The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Stephanie Hudson

  I saw about three guys stood there smoking what I quickly smelled was weed and one guy inside the car who was lighting something that looked like a crack pipe. Music I didn’t recognise blared from the speakers and I looked around to notice there was no one else in sight. The car was parked next to what looked like an abandoned warehouse and I could only hope they were more interested in the bottles of spirits they were swigging back than what I was doing.

  I knew I had two options, one was to turn around and run, which would no doubt end up drawing their attention. Then there was my other option, which was to just walk past as quickly as possible, in hopes they wouldn’t take any notice of me. The deciding factor turned out to be two taxis that I saw not that far away. Just down the road they had both parked up and were chatting, smoking and obviously having a break.

  I knew Sophia was going to be monitoring the taxis, but at this point I really didn’t care, just so long as it got me out of this part of the city! So this was where I made my millionth mistake in life.

  As soon as I started walking past, one of them must have spotted me because they began shouting things in Italian. I just ignored them and tried to walk even faster, ready to wave to the taxi drivers if they would just look up.

  “Dove vai, vieni a giocare con noi” (Means ‘Where are you going, come play with us’ In Italian)

  I heard their shouts getting closer, so I decided to make a run for it. The taxi drivers weren’t that far away now and if I made enough of a racket then surely they would look up…That was until I felt a hand clamp over my mouth.

  I began struggling as soon as I felt it, but could do nothing to stop them as my body was being dragged backwards. This could not be happening! I tried to contain my panic and think about how I was going to get out of this, but right now the only thought swamping my rational mind was utter disbelief that this was actually happening to me…again! I watched with horror in my eyes as the taxi drivers went from my sight and not once did they even look up.

  “Portala qui e cerchiamo di avere qualche divertimento” (Means ‘Bring her here and lets have some fun’ in Italian) I could hear the others getting excited behind me and the sound of the last one getting out of the car as the door slammed shut. Then I was pushed away by the one who had his hand held over my mouth, using the back of my head to do so. I fell forward on a failed step but managed to right myself before I went down. I quickly spun round to face my attackers to find them advancing.

  “Vieni qui e succhiare il cazzo!” (Means ‘Come here and suck my cock!’ in Italian) I didn’t know what the one on the left was saying but considering he had grabbed the front of his pants I could only guess.

  “Fuck you!” I shouted knowing the F word was universal when said in anger.

  “Look we found English Bitch, Mi capita di andare per primo.” (mean’s ‘I get to go first’) Another one said first in broken English then something I couldn’t understand in Italian. I started backing up as they all started to come closer and the scrawny one on the left finished the dregs of his liquor bottle before throwing it to smash on the ground. This was when I ran, which was looking to be the theme of the night.

  I felt one of them grab me from behind, this time by the hair and I screamed out at the pain inflicted to my scalp. I let my natural reactions take over and turned in his hold biting through the hurt. I then grabbed his shoulders to me and kneed him as hard as I could in the groin. He screamed out and dropped to the floor cupping his injured package. Well, that was one down but as the other three ran for me, I doubted I was strong enough to put the rest down, no matter what Draven had taught me in his training room.

  I was left backing up again as they approached, knowing out running them was no longer a good plan. Now it was the scrawny one’s turn to try it on, only he wasn’t going to make the same mistake as his friend on the floor groaning. He motioned for the other two to get me from the sides and for once I just wished it was like it was in the movies. You know, when the main dude is surrounded and staring at ridiculous odds of surviving. But of course, the dude is also a master at every martial art known to man! Of course it always helps when each of the bad guys just comes at him one at a time, like they had collected a bloody ticket at the meat counter…I mean why don’t they just all jump the guy all at once?

  Well, I wasn’t the main combat ninja dude and this wasn’t a movie, which translated into, I was in big shit as all three of them went for me all at once. The flight mode kicked in and I tried to get away only to be roughly pulled and pushed, grabbed and slapped to where they wanted me. Hands holding me everywhere bit into my flesh and dragged me back over to the car where the rock music created the perfect base for the horror that I knew was about to happen.

  I heard the bark of an order in Italian, just before I was spun and slammed into the side of the car. Pain rippled up my back as the unforgiving metal hit me and I looked up in time to see the one I had kneed was now back on his feet. He stormed over to where the others had me pinned to the car by my arms. I kicked out and watched as he avoid the kick only to see his fist coming at me full force before it connected with the side of my face.

  “English Bitch!” He roared at me, hitting me again, only this time I felt my lip burst and my mouth quickly filled with the metallic taste of blood. The throbbing exploded across my cheek, making me feel sick as my brain felt rattled inside my skull. I tried not to give in to the feeling and soon panic over-rode any other sensory action, as I saw the guy motion to his friends again.

  I watched horrified as he started to unzip his jeans, freeing his excited erection. This was when I went crazy, bucking and kicking so much it was a mission for his friends to hold me still. He tried to step up to me but I screamed and spat the blood from my mouth in his face, doing anything in my power to keep him from me. He hit me again but this did nothing in stopping the rage that was building up in me. If only I could free the power I had somewhere hidden deep down in me as I had done before. But there was no tingling of fingertips or supernatural aid that came to help me.

  I was all alone in this.

  In the end my soon to be rapist must have thought it too risky to get his kicks this way. I was grabbed roughly by the hair once more and with the help from the others together, they managed to get me to the front of the car. I was pushed over it and this time only held there by one guy as he stepped up behind me. My hips dug into the car and I decided my only chance was to become still, as though I had accepted my fate.

  “Now you want my cock, yes?” He said grinding his erection into my behind. I felt him reach round to undo my jeans and as he did this he leant his chest over my back to whisper in my ear.

  “I give you my cock, Bitch.” He snarled and just as his hand dipped down to touch me in my open jeans, I made my move.

  “Yeah…well this Bitch gives great head!” I said as I slammed my head back as hard as I could just at the right moment, feeling his nose crack on the back of my head. In his shock and agony at having his nose broken he let me go. I wasted no time in bolting up and running away from the car.

  I must have made it all of five feet when I felt myself being tackled to the ground. I felt the body on top of me try to turn me and just before I let him I grabbed a fistful of gravel. As soon as he got me round I threw the stony handful in his face and took his surprise to twist his body off mine. I scrambled up and delivered two kicks to his ribcage before turning to face the other two that had left their bleeding friend to get me. Their lustful faces were now a thing of the past as only revenge entered their minds when they saw me.

  “COME ON YOU BASTARDS!” I yelled out knowing the only thing left for me was to fight till the bitter end. I saw that the one with the broken nose had clearly had enough of me as he had slumped down by the car. The other one cradled his ribs and a nasty scratch across his forehead running into his eye. Looking at him I think I could also count him out of the fight, which just left these two who had been the ones to hold me down at the car.

 
I kept backing up so as to prolong the time they got to me, hoping for a plan to formulate but when I saw one of them produce a small blade from their jacket, I knew I was screwed! I tried not to let him see the panic on my face but from his smile I had failed. I retreated so far that I knew I would soon feel the warehouse wall at my back but with that dirty looking knife coming closer I was all out of options…or was I?

  Just as they both ran at me, I gave it my last shot at survival. I not only dropped all my mental barriers but I pushed on them so hard I hoped it would have the opposite effect on keeping Draven out.

  “DRAVEN!!!!!” I screamed out at the heavens, smashing my walls and feeling the pulse of power that I released along with it. That’s when I felt the first slice of the blade that cut along my belly as the guy had slashed out at me before fully reaching me. My hand went to the hurt but then right back up again blocking the first hit. I even repeated what I had been taught by Draven, saying ‘High Parry’ in my mind. The other guy tried once again with his knife but this time in a stab motion, telling me this wasn’t just an attack on an innocent woman anymore, this had now quickly switched to murder.

  I was thankful for my quick reactions as I dodged the damaging blow and the momentum of his actions took him forward into the side of the warehouse. Meanwhile, I foolishly took my eyes off the other guy and felt a stomach punch that hit closer to the side. It hurt but at least didn’t hit its mark in winding me. I was then pushed until I landed side on into the warehouse wall putting me at a dead end I couldn’t afford to be in.

  Before I had a second to get out of it they were both on me and the fight ended with the blade held under my neck. I knew this was it, as one wrong move from me and it was all over. The guy smiled at me and I could smell the stale taste of whisky he had been drinking all night. His eyes were red rimmed and erratic as the drugs coursed through his veins, pumping him full of falsehoods that told him he was doing the right thing.

  “Dead Bitch!” He said and I knew this was it. I sent out that last of the love not broken to those I cared for and waited for the pain to come.

  “Che cosa è stato?” (Means ‘What was that?”) I heard the guy next to me say something I couldn’t understand and looked to see something rumbling over our heads. The early pre-dawn was thundering as I saw the darker shadow descending at a speed only I had witnessed before, giving way to the landing of a demon I would know anywhere.

  “Oh, you are all so dead.” I informed him just before the screaming erupted, this time though, it didn’t come from me. The guy next to me, who had been aiding his friend in holding me to the wall, found his body ripped from the spot in a blur of shadows. My eyes weren’t powerful enough to see the actions clear enough, but all I knew was that one minute he was next to me and then he was on the ground with a broken neck. I almost gagged as I saw his head facing the wrong way, staring at me with dead eyes, that put a whole new meaning to the saying ‘eyes in the back of your head’.

  The two I had left injured on the floor were screaming at the sight of what true murder looked like. The guy who still had me pinned by the throat looked around frantically and just before the pressure became deadly, the blade crumbled into metal dust. I looked past the face of pure terror and right into one that truly created it.

  Draven stood behind my attacker with not a single ounce of Angel in sight. It looked as if he had shot right out of Hell itself with the flames still engulfing his body. Eyes swimming red like the blood he would soon find covering his hands, burned into mine. I couldn’t believe this was to be our first moment together after all this time. This was to be the first face of Draven I was to see as we reunited once again. As heartbreaking as seeing him for the first time in Aurora’s arms was, I couldn’t tell which was more so…now or then.

  “Draven.” I whispered his name like a prayer that had come true. This was when he snarled and his hand shot out around the guy’s neck. My eyes quickly left Draven’s demon form and found my attacker’s eyes that were now bulging from the pressure. They haemorrhaged, turning frightened white into blood red making me once again want to be sick.

  Draven moved his arm out to the side taking the body he held with it so that soon the guy was dangling by his neck in Draven’s grasp. He tried pointlessly to claw at his hand, but it was no use. This move left Draven and me face to face without anything between us. I saw the flicker of emotion, one other than rage, flash across his face and for a single moment the eyes that were staring back at me went purple.

  I was too frightened to move, as it was like looking in the eyes of a rampant beast you knew could erupt into killer at any moment…and I was right. His gaze dipped down to do a scan of my body and I quickly knew what he would find. A bruised cheek and a bloody lip was one thing but a bloody slash across my stomach and jeans that were still undone from my rape attempt was another.

  His eyes took in my state and within seconds knew what it all meant and so did I. These men were not leaving this world without being punished. Draven’s eyes told me as much when they exploded back into his demon side and he roared his head back, bellowing his fury with his wings bursting backwards.

  “Which one?” His demon asked me making me shake with a fear deeper than one I’d known. I had seen Draven’s demon many times before but never like this… never before so out of control that the very flames around him hummed and vibrated with power. It even looked as though he was growing. Like Hell’s trapped energy inside him couldn’t be contained to the body it had been given.

  “Draven I…”

  “WHICH ONE?” He thundered back at me cutting me off. I knew I had no choice, as these men’s actions had already condemned themselves to death, but the one I nodded at now would no doubt receive whatever horrors he could conjure up in his nightmares…that and more.

  So I did the only thing I could do, which was nod at the guy with the broken nose who was trying to get in the car to make his getaway. Draven looked behind to see for himself, all the while still holding his arm out straight with a human dangling from it. He nodded and then the engine suddenly blew up, knocking the guy back just as he opened the driver’s door.

  Draven seemed satisfied enough that he wasn’t going anywhere for now, so looked back at me one last time. Then he gave me my last order speaking the only word needed,

  “Go!” I didn’t need to be told twice as I held on to the bag at my side and ran out of there as fast as my frightened legs could carry me. Draven had looked truly possessed by the Devil himself and his version of payback wasn’t one I wanted to stick around and lay witness to. So I did as I was told and got the Hell out of there!

  I ended up running and running until my lungs were close to giving up…but still I ran. I ran until everything in me burned and demanded things of my body it just wasn’t willing to give anymore. I just wanted to stop, crumble into a helpless heap to allow the shock to sink in, letting the shakes that wanted to be released rack my body. But I couldn’t. I was a survivor and survivors didn’t quit. They didn’t just sit down and say die. So I kept running until my body gave up before my mind did.

  I didn’t know how far I had come, but bent over panting trying to kill the stitch that cut into my side along with the actual slash I had there. I soon found I could no longer stand either as first my knee landed, quickly followed by the other.

  So there I sat, knelt on one of Italy’s cobbled streets, lost, alone, hurt and head hanging down, staring at the wet stone, praying for the last of the storm that mirrored my life.

  And what did praying to the Gods give me…

  A taxi.

  Chapter 60

  A World of Hurt.

  As the taxi pulled up I sent up a whispered thank you to whoever had heard my silent prayers. A middle aged man got out and came to me, speaking first in Italian, words I couldn’t understand.

  “I’m alright.” I said as he started to help me up.

  “English sì?” I nodded to him and let him help me into the back of the car as my leg
s didn’t yet feel like they were strong enough to support me.

  “Stupidi giovani prendere farmaci!” (Means ‘Stupid young people taking drugs’) He got me in the back muttering something in Italian.

  “Ospedale?”

  “Uh…?” I dumbly responded as I didn’t understand the word.

  “Hospital, sì?” He asked just as he flipped up the sun visor giving me a quick glimpse of a family photo he had stashed there.

  “Oh…no, no not hospital, airport… Milano Malpens Airport.” He frowned but then lifted his shoulders in a shrug before pulling away. I was just thankful that this early in the morning a taxi happened to come across me and hoped I could take this as a sign for no more incidents in getting me home. I knew the likelihood of me catching that flight was slim to none, but at least I would be there where I could wait. Hell, I would bloody live there for a whole week if it would eventually mean me getting a flight home!

  I let my head fall back on to the headrest and closed my eyes for a few seconds as the night’s events tried to creep their way in. I then snapped my eyes open as I refused to let them. I couldn’t allow myself to think back to what had almost happened, both if I had not decided to fight or if I had not called out for Draven and he had answered that call.

  I could only imagine that I would have just ended up another dumped body joining the mile long list of other victims killed for being stupid enough for walking anywhere in the world alone. It being Italy, had nothing to do with it, as every country in the world had its dark side of beauty that was invisibly labelled ‘no woman’s land’.