“Don’t move bitch!” I shouted like something out of a bad cop show. Aurora laughed and said,
“And who do you think you are that you will be able to stop me!?” I was about to say when it was actually RJ that answered her.
“Keira…is that you?” I smiled at her and that was when Aurora dropped the evil villain victory look for one of pure shock.
“NO! It can’t be…but…it’s…it’s impossible!”
“Not for this Scouser!” I shouted back and whipped off my glasses, throwing them to one side so she could see my face and I had to admit, I felt like a bad ass!
“Ahhh!” She screamed and threw herself at me, knocking the gun from my hand and tackling me to the ground. I twisted before she could kick me and stuck out my foot tripping her up so she landed flat on her back. Then I jumped on her, straddling her waist and started punching her in the face.
“You want sex! Buy a vibrator you raping bitch!” I shouted in her face as I lifted up her head by the hair and smashing the back of her head back into the floor. I had lost my temper before but this was something else.
“Help her!” I heard RJ shout to the still naked Seth and his response would be something later I would laugh at.
“I’m not sure she needs help, Rachel.” Did he just call her by her first name Rachel? Thinking this I received an elbow to the face which threw me to the side allowing Aurora to get up and run off. I got up and shook my head at the same time running from the room in hot pursuit feeling my adrenaline kick in like a drug called kick ass!
“Come back here you coward!” I shouted as I followed her out of the next room and back into the hallway. She disappeared down the staircase and raced around the corner down the next lot of steps into the crowd. She looked back to see me still coming for her only she ran straight into an angry Imp holding a folded chair like a bat.
“Take a seat, Bitch!” She said as she let it rip, smacking the entire chair into her face, knocking her clean off her feet. Her nose burst and now, added to the black eye I had given her, she wasn’t looking quite so beautiful anymore. She got up on wobbly feet and I don’t know what came over me but I leapt off the staircase straight for her. I flew through the air to the sound of Pip screaming,
“FOR SPARTAAA!”
And then I landed on her. We both went down and skidded forward as the crowd parted. She tried to crawl away but I reached out and grabbed her ankle and yanked her back. I was like a woman possessed. It was as though all those times I had wanted to scratch her eyes out and strangle her with her own hair had all come rushing back to this moment and I just couldn’t stop.
I found myself on top of her again and it was a vague feeling that my knuckles were hurting from punching a face.
“Here, use this!” Pip said pulling my shoulder and handing me something pink. I didn’t even think I just grabbed it, raised it high and was about to bring it down on her head full force when I heard the one thing on this earth that could stop me…
Draven.
“Keira?” He said my name and I paused mid murdering action. I looked up and saw him stood at the end of the room with the crowd parted down the middle. I had no clue as to what I must have looked like as I remained sat on his ex-girlfriend amazingly withmy wig still in place, if not a little skew-whiff. I also looked up to see what I had been about to smash into Aurora’s bloody face and found to my horror I was still holding above my head a giant penis shaped piñata.
I remained frozen in position for a few more seconds, panting and very much like a naughty deer caught in head lights.
“Uh…hey.” I said not knowing what else to say considering this wasn’t the beautiful, running over the meadows into each other’s arms to the sound classical music scenario I had dreamed of. No not especially when quickly after he said my name all the rest of the crew came rushing in and stopped dead when everyone saw me the way I was.
“She found the baddie.” Pip said defending me and dropping the next item she had been ready to pass me if the giant paper penis filled with treats hadn’t done the job. I looked to the side and then up at her saying,
“Really…? An inflatable boob?” She shrugged her shoulders and then offered me a hand up.
“What were we gonna hit her with next, a sex shop?” I muttered dryly.
“Maybe.” She muttered back and Aurora had just started to try to get up when Pip bent down, pulled her up by the dress and said,
“Bang Bitch!” Then cracked her across the face with her fist, putting my punches to shame as she let her go to flop back to the floor now unconscious.
I looked back up to see Draven was still clearly in shock and I pulled the wig off my head, letting my hair fall down my back before I said,
“Sod it!” And then I ran at him and finally got my meadow moment. He opened his arms at the last moment and picked me up as I crashed into him. I burst into tears as I felt his arms band around me and held me to him.
“You’re here, you’re really here.” He whispered into my hair and I cried harder. I heard everyone around us cheering and clapping at the sight of our reunion and I smiled into his neck.
“I’m here, I’m home.” I whispered back and it felt like long blissful moments that I wanted to cling onto for forever. Just being back in his arms, knowing it was now all over made it finally worth it.
And then the music started and someone gave an old soul a guitar,
So a cowboy could start singing…
As I travel here in this world, well I’m just a pilgrim passing through,
But Abraham told me of a city, where God’s foundation’s standing true
When I come to the crossing of that river, don’t you weep because I’m gone
Just tell all my friends and my loved ones, that I finally made it home.
Then Bill stopped singing to play his solo on the guitar and I felt Draven squeeze me tighter to him and we both looked sideways at Bill when he started back up again.
Now I can almost see my mansion, but this mortal body clouds my view
Day by day it’s getting clearer, the life of glories shining through
When I come to the crossing of that river, don’t you weep because I’m gone
Just tell all my friends and my loved ones, that I finally made it home
Just tell all my friends and my loved ones, that I finally made it home.
It was a beautiful song and one sung with such soul that it nearly had me balling all over again. I knew it was about death but for me and for Bill, it was simply about coming home.
And like I had said before,
Draven was my home.
Chapter 69
Mortally Hurt
“Keira!” Sophia shouted pushing through the crowd and running into me. We embraced as sisters and again I found myself being bombarded with emotion. I managed to hold in the tears but you would have thought the amount I had cried in the last year and half I would have been immune to emotion by now, that or my tears should have dried up long ago.
But there was something about a happy ending that brought out the humanity in all of us, even Bill who hadn’t seen this side of the world for over fifty years. Because even though we were all different deep down, at the root of our core there was something the same in all of us. Race, gender, beliefs and sexual preference, strip it all down to its bare bones and we filled our lungs with the same air and we pumped blood around the same hearts. It was only our minds that made us who we were, nothing more, nothing less.
We were dangerous if we wanted to be and we were loving if we chose to be. It was that simple. And this brought me back to the destructive being on the floor that wanted to hurt. No-one made her that way, she chose that path.
“Let me at her!” Sophia said letting me go and storming over to Aurora until Vincent stepped in front of her.
“I think there are only two people here that can make the decision of what to do with her.” The Angel in my life said, nodding to me and Draven.
“Wel
l you already asked me once not to kill her.” Draven said looking down at me and I blushed remembering my letter.
“What are you talking about, my Lord?” Adam asked coming up next to his wife and prying what looked like a priceless vase out of her hands, one that she had at the ready for when Aurora woke and it didn’t take long for it to happen. As soon as Adam had moved Pip away we heard malicious laughter.
“See.” Pip said mimicking the action of smashing her over the head. Adam just shook his head at her and we all allowed the battered Aurora to struggle getting to her feet.
“Oh how I enjoyed watching you both suffer!” She spat at us and Adam had to literally hold Pip back with an arm around her waist.
I had to say I was tempted to allow her to spin her delusions for longer but I couldn’t wait. Oh this was going to be so good and damn satisfying.
“You really think you made us suffer?” I asked stepping forward feeling Draven keep only a step behind me. The entire crowd was watching this all play out as if it was the night’s entertainment.
“Oh I know I did! The look on his face when I told him his little bitch was dead! And yours when I left you in that hole!” I heard Draven growl behind me and everyone in the room took a step back but me. No, I just started laughing harder and soon her smirk dropped when she finally realised she had missed something.
“You really are a stupid cow aren’t you…I mean she really fell for it didn’t she?” I asked Draven looking back over my shoulder and he just folded his arms across his chest and said,
“That she did, love.”
“What the fuck are you talking about!?” She shouted shaking her head and getting more worked up.
“Get a clue! He never thought I was dead you dumb bitch!” I shouted at her relishing the sight of her jaw dropping.
“Oh this is going to be good.” Pip said nudging Adam and getting excited.
“I…he…” She stuttered for words.
“I left him a letter telling him what I had planned and knowing it was more than likely you would double cross me, I told him as much.”
“But that still doesn’t…” I cut her off again only this time by laughing first then Draven got his part of the plan in.
“You gave me a lock of her hair and told me the last thing she said to me… but she lied.” At this Aurora’s face twisted into an angry snarl.
“Then why let me live?!” She growled out the words and Sophia looked as if it was taking everything in her not to rip her throat out.
“Good question.” Draven said down at me calmly before then snapping in his rage and storming past me to grab Aurora by the throat and pin her to the wall.
“Whoa!” I said thinking this was it, he was really going kill her and I didn’t think I could do much to stop him. I mean, yes, I had not long ago been trying to kill her myself but now…could I really stand by and watch my boyfriend kill someone with his bare hands.
“Eos Titaness, you are charged with the desecration of a sacred Janus Gate, conspiracy and treason against your King, your attempt at disrupting the balance in which we live by and…” before Draven continued he squeezed her neck tighter and lifted her further so she couldn’t breathe, then got closer to her face and said,
“…even if your attempts at trying to destroy my kingdom weren’t reason enough for your punishment, trying to KILL MY ELECTUS WAS!” He roared in her face and dropped her to the floor where she was left gasping for breath. Then he looked down at her with nothing but disgust on his face when he said,
“You were honoured with a place at my table and on my council. You had more than our kind could ever wish for yet you threw it all away and for what, power? Well let me tell you something Eos…” He leant down, lifted up her head forcefully by her chin and said,
“There is no power in Death!” And then he left her face fall and walked away after giving his sentence. He looked to me and just as his eyes started to soften she started to laugh. He looked back and you could feel the whole room chill from the sound. It was nothing short of madness.
“If you think there is no power in death then you are mistaken my Lord!” She hissed the ‘my lord’ and then spat on the ground.
“You think you hold the balance then you are wrong! You think you rule over this kingdom, you are wrong! You think I did any of this without honour WRONG! MY HONOUR WAS NEVER YOURS!” She screamed getting up and again started laughing. Everything in the room stopped and even I, the only mortal in the room could feel something coming.
Then from above Seth ran to the edge of the balcony as if something had only just now hit him. She looked up at him and blew him a kiss and then started to fade from the room but not before she told us of her victory,
“Long hail Cronus and his REBIRTH!” She shouted this last word just as Seth jumped down over the balcony hoping to land on her but he landed with a knee to the ground where she once stood.
Aurora was gone.
“NOOOOO!” Seth screamed and then punched the floor, splitting the wood beneath his fist. He remained frozen in place with all the muscles on his naked torso bulging. He had found his trousers but still remained barefoot and shirtless. He didn’t have the bulk as most of the other men but his slim frame was defined and full of strength.
We were all left confused or at least I was having no clue as to what any of this meant.
“Tell me she didn’t…” Draven trailed off when Seth raised his head and his glazed eyes said it all. And this was when it finally all snapped into place.
“Titans.” I whispered and Seth’s eyes found mine before he once again lowered his head in what looked like the deepest shame I had ever seen on anyone before. Then he raised himself up without a word and walked to the door. The crowd parted for him and every eye in the room watched his departure in silence.
RJ came running from the room above and flung herself at the railings of the balcony before shouting his name,
“SETH!” He stopped with his back to everyone and you could see his naked back tense.
“Seth?” RJ said again this time as a question and you could hear the devastation as a wobble in her voice. But that heart break only became something you could actually hear when he finally walked away…
Without one word spoken.
RJ burst into uncontrollable sobs and ran back into the room above and I looked to Seth as his figure walked through the pillars and down the steps into the darkness. He didn’t turn around once but I knew he had heard her heart breaking. And one thing I was certain of and that was he felt it breaking as well.
For long moments nothing moved and only the sounds of a broken mortal girl could be heard echoing through the house and for once, it wasn’t coming from me. I walked up to Draven, placed my hand on his chest, looked up at him and said,
“I have to go to her.”
“I know.” He said putting his forehead to mine and gave me a look that mirrored my own. It felt as though parting now would tear apart our souls. That was the worst thing about being the people with responsibility, he had to deal with the consequences of Aurora’s actions and I had to deal with Seth’s. We owed it to the people we cared for when really our first choice would have been each other. All I wanted was to find my solace in his arms and close the door on it all.
But we couldn’t.
And so we didn’t.
By the time I got to the bedroom I had an angry RJ to deal with not the emotional, mascara mess I was expecting. She had pulled off all the sheets on the bed and had stuffed them into the adjoining bathroom tub and poured what smelt like bleach all over them. I walked over to close the bathroom door before I passed out from the fumes.
She had obviously smashed a mirror against the wall as there were shards scattered on the floor where she had been sat tied up not long ago. To be honest if she had been free sooner I think she would have probably been right next to Pip passing me shit to bash Aurora’s head with.
I found her stood by the central window in the room looking
out over the gardens and staring at the fountain. She looked to be holding something and as I stepped up to her I realised it must have been his t-shirt. She was twisting it over and over in her hands and I remembered doing this a few times myself. It was as if holding something in your hands helped you focus on channelling your hurt to an object, instead of letting it fester in your heart.
“He left.” She said without looking at me.
“I know.”
“He left.” She repeated again and I had to bite my lip at how upsetting it was to hear.
“I know, honey.” I said again not knowing whether to pull her to me for a hug or to go and hunt down one broody bastard named Dickhead!
“Just like that…Gone.”
“I’m sorry.” And I was. Because if anyone in this world knew how she felt at that moment it was me. This was when she finally turned to me and with tears in her eyes said,
“He didn’t even say good…goodbye.” She hiccupped and stumbled on the word ‘goodbye’ and I found I too had tears welling up for my friend.
“He’s a fool.”
“Yes but…but…” She burst into tears and threw herself into my arms and said the rest of her sentence into my hair,
“But he’s not a fool in love.”
This was when her knees gave out and I caught her, lowering her to the ground as she wept into my arms. The only thing I knew to say to her was one simple fact,
“You’re not alone.” Which made her cry harder and hug me tighter. I didn’t know if it was the right thing to say and I didn’t think I would ever know but it felt like the right thing to say at that moment.
RJ cried until she was spent and when I pulled back I saw a different RJ looking back at me. She had always been so tough and so strong but now void of all makeup and with tear stains down her face she looked so young and vulnerable my heart melted all over again for my friend.
The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) Page 26