“I…don’t…”
“Draven hasn’t told you. Keira, I am now like Dom, I now have two forces fused inside me. I thought having the rest of the spear would make me a more powerful Demon and maybe if what happened hadn’t, then it could have done, but it was you…you gave me my faith back, you set me free!” He then leant his head down and kissed my hands that had started to twist the bottom of my sleeves anxiously.
“But how?”
“You saved my life, the fates predicted the one that showed me the sun, the light, would save me and not just my way of life. For a mortal being to take a death that was meant to be mine was enough for the decision to be made that if a child of the Gods could see the good in me then that was to be my second chance. I am now a Vampire Demon and an Angel of God which was promised to me all those years ago.” I couldn’t believe it, now Lucius was like Draven! This was too much information to take in.
“What happened to you, the reason Draven gave you the tip, he knew what you would become and he knew it would take you both to bring me back…didn’t he?”
“It was all prophesied, yes. It was the very reason he kept it from me all these years but that I am sure you already know.” I did and the smile I gave him just confirmed it.
“So what will it be now, should I start calling you Judas or are you bad ass, cocky Lucius forever?” I teased.
“Umm, I am quite partial to Lucius as it is and besides, I don’t think Judas would have quite the same affect with the ladies.” I laughed taking him with me in the teasing mode and soon the conversation drew to an end.
“I have to ask Lucius, why were you willing to give me back to Draven without hopes of getting the spear tip back?” He got up and I joined him at the door.
“Because someone once told me a truth I didn’t see until the sun shone on her beautiful face.” I gulped down the lump that was like a massive ball bearing and asked the question I would always regret if I didn’t, knowing I might never see him again.
“And what was that?”
“That power won’t ever love me back and she was right, power was only ever gained in loving her!” I gasped at the words I knew and before I could say another word, he lifted my hand to his and kissed the back, never taking his eyes from mine and then said the words that had a tear escaping,
“Good bye, My Little Keira Girl.”
After that very door opened, another great friend came ploughing in and soon I was in tears at having to say another goodbye I really wasn’t ready for.
“Squeak!”
“Toots!” And that was all it took for two friends to run together, cling on tight and cry for the loss we knew was coming. After that night at the Temple, once Pip had calmed down and found out my reasons for deceiving her, she had been waiting…well pacing the floor like a caged animal, wanting to speak to me. We had both made our apologies at the same time and then ended up in fits full of giggles. True friends didn’t stay mad at each other for long and throughout this whole ordeal, only one thing became my biggest survival tool…Pip.
Without Pip I wouldn’t have been able to get through it all. She had become a part of my life as only few had and when Sophia had joined us in the ‘goodbye’ it just made me smile with tears streaming down my face. Looking at two of the most important people in my life embracing in farewell was a touching moment and it felt like the end of an era.
“Well, Tootie cakes, one thing is for sure, you certainly made life interesting, I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun trying to keep someone alive before!” She said beaming and I burst into more tears. She hugged me to her and cried herself. It was only when Adam came in and touched her shoulder gently that she turned suddenly and threw herself sobbing into his chest.
“I love you Winifred Pipper Ambrogetti, thank you for being part of my kidnapping.” I added and she snorted a laugh, then wiped her snotty nose along the sleeve of her ‘Keep Calm and Do a Demon’ hoodie.
“You’re welcome my friend, I love you too Keira and I will text you from the car and then the plane and then when we get home and then…”
“She gets it love. Keira, thank you for trying to save the woman I love, I will forever be in your dept. My Lord, my best wishes to you and your chosen.” Adam said, turning to where Draven had stepped into the room and come to stand beside me to tuck me into his side.
“Adam!” He nodded his head and then I laughed when Pip came up to him, making him look like a giant and slapped him on the arm to then say,
“See you laters, big man King.”
“Pipper!” Adam reprimanded and Draven and I laughed.
“My Lord!” She corrected and Draven just placed his hand on her head and ruffled her green hair.
“Thank you little Squeak, for not only saving the woman I love but being there for her in a way no one else could…you have the debt of a King, now be off with you before anymore tears. Safe journey.” They both bowed and with an added little peace sign from Pip, they were gone.
“I am really going to miss that Imp.” I said before turning to hug onto Draven, while a few more tears came to say their goodbye.
Four months later saw a change to the way Draven and I entwined our lives together. I went to back to college to continue my studies, while Ragnar was there every step of the way, along with the A star student Sophia…both of which acted as my body guards.
Draven and I became inseparable being together most of the time and he was planning on taking me travelling with him around Europe for the summer. Life was good and the routine Draven and I established was a welcome one after the turbulent start we’d had at our relationship. Draven would take me everywhere with him and include me in the politics of his job, which gave me a better understanding of the world I now lived in.
I would still work a few nights a week in the club and yes, we would still argue about it but this I actually looked forward to as it would always mean I would get a broody and angry Draven at the end of the night and he knew just the right way to take his frustrations out on me. I was becoming greedy with my multiple orgasms, he informed me one night.
Everything went on this way until one night an urgent message came for Draven at the top table of the VIP and once Draven read it, my world changed. My beautiful glass bubble of happiness shattered and left me with the words I was saying now.
“What do you mean, you have to leave?” I said as Draven was pacing up and down his office.
“I know you don’t want to hear this and for that I am sorry, but it is my responsibility…she is my responsibility.” He said running a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Who? Draven tell me what has happened?” I asked in a soothing voice, trying to get out from him what was going on.
“Pythia has gone missing. The Oracle is nowhere to be found and if I find she was taken…then so help me I WILL CRUSH…”
“DRAVEN! Calm down, look its fine, I will just have to miss classes and find a way to catch up…it will be…Draven, what’s wrong?” I asked as soon as I saw his face. He took a deep breath and came to sit down by me.
“Keira, I can’t take you with me this time.” He had taken my hands in his and tried to hold onto them when I pulled back.
“What do you mean!? I always come with you…you have taken me before and…”
“This will be different sweetheart, it will be dangerous and being here where I know you are safe will keep my heart and sanity safe.” He said interrupting me.
“But…”
“No Keira. There is nothing more important to me than keeping you safe! I will do anything in my power to keep it so. Do you understand?” He lowered his head, capturing my eyes until he saw the tears forming.
“Oh Keira, come here.” He said picking me up and placing me on his lap, to sooth my fears.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked in a weak little voice that I knew was making it harder for him, but I just couldn’t help it. The idea of spending one day from him was just too much to bear.
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“I am not sure…a couple of weeks, maybe a month at the most.”
“WHAT!” I shouted and he held me tighter to him, stroking down my hair.
“I know and I am sorry for it to be even one day, but I don’t know how long it will take to find her and as I have explained to you before, the consequences, if she is not found and in the hands of another, could be devastating to the balance.” I nodded like a small child and he took my face in his hands, thumbed my tears away and kissed me with a feverish passion.
I knew what had to be done and I also knew what could happen if the only Being in the world who had that amount of power in knowledge of the fates was to be taken by someone who would use that knowledge to gain power over this world. It was a haunting nightmare of Draven’s and now it had come true. And now, it was the only thing to take Draven from me.
“You know you might miss the birth don’t you?” I said on our last night before he left.
“I know my sweet and I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case but the more information I receive back about her disappearance the more time I think it will take.”
“I understand.” I said feeling so bad for him and so sorry for myself. Libby was now a big bump of glowing redheaded wonder and I had spent my time with her doing all the baby stuff that needed to be done…which was why I still had sunny yellow paint being picked out of my hair by Draven.
“When is she due again?” He asked now curling the strand of hair he had been pruning around one of his thick fingers.
“The end of May.” I said trying not to make our last night as miserable as I felt.
“What did you tell her?” He asked adding more hair to the finger.
“I told her it was a family business emergency, that couldn’t be helped.” I didn’t add the bit where she was thrilled I would be home more as Draven and I only ever spent one night there a week, just to keep my sister happy….Draven had issues with my squeaky bed.
“So what do you want to do on our last night?” I asked trying to steer the conversation into another direction.
“Well I was planning on keeping you under me the whole night so as I could burn the memory to my brain of you writhing around in your release…oh and Keira… please do that little wrinkled nose thing you do for me before I make you scream.” He said and then did everything from that sentence and more. Including biting my little wrinkled nose that seemed to fascinate him just before I came screaming.
The next morning Draven and I spent the time in bed holding each other as if someone was going to walk in and drag one of us away kicking and screaming. Then the afternoon came and the dreaded time came for Draven to leave me. I had already said goodbye to Sophia and Vincent back at Afterlife and now I was stood outside my door with Draven, just like that day before I was taken by Carrick. Only now it was Draven leaving me and no words could soothe the ache of him taking my heart away with him.
“Hey, don’t look so sad my love, I will be back soon and I want my last memory of you to be that smile I love so much.” He said softly and I couldn’t help it, I threw my arms up and around him, making him lift me up and I kissed him like I never wanted to stop. But it had to end and far too soon.
The last smile I gave Draven didn’t reach my eyes and neither did his but the parting words would be held with me until I heard him speaking them again…
“I love you, keeper of my heart.”
As the weeks went on I couldn’t tell if things got easier or harder. It felt like the first time I came here and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I kind of just bumbled around like a lost soul searching for something I couldn’t see but knew was still there. It was like trying to find my feet in a new life all over again.
The only times that eased the pain I felt was when I spent time with my sister or my friends. Jack was his usual charming self and we would go to the horrible diner a few times just for a laugh and RJ would complain that we were both clearly insane. We spent a lot of time together and even though I was asked why Afterlife had closed for this length of time I never really had the heart to find an answer. As to Draven, well my phone would go enough times to know that we were still a couple, that was until the end of the month, just before Libby’s due date.
I would stare at my phone for hours just trying to will it to ring and then I would give in and ring him, only one day he never answered it. I knew from that moment in time something had changed in the world, so horrible and horrific but I had no idea what. It was only after a whole forty eight hours of constant ringing everyone I knew on his side that my answer came.
The doorbell went one day and I couldn’t believe who was on the other side.
“Leivic!” I shouted when I saw one of Draven’s best friends at my door. Only something wasn’t right, the smile he gave me was all wrong and my heart plummeted at the sight.
“Leivic, what is it…what’s happened?” I said reaching out to him but he moved out of my way. He looked down as if what he was about to do he couldn’t bear to see my eyes when he did it.
“Please, you’re scaring me.” I said feeling the tears already forming.
“I am so sorry Keira, I didn’t want to do this but this is my debt to Draven that after all these years is now finally done and believe me when I tell you it is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.” My hands flew to my mouth and I shook my head in denial.
“No, no, no…he can’t! He’s leaving me?” I shouted and when I saw a single tear fall from his eye I knew it was worse than that…
“No Keira…I am so sorry but…”
“Just say it!” I shouted making him flinch back and then as soon as the words came, my world collapsed and I found the broken ground in tear fogged eyes, which would be the end of my days…
“He’s dead, Keira!”
To Be Continued.
Excerpt From
The Quarter Moon
Afterlife Saga
Book 4
I woke to the sight of the same old hollow eyes that looked back at me every morning. It was as if you could actually see the missing pieces of me that left only the shell to function… And function, I had to. So with that in mind I did as I usually did and got ready for a day I couldn’t wait to see the back of.
“Morning!” I said to Libby and she looked at me with tired red shot eyes and said,
“Is it morning? I can no longer tell.” She said in a hopeless tone I tried not to match.
“Don’t worry, I will take the next night shift, so you guys can get some sleep.” At this she found the energy to get up and hug me, putting some much needed hope in her eyes.
The new love of my life wasn’t big on sleeping through the nights but that was just fine by me as I didn’t sleep so well myself these days. Ever since I was left alone I wouldn’t do so well and having little baby Ella with me soothed the ache in my soul like no other could. She was the reason I kept myself going, the reason I didn’t fake my smiles when I looked down at her precious face and the only reason I was still living in a place that reminded me of the only man I could ever love at every turn.
I got up after clicking the kettle on ready for my daily fix of Tetley, when I heard a knock on the door.
“Who would it be at this time in the morning?” Libby snapped in her obvious sleep deprived mode. I smiled at her, giving her an ‘I understand’ pat on her hand as I passed to find out exactly who it was.
“Coming!” I said after nearly tripping up over a bag of nappies that was now half spread across the floor, thanks to my foot.
I finally made it and was still trying to push the knotted hairs that had escaped my plait back from my face as I opened the door. I was taken aback by the sight of a messenger all dressed in black, complete with flat cap to match. What the other startling thing was that the boy must have been no more than twelve and was sat on a very old fashioned bike that should have been in an antique store.
I frowned before I managed to smile at the lad.
“Umm…hello.”
I said wondering why the kid was just staring at me.
“You’ve only just got up…I can tell ‘cause your hair’s a mess.” He said with a slight accent I couldn’t place. Ok, so now I was frowning again.
“Umm…yeah, cheers for that.” I replied sarcastically.
“I’m just saying, ‘cause the misses said you be pretty and all, but I’m a guessin’ shit hasn’t been that shiny lately.” He said and I think at this point my mouth actually dropped open with a ‘pop’ sound. Was this kid for real?!
“Is it ever?” Was the only thing I knew to say, that or to scold him for swearing at his age.
“Hey I guess not, so look I need you to sign this before I can give you what’s in my bag.” He said pulling out a little black book! Oh god, this was just getting weirder and weirder…I mean was this actually happening or was I still asleep?
“Ok, do you have a pen?” I asked but then I was made to feel stupid by a twelve year old riding something that looked older than my Nan! The look he gave nearly had me feeling the top of my head to check that I hadn’t in fact grown a twin from the side of my neck.
“You’re not very savvy to these things are you…look Blondie, just place your finger here and think of Snow White’s mother.” I placed my finger on the pad just as I said,
“Uh?” Which was quickly followed by,
“Ouch! Hey, it pricked my finger!”
“Yep it sure did, just like Snow White’s mother and look what happened to her, kid with bloody coloured lips, husband off with a witch and dead as a door nail! Some people have no luck…here you go.” The lad said, making not a lick of sense and handing me a vanilla coloured envelope. I then watched as he snapped his little book shut, but not before I saw my full name along with my bloodied finger print underneath it.
The Triple Goddess Page 76