The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) (65 page)

So
, with my decent sized bag acting as an unusual survival kit hanging around my torso on its long strap, I got out of the car to look around the area we had just pulled up to. I had asked the driver not to get too close to the actual house so that I wouldn’t be seen by anyone. From the start it was pretty obvious the type of place it was going to be from the amount of private estates we passed on our way. The multimillion Euro homes could only just be seen through their gates, amongst their beautifully designed gardens and almost all of them exclusive, which translated into, ‘hard to break in!’

I got out my map, which the driver had circled f
or me and walked along the winding road which I could see was taking me closer to the lake. It must have been the last house along the road, which also happened to be the biggest, if the view in front of me was anything to go by.

The whole property was surrounded by a high stone wall that was sectioned by Roman style columns, each mounted at the top with
Goddess figures. From what I could see, as I passed by the guarded gates, the Villa itself was made from large sandstone blocks with parts rendered and painted in a pale terracotta colour. As I walked as slowly as I could without looking too obvious, I noticed there were at least three different buildings all surrounding the main mansion but all were situated on different levels. The one closest to the lake was the hardest one to see as it was blocked by all the trees, but from what I could see it looked as if most of that building was covered in ivy, reminding me of Afterlife.

I heard someone clear their throat and jumped. The security guard by th
e gate nodded for me to carry on and I laughed nervously holding up my map.

“Sorry, I think I’m lost
.” I said thinking how stupid, as the guy probably couldn’t understand a word I said, but then he surprised me by not only speaking English but also having an American accent.

“There won’t be anything you’re looking for beyond this point as its all private property…where are you looking for?” He motioned for me to come over and I gulped down my panic
. He looked like he was going to look at my map which, considering the place he guarded was circled, I didn’t think it one of my best ideas to let him see it.

“Oh…uh…that’s alright, you know I think I will figure it out
.” I said just as I heard a car coming down the road. As it slowly got closer I decided to use the new powers I was forced to learn and threw up every mental barrier I could, just in case whoever was in that car was not of the human world. 

I watched the guard quickly get back to his post and the gates started to open to let in the blacked out Bentley saloon car that was coming our way. I quickly pulled down my cap and turned just as it swung round to enter
, making the big flashy tires crunch on the gravel of the long driveway. I started to walk away from the car not knowing who was inside but willing my head to keep down the driving urge to look.

I had the greatest need to pull down on sleeves I wasn’t wearing or start tugging on gloves I had bravely left behind. So instead
, I held on to my map and pulled out my phone taking pictures of the countryside, trying to pull off the whole tourist gig. It was only when I heard the roaring of bikes coming along the same road, that I nearly dropped both phone and map. I looked back at the car that was disappearing out of sight and noticed no-one was looking so, instead of hoping the whole tourist thing still worked, I stepped into the wooded area and hid.

I crouched down low and as I heard th
em coming, I could only pray no-one could see me. I really wanted to look but knew I couldn’t chance it, just as I couldn’t do with the Bentley. In my head though the possibilities seemed vast and the list of bikers I now knew was growing. There was Vincent, Sigurd and now Jared’s lot of beasts…who was next I had no clue but the most important question remained, were any of those riders someone I knew?

By the time I had memorised
a good enough lay of the land, I had a firm idea in my mind of where would be best to sneak in. I could only hope they didn’t have motion sensors, cameras everywhere but most of all, nasty growling attack dogs, Mr Burns’ style!

I decided it wasn’t so much the getting in part that would be the hardest, although I wasn’t expecting the red carpet welcome, it would really be the getting out that would be the tricky bit. I had spent the rest of the day checking out the surrounding area and found t
here was a small gap that led straight through the woods down to the lake. It was from this bit that you could climb down to the water and swim round to the lakeside of the property, which just so happened to have a stone wall that could be easily jumped over. 

So
, the plan was to use a tree to climb close to the main wall to get in and depending on what state Draven had been left in, to get to the lake and jump in, then using the darkness as a good cover to escape. The best part of this plan was that the closest property to where the woods led to the lake, looked to be locked up tight and without occupants. This meant my driver could wait down the private road and wait for us without being seen, or more importantly asked to leave.

I was lucky in the sense that Lucius must have told my driver to do as I said with no questions asked
, because it surprised me when I didn’t receive any weird reactions to my odd directions.

Which brought me back to now and under the cover of night
, I zipped up the black hooded sweater shirt I had brought with me, as now the weather had turned a little wild. The angry clouds and clammy heat of the day told me there was going to be a summer storm tonight and I wanted to be ready for it. I hooked my thumbs into the thumb holes of the Goth style top and pulled the big baggy hood over my head to conceal myself further. I told the driver to park by the empty Villa and wait for me no matter what.

He nodded to m
e in way of acceptance as I’d learnt early on he didn’t really say much. This was just fine by me considering I had plenty to occupy my mind without having to explain myself at every crazy decision I made. I watched him back out of sight and leave me at the same spot he had done earlier that day when I was playing spy mode Keira.

“Well
, here goes.” I said quietly to myself and started to walk down the road until the start of the property came into view. After my stake out hidden by the bushes, I’d noted how often the guards walked by and knew that anywhere near the gated entrance wasn’t going to be any way I could get in. The only parts of the property they didn’t seemed too bothered about were the lakeside walls, which couldn’t be accessed by anything but a boat. This they had covered by mounted camera’s I’d seen when I climbed a tree to get a better look. This was also what gave me the idea in the first place as there was one particular tree that overhung the wall, making it the easiest place to gain access.

So that was where I was now headed, into the woods using my mobile phone scre
en as a small torch so I wouldn’t break my leg. I walked in a U shape which brought me closer to the lake and the side not as well monitored. I found my spot with only one small slip up where I had to back track and was soon looking at my first hard task.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my hands together as I looked up at the tree I need
ed to climb. I just reached up for the first branch and then screamed when the first bolt of lightning lit the sky, followed quickly by the booming thunder. Thankfully, the noise hid my fright and I held my hands to my chest as a mental crutch to help slow my erratic breathing. I thought, as if what I was about to do wasn’t nerve racking enough!

I let myself have a few
minutes to rebuild up my courage and then I went for it. I jumped up, cursing my short height when it took me three attempts to grab hold of the branch. Once I did it I then used my legs, walking up the trunk to get to the next branch. I was surprised as I made short work of the climbing up to the wall’s height and found myself actually grinning when I could swing my leg over the other side.

Once there
, I reached out to grab hold of the next tree that was a little more difficult to climb due to its lack of branches. My foot slipped just as I reached out but thankfully I caught hold just before I could fall, which ended up just scraping my palm on the rough bark. I hissed at the sting but kept going, not helping the quiet sigh of relief when my feet finally touched the grass.

I looked back up at the wall, just glad I didn’t have to go back that way as I knew I would
’ve be completely screwed! I rubbed my hands down my jeans and looked around to make sure I was out of sight and that’s when I noticed all the weird stuff.

All the statues that were dotted around the landscaped garde
n were destroyed. It looked as if it was something that had been done recently and definitely not through age. But on further inspection I also noticed that they weren’t the only evidence of someone’s rage. All the lights that should have been illuminating not just the garden art, but also for security reasons were also smashed. Of course, not that I was complaining, as this certainly made things easier for me and even more so when I walked around one corner to find broken pieces of what used to be the cameras.

This had to make me wonder who did this and if it was in some way to benefit me…did Lucius get word to someone on the inside? Either way, this type of destruction was obviously seen as the norm considering they hadn’t yet been fixed
. Either that or the people who held Draven didn’t fear for his possible escape. Which begged the question…was I enough to make it possible?

Well
, I was soon to find out as I neared the house. I kept in the shadows and tried not to jump whenever the sky lit up with lightning, hoping it wouldn’t give me away in case any guards veered off their normal route and saw me acting like a cat burglar. I walked further round, staying close to the walls of the house, until I could see the lake as it spread out in front of me. It was a startlingly beautiful sight as it produced the biggest natural mirror, reflecting the impressive storm above it. The show it put on was nothing short of masterful and dangerously magnificent, which went hand in hand with what I was about to do.

I continued to stick to the wall as I moved further down the gardens
, until I could see the last building that was right on the lake’s front. It was in a U shape and had a raised walkway all around its ground floor, and it too was decorated with broken statues. One Goddess’ head looked as though it had been punched through with an iron fist. If anything, it just added to the creepy vibe the storm produced for my fearful mission.

The building was set into levels and looked half built down into the rocks below, the same ones I had seen when forming my getaway plans. I also found the front of it had a number of balconies and knew when I saw them from the rocks I climbed, that this would be my way in. The old ivy that clawed its way up the side of most of the building would act as a natural ladder
similar to the one I had used once before back at Afterlife.

Well
, at least this one wasn’t as high up so that had to be a bonus. I was lucky that there were just enough lights from the windows above that I could see but not be seen. I made sure my bag strap was secure and started to first pull at the thick ivy to make sure it would hold. When I was happy, I looked up to the first balcony and just hoped the door was left unlocked. I climbed up to stand on the top of the balustrades that went round a patio area which meant I was already a third of the way there. Then I took a deep breath, grabbed a hold and started to pull myself up.

Thankfully it didn’t take me too long and I soon found myself reaching out to grip the edge of the stone wall that wrapped around the large balcony above. I had a sudden thought of ‘Again with bloody balconies!’ when a noise had me freezing on the spot. I heard a woman’s voice but it got cut off when the thunder came quickly after the flash. I looked to see
if there was some room for me to stand next to the glass doors so that I could remain hidden, but was surprised to see one of them was slightly open.

I decided I couldn’t stay here all night hanging on like a stunned monkey, so as quietly as I could, I climbed over the ledge. I made sure my swinging bag didn’t make a noise and I held it back as I stepped a little closer to the glass doors. It looked as
if the last person who closed them hadn’t done it properly, as the gap was just enough to hear voices though.

The light coming from the
room was low and flickering as though it came from a candle. Footsteps tapping on hard wooden floors walked by the door for a second and I held my breath, thinking I was about to get caught. That’s when I heard the female voice again, only this time, I recognised it.

“I am
here, as ever, to serve you, My Lord.” My hand flew to my mouth as I heard Aurora ask the question, but it became a true task of sheer willpower I didn’t realise I possessed, when I heard who answered her,

“You know what I want from you, as I do every night Aurora, so close the door and approach my bed to do your promised duty to your King
.” I sucked in a painful breath and tears clouded my sight, as for the first time, since the beginning of May, I heard the only voice I had longed for. The only voice I had awakened from sleep and cried out in my despair for. The only voice I would have bled for and the only voice I nearly died for.