The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Stephanie Hudson

  When I saw the car, I couldn’t help the sob of relief and the closer I got the weaker I felt. The driver must have seen me coming and opened both his door, got out and opened mine in the blink of an eye. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was of the supernatural variety, as what did I really expect, working for Lucius? Well, in this case, I could be nothing but grateful if it got me in the car quicker. I just got to him and that’s when my legs decided to give out. My nameless driver who had barely said two words to me, caught me before I crashed to the floor and picked me up.

  At this point I didn’t even realise I was crying as hard as I was, until I found myself curled up on the back seat of the luxury car, with a blanket around me. I don’t know how long I remained like this obviously in such a state of shock that I could only just find enough energy to keep breathing.

  I could vaguely hear the driver speaking with someone and I gathered it would have been his boss. This was enough to get me to sit upright and take note of where we were. It looked as if he had been instructed to take me back to the hotel in Milan, which was just fine with me. Given the way I felt right now, I didn’t know if once in a bed I would ever make my way out of it again.

  I felt stripped bare and left out in the wilderness, cut wide open and bleeding ready for the wolves to finish me off. Draven had filled my life with deceit and spun a lie so great, that I had believed it enough to go to Hell and back just to save him. But as the dark world passed us by and with it more time for realisation to set in, I was starting to understand the very depth that I had been played…

  By everyone.

  This caused even more raw tears to flow, but this time these were created by anger. Lucius had known Draven was still alive which is why I got that warning…and Pip, all those funny looks of sadness when she would see how I asked for help in finding Draven. All those tears shed in her arms when the waiting got too much to bear.

  She had known.

  Then there was Vincent. The day I cut my hair off and left it for a man I had just found in bed with another woman, after trying to convince me he was dead! I just didn’t get it, why go to all that trouble if all he wanted to do was reconnect with his Ex. It didn’t make sense and even more so given his reaction to me running. Why even try and find me if he didn’t want me anymore?

  There was a side of me that wanted to shout ‘turn the car around’ and demand answers but the torn and shredded pieces of me just couldn’t do it. The agony was all too fresh and I needed to sort my head out before ever facing that man again. It was as if all the questions I had before had now been buried by a thousand others and through the pain one word kept on getting dragged to the top of the pile…

  Why?

  So many whys.

  Why the Oracle lied to me and sent me on this merry quest of death, beasts, Hell and prisons? Had Sigurd known, had Jared known, Christ even looking back at it even Gastian had tried to warn me! But I had been a blind fool that couldn’t let go of the man I thought loved me with every fibre in his body, mind and soul…just like I did…

  Just like I had done.

  I pulled my wet clothes away from my body and then gave up trying to peel them from my chilled skin. What did I care at this point if I got sick with flu? I was too far gone in my misery to give a shit anymore and didn’t think it was possible for anything else to make me feel worse than I already did. Ok, so I know this wasn’t completely true, but I just couldn’t help giving in to self-pity, not after this killer blow.

  I was so far fallen into my Draven induced pit of torment, that I only just realised we were back in the city and making our way to the hotel. The rain still pelted down the windows, blurring my world, but doing nothing for my excruciating memory of Draven there underneath his old lover. Or was she ever an old lover…was it possible I had been played from the very start?

  NO! I just couldn’t think of it that way…he couldn’t have done that to me, but then if he could do something as painful and destroying as playing dead, then who knew what else the man was capable of?!

  I decided to try and conquer these fears before I would soon be able to add crazy to the array of raging emotions playing my body to a painful tune. I just couldn’t wait to get back into my hotel room, take a hot bath and never leave in the hopes of thawing not only my cold body, but also the icy layer that was frosting over my heart.

  My driver didn’t pull in front of the hotel, but instead turned down a side alley. He stopped the car and just as I was about to ask what he was doing, he opened my door and a hand reached in to help me out. I grabbed my bag and scooted over to take the hand given. I unfolded my sorry state from the car and noticed a side door that was open, so that light was flooding the industrial sized rubbish bins.

  I turned to look at my driver but he just nodded back to the door and when I saw a member of the kitchen staff carrying out a large black sack, I knew what this was. He had driven me round the back entrance so that I wouldn’t have to be seen by the rest of the hotel’s guests. I looked down at my soaked clothes and feeling the raw skin around my nose and soreness blinking caused me, I could more than imagine what I looked like.

  “Thanks.” I sniffed out the small word of gratitude and then started my walk of shame through the kitchen, thankful it was only the very few that would witness it. I was surprised I even managed to hold my head up high, but then a voice stopped me.

  “He will find you, you know.” My driver’s voice was enough to push a single tear up and down my cheek, falling in the path of many others before it. I didn’t look back at him when I replied, but instead looked down at my hands.

  “I know.”

  Once inside the hotel room, as soon as I managed to slam shut the door, I lost the very last of my strength. I slid down the door and cried until I lost my voice. I cried until my tears ran dry and I cried until it hurt to breathe. My body shook with violent tremors until I curled myself up on the floor in a foetal position and held my knees tight to my burning chest.

  I don’t remember how long I stayed like this, but I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion at some point because it was long enough for me to dream. I would like to have said it was a re-load of tonight’s events, where I found Draven in bed alone. Where I ran to him and instead of Aurora’s body he waited for, it was mine instead. I dreamt of his shock that quickly turned to immense joy, instead of the undiluted rage I had received.

  But my life was not a dream.

  My life was back as it had always been.

  Full of living nightmares.

  I got up feeling like I was just dragging around an empty carcass with every step I made. I wondered if this was what a soulless vessel felt like, before being taken over by a new host? I thought on this for a while as I ran my bath, going through the motions just to survive. I knew I needed to get out of my damp clothes which must have dried marginally while I found misery a comfortable position on the floor.

  So I got out of my clothes and stepped into the hot bath that made my skin itch. Skin I felt like I wanted to crawl out of it instead of wash clean.

  Once again, I didn’t know how long I sat in the tub holding myself, hoping that by hugging my legs this might somehow help in keeping me together. I remembered back to the day that Draven lied the first time to me and how that had felt. Seeing another woman walk up to Draven and act like she was his fiancée was bad enough but this…

  This might just end up in killing me.

  I got out of the bath and wiped away the steam from the mirror to reveal the evidence of what was left, once Draven had torn me apart. It was when staring at myself that I made the decision. I could let this man destroy what was left, which granted right now didn’t feel that much, or I could fight. I could fight for what I did have in life and that was the only thing a person needed… A family who loved you. Friends that cared enough to go against what they believed in, in order to protect you. A child that would grow up calling you Aunty Kazzy and could learn from your trusting mistakes. This was the on
ly thing that mattered to me now and this was what I needed to fight for!

  I held my hand over my image, looked down at the sink and vowed,

  “I can do this…you can do this Keira…you have to…to…survive again once more.” I couldn’t help this last vow breaking on a sob.

  After this profound moment of clarity, that came surprisingly quick, I picked myself from the pity shelf and got ready for my next plan. I first got changed into another pair of jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt that was worn navy, with faded white hand prints done in the shape of a butterfly. I also put back on my long gloves, getting back the lost security that I no longer felt from my so called supernatural family. That family had all lied to me, so now it was time to stop playing in this dangerous game and get back to the only family who mattered.

  I rang the airport and found that the next flight back to the states was in about four hours and after giving them some card details, booked myself on it. I then packed what little I had, dried my hair and left the hotel room, one that I hoped never to remember. I was just making my way to the lifts, when I heard Vincent’s voice from around the corner.

  “I will go in first Sophia, as I fear she will not yet be up to the happy reunion you are hoping for.”

  “But…” Sophia started to argue, but Vincent’s stern voice cut her down.

  “No! I could barely convince Dom to wait by the entrance. I do not have the patience to do so with another stubborn sibling.” I looked around desperately, hoping to see my next escape when I saw the clear exit sign above a door. I ran the few feet and opened the door hoping not to make too much noise. I dropped my suitcase knowing that I didn’t need any of it and it would only aid in slowing me down.

  Then I flew down the stairs, hoping Vincent would be busy thinking I’d silently refused to open the door. I felt a slight twinge of guilt which I quickly squashed down to being irrational. After all, the deceit from his side had been far greater and what else could I have done? I didn’t want to be in the same damn country as Draven, let alone the same room! No, I had no other option than to run…again.

  I made it all the way down the stairs before hearing anyone else entering the stairwell, thankful I hadn’t been on the top floor. I remembered from earlier that night the way back into the alleyway and at this time in the morning, I could only hope there was very little staff around. As I made my way through to the restaurant, thanking the architect that he’d designed the place so that I wouldn’t have to go into the Hotel’s lobby, I found the swinging doors into the kitchen.

  One guy mopping the floor started talking to me in Italian which I gathered meant I was in the wrong place.

  “You have no idea, matey.” I said making him frown with lack of understanding. I tried to think of the best way to get him to show me the right door leading to the alleyway, when it came to me while looking down at his mop.

  “I…sick…you know, bluah.” I made a sick noise and then decided to step it up a notch with the acting. I held my hands to my mouth and pretended I was out of time. His eyes widened and he quickly ushered me to the back, where he flung open the back exit…after all, no one liked mopping up vomit.

  I ran outside, turned and shut the door rudely, hoping the guy would just think me as a shy puker. Looking down the alley was a gamble that paid off, as there was no one in sight. Now, all I needed to do was make it to the airport and I was scot free. So, holding my mental barriers in place like a spiritual Fort Knox, I made my way to the street, at the same time I saw all the Dravens emerge from the hotel. Luckily though, I’d had the foresight to just peek my head round the side and then back out of sight when I saw them.

  Draven was once again looking for his lost human pet, but all I could think was how…

  The tables had quickly turned.

  Chapter 59

  Worst Kind of Walking Alone

  “I spoke to the front desk and they said they have not seen her come back to the hotel since leaving in the afternoon.” I heard Vincent relay the information back to who I knew was Draven, given the snarl of anger.

  “Find me the driver and bring him to me now!” Draven snapped out his orders and I suddenly both thanked my driver for the idea to bring me round the back, but also felt sorry for him once Draven had caught up with him.

  “Sophia, phone!” Draven demanded and I could just imagine how he looked, standing there holding out his hand waiting impatiently for Sophia to do as he wished.

  “Lucius… you told me she would be here and she isn’t fucking here!” On hearing Lucius’ name becoming even tighter entwined in the web of deception, I took another stab to the heart.

  “I want to speak to your driver and be warned Lucius, I will tear the bastard apart if he has harmed her!” I shuddered at the violent promise in Draven’s voice.

  “He never brought her back to the hotel you said she would be at, so think clearly old friend, as your punishments are mounting every minute she is kept from me!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! All this coming from the man who had done everything in his power to break away from me… And now what? Was this a slice of immense guilt that was driving him to find me? A sudden thunder clap above his head of conscious clarity at the things he had done to me?

  “I don’t have time to indulge you in your excuses or your feeble reasons, you were given an order and you disobeyed it along with your council! Now force my hand at leniency for you and your kind by fucking finding her!” Draven roared this last part and must have thrown the phone to the ground as I could see the small parts dance across the alleyway’s entrance from where I hid.

  “Maybe you should have listened to what he had to say.” Vincent tried for reason.

  “He had his orders and disobeyed them, as did you! I want her found Vincent and only then will I find the truth, when I force her answers… now go and tell the men to tear the city apart if need be, but just find her!”

  “Very well, My Lord.” Vincent said calmly, knowing there was no use trying to talk sense into a man whose rage fuelled him right now. There was a time, not that long ago, when I used to be the only one to tame the beast in him, but those days were long gone…so far that they were already becoming dust in the desert of a lost mind.

  “Sophia, have someone monitoring all transport, make taxis a high priority.” Vincent said as his way of parting, because after this I never heard his voice again, nor did I hear any other sound but that of a car speeding away. After they were no longer a threat, I lifted the hood of a sweater that Pip had packed for me which thankfully, was black. She had wanted to pack one that was bright green and had fleece yellow spikes that made you look like a dinosaur. Not a great choice for acting stealthily around a busy city, even if most of that city was still in bed, given the early hour.

  At least it was still raining, which would be reason enough to not look suspicious, but I had to be careful. It was still dark which was on my side, but I didn’t know how long I would have before the sun started to come up. Of course, the major problem I had now was how on earth was I going to get to Milano Malpensa Airport without the help of a taxi?!

  Well, I knew one thing and that was I couldn’t just wait around here for him to figure out I had in fact come back to the hotel. Sooner or later they would talk to one of the staff members who remembered seeing me or worse…find my poor fated driver. So, the only thing left to do was to walk and try to find some sort of transport that would get me there without being detected.

  This didn’t sound quite as simple when hearing the way Draven had wanted ‘his people’ to tear apart the city to find me, but I had reason to feel confidant if you considered that I had twice now been right under his nose and still I went by undetected. This made me realise just how powerful my blocks had become and all thanks to a short time in a hellish prison trying to evade an evil captor…

  It was a Hell of a year even for my standards, that was for sure!

  I soon realised the area of Milan that I had been staying in was in the hear
t of the beautiful city, but the further I walked, the more I became lost in the guts of the city. I started wandering down streets and then into run-down industrial districts, where the tightly knit neighbourhoods became less attractive than those in the city’s centre. Whereas before I was coming across stunning architecture and pale marble sculptures, matching the settings in which they sat, now those were long gone, replaced by what looked like the makings of a dangerous place.

  So here I was, walking alone with not a clue where I was going and not having even one person I could call that I trusted to help me. And the further I walked, the more it seemed I was leaving the regal part of the city behind me. I had been asking myself if I was doing the right thing by running from Draven, or was it just considered cowardly? Well, whatever the answer, the truth of the matter remained…

  For the first time since meeting Draven, I could honestly say, in my heart of hearts, I no longer wanted to see him, so damn the Oracle and damn the prophecy she spoke of! I had been played, simple as that and there was not one possibility that I would stand around and let it happen again, so if that meant running, then that was what I was prepared to do.

  By the time I had sorted out about ten per cent of the shit rattling around in my head, I realised I had walked into the rougher side of a bad neighbourhood, if the graffiti and burnt out cars were anything to go by. I looked around for the direction I’d come from, but thanks to being so deep in my personal downfall, I couldn’t even tell where that was. I had just walked for what could have been hours with no direction in mind, just one that took me further from Draven.

  Well, now that had cost me, as I saw a few homeless people asleep in doorways trying no doubt to keep out of the rain that had now begun to trickle instead of pour. In fact, I looked to be the only shmuck walking around in it. But I couldn’t give one damn shit about what people thought of me. I did however hope that the dodgy looking group all stood round a running car didn’t take much notice.