The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) (69 page)

We were not only heading far from the city but also in the wrong direction. And it was as we passed one sign that said Como on it that it finally clicked into place. All those little reactions to the things that had been said, all those things I myself had said. I turned back round to face the driver and couldn’t help myself when I asked,

“Do you have a family back in the city?” For a minute the ‘Driver’ looked surprised by my question and then looked around before saying a sharp,

“No
.” I wanted to laugh out loud for the first time in a day.

“Right” I said knowing there was no end to this man’s lies.

“Did you steal this car then?” I asked making him do a double take at me in the mirror. Before he could answer I said,

“Pull
down the visor.” He did as I asked and when he saw the man’s family staring back at him he knew I had caught him in the lie.

“So I don
’t suppose this is the part where you pull over the car and let me go…is it?” I asked looking back out of the window, knowing the answer when I heard the locks click.

“No, that part is long gone
.” I sucked in my bottom lip and nodded my frustration, to hold back the yelling that I felt soon in coming.

“That’s what I thought. So what now, you take me back to that fortress by the lake and force your answers from me?”  I asked
, injecting a bite of vindictiveness into the part at the end, so that he would know I heard him when he said this to Vincent. I saw him grip the steering wheel in a crushing hold, only to fix the damage again…if only the damage done to me was that fixable.

“I would suggest silence right now
, Keira.” He warned and my anger wound up even tighter, getting ready to strike.

“And I would suggest if you want that fucking silence then you pull over and let me out of this fucking car
, but I doubt that is going to happen now is it?” I snapped back adding to the very few times I had actually said the F word in front of Draven.

“Careful
, Keira.”

“Careful
, Dominic.” I mimicked back, knowing how much he hated to hear his first name coming from me in anger. When I heard his growl I knew I had gotten to him.              

“Well
, I gather we have enough time for confessions Draven, so here’s an idea, you first!” I said after a time and yet another sign for Lake Como.

“Not now
, Keira.” This made me snap and my reactions couldn’t be helped as I leant forward and punched the plastic divider between us and shouted,

“No NOW
, Draven!” At this his head snapped round and he growled at me.

“Do that again and you will regret it
.”

“I regret many things when it comes to you Draven
, but right now, not one of them is showing you how fucking angry I am!” I said trying my best to inflict even the tiniest amount of pain he had done to me.

“I know you are hurt…”

“You think?” I snapped, interrupting him, knowing how much he hated this as well if the look I received was anything to go by.

“So therefore
, I will take that into account for the things you say.” On hearing this I became furious!

“I couldn’t give a shit about how you take what I say Draven
, but if I could choose, it would to be taken very seriously as I never took you for a disbelieving fool!” Oh this hit its mark alright but instead of reacting to his rage I was almost stunned by it. I mean why did he even care what I said to him? So without responding to him swearing in another language, saying God knows what about me in the process I just sat back in the seat and stared out of the window silently.

I mean what else could I do, or what else was I left to go on? It wasn’t like Draven was giving me any answers or excuses or anything for that matter. No
, instead I was getting a big fat nothing with shit loads of heartbreak on the side!

Once I gathered Draven had regained his control through a series of deep breaths and muttered words in whatever language sounded good at the time, he had calmed enough to ask,

“Are you in any pain?” I rolled my eyes through my growing misery and said,

“None you should be concerned about.
”

“And the parts that shouldn’t concern me…what of them?” He asked and I quickly made him regret it.

“The none physical pain...? Well, that I am drowning in.” I added looking back to the window once more, finding his own look of pain too much to bear. He had no right to it, no right at all given what he had put me through!

The rest of the drive neither of us spoke and I was t
hankful for it given that whatever he said was going to either put me tears or have me lashing out in a fit of rage. I could see us coming closer to the same place I had foolishly found yesterday, that was barely even a nightmare away. I knew I only had one last chance to do what I wanted to do, that was before I had discovered Draven was the one driving, taking over the poor guy’s vessel and using it as a tool to play puppet master.

I reached for my phone and scrolled to one last number
, making Draven growl when he heard who answered the phone.

“Keira girl, are you alright, are you hurt?” Lucius asked me sounding truly worried.

“I’m alright, Draven found me.” I heard his sigh of relief and it was one I wanted to be angry with but found I couldn’t.

“He wouldn’t allow me to contact you
.”

“I thought as much
.” I replied quietly.

“And now?” He asked obviously referring to Draven and the fact that he had not yet destroyed my phone in protest.

“Well, now I gather he has learnt that adding to my pissed off hurt state wouldn’t be the best of ideas right now.” I said looking at Draven’s glowing purple ring in another man’s eyes.

“I can imagine not. So the question remains, what can I do for you
, Pet? Because if it is to ask me to aid you in getting away from Draven, then I am afraid that would have to be a no.” I had to smile a little at the sound of Lucius being diplomatic.

“It’s not that Luc
, but I did want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead my little…” He trailed off knowing that calling me my nickname right now was proba
bly not the best of ideas with the level of shit he was already in with Draven.

“I just wanted to confirm what I think I already know
.” I took a deep breath and then asked,

“Did you know before you saved me…did you always know he was alive?” I saw Draven flinch and I closed my eyes readying myself for the ache to come.

“Yes, I did.”
I swallowed down the hard lump of rock solid reality and said,

“Then I want to thank you and tell you that you were right in the last thing you said to me when I left
.” I heard Lucius sigh before saying,

“Alright Keira girl, I understand
.”

“Goodbye
, Lucius.” I said and then hung up just as Draven was pulling the taxi up to gates that were opening for us. He turned his head and looked straight at me to softly ask,

“I have to know, what was the last thing he said to you?”

“He told me of the only thing I would find here.” I said finding it painful looking at the purple I saw there.

“And that was?” I looked away from him and said in a voice that held no more emotion
, but just proved how much there really was hidden there…

“A world of hurt.”

Chapter 61

Levels of Betrayal

Draven pulled the taxi through the open gates and I watched as they closed behind us, knowing I had come right back to where it all started. Till then I had been set firm on a mission to find and free the man I loved…but now that mission was over. In fact, with my first sight of Draven it was enough to tell me that mission had never even really started. I was like a soldier still fighting a war long ago lost and not knowing how to let go of failure.

The car stopped and I watched as the driver suddenly slumped forward and then off to the side, where he remained passed out. I looked out of the side window that now faced the main house and a figure emerged from the front steps. Draven was flanked first by his council and then some of the guards from Afterlife, some of whom I was used to seeing daily. The whole sight had me sucking in a tight breath in an attempt at holding on to my anger in place of the pain that wanted to consume me. But no matter how strong I pretended to be, tears still found their way past my barriers. They trickled down even as he reached the door and pulled it open.

“Come on
, Keira,” said a voice that wasn’t making it any easier to bear. At least before when talking with Draven, he had been in the body of a sweet family man, just doing his job. But like this…Draven’s powerful presence, his towering frame and his commanding voice, no matter how softly spoken, still caused me such a depth of agony that I just couldn’t do it!

“Keira, get out of the car
.” It wasn’t said harshly and not even with a hint of frustration, but there was something there…an underlining current lacing his words and it was only when I figured out what it was did the anger return full force.

It was pity.

I hated pity.

I loathed pity.

But coming from Draven it became so much more than something I loathed. It became a trigger. One single shot fired straight to my heart leaving nothing left for Draven to hold onto…ever again.

I nodded to myself
, knowing deep within my soul this was the end and all that was left was saying so, but to do that I first had to face my Demons, Angels and every other bastard left pulling my strings. Because this was it, I was finally done.

I wip
ed my tears away angrily and got myself out of the car, ignoring Draven’s reaching hand. I stood refusing to look at him but still seeing my other life for the first time in months. The very ones who had all stood up at once and left me, all because their Master commanded it. And now here I was, like none of them expected me to be. Stood outside the fortress doors after infiltrating the lies and staring them all in the eye as though we had not once been side by side.

Because
now I was no longer part of the family Draven had knotted me into, but I was back to being the outsider looking in. The one who had once dreamed of belonging in Draven’s world…well now I knew of the pain that lay waiting there, like a poisonous snake waiting to strike when your guards were down.

There was a piece of it in every pe
rson here and as I walked past, head held high with not an ounce of fear in my eyes, I knew what they knew. What their eyes told me, what my eyes told them. But more importantly, what their Master’s told us all from the very beginning, I just didn’t want to see it. This wasn’t the end because for me…

There was never a beginning.

I felt the air around me start to change and I knew this was down to the Master at my back. Most of his council lowered their heads in submission, but it was only Sophia and Vincent who weren’t affected.

“Keira I…” Vincent started to reach out to me but I sidestepped out of his touch and turned my head away, not being able to bring myself to even look at him right now. I knew that what was happening wasn’t his fault, just as it hadn
’t been anyone else’s fault who cared for me. But right now the wound was just too raw to find comfort in those that helped inflict it, no matter what their orders had been.

I felt the pain radiating from him like an ice
cold fog rising from the stone steps I walked upon. I looked straight ahead when I saw I had passed him and his sister. But I not only saw the entrance looming in front of me, but also Vincent turning away in anger from the rest of the group, thanks to the reflection in glass provided by the double doors. I must have paused for a moment as I knew that walking through those doors was the very last place I wanted to go. That’s when I felt it.

Draven’s hand touched the small of my back to motion me on
, but for me that one single touch, the first real one in so long, felt like his mark branding into my flesh. I shrieked out like I had in fact been burned and jumped out of his reach, still feeling the tingles that hummed along my veins, lighting the way for fresh pain to penetrate my heart.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed it at him, facing him for the first time and really taking in
his face. The harsh lines told me just how deeply my words had cut him, but I didn’t care! He had no right to that hurt, no right at all. He had caused all of this and damn him if I didn’t want him to feel sliced open because of it, ‘cause God and the Devil only knew how much I really did need it right now!

“Very well
, Keira.” He said softly as he must have known how truly on the edge I really was. I could no longer stand looking in those eyes, eyes I had once been mesmerised by, happy in the knowledge that I could freely get lost in their depths. I looked to see all the shocked faces my outburst had caused and for a moment I knew what I was seeing…

The prophecy was now lost in their eyes.

“Inside.” Draven’s one word wrenched me from all those faces that looked to have been depending on me for something I would never know.

I turned away
, gladly complying if it meant getting away from them all. Zagan who had help control my Hell’s army now looked lost, consoling someone I once considered to be a sister. Celina locked in a surprised sympathy stood next to Takeshi, whose disappointment couldn’t be hidden under soulful eyes. The only one not here condemning me was Ragnar and I found I was glad for it as I think this would have been the last of the torture I could endure before I broke, confessing sins I never knew I had committed.

So
, I turned away from them all, not in a dignified walk, head held high as it once was but now I ran. I let everything go and ran from the faces that would forever haunt me. Those judging faces that spoke of my failure in a way I couldn’t explain.

This
was Draven’s decision not mine. He had left me, not the other way around! I should have stayed and argued this point but instead I let the coward in me rule my emotions and my actions. I heard Draven behind me shouting my name but it meant nothing. I just ran, not taking in any of my surroundings as doors and corridors all merged into one.

I didn’t know where I was going
, but for some reason my journey led me to only one door. It was at the end and stood directly in front of me like a beacon to Pandora’s Box. It was the one you knew you shouldn’t open. The one you knew you should be running from not towards, but it couldn’t be helped. It was there in front of me and I knew that all I would find behind it was the very last piece to Draven’s lies…but still I reached out for the handle and opened the door.

“You
!”
Aurora looked up in surprise at the venomous word I spat out. She was sat amongst the broken room looking like a broken doll herself. It had been the same room I had first found Draven in and the only thing left in one piece looked to be the enormous bed with the strange rock wall headboard. I looked to the smashed glass doors that now led out to a crumbling balcony and saw a flash of my earlier self looking in. The agony I saw there was like no other and the word devastation didn’t even begin to touch the surface of it.

I looked back to Aurora
, who had risen from the floor and I witnessed her make her second mistake. She sniffed and wiped the tears away from her pale cheeks and asked,

“Keira, why did you have to come
back…what have you done?” This was when the bad stuff started to happen. It began with the tingling in my fingers, as a rage so profound started to seep up from the darkest place within me so that I couldn’t have controlled it if I had tried. I had no clue as to how it really happened, but one minute I was stood there taking in the destruction of the room and then I was adding to it.

Every broken piece of furniture started to rise from the floor in slow motion. Fragments of Draven
’s anger held prisoner under the spell of my own fury, but it wasn’t just pieces of wood and glass that I commanded…it was also Heaven’s unlikely Angel.

Aurora’s frighten
ed face was held frozen as was her body which my anger held in place. She too was suspended in a time only I controlled. Her tense limbs were powerless to stop me and I knew with only one thought I could have torn them from her body like a bully would to a spider.

Something in my head was screaming at me to stop, that this wasn’t right…this wasn’t me! But then the feeling of my heart being ripped from my body and used to paint this picture was what kept everything lock
ed into the space I commanded. I felt the power hum through me like a current so strong I had to control the urge to not let it shake my body to pieces.

“Keira!” Draven shouting my name entered somewhere in the shadowed corners of my mind
, but this influence that had me by the fist wouldn’t let him in. It would only watch as the reason for all my pain was held as my captive and ready to be destroyed if only I would give into the need for revenge…but then that word didn’t sit right with the parts of my brain screaming to stop.

“Keira
, listen to me… try to hear my voice.” I let myself be lulled into the bliss that was someone I loved.

“Draven?” I said his name and watched as everything I controlled dropped by a few inches. I heard him exhale as though finally getting through to me.

“That’s it, listen to my voice now… this isn’t you, Keira…you wouldn’t harm anyone, so let her go.” On hearing him trying to save her, that determined part that wanted to hate lifted everything a little higher making Aurora scream.

“No! Keira you ha
ve to try and hear me when I say that is not the reason I am trying to stop you from doing this. What you saw with me and her wasn’t as it seemed! Please Keira, I stop you now only because once you cross this line there is no going back…don’t you see, this is a test!” I heard everything Draven was saying and I felt the tears flowing freely down my face as I wanted so much to believe him but how could I.

Then I asked the only thing I knew would stop the madness that raged inside me like the rivers of
Hell.

“D…
ddo yyou…do you… love her?” My broken words finally made it through and only when I received his answer did I let the world fall and free them all from my pain.

“No
!”
Draven said in such a way there was no possible way it was a lie, not even after everything he had done…this one word I would have laid my life down for and trusted in it to a point where I would have traded in every beat my heart had left.

He didn’t love her…which meant what
he had done to me wasn’t all so that he could be with her. The realisation crippled me with both relief and confusion. Aurora screamed as she dropped to the unforgiving floor, along with everything else in the room, but when she started to say something, Draven just snarled one word at her,

“Go
!”
and then he caught me as I too crumbled to the floor.

“It’s alright my love, I have you now…I’ve got you again
.” His voice felt like tasting a pill I was addicted to. So long I had been without it and now I had no choice than to let it sweep over me like a warm blanket, only hoping it wouldn’t smother me to death.

“Let me in
.” Draven asked as he held me in his arms, pulling me closer to him and breathing me in like I too was his own curing drug. We were like two addicts who had been reunited with their poison, knowing how dangerous they were to each other but as with all drugs of choice…

It was only the aftermath that ate away at your soul.

“I can’t, not again.” I said sobbing in his arms knowing I couldn’t hold on to the feeling of his loving protection around me as it wasn’t real. It was all lies that no matter what words said or no matter what time lived through, one could never erase.

“Try… just try and let go of your walls
, Keira and I promise you with every vow in Heaven and Hell there is, I will keep you safe, nothing will hurt you here.” He said holding me tighter to him and I sucked in one last sob as his words alone did just as much damage as his action had.

“You can’t promise me that
.” I said turning in order to get closer to him, as I never wanted this moment to end, even if it was under these circumstances I just needed to hold on a little longer. Grip on a little tighter.

“Why can’t I?” H
e asked me, his words brushing the top of my forehead. I shuddered in his arms as his touch took away the last of my energy to fight.

“Because you can’t protect me from yourself
.”
This was the last thing I had the strength to say as he tore down the last of my feeble remains of the barriers I had holding him at bay. I felt his presence there take hold, flowing through me and just before the darkness he clouded my mind with overtook me, I heard his last words whispered in my ear, that I knew were words he didn’t really intend for me to hear,