The Pentagram Child
Part 2
Afterlife Saga
Book 5
BY
Stephanie Hudson
Copyright
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the author, as allowed under terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Copyright © 2015 Stephanie Hudson
All rights reserved.
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This book is a work or fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning:
This book contains explicit sexual content, some graphic language and a highly additive Alpha Males.
Cover design by: © thePaperface
www.thepaperface.co.uk
[email protected]
Other books by Stephanie Hudson
Afterlife Saga
Book 1 Afterlife
Book 2 The Two Kings
Book 3 The Triple Goddess
Book 4 The Quarter Moon
Book 5 The Pentagram Child Part 1
Dedication.
The dedication I pick is always something very dear to my heart and something I feel very strongly about. This time is no different other than being deeply personal and I openly want to share it with all of you.
This dedication goes to finding my soul mate and finally understanding how Keira feels about our lovely Dominic Draven. It’s about opening your heart and finding where your words and stories come from and it’s about understanding yourself.
This is simply about finding love.
Simply finding love is like asking the storm to stop,
Because you find yourself in the rain,
Simply finding love is like turning back time,
Because you slipped and missed the train.
Simply finding love is like holding a butterfly in your hands,
And asking it to stay,
Simply finding love is like asking the night,
To turn back to day.
Simply finding love is like receiving a gift
And asking then for more,
Simply finding love is like pushing a friend away,
And then surprised when you’re shown the door,
Simply finding love is not knowing when,
Like hiding in plain sight,
Simply finding love is being blinded by the sun,
And you find love shadowing the light.
No, Love is not simple at all…
But it is beautiful.
For my beautiful love Blake x
Keira
Chapter 44
Transcending In The Past
“What do you believe in, Keira?”
“What do you mean?” I asked in that naive way only a child has perfected over the first ten years of their life.
“You told your teacher that a boy in your class was a monster.” The doctor in front of me said and I had to bite my lip to stop it from shaking. I found this helped in fighting back the tears but most importantly the fear. Even at that young age I knew. I didn’t fully understand it but still I knew. Because it was something about the fear that they loved and that boy in my class was no different.
I still remember walking into the playground that day and forgetting all about the climbing frame I wanted to play on when I heard a sound that would haunt my dreams for years to come.
“Come here little Benny, come play with me.” I had never heard the voice before and even as I was still making my way around the corner, I knew there was something wrong with the way it sounded.
“I have something I want to show you.” The voice continued and for a second my body stopped moving from fear of what I would actually see. The rational side of me that was only in its infancy of developing knew I should turn around and run. That I should get someone else to help but the different part of me, the one that had been forced upon me on my 7th birthday was overriding safety for one that was being demanded of me.
That was a sense of duty I didn’t understand but one I couldn’t ignore, no matter how much I tried. So I forced my body to make the steps needed and that’s when I saw my first ‘child’ demon.
It was one of those points in your life that even then I knew you could never get back from the consuming horror. I would never be able to claw that sight from my memory no matter how long I dug for it. I could pick away until my fingers were nothing but bloody gnawed bones and I would barely scratch the surface of mental damage done.
So instead my fingers clung to the brick wall for support and I scraped my fingertips along the rough surface just for the proof I needed that this was real and not just another one of my nightmares. But the irritation against my young skin proved that it was indeed real life…my new real frightening life.
I heard my classmate, poor Benny Rodgers cry out his terror at the same time a silent gasp escaped my lips.
“What’s the matter, don’t you want to touch my friend?” The demon mocked and for the first time I lost sight of my fear for a far stronger emotion…anger!
“Get away from him!” I shouted without thinking about the consequences for once. I didn’t focus on the gruesome sight that was a sadistic chalk white face, one made uneven by patches of scabbed skin. Or the black vertical lines that passed downwards through his eyes and reached his cheeks like some creepy clown sent with the sole purpose to scare the essence out of us children.
Even his hair had changed colour, shape and texture. It now resembled blood red candy floss and was parted in the middle with a thick black line, one that started at the tip of his nose from a fine painted needle point.
No, all I saw was the small demon holding up his t-shirt in front of the terrified Benny and taunting him with the gruesome part of him. It was a face caught beneath his skin that was protruding out of his belly like he had swallowed an even smaller demon, one trying in vain to break free with his teeth.
“Do you want to touch it gir…?” He turned his head as he asked the question but when he saw it was me his question finished with an angry hiss. He dropped his t-shirt and looked back to grin down at the boy on finding he had wet himself.
Just then a teacher I had never seen before came from around the corner and stopped to look and take in the scene in front of her. Only what she saw wasn’t what the rest of us knew was really happening.
“Ssshh.” The demon said as he turned his head in slow motion without moving the rest of his body and then gently put one pale long finger to his lips. The evil grin he displayed showcased row after row of tiny pointed teeth, all with gaps in between blackened gums.
“Oh Benny, look at what you did.” Said the teacher when taking note of Benny’s wet school trousers and wrinkling her nose in blatant disgust.
“But it wasn’t his fault!” I shouted clenching my small fists and getting my first real taste of injustice. The teacher frowned down at me and the disbelief was clear as day or as clear as what should have been the sight of the demon in front of her very eyes. I remember my anger mounting the longer it went that she couldn’t see him for what he really was. Did she need telling? Did she need it pointing out for his true side to be revealed?
“No it was my fault
Miss…I…I guess I just didn’t realise I needed to go so badly.” Benny said giving his lame excuse and I couldn’t believe my ears. Why was he sticking up for this demon, the one that had hurt him, I just couldn’t understand it!
“That’s not true! He made him do it!” I protested in vain, pointing my finger at the demon she couldn’t see. She started to cross her arms but I barely noticed as my eyes went past her to see the demon boy had his hand on Benny’s shoulder. It was as if his touch was sucking the truth from Benny and making him lie.
Well if he couldn’t speak up for himself then I was going to do it for him, no matter what this demon would do to me. However this was the one day that would be filled with lessons that would stick with me for the rest of my days. And as a result, instead of giving me a voice to do good it was going to silence me for my own good…
Until the day Draven found me.
“BUT HE’S A MONSTER!”
“You’re a Monster!” I screamed at him from the place I remained on the floor with a broken body but far from a broken spirit. The very words took me back to my childhood and like before I found I was crying out for the injustice that lay before me.
“Get away from him!” I screamed, only this time at the evil prick that in my opinion was far too inhumane to have been granted a real name…
Alex.
I loathed the very name. I wanted it wiped out of existence so that no poor soul could be associated with its evil origins. I tried to bring a part of myself back from the raw hatred but one look down at myself and all the damage he had caused cast such thoughts back to the pits of despair of the likes that Draven had now been thrust into.
I lifted a heavy head, feeling the blood trickling down past my eye and not even having the strength in me to wipe it away. No, I was reserving all that was left in me for one single act of revenge. Just one chance to take him off guard or maybe I would finally learn once and for all how to control what gifts the other world had bestowed upon me.
And what of its King? I turned my head, letting the rest of the blood soak deeper into my hairline and looked towards the altar with a heavy heart at what I found there. It was as if the essence of Draven had replaced his physical form and a shimmering light still clung to the contours of his flesh. It looked almost as though I could have ran my hand straight through him and come away with nothing but a cold lost feeling and a handful of gold, glittering dust.
“Aww, is the bitch missing her faithful hound?” Alex mocked and I reluctantly tore my eyes from what was left of the man I loved and scowled at all the reasons for my suffering. I thought about all he had taken from me and worse yet, what was still left for him to take. My heart was still breaking for my unlikely friend, whose heart I quickly held as dear as family.
Lucius
I still couldn’t believe he was really gone. I kept trying to convince myself that it was impossible and that he would once again show up, ready to save the day. But then the haunting memory of seeing the last of the light fade from his eyes was enough of a cold slap of reality needed to bring me back to the devastating truth…
Alex had killed Lucius.
“Murderer.” I muttered feeling my rage building but still trying in vain to keep a level head.
“Ahh, she speaks again…what was that?” He asked holding up a hand to his ear and smirking at me like there was some cosmic joke that only he knew.
“MURDERER!” I screamed with all hopes of maintaining that calm escaping my willpower. I could even feel the tendons on my neck strain and my lacerated skin on my arms scream in agony as I pounded my fists against the floor. If anything the pain grounded me and fuelled my rage the way I needed it to.
“Kill a few mortals and you’re a murderer but bring down an immortal empire and you’re a God…go figure.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing Zeus imprison your worthless ass this time!” I snapped knowing I was just feeding into all his bullshit craziness but not being able to help myself. I watched as his face first contorted into one of loathing and then just as though I snapped my fingers his face changed and his sadistic grin was back in place.
“Well, well, just look at you…been learning our history have you?” I just sneered at him in disgust and had to hold back the urges of throwing my useless body at him in a hopeless attempt at killing him.
“Go on, try it and just see where it will get you! After all, your friend in there didn’t fare so well against me… did he now?”
“Impossible…” I heartbreakingly whispered to myself. I just couldn’t imagine it. It was like some deeper part of me wouldn’t give up on him and let myself believe what my eyes had seen. There had to be some mistake, maybe part of the plan? Yes, that had to be it!
This thought must have been portrayed on my face because the next thing I heard was his vile laughter echoing around the room.
“Ha! You don’t believe it do you…you don’t believe I have enough power in me to kill him!?” He finished his taunt with even more laughter. Then as if to prove just how much of a good time he found all this he bent at the waist and rested his hands on his knees to laugh harder.
“None of your kind could kill him!” I said attacking back the only way I could.
“None of my kind? And what is that exactly...? A Nephilim? A fucking half breed bottom feeder?! You know it’s that same stupidity that got you all here in the first place. That same narrow minded pathetic waste of space that fills tiny minds, tiny minds that refuse to open themselves up to the possibilities.” He said ranting on and spraying the floor with his spit in his haste to get out his words.
“Oh and there is just so many possibilities to releasing destruction on the earth is there?!” I threw back at him.
“Well now you mentioned it, yes there is and let me explain to simple minds why…” I tried to hold back the urge to roll my eyes, I really did…oh who am I kidding, even if I’d had my eyes stapled to my hairline I would have still tried!
“You know what, I think I will pass on your bat shit crazy for today, I think my tank’s full!” This turned out the wrong thing to say no matter how good it felt seconds afterwards, in the long run it didn’t feel so great for me or my scalp. He was down next to me in a heartbeat and wrenched my head back by my hair so I no choice but to play audience to his sick play.
“Not full enough, so listen up Bitch at what you have to look forward to…” I tried to pull my head back but his grip merely tightened causing tears to escape the corners of my eyes as the pain intensified. He pulled me closer and I became the next victim to his spit sprayed words…words that cast my soul into the shadows of dread and kept me imprisoned there.
“Human eradication. Mortal extermination. The annihilation of Men…Finally the time of personal extinction for the vermin that have been allowed to walk this earth is now and the Titans will not only ensure this, but will strike down anyone that stands in our way!”
“You’re INSANE!” I screamed but knew it would do no good from the faraway look of glee he had in his mad eyes. I had to wonder just how long this psychosis had inflicted him or whether he had been born with the sickness and it was being fed from his core.
I found myself trying to focus on finding answers to where this need to destroy so many came from but too much blood loss and that was proving difficult. I could feel myself dying and I found the only benefit to this was that the heinous creature before me started to fade.
“Oh dear, am I boring you?” Alex asked on a snigger and gave me a painful shake like this would help. If I’d had the strength I would have smacked him upside the head and told him he was the idiot! Instead I just seemed to let my body go limp and I slumped from his grasp, which I found was one more blessing to add to my impending death.
All I could wish for was that Draven would make it back to me in time for me to tell him I loved him for the last time. The thought was a crushing one but it was hard to see any other way out of this. I was lying here like a fallen solider framed by my own blood and havi
ng only the strength left to wallow in self-pity for the lost love I had once again found. There was little justice left in the world to find the outcome would be much different from the dire one painted by a mad man.
My body had become numb against the pain and I wasn’t sure if this was an inevitable sign of death or just that the pain was being overridden by despair. One not only for those that I had lost but for those I loved which would soon be lost to the world.
I was a creature of habit and that wasn’t the habit of giving up but with my cheek to the floor and my skin’s pores soaking up lost blood, I knew I didn’t have anything left in me.
I knew that I didn’t have long.
I wondered if Draven would know the moment it happened? Would he feel my last breath leave me? Would he then be able to give up the fight and walk away? I let myself rejoice in the knowledge that maybe then there would be no war to fight. That with my death he would shatter the vial of blood Alex had given him and with it destroying the key that could release the Titans. My death would save millions and if I had the means to end it right now I would have taken the plunge.
I would have taken it not just for those who I know, not just for my sister, mother and father. Not just for the loved ones I had been born into loving but for the loved ones that had magically come into my life. Frank, my precious little niece Ella, whom I had helped bring into this world, RJ who had become my best friend, and someone for all I knew I had already lost. Someone who had been thrust into a fight that was not her own just for knowing me? How many would continue to hurt and die just for knowing me?
I might have been Draven’s Chosen One, but no one chose to have my life infect their own like a disease with only one cure.
The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) Page 1