“Dominic Draven, would you do me the great honour of marrying me, like a human this time?” I said this last part whispered behind my hand and he laughed before lifting me up, swinging me round and telling me.
“The honour would be all mine and I would love for nothing more than to be united to you in every way possible. Of course I will marry you.” And then he kissed me and like the last time my soul soared.
“Speaking of being united in every way possible.” I said before I jumped up and wrapped my legs around him. His chuckle died in my mouth as I forced my deeper kiss upon him. He then carried me to the bed and lay me down.
“I want to savour you.” He told me and these were the last words spoken between us as we made love. We simply gazed into each other’s eyes and even when we undressed our hands never left each other’s body. It was like we both feared the same thing. That if even one second went by where I didn’t feel him there then he or I might disappear. For the moment we needed that connection as emotions were too raw and close to the surface to trust the world with anything else.
And with that first feel of him entering me I held on and knew I found home. I found my way back through the storm over lost seas and was finally reunited with…
My heart.
Making love to Draven this way was just what we both needed in order to re-fuse our souls back together once again. It felt like our new beginning only with the added bonus of never forgetting where we had been. Because I now knew how important in life that was. All the horrors, the sadness, the pain and the suffering simply put, added to your soul. It made it stronger, it made it fight harder for the ones you loved. It gave you your sense of duty and morals but more than anything else, it taught you how to love with everything you had and every fibre in your body.
It was love that brought me home.
It was love that lit the way
And it was love that made me a promise.
“Oh God I could murder a cuppa!” I said snuggling closer up to him in the bed after we had spent time talking about everything that had happened. We were now dressed, much to Draven’s annoyance, but if I knew anything about the Draven clan, with the added addition of Pip, that once they got wind of this we would be bombarded and I didn’t really want the first time I saw them all again to be me in my birthday suit.
“Yep, it’s definitely you.” Draven said and I laughed at the same time saying,
“Oi! I will have you know this is the longest I have ever gone without tea.” He chuckled, put his hand to my forehead and said,
“I think you have a fever, I’d better get you an injection of tea before I lose you to that decaffeinated coma that is sweeping the nation.”
“To most people that’s just called a Monday morning.” I told him making him laugh again.
“Well lucky for me it’s a Sunday.”
“Ah, a Holy day, well in that case that means that the Gods usually need worshipping by eating chocolate with your tea or is that just all days ending in Y…I can never remember but let’s say it’s the Y thing.” Hearing him roaring with laughter was most certainly a sound I had missed. Because no matter how much the Katie side of me had actually been me in the flesh, in the mind that’s where things got a little more complicated.
I told Draven that it was like being locked away in a room of my memories and trying to find my way out of them. I was still Keira but I was the Keira that would have been had I never had my life. Had I never grown up in a loving home. Had I never had fun, friends and strangely enough my visions. But most importantly I was the Keira before Draven and even though I fell in love with him, I had never had that time as I had done in the beginning. That desperate longing for something you wanted so badly you knew the root of obsession was taking hold. What it felt like to finally be able to grasp it and call it your own. The pain of losing it and the fear of losing it again. The strength you build in going to take it back from Hell itself. The fight for your life because you want it! Because you love your life and all the people in it! All of these things were what made a person and shaped them into who they’re proud to be but most of all, into the person people fell in love with.
Draven knew this and he struggled with it just as I would have in his situation. So if you take away all of this, then you take away their core and leave them with an empty shell to fill. That’s what they tried to do but I fought back at every turn. Through dreams or through visions, I pushed her to find a way to survive. To find Draven and her real family. I tried to show her the truth and guide her through the dangers of my world.
And in the end she repaid me by taking a hold of that coin and bringing me back. See Bill’s coin had my whole life imprinted onto it when I touched it in that boat. I had passed out from the force of it and had forgotten about it since then, never expecting anything like that could have happened. After that it had acted as a trigger, releasing me from the spell I had been put under or this is what we assumed.
As for Katie, well I didn’t really remember her life anymore as it became cloudy under the weight of my own. But I did have all the memories of the last nine months so the love I had for my new sister Ari would never fade along with it. She kept me going and she sacrificed herself to save me. No, I would never forget Ari not as long as I lived.
But having Katie brought out a new power in me, one that was growing in strength but unlike her I knew I could control it. I remember what happened on the plane and how close we had all come to our end. I thought this would have brought me fear but strangely it didn’t. Because something deep within me knew nothing like that would ever happen again because I wouldn’t let it.
“So we get to have our other wedding after all…but wait, my ring…oh that’s right, we never found it did we?” I looked up and the second I saw Draven’s face I knew something was wrong.
“Draven…what is it?” He looked deep in thought for a moment and shouted,
“Ava!” Then he shot from the bed and was out of the double doors before I could stop him. I scooted to the end of the bed and held on to the end post as I watched Draven calling for his bird in the wind. He looked magnificent out there and for a moment I was simply struck by his masculine beauty. His black hair blew in every direction and the muscles on his back tensed as he raised his hand to his mouth, making his call travel further. I decided to find out what he was doing so I swung my legs round, found Draven’s large man socks and put them on. I looked a bit like a clown as they flapped around but they kept my feet warm, so it was worth looking silly.
I walked out into the cold and right up to the back of him,
“What are you…?” My question died as he stepped out of the way to reveal Ava in all her wonderful glory sat perched on the balcony railings. But it wasn’t just the sight of her that had me gasping it was what she had clasped in her talons that had me believing in miracles.
“My ring.” Draven took a step towards her and said,
“I owe you, old girl…thank you.” And then after stroking her down her sleek body he pulled the ring, unhooking it from her talon and nodding to the sky, telling her work here was done.
“But how…I thought it was lost?” I asked as he turned back to me. Then he reached out for my hand and I extended the finger it was only ever meant to live on. He slipped it on and said
“Not lost, just buried with memories I tried to say goodbye to.” And without asking him to explain I knew what he meant and I knew where he had gone. It was the same place I had gone to when saying goodbye. When I thought all hope was lost.
So I went there to bury memories that could never be forgotten, because no matter how we try…
Sometimes, memories just find their way home.
The Epilogue
That night I couldn’t sleep even though Draven was passed out beside me. I smiled down at him knowing that this was most likely because he had not slept properly in the whole nine months I had been gone. All that worrying had to catch up to you sometime, even for one as powerful as Drave
n.
I decided to get up and use the bathroom as after Draven had lovingly bestowed me back my ring, I had then drunk my body weight in tea and was now paying for it. I had also had an emotional reunion with Sophia, running at her as soon as she walked through the door in fact. We both soon found ourselves in tears and I dreaded what it would be like when I finally saw my family again. Draven had been forced to make them believe I was fine, spoke to them often, was busy travelling the world. But it became harder to make them believe they were still seeing me and Draven couldn’t stand lying to them much longer as it was taking its toll out on him morally.
However, he had continued to do so because he knew this is what I would have wanted. And he was right. My family had been through enough worry over me and I didn’t want that for them again. But this simply meant that my emotional visit tomorrow was going to be one sided but that was alright, I was a girl, we can easily explain it by just saying one line… ‘Time of the month’ which I am not gonna lie, most of the time was just an excuse that said, ‘I just want to cry alright!’. What can I say, some of us were sensitive creatures but this didn’t make us weak, just the opposite in fact.
In the end I said goodbye to Sophia after finding out that Pip and Adam had been in the middle of something, which being Pip could have been anything. And Vincent I knew was with Ari and I was happy for him. Which brought me back to now and staring at myself in the mirror. It was strange now having a different perception of myself and for a second I stared so hard I thought I saw her. I thought…but wait,
“Katie?” I whispered testing the question out first in case I was just freaking myself out for no good reason.
“Hello again.” She said in a quiet kind voice, probably so as not to freak me out.
“But…but how is that possible?” I asked her hoping Draven wouldn’t hear me whispering to myself in the bathroom.
“I’m not sure…but, I knew there was something you needed to know and it just brought me back to our mirror.” She told me and I thought that this would have freaked me out enough to go screaming back into the room. But I didn’t do that and nor did I want to. I guess if there was only one way to explain it, then it was like seeing a ghost you weren’t scared of…one, evidently that was just trying to offer me some advice.
“Are you…alright?” I asked fearing for her locked away in my mind or maybe it was just me going crazy from it all. Like I would start seeing her every day and we would end up fighting on how I did my hair, going to the gym or eating too much chocolate. Christ I hoped not!
“Yes, I am fine. Your memories bring me great solace in times of sadness but I needed to warn you that there is someone of great importance waiting to speak with you in the prison. She told me in…”
“Our dream.” I uttered remembering it as if she had just passed it over to me to keep.
“Yes.‘Take away their time and you take away their power. They have taken eight…don’t let them take nine. Find yourself and learn of the Prophecy’s seven, find the key and you will find me next time in Heaven…do you know what this means?” She asked and I thought about the one place that had the Heavens above.
“I know where she is.” I said quietly.
“Where?”
“She’s in the Temple waiting for me.” I had defeated the Hexad, stopping them from taking the ninth, being Ari. I had found the centreless key now there was only one thing left on that list.
“But who is she?” She asked looking side on in the mirror as I started to walk away.
“Pythia.”
“But what does she want?” And this was it. The final answer to why I was chosen and more importantly what for? So I looked over my shoulder now knowing I was finally coming to the end of my quest. I told her in my heart what I now knew was finally here.
“She wants to tell me about the Prophecy.” Then I walked from the bathroom after the image of myself nodded her farewell.
I stepped into the bedroom, gave Draven one last look before going in search of the answers I had been looking since I first met him. I could feel something coming. I had waited for it for too long and come too far to reach the end without knowing what was waiting for me behind the door. The first time it had been my memories back and my test had been taken and I had passed as Pythia knew I would. That’s why she was asking for me.
Time. Truth and Life.
Well in this life it was time for the truth to be heard.
It was my time. It was our time. It was…
Time taken back.
The End.
The Saga Continues…
Upcoming Book release dates
Book 7 part 1 - Mar/Apr 2016
(Afterlife Saga)
Vincent – June/July 2016
(Afterlife spin off Book 1)
Book 7 part 2 – Nov/Dec 2016
(Afterlife Saga)
Acknowledgments
Well first and foremost my love goes out to all the people who deserve the most thanks and are the wonderful people that keep me going day to day. But most importantly they are the ones that allow me to continue living out my dreams and keep writing my stories for the world to hopefully enjoy…
These people are of course
YOU!
Words will never be able to express the full amount of love I have for you guys. Your support is never ending. Your trust in me and the story is never failing. But more than that, your love for me and all who you consider your ‘Afterlife family’ is to be commended, treasured and admired.
Thank you just doesn’t seem enough, so one day I hope to buy you all a drink! ;)
Also an extra special thanks goes out to all of you that came to our joint Hen and Stag shindig! It was epic and I can’t thank you enough for all the effort from those that came. It was a fabulous weekend, one never to be forgotten.
Thanks to the Dravenite Council for arranging it all.
You Girls are Awesome!
Also a shout out goes to Carrie Anne Gosslin Wyman who has kindly arranged the New York book signing. And to Jenn Won and Renee Krueger, for kindly arranging the Las Vegas book signing. I am extremely touched and grateful for all of your help and can’t wait to meet you all.
To my family…
My sister who gives a face and soul to the vision of Afterlife.
To my amazing mother, who has believed in me from the very beginning and doesn’t believe that something great should be hidden from the world. I would like to thank you for all the hard work you put into my books and the endless hours spent caring about my words and making sure it is the best it can be for everyone to enjoy. You make Afterlife shine.
To my wonderful crazy father who is and always has been my hero in life. Your strength astonishes me, even to this day and the love and care you hold for your family is a gift you give to the Hudson name.
And last but not least, to the man that I consider my soul mate. The man who taught me about real love and makes me not only want to be a better person but makes me feel I am too. The amount of support you have given me since we met has been incredible and the greatest feeling was finding out you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me when you asked me to marry you.
I love you dearly Blake Hughes (Soon to be Hudson)…
My very own Draven
As before, a big shout has to go to all those mentioned in the list below. I wish I could name you all but these are just a few to show my love to those who make it their mission to spread the Afterlife word.
Extra Special thanks to my Admin team:
Alison Hucker, Nicole Murphy, Lee Ann Milum.
Abbie Robertson,
Aimi Murray,
Alexandra Green,
Alison MacPherson,
Allison Martin,
Amanda Tyler Fullerton,
Amber Greise,
Andrea Crook,
Angela Burton,
Angela Seddon,
Angela Stuthridge,
Anna Darnell,
Ashlee C Harding,
Ashleigh Baron Logan,
Averie Perkins,
Becky Howard,
Berny Martin,
Brenda Jackson-Grant,
Brown-Hylton,
C.f. Valentine,
Candy Davis,
Cara-Pip Durrant,
Carla Mullins,
Carol Grant,
Carol Krascheneske,
Carol Madden-Phelan,
Caroline Edge,
Caroline Fairbairn,
Carrie Anne Gosslin Wyman,
Carrie Partridge,
Cathy & James Sutton,
Christine Melville Thomas,
Claire & Patch Healey,
Claire Boyle,
Claire Collard,
Claire Law,
Claire Louise Ingram,
Claire Pearson,
Claire Taylor,
Clare Porter Carey,
Coleen Churchill,
Coleen Thomson,
Colette Kennedy,
Coryelle Krames,
Cyndi Kinkead,
Dana Michelle Hoy-Sasso,
Dani Cleverley,
Dani Peek,
Dani Peterson,
Danielle Monnington,
Dawn Arrowsmith,
Dawn Beminster,
Dawn Cartisle,
Dawn Crawford,
Dawn Stewart,
Dawn Vickers,
Deborah Clenahan,
Deborah Cox,
Devki Ladwa,
Diane Blakemore,
Donna Langton,
Donna Murray,
Eline van den Berg,
Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6) Page 53