Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “AAAAHHHH” Aurora screamed just as Draven sent one last burst of power towards the door, trying to destroy it. Selene saw it and jumped in front of it just before it could hit and once again she simply absorbed it. Aurora pulled herself and Jack in front of the new pathway.

  “We need the power in his blood to complete the path and then to seal it!” Selene said backing up towards her sister after nodding to my Uncle.

  “You dare to double cross me!” His outraged reaction to this was proof there was no end to the deception of these two sisters.

  “We don’t need it, yours will do…! Good bye my sister.” Aurora said before yanking Selene back by the shoulders and then thrusting the blade in her back, stabbing her through the heart. Shock and confusion made her eyes go wide before she muttered,

  “Sister?” Aurora didn’t care, she removed the blade, lifted up her hand then dragged it down, finishing the last rune needed to complete the circle. They lit up one by one and just as the portal opened Aurora fell backwards into the abyss, taking Jack with her and I screamed out as the last thing we saw was Aurora slitting Jack’s throat.

  “NOOOO!” Draven grabbed me, stopping me from racing after them as he knew what would happen next. Selene still had her hand on her heart as the blade had pierced right through to her front and with bloody hands she crawled towards the pathway, trying to follow Aurora.

  “Eos…sister, don’t leave me…don’t leave me here…save me!” I wanted to point out the obvious at this point that she was actually the one who stabbed her so it was unlikely she would just pop her head back through and say, ‘oh okay then’ and give her a hand!

  But she dragged her way there and just as she went to put her hand through the portal Draven roared,

  “Sister, COME BACK!” Her heart breaking cry was her last words on this earth as Draven roared,

  “Get down!” Then he was on top of me, covering me with his wings and all I could see was light exploding through the feathers making them glow. When he finally lifted his wing after checking it was first safe, I found myself blinking rapidly until my eyes could take the bright light.

  “Fuck!” Draven swore, meaning this was bad.

  “Where did they go!?” Draven demanded striding straight up to my Uncle, who I still called that out of habit…besides I couldn’t pronounce the name Selene and Aurora had called him. I blinked away the rest of the dancing spots of light and was surprised to see the church didn’t look like a bomb had just gone off like I would have expected.

  I watched as Draven grabbed the last one standing in our way by the throat and lifted him clean off the floor. It was as if the only power stopping Draven from doing this in first place was now gone. I looked to where they had both disappeared only to see the slight remains of Selene, that were charred bones still reaching out to the door that was long gone. It was a haunting sight that spoke solely of the ultimate deception. Aurora had sacrificed her own sister, using her so she could escape. I thought back to that night at the wall and it couldn’t have been more different.

  A sister who sacrificed herself so that the other may escape. The differences were screaming out at me as I looked to Ari to see she was still alive!

  “Ari!”

  “Stop!” Draven ordered me back from getting closer. I didn’t question it knowing he was protecting me and after what I had put him through at the wall, I knew I owed him this.

  “Let her go…NOW!” Draven ordered and I looked again more closely this time. I sucked in a quick breath realising now that our Uncle still had control over her. Streams of energy seemed to be connected to him and Ari started moaning from having her essence drained out of her.

  “I… can’t!” He said struggling to form the words through not being able to breathe.

  “NOW!” Draven bellowed again bringing him down to his knees and putting him in a head lock that looked as though with one twist he could break his neck.

  “I told you I can’t! We are connected now, as long as I live she will die.”

  “Then you die!” Draven snarled but before he could make the fatal move, he shouted,

  “WAIT! If you kill me then you will lose your Chosen One!” Just as he said this Vincent walked through the doors at the end and took in the situation, first finding Ari on the altar. He seemed frozen unable to move at his first real sight of her.

  “Speak!”

  “If you kill me then you lose all chance of getting back your Chosen One’s memories. The second I die, so do her memories with me.”

  “Oh god.” I muttered covering my mouth with my hand in horror.

  “Draven please…you have to…save her.” I said crying for what we would both lose but the sacrifice was worth making for the life we would gain. I looked to Vincent who seemed locked to his brother’s eyes, displaying too many emotions to count.

  “Forgive me, Keira.” Draven said and I cried out,

  “No!”

  Then Draven looked to his brother and said,

  “I do this for you, brother.” Then with a sharp, violent twist snapped my Uncle’s neck.

  Draven then closed his eyes, against the obvious pain of saying goodbye…

  Goodbye…to his Keira.

  Chapter 42

  ‘It will be Okay’

  Vincent fell to his knees at the same time my Uncle’s body did. I burst into tears and ran to my sister as she dragged in her first breath. I wrapped my arms around her, lifting her upper torso towards me holding the back of her head.

  “Ari! Oh god Ari, you’re going to be okay now, I’m here.” I said crying and unable to stop.

  “Kay Bear…is that you?” Hearing her broken voice calling me that was the greatest of gifts I could ever have had received and the most perfect of endings to this battle against evil. Of course Aurora had escaped and poor Jack was gone but as I held my sister so close after all this time I cried for what I had gained, more than what I had lost.

  “Am I dreaming?” She asked me and I pulled back to look at her. She was staring at Vincent at the end of the aisle on his knees and his magnificent white wings were stretched out in all their glory. He looked like a broken Angel begging for forgiveness.

  “No, he’s real Ari.” I told her and she looked back at me with wild eyes before they suddenly rolled back up in her head as she promptly passed out.

  “Ari!” I shouted her name and gave her a shake as fear overtook me.

  “It’s okay love, she’s fine. But my guess is like you, she’s a little overwhelmed seeing a certain someone for the first time.” Draven said laying a comforting hand on my back and looking back at his brother over his shoulder. I lowered my sister down once I realised he was probably right. Then I turned into his arms and held him tight.

  “You saved her.” I stated the obvious and I felt him swallow hard.

  “Yes.” I looked up at him and I bit my lip at the raw emotion I saw there.

  “I’m sorry you had to choose.” I told him softly knowing that he would never get the ‘me’ back that I knew he must have been hoping to find. Draven looked up and nodded to Vincent before moving us to the side so his brother could pick Ari off the altar before carrying her out of the church, safely nestled in his arms.

  “I have you back now, that’s all that matters to me.” Draven told me before kissing me softly. Then he pulled back, held his hand out to me and said,

  “Let’s go home.” And with that he just added the most perfect words to begin my new perfect life.

  The next day we all found ourselves back at the hotel and this is when Draven explained a few things regarding what we were to expect next now that Aurora had escaped. First he explained all about Cronus and his plans for reincarnation, using Aurora as a foolish pawn.

  She had tricked Seth, needing the power he had in him as the first blood. I didn’t fully understand all Draven told me about Seth and the importance of who his mother was. But I understood that by using unknown spells she had opened up a small window of time in which sh
e could become pregnant, nurturing Cronus’ trapped soul until it was strong enough to be passed onto the right vessel.

  This is where Celina, or who we now knew as Selene, came into it. In the last few days Draven had already started his investigation trying to piece together Celina’s real life and information had come trickling in bit by bit already. It turned out that she had not only stalked me most of my life but also RJ and Jack too as there was something about them that we were yet to discover. Draven thought they must have been descendants of great importance no doubt for both Jack to be chosen as Cronus’ vessel and also for RJ to be Seth’s Chosen. Although I heard from Draven that Seth wasn’t having an easy time telling RJ that her brother was still missing. It was decided and I agreed not to tell RJ what we didn’t know for sure.

  Yes, we had all seen Jack’s throat being cut but because nobody knew who Jack really was, then we couldn’t instantly assume death. Draven quickly assured me there might still be a chance but to also not get my hopes up, so I was left with trying not to think about it. This was hard knowing that they had both come here thinking they were saving my life. Seth did manage to get out some information from the difficult RJ, and who could blame her really, when she was simply worried about her brother.

  She told him that Celina had contacted Jack and convinced him that I needed his help. She told him that she had helped me escape Draven after finding out about his betrayal but she couldn’t go into details as there was no time. Of course being madly in love with Celina, the girl who broke his heart once and calling me a dear friend, he fell for it hook line and sinker.

  RJ said she had found him packing a bag frantically and after she forced him to explain she wouldn’t let him go without him agreeing to her tagging along. Of course the threat to go to Draven and tell him everything worked for Jack, which had been a shame because if RJ had done that, then none of this would have happened.

  She even told Seth that Jack had heard me asking for his help as proof, over the phone but Draven hadn’t seemed shocked by this. Not when I found out that it was simply done as that type of mind manipulation was easy for someone of their kind. After that they got in Jack’s truck and drove to where Celina had a trap waiting for them. RJ remembered hearing people arguing over something not working on her and the decision to keep her in case she ever became useful to the cause. In other words, if they were lacking in human girl sacrifices, they no longer had to simply pick one up at the shop of horrors, also known as hitch hikers on the side of the road. Which turned out to be where they’d found most of their young ‘Colony members’.

  So after this, the next thing RJ knew was that she was being kept in a basement as a prisoner, only being kept alive, fed and watered for one purpose…to be a human sacrifice. I hated to say it but I think therapy was in RJ’s future as I didn’t know how someone could get over an ordeal like that without it.

  We also found out that after some of the minds of the humans had been read that nine months ago this had actually been a quiet, peaceful Amish community and because of that it was the perfect place for the Hexad cult to set up base. The six ‘Fathers’ had easily distorted the people’s minds into believing in the Hexad ‘Religion’ and it became the perfect hiding place to keep Aurora from being found.

  The next part of their plan involved Ari and me, only lucky for me I knew my back story before they managed to steal me away through a mirror Celina had planted. Ari on the other hand had no clue who she was or where she came from. Because when Draven had killed our Uncle, now better known as Galizur, it wasn’t only my memories that died with him, it was Ari’s too. She struggled with this and I knew why as I too had the feeling of great loss knowing we weren’t actually sisters. But for me it was easier as I already had a family waiting for me, Ari had no clue and felt completely alone.

  Vincent had tried to give her the time she needed to deal with this without adding to her stress in finding out that they were actually meant to be together. It had been different for me as I had been graced with nearly a whole month to deal with all this new information given to me bit by bit over time. But Ari had been bombarded with everything all at once and it had taken me a whole day to explain it all, in between consoling her.

  I will never forget how difficult and utterly heart breaking it was to have to tell your sister, who has a life time of memories together that it was all a lie. Of course the vision she had been hit with when we first found the cabin together prepared her for this, so she didn’t doubt what I was telling her. But having your worst fears confirmed, no matter how ready you are, is still devastating to hear.

  “What now…what is there left for me?” She had asked me breaking down into gut wrenching sobs.

  “Ari, we may not be sisters by blood but we are always going to be sisters by tears as we have been through too much with each other to ever walk away. You will always have family with me.” I told her as she soaked my shoulder through her grief.

  After this she calmed enough to ask me about Vincent as I knew a burning desire to know must have been nagging at her brain. But before I delved into what I thought about him first I had to tell her the whole story, starting with what happened after the wall. I told her about Lucy and Denis and how wonderful they were to me. I told her about Dex and the rest of the town that came to our aid, which I should mention all got back safely without any memory of what had happened.

  As for the poor confused people from the Colony, Draven’s ‘clean up’ team, which was code for when supernatural disasters happen like this, as a widespread mind sweep of memories is needed. He had his people erase all memories of the Hexad cult and seeing as most of the homes and crops survived, they didn’t end up homeless and starving.

  I then moved on to more difficult parts to explain, like meeting Draven and what they were. This she took remarkably well but considering what we saw that night, then I guess it wasn’t too surprising as I had accepted everything rather quickly. Well, minus the whole marble room fight, that was.

  All I could say was at least she had been spared the whole Norse monster invasion, although bleeding on an altar whilst someone sucked the life right out of you, couldn’t have been fun. My favourite part about explaining things to her and my story was definitely when I got to tell her about all the wonderful people I had met. I told her about Luc and blushed when telling her about our bus journey together. And then meeting Pip and Adam, telling how much she was going to fall in love with Pip the second she meets her. Also about Sophia, reminding her she was Vincent’s sister but most of all, I enjoyed telling her how in love I was with Draven.

  I told her everything…well, almost everything. But most of all I told her how much he seemed to adore me, how good, kind and gentle he was with me and how loved he made me feel. Then she asked me,

  “But why do you call him Draven if his name’s Dominic?” I thought about it and ended up answering her honestly,

  “I don’t really know, it just kinda…feels right.” And I knew why but I didn’t tell Ari as she had too much to deal with right now. But the fact was as simple as I knew this was what Draven’s Keira, my other self, had called him. I had tried to talk to Draven about what had happened and trying to find out how he really felt about me never regaining my memories but every time I tried to talk about it he would distract me by making love to me. Not that I was complaining but I knew he was also using it as a tactic to distract me from talking about it. I guess it was still raw, so I decided that if he needed to talk then he would. But I think deep down the problem was that he felt like he had failed Keira.

  It was a difficult position to be in and I was hoping with time it would get better. I had even made the decision to ask everyone to start calling me by my real name, hoping this would help the transition. In truth I was a bit scared that now there was no way of the old me coming back that Draven would start backing off or decide that this was something he didn’t want anymore. I would like to think of it as an irrational fear but still, a fear was fear no
matter how silly it seemed to others.

  Ari was the only one I could tell all this to and know that she would understand better than anyone. Which is how we finally got onto the subject of Vincent. I told her all I knew about him and that included, kindness, a good sense of humour, ridiculously handsome like his brother, but there were other attributes too, such as courageous, intelligent, fun and most of all loyal to what he believes in. She had been surprised when I told her the lengths to which he had gone to just to save her from the Colony.

  “The man barely slept!” I told her and she muttered quietly,

  “Then that makes two of us.” I winced as she hadn’t yet told me of her time there after I escaped,

  “Ari, if you want to…”

  “No! I’m sorry but I never want to speak of what I went through there, let alone think about it ever again. It’s not worth my time and it’s certainly not worth upsetting you over.” She said before giving me a hug. I didn’t know if not wanting to talk about it was a good thing or a bad thing but for now I knew not to push it. After this she told me she was still so tired, so I left her in her hotel room to sleep some more. I can’t say I was surprised to see Vincent standing guard outside her room.

  “I wasn’t eavesdropping but…thank you for all your kind words.” He said pulling me in for a hug and I smirked knowing that with his thanks he had been eavesdropping but no harm was done.

  “I’m sorry but I still don’t think she’s ready.” He nodded looking disappointed but not shocked as I guess he gathered as much from what he had heard.

  “I’m not going anywhere, so she can have whatever time she needs.” He told me and I smiled, patted him on the arm and said,

  “Just a heads up, she’s a speed freak, so maybe a good place to start would be your bikes.” Then I winked at him and made my way back up to Draven in our suite. It had been a good job he had hired out the whole place because the state that we came back in would have frightened most guests away or at least had them calling the cops!