The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (73 page)

We staggered over to the steps when the porch light started to flicker.

“Justin, c
ome on…we have to move faster, we
’
re nearly there!” I couldn’t keep the urgency out of my voice and he knew it. He started to mount the steps two at a time and I
fumbled around my pocket for the keys…Shit the KEYS! I had left them in the truck!

“Justin you will have to wait here, I need to get the keys
.
” I let him go and it was only then when I realised how much of my body weight he had been relying on
,
as he sacked it to the floor with a loud, creaking thud.

He looked exhausted and I wished that I could somehow have transported some of my overdrive adrenaline into him.

I ran as fast as my legs could take me but just before I reached for the handle I stopped.  My mind flooded with different scenarios. Could someone be watching me…waiting for a moment like this? I
looked round nervously and found myself praying to see my giant guardian watching over me but instead my eyes met an eerie darkness
,
layered with a heavy haze of fog. I swallowed hard and open
ed
the door which made me jump at the new sound. I was that on edge that my muscles ached from being tensed for so long.

My keys dangled still in the ignition and I kept telling myself not to look at my nightmare written on the opposite window but in the end I failed.
The words were still there creating the need for my stomach to heave
but somehow they looked different, like they were
melting into new words. The
y
followed an invisible path on the freezing glass and came to a stop when the very last drop formed the end of Draven
’
s name.

TELL DRAVEN

I stared at my window, holding my breath in waiting. I don’t know how I knew but I was certain this wasn’t the end of the message. I wanted to prompt it on somehow, like I wasn’t just connecting to an inanimate object, but more like it had been possessed.

“
Tell Draven what?” My voice shoo
k like my body
was reacting
from the freezing weather but I felt no cold.
That’s when it felt like the heavens
were the ones to answer me. With a flash of light the clouds opened and release
d
their flood
s
to the earth
, drenching every
inch of my clothing in seconds. I looked away from the window and up to the pouring sky, in hopes of some sort of sign.
However
,
it was when I looked back at the window that I found my answer.

EVERYTHING!

The rain had wiped most of the window clean but left bits that made up this word. Then I screamed as the window burst into a thousand pieces. It was like a firework going off and my car filled with tiny deadly shards. Thankfully I was smart enough to cover my face but one little piece must have slipped through because I felt a stinging to one side of my cheek. I could feel the warm blood t
rickle down my bitter cold skin
and when I touched it there, I found a small shard imbedded. I pulled it out and rubbed the blood away with my sleeve.

I felt like time was standing still, like it does in the dream world. I was seeing things that weren’t real. The rain from the sky was falling in slow motion
, slow enough for me to catch individual droplets like falling tears. I had an image of Heaven crying and I was the only
one
that knew what was happening.

I don’t know how long I stood there, motionless in my own living dreams but when the next thunder erupted it brought me around enough to move. I grabbed the keys and looked at what remaine
d of the window one last time. And o
ne last time was all it took.

There
,
in the darkness, standi
ng out like a beacon of Hell were
two red, glowing eyes staring back from the woods, watching this whole scene play out like a cat and mouse. I was the mouse. And being so
,
I ran as fast as any
sane
mouse would have
done
.
I held onto the keys like a lifeline and flung myself at the door with heavy impact.

By the sound of my
freaked
state Justin was encouraged to move as well and in the end all I had to do was drag him in the right direction and pull him through the door. I slammed the door shut
,
not caring about who I would wakeup but more concerned
as
to who I would be keeping out! I leant on the inside of the door and let my body slip down to the tiled floor. I joined Justin’s side and let my head rest on his shoulder. He too was panting and my head moved up and down with his anxiety.

“What was
it
? Why is this happening?” He whispered like the thing outside would still be there to hear us.

“I don’t know why but I will find out
.
” What else could I say? Tell him that this coul
d be the doings of Demons, rogue
Angels, Vampires or even my boyfriend
,
the
Supernatural
K
ing. What
were next, Pixies, Elves
and Goblins
?!
I didn’t know if I
could cope with anything else
, I think at this point if I me
t Santa I would have run screaming to the hills!

I needed to focus
, but all
my mind wanted to do was panic. I wanted to curl up into a little ball and cry but something deep within me told me not to bother. I was strong enough for all of this. Like I was born to tame the horrors in my life and conquer them. So with this in mind
,
I stood up and pulled Justin up with me.

He didn’t ask questions but he just complied and let me drag him up the stairs. He rested his arm around my shoulders and leaned in as much weight as I could stand as we took each step at a time. Every now and again we had to stop to both catch our breaths but by the time we got to his room I had to lean him full
y against the door frame to get it open. It took me by surprise as it flung back and hit the wall, making the hinges rattle with the force. I was taken off balance and fell forward.

Justin knew we were outside his room and with one last burst of energy pushed both of us into his room, making us land on his bed. Now here I was lying under him, with both our chests rising in rhythm together. I shifted under his weight making him speak.

“Keira
,
wait
!
”
His voice was urgent
,
but
both
soft and sour.

I looked from the side and into his eyes that were starting to clear. Like the storm outside, the storm in his eyes was disappearing. The black clouds moved like smoke from his lids and dripped down his cheeks like mascara tears. I raised my hand to wipe them clear but as soon as the black liquid touch
ed
my skin
it started to tingle. It felt wrong,
as though somehow
what I was d
oing was not meant to be
.

“I can see again, I can see you
.
”
He blinked causing the rest of the blackness to drip away, leaving clear whites and crystal blues in its place. His hand came to my cheek and he gently wiped away the blood that had dried on my cheek. It was as if he didn’t recognise the position we were still in, or if he, did he didn’t want to change it. He moved his fingers over to my lips and he traced them with his thumb. I couldn’t help the tremble that escaped t
hem but when he started to move
his smile closer to them, I couldn’t then stop the quiver.

“Justin
!
” I whispered as he lingered over my bitten lip before moving away to my ear. He was holding all his body above me like a muscular cage I couldn’t move from but at this point
,
did I want to? My quicken
ed
pulse was uncontrollable
and I had to bite down even harder on my lip to bring myself back. At any minute I would have to tell Justin to stop
but in the end I didn’t need
to. He reached my ear and simply
said one word.

“Sorry
.
”

And then with that
,
he rolled over to the side of me and passed out.
I closed my eyes and allowed one single tear to fall before curling over and holding myself cradled for a moment while I let the night
’
s events sink in.

I don’t know how
long I lay there in a state of
my own desolation but when I sat up again I was sure of what my next move would be. I left Justin alone once I had removed his shoes and covered him up with a bed blanket. I climbed the next set of stairs being carful where each foot went, making sure not to wake Libby or Frank.

My room looked cold and forgotten. Neglected from endless nights with Draven, it hardly felt like my room anymore. I could almost see the past of me still sat at the window seat waiting for another dream of Draven to come and find me.
Back then
,
life didn’t seem to be as worth living as it was now. I was just waiting in the shadows for a man I loved but didn’t think existed the way he does now. But there was one thing I could say…life was, without a doubt
,
easier in those innocent days of being kept in the dark as to what Draven’s world was really like. Would I change it knowing what I know now?

No I wouldn’t, was the answer to that one.

And with this in mind I quickly changed into warmer, more practical clothes, being jeans
,
a
black
,
long sleeved top over my ever more secure gloves. I then pulled on a hooded sweater before doing the stupid thing and leaving the safety of my room. I knew what I should be doing is getting into my PJ’s and
collapsing my sorry state on my bed but this I couldn’t do. I needed answers. I needed to hear Draven tell me that he wasn’t the one to cause tonight’s disaster. And I just prayed I’d hear what I wanted to hear.

The worse part of this plan was knowing I was going to have to go back outside and face whatever it was that was out there. Hopefully
,
it would be gone by now and all I would have to do was get back to the club without another incident to push me over the mental edge. Luckily the stormed had calmed but it was still raining cats and dogs, so I grabbed a jacket that was hung up by the front door and slipped it on before braving the night.

I turned the key like it was a grenade and held my breath like death was going to be the one meeting me on the other side. So when I opened the door I couldn’t help the sigh of relief that left my body.

I saw my truck sitting there like the finish line and after quickly locking the door, I ran through the rain so fast I
was sure there would be a streamline behind me. I got to my truck but only when I reached for the handle did I realise how much I had been shaking the whole way. I couldn’t grip it at first and closed my eyes in frustration.  Seconds ticked by before I finally got a hold of myself and with a steadier hand open
ed
the door.

I automatically went to brush the glass from my seat but found it strange when I felt nothing. I jumped in and slammed the door shut when I notice
d
the window was stil
l intact.
How was that possible....
did I dream the whole thing? I found myself leaning over and feeling it for any
lo
o
se shards or
even cracks
,
but there was nothing.

Half way to Afterlife I was still shaking my head in disbelief.
I was now starting to feel like I had lost it again…was I
really going crazy this time? As
this thought
entered my mind
I could no longer
hold back the tears that mirrored the windscreen, making my vision
all the more
for
dangerous
driving
. The rain pelted against the glass faster than the wipers could cope with and I knew that if this carried on I would miss the turning.
I decided to pull over and
get a hold of myself for a minute.

I looked in my mirrors before stopping, which is when I saw that I was being followed. Lights loomed behind me like a warning glow and I knew that I couldn’t stop now. I had to carry on and get there as fast as I could. I couldn’t be sure I was being followed but why would another car be out at this time and
trying to
match
my speed? I don’t know, maybe I was just being paranoid but I didn’t want to take any chances after what I had seen tonight.