Deraindium?"

"You're him, aren't you."

"I am."

"What did you do to King?"

"I gave my son his pure divinity back by finishing the tattoo on his neck. You know? The one like a 'metal tornado' I believe you called it."

Lucky's mind flashed back to the coffee shop, the dark sidewalks, and her first walk with King on Earth. How did he know what she'd called King's tattoo? She'd never seen him before.

"How...?" Lucky stammered as her brain whirled around itself in thoughts—racing to figure things out before he moved first. "How do you know what I called it?"

"I've been watching the two of you for a while," Creston nodded. "Come with me."

Creston put his wide hand on the back of Lucky's neck and pulled her alongside of him. He would need the power he gave away, all of his power, to completely solidify King's mark. He should have never given anything to Leona. All she did was weaken him. Love, pitiful excuse for a deterrent that it was, sickened him.

"Stop," Lucky said as she tried to plant her feet.

But, he just kept dragging her. Lucky watched his face as he pulled her along—too jumbled up to even find the right words to say. He knew things he shouldn't have known, too. How did he know about their conversation? Had she really never seen him before?

It was the light of a hundred moons that made the ring on Creston's hand glimmer and catch Lucky's eyes. Red light bounced off the ring, and it immediately took her back to the coffee shop. She'd seen the ring before—on the hand of a man in the corner the night she met King again. He'd been staring at her with that same face.

"It was you," she whispered. "You're the man who was watching me at the coffee shop."

"I've watched you many places," Creston said with a smile. "I have to keep track of what's mine."

"You've been watching King, too."

"Of course I have," Creston shrugged. "I've watched, and I guess you could say influenced many people: Gray, for one. Yes, I've watched you. I've watched Gray. I've watched King, too. He is my son."

"Gray?" Lucky whispered. "Oh my god. You...you started all of that in my home world. Why?"

Creston didn't speak.

"King isn't yours," Lucky said.

"I wasn't talking about King," Creston sighed and took more, long strides back towards his own fortress of ice. "I was talking about you. I already have my son."

"Me?" Lucky said. She tried to pull away. She tried to stop her feet, but the ice was too slick. He was pulling her too fast, and she was just sliding across the waves below.

"You," Creston said as they reached the outside doorway.

"I'm not yours, either!" Lucky yelled. She tried to bolt, but he'd already wrapped his arms around her. He was taller than King. He was stronger than King, and no matter how she thrashed, she couldn't get loose again.

"I couldn't care less about having you," he muttered. "It's my power inside of you that I want back. I doubt you'll give it back willingly, so you'll have to perish."

He plucked the door open and kicked it out wide with his foot. He pushed inside of the dark fortress with Lucky kicking in his arms like a small child. It'd been tactful to test King. He thought he would have killed her outside, but he wasn't completely turned yet. If he were, the girl would've been dead. Seals of that nature were tricky things that required a full-capacity of energy. He just didn't have it all back. He would kill Lucky himself.

They fought for a while before Creston finally threw her into a room. He stepped in after her and closed the solid, black double doors behind him. Her screams no longer echoed in the vast hallways but fell flat against the four walls of a bedroom.

"My father was a God," Creston said as he pulled a chair aside from a desk and sat it in front of Lucky. He straddled the chair backwards and sat down. His arms draped over the chair's back as he looked at the flustered girl on the side of his bed. "Like all small gods, he fell eventually...going back into the ether of space...and giving all of his power to me. Oh, and what a wonderful power it was. Built everything you see here. It's not as grand as the King of King's work, and I do not claim to be the one, true god. No, but my power was enough, and I threw it away for love. You think you're in love with my son? Before I kill you, tell me, are you really?"

Lucky's mouth closed. She stared at the man in front of her. In all of his likeness, he was a veritable clone of King. He was taller, though, and his eyes were different, too. She wasn't sure what to say back to him. She could have guessed he was going to try and kill her, and she should have fought him off harder. She should have gotten away, but she didn't. So, she thought on what he had to say. Her instant answer was yes, but she couldn't get it to come out of her mouth. So, she just stared at him instead. Did she really love King? Did he really love her? After all of that?

"I see," Creston mused. "I know my son well, very well. He loves you, and that's the very reason why you give him so much grief."

"So much grief, huh."

"The easiest way to retrieve power from someone is to kill them," Creston said matter-of-factly. "I need my power back. The power you have now is not your own. You and your power belong rightfully to me."

"I belong to no one," Lucky said.

"You belong to the ether," Creston said with a newfound smile, "and your power belongs to me. Give the power to me freely, and you will live. Should you show the tiniest sliver of resistance, your last breath will be here. I must admit, though. You seem to control it much better than King's mother did."