The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (58 page)

When I got back
into ‘Our’
bedroom, as he kept calling it, there was food waiting for me. I sat down and helped myself to the
plate
s
full of sandwiches, cakes
, fruit
but most of all a pot of tea.
I sighed with content
ment
as I filled my belly and sipped
my warm mug of tea. It felt so
good that it almost made me forget the last horrific twenty four hours. I snuggled deeper into his velvet covered couch and started to feel my eyes fall. I was still tired but I knew if I gave in
and closed them I wouldn’t wake again until the next day. Luckily I heard the door open and this made me sit up, with my eyes wide open. 

Draven entered and by the smirk he had playing at his lips, I knew he had seen me nearly nodding off. He took note of the empty plate and mug that I must have dropped on the floor. Unfortunately
,
it hadn’t been empty and now there was a light, brown liquid seeping from the rim.

“Sorry
!
” I said as I picked it up and removed a
napkin from the tray to clean
up the mess with.

“Why are you sorry?” He asked me in earnest and came over to me to stop my hands from rubbing at the rug that looked older than my family tree!

“Do you think you will ever get used to how clumsy I am?” I asked looking down feeling
strangely
nervous.
He knelt down in front of me and gently removed the white napkin from my hands.

“I find it endearing
,” h
e said before lifting my face up so that he could get to my lips easily. After another very intense kiss he got up and joined me on the couch, pulling my body into his.

“Now I would like you to tell me, why it is that a boy you classed as not having any interest in you
,
is coming here to stay and commandeering you for an evening?” This question soon had me in knots and making a face
like I was sucking on a sour gobstopper
.
I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer but I really didn’t know what to say. He had heard everything that me and Libby had spoken about in the kitchen, so now all that was left for me was to
do was
explain
why I felt compelled to entertain a boy
,
that I had once had a crush on, that now evidently had a crush on me, to my now new Demon boyfriend, who, let’s face it, had jealously issues.
Boy
...that was a toughie!

Oh yes…

This w
as going to be a long day…

Chapter 2
5

Finding a
B
alance.

The next week turned out to be a complete contrast to last week’s events. That Sunday only needed for me to smooth things over with Draven about Justin’s stay and he found the silver lining that at least he could keep an
eye on him with us having our ‘date’( as Draven had called it), at
his night club.
Of course I didn’t get this out
come without some extreme compromising. I had promised that I wouldn’t be alone with him and I would invite all my friends. I also agreed to spending the night with Draven a
fter I had driven Justin home. And again, o
f course
,
these were all very reasonable
requests but when Draven had made his last request which had sounded more like a demand,
it
was the one I was dreading the most.

“And of course I must meet the
boy
!
” I remember his words and the venom behind the word BOY. I gulped at the sig
ht of his stern black eyes glaring
into the distance of the forest floor. At that moment I was glad to have been on his balcony
having this discussion
because the he
at
generated from his look alone was enough to boil blood. Thankfully my skin was comforted by the early afternoon breeze and I could think as clearly as the cloudless sky above
me.
This was until Draven had let me continue with my endless questions about that night
’
s events, then my mind overloaded on supernatural laws. Draven had started to explain who the old woman in white had been when the clear skies changed to stormy grey.

“Potnia is an old friend o
f mine and was waiting for the Blood M
oon
or H
unter
’s M
oon
,
as it is also known
.
” He explained as h
e took my hand and pulled me in
doors away from the coming downpour.

“Blood moon?” I asked rememberin
g the full moon ringed red shin
ing down through the dome right before Draven had dealt out his version of justice. The memory made me shudder.

“It is when a crossing of souls is more likely to pass peacefully
.
” He smiled at my frown and decided to elaborate.

“Potnia was over four hundred years old and needed a new vessel
.
” Ok, so instead of frowning he found me scowling. 

“Body
,
Keira, she needed a new body
.
”

“What! So she is now walking around as that...girl, the child killer?!” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes love, but don’t fret. Her essence, her light, it will change the vessel
into something pure. We do not waste a good and young vessel.”

“So what happened to the girl?” I asked in a whisper, like it would somehow get into trouble if someone overheard.

“What do you think?” He whispered back with a wink, wh
ich slightly un
nerved me
,
considering what he was teasing me about. I just shrugged my shoulders not wanting to speculate. He grinned an evil grin and thumbed towards the floor. The message rang loud and clear making me shiver. He laughed once before enveloping my body into his embrace. After that he wouldn’t answer any
more questions I had and even got a little angry when I asked him about the room I had found with Lucius’s name etched into the walls. Instead he had picked me up and threw me over his shoulder before depositing me on the bed with a quick bounce before coving my body with his. There he made love to me like the night before
,
which left me struggling to get my breath for the next two hours. 
 

Thanks to Draven the
nightmares the night before were already becoming a distant
memory that I was filing away with
all the other horrors that were lost there. It was s
oon becoming an abyss in my mind…. a
n endless pit of dark
phantoms
that only found their way back to my active
thoughts
when I was asleep. Of course the proverbial king of these nightmares had quickly stolen the black throne from Morgan
and become the new jailer for this already scared mind. His name of course was once Judas, the u
niversal name used for betrayal. N
ow his new name, Lucius
,
was received from the Devil himself… I was starting to think that I had no luck!

I was now sat at my computer screen making my eyes water
,
I had been staring at it for so long without blinking.
I rubbed my forehead as if by trying to find a genie in there to help me with my report. I had so much college work to do, I was feeling overwhelmed. I had caught up with English and had finished my Spanish revision but it was history that was my problem and in more ways than one! The past had now replaced my fascina
tion with millions of questions. T
hese all based around one name…Dominic Draven. Every date, every major event and every catastrophe had me wondering where Draven was in the world when it was all going on and how much of the world changing events had
really been down to ro
g
u
e Demons and Angels.  This was why I couldn’t concentrate on the French revolution. 

Half way between wanting to
poke myself in the eyes for an excuse not to work anymore and writing about the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsing in only three years, Libby thankfully walked into my r
oom with a life line. A cup of t
ea.

“Oh the Lord be praised, you’re a life saver!” L
ibby laughed at my outburst which
had been a bit louder than I had intended.

“That bad is it?”

“You have no idea. Tell me again why I was persistent in going back to college?” I joked as I reached out to take the hot Simpsons mug off her. I looked down and blew on its perfect mix of brewed tea and milk.

“Oh you know, Education, Job prospects, oh and don’t forget, throwing a square hat in the air when you’ve finished!”

“Mmm, my favourite part
.
” Libby looked at
me as if she still hadn’t got
used to seeing me in such a good mood these days. I had overheard her one night talking to Frank about it
. She ended up
in tears and I was just glad that now people had exchanged tears of sadness for ones of happiness. I had spent to
o
long feeling
guilty about all the problems I had caused, well at least now I was making up for it. For
now,
I had never been happier!

“You working tonight?” Libby asked as she pulled her co
ffee
coloured sweater straight that was stretching thanks to the bump showing.

“Yeah and I’m staying over so don’t expect me home
,
” I said with a wink as today was finally the day I had come off my period. She laughed and said
,

“These days I never do
.
” And although she had said it in a light h
earted way, I heard an underlying
hint
of regret.
Alright, so
the guilt thing hadn’t left me completely.
She had turned around and was making her way to leave when I had an idea.

“Hey Libs, I was meaning to ask, do you have any free time next week? Cause you know
,
I could use some help shopping
.
” At this she whizzed round like someone had lit a rocket up her backside, only one that would make you smile,
‘
cause she looked like a child
did
when they found out they were going to a theme park!

“Yeah, I would love too but wait
, you only went shopping last week
.
”

“
Yeah
I know but
it
wasn’t the same, you remember me telling you about the designer shops right
?
” She laughed at the memory of my reconstruction of my famous shopping experience
with Sophia.

“I would have loved to have seen you in Gucci!” She laughed until tears glistened in her luscious, green eyes.

“Never going to happen…. But hey, I wouldn’t say no to the Gap
.
”

We arranged a day that I was lesson free in the afternoon and giggled a little more over my day
with Sophia, when this made me
remember something vital that had almost slipped my mind. It was a promise I had made to myself about the day
when
I was no longer held restricted to just heavy petting and intense kisses. I got up from my computer chair and walked over to my closet. I leaned down and reached
at the back for a stripy pink Victoria S
ecret bag.

I pulled out its contents and Libby wolf whistled. It was perfect and made me blush. She had always been able to do it since being taught by my dad when my mum wasn’t around. The
last time I had heard her exercise this talent,
was after a few to
o
many at a family BBQ party
. The flames had set the fence alight and when the Fire service was called, they met their match in Libby
,
fuelled on too much Pinot Grigio. My embarrassed father had to apologise for his daughter’s behaviour and send her to bed. She was twenty two at the time.
I smirked at the thought,
then quickly replaced it with hot cheeks as I looked down at the mixture of s
atin
and lace in my hands.