Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (25 page)

I put my hand down, trying to get a stable footing in the rubble I was currently entangled in and I felt my wrath rise up, causing the snaking forks of power to react, getting bigger and changing to a deep amber colour. I got to my feet just as both men were back on theirs and trying to get to the Oracle. Before they saw me I shot an arm out to Pythia so that she slid away from them down one of the aisles, safe from both of them but more importantly, safe from me and what I was about to do.

“My turn.” 
They both turned to me in shock and I felt the same when I saw them morph into their other forms.

“Angels…um, this will be novel.” I told them as they both rose up with their massive wings on display. One drew a long glowing blade from his back and the other drew twin axes which looked to be made of carved silver. They both looked as beautiful and surreal as they did deadly, but instead of my fear engaging, my brain filtered out the risks, leaving fury in its place.

“Last chance, mortal,” one warned and the new demonic side of me tipped my head to the side and said,

“Do I look like a fucking mortal to you, dickhead?”
Then I unleashed the full force of my powers outwards, with arms outstretched so it had a wider range to target them both. One of them only just managed to escape my blast but the other froze in the air as I held him suspended by the force I had released from my hands. His body shook as though he was having a fit from the electric current I was sending through his body. My eyes widened as if the sight of this was feeding something deep inside of me, like a caged beast was clawing to make it to the surface and finish what together we had started.

What was happening to me?

What had I become?

This wasn’t me!

I wasn’t a cruel person. Suddenly these thoughts penetrated through the anger and the Angel I had trapped in the air fell with a thud to the ground. I looked down to see the chords of power unravelling around my hands as if being sucked back deep within me, back to the place I kept it hidden for the safety of others.

I wanted to fall to my knees as the energy was sapped right out of me and I had to hold onto a half broken chair just to stay upright. I reached up with my free hand and put it to my pounding head, hoping this would somehow help. But I hadn’t accounted for the two Angels who still wanted to see me dead and buried under a pile of splintered wood. And now I had lost my anger and along with it any chance of surviving. I knew this when I looked up and saw them both coming at me with gleaming weapons of God, raised high.

I knelt down and raised my arms above my head, curled in a protective ball ready for their killing blow…

But it never came.

What did, however, was a roar so powerful that it shattered the windows, exploding thousands of shards of glass outwards. I looked up just as I saw the blur of a flaming body travelling insanely fast, throwing itself at the two attacking Angels. I watched in utter shock as the hooded figure had the two men in his deadly grasp in seconds. One was on his knees with a solid arm clamped around his throat, ready to have his neck snapped in one swift move if he refused to come to heel. The other was dangling up in the air held by his neck and was currently having the breath choked from his lungs.

I got up from the broken floor and at the first signs of my movement my saviour’s head snapped up to look at me. Then he dropped the two men, releasing them and I almost shouted at him to ask what he was doing. I was sure they would take this opportunity to fight back or get him now his back was turned to them. But he didn’t care, he simply continued to walk closer to me and I held my breath hoping I hadn’t got it wrong. Because what if he wasn’t here to save me at all, but simply wanted the Oracle for himself…

And I was still in the way.

“Boss, we tried not to hurt the girl…but she…” one of the men said trying to get up from the floor but the hooded man snarled in anger back at him,

“Don’t say another fucking word!” He said slamming his hand down through the air, so that the man spluttering excuses slammed back down onto the floor, having no choice on the matter. So this was the man they were both working for and had been ordered to retrieve the Oracle. Suddenly I felt the familiar tingle return to my hands and I curled my fingers into tight fists, getting ready for the fight.

The hooded figure stopped a short distance away from me and cocked his head to the side, looking down at the sparks of power firing around my hands.

Then he pushed the hood back as he said,

“I wouldn’t try it, my little Keira girl…
not the way I like to play.”
 

My mouth dropped in astonishment before forming but one name…

“Lucius?”        

Chapter 24

Ice meets the Sun

“Hello, Pet.” Lucius replied smirking and if I wasn’t looking at that trademark bad ass grin of his I would barely believe I was stood opposite him right now.

“Lucius?” I said repeating his name, making him roll his eyes at me.

“You can keep saying my name sweetness but it won’t change who’s stood in front of you.” He answered in that overly cocky tone of his, proving with words alone it was true.

“Unless of course you want to say it over and over in a breathy, needy type of way then, in that case, go right ahead,” he added winking at me.

“Oh yeah, it’s you alright.” I told him, smirking and then quickly giving up the act and running at him. He looked taken aback for a moment but I didn’t care as I ran into his arms and he caught me.

“Lucius,”
I whispered, breathing into his neck as I reached up on tiptoes to hug him.

“See, it sounds much better said that way,” he teased, holding me just as tight to him. The smell of leather from his jacket combined with his natural scent of sandalwood and desert sands was so familiar to me. He wore a hooded zip up underneath and I gripped the soft cotton in my hands, hanging on to him.  

“I missed you,”
I confessed and I felt his stomach muscles get tight as if my words meant something to him.

“I’m glad you made your way home, pet,” he told me, stroking the back of my head as he still held on to me. I looked up at him and said,

“You missed me then, eh?” His steel blue coloured eyes flashed amber for a second before he replied,

“Katie didn’t get my sense of humour, although she did want to sleep with me, so I’m not sure…what was the question again?” I rolled my eyes at him, pulling back saying,

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…keep on dreaming Lu…” I was about to say his name when suddenly a memory I had lost, one that wasn’t my own, hit me with enough force to make me stumble back a step. A conversation between the two of us, sat close with the world whirling by.

“We were on a bus,” I said as if lost deep in the past.

“Keira, I…” Lucius started to say, but I interrupted him as the sight of us both continued, almost as if we were back there.

“We were talking…you had come to find me…no, that’s not right. I didn’t know that at the time. Then you spoke of a friend.”

“Keira don’t…”

“You were looking for his wife, you admitted to liking her…I, Katie asked if her husband knew…” I turned back to face him and said,

“You said
‘He knows’.”

“Alright love, you’ve made your point, now let it go.” He told me gently and I would have listened to him if not for the very last image I had of us on that bus… 

‘Oh fuck it! I’m not that good a friend anyway.’
He had said before crushing his lips to mine. I gasped letting him in and I lost myself in that first kiss feeling. I felt intoxicated as the taste of him burst across my tongue and I fell deeper under. His growl made me nervous and he could feel me about to pull away. He didn’t allow it and embedded his hand in my hair, wrapped an unforgiving arm around my waist and held me captive to his lips. Then it ended and he spoke words that as Katie I would never understand, but as Keira, well only I could remember our past…

“Your Salvation.”
I whispered softly raising my eyes to him and for long moments we simply looked at each other in silence. Lucius breathing heavy and me not breathing at all.

“If I could take it back…” he started to say and I didn’t want to hear the rest, so I said his name to stop him.

“Lucius…”

“I wouldn’t… not for the fucking world,”
he told me firmly enough to make it sound like a promise and I closed my eyes as the emotions swept through me.

“It’s a shame you missed it my little Keira girl, it was one
Hell
of a kiss.” He said purring the word ‘Hell’ and winking at me before running the back of his hand down my cheek. I knew when I saw his usual grin back in place that this was his way of putting an end to what would, no doubt, be a painful conversation for both of us.

So I too decided to focus on something else, like why the Hell was he here and why did the goons at the back call him ‘Boss’. I followed him as he walked to where one of them was still sprawled on the floor and I watched as he stepped over the man as if he was just another piece of furniture stuck in his way.

“Lucius, what the Hell are you doing here?” I asked him and instead of answering me he looked down at the goon and said,

“Ficken Blödmann.” (means ‘Fucking dumbass’ in German) I frowned down at the unconscious Angel, stepping over him myself as I followed Lucius to wherever it was he was going. He moved over to the aisles and started walking back towards the entrance, giving each one a look down as he went past. It only now occurred to me that he was in fact looking for Pythia.

“Pythia,”
I muttered remembering her and I started to run ahead of him in search of her. I could only hope that she was still alright after my freak out and that the worst injury I had inflicted was only a little knock to the head. I soon found her lying down the centre of one of the aisles where I had pushed her to protect her from the fight. I ran to her and skidded to a stop, dropping to my knees beside her.

“Pythia,” I said her name as I shook her shoulder slightly to try and get her to wake. Then I gently pulled the tape from her mouth and untied her hands. She remained in the foetal position, holding herself in a protective ball whilst I did this. I felt Lucius standing behind me but I ignored him, when really I should have been demanding what he was doing here.

“That’s it, come on back to us.” I told her softly when I noticed her eyelashes were fluttering as she started to come round. She opened her eyes a fraction, taking in the sight of me. I smiled down at her and helped her as she tried to sit up, which was when she noticed Lucius behind me. Her eyes got wide and I quickly knew that look…because I recognised fear when I saw it.

“Hello again, Pythia,” Lucius said calmly and Pythia became anything but calm. She tried to scrabble backwards like a crab just to get away from him.

“Pythia what are you…?” I cut myself off, instead whipping my head around to Lucius and demanding,

“What have you done?” He scowled down at me before informing me quite openly,

“Nothing
, yet.”
  It was a cold threat that I knew was aimed solely at Pythia. So I looked back to her and said,

“What is going on here?” She bit her bottom lip as I did often, only she did so out of fear, not shame like I did.

“He…He…Lucius, King of the night…he is the one hunting me.”

“What?!” I shouted and then turned slowly, looking to Lucius for answers.

“This doesn’t concern you, Pet.” He told me and I almost growled at him. I got to my feet, purposely putting myself between him and the Oracle.

“No? Did I hear that right, because I swore you just said that you don’t think it concerns me?”

“You heard me right.” He told me and I quickly started to lose my patience. 

“Then maybe you can enlighten me by explaining how this
concerns you!”
I snarled my last two words, putting my hands on my hips as I waited for his bullshit. He frowned back at me, folding his arms across his wide chest as if this would intimidate me or something.

“I was commissioned to hunt her down.” He told me sternly and at any other time in my past this look would have affected me, as Lucius was not the type of Being to underestimate, that was for sure.

“And would you like to inform me why you felt compelled to do this?” I asked him, trying to find out just how much he knew.

“Now that is definitely none of your concern,”
he snapped back angrily. However, this only managed to infuriate me more.

“Everything the Oracle has to tell me is my concern, especially when it involves the prophecy and saving everyone and everything I love!” I shouted at him, holding my fists to my sides and trying to keep a steady lock down on any power I may feel bubbling to the surface. Lucius looked taken aback at first and then utterly disappointed as his worst fears had come true.

“She already got to you.” He surmised.

“And no thanks to any of you! Yes, she finally had the chance to speak to me, giving
me
the choice of my
own
future.” At this he erupted.

“She didn’t give you a fucking choice! She dealt a fucking death card, one she knew you would be stupid enough to take!” he bellowed, losing his famous cool for a moment. I looked back to Pythia who was still cowering in fear and watched her flinch at the allegation.

“So you know about the prophecy?”

“That’s not the right question to ask and you know it!” He snapped and then started to walk closer to me, until eventually backing me up against the book shelves behind where I stood. I watched a book on psychology fall to the floor as my body was pushed back and the irony was almost laughable. I wondered what it would have to say in there about Lucius’ current behaviour and how to deal with a pissed off Vampire King who was as old as Christ…I’m thinking the word ‘unstable’ would most likely be used.

“Why don’t you just go ahead and ask me, Keira?” He got closer still, putting both his hands on the shelves either side of my head. It took me back to the day that another Supernatural King had me caged in like this and I had to close my eyes against the memory. Lucius was still waiting for a response but the only one he got from me was a small shake of my head. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to say the words and confirm it but I couldn’t.

So he did it for me.

“Ask me if I know how you die.”
He snarled out the words as if it produced acid on his tongue. I closed my eyes and looked away, unable to see the hurt and anger in his eyes any longer.

“I have no choice.”
I told him without looking and this was when he grabbed my arms again, pulled me to him and shouted down at me,

“You’re wrong!” I yanked myself free and walked away, putting space between us.

“Just because you want me to be, it doesn’t mean that I am!” I shouted back and then took a deep breath to calm myself, so that I could approach this from a different angle.

“Look, you may not agree with me on this, in fact no one I know would…I know that, but it doesn’t change what I am willing to sacrifice to save those I care for and if the choice was yours, then what would you do?” Lucius snarled something I couldn’t understand and tore his gaze from me.

“What did you say?”

“I said ‘fucking time’!” he shouted again and I knew I was the only one of us that was even trying to stay calm.

“Lucius please…please just take a minute here and try and see this from my point.” He snapped his head back around and looked at me as though I had grown two heads.

“Your point? Your point?” He repeated twice before extending his arm towards Pythia and added,

“Are you so foolish that you forget the pain of the past this woman inflicted upon you? Do you not realise this is what the Fates do and that this puppet…this…this keeper of secrets has convinced you that the future is set in stone, when the reality is Keira, that they carve it from the flesh of innocents!” I bit my lip and looked to Pythia who was weeping at his harsh words. I knew why he was so upset and if he had been the one to sacrifice himself I would be arguing the same points back at him. If anything, I had done this already when arguing with Draven that the Fates could be wrong. Back when this all began and one sentence spoken by this cowering woman had set us all on a course of destruction.

Oh yes, I knew what this woman had done and the cogs she had set in motion were seemingly unstoppable, but what if this was the only way? What if we only ever had this one chance to make this choice, for it was now or never? Because if any of us were wrong, then there was simply no going back in time and fixing it.

Or was there?

Looking at the hopeless look of pain on Lucius’ face right now I wished more than ever I could take it all back. But what if it was too big for any of us to ignore, especially not me when I was the one who could stop this? Because Lucius hadn’t seen what I had. He knew Hell but not like this. He hadn’t opened that door as I had and seen them all fall one by one.

“That may be so and everything you are saying could be right…” he knew what was coming so he tried to turn away from me but I refused to let him. I reached out and grabbed his arm, preventing him from turning his back to me.

“…but what if it’s not? You know me well enough to know I would go to Hell and back for those I love and dying for them is no difference.”

“But you don’t know,”
he told me quietly, no doubt trying one last time.

“And neither do you, the difference is I am not willing to leave it to chance. I only have one shot at this.”

“You’re making a mistake,” he said firmly as if he would bet his life on it. I looked at Pythia and said,

“We will soon find out, one way or another.” Then I looked down at his gloved hand and drove my point home,