The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (23 page)

“I wish I could deny that statement…I wish it like you wouldn’t believe Keira but I can’t, because you are right.” The way he said this made me feel only pain and I couldn’t have helped my reaction even if I had wanted too. I reached out my hand and grabbed tight onto his, looking him straight in the eyes and holding his gaze.

“I am sorry, that was unnecessary and cruel. But Draven, you have to stop this with me and Alex. We both made our choices and now we need to live with them…the only question now is if we can live with them and still be in each other’s lives?” He first looked down at our hands and he turned his slowly. I started to pull back but his other hand flashed out and gripped my wrist, anchoring it in place so he could turn his other hand fully without me fleeing. He then interlaced his fingers with mine and squeezed them before releasing my wrist. It was only when he knew he had a firm hold of me that he finally raised his gaze to mine.

I didn’t know what to make of his expression but there was only one word I could find to describe it and that was intense. The purple flames licked the edges and although this was something I was used to, the burning crimson in the centre wasn’t. It was the first time I had seen the mixed parts of his soul conflicting with his demon side but that was what must have been happening. What other reason was there? But more importantly, why now?

“You are so very pure…it still takes my breath away, little one.” I swallowed hard, trying in vain to get the lump that just formed to drop back to my stomach like a lead gun ball. We just seemed to stare at one another for endless minutes until our poor waiter could be seen hovering around. At this rate we would end up being the only ones left and this poor guy would still be trying to get us to order. I was just about to speak up when my stomach decided to do it for me.

Draven let me go and finally I got his beaming smile back.

“Let’s feed you shall we?” I gave him a shy smile making him laugh. He motioned the waiter over and I heard Draven chuckle. I was just about to ask him what he found funny but it had to wait as the waiter was now at Draven’s side.

“What can I get for you, Sir?”

“To begin with something to drink…” Draven said opening the list and scanning the pages for what he was looking for.

“Ah yes that will do, a bottle of the Krug, Clos d'Ambonnay 1995.” As soon as the wine was mentioned the waiter’s eyes bulged, which told me all I needed to know…the wine was going to be ridiculously expensive.

“Oh that’s alright I can just…uh…” I stopped mid flow when I saw Draven’s pointed look and quickly shifted gears to his preferred speed,

“…What he’s having”
I finished dejectedly.

“Uh sir, please excuse me for saying so but it’s part of my job to warn you it’s six thousand dollars a bottle.”

“That’s fine I will let you know if we need another and we should be ready to order by the time you return.” Draven said with an authoritative air that only came from people who had an extortionate amount of money.

“Of course.” The waiter replied and promptly left the table to no doubt start hyperventilating.

“What were you laughing at before he came over?” I asked dying to know.

“He was thanking God that we were ready to order.” I couldn’t help but find the funny side too, considering who Draven really was. Draven seemed slightly transfixed as he watched me throw my head back and start laughing. I only noticed he was still staring at me or more like my neck, when I had finished with my outburst.

“What is it?”

“It’s just, it’s still strange seeing you without it…that’s all.” I gave him a confused look and my hand automatically reached up to touch my neck but before I could ask he said,

“Your necklace…the one I gave you.” He said this last part into his menu and I knew then he didn’t want to say anymore on the matter, which I was more than happy with. The whole comment had floored me and I decided to follow his lead and hide behind my menu. I mouthed the words ‘Oh my God’ and shook my head in vain but it did nothing to help my racing emotions. I had to wonder, like I had shamefully done many times before, if he still had it.

“So what would you like?” Draven’s voice sounded slightly strained and he had to clear his throat after asking me that question.

“Umm…to be honest I haven’t a clue what most of this stuff is.” I said on a laugh making him smile at me.

“I am sorry I never brought you to places like this.” I was a little taken back by Draven’s confession and I dropped my menu to look at him.

“Why...? I mean you shouldn’t be as they’re not exactly my thing.” I watched him take a deep breath and lower his own menu.

“Honestly…?” I nodded and couldn’t help but bite my lip as I waited.

“Because I always wanted to keep you to myself.” He said shrugging his shoulders like the weight of his words hadn’t just added to the rest of the conflicting emotions raging within me.

“Draven I can’t…” I started to say but was cut off when he raised his menu once again and I knew this was his way of telling me not to finish that sentence.

“Do you want me to order what I know you will like?” He asked after a few hopeless minutes of silence.

“I think that would be safer.” I said trying to lighten the mood when really all I wanted to do was excuse myself, lock myself away in the safety of a cubicle and cry like a little girl. I wasn’t exactly sure why he was doing this to me and I wanted…no, almost
needed
to find some anger in the cruelty of it all, but the simple fact was that I couldn’t. Because it suddenly occurred to me that although what Draven had done was in fact very cruel and very wrong, it didn’t mean he had done any of it with the sole purpose to hurt me.

Like now, he wasn’t sat there saying these things to rub it in my face, he was simply saying them because he
needed
to. Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t stop the pain but it just meant absorbing it wasn’t quite as…

Painful.

Chapter 15

I See Fire in Your Scars

Thankfully the rest of the evening took a turn for the better and soon we both relaxed enough to fool ourselves into believing nothing had changed. It is amazing how you allow your mind to do this and find a comfortable balance when hiding the truth. I wondered half way through my meal if this was how people lived their turbulent lives, through a window of fogged glass. Did they just think if they thought hard enough then their problems would just go away or was it a case of if you couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see you? And then blissfully you don’t have to acknowledge what you don’t see hidden in that part of your mind you call hope.

But I wasn’t naïve enough anymore to place things hidden there. That hope was no longer a blooming flower I watered daily. Because no matter what Draven did or said now, he had crushed that hope to its roots. And yet despite all this it still didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to take anything I could get and right now I wanted to pretend for just one night.   

So that’s exactly what we did. We ordered our food and chatted the night away as if we were the only two people in the room. He asked about the minute details of my life, making me laugh when he asked if I’d still tried on all my Christmas presents this year, like I had done the year before. I told him how disappointed my grandmother had been not to have any ‘beef candy’ to prey on and he had threw his head back and roared with laughter when I added,

“Her words, not mine.”

All in all it was shaping up to be a lovely evening, minus the hiccups at the beginning. But now it was coming to an end and I found myself wishing I liked coffee just as an excuse to have that extra time.

“Shall we?” Draven said standing after paying a small fortune for the meal. I nodded and stood, reaching down to where I had stowed my purse. When I straightened again I almost cried out as I looked up to find Draven stood right next to me.

“You look truly magnificent tonight.” He said in a voice so deep I had to wonder how many levels to this man there really were.  I started to smile up at him but was stopped abruptly when I saw that same mix of fire in his eyes as before. It was like looking into a different Draven and it scared me.

“Are you…okay?” I asked quietly trying to pull him from whatever emotions had him locked in place. I tentatively placed my hand on his forearm and it was like my touch was enough to douse the crimson flames that were battling against him. He flinched and looked down at my hand on his as though he too was trying to figure out what just happened. I slowly pulled back and tried to take a step away, suddenly needing that space between us but Draven had other ideas. His arm came around me and pulled me from my escape and up against him.

“Don’t!”
His warning rang clear and I knew this wasn’t the time to push him. Something was going on with Draven and it seemed by his facial expression that he was just as much in the dark about it as I was. So I let myself be led from the restaurant with his arm draped possessively around me and I had the feeling if he could have got away with carrying me in his arms he would have.

We walked past the hostess and I had to supress a wicked grin at seeing that perfect façade drop at the sight of a man like Draven walking away from her without so much as a glance. She looked him up and down like a shopaholic at a summer sale. It made me want to cosy up to him and take a possessive claim but that was until I reminded myself. Draven wasn’t mine and I had in fact walked through these doors with another man at my arm. The thought made me want to pull myself from Draven but he must have felt me tense at his side.

“I wouldn’t, Keira…remember the knife you hold.” I looked up at him, frowned at his warning and was just about to ask when it dawned on me what he meant. I held the knife to the edge of his thread. I was almost tempted to slice forward and watch as it broke. What would happen exactly? Was that the line we just couldn’t cross? But more importantly…what would happen if we ever did?

I didn’t answer him but instead let him lead me outside to a parked black Rolls Royce with the back door already being held open. I had the sudden urge not to get into the car, fearing this new mood of Draven’s. I felt once again out of my depth and it was a feeling I was no longer used to.

“Just get in the car, Keira...you have nothing to fear.” He said obviously being able to read some of my emotions. I mentally pulled up my big girl pants and with Draven holding my hand was helped into the car. I was quickly followed by Draven folding his large frame in next to me and without a word the car pulled away.

Most of the journey was spent in silence as I watched the world go past without really seeing it at all. My mind was awash with all that had happened over the last few days and it almost seemed like some cosmic joke as to where I now sat. I looked over to Draven and saw he too looked out of his window. I wondered what he thought about right now…was he thinking the same as I? I couldn’t help but notice how he had one hand over his forearm…the one I had touched and one he still kept hidden from me. It took me back to that day once more at the villa when I saw those ugly burns that looked so raw and fresh. I was just about to ask him about them when he suddenly turned to look at me.

“We’re here.”

“Oh…that was quick.” I said lying but not knowing what else to say. I looked away from Draven and saw the mighty and imposing Afterlife come into view. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Why do you always do that?” Draven’s question startled me.

“Do what?”

“Smile in sight of my home…you always did that and I always wanted to know.” I gave him a small grin and hoped my response would mean he would drop the subject without me having to answer him.

“It’s not like you to wait so long till finding out something you wish to know.”

“Consider it me choosing the priorities of importance to me.” I gave him a little shake of my head and a raised eyebrow, silently asking him to explain the cryptic statement.

“My enjoyment at seeing your happiness outweighed my curiosity.” He said making me turn my head away so he couldn’t see how much his words affected me.

“So are you going to tell me?”

“Not today.” I replied softly to the night at my window.

“Why not?” He asked pushing the subject like I knew he would. So I turned my body to face him and nodded to his arms before arguing my point.

“Are you gonna tell me about them and why you’re obviously hiding them from me?” For the first moment he looked taken aback and even shifted his body further back in his seat as if he was afraid I was going to reach out and touch them.

“That’s what I thought.” I said when I got no reply but a frown.

“Some things are meant to be left in the past.”

“Including us?” I asked quickly making him wince at the power of my question.

“I…Keira, you must understand...this…”

“Oh I understand, Draven, you want all the answers but with no questions asked. Well I am afraid it doesn’t work like that, it might have done at one time but let’s just say I learnt my lesson. You can’t go through life without ever explaining yourself, not to the people you’re supposed to care about…
well, maybe that’s your lesson to learn for next time.”
I added this part looking back out to the night in a whisper I knew he would still hear.

“Next time?” He asked as I reached for the handle of the door now the car had just come to a stop. I didn’t turn to face him, I couldn’t with what I was about to say…

“Yeah, the next time…” I took a deep shuddering breath, released it and pushed open the door…

“…you fall in love.”        

I shifted on the bed but then stopped abruptly as the sensation that I was on a float stopped me. The rocking my motions caused felt like I was bobbing along the water in little waves lapping at the shore. I wanted to bolt upright but remained frozen in fear. It even took all my mental strength to brave opening my eyes slowly to what new horrors now faced me.