The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  “Where are you my friend?”

  I must have had a brief thought about going to bed before crashing out on the sofa because, when I opened my eyes to the blinding morning sun, I quickly realised I had fallen asleep. I blinked back the grogginess to find the heart come into focus, still there on the table.

  “So, what’s on the menu today life?” I asked the empty room after I stretched out my arms and yawned. My stomach was the only one that answered me when it started to rumble. I decided it could wait until I’d had a shower at least, but by the sounds of things it disagreed.

  “Tough luck belly, the only thing you’re gonna get right now is soap.” I got up and started walking to the bathroom when I stopped and looked back at my new friend sat waiting on the table.

  “Eww…I can’t believe I am gonna do this.” I said rolling my eyes at myself and what I was about to do. This was how I ended up having a shower with a 240 year old heart sat next to the bathroom sink. I just hoped the condensation didn’t effect it and make it soggy, that was the very last thing I needed right now and I doubt I could have called room service and ask them if they have an airing cupboard I could dry it out in!

  I got out from the shower, wrapped a towel around myself and looked down at the heart whilst I brushed my wet hair.

  “So was it good for you?” I smiled to myself, winked at it and said,

  “Of course it was.”

  I laughed thinking that I was taking the whole new friend thing to extremes and could only hope that I would cry when it was time for us to part, like when Tom Hanks had to say goodbye to his volley ball Wilson. Ok, so maybe this was finally confirmation that I was losing the plot! Thankfully the sound of the suite’s phone ringing didn’t allow me to look too closely into the new side effects of being alone. I picked up the heart, weirdly no longer feeling the ‘yuck’ factor, and raced for the phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello Miss Williams, I wanted to inform you that someone came in with a letter for you, would you like me to bring it to you personally?” It was the Hotel’s concierge and in my over excitement I screeched back,

  “Shit yeah!” I heard him cough back his shock on the other side.

  “Umm, sorry I mean, yes please, that would be smashing.” I winced as that didn’t sound any better than swearing. Well, if he didn’t think me a freak before, then that fake posh accent I was insanely going for would do it! At least he thought I was rich, so I had that going for me at least.

  “Uh…yes Miss, of course, it will be with you shortly.” I put down the phone thinking ‘poor bastard having to deal with me’, but then just ended up laughing while changing into some jeans and thinking about it again. So much for trying to be shy little Keira girl that faded into the background…I think that flight took off quite a while ago and took that plain pipe dream with it!

  I heard the knocking and was soon about to open the door thinking just how much my life had really changed, along with it my personality. I couldn’t be sure if it was for the better or not, but one thing I was certain of and that was my inner strength had definitely quadrupled! Everything I had been through since that life shattering day when I no longer had Draven to lean on. I had lost my soul’s protector and become the saviour in our combined life story. Even thinking about it made me bite my lip and start worrying about simply fucking the whole thing up!

  The swearing in my mind just emphasised the importance of the task I still had waiting me. All those questions that I had kept at bay until now just seemed to burst from the flood gates. So what, I have the heart but what if it means nothing? What if Jared can’t keep his word and get me into Hell or more importantly what if he could…then what…bust in there, guns blazing, demanding my boyfriend back. Christ alive, but I didn’t even know who I would be aiming that damn gun at because, of course, I still didn’t know who had him!

  Ok, so while I was about to answer the door, wasn’t really the time for a meltdown, but answer me…whenever was?

  “Miss Williams?” I heard from behind the closed door that I realised I was still standing behind with my grip on the handle.

  “Yes, sorry I’m coming.” I said in the steadiest voice I could muster. I closed my eyes tight and held in the frustrated tears that I refused to set free. No more being weak, if anything it was the time to grow an even thicker skin and get on with it, saying to Hell with Hell!

  It wouldn’t beat me and if it did, then I would just die trying, knowing that there are far worst things to die for than dying for love. And this little northern English girl was willing to get into that blazing underground death club, kicking and screaming if need be! So with that firmly in my bad, ass mode mind, I opened the door to my next adventure, ready to ride the very waves of the River Styx right to Hell’s front door and this time…

  Hell will know the damned.

  Chapter 38

  Hateful Hellfire.

  I started to push my way through the crowd of tourists all on their way to various parts of London, cramming into the tube stations. I learned pretty quickly that when on the escalators to stand to the right so that the ‘real’ Londoners could run for their connections around the city. This was after a rather rude ‘Get to the pissin’ right love’, that I took a huffed side step to let the impatient cockney pass.

  After opening the door to my suite I raced to get ready to do as the latest letter instructed. Which brings me to now and feeling like a small clueless fish in a massive pond of irate barracudas. Well, at least I figured out that by getting myself an oyster card topped up with a twenty would cut down on time with the ticket barriers, which was what I gripped in my hand now like I would need it at every turn. I may have been born English but the capital city still intimidated the Hell outta me!

  After checking out the Hellfire Club on Google, which thankfully was only in West Wycombe and was about as 30 minute train journey from here, so I booked the first ticket I could. Now I was on my way to catch the Bakerloo line from Embankment station to Marylebone …sounds easy right, well that was until I noticed I was being followed!

  It started on the same escalator that I had my first lesson in ways to piss off London business men. I don’t know what it was that made me turn round, maybe it was the extreme vertigo I felt by looking down the steep descent into the underground, but whatever it was it made me spot the guy. Not that it was hard given what he looked like. Of course, the empty steps around him were setting off alarm bells.

  The guy was a tall black man and built like a friggin Mack truck! He wore a combat jacket with a hoodie zip up underneath and in this heat it was massive overkill for the sunny summer day. The only part of his wardrobe I would give him for the weather was the aviator shades he had hiding his eyes. His hair was thick black dreads that he wore knotted at the base of his skull and the cords in his neck bulged as he saw me staring.

  I turned away from him quickly, feeling more than a little intimidated by his size and decided I needed to make my move. I counted to three in my head and side stepped to the left to move down the remaining steps with haste. I heard the commotion behind me of a woman outraged at being roughly moved aside. This meant I didn’t need to look behind me to know that the chase had begun…however I still did and yep, this guy was now in pursuit mode alright. Thankfully I had size on my side as I quickly reached the bottom and weaved in and out of people.

  My heart raced in sync to the rumbling on the tracks as a carriage came into view ahead. If I could just make it before he got there, then I could lose him. It was the one time I was thankful for the squeeze of people all trying to get on and one glance behind me confirmed that his size wasn’t helping him.

  The doors whooshed open and people fought to get off as others tried to do the opposite. I gripped my bag strap, put my head down and forged ahead in a tiny gap that I could see as one girl went one way and a man in a suit went the other. I crammed my way through them both and arched my back around another guy with headphones just in time to step into the
one space left before the doors slid home.

  A sea of disappointed faces became a blur in the background of one angry black fist that pounded on the door’s glass just as we began to move. With his strained face staring down at me for the mere second it took to leave, was enough to catch the flash of molten silver over his shades. They clouded with red ink that spread out over high cheekbones like poison and he snarled his frustration at me like a jungle predator.

  I could only take a breath again once we were zooming along the tunnels of the underground, leaving the mad demon behind. I looked up to see my white knuckle hold on the railing and knew it wasn’t just thanks to the bumpy ride. I think it took every stop to Marylebone for me to finally calm my frazzled nerves. The walkthrough the station to find the right platform was a fast paced trek with a continuous look over my shoulder just in case. This turned out to be a wise choice as just as I rounded a corner I saw Mr scary big dude come storming around from the escalators, luckily not yet spotting me.

  He must have caught the next tube barely minutes after my own to get here this fast. I quickly made it to the line of people waiting to buy tickets and thanked my lucky knickers when a spot opened up at one of the machines. After breaking the buying ticket record I grabbed my printed ticket to High Wycombe and ran for the barriers just as he spotted me. I looked to the guy at the end of the row of machines and thought to save time by asking him which platform I needed.

  It was easy to see the panic in me and I was grateful he understood my need to hurry. I was just heading for my platform when I saw my stalker was quick on my tail. However, instead of going through the motions he just threw himself over the barriers with one hand. Then unlike my approach, he simply grabbed the same guy I had spoken with and I could just make out him raise his hand to my height before I disappeared down the stairs.

  I nearly wept when I saw my train was already waiting there and I got on the first carriage so that I remained out of view just in case. The train wasn’t very full at this time so it made walking through to the front of the train easy. This, of course, was until I looked out of the window and saw that he was back. I quickly sank down in between the seats and when I looked up I saw I was acting crazy in front another passenger. She looked about seventeen and was wearing a Shinedown T-shirt, so I said the first thing that came to mind,

  “Great band.” Her eyes widened at my comment but I didn’t let her say a word before I asked,

  “Could you do me a favour and tell me when that massive black dude is gone?” I nodded to the window and she turned her stunned gaze away from me.

  “He…he just went past.” I gave her a smile and said,

  “Thanks,” before I got up and walked back up the train to where I started. I kept careful watch behind me and noticed one of the rail staff outside ready to whistle the train on. I was about to choose a seat thinking I had gotten away with it, when I leant over to see my stalker was back and getting on the bloody train!

  “Shit.” I said before getting back to the aisle and moving to one of the doors. I opened it quickly and stepped back onto the platform just before the train was about to leave.

  “It’s leaving right now, honey.” I smiled at the guy in uniform and said,

  “Don’t worry, I will catch the next one.” I couldn’t help but smile when I saw it pulling away just as the black guy noticed he was leaving without me. I blew him a kiss and gave him a little wave. It wasn’t hard to see him take his anger out on one of the chairs and shout the word, ‘Fuck’. I was still chuckling to myself twenty minutes later when I was finally on the train heading towards High Wycombe.

  Well, that was another demonic escapade I had dodged…maybe I should consider writing a ‘how to’ book when all of this was over. Again I laughed to myself. Once I let the humour of my situation go, I reached in my bag and decided to re-read the letter I’d received that morning.

  I smiled at the name at the bottom, knowing my friend hadn’t left me for long. It was from Sigurd and although a little brief, I didn’t hesitate to jump to his instructions. He told me to get myself on a train to High Wycombe and meet him outside the gates of the Hellfire Caves tonight. So, I decided to get there early and case out the joint… Sigurd would most likely cringe at my corny Mobster talk but I didn’t care!

  So just like that I had a new plan and was off once again, only this time I had escaped a possible threat all by myself…go me! I had looked up the Hellfire Caves website to find it was a tourist attraction and that for a small fee of 5 pounds you could go inside and check it out, which is exactly what I planned to do.

  I decided whilst I had some time to kill I might as well get in my weekly phone call to Jack, Libby and my mum. I told Jack I was following a lead (feeling the role of a secret agent with a grin) I then told my mother and sister the same thing, which regretfully was mostly lies, being that I was having fun with Jack and RJ…ok, so it was all lies but what could I really say? I’m having a blast getting nearly kidnapped and I just got in my exercise of the day by running from a potential killer?!...err no, I didn’t think so.

  So one train journey, one taxi ride and just under two hours later, I was now stood outside the Hellfire Caves looking up at the stone archway that was the entrance of the caves. Strangely it resembled a long forgotten Gothic church, with its tall flint facade and vaulted window divided by two slender stone columns. High flint walls also arched upwards surrounding the entrance to encompass a large open courtyard. But it was the eerie red glow coming from inside the caves that was no doubt added for theatrical purposes. If you asked me though it was just plain creepy!

  At least I hadn’t first shown up here late at night with no one around and if I checked it out now I would be ahead of the game. Plus, seeing it for the first time at night would have probably made me pee my pants and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

  I walked past the gates warning you of private property and felt a chill rack my body enough for my steps to falter. It felt like whatever was here from histories long dead didn’t want me here. But then across the courtyard was the sight of happy families just coming from the caves, with laughing children trying to spook each other. Didn’t they feel it?

  I made myself walk closer and noticed a couple to my right sat down enjoying ice cream on one of the picnic tables. Large umbrellas were up shading a small group eating plates of chips and one of the cave’s staff members came from a door on the left carrying a tray of cakes.

  The closer I got, the less sinister the whole place looked, but I still couldn’t shake the disturbing feeling that had tuned into my very consciousness. I tried to focus on the happy scene in front of me but this was quickly lost as pain crashed through my head as if I had been zapped.

  “ACHH!” I gripped my head and fell down to one knee as the agony overwhelmed me. My eyes slammed shut and I pulled on my hair just for something to hold on to. I kind of hoped inflicting a different kind of pain on myself would bring me home. I don’t know how long I stayed this way, but when I finally braved opening my eyes what I saw was the impossible.

  Twelve men in robes all stood in the courtyard with five on each side of the caves entrance, all holding a flaming torch. The two remaining men then dragged a shouting man between them who looked like he had been beaten into submission. Long hair hung down over his face as he gave up the fight, looking down onto the ground. His feet were rendered useless as the men that held him wouldn’t let him use them to walk. You could see the blood dripping from the raw flesh that had been exposed due to the gravel he was roughly dragged over.

  The moon was full and high in the sky directly above the courtyard, but this time it was void of all tourist embellishments. In fact, it looked as though no one even knew about this place, or if they did they knew to keep well away or suffer the same pitiful fate as this man.

  “Please! Let me go…Why do this…? Why…? What have I done to deserve such treatment?!” The man pleaded as the blazing lit entrance came closer, looking more and more like
the entrance to Hell itself! I heard the sobbing and for a moment thought it was coming from the man about to face his doom. It was only when my hand covered my mouth to prevent a scream, that I felt the tears and knew I was the one sobbing. It was slow torture being made to be a part of this and shamefully I was almost glad when they finally got him to the entrance. I couldn’t bear the pain of it any longer and the hate for those men filled my mouth like the metallic taste of blood.

  Then something insane happened. A booming crack of lightening hit the clear sky coming from nowhere. I screamed in my fright and turned from the sky to see them struggling to get the man inside the tunnel. He twisted his body and lashed out with his hands to grip the sides of stone in a desperate attempt at saving his life. But this wasn’t the reason I cried out. The reason was that the man’s face came into view thanks to the flaming torches that hung either side of the doorway. I couldn’t believe it!

  “Jared!” I screamed out his name just as he looked up, found my face and said loud enough to carry along the flint walls to where I stood,

  “Promises Keira…I want my promise… child.”

  I jumped as history blew away like a weathered building under a hundred year old storm. In its place was the sunny present and I stood in the centre of it with everyone watching me. Normally I would feel the need to explain myself or offer an excuse, but after what I just witnessed, I just couldn’t bring myself to pretend.

  Seeing the strong Alpha I knew as Jared Cerberus to then the poor tortured soul of simple blacksmith Jared Weller, I felt like my own heart had been crushed. I wanted to reach into my bag and crush Paul Whitehead’s heart into dust for being the cause of so much pain!

  What was done to him was cruel dark murder and I felt sick knowing that these men, thinking themselves above the law, used him for hellish gain. Well, I was glad when he came back as Jared Cerberus and put an end to their sadistic club!