The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  “Thank you.” I said after taking a strong gulp. He lowered his head slowly in acknowledgment.

  “And what I was going to say was that I am not afraid. I think I know by now that you do not mean me any harm.” I think this must have shocked him as his head came up quicker and this time I could just see the end of his nose.

  “This is good as I think it is time you and I had a little chat about the way of things…” I was about to speak but his hand shot up to stop me in my tracks.

  “But first, I think your body would benefit the effects of a hot shower.” I smirked at him and narrowed my eyes in a playful mocking before saying,

  “Hey, if you think I smell bad, all you needed to do was say caveman.” His reaction was priceless. He stood quickly and stammered to speak. He didn’t know I was joking. I laughed and after wrapping the robe tighter under the covers, I swung my legs round and walked up to him.

  “Relax caveman, I was joking with you.” I said patting his chest, which I noticed was without the strange leather straps that he had across his chest when at Afterlife. He grunted and I smirked again as he proved my new nickname for him. I started to walk away when he grabbed my hand suddenly, shocking me. He yanked me back to him and my hands found his chest as the only way to steady the quick flight.

  I looked up at him and one of his hands held me to him with his palm plastered to the small of my back. I felt embarrassed and had to look away but he made a tutting sound. He raised his fist to my face and his knuckles skimmed the apple of my cheek. However, this proved not enough to get me to look back at him so he moved down my neck and then journeyed back under my chin. He raised my head up with his fingers still curled into a fist and I had nowhere to go other than to look up at his hidden face. There was something disconcerting about someone that could see your every emotion being played out on centre stage in an opera, while their face remained hidden in the wings. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to speak as the silence had started to make me squirm like a fish in a sushi bar, he killed the tension.

  “My name is not caveman, lille øjesten.”

  “And my name is not lil..le ogestin.” He smirked at the way I had said it wrong and I noticed a slight dimple to one side dip before disappearing.

  “To me it is, Keira. Now go shower…” He said and then leaned down to me to say the rest,

  “Because you are starting to smell a bit.” I laughed as I smacked him on the chest, little good it did me but it made him laugh with me all the same.

  “Yeah, well you don’t smell so hot yourself cavemen, what’d you do last night, sneak out to go mud wrestling?” I shot back and this time it got me a full blown grin, one I would to have loved to have seen the effect it had on a pair of eyes.

  “Very good little human and no, it wasn’t mud I was wrestling in last night, but in an alleyway saving you little behind, now go shower before room service arrives as I don’t think it will go down well if I answer the door, do you?” He said with humour lacing his every word. But of course his words did beg the question, how exactly did he get me back up here last night without anyone seeing?

  I laughed once and then left him standing there watching me go. I was just about to walk into the bathroom when the sound of my name being called stopped me. I looked back over my shoulder at him and raised my eyebrows in question.

  “My name is Sigurd, I live in a loft apartment in New York, not a cave and I am hungry little human, so hurry up and don’t make me wait.” I shot him a smile and a little wink with my next statement,

  “It’s nice to finally know you, Sigurd.”

  My shower was a quick one and not just because I was told to by one big ass biker dude in a hood. I found myself excited that he was finally here and that I might actually get some answers out of him this time. I mean there was nothing like a near death experience followed by a shared orgasm to bring a friendship together, right? So with this in mind I was in and out of the shower in no time and I was finding with my new hair…or lack of, that it was a lot quicker than I was used to.

  I didn’t know why I felt so comfortable around him but it felt as though I had known him for years. Like someone close to me had introduced him once and that alone stood the weight of any suspicions. Besides the fact that he had saved me from being taken or even killed, it was also the fact that he had saved those closest to me. Which was surely something he hadn’t needed to do, so that begged the question…Why did he?

  I decided to put all these overwhelming feelings down to what had happened last night. I mean, being connected in such a way was bound to have its consequences and I knew from extensive experience what the effects of a ‘healing’ can do. So that was most likely it and now I could find myself having a deep connection to the big guy…what was his name…Sigurd. Was that Dutch or something?

  Once dressed in a comfy pair of stonewash jeans and a stretchy long sleeved, maroon coloured top with those trusty thumb holes I loved so much, I walked back into the sitting room hoping to see the delicious sight of freshly baked goods.

  “So what’s on…the…menu…” I trailed off quietly as I processed the situation in front of me.

  “Hey! What the Hell do you think you are doing?!” I shouted just as I saw the man dressed from head to toe in black bending on one knee by the yellow couch. I caught him just in time to see his hand resting flat on the plush carpet right by where I had stashed my book. He tapped his fingers in a certain rhythm and I jumped as the book shot out to his waiting hand. It almost looked like a pet of his that he had been trying to lure out of hiding.

  As soon as he had the book in his hand his head snapped up in my direction, but still his face was hidden in those mastered shadows. He simply rose from his bent knee in an alarmingly graceful way considering his size.

  “I could ask you the same thing, øjesten.” He said calmly and I needed a minute to gather my courage. It wasn’t long ago that I was looking for the reasons why I felt so safe with him and now, with that predatory stance, I was feeling a little naive. I mean what did I really know about this guy? For all I knew he could have been sent by someone who wanted me for themselves and that is why the past ‘Capture Keira’ attempts had failed.

  “Give that back to me!” I demanded in my strongest, I take no shit voice, one that wasn’t reinforced by a brick wall body like he had to back up that unspoken threat. He straightened to his full height and crossed his arms across his chest like a black granite statue.

  “I think not little human. Not until you explain to me in full exactly how you got your hands on my book.” He said with his voice dropping to an almost demonic growl. I gulped in a way that would have been comical if I didn’t have a considerable threat stood in my hotel suite.

  “Wait a minute…your book?” I asked picking up on the important part of that demand. He nodded his head gently, but I could hear the crack of his knuckles from his fisted hands echo in the room. There was nothing gentle about that noise, I can tell you.

  “But I…I…it’s mine.” I finished in a weak little voice that even I detested hearing. But it must have had its desired effect on the big guy Sigurd as his fists uncurled and also his arms came back to his sides. He exhaled a big sigh and I could tell he wanted to run a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “Come øjesten, come and sit with me.” He moved to the side and motioned a place on the couch for me to park myself. I nodded and followed his instructions. What choice did I have? It wasn’t like I could call security and tell them someone that looked like a professional wrestler stole my book!

  I sat down and waited for him to do the same. I think I actually felt sorry for the battering the cushions took when taking his weight. We both sat in silence for a moment and I noticed I looked like a child does when sitting next to an adult. His legs looked like they belonged to a forest with a mass of leaves attached.

  “Now tell me, who gave you this book, Keira?” Somehow I knew by him calling me by my name this was serious business. But what shou
ld I tell him? Was I even allowed to tell him anything? Oh God this was too much! What was I supposed to do?

  “You can tell me, have no fear, as no harm will come to you in doing so.” He sounded calmer now and almost soothing to my tense nerves.

  “I am not sure I am allowed though.” I said truthfully.

  “Then trust in me and look deep down into what you know is right. When I tell you that it is my birth right to know whatever happens with this book, I speak no lies. Feel the truth in my words, Keira.” He said engulfing my hand in his. I closed my eyes and replayed his words over and over. But then he spoke them for real once more and I found myself stunned to know with utter certainty that he was telling me the truth. I found myself nodding at him before opening my mouth.

  “The Oracle gave me the book, Sigurd.” His hand tightened on mine for a moment but thankfully he released my bones before he broke them. It was obvious this had not been good news. He took a moment to struggle through the reason I gave him and then I silently screamed out in a caught breath as he grabbed my hand once more and placed it over the snake on the cover of the book.

  “What are you doing?!”

  “Ssshh.” Was all he said before he placed his tattooed hand over mine. I then watched in dark fascination as the black snake on his finger began to spin and shortly the one across his palm started to do the same. However, this time they all travelled in the same direction, unlike before when he was fighting the guys at Afterlife. I didn’t know what this meant but I was praying for it to mean that he was dealing with a friendly…as in friendly fire in shooting games…although I wasn’t quite sure what was friendly about firing any type of weapon, especially one that got you killed. Ok, focus here Keira and forget about Frank playing Call of Duty.

  Soon, just like before, his whole hand went black like he had just dipped it into a bucket of treacle and I watched as the substance started to flow over onto the small helpless hand underneath…my hand. I felt the tingling flicker of constant cooling and then a flare of heat continue until every fingertip was covered and when I felt the vibrations start I tried to pull away.

  “Just wait for it, human!” He said sternly and I found myself obeying. The vibrations turned to spinning under my palm and although I couldn’t see the snake, I knew it was moving and getting ready for something. I heard a deep growl coming from the chest next to me and it sounded as if he was changing into some sort of furious animal. I started to panic inside and my heart was pounding to the point of near pain. I was breathing heavy and felt the thin sheen of sweat start to damp my clothes.

  I closed my eyes and that was when the nightmare began.

  I felt locked in a cage without bars. A cage of darkness that was creeping into my soul and keeping that precious part of me open for probing. My horrific past secured deeply in the abyss I had created for my murderous captor was bubbling up. My secured vault door that held my secret memories of Draven popped open and came spilling out. And a nightmare of a flaming version of myself running through a river of blood, fed by the deep slashes cut into my veins by my own hands. It was now all playing out in a flickered film of black and white. Surrounded by a derelict Victorian theatre, where plush velvet seats were filled by every supernatural form I had ever seen in my now 24 years. And of course the front row held those that were dearest to me.

  I ran down the centre of the aisle screaming ‘No, turn it off!’ But it was too late. Everyone was already watching my nightmare, both real, past and feared future, premiering on the crumbling screen. The closer I got the harder it became to run. All the faces of Demons and Angels in their true form were laughing in chorus, some choking on their spitefulness and hellish glee. But the closer I got, all the heads of those I cared for turned at the same time, all but one.

  Libby, Frank, Justin, Jack, RJ, Sophia, Vincent, Pip, Adam, Lucius and many more were all at the front row now staring my way as the piece of glass in my hand dug deeper into my flesh on screen.

  “Dead, dead, dead, little Keira girl! Dead, dead, dead little Keira girl!

  We will get you and we will kill you!

  They are coming back for you, wolf in a suit’s silk will walk by your side while you cry and when your back is turned and knife plunged in deep, that will make you die!”

  They all chanted cruelly and I staggered in my steps.

  “No, no, no! This isn’t real…YOUR ARE NOT REAL!” I shouted before my knees hit the mouldy floor that was covered in rotting wood and pieces of once red carpet. My long blonde hair fell forward and touched the floor to cover my crying face. I reached out and touched the golden strands that I knew were still tucked safely away on Draven’s hidden bed. Then I heard the laughter.

  “Is that what you think, you pathetic human?” No it couldn’t be! There was no way my mind would conjure up something so cruel. But no matter, in my disbelief I had to look, I had to prove how wrong it was. I raised my head and took in the cruellest beauty of all, the one of betrayed love…Draven.

  His face was now the singular one in the room and I looked in horror as all others had now decayed into skeletal corpses. Their grey bones becoming one with the perished theatre that started to peel and fade upwards like floating ash. But none of this mattered to me as the one face remained.

  “Why?” I whispered and I flinched at the cruel sound of his laughter.

  “Why? WHY?! You know why Keira! You! You killed me and sent me to this place, it is because of my stupidity that I am now to live the rest of my days in chains!” He lifted his arms and that’s when I first noticed the metal entwined around every inch of him but his face. They started to glow red like they had only just been forged and I started to howl from the pain the sight caused me to see them branding his skin.

  “But…but I didn’t know! I will help you! I will…will come for you!” I shouted as the chains started to get tighter around him and I saw him gasp for breath.

  “You can’t! Leave me! RUN! RUN NOW BEFORE…” The glowing links started to cut into his skin and then he was being dragged backwards towards the screen, towards the mistakes I had made still being played out on a tortuous loop.

  “Before what?!” I shouted and then I saw with one outstretched hand the entire screen melt into burning film. Behind it was Hell itself and Draven was now getting dragged back to it.

  “DRAVEN!” I screamed running towards him until his last words stopped me dead and I stared at the truth he believed in every word come through his purple eyes.

  “…BEFORE I KILL YOU!”

  Chapter 24

  Bound to Ask

  “You are blood bound?!” Sigurd shouted bolting from the chair just after I yanked my hand free and fell to the floor. I looked up still in a state of shock at what his darkness had shown me. I held my hand protectively to my chest while still kicking my legs to put greater length between us. I moved like a wounded crab and only came to a stop when my back bumped into one of the horseshoe shaped chairs that were covered in thick olive green velvet.

  “What…what did you do to me?!” I shouted back, having little care for the giant presence now looming over me. He leaned forward and trapped me in with his hands holding his weight on the arms of the chair.

  “Answer my question, NOW!” He growled that last command and I flinched back like he had lashed out with the back of hand.

  “I…she…we…ok look, I don’t know why she did any of this, all I know is that she took some of my blood and then told me the book was connected with me in some way and that’s it! So do me a favour and back OFF!” I shouted finally replacing fear with anger. He didn’t seem too concerned with me screaming at him, but he did at least push his weight off the chair to give me space. I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath in relief.

  “FUCK!” He snarled with his back to me and if I were to take a guess, I would say it looked like he was trying real hard not to pummel his fist into something. Well, as long as it wasn’t someone then that was fine with me!

  “What on this ea
rth’s realm was that crazy bitch thinking of?!” He snapped and I got myself off the floor silently. I straightened down my jeans from where they had ridden up in my haste and that’s when I heard a sharp,

  “Well?!”

  “Oh…you were actually asking me a question? Well…I…” I shook my head and then anger sparked again,

  “…I mean how the Hell am I supposed to know? Good God, what is it with you people?” I threw up my hands dramatically before carrying on with my rant.

  “You think I know why or how or any bloody details as to why anyone does what they do in the supernatural world? I mean for Christ’s sake, I have a big ass biker guardian stood in my hotel suite and I don’t even know who sent you, so why you think for one minute I know why the Oracle is using me as a pawn, I can’t figure! All I know is what she tells me and what I can figure out with all this riddle shit that now comes from that book, instead of weird kids on antique bikes, creepy warehouse guys that get the munchies for human flesh…I mean what the holy shit…? Eat a cheeseburger for God’s sake!…and then there was that weirdo on the plane, Miss pop drinking Merryweather…although that one wasn’t from the Oracle but more likely from this Gastian person, who for some reason hates me and wants revenge but there’s the problem...I don’t even know this guy!” I shouted as my rant that had me storming all around the sitting room was much too slowly running out of steam.

  “I mean what was next…what did I miss this time?! Huh? Come on, tell me handsome, ‘cause I don’t know! What’s next, because at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if a canary flew from my ass and sang me the next riddle in Swahili!” I said finally coming down from my anger mountain and deflating in the same chair I had backed up into.