The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (19 page)

“Then I should probably tell you, if you gave him a lock of my hair and told him the last thing I said to him, he would know I must have asked you to tell him goodbye.” Aurora’s eyes widened and then she asked the question I knew she would, one whose answer she believed could save her life.

“And what is the last thing you said to him?”

“I will see you again on the other side.” She gave me a thoughtful look and then nodded her head in understanding before saying a word I never even thought she knew the meaning of, let alone be able to form the word.

“Thanks.” I seriously thought I was going to choke on my tongue in shock just hearing it and in true Aurora fashion she rolled her eyes from the look of shock on my face.

“Come on, it’s just through this door.” She said and the knowledge was like music to my ears. I walked past her as she held the door open for me which was completely out of character. I put it down to our sort of heart to heart, or more like mutual understanding on my untimely death should it horribly occur.

The room she followed me into this time was definitely one that I knew what this place had been filled with.

“Draven’s demon is in this prison block?” I asked looking at the floor and seeing the dug cell pits.

“It is in the end cell.” She said nodding to the end of the long room. Not that I had seen many cell blocks in my life but I imagined it looked very similar to the ones we had in the ‘mortal realm’. Of course both types held monsters of society, only these were more the ‘live under your bed and eat your face off’ than just your regular murdering kind.

I walked past keeping mainly to the side furthest away from the scary looking inmates that reminded me more of a bunch of captured, angry beasts. The long pale stone corridor was something I wanted to run down just to get closer to Draven’s demon but I not only wondered what it would look like but more how it would respond to me. I had seen Draven a few times when his demon had been more dominant and it had scared me at first but just like the rest of him I knew it would never hurt me.

So making the decision I went with my impulse and ignored everything unimportant in the room and ran for it.

“Keira?!” I heard Aurora shouting my name in question and multiple things all started happening at once. First I heard the grinding of metal as though a massiv
e
crank was turning and then overhead the sound of rushing water. I stopped to look up after only making it three quarters of the way down the cell. Then I heard my name being screamed by Aurora before I felt a body tackle me to the ground.

“Umpf...! Hey, what are you…?” I never finished as I looked up to find Aurora on top of me, pinning me to the floor and being silenced by the sight of a huge pair of glowing wings erupting from her.  The wings encased us both in a golden dome and when the water could be heard gushing from an open trap, I thought it was a bit overkill saving us from both getting wet. However this thought quickly fled when I saw the look of pain on Aurora’s beautiful face above me.

I wanted to ask what was wrong but the sound of the water was as loud as if we had been lying next to Niagara Falls. Then came the heat that started to seep in and suddenly it clicked as to what caused her pain. I was horrified and left feeling helpless as Aurora once again saved me and this time it would have no doubt been a torturous death. Thankfully it stopped not long after it started and Aurora closed her eyes in what looked like great relief.

Even after enduring what she had to in order to save my life she still managed to get off me gracefully. She even offered me her hand and I took it still in a state of shock. I got up off the floor and saw all her golden feathers ruffle as if to shake off the water that still clung to its tips. She could see I was about to ask so she answered me before I got chance to ask.

“It was the furnaces.” She said as if this would mean something to me. She held out her arm for me to precede her and I turned muttering,

“Alrighty then.”
I walked past the large trapdoor above one of the cells, one that looked to have little demons working their ugly little asses off. They shook off the obvious downpour and started back to their shovelling.  Water still dripped from where the two half-moon doors met and I could only hope it wasn’t something that happened every other minute.

“We have plenty of time till the next one.” Aurora said as if hearing my anxious thoughts.

“And how much is plenty of time exactly?”

“Well that depends how long you want to drag this out for?” She responded back sarcastically and I smiled.

“Ah, there’s the Bitch I know.” To which she smiled and winked at me making me laugh. I turned my back to her and continued down till we came to the last cell. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what I would find but then the realisation hit me like one of Zeus’s thunderbolts.

“You have no idea.” She said as I approached the edge of the hole only to find the truth,

It was empty.

I turned around slowly and the face looking back at me wasn’t one I could trust, even though it had saved my life. No, the face looking back at me said only one thing,

Betrayal. Betrayal from a person who had been waiting a long time for this day to come. She put her hand behind her back and I thought I knew what was coming, but oh how wrong was I. She brought the small blade that was like a shorter version of a samurai sword and held it in front of me.

“I lied.” Was all she said before she grabbed a chunk of my hair and then…

She pushed.  

Chapter 62

Fooled All Along

I fell backwards, landing hard at the bottom of the pit with a painful thud. I cried out and shook my head trying to make sense of what had just happened. I looked up to see Aurora stood at the edge holding a handful of my hair that she had cut just before I fell. If I hadn’t just felt like my spine had been run over by a Mac truck then I would have jumped up and grabbed her ankle. The bitch had pushed me in and the only reason I could fathom was that she wanted Draven for herself. But if that was the case then why did she save me before?

“Why?” I asked gritting out the question between my teeth. She started laughing and it was the ugliest I had ever seen her.

“You ask me why?!” She shouted down at me and that once cool calm façade was now long gone.

“Yes I want to know why! Why would you save my life if only to leave me here to die!?” I screamed back at her.

“Oh I am not leaving you to die you unfortunate and pathetic mortal. Oh don’t get me wrong, if I could kill you I would relish the act but alas no, he needs you alive.” I scowled up at her trying not to show any weaknesses and with it the haunting realisation someone else out there was trying to hurt me.

“Who?” At this she just started laughing again and the sound lashed out at my nerves.

“Oh you’ll find out soon enough, don’t you worry about that.”

“And what of Draven, are you just going to leave half of him down here too?” I asked hoping the only reason she had taken my hair was so that she could get away with bringing him back without him killing her.

“I must say I am surprised everyone was gullible enough to believe I needed you down here with me to free his demon. No in truth…”

“Oh this will be rich, do you even know what that word means?” I said hitting back and interrupting her.

“When it is beneficial to our cause, then yes, I know what the word means…for example, it is the truth when I now tell you that I could have freed that asshole’s demon from anywhere in the world if I wanted.”

“What!” I shouted feeling like such a fool for playing into her hands like this. After all every single person at that table had tried to talk me out of trusting her but I agreed to go only for one reason…I had been desperate.

“Then why…?”

“Oh come on! Isn’t it obvious? Once those barriers go back up do you know how hard it is going to be for even Draven to get to you? And now thanks to you he will think you dead, so cheers for that.” She said waving my hair back at me.

“Draven will reach me, you won’t be able to stop him.” I said knowing I was right, he would stop at nothing to save me.

“No but as I said, thanks to you he will think there is no one even left to save and besides, he has men that will come for you soon to hide you in another location, one where no-one would ever have a hope in finding you.” She finished by tucking my hair away in her pocket giving it a pat like it was her life insurance.

“So this is your grand plan for revenge is it, to leave me here, tell Draven I am dead and then what? You think he will jump straight back into bed with you?” Again with that infuriating laugh of hers.

“You really are one dumb bitch aren’t you?” She said shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe I hadn’t figured it all out yet. I really wanted to respond by informing her how she was actually the dumb bitch considering she was doing the classic movie baddie cliché when they tell the goodie all their plans. So what she didn’t grasp was that I was pumping her for as much information that I could by acting stupid. Because it all came down to one simple truth, baddies all had massive egos that wanted the last word and that last word was always so you would know how clever they were.

She crouched down low and I finally got to see what she had hidden away in her pocket. I gasped at the sight of my purple diamond necklace hanging by the chain she held in her grasp. Her eyes widened in sight of my distress and she smiled down at me.

“Who do you think was the one to switch the necklace in the first place?”

“You and Alex were working together?” I asked and my plan of feeding her ego was working alright. Christ what was next, her singing like some damn canary?

“Ha! You would think that, no I must confess he played his part well but that puppet Sammael had no clue about our back up plan, one that was sure not to fail and well, here I am, staring down at the proof of that…and I must say it does suit you.” She winked at me after looking round at my hole.    

“However it is missing something.”

“A gun?” I said and she gave me an evil grin, followed by,

“Oh no, I wouldn’t give you the easy option out.” 

“The gun was for you, bitch!” I corrected her wiping the foul grin from her face.

“You think you’re so quick don’t you, well let’s see how quick you are with a
n
Aeolus’ eye to keep you company.” She said and I frowned having no clue what she was talking about.

“But first I think you should see me follow through with my promise as I set free the Demon King I imprisoned.” Ok none of this was making sense and it was time to play dumb again.

“I don’t get it, you aren’t doing this to get back with Draven but you’re not doing this as revenge either, so what’s your angle here exactly? Because I gotta say, I am failing to see the point of locking up Draven in the first place if you’re trying to get away with the not so unique, crazed bad guy take of the world shindig…which by the way this shit is getting old and has been done to death! Seriously can’t you be like Gru and try and steal the moon or something?” I said and for once I was smirking at how confused she looked.

“Who the fuck is Gru?” She snapped as I had obviously knocked her evil genius mojo.

“Evidently someone shit loads smarter than you.” I responded like I was bored and hopefully buying myself some time. Time for what I didn’t know but hey, they always stalled in the movies and considering we were following the theme, I went with it.

“Don’t worry, that whole fucking Draven family will get what’s coming to them but for now I will play the game as I did when we were together and get what I need from having them around. But I came here to get you out of the way and I have done my duty in that part so time to bring lover boy back and you know what…”

“What?!” I didn’t really want to know but short of a few rounds to the head with a baseball bat there was going to be no shutting her up, so I played her game. She lent down further and said,

“I am really going to enjoy watching his fucking heart break!” Which was at the point when I lost it. I threw myself forward and jumped up clawing at her face and feeling satisfied when I felt her flesh curl under my fingernails. She screamed out and fell back as I too landed on the dirt ground.

“Bitch!” She growled and I laughed giving her a taste of her own medicine. I had never seen her looking so ugly and the angrier she got the more twisted her looks became. It was like her other self was the black and evil soul shining through and the beauty of the dawn was no more, consumed completely by the destructive storm building inside her.

“You think that’s funny, then you can laugh in the face of your lover’s heartbreak!” She said before smashing the necklace on the side of my prison and the thing shattered like fine glass. Purple rain fell from the two wings that kept it safe and one foreign word spoken and that storm she had been holding back exploded.

“Enjoy your Aeolus’ eye and I will enjoy my new lover, Seth is waiting for me…
be good…”
Her malicious voice trailed off into the nothingness that started to surround me. It picked up speed until I was enclosed in a hurricane that forced me into the centre in fear of being sucked up and away.

I screamed in frustration and couldn’t believe I had once again not only been captured but also trusted the wrong people. Aurora I had never trusted but Seth? I had thought after he had saved my life and put a stop to his brother that it meant he was on our side. So none of it made sense? Was this their plan all along, to wait until the last possible second to find if Sammael failed then to intervene and come out of it looking like the heroes?

Well whatever it was, I would have to figure it out later as I had a much bigger problem to face now and that was the shit storm that was raging on around me. The noise was deafening and my screams of anger could barely be heard by my own ears so I didn’t hold out much luck on being heard by someone who could free me. For starters I didn’t even know what this thing was and I was tempted to just see if I could run through it. However knowing this place I thought taking the more cautious route was my best course of action.

Of course this decision didn’t come to me in seconds but more like after being sat on the floor for half an hour with my knees to my chest, comforting myself anyway I could. I thought about not only what I could do but also of all the things that could be happening now? I knew that Aurora must have been in league with Alex at some point as she had been the one to change the necklace. I also knew that it must have been the key to unlocking his demon so I could only hope that by her smashing it against the wall it was enough to release him. I wondered if that meant he was awake now and being told of my death.

It was all too heartbreaking to think about and as I sat there on that hard dirt floor I went through every emotion known to man. I went through the anger, the self-pity, and the sheer desperation in not knowing if Draven was alright. The worry that he might not get my letter explaining everything or the devastation he might have to endure thinking I was dead. And I certainly knew what that particular pain felt like.

It was all these thoughts combined that made me get up off my feet and try something I wasn’t sure wouldn’t in fact just get me killed for real. But what were my other choices here…to wait for some demon thugs to come and get me, taking me to Gods only knew where. At least here people knew where I was, ok so they couldn’t get to me but I had to trust in Sigurd’s backup plan. Of course it does always help when you know what the actual backup plan is but that was broody, lone ranger types for you. They were a complete pain in the ass when it came to situations like now!

“Ok, here goes.” I said for no reason as not even I could hear myself. I decided it was now or never, so I reached out with my fingertips and closed my eyes…

Which turned out to be a big mistake.

I started screaming and this time it could be heard. The pain was unlike anything I had felt before as I had never had my fingers stripped from skin and flesh. I pulled it back to me and felt my stomach turn at the sight of my three fingertips topped with bone. I turned and bent just in time to be sick to the side, bringing up the small amount I had eaten that morning. I kept being sick with both extreme pain and the thought that my fingers were now lost to me.

Tears streamed down my face and I cradled my hand to my chest being careful not to touch the ends. Then the other pain started, again one different from all the rest and by the time I had finished bringing up nothing more than bile I noticed something was happening. The new pain I was enduring was one I didn’t mind so much when I found out the cause. So considering it was from putting my fingertips right again I slumped down to my knees and watched in amazement as my fingers reformed back to how they had always been. I was sure even the length of my fingernails was exactly the same.

“Well I won’t be doing that again!” I said swiping my lips with the back of my hand. I looked down and stared at the floor until my sight went blurry. But wait, what was that? I was staring so hard I started to focus on a darker patch on the floor that for some reason was drawing me in. I don’t know if it was just my mind playing tricks on me or even my hope getting the better of me but either way I couldn’t seem to look away.

I bent over and not knowing what I was really doing I started to touch it. Remembering what happened last time I got too curious this time I quickly touched it and yanked my hand back. Thankfully there was no pain, so I did it again and again just to make sure before leaving my hand there. I frowned down at the patch as if waiting for it to do something more and after it didn’t I started to get mad.

“Just do something you stupid spot!” I shouted irrationally wondering if losing your mind just added to the torture. I clawed at it hoping there was a hidden edge but there wasn’t. I banged it with my palm hoping it would activate some kind of mechanism, like something out of Indiana Jones. But no, there was nothing and the more worked up and frustrated I got the angrier I became. In the end I lost it completely and before I knew it I was forming a fist and punching the ground.

“You stupid, stupid, stupid son of a…oh…” I was shouting at it one minute ignoring the pain of punching it until one of my knuckles started to bleed. The second time I hit it some of my blood smeared onto the floor and after that I was left in utter shock. Because now th
e
deadly vortex started to disappear like a cyclone running out of air and with nothing left to power it, the tunnel of what had felt like razor dust started dispersing quickly.

Once I watched the air settle I got up on my feet and looked down at my hand. I turned it round and poked at the cut on my knuckle with my other finger. I collected some of the blood on the tip and brought it up to inspect it.