The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  “NO!”

  “Look at me…Keira, see me.” I knew that voice! That rough voice that had whispered in my ear, that had told me his secrets and of his first life passed.

  “Jared?” I said as I felt my arms being gently lifted off my head.

  “Is it really you?” I asked in a small voice that was on the verge of hopeful tears.

  “Yes, pet.” On hearing his answer, even before I saw his face to confirm the fact, I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him, thinking of the impossible act of ever having to let go. I felt his hand hold the back on my head to his shoulder and then realised we were both on the floor. When did I fall…when did he catch me? He was on his knees holding me to him with one hand at my head and the other ran up and down my back as I sobbed into his jacket.

  “Ssshh now pet, I have you safe.” He crooned softly into my hair.

  “Yyyou…you’d better not be a bloody ghost.” I stammered out after letting my emotional outburst run its course. I felt the rumbling in his chest as he laughed.

  “I can assure you I’m not.”

  “Thank God.” I muttered and he laughed again.

  “Although I don’t think we can thank any God on that account, now come, up you get.” He said gripping the top of my arms, raising me to my feet. I wobbled a bit and he held me steady until he was satisfied. This was when my situation sank in enough to be useful.

  “Jared, you have to listen to me, there…there are men out there, they…well, they chased me down here and there’s this one guy, a massive guy that followed me earlier today and now he has more men and…and…” My head was going back and to, through this jumbled tale, as if expecting them to jump out at us around the corner.

  “Keira, stop.” When I didn’t look at him I felt his fingers and thumb grab my chin. With my face still turned down I saw the small flame from the lighter I must have dropped in my shock. It was just enough light to show me his serious face after he held me still for a minute, before raising my head up to look at him. His silver eyes flashed in the dim light as he assessed me and only when my breathing had calmed did he speak.

  “There is no threat, Keira.” I knew he spoke the truth and was about to brave asking him what he had done to them, but decided I had enough horror for one day and didn’t think adding a word by word description on a mini massacre would be wise…Not unless he had a fancy for watching consuming chocolate in reverse!

  When he held out his hand I decided to trust him and gave him my hand in return. He lent down and retrieved the lighter, flicking it closed and plunging us into darkness.

  “What are you…?”

  “I can see well enough for the two of us, so trust me. Keep hold of my hand and put your other hand on the back of my jacket. Take slow steps and you will be fine.” I did as I was told, taking the back of his jacket in a tight grip making him chuckle. We walked a few steps and after I stumbled into the back of him a few times he huffed out his frustration.

  “Let’s try something else.” This was the only warning I got before he turned to face me abruptly and lifted me by the waist up his front. I gasped and quickly found a hold on his shoulders to keep steady.

  “Wrap your arms around my neck.” I did as I was told as I dangled a foot above the floor.

  “Now wrap your legs around my waist and lock your feet at my back.” I coughed before saying a confused,

  “Sorry… what now?”

  “Just do it, pet.” I bit my lip in the dark at the intimate position this new hold put us in and could feel my cheeks burn, even in the icy temperature. When I complied with his gentle command he leant his head down, brushing my neck with his nose, inhaling deeply. Then his lips skimmed up the column of chilled skin resting just by my cheek. This was so his praise could be heard clearly, making my heart skip a beat.

  “Good girl, now hold on tight, I am going to be moving fast.” I did as I was told making him smile against the side of my face before he took off. Thankfully, the stronghold he had on my upper body prevented me from being too jostled when he broke out into a mad run through the pitch black tunnels. I tucked my head by his neck as the feeling of dizziness washed over me from travelling fast in a small space I couldn’t see but only feel.

  It took no time at all to make it back up the tunnels and when he stopped I felt kind of woozy from the speed.

  “You can let go now, pet.” I heard what he said but for some reason it took some time for me to follow through with the suggestion. I felt him chuckle before reaching behind his back to first unlock my legs before doing the same with my hold on his neck. I was surprised he didn’t actually need to pry my fingers back, I held on that tight. He held me as I slid down his length and like before didn’t release me until he was certain I wasn’t going to drop as the sack of jelly I felt like.

  It took me a moment to figure out where we were. I couldn’t help but squint at the little light that was coming from somewhere in the room and I had to blink a few times to regain focus. Although, as soon as I did this, I immediately wished I hadn’t, for there, leaning against the same ledge I had hidden in, was my big scary stalker!

  It took me all of about ten seconds to realise none of the men were a threat to Jared, especially the black dude who was stood casually with his arms folded over his vast chiselled chest encased in leather. I wrenched from Jared’s hold and backed away from him. His eyes narrowed at the sight of my retreat and a growl rolled up from his chest.

  “Keira!” He said my name in warning but I shook my head.

  “You…you’re…with them.” It wasn’t a question but I still hoped for denial as an answer. It was when I didn’t get it that I made my move. I spun quickly and made a foolish dash for the way out of the banqueting hall. It was quickly proven to be foolish when steel bands wrapped around me from behind and pulled me flush with a solid chest against my back. I started to squirm around in hopes of getting free when his growling stopped and it started to sound vicious.

  “STOP!” He roared hurting my ears. Of course, I did as I was told. I could feel his heavy breathing as his chest heaved, making each muscle tense from his rippled abs to defined pecs that pressed into me from behind…Oh yeah, I stopped moving alright!

  Once he got his temper under control, I felt his hold ease so I could at least breathe without working at it.

  “Testy little thing isn’t she?” I looked to the black guy who just looked a bit bored with the whole display of disobedience. Jared just growled at him and then whipped me around to face him. His silver eyes flashed in his obvious anger and I swallowed a frightened lump at seeing it directed at me.

  “Don’t. Do. That. Again.” Each controlled word looked ripped from a pit of fury and all I could do was nod silently.

  “So, what next?” Jared’s burning gaze still tried to burrow a hole in my head when the question asked finally tore his wrath away.

  “Everyone out, NOW!” Jared ordered in a booming voice that vibrated through the cavernous space of the banqueting hall. The black guy slapped his hands on his thighs and said,

  “You heard him boys, fun’s over when the rabbit’s caught.” I frowned at being referred to as furry animal on a hunt but no matter how brave I was frowning, I still sank back against Jared when he stepped closer. He grinned down at me and then leaned in to me to make sure he was heard,

  “Some advice for next time, girl…” He looked over his broken shades and his eyes blazed the same colour as Jared’s, only his had black rings around them.

  “…don’t run from the beast…it excites us, ain’t that right bro?” I sucked in a hiss of surprise. His brother!

  “Orth don’t be a dick! Now go wait outside until this shit is done.” His brother laughed a deep gravelly sound that was drowned out by the slap he delivered on Jared’s back, one that despite the obvious power didn’t make Jared move a muscle.

  His brother’s stride to the exit was surprisingly stealth like considering his immense bulk. He bent to duck his head through the
opening and then, as if remembering something, he turned back.

  “Oh and J, you owe me a pair of fucking shades, man!” Jared’s response was to flip him the bird, making them both grunt. Meanwhile, watching the brotherly banter was making me shake my head like I had just stepped into an alternative universe. As soon as he was out of sight I pushed from Jared’s hold once again, only this time it was to face him, not run from him. His brother might be a dick but I wasn’t one to turn down good advice!

  “He’s your brother! My scary stalker dude is you brother?!” I almost screeched with the force of emotion behind that question.

  “I thought that would have been obvious.” I couldn’t help what I blurted out,

  “But he’s black!” Jared thought this was hilarious and actually doubled over to rest his hands on his knees, he laughed with that much power.

  “Wow is he, I never noticed…Shit, just what is my mamma gonna say?” He laughed again at his own mocking question, making me put my hands on my hips.

  “Have you finished?” He laughed again and then held up one hand saying,

  “Just another minute…ok…ok, I think I’m good, Sherlock.”

  “Ha ha, very funny… you know what I meant Jared, it’s not like you guys look like twins!” I snapped losing my patience.

  “That was my brother Orthrus and yes, as you so accurately discovered, he is in fact a black man.” I rolled my hand around at the wrist as if to prompt him,

  “And?”

  “And…Keira, his host is black, didn’t have a mother remember…well at least not in the sense that you would understand anyway.” I shook my head as I tried to make sense of all this.

  “So, you guys were brothers in…” I looked down so he would know where I meant without me saying it. He gave me a cocky smile and said

  “You mean…in Hell, Keira?”, behind his hand in a dramatic whisper, that once again had me rolling my eyes as he took the piss out of me.

  “And now he’s here…working for you?”

  “Working with me, pet. Now should we continue with why we’re here or would you like to know our favourite colour and how we like our steak?”

  “I can imagine, given your true nature, the answer to those questions is the same.” I said walking past him to go back over to the ledge where I had left my bag in my attempt to run.

  “What black and well-toned…but of course I mean…well done?” He said cocking an eyebrow and then motioning to his tight black leather gear that moulded to his very toned body. I couldn’t help the smirk break out when my back was to him. I lifted the strap over my head and walked back up to him. I patted him on the chest and said,

  “Try red and bloody, come on fatty, time to get me into Hell.” He burst out laughing, after getting over the initial shock of me calling him ‘fatty’ as though I was the first one in his entire existence. Well, just looking at him I knew that was a true statement considering there wasn’t one ounce of fat on the guy…but still, it was fun teasing him for a change.

  “You’re lucky I find you cute, pet” I smiled at him over my shoulder,

  “Oh yeah, why’s that?”

  “Cause you really don’t wanna know how I like my meat or…” He stalked right up to me with his eyes scanning my body as he came closer until he was right by my ear,

  “…what I do with it.”

  Ok, so this comment left me panting for a very different reason, since being down here!

  It was a lot easier getting around the caves now that I had Jared with me, as all I needed to do was follow him. It was also a lot more helpful seeing as he had a lantern with him that one of the men must have brought down with them. This, as Jared had demonstrated, was for my benefit only. Well, I can’t say I wasn’t grateful for it as if there was one thing I was utterly sick of and that was the darkness.

  I followed Jared back up the caves until we came closer to the beginning and I couldn’t say I was surprised when I saw the plaque we were now stood in front of.

  “Twenty Two.” I said looking up at the Roman Numerals etched in stone.

  “Twenty Two.” Jared repeated. I was about to ask what it meant when Jared passed me the lantern to hold.

  “Oh, ok.” I muttered before I watched him reach out and trace his fingertip along the carved ‘XXII’. At this point I had to almost bite my lip so as not to ask him what he was doing. As soon as his fingertip left the last numeral line, I shuddered as a chill passed through my body like someone just blasted us with air con on full.

  “Okay, so…what now?” I asked hugging myself, letting the handle from the lantern dangle from my side.

  “Just wait.” Right after he said this something started to happen. The poem beneath the Roman numerals started to blur and the white words started to evaporate like acid had been poured over them. It was only when the last of the poem had been destroyed that something else appeared. The whole plaque started to become weathered and old in seconds. The plastic cracked at the edges and it bubbled in places like it had been in exposed to extreme heat from the rock behind.

  Then came the new words.

  Dripping red lacquer seeped from the Roman numerals and dripped down in lines that connected together to form letters.

  “The blood of the innocent souls taken here will open the door to where they rest.” Ok, so it wasn’t red paint…no, no, of course it was blood. Always with bloody letters! What was wrong with these guys, hadn’t they ever heard of a marker pen?

  “Oh lovely.” I said not bothering to mask my sarcasm, which prized me with a frown from Jared. He was just about to speak, when he must have caught on that something was wrong. He turned his full attention back to the plaque that had new words forming. Now, instead of reading the original poem, it had twisted parts of it into something opposite and I don’t know why but Jared looked utterly pissed!

  Wait twenty steps and forget the mile,

  Pick up where you left off and smile,

  For one long lost love is now on trial,

  So taking twenty two is not your time,

  Now open the cell and leave the climb,

  And wait for love lay in peace and prime.

  “What the fuck?!” He shouted at the plaque after using his upper body as an aggressive cage with his fists on either side on the rock.

  “I’m gonna take a wild stab in the dark here and say that wasn’t supposed to happen?” If I had been smart I would have taken Jared’s tensed body for a cue for quiet time, but seeing as I was going to Hell tonight, I think that killed the whole smart thing for me. He snarled at the plaque and pushed away from it with such force he made two fist shaped marks in the stone…yep definitely not smart, Keira!

  “Come on.” He snapped moving away from the plaque in anger.

  “Wait, where are we going now, can we still get in?” He seemed to be counting his steps but stopped to face me abruptly.

  “Don’t worry pet, I have too much riding on that promise of yours to let you leave here tonight without visiting sweet home Underworld.”

  “Umm…isn’t it sweet home Alabama?” I asked his back as he continued. He looked over his shoulder and said,

  “Not tonight, sweetheart.” I couldn’t help the nervous laugh that escaped on hearing him answer in a Southern American accent…I thought shamefully, it might have even done funny things to my naughty parts!

  He still looked like he was concentrating on his steps and after no more than half a minute he stopped. He turned to the wall and started to feel around for something on the rock. I lifted the light at the same time saying,

  “Do you want me to…?” His sharp gaze sliced to me and I was faced with glowing eyes like liquid silver.

  “Guess not.” I answered myself and he went right back to work…whatever that work was exactly. He looked to the other side muttering to himself in another language, one I couldn’t make out. He then looked up briefly and must have decided something because he started to shrug out of his biker jacket. He passed it to me and sa
id a short,

  “Hold this.”

  I did as I was told and watched as he leapt straight up and grabbed hold of something on the ceiling I couldn’t see, so I made the mistake of raising the lantern. I screamed for like the millionth time tonight and dropped his jacket to scrabble back at the sight of freaky skeletons hanging there with their arms crossed.

  “That’s an expensive jacket, pet.” I looked down and without taking my eyes from the skeletons that I quickly realised weren’t real, I picked back up his jacket.

  “Good girl, now stand back.” He said and quickly I forgot about the stupid plastic scare props in sight of beautiful muscle. Jared was hanging on a metal grating stuck to the ceiling by one arm, making the t-shirt he wore ride up, exposing the edge of a tight six pack. I swallowed hard as I also took in the bulging bicep that strained the material around the top of his arm.

  The whole length was covered in an intricate pattern of some kind of tribal tattoo, the likes of which I had never seen before. It was like ink cogs in a machine joined with puzzle pieces that were forged together in swirls of some lost tribe. What little I could see in this low light was incredible and I just wanted to get him under a sunny day to trace each line gently with my fingertips. There was something about it that just pulled you in, like the pieces were actually moving.

  His other arm went up and started to wrench down the creepy dummies to drop on the floor like actual dead bodies. That’s when I noticed the unusual bands of metal and leather that covered his other wrist and half way up his forearm. Combined with his roguish charm, rough good looks, tattoos and biker style, this guy was one of the most kick ass guys I had ever met...! Ok, so given he was a Hell Beast King, this wasn’t a surprising revelation, but he was still a good Supernatural being to have at your back.

  Another body dropped and it snapped me out of my tingly girly bits…I mean shit, I was only human and everyone can appreciate the candy wrapper without biting into the bar! And the only bar I would be biting into had a capital D on the front.