The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5)

The Pentagram Child

Part 1

Afterlife Saga

Book 5

BY

Stephanie  Hudson

Copyright

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the author, as allowed under terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Copyright © 2014 Stephanie Hudson

All rights reserved.

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This book is a work or fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Warning:

This book contains explicit sexual content, some graphic language and a highly additive Alpha Males. 

Cover design by: © thePaperface

www.thepaperface.co.uk

[email protected]

Other books by Stephanie Hudson

Afterlife Saga

Book 1              Afterlife

Book 2              The Two Kings

Book 3              The Triple Goddess

Book 4              The Quarter Moon

Dedication

This dedication is close to my heart and in the name of all those who make it their job in life to care for others. The deep rooted kindness that is needed to face your days is something to be admired.

Holding the Hands of a Stranger.

We wander down this painful road,

Alone and frightened, the end untold,

We sit on a bed that we do not know,

And hold on to hope, keep letting it grow.

We fear the worst and pray for the best,

Surrounded by loved ones so we feel blessed,

But then the time comes when we’re again alone,

And our fake smiles have gone away and flown.

We look around at unknown faces,

And see the same fear hidden there in traces,

Tubes and pills and injections await,

On a daily basis that becomes our fate.

But then something happens that’s there to be found,

A kindness like no other that appears all around,

It comes from people doing more than their job,

Whether they’re holding a mop or taking a swab.

There is kindness in nature and there for us to see,

It doesn’t cost anything and welcomed for free,

Because in this place we’re never without,

A stranger’s hand to hold in this emotional breakout.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who cared for me and held my hand when things got painful, scary and too much to bear.

Nikki Sarimanolis                                         

Nicola Pereira

Elias Ngonyama                                                       

Vicky Davidson

Ryan Cox                                                                     

Sarah Stanbury

Ama Machado                                                       

Kevin Charles

Alex Martimez                                                       

June Bockle

Bindu Joseph                                                       

Grace Jackson

Doctor David Gore                                         

June Saunders

Shirley George                                                       

Sajili Molethekkepurath Paulose

Jose Munar                                                       

Elicia Williams

Marisa Tavares                                                       

Carla Carvalho

Isabel Santana                                                       

Jacky Aldridge

Lorna Rolph                                                       

Sue Downer

Anne Marie                                                               

Mel Norwacki

Janice Mcpherson                                         

Martina Bishop

Aiden Sumajit                                                       

Happy Singh

Jo Paterson                                                       

Jacque Handley

And to the new friends I made who helped me giggle my way through six weeks in Southampton General Hospital.

Jean Parson

Carol

Lynsie Lynn

Betty Swanley

Yvonne Blake

Marilyn Mettyer

Maureen Veal

Marjurie Littleford

Heidi Rose

Keira

PROLOGUE

How does the moth live in darkness when all light is suddenly ripped from its existence? Sure, the moth is safer from the flame but dangers still lurk in the night. Eyes watching, claws twitching, feet stalking and waiting to strike under the cover of black skies.

He thought I would be safer without him but what can protect me from myself and my own dreams…dreams that won’t let me go. I never thought dreaming of Draven could be classed as a nightmare but this was now my reality.

I found myself most nights transported back to that day we first set our eyes on each other. It was just as it was that day. Me wandering too far and stumbling across the clearing like Eve finding herself in the Garden of Eden for the first time. I remember taking it all in and being sucked into the magic of it all before coming to my senses enough to ask why, what and how. And like that day…

I fell.

Only this time it was no longer the foot of my destiny there to greet me. I started to fall in painfully slow motion, watching my hair floating as if under water. Then my vision changed. It shot from one pair of eyes to another in a blink of time and I was no longer seeing the earth coming closer to meet me.

The last time I dreamt this way I was in a temple running with my chest cut deep and leaving behind bloody footprints like a pathway through deadly sand. Well now it was happening again and just like before, it shot back as I screamed ready to watch myself hit the ground.

One second I was crying out for my other self and then I cried out as I became the me that fell. I felt the moss wet and slippery under my fingers as I tried to grasp the rocks but then as I made a fist it no longer felt like anything nature would have created. It squelched into my pores and underneath my fingernails and a metallic smell wafted up to my nostrils…

Blood.

I gasped at the same time my fist uncurled. I quickly scrambled backwards and with a shaky hand moved my loose hair back.

Then I screamed.

“No, no…oh Jesus no!” I shook my head but nothing would release me from the sight of bloody body parts that once belonged to someone breathing, living and anything but being chopped into pieces! The sound of my own frightened panting was the only noise in this now eerie place. 

I managed to get to my feet and looked down to see the piece of thigh seconds ago I had had my hand embedded in. I quickly turned my head and heaved. I lifted my hand to wipe away my tears and that’s when I noticed the new liquid crimson glove that now covered my skin.

More blood.

I closed my eyes and took small steps backwards, all the while chanting,

“It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream…wake up Keira…wake up NOW!” I shouted the ending as I backed into a tree. My eyes shot open and the first thing I noticed was no longer just the blood and gore but now the pattern in it all.

All the body parts had been arranged into some weird symbol and somewhere deeply buried was a place in my mind where a light had just been switched on. Switched on for the first time since that day. The very day I said goodbye to Draven for the last time.

“It…it… can’t be…possible!” Even as I said the words my mind brought back the image where I had first seen this symbol but what did it all mean? I tore my eyes away from the butchery that lay in blood stained grass and puddles of carnage. But in doing so I now had to witness the same thing that happened so long ago. I could almost feel Draven’s arm band around me to pull me closer as I watched the Garden of Eden become the Garden of Death.

The trees transformed from lush greens into grey dust, leaving only sinister looking branches that stretched out like flexing claws. The flowers folded in on themselves and crumpled like burnt paper. I clung to the tree trunk at my back but when it too started to shake, I side stepped shrieking out in surprised fright. I spun too fast and nearly stumbled into another plant, the bird of paradise.

I managed to stop just in time as I was now less than an inch away from one deadly spike piercing my eye. The once beautiful and exotic looking flower had turned into a fatal weapon. Each stunning orange petal had been transformed into a fan of blades and the central blue stems were now poisonous barbs tipped to a needle point and ready to kill.

“Ahhh!” I shouted and again scrambled back, only this time managing to stay on my feet at least. I spun back round to face what looked like a mass ritual sacrifice lay out on the floor that merely waited for its master to say the right words. But which master would it be?

This thought quickly brought on the wind and it whipped furiously around me as if disapproving of where my thoughts had taken me. But what else was there for me left to think…? There was only one place I had seen this symbol and no amount of shaking my head would undo the memory.

“WHY!?” I shouted as the wind picked up replacing my fear with anger. How could this happen, even in my dreams how could these things still haunt me?

“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed this time looking up at the Gods and hoping they heard the pain being ripped through me. But their only answer came in the form of the storm that battled furiously around me and the centre of the symbol circled on the ground. I raised my hands to my ears, bloody or not, I didn’t care. I just needed to hold onto something. Then without knowing what else to do I let loose a screamed sentence,

“YOU DAMNED MY LOVE FOR YOU!” And suddenly the world of chaos stopped revolving around me. I was left panting into my hands and could taste another man’s blood on my lips. It was a sickening thought and pulled me from my mental breakdown enough to realise the storm had passed. I lowered my arms slowly and gasped as I was now left to take in the figure that stood in the centre of the bloody symbol.