Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6) (30 page)

“That’s it pretty girl, you will look nice bathed red like the wolf I ate.” I looked up slowly and screamed! Because there lurking from the shadows was an old woman stepping forward with the most terrifying face a woman could hold. It was the ageing face of death in motion. A face so wrinkled and cracked it looked painful to move and that creepy smile slit the skin right in front of my eyes. Blackened, rotting teeth were filed into tiny points and peeling flesh curled away from the bone on her forehead. She looked half decayed but her forbidding eyes that lit up with anticipation spoke volumes to how alive she felt with the sight of her prey close to being in her grasp. Tiny black dots grew larger at the centre of white cloudy eyes, eyes that matched the hair that was pinned back like a respectable old woman ready to meet with company.

“Move away slowly, Katie.” The girl warned me and when she did the old woman snarled like a cornered beast protecting its kill. I did as I was told and ended up falling backwards when panic took over. She had lunged for me though the low bars and she roared,    

“LET ME PICK YOUR BONES, YOU WILL LIKE IT!” Down at me. I scrambled up and that’s when I decided to run. I quickly wished I had never stepped off the bed into this nightmare world! I continued running too scared to find out what was in this place with me until pretty soon I had no choice but to stop. I had come to the end of not just the room but the end of everything!

I pushed open the single door at the end praying for an exit but not like the one I was offered. Because the world that I knew had reached its limit on living and now I stood at the brink of its end. As the wood swung back against itself I saw all that was left and like that damned picture in my room, the world was crumbling away into the bowels of Hell below. I stood at the cliffs edge clutching onto the wooden frame as if this would save me.

“It doesn’t need to be like this.” A voice said from behind me. I turned around still gripping onto the frame, not wanting to fall like the others.

“I don’t understand, what does this all mean…? Why do I keep seeing the end of the world like this?” I asked, in a desperate plea for answers. The robed figure that was stood before me now was dressed all in white and the hood she wore reached down to her chest, hiding everything from view. 

“Because you’re the only one who can stop it from happening.” She told me and I shook my head in denial.

“No, you’ve got it wrong! I can’t stop this! I can’t stop anything like this…I mean…how would I?! I’m just a girl…I just a normal girl!” I told her, crying out and trying to make her understand.

“Normal doesn’t exist in any world, least of all yours. Remember these words…‘Time. Time Keira, that’s all our world is. ‘Faith has its tight grip on our lost time like endless sands we cannot touch. Oceans of hopeful space between us mean nothing if the ship cannot sail and Courage is lost in the darkness without the stars to guide us. One by one the crimson moon will take our sisters of the earth on a never ending journey of stolen power. The cups will fill, blood will flow and nine by nine will fall to the Hexad. Time is power. Power leads to destruction. Destruction brings forth the end of Time…our time.” She spoke these words as though everything was on the line and it was all up to me. 

“What does that even mean?! What must I do?!” I asked needing her to tell me!

“Take away their time and you take away their power. They have taken eight…don’t let them take nine. Find yourself and learn of the Prophecy’s seven, find the key and you will find me next time in Heaven”

“But I don’t know…wait! Don’t go, what key…WHAT KEY?!” I shouted as she turned around and started walking the other way.

“I will be here waiting for the Electus to come home. Find the centreless key to unlock the door to your mind, as bartering for souls is what he must bind. In blood and in tears and flames will be the price but that will be nothing but a roll of the dice.” She spoke the words as clear as if she had been stood next to me but hearing them meant nothing if I didn’t understand them. I watched as her ghostly figure was disappearing from sight and I shouted one last time,

“But what does it mean!”

“To remember there is power in time and it is time for you to remember…

“To take time back.”

Chapter 28

I Know You

“Eight Girls!” I shouted bolting upright in bed.

“Keira?” Draven called out the name he was most used to and being half asleep I can’t say that I blamed him. Even the girl in my dream had called me it, so I just gathered I should get used to it, for a time anyway as I think if people were still calling me it in my eighties I might be a bit pissed off by then.

“It’s okay, I’m okay.” I told him as he reached for me as if quickly turning into protection mode.

“What is it…what’s wrong?” It was sweet and heart wrenching at the same time when seeing how he feared for me. As if he kept expecting me to disappear at any moment and considering what had happened in the past, I couldn’t say with certainty that it would never happen again. Which compelled me to ask him,

“Tell me about the mirror.” He took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead as he thought about what I was asking him. I knew the basics, which considering my dreams it hadn’t exactly come as a shock to me. But I had a feeling that we were missing something important…and that something I had a feeling he was keeping from me, but the question was…why?

“First tell me why you cried out ‘eight girls’?” I don’t know why but something told me not to tell him about the girl in my dream and what she had said…almost like some strange feeling came over me, whispering ‘that would be cheating’. It was odd but no matter how I tried to fight it I couldn’t, so instead I told him a warped version of the truth.

“I heard voices whispering to me about the Hexad and how to stop them.” At this Draven seemed to breathe a little easier. He pulled me close and said,

“I wouldn’t worry, soon we will be making plans to leave here and we will be dealing with them in our own way…you have nothing to fear in that.” I smiled up from where he held my head to his shoulder, embracing me in no doubt an attempt to sooth my worries. But as much as I relished being in his arms, I knew I had been given that dream for a reason.

“Can I just ask though, has every one of your plans turned out the way you expected?”

“In regards to you?” I nodded and he huffed out a laugh before saying honestly,

“No, hardly ever in fact.” 

“Okay, then you won’t be offended if I come up with a backup plan…just in case of course.” I knew with the undemanding look he gave me that the next words out of his mouth would sound patronising but I didn’t take offense, as I knew he hadn’t seen what I had seen.

“If it makes you feel better, then I can see nothing wrong in doing so.”

“So getting back to the mirror?” I asked and I think I could hear him groan in his mind.

“Do we have to discuss this…
again.”
  I almost laughed at what a whiny teenager he sounded but after all we had spoken about today, I knew he had a weakness.

“Alright, would you prefer to tell me how old you are?”

“Fine. I came back into the room thinking you were still getting dressed or struggling to decide what to wear, as was often the case…”

“Draven.” I said his name in warning as I knew he was trying to brush over what I wanted to know.

“I walked in and as soon as my feet crunched on the mirrored shards, that’s when I knew something had happened. I found the empty frame and after searching everywhere for you for weeks, you had simply vanished. It was the first time I couldn’t feel you.” His pain ridden expression made me feel guilty for asking these things but I needed to know. I don’t know why but something kept nagging at the back of my mind.

“What do you mean you couldn’t feel me?”

“Ever since you came into my life I have been able to sense you and the closer we became the stronger the bond grew. But when you disappeared it was as if someone had severed that bond, slicing through the tie that bound together our souls.” The way he spoke about our destiny and fate bringing us together always sounded so magical and now was no different, which is why I hated asking,

“Did you not then…uh…how do I say this…?”

“Did I not think you were dead?” He finished for me and I winced at how gut wrenching it sounded for him.

“No.” He answered sternly.

“Why not?”

“Because when I said I searched for you everywhere…I mean,
everywhere.”
I gasped as the penny dropped on what he was trying to tell me. He had gone to Heaven and Hell in search of me!

“Besides, the mirror told me enough to know witchcraft was involved.”

“How so?” I asked knowing he had definitely missed this part out when explaining the first time.

“As soon as I picked up a piece of the glass it showed me only one vision and that was of you sleeping, calling out my name. I shouted for you and that was when all of the pieces of glass turned into dust. I tried to get it back but my powers were useless against it. In fact, it seemed the more we tried to find you with powers of our own, the stronger the resistance we were faced against. In the end it was surmised that we had unknowingly fed the contending force but of course by then it was too late, that damage had already been done.” I can’t imagine what it must have been like for him. To see the person, you love slip through your fingers and fade into nothing, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing you could have done. For a powerful being like Draven I can imagine this hadn’t been received well. No wonder he didn’t like talking about it!

“So I left nothing behind?” He frowned, thinking a moment and then shook his head.

“Nothing, not even your wedding ring.” He said lifting up my hand and kissing the finger it had been on for only a single night. This made me sad again thinking about it as I had shed few tears over hearing it the first time. How cruel was fate anyway, to give us only one night at being man and wife before ripping it away from us!

“I have never seen it.” I told him wondering where in the world it was now. Yes, it was a sad thought indeed knowing the symbol of our love was stolen from me and the saddest part of it all was that I couldn’t even remember what it looked like.

“Hey, don’t do this to yourself.” Draven said.

“Do what, there’s not a lot I can do when I don’t even remember saying my vows or even knowing what my first kiss as a married woman felt like.” This was when he gripped my chin and lifted my face to his.

“It was beautiful, like every kiss we share.” He said before placing his lips to mine and kissing me so softly, it alone made me want to cry for it felt so close…oh so close, I could almost touch the memory for myself when he kissed me this way. Then he deepened the kiss and I felt myself being pushed back against the bed, quickly losing myself in his gentle touch. He pulled the covers from my body, baring my insecurities to him and silencing them once and for all with the adoring way he admired my naked form. Then without saying a word to each other he simply looked into my eyes and gave me that piece of him I needed to feel.

I cried out silently as I felt his strength slip inside of me, touching that forbidden part of me that was only his to explore and conquer. He reached up, shackled my wrists and held them above my head as he took me to that secret place only two people in love can find together. Because up until now every time we had united our bodies this way I had been consumed by the intensity of it all but this…well, there was only one word to describe what this was, what this would
always
be was…

Love.    

Later that day came the meeting take two, this time without me freaking out but this probably had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t there. Draven had decided it best not to push me too far when it came to my newly mastered skills at controlling my ‘gift’. He thought a more gradual intake of the world’s most powerful beings would be a wiser route to go down, and I couldn’t say I disagreed with him.

Let’s just say that I hadn’t been chomping at the bit to get back in that room and face them all again. But like I said before, this hadn’t been because I was still scared of them all. No, it was because I was still ashamed of the way I had handled things and thinking back to how they were just trying to all help me at the time, didn’t make it any easier. And poor Sophia, she had been nothing but nice to me and the way Draven described our relationship before my memory loss was as if we were sisters.

So this is why I told Draven to tell them how sorry I was until the time was right when I could say it myself. He told me in his ‘I am a man and I know best’ kind of way that this was not needed but I felt adamant that it was. Which was why I wouldn’t let him leave before he promised me.

I also asked if it was possible for him to first get me some more clothes, as I still didn’t want to face that dressing room. The second was if he could somehow get my bag to me. I hadn’t seen it since I arrived and I was worried about Lucy as she hadn’t heard from me in a few days. I just had visions of her forcing Dex to call the FBI to get them to do a worldwide manhunt in search of me.

Draven had given me a short kiss on the cheek after handing me another chosen outfit before leaving. He also told me that he would have someone fetch my bag for me and to expect it after I was finished in the bathroom. To be fair I don’t think he was anticipating me being in the shower for at least ten minutes longer than usual as I couldn’t fathom how you turned the bloody thing on! It was only when I fully walked in there and started patting the walls like I was Indiana Jones looking for some lost city, that the water scared possibly a little wee from me.

Luckily for me though I was in the right place for potential embarrassing accidents and thankfully had gone on my tap/lever finding mission in my birthday suit. So other than a high pitched girly scream, I had a very peaceful and more importantly, uneventful shower.

Once I was finished, I towel dried my hair as I was always used to doing and wiped the steam from the gilded mirror. I looked at my reflection and little by little I was starting to change. To begin with it had been slight when at Lucy’s but now I was here you could really see how free I felt. The dark circles around my eyes had altogether disappeared and my hair now had more of a healthy golden colour to it. It was softer, along with my skin now that I was no longer forced to use that harsh soap on my face.

I think looking in the mirror now was actually the first time upon seeing my reflection that I felt like a woman. I let the towel slip off one shoulder and decided to attempt the sexy look. I even pouted my lips and looking to the side over my shoulder, tried my best to look seductive. In the end I just burst out laughing at myself.

“Ha! I think you need to work at playing the Sexy Vixen, Kay Bear!” I said out loud and walked back into the room in just my small towel, as I’d used the bigger one for my long hair.  

“Ahhh! Holy shit! What are you doing in here?!” I shouted at the sight of Lucius stood in the door frame. I quickly tugged down at the bottom of the towel that barely covered what I considered south of the indecent border. I also tightened the top without flashing him my girls. And Jesus, did he have to look so bloody composed, cocky and freaking handsome! I mean he was King of the Vampires for sucking blood sake!

He held up a canvas bag hung from one finger and said,

“I got to play errand boy…
Vixen.”
He said smirking and flashing a bit of fang. I rolled my eyes and tried like holy hell to act like I was immune to his charms. Of course this was easier said than done, considering who was I kidding, was there a human on the planet immune?

“Well thanks for the bag…oh and please don’t call me that.” I said thinking it felt weird coming from him and not Draven. I mean ever since I had found out how he felt about Draven’s wife Keira, not me because let’s face it…he didn’t know me…or thinking about it like that neither did Draven.

“That’s some hard thinking you’re doing over there, Kay Bear…do you need to take a seat?” He said and this time I went right in for scowling at him. No surprise when he started laughing, taking me about as serious as a papercut.

“Funny, isn’t it time for you to turn into a bat or something?” I said trying to keep a straight face when teasing him. This time he was the one to roll his eyes.

“Yes, right after my fight with Van Helsing, I can pull the stake from my heart, pick my teeth with it and wash my mouth with holy water, before bedding down for the night in my coffin.” He said in a serious tone that I suspected was him still teasing me. However, I was still suckered in enough to ask,

“You sleep in a coffin?”

“Fuck no! I sleep like a freakin’ starfish!” I burst out laughing at this and nearly lost my towel.

“I think I should go change.”

“Don’t feel the need on my account sugar, I am quite enjoying the view.” He said and I don’t know why but his bad boy grin made me look down. I gasped at the distinct shape of a rather large erection pressing against the tight black leather pants he wore.

“Oh God!” I said hiding my eyes and I ran off into the bathroom after grabbing the clothes off the arm of the sofa. 

“It’s all the extra blood I suck, remember!” I heard him shout before I slammed the bathroom door shut. I could still hear him laughing as I was pulling up a pair of stone wash jeans. These were more of a boot cut and didn’t fit so tight to my legs this time but like the other pair they were just as soft. I don’t know if it was daft or not but I found myself wondering if I would be allowed to keep these clothes once everything was…well I don’t know…said and done maybe?