The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Stephanie Hudson

  I thought I would see the flash or something coming from the end of a gun, but the only sensory encounter was sound, because before I knew it the world around us had gone black. The man above me had literally sucked the rooms shadows tight to our bodies and then I felt myself being hauled up into solid arms and carried off to only he knew where.

  The shadows followed us and the sound of shots still filled in the gaps as to what was happening. Added to this was the sound of something whipping out like a tension wire had snapped, which was quickly followed by a scream. Then I felt the man carrying me rear back a bit before it felt as though he kicked forward. Glass exploded in front of us, this I could barely see in the cloud a dark grey but the shards got so far and then dropped to the ground before they could touch us.

  I saw the shadows around us disperse with one step and it didn’t take a genius to guess why. The blinding sun was beaming down at us and I had to blink over and over to try and gather that sense back into working. As soon as I got my bearings I saw we were now on the balcony and the last man left was just coming through the space where sliding glass doors used to be. He held the gun up and pointed at us both.

  “Give me the girl Sigurd and I won’t put a bullet through your Snake Eye.” It was the leader who was left, as I recognised the crackled voice that was making me shudder. He was wearing all black like the rest and he had a thick belt with some serious weaponry attached all the way round. His face was like mahogany, red with thick scarred skin that looked like someone had taken a searing hot blade to leather. His hair slicked back into a ponytail and two small eyes pierced me with a sneer that also made his thin lips curve up on one side.

  “That bullet won’t kill me.” The man holding me stated and I felt the vibrations of that deep voice all the way through my jacket. The combat thug shrugged his shoulders before cocking the hammer and raising the barrel higher.

  “That maybe so, but it will slow you down enough to get the girl and deliver her to my boss.” He said and without fail my skin crawled. He sounded like he had been kicked in the larynx recently after being made to swallow nails.

  “Gastian.” Mr Deep Voice at my back snarled the name and surprise flashed for a second on the thug.

  “This is for my men.” He said before pulling on his trigger finger. Now, if this had happened in slow motion I might have seen a flash or spark simultaneously as I saw the smoke, considering I was staring down the barrel of a gun. But the only thing I did see was the man behind me when his hand shot up and black ink moved as though it was oil under water from his palm. It caught the bullet before it hit, in a fist of three black fingered claws and held it up for the guy behind me to see.

  “My turn.” He thundered and then the ink hand threw it up in the air and when it caught it again, it had formed the spiked shape of a crude hellish gun and fired the bullet right back at the thug’s head.

  It hit him dead centre in the forehead and the man dropped with a frozen look of shock on his weathered face.

  “That was for me, dickhead!” He snapped back at the dead body and I had to hold in the vomit at seeing a man on the ground with a hole in his head and a pool of blood quickly forming. I think I at least screamed at all this or at least my mouth was still open ready for it.

  In my utter disbelief, I was still in stunned mode when he pulled me tighter to his chest, which I could imagine was very similar to being held against a brick wall. He turned calmly to face the balustrades and he ran a few steps before jumping up onto the ledge. This was when I finally found my nerve to speak…heights will do that to you!

  “Put me down!” I shouted and when he led me over the edge I fisted my hands in his jacket.

  “I doubt you really want me to do that right now.” He said as he leaned forward slightly to emphasise his point. When my grip got tighter, I heard the grunt of a short laugh escape.

  “Who are you?” I asked for the first time, looking up and seeing him in the light of day. All I got was a square chin covered in dark stubble and full lips that curved on one side as my answer…then he jumped.

  “AAARRRHHH!” I screamed and by the time I had to inhale he had landed us both on his heavy booted feet and was walking round to the front of a building.

  “I really wish people would stop doing shit like that while holding me.” I muttered and thought I heard the light rumbling of his deep laughter, only I couldn’t be sure considering my ears were still ringing from my own scream.

  We got to the car park and I saw a large black van with blackout windows and it didn’t take a whole lot of guessing to know that this was the vehicle the bad guys had turned up in. Well, one thing I was certain about and that was me being grateful that I wouldn’t be seeing inside it, thanks to my mystery giant.

  He carried me closer and when we were round the other side of it he let my legs swing down from his arm under my knees. Then he walked away from me and closer to the van.

  “Are you gonna check for ID or something?” I said thinking back to my Columbo days and all I got in answer was a shake of his hooded head. He went to the fuel cap and pulled it out with little effort even though it was locked. Out here I could finally see the full size of him and it made me do a comedy gulp.

  This guy was friggin’ huge and trust me when I say that up until recently I was used to being around massive guys, Draven being one of them. But this guy was at least six foot six and had shoulders that wouldn’t have fit inside a door way without turning side on. If anything, I think I had just found a contender for Ragnar, but with this guy having a bit more stealth reactions rather than the man bull that Ragnar was.

  I didn’t really know what to say, so I decided that he obviously knew what he was doing and didn’t need little nagging Keira asking stupid questions…like the ID one. So instead, I watched as he held his middle finger over the hole to the tank until it turned black, the same as his entire arm had done inside. It dripped down like crude oil from his finger tip and after four drops it sucked back up his hand, leaving the tattoo around his finger.

  He turned back to me after dropping the cap over his shoulder and walked past me, snagging my arm in the process. He pulled me over to a motorbike I had only just noticed and this was when I heard other voices coming from the side of Afterlife.

  “There’s more of them?!” I said in a panic.

  “Yeah, so get on the Harley.” He responded, while looking their way and not really sounding concerned or even looking surprised. I did as I was told and ran the remaining steps over to the bike, after I saw six more men round the side of the building where we came from and once they saw us, they started running.

  “Oh shit!” I said and just before I could mount the bike, I felt a steel band wrap around my torso and he lifted me with one arm. I found, due to his height, he could actually lift me quite high up and with my legs kicking out in surprise, he lowered us down into the seat.

  “Umm… shouldn’t I…like… get behind you?” I stammered as I was positioned in front of him.

  “Why, are you bullet proof?” He asked dryly and then reached round me and started the bike until a deep rumble vibrated beneath me. I jumped when his hand rested in front of me, but then I shrieked when that same black stuff started to ooze from his hand. It travelled up and over the top of my thighs and half way up my waist.

  “What are you doing?!” I screeched out as the ink started to harden which ended up forming a secure seat that anchored me to the bike. It even ran down the bike and attached itself to my feet to keep me more firmly in place. Then we roared off just as shots were once again being fired.

  “Jesus!” I shouted as he skidded the bike round, causing a dirt cloud, bringing us low to one side. He pulled the bike round again, kicking up a ring of dust that hid us from view and thankfully from the raining bullets. Then he righted the bike up and steered us onto the road, leaving the bad guys running for the van.

  I didn’t think it would be possible to ride a bike with a person in front of you but the handle
bars were higher than the ones on Vincent’s, so he just kept me caged in his arms, while he rode us the Hell outta there. Unlike my first ride on a bike with a sweeter Angel, this one was a bad ass ride that speed off at a speed I didn’t want to think about and had me hanging on to a lump of black rock in front of me like my life depended on the tight use of my fingers. At least I now knew why he had gone to the lengths of securing me to the seat like some lava ass shaped saddle.

  We just cut through the tunnelled greenery the forest created when I heard it. An almighty boom exploded behind us and I would have looked, but the immense body behind me hid everything from what we’d left behind.

  “Was that you?” I asked…or more like shouted over the roar of the engine.

  “Yeah, that was me.” This was his only answer and also the last time he spoke to me until we pulled up in front of my house.

  Half way home, he had slowed down somewhat, which told me the danger was now over or at least I hoped so, considering he’d blown up a van load of bad guys. After seeing all that had happened in the last hour, I was actually surprised I was still coping without girly hysterics and lip biting. If anything, on the way home, I had somehow felt the urge to relax into the body at my back and I had to say…man I felt safer doing so!

  It was, however, when we pulled up in front of my house that the lip biting started. My mind started to speed up and I was racking my brain as to what to say. I mean, what was the standard procedure for times like this… ‘Thanks for finding me, snapping necks, dodging bullets, blowing ugly dude’s brains out and then blowing up a van full of thugs before taking me on a death ride home’…? Umm…I didn’t think so.

  He cut the engine after leaning closer into me and then the solid black substance around me started to liquefy and left me, flowing back to its master. I think my mouth dropped open at seeing it happen this close up. It was nothing like watching it when it came out of him, which just looked like he had a hidden tube under his palm or something but this…this was something else.

  The black substance up close looked like it was made from thousands of tiny strands of black wired thread that all entwined together to become sticky like the silicone gel I had once seen my dad using in the bathroom on tiles. This altogether folded over itself to travel back into the hand that mastered it and it soaked into his skin as if every pore was a gateway.

  When the last drop found home, he moved his hand away from the front of me and I felt him kick up the stand ready to lean his bike to one side. He got off and his whole hand circled the top of my arm, still with plenty of length still left on his large fingers. He pulled me up and I had nowhere else to go but up and off the saddle.

  I found myself looking up at him and my neck strained, it tipped that far back. He still had his hood hiding his face and his lips looked tight when he saw I was trying to discover who was under there.

  “Who sent you?” I asked frowning and tilting my head to one side.

  “That is not your concern.” He said and whenever I heard the deepest level of his voice, I would feel my heart kick up a notch. I listened and tried to detect an accent but the way he spoke he didn’t really have one. It was stern and it was precisely firm, only ever saying what he needed to, that was unless he was shooting back at a guy that had tried to put a hole in his… ‘Snake Eye’, whatever that was supposed to mean.

  “Right.” I muttered as I started to walk past him towards my door.

  “So what, you’re just going to keep showing up and saving my ass?” I asked not hiding the sarcasm, despite the fact that he had in fact saved me, my sister and my niece. I decided to put it down to being shot at for the first time.

  “Whatever it takes to get the job done.” His voice hummed in my ear and I jumped at how close a man his size was able to sneak up on me without making not one bloody sound!

  “What does that mean?” I asked on a whisper. I felt the weight of his hand rest on my shoulder first, before running gently up my neck and then brushing my new shorter hair off to one side. In doing so he exposed my neck for his next set of cryptic words.

  “Of course, it would be easier if you didn’t keep getting yourself into trouble, lille øjesten.” He called me that again and I still didn’t know what it meant, but whenever he said it was the only time his voice changed and a hint of an accent could be heard. It was just a shame I wasn’t the best at detecting where people came from, so I was still left in the dark as to where the biker dude was from.

  “What did those men want with me anyway?” I asked, still with him locked to my back and his hand still planted firmly at my neck.

  “Gastian never forgives or forgets and from what I heard, you pissed him off big time, øjesten.” He replied only to make my head spin even more.

  “I don’t even know this Gastian! And why do you keep calling me o..ost..een?” I said trying to say it like he did, only given his grunted laugh I didn’t quite get it right.

  “Maybe one day I will tell you, but right now is not the time, lille øjesten.” He said the name slower this time, ran a single finger down my neck and then…

  He was gone.

  After my mystery biker had disappeared yet again, I had walked back into the house and made myself some lunch consisting of two boiled eggs (runny) and toast soldiers, which I considered comfort food. It was the first thing my mum made me when I didn’t get picked for a team sport at school, when I fell over the handle bars on my new bike on New Year’s day, and when Bobby Carlson told me we would be better off just staying as friends. But the most meaningful time was when it was the first thing my mum made me when I got back from the hospital after the whole kidnapping incident.

  So here I was again, dipping make-believe soldiers into runny yolk and remembering the first time when my mum told me the soldiers were there for me and would turn the hurt and disappointment into yummy bites. Of course, I doubt she ever intended they would solve the issue of getting shot at, but I couldn’t say that it wasn’t working.

  After I had finished eating and amazingly keeping it down, I rang the ‘Catch a Cab’ number and booked a taxi to take me to the airport, after asking for my new friend Jax. It was then that I started packing and getting things ready for my flight to London. I had no idea what I was going to need, let alone how long I was going to be travelling, but the only thing I did know was that I was supposed to be in disguise.

  So with this in mind, and with how my hair had turned out, I decided to play little Goth chick. I was now thankful for the two shopping bags of the last of season’s line store clothes RJ had given me from the Goth store she worked at, ones she had bought for next to nothing and ones she said would have been a crime to leave, even on sale. What she hadn’t factored into it was that she had next to no bust and most of the stuff was far too baggy considering she liked her clothes tight…as in skin tight.

  I never had the heart to say no and I was thankful she didn’t ever ask me if I wore any of it. The answer would have been no, but now, they would be coming in handy. Although most of the clothes made me start biting my lip at the thought of wearing, I knew I needed to play the part, so I sucked it up and filled my big duffle bag with black, black and even more black.

  I was lucky with my footwear at least, seeing as my Doc Martins would suit most of the outfits, but just in case I packed the pair of Libby’s knee high black boots that I had worn at Halloween. I knew she wouldn’t mind as they were in the part of her wardrobe of things that she never wore but couldn’t yet give up.

  After I had packed most of my stuff I then went downstairs to ring Libby and have my last chat with her before I went ‘Travelling’. Once I had finished and received my early birthday wishes, I did the same with my mum and dad. After being told to be careful about fifty times and to make sure I wore one of those hidden pouches round my waist with my money in, I finally said goodbye.

  Now, I was stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil and looking out onto our driveway as the sun was going down over the n
ational park. It cast beautiful shadows and stunning colours, causing me to take a moment to absorb the idea that this could be the last time I saw this. I didn’t mean I could die or anything equally as morbid, although I didn’t think it would be a walk in Central Park. No, I just had made the decision that if this didn’t work, I didn’t think I could live in this town anymore. Just the thought of spending the rest of my life living in the memory of what I once had, wasn’t ever going to be the right life for me to live.

  So, even though I didn’t know where I would end up, at least I knew the reminders weren’t going to be there to haunt me for the rest of my days. So this was why I stood there and watched the sunset over a place I both loved and unfortunately…feared.

  I held onto my Homer mug and felt its warmth seep into my fingers as I sipped my personal nectar, when my eyes scanned the dark woods ahead. Once there I almost dropped my mug at what I saw. There were now two dark figures that looked close to the same size, that size being gargantuan and being obvious that at least one of the men was my mystery biker, but then that led to the most important question…

  Who was the other guy?

  Chapter 17

  Flying with a Clueless Mind

  I think I was still in shock and I was sure I would still be this way until I landed. From the moment I walked up to the check-in desk in Chicago O'Hare International Airport after a short internal flight to get there, I was stunned speechless. It all started when a smart looking lady in a blue tailored suit took my ticket and sent me off to the first class lounge. At first I thought she had made a mistake and when I asked again, she simply looked back at her computer screen and said,

  “No, no, it’s right here, you were upgraded, Miss Williams.” This was when the surprises started. After entering a whole new world into a luxury dimension that made me feel like a fraud, mutton dressed as lamb, wolf in sheep’s clothing, a fish out of water…ok, now I was hungry and quickly losing my point. But lucky for me, being in this new dimension meant being surrounded by the most luscious and mouth-watering food. So there was no thinking about it when I chose the fish starter and the lamb main for dinner.