The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (74 page)

That’s when I changed my plan and decided to pull over to
wait. I indicated before coming to a stop on the side of the road. I wiped the condensation off the rear view mirror with my sleeve, all the time not taking my eyes off the car behind. I held my breath and couldn’t help shaking behind the wheel. It was only when the lights got closer that I realised I’d been right. I had been followed.

The car came
to a stop about five met
r
e
s behind me
,
but in the dark and this weather there was no telling what type of model it was. I leaned forward and my grip on the wheel tightened as I braced myself for my next move.
I could just make out the driver’s side door op
en and
a figure emerge
d into
the stormy night.

He was getting closer now and
I waited until the very last moment counting under my breath. One…two…three! And
then I hit it!
I pressed my foot to the floor making the truck let out a screaming noise before it snaked its way back out onto the road.
I gave the figure behind me one last look before speeding my way onto the road that led to Afterlife.
I couldn’t stop the panic breaths that fluttered out of my body and by the time I reached the parking lot outside I was a shaking mess.

I remembered this feeling well and since being locked up in Morgan
’s
basement I hadn’t been this uncontrollable since…until now that was. I used to hear his car’s engine and I knew when the door slammed shut I would have at least three minutes until he wou
ld come down to my prison like H
ell
’
s keeper.

I screamed out to myself “NO!” And hit my fist onto the dashboard. The pain
shot through my knuckles like it had done when I hit Justin but it
felt good and brought my mind round to safer thoughts. He was dead! He wasn’t ever coming back
to
torture
me and nothing would ever be as bad as that in my life again. And I had to keep a hold of that thought and get through whatever life threw at me. See
,
once you have experienced your own living hell for months
,
anything after that should be a piece of cake.

It was the first time I had seen the club closed and mine was the only car here. The place looked dark and eerie. In fact, it looked like the perfect place for the secrets it kep
t. My mind flashed back to the T
emple and
the horrors it housed there
,
making me shudder
. 

I looked round for any head
lamps as I pulled the hood over my head to try and shield myself from the lashings of rain. Once I was sure I really was alone
,
I
locked my truck and headed over to the main entrance. I ran making the puddled floor splash back up my legs and soon my ski
n was covered in wet denim and g
oosebumps.

The main entrance had been transformed into an impenetrable force, with huge iron gates that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a castle door. They were as thick as my arms and had deadly looking spikes sticking out that nobody in their right mind would have chanced climbing. And what good it would have done them even if they did
,
as the next door was locked up and made
of solid oak as thick
as the stone walls that held them.

By this time my fist was throbbing from hitting two hard surfaces all in one night. I looked down and even though it was dark I could still see the bruise that was forming un
der the moon
light. I touched the edges and winced when i
t hurt.

I rolled my eyes and said “Great, so what do I do now?” Ok, so it didn’t help my situation by talking to myself
,
but it did produce a thought. It took me back to my first day working in the club, back before the only things I knew about Draven was how
damn
sexy he was and how much I wanted him. Of course that want quickly turned to need and that’s when things got complicated.

I was walking around the building to the right side. This was the side that was close to the cliff face of what
was
the biggest cany
on in the national park. It was
also the side where the huge,
industrial bins were kept.
I
remember my first day when I
was taking out the “trash” as they say here. I not only nearly lost all eight fingers but also got locked out of the coded security door.

Unbe
known at the time, thanks to Draven
,
I had kept all my fingers intact. Back then his powers worked stronger on me than they did now and thanks to possessing part of my body for a short time, he helped me open the door. Since then it was like he had left pieces of him
self
behind and till this day I still remembered the code.

It was darker around the side as the trees blotted out the moon with a disturbing silhouette. They loomed over me like a cage and the rain hitting their leaves made a rustling that made my imagination go into ove
rdrive. Memories of the Gorgon Leeches Draven had fought
by the cabin came seeping back and I could almost see their broken twisted bodies crawling out of the forest, oozing black liquid and blood from the
ir
cracked limbs.

I was confusing the sound of the wind beating against nature for scratched nails al
ong tree bark. This made me
all the
more
quicker and thankfully there was a light that flickered on when I reached the steps
. The door was cold to touch and sent an icy chill down my spine. Thankfully the code was still
the same and after I punched
1452 into the controls the door clicked and opened. I didn’t hesitate. I walked into pleasant warm air but it was, for once, a silent empty space.
The room looked the bigger now minus all the bodies and when I accidently knocked into a chair the noise echoed, bouncing off the tall arched ceilings. In that sense it remind
ed me of
a church and I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea.

I looked up to the VIP but couldn’t see anyone there. I
t was as silent as down here,
and now there was no need for security
,
the doors and staircases were also
bodiless. For the first time the club
looked defenceless.
And for the first time
,
I entered the club using those stairs. These were the stairs that had started the obsession
what seemed like a life time ago. I had watched Draven enter the club for the first time this year and stop to look at me sat in the booth closest to them. Then he disappeared up
into the VIP room to never be
seen down here again…that was, not until tonight.

The VIP was empty
,
but no surprises there. I moved into the centre and found myself in front of the top table and it looked odd to
see
Draven’s chair empty.
Then something hit me like a wave I couldn’t control.
My breath caught, my vision blurred and I staggered back before
I
could regain control of myself.

I blinked back my fogged mind and focused on Dra
ven’s chair once more. There I
saw myself sat,
curled up like a child crying. I held my
self into a secure ball and
my face
was pressed
close to the
tall
back
, as if
I was searching for a scent. I blinked
again
and the vision disa
ppeared. What the hell was that?
Was that even me? In the vision I had short
dark
hair and looked ill with
misery
.
I didn’t know what that was but I knew one thing for sure…I would pray every night for it not to be a glimpse of my future.

The
huge double doors at the back w
ere the ones that I had been through a hundred times but it had never scared me before. Now nobody was around it felt like I was an intruder and in this place I was sure to get caught. What was I saying? This was like my second home for God’s sake. What did I have to be frightened of really? Draven was behind these doors and Draven was precisely who I needed to have it out with right now. So with that in mind I pushed with all my might thin
king that the doors would weigh a ton,
but I was wrong.

As soon as I touched them they opened automatically, so all my weight was thrown forward into the hallway.
I landed on the floor in a heap and when I pulled my hood back that had covered my face I found myself staring at some high stiletto heels that would have cost
the same as
my car.

“I forget how clumsy humans can be
!
” Said a satisf
ied voice that
went through me, mainly because I
knew whose voice it was
. I got to my feet quickly to look my enemy in the face
before giving her any more reasons
to play with.

“Aurora
!” Was all I could say at
being met with my boyfriend’s ex
, who
clearly wanted to make a hood ornament out of my head. She wore
a long slinky dress that looked like it was her second skin. It
had a long slit up one leg exposing
her stockings. It was a midnight blue colour which made her blonde hair look like it belonged to the sun’s rays.
She was astonishingly beautiful which made it harder for me to swallow.

“I assume you’re here to see Dominic
?
” I hated the way she s
aid his name, like she owned it.
Like she owned the rights to it, meanwhile I was still left calling him Draven like he was still just my boss. All I could do was nod at her
,
which provoked a dark smile to wriggle its way across
her red soaked
lips.

“This way
!
” She said and I had no other option than to follow her like a lost soul. We didn’t say a word to each other along the different hallways we travelled.  I couldn’
t recognise
where
we were
,
so it wasn’t as if
I could bail out now.
Every time Aurora stepped into the warm glow of the wall lamps that flickered against our surrounding
s
she looked like a goddess. She moved like she owned the place, swinging her perfect figure around with an air of grace and seduction. She would sweep the longer parts of her dress along with one hand like a bride on the way to see her groom. I wished I wasn’t so jealous but in the shadow of such perfection it was a hard pill to swallow.

Finally, after an eternity of feeling like crap with my appearance
,
we had come to an end.

“He’s in there but be warned
,
you may not like what you see
!
” It would have been less convincing if she hadn’t been smiling at whatever warped thoughts she had to go along with this statement.

“And what is that supposed to mean
?
” I said not helping that my hands automatically went to my hips.

“Only the truth…enjoy
!
” She opened the door for me to pass through as though making sure that I would actual
ly go inside. The door had been
keeping in the sound of ethnic music like sounds from an ancient east. There
were
a lot of people
in this room and the noise of
lot
s
of conversations filled the incense smoked air
.

I walked in to find familiar
VIP faces, only they were different
. They all looked happy as if this was one big Demon/
Angel party. It took my naive mind a moment to realise that it was indeed a party but one of a very different variety. It was when I saw all the naked bodies that it clicked, I knew where I was.

I couldn’t help but look even though I didn’t want to. There
,
my eyes found groups all mingled together like human jigsaws. Only they weren’t human and there was nothing humane about five men all sharing one girl. I winced for her but when I saw
that she wore an expression
of ecstasy
,
I didn’t feel sorry for her quite as much. She was lay among a bed of pillows and had five men
I
recognised
,
all from the same table at the club. Each one of them had a piece of her and was kissing each limb like she was a Royal.