Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (27 page)

“The way I love you.”

After this he held me as I cried in his arms, knowing that this was our final moment of goodbye. Oh we would still see each other, no doubt when the fight came against the Titans or just before my own end. But right now, our goodbye wasn’t in the physical sense. No, we were saying goodbye to our forbidden love and setting it free forever. For deep down we both knew that our hearts weren’t free to choose. Our fates weren’t written like that. My heart belonged to only one man and did from the first moment I saw him. But what’s more, I knew that I did this freely, so my love for Lucius was hard to explain. It was almost as though that in itself was fated but for reasons yet unknown.

So we both walked away from that broken library a little different inside. Like a small piece of us would always remain there, a joint pain left to comfort each other as our souls turned their backs on love. The only thing I was left hoping was that Lucius found his chosen one and soon, because I already had my soul mate who would heal my heart the second I saw him.

But for Lucius…he had time to contend with.

As I had death. 

Well that’s if Draven didn’t kill me first, I thought dryly. And if I didn’t answer my phone soon I knew this might just be a possibility. Okay, so I was being dramatic but considering what I found out from Lucius before we parted, then I could have only imagined what would have happened to the Oracle if Lucius hadn’t agreed to take her. Because as he picked up the sleeping Pythia, I had to ask him,

“Who commissioned you, Lucius?” He gave me a raised eyebrow and said,

“Who do you think?”

“Oh no, please tell me it wasn’t,” I said dreading what he would say next,

“Your husband.”

Chapter 26

Worth the Journey

“I’m not answering you!” I shouted at the endless buzzing of my phone before sinking back into my seat after an hour of just sitting there doing nothing. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose yourself in time, especially when your head was filled with as much crazy crap as mine was. I was left feeling more alone than ever now that I had seen the last of the Oracle.

Lucius had reluctantly agreed to take Pythia back to Germany with him as I knew she would be safer there. It wasn’t as if she could tell us anything more as she didn’t even know what we were planning. But I also knew that if there was anything important enough, then I could trust Lucius to send word.

I think that the very last push was all that Lucius needed to get him on board and that was when Pythia had shown him what I had seen.

He had opened the door for himself.

I thought back to the mess we left behind us and the state of the library. His men had been ordered to leave with him and they did so with heads hung low in shame, I wasn’t sure if it was from
my
beating or Lucius’. Either way they all left me standing in the middle of their destruction and it felt very much like a metaphor for my life at the moment. I looked around at all the windows void of glass letting the cold air inside and I held myself around the waist feeling vulnerable.

Then I spotted something that I shouldn’t have seen, hidden amongst all the chaos of broken wood, scattered shelves and torn book spines. I stepped over what I could without falling until I made my way to where Pythia’s little camp site had been set up. I knelt down and brushed off the dust of broken plaster from the ceiling and found it was the book Pythia had been reading…

“The Time Machine,” I said, pulling that same book from beneath my jacket, which I’d thrown on the passenger seat, and looking at it more closely. I don’t know what had compelled me to take this book, other than the obvious name, there was nothing in the story that I could think of that might aid me in my own journey through time. Then I opened it in the middle and flicked through the pages, startled when something fell out and landed in my lap.

“What do we have here then?” I asked myself as I reached down and picked up the black cord in between my fingers. I lifted it up so the large gold pendant was eye level and I could just make out both its sides as it spun around slowly. One side was that of a lion holding a curved blade, sat inside the sun and the other side was what looked like a bird with the head of a panther or something similar.

It looked old, ancient even with its crudely hammered symbols embedded on each side, but the thick cord looked new. This told me that it was probably something that the Oracle had worn for a very long time, having no doubt replaced the cord quite a few times before.

“Jesus!” I shouted as my phone started singing at me, making me jump. I scrambled to get to it before thinking about why I had been avoiding it in the first place and just answered it, slapping my forehead after I said that first hello.

“It’s me.”

“Lucius?” Okay, so much for not hearing from him for a while.

“I have had the pleasure of speaking with your husband, and when I say pleasure, what I actually mean is the shit storm he threw my way giving me no pleasure at all,” he said in his usual unamused dry manner.

“Ah.” I responded thinking that same shit storm was headed my way.

“Ah indeed.”

“Okay so lay it on me, how much shit am I in right now?” I asked trying to get a sense of how bad it was going to be.

“Well lucky for you I sorted it,” he said in a way I knew he was now grinning.

“You did! But how, what did you say, what do
I
need to say?”

“Okay, slow down there, Firebird and take a breath.” I did as he suggested and after a few deep breaths he told me what he had said.

“I told him that I got word that the Oracle had tried to contact you and told you to meet her at the Library.” At this my mouth actually dropped.

“You did what!?”

“Keira, please let me finish.” I nodded for him to, adding a huffy sounding,

“Go ahead.” When I realised that through the phone he couldn’t see me nodding like a fool.

“I told him that I got there before you arrived and at this point Pythia once more evaded capture as she must have suspected I was hunting her.” he informed me and I was starting to think that it wasn’t sounding as bad as I first thought.

“I told him this so that he thinks I am still hunting her and more importantly to him, keeping her
from you
. He believes that when turned up you were too late as neither one of us was there.” Right, so all I needed to do was come up with a reason I went to the library.

This might work.

“Speaking of Pythia, how is she?” I asked him and he huffed.

“Terrified of me but from what I remember, so were you at first…so no doubt she will warm to me, given time.” I laughed at this and rolled my eyes to myself.

“Yeah and it took me to fall into a frozen lake to ‘warm’ to you,” I joked and he grunted a laugh before saying,

“Yes and you must be the only being I know who falls into a frozen lake and can still find enough heated blood in her body to blush at the sight of me naked.” He said counteracting my sarcastic comment with one of his own.

“I didn’t blush!” I so did blush.

“Mmm.”

“What are you mmming at?” I asked him getting snippy and he laughed again,

“Oh nothing, it just took me back to when
you
were also naked.”

“Yes well I remember that was your fault.” I told him trying not to let my smile seep into my words.

“And I do recall doing so in aid of saving your life with my gentle touch.”

“Ha! Gentle touch my ass! If I remember correctly, you and that gentle touch of yours also broke one of my ribs.”

“Well in that case I can’t help you with those two problems,” he replied calmly, luring me into his witty trap.

“What two problems?” I asked biting the bait.

“Having weak bones and an angry husband. Good luck, my little Keira girl. Until the next time you’re in trouble, Pet.” Then he hung up on me. I pulled the phone away to see the screen and gave myself the freedom to laugh at that whole conversation.

“Well it sure seems we are back to normal.” I said to myself, knowing we’d chatted as if nothing emotional had occurred just over an hour ago. Now it was back to the angry man in my life and this call I wasn’t looking forward to making. So I clicked on the caller log and my eyes widened at the number of missed calls displayed from him, before I pressed my finger on his name.

It only rang once.

“Keira.”
The relief heard in the sound of his voice saying my name was huge.

“Okay so I know you must…”

“Where are you?” he asked interrupting me, quickly back to being pissed after his initial relief had passed.

“Uhh, well I’m not sure.” I told him looking round for any signs I could give him.

“What do you mean you’re not sure!?” He snapped out his question and I flinched. Oh yeah, he was majorly pissed.

“Well it’s dark and I can’t see a sign.” I told him and he growled in response.

“…How long until we get the trace?” he asked and I frowned not understanding what he was saying.

“Uh, sorry?”

“Are you by your car?” he asked ignoring me.

“Would you believe I broke down?” I told him sheepishly.

“For you, yes I would.”

“Draven please, I…” I started to say after he lashed out at me again and once more he simply interrupted me.

“You have her? Good. Stay there and don’t move Keira, I am coming to get you!” he ordered sternly and then hung up the phone.

“That went well.” I said throwing my phone onto the dash and folding my arms over my chest in a sulk. Okay, I got it, he was pissed off and yes, he was worried and had every right to be, considering the time was late. But still, no-one liked being snapped at and with what Lucius had told him, then other than going to see the Oracle, what was he so mad about?

Well it wasn’t going to take me long to find out as about ten minutes later a massive blacked out SUV drove up the dark road with headlights beaming. I grabbed my jacket, put it on and grabbed my phone, along with tucking Pythia’s necklace in my jeans pocket out of sight. Then I got out of the car to wait for the wrath of Draven as I stood at the front of my truck. The SUV came to a screeching halt, which if you asked me was a little over the top, and the driver’s door flew open. I was surprised to see Draven had been driving but not surprised to see the stern determination on his face as he stormed over to me.

“Draven, let’s just calm down and Oomph!” I shouted out surprised as Draven didn’t say a word to me but instead bent slightly, put a shoulder to my belly and I was up and over and before I knew it, instantly finding myself upside down over his shoulder.

“Draven, put me down!” I shouted at him but he ignored me. I looked awkwardly to the side to see Ragnar walking towards us after slamming the car boot shut and carrying a red gas can with him.

“Fill it up and get it back to the club.” Draven commanded and Ragnar nodded respectfully, saying his usual,

“Yes, My Lord.” And I didn’t miss the look of disappointment he shot me as he passed. I hated that look and couldn’t help but feel like a naughty child caught skipping school or sneaking out.

“Draven this is ridiculous, put me down this instant!” I shouted, knowing that this statement really needed a foot stamp to go with it, but given my current predicament the only other thing to do would be to kick Draven and right now I didn’t think that would have gone down well. I heard a door being opened and the next thing I knew he was dumping me across the back seat like a sack of potatoes and slamming the door behind me.

“Umpf!” All the air whooshed out of me as I landed and I pushed the hair out of my face as I sat up. Draven was getting in behind the wheel and I jumped at how hard he slammed his door. He put the thing into drive and we were soon off, speeding down the dark road. I didn’t think now was the time to comment on his speed so I remained quiet. Well, I did so until I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Draven this is stupid, can’t we just talk about…”

“No.” And that was it! That was all he said to me and I was fuming because of it. I knew he was angry but this was just adding childish behaviour to that anger, instead of trying to deal with it by talking. So I did what I did best in situations like this, I pushed and made it worse.

“Right, fine! Then you can take me back to Libby’s, because I am not going home with you when you’re like this!” At this he growled at me in the mirror and I wasn’t impressed.

“You just go ahead and growl all you want, it doesn’t change a thing!” I told him, crossing my arms over my chest and staring out of my window at nothing. We remained silent like this until I saw him turn the wrong way, meaning we were going back to Afterlife.

“You’ve gone the wrong way.” I told him and he continued to ignore me, which only managed to infuriate me more. I much preferred to be screamed at than ignored!

“I swear to God Draven, you are one of the most pig-headed and the most stubborn ass I have ever known!”

“I suggest you save your scornful words until after your justification for your actions.” Okay, so this really did it.

“You know what, fuck you Draven! How’s that for justification for your dumb ass!” I told him and the shock in his eyes was easy to see. Right now I just wanted to get out of this asshole car, with its asshole driver and run from it all. I was fuming and in my rage at being treated like a child, I also had to contend with that same tingling in my fingers. I tried to rein it back, knowing if I let myself get beyond that point that I could end up hurting someone…
Draven.

He might have needed a good slap of reality right now but I didn’t want to hurt him. It was so hard with his cold behaviour towards me, one that hurt more than anything else and I think he knew this…I think this was his punishment.

As soon as we got to Afterlife I tried to get out of the door only to find it was locked…again like a fucking child! I was almost shaking I was so furious with him and my heavy breathing was testament to that. I only just managed to refrain from demanding he open the door, having instead to wait for him to do so in his own damn time. He slammed his door shut again and opened mine, reaching out his hand to help me get down. I pushed his hand away and jumped down myself. He shrugged his shoulders and everything he did right now only managed to piss me off even more.

I started walking away and when he grabbed me, I snatched my hand from his.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Now who is being pig-headed and stubborn?” he threw back at me and I spun on my heel to face him, pointing a finger his way.

“Oh you’re talking to me now? What? Waiting for my justification because news flash, you will be waiting a bloody long time!”

“You owe me an explanation!” he snapped back and I laughed.