Masked Goddess Novels & Stories

I shout, marching over to rip her a new one. As I lock eyes with the woman, a shiver runs down my spine. She appears to be in her twenties, with flowing black hair and piercing white eyes that seem to glow. She's wearing a simple, black maxi dress with a low neckline that highlights her fair, generous figure. I can sense everyone's aura in here but hers. A wave of recognition washes over me, causing me to freeze in place. It's her. It's the Moon Goddess. Or at least the form she has taken.

The runes in the stone circle flickered to life, threads of moonlight stretching upward, weaving around her like a net of divine fire. And then the air cracked—splitting like glass. A presence emerged, terrible and beautiful. She did not float down from the sky. She stepped through it. A woman, cloaked in starlight and war, her skin dark as the space between galaxies, her eyes twin moons. She wore a crown of horns and bone, and her hands bled silver. The Moon Goddess had come. Veyra couldn't breathe.

The two people in front of her looked like the devil she has watched from movies when she was just a child and the much talked about demon from her Bible stories. This was the longest night of her life, how she wished everything would end and she would wake up in her big comfy bed back at her father’s mansion but here she was, kneeling in front her own husband begging for her life while her best friend just sat there with a glass of whisky in hand. Martina was left wondering if it was not too cold for whiskey at this time. The tall frame in front of her knelt down and harshly cupped her neck, their faces only inches apart and Martina could only cringe.

“Jaiyana, before you put it on, know this—you must never take it off. It is a protection, Beti, for what is to come.” Jaiyana tilted her head, her eyes wide and curious, reflecting back the solemnity in Padma’s gaze. “What… what is to come?” she whispered, the weight of the necklace pressing insistently against her palm. Padma’s expression softened, but the intensity in her eyes never wavered. “There is more I must tell you. I am what is known as a Moon Reader—a lineage perhaps best described as witches, though we are much more than that. We have been waiting, in earnest, for the return of Durga’s spirit. And I believe… Beti, I believe she has chosen you to be her vessel.”

The bodice was structured like a ribcage, boned with steel and covered in delicate, hand-stitched lace that looked like climbing vines—or thorns. ​In two hours, I would walk into a masked ball. A "merger celebration," Daniel had called it. To the elite of Shanghai, I would be Anastasia Drewmore, the mysterious and untouchable heiress. The mask would protect me. The mask would allow me to look for the truth without the world seeing the terror in my eyes. ​I pulled the matching mask from the bag. It was a delicate work of laser-cut filigree, black metal twisted into the shape of a weeping willow, adorned with tiny, dark crystals. It was beautiful. It was a cage for my face.

He charged at me, yelling, "I'll get you for this! You meanie!" Elias's face turned serious, and before Howard could reach me, he kicked him right in the chest. Howard went flying like a rag doll, landing hard on the ground, unable to get up for quite a while. Security was quick to step in and pin him down. I watched Howard flail and howl on the ground, completely without dignity, and I did not feel a thing. Holding Elias's hand, I whispered, "Let's go." For attacking a pregnant woman on the street, Howard got three years in jail.

I eased it open, my heart thudding hard in my chest. The sight before me stole the air from my lungs. My back hit the door with a dull thud."Holy..." The candlelight framed a grotesque assembly : the head of a golden-haired woman, her long tresses falling over the stark pale torso of the bald figure onto whose chest her severed neck was fixed. It took a beat to register. A mask. A full-face disguise made of human skin, complete with a wig. Even though Tang had warned me Belinda was wearing a mask--and Sebastian had said he'd rip it off--seeing it for real was something else entirely.

Damon caught her instantly before she hit the ground. “Lyra!” The world tilted hard. Not physically— Mentally. A voice slammed through her head. Not the creatures. Not the one from before. This voice was different. Female. Cold. Ancient. They found you faster than expected. Lyra’s breath hitched sharply. Another flash hit her instantly— A woman standing beneath a silver moon covered in black markings. Eyes glowing unnaturally bright. Watching her. Smiling. The Alpha was always the easy part. Lyra’s entire body went cold.