Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “What, that you needed to open a damn window?” I thought this was pretty funny and so did he from the look of things but then I realised he was grinning for a different reason. I let out a high-pitched yelp when he suddenly grabbed me by the arms and pulled me into his embrace, sliding me up his outstretched body.

  “You were saying, pet?” he asked seductively running a fingertip down the apple of my now, very heated cheek. He chuckled when I struggled for words.

  “In answer to your question, I don’t know why it is you show me the sun back in your time when we kiss, nor do I know why it doesn’t burn me…but perhaps it is because the first time you did so fighting against me and the next…well maybe you were always supposed to show me my salvation.” Hearing this my body froze against him. I think it was one of the sweetest things he had ever said to me and through our time together, I wasn’t ashamed to say that there had been many. But hearing him calling me his salvation had me biting my lip and tears springing to my eyes. The intense look he gave me told me that he was taking in every detail of my response to his sweet words.

  And it meant something dear to him.

  In the end, my reaction to this was one I was never going to try and hold back. For I couldn’t do it, not around Lucius. So, I placed both my hands to his cheeks, framing his handsome face and pulled him as close as I could, placing my forehead to his. Once under my mercy, I simply whispered a heartfelt,

  “Thank you,” I was about to pull back when his hand shot out and held on to the back of my neck, locking me to him and keeping me close. A startled breath left me on a faint whoosh sound and my hands dropped like dead weights to his shoulders.

  “Keira, I…” he started to whisper back to me only it ended with a deep growl emitting from his chest as it rumbled with displeasure. I was about to ask him what was wrong but when he turned his glacial stare towards the door, I knew it hadn’t been about me. No, it became clear what had him so angry…

  We were being interrupted.

  “Wait here.” He snarled out the command and it wasn’t one I was going to argue with. I knew his anger wasn’t directed at me but more at the person on the other side of that door. He shifted from me, making sure I wasn’t just going to face plant into the bed with him moving so quickly. Well, I had already showed him my ungraceful side, so I didn’t think he needed to see it a second-time round.

  I watched him stalk to the door, nearly ripping it from its hinges as he tore it open, before slamming it shut behind him. I jumped at the bang and then counted to all of five seconds before I was off the bed and at the door listening to what was being said.

  “Why the fuck did you have her moved, I told you I would handle it!?” I heard the familiar voice say and seriously, I never knew up until now that Dariush had a death wish. Well, that answered my internal question of where my kidnapper had run off to.

  I half expected in the next instance to hear the sound of him choking or having his throat ripped out by Lucius, but what surprised me wasn’t what I didn’t hear, it was what I did,

  “Yes, and you were taking too long to do so.”

  “Yes, because I was out there fucking hunting the bastards that thought to rob us by the Tiberis and I couldn’t risk anyone seeing the girl,” Dariush snapped back venomously. I was left wondering why Lucius hadn’t killed him yet. Oh, and secondly, (because this was me we were talking about) the next random question that popped into my head was…is Tiberis the name of the river?

  “So, you thought to hide her in a whorehouse!” Lucius ground out shocking me enough to drop the river question and lead straight onto, ‘Eww what the hell?’ upon finding out that was what it had been. I thought back to the old woman and shivered but then the rational part of my brain kicked in and I thought that she must have been a servant, not a ‘working girl’…and I use the term ‘girl’ loosely considering she must have been pushing on eighty.

  “She had been knocked unconscious! What was supposed to do, just wrap her in my cloak and walk her into the palace full of fucking dignitaries and senators, looking like I’d just dragged a dead body out of the river!” Dariush had a point if you asked me, although the sounds of Lucius’ growl told me that he didn’t agree.

  “It is of little consequence now as I had my men take care of it,” Lucius told him matter of fact and this time it was Dariush’s turn to growl.

  “Yes, and how did that go, because from what I heard she jumped out of a fucking window terrified!” Again, he had a point.

  “Back off Decarabia, for she is no longer your concern,” Lucius warned with that deadly dip in his voice that spoke of violence. Now I was asking myself what Decarabia meant?

  “That maybe so but my dirty work isn’t exactly done yet, is it?”

  “It is where the girl is concerned,” Lucius informed him coolly.

  “And another thing, speak to that bitch in heat, Lahash and sort her shit out.” The second I heard the name I knew I had heard it somewhere before.

  “Why, what has she done now?” Lucius asked as if sounding casually bored now they were no longer arguing over me.

  “I overheard her telling one of the senator’s wives again how any day now, there should be an announcement made of your impending marriage.” This time both my and Lucius’ reactions were the same, as we sucked in a staggered, surprised breath. Okay, so his was more of a hissed-out sneer but unfortunately for me, both of which were heard. The next thing I knew the door was yanked open and because my cheek had been pressed against the panel, I therefore had no choice but to fall forward. Lucius had of course planned for this and was stood there waiting to catch me…and catch me he did.

  “Well, well, look what I found,” Lucius said in a reprimanding tone as my face was now plastered against his bare chest. I looked to Dariush to see him with his arms folded, smirking.

  “Uh…would you believe I needed to use the bathroom?” I said looking up at him, making Lucius’ lip twitch. Then he lifted me up so I was no longer stuck to his chest and I looked up at him once more, no doubt looking like a kid caught stealing sweets.

  Once I was back and steady on my feet, he nodded to the door behind me and ordered,

  “Inside, now!” I looked back at it and then at Dariush before hearing Lucius sigh as if this was all very taxing on his nerves. Then before I could move and comply with his stern command, he started walking me backwards, leading me as I went, with a hand held possessively at my hip. Dariush followed us in and closed the door behind him.

  “Keira,” Dariush said with a nod and I frowned at him and answered in return,

  “Kidnapper.” He grinned hearing this and replied,

  “Just following orders from this broody son of a bastard!” I quickly shot a look to Lucius, half expecting to see rage bubbling up at the disrespect but all I found was a face of indifference. I had to wonder then who Dariush really was to Lucius to be able to get away with talking to him like that as I had never met anyone other than Draven who could do so and live long enough to make the claim.

  “Yes, and if I am to be called as such, then you also must stand against the claim, considering that bastard you speak of is one we must share.” Hearing this I would have fallen back on my ass had it not been for Lucius’ hand holding me steady.

  Was he really saying what I thought he was saying?! No surely not, surely that wasn’t possible…was it?! Lucius must have seen the disbelief for himself and he looked intrigued to the fact I obviously didn’t know, something he quickly confirmed with his next sentence,

  “Keira as you know this is Dariush Decarabia…” Then he paused and tapped his chin before adding,

  “…but what I find odd and it’s clear to me you obviously don’t know is…”

  Lucius never finished off the sentence as Dariush himself walked forward, hit Lucius on the back and dropped a nuclear sized, family bombshell…

  “I’m his brother.”

  Chapter 29

  Oh Brother

  “Your brother!
” The sound of my high-pitched voice was almost loud enough to be heard back outside the grand entrance.

  “Yes,” Lucius said, his jaw tight. I looked off to the side and shook my head before looking back at him again.

  “A brother?” I repeated.

  “You know, I think she’s getting it now,” Dariush commented, clearly amused by my stunned disbelief. Well, he should be considering I knew nothing about him, in this time or my own. Holy shit, Lucius had a brother! Lucius shot him a glare but refrained from saying anything in response to him. Instead he kept his steely blue eyes on me and folded his arms.

  “You have a brother?” I asked Lucius this time, needing to hear him say it.

  “I do.”

  “On our father’s side, of course,” Dariush added in jest and Lucius finally snapped.

  “That’s enough,” he snarled, looking round over his shoulder, as Dariush was still stood behind him by the door.

  “Leave us,” Lucius said after taking a deep breath and this time he looked over at his brother, conveying something silently between them. Dariush nodded and left without saying another word.

  “Does Draven know?” I blurted out the question the second the door closed.

  “It’s complicated,” he answered after running a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “Then uncomplicate it for me,” I replied haughtily and I couldn’t understand why I was so upset. Well okay, so that was a lie as I knew why. Lucius and I were close and at a level I knew was a single thread away from being wrong. But as always that fact couldn’t be helped as it seemed to be forged in our destiny’s making. However, this wasn’t what pained me now, no it was that this was something huge and it had been kept from me. Now the next question was why?

  “It is not that simple.”

  “I disagree,” I told him and we quickly found ourselves at loggerheads. He took another deep breath and then held his arm out towards the seating area.

  “Come, sit with me.” I followed him over to the plush looking couches and sat opposite him, hoping I could take this as a sign that he would explain things to me. However, at the sight of him bent over, with forearms to his knees and as he continued to remain silent, I found that I could take it no longer.

  “I am sorry Lucius, but you have got to give me something here.” He looked up at me and for a minute, he looked so deep in thought, almost as if he had forgotten I was even in the room.

  “I don’t know why my brother was never known to you in your own time, for that I cannot answer.” Okay, so that was fair enough.

  “But I assume you know of how I came to be…yes?” I thought about this question and I was mentally transported back to my house, sat with Draven on the couch hanging onto his every word as he told me of how Lucius came to be, well…Lucius. I nodded unable to keep the sadness from my face. Lucius had felt betrayed by Jesus and by the God he believed in, so with his dying breath, he renounced his faith, quickly finding a new god to worship instead…Lucifer.

  King of the Underworld.

  “Come now, you shouldn’t look so sad, for as you see, it turned out well enough for me,” he said, motioning down his body and trying to ease my sadness with a glimmer of his cocky side. But what Lucius didn’t know was that I knew the true depth of his feelings on the matter and this feigned acceptance wasn’t going to fly with me.

  “Tell me,” was all I needed to say. In response, there seemed to be only one thing that Lucius needed to say in return.

  “Dariush was the one who buried me.” My mouth dropped open right on cue as shock quickly replaced my ‘tell me now’ attitude.

  “You mean…the day you died?” I uttered as if it was a sin to speak of it.

  “The day I was killed, yes,” he corrected. His answer was a grim one and mirrored the hard, thin line that had become his lips.

  “By the other disciples?” He nodded and I couldn’t help but notice the way his hands turned to fists as if he could still see the pain of it all.

  “I was no traitor.” He hissed out these words as if he had done the same back when being hung from that tree. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before telling him softly,

  “I know.” He looked as though those two little words of acceptance meant the world to him and for long moments he was silent as if digesting them whole. Consuming my belief in him and keeping it safe with him always. At least that was what it looked like.

  “Once I drew my final mortal breath, the last face I saw was Dariush. He told me that the end of this life would only mark the beginning of my next. The last thing I remember was the sun turning red just before the moon eclipsed it from sight…that was when my eternal night captured the day.” I swallowed hard and then bit my lip just to stop it from shaking.

  “What…what happened next?” I asked, forcing the sentence out on a shaky breath.

  “The next time I awoke, I was in Hell.” I quickly sucked in a sharp breath and my hands flew to my mouth. I don’t know why hearing this affected me as strongly as it did, as it wasn’t like I didn’t know this part of the story.

  “And there you met Lucifer?”

  “I did and I was given a choice. Live out my death paying for my one and only committed sin or rise above it all and take the first step along a new path.” Well when he put it like that, then yeah, I couldn’t say that I blamed him.

  “So, you became a Vampire King.” It was a statement not a question and one he grinned at.

  “This Draven from your time has told you much about me, I presume?” Now this was a question. And a hard one at that.

  “Well back when you were his enemy and wanted to take me, I kind of asked about you,” I said feeling suddenly embarrassed about saying this.

  “And why was I his enemy then and not sooner I wonder…tell me, for I am curious, was it when you happened to stumble into his life?” Wow, okay so where in the world had that question come from?

  “I…um…” I ‘um’ didn’t know what the hell to say, that’s what I ummed!

  “I will take that as my answer,” he told me with a smirk and this time, it was one that I was thankful for as it meant I was off the hook. I mean what could I say exactly…No, it had nothing to do with me, it was all to do with finding out your lifelong friend and King had lied to you since the first day you met. Oh, and that lost relic that you have been searching for your whole, immortal life, well yeah, he has it!

  No, I didn’t think so somehow. Which now begged the question… why on earth did he no longer consider Draven his ally and was it because of me? What had he gotten into his head this time?

  “So Dariush buried you, how does that make him your brother?” I asked moving swiftly on from the long list of crazy questions I wanted to ask.

  “Cause’ I gather you don’t mean he is like a blood relative…right?” I added, trying to make sense of so many things right now, my head felt like mush…mush named Lucius!

  “But that’s where you are wrong as we are ‘blood brothers’ just not in the mortal sense you understand it to be.” I frowned at him and said,

  “Okay, your gonna have to help me out with that one.” He chuckled and said,

  “To turn me into what I am now, Lucifer had to gift his blood to me. That same blood is what keeps my heart beating as its essence and power never leaves me but in turn it transformed my own blood, granting it the ability to gift a diluted form of it back to others.” He gave me a small smile when he saw my confused look in return.

  “It enables me to turn others into my kind,” he elaborated.

  “Oh.”

  “But Dariush… I still don’t see…” I was about to carry on when Lucius interrupted me.

  “As far as I know, Lucifer has only gifted his blood to two people in his existence, one was me and the other…”

  “Dariush,” I uttered his name, this time finishing off for him.

  “It was his payment for retrieving me. I became the ruler of all Vampires and Dariush became the Great Marquis in Hell and
King of the shifter portals. He was also granted thirty legions of demons under his command.”

  “What are the shifter portals?” I asked wondering if they had anything to do with all those walls he had pulled me through.

  “Shifter portals are summoned doorways.” Yep, so I had hit the nail on the supernatural head…for once, my subconscious muttered at me.

  “Doorways to where?” I asked fascinated.

  “To anywhere of his choosing,” he answered with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

  “But how?”

  “He can manipulate the power gained from Hell and use it to temporary create a gateway, sometimes this gateway could be to the next room say, or another building. Then sometimes, he can summon one to a far greater distance.”

  “Like a mountain trail,” I said thinking back to my journey here.

  “Yes. Although the further he travels, the more energy he uses. In fact, the easiest places for him to travel to are back in his home,” Lucius informed me and when I asked my next question he smirked as if he was waiting for it.

  “And where is that?”

  “Hell.”

  “Oh…right.” Of course, duh Keira! So now I was wondering what a penthouse apartment looked like in Hell and how much they went for? Ten, twenty souls a month with a serial killer deposit!

  “The summoned portals he creates are much stronger when they connect to the place his power still remains rooted to. However, on this plane, the portals he creates are only substantial enough to hold for one or two people and even then he must use the blood of his companion, so that they are accepted to travel through… unless of course he wants them to be ripped apart like the Aeolus’ eyes he can summon,” Lucius said, as though thinking back on a particular gruesome time with a grin. I thought about what he had said, thinking about the cut on my neck he had inflicted and the same blood he had used to touch the portal with. He had done that to protect me? Of course, this wasn’t the question I asked,