The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (24 page)

But what I was expecting exactly I couldn’t say but the misty dull grey sky wasn’t it. It was like no other sky I had ever seen, being void of all variants of colour. There were no clouds, no differences in space and distance. There was no sun and no life discovering its vast space. It was…empty.

I decided I needed to move if I was ever going to try and understand this lost place. I slowly moved my hands to my sides and pushed myself up. It was as though I feared any sudden movements were going to send me off into a never ending ocean or floating off into an eternal abyss.

“What is this place?”
I whispered to no one as I took in my strange surroundings. I looked around and the first thing I noticed was the strange black mattress I was sat upon that floated calmly on top of the deadly still lake. The water had that unnatural quality to it, almost like a liquid mirror that was smoky grey like the sky it reflected. There was no distinction between water and atmosphere creating an eerie vast space that could have gone on forever. It was almost like being placed in a box of fog and the only things you can see are the things that are immediately around you.

The black mattress crept along at a snail’s pace almost as though it knew where it was going, as there was certainly no current aiding our progress. I placed my hand down and felt the strange looking black material that almost looked like thick webbing. Like some giant demonic spider had covered the bed like a cocoon with miles of the rubbery cord the same thickness as my finger.

But what was even more startling about the sight was the blinding contrast my white dressed body looked against it. Even the difference in materials screamed out as the soft delicate folds of the skirt folded in ribbons and fell against the harsh unbreakable shell. The dress looked as though it had enough material to cover ten bodies as it overflowed the sides of the bed and floated majestically in the murky water. My hand went to my stomach and pulled at the thick, satin ribbon that was the exact colour of blood. It had been wrapped around my torso, crisscrossed over and over in tight constricting bands, almost as though someone had wanted to keep me restrained.

Even now I noticed the same ribbon binding my arms to the very top and across my shoulders ending with a bow to one side of my neck. I tried twisting my upper body and felt a tugging sensation straining against my skin from every point.

“What the …”
I said but stopped as something caught my eye to my left. I left trying to tug myself free for the moment and watched as a shadow started to emerge from the mist. At first I thought it was a long thin bridge to nowhere but then I squinted my eyes and could make out it was a small rickety dock that looked ready to fall at any moment. The thin planks ran width ways, held up by thin bent poles that looked as though any weight would make them snap like twigs.

The entire dock looked black and I couldn’t tell if it was because it was burnt or just appeared that dark against the foggy backdrop. My unlikely little boat still bobbed closer to it and soon the very end of the dock came into view. I sucked in a sharp breath as I quickly realised I was not alone anymore.

The new body was only but a glimpse of limbs that could be seen sat there, facing out into the grim nothingness. I didn’t know what to do…did I call out, did I remain silent or did I try and pull myself up against the dock when I got close enough? Was this all a dream, like so many others or was this the other world’s way of trying to warn me of something? These were all great questions but all just as pointless as the energy put into thinking them.

I don’t know how long I took wondering what the next step to take was but when the time came I reached out and grabbed for it in the form of the dock. I stood on the shaky mattress and only just managed to heave myself up and over onto the dock before the mattress continued on past. The massive weight of my dress dragged out of the water with its ridiculous length and I slapped it behind me as I stood. I felt the old wood groan beneath me and looked down through the gaps with trepidation. Well I had made my decision now and I had to follow through with it.

The body on the chair didn’t even stir as my footsteps grew closer and with it the noise that the person was obviously now no longer alone. I didn’t know whether to take this as a good sign or not but still I continued on. If only the fog would lift just enough to make out some features so I had some clue as to what I was dealing with and then maybe I wouldn’t have to go as far. I looked down at the dock and saw my bare feet after having to grab handfuls of useless fabric so that I wouldn’t trip. I shuffled along trying not to step on the large gaps big enough to get my foot stuck sideways. In fact I was making good progress considering I was terrified but when I looked up to see, I had to clamp my hands around my mouth to lock away the scream.

The body was now stood and it was clear it was the strong powerful body of a man. He only wore black trousers that were frayed in patches like they were hundreds of years old. His bare top showed square shoulders and muscled lines down his back twhich then tapered down into a V-shape. But all these factors were insignificant. They were cast back into the shadows of my mind as my eyes homed in on the many black chains that wrapped around the forearms of the man. There should have been too much weight for him to even hold his arms up but this was precisely what he did.

My eyes travelled the length of the chains that bound him so crudely and followed them to the chair that stood suspended on its back two legs. It only took a few more steps on my part to see the chair itself was actually made up of the same lengths of chain. Twisted and coiled around to form the shape until it got to the bottom of the feet, where it then spread out like roots of a tree. Whoever he was, he was well and truly trapped to the end of that soulless sight with no means of escape.

I couldn’t help but feel for the prisoner, for to be cast into this place to suffer the emptiness for any length of time was a cruel punishment indeed. I wasn’t really sure though how long I stood, stock still, watching his silent torment in sick fascination but eventually it came to an end in the most brutal of ways. It was when I couldn’t wait any longer and I took my last and final step, coming within touching distance of the man. I then reached out my hand before I even knew what I was doing. It was in that exact moment my fingertips came into contact with the first link of metal in his chains that everything changed.

I thought in this cold place I would feel the icy touch of iron against my skin but I was wrong. It burned me, scalding my flesh as if I had just touched burning coal. That’s when I knew it wasn’t metal at all. Because his chains weren’t manmade and they weren’t of Earth, no… they were made from Hell’s own rock.

The impact of my touch caused a domino effect of reactions but the one most profound was when the man before me whipped his head around to face me.

“NO!” I screamed looking up into the eyes of purple flame, only this time, as I had first witnessed today, Hell’s fire raged there in the centres.

“Draven?!”
My raw and pain laced voice spoke his name like it would somehow help in releasing him.

“You shouldn’t be here, my Keira.”
These words weren’t spoken aloud in Draven’s voice but that of his controlled Demon. It was growled without malice and it was snarled without threat. It was just spoken from another part of him that didn’t know how to be gentle with me but still had enough thought not to want to frighten me. I don’t know how I knew this as fact but it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I did and I wasn’t afraid.

“Why are you here Draven…what…what is
this place?”
I asked whispering the last few words as the emotion at seeing those chains around him got to be too much for me to handle. I noticed how where I had first touched had now started to glow, like the centre of a log fire where it’s at its hottest. The heat started to travel quickly along the links and I watched on in horror as it got closer to his arms.

“Draven?!” I said his name again in panic, madly thinking what it was I could do to stop it from burning his skin.

“This place is my prison of choice.”
His Demon said looking back over the fog and when I followed his gaze, I could see it had finally started to lift. Only now, I quickly wished it hadn’t, for all at once the last of the links quickly erupted around Draven’s arms and the rest of the vile world came crashing into view.

“This is…
TARTARUS!” His demon side erupted fully and I took a step back in fright. He motioned an arm out in front of us and I turned to see a very different kind of Hell.

We stood at what seemed to be on the edge of a chasm in Hell and it opened out into a cavernous space filled with row after row of soldiers. There were thousands of them all stood to attention in too many lines to count, all in formation and ranks. But wait, there was something different about them, something not only demonic but something more. I wanted to step closer but Draven’s burning arm came up, reminding me of what was more important.

I looked down and noticed the chains barely hid something attached to his arms. They were wrapped around some sort of metal plate with symbols on there. It was a circle with words around the edge and in the centre… was that…a star?

“Who is doing this to you? Who is keeping you here, Draven?” I asked looking up at him so he could see the level of pleading in my eyes. But no matter what I expected him to say, it would never had prepared me for the blow he was about to deliver, not to my mind nor to my heart but this time…to my very soul…

“You are, Keira…

Only you.”  

Chapter 16

Terrifying Little People

I woke with a jolt that felt as though my heart had actually stopped for a short time. Of course now it was thundering within my chest like a jack hammer. I took in the dark room that only let in a thin slither of moonlight where the curtains hadn’t been closed properly. I scanned the room and it took my fragile nerves a minute or two to calm enough to realise where I was.

My mind took me back to the night before after getting out of the car with Draven. Sophia had been there to meet me ready for our ‘girl time’ and thankfully I hadn’t seen Draven again that night. I didn’t think I could face him and I think Sophia could tell something had happened as for once she didn’t ask. In fact she didn’t mention her brother at all for the rest of the night. Instead she just made it her mission to distract me with what deemed her version of a sleep over and made me laugh at every opportunity.

By the end of the night I think I was well on my way to being drunk after all the champagne she made me consume. But if I had to choose the highlight of our night, it would be seeing Zagan’s face when he walked in and looked on in absolute horror when seeing his wife with a lumpy pea green face mask on. I actually spat out some of my drink I laughed that hard. It was only after Sophia tried to drag him in the room to paint his toenails that he fled in fear.

So now here I was, in some guest room I had never seen before, lying upon an elaborate metal bed that looked like some black iron rose garden, shaped so at least four bodies could sleep amongst it all. I vaguely remembered being shown this room after I continued to nod off on Sophia’s gothic pink and black couch…but wait…I was missing something. The more I thought about it the more I didn’t think I was led to this room but more like carried to it.

“Draven.”
As soon as I whispered the name the sound of someone inhaling sharply sounded in the room and my gaze shot up to a shadow of black I now knew belonged to a man’s frame. I held my own breath as I watched him take the first steps from the shadows and into the line of moonlight, bathing his features in an ethereal glow. My eyes scanned the length of him and I could just make out on the side facing the window where his long sleeves looked charred along his forearm.

“The chains.” I said before I could stop myself and watched as he tensed his fists at his sides.

“You had a nightmare.” He stated with his voice sounding gruff.

“You carried me in here last night…didn’t you?” I asked as the snippets of last night came back to me.

“Go back to sleep, Keira.”

“Do you know what I dreamt of?” I asked ignoring his demand.

“Don’t over analyse what you don’t know.” At this I scoffed, making a little snorting sound in disbelief.

“Well what else am I to do, when you obviously won’t tell me the truth…? Hell, I’m not sure you even know what that is anymore!”

“What I do know is that the truth will never be something you could handle knowing, so it would be wise to leave it at that.” Draven snapped back taking another few steps toward me.

“Oh right, I forgot…I haven’t had to handle difficult shit before…nothing like say, my boyfriend faking his own death just to get away from me!” I threw at him like a verbal slap. He actually growled at this and looked like he was fighting shaking me or storming out the door.

“Yes and can you possibly imagine the level of severity which caused such drastic actions…? Can you even grasp what would drive a man in love to do such an unforgivable act?” He shouted down at me as he was suddenly at my bedside but it wasn’t in anger. No, it was nothing short of undiluted pain.

“Why can’t you just tell me…does it have something to do with…” I took a deep breath knowing the explosive side of Draven that would probably erupt when I finished that question…

“…Tartarus?” And just as I thought as soon as the name passed my lips Draven ignited into a purple fuel that coursed through his body like an uncaged beast running riot beneath the surface. His wings burst forth and spread out, plunging the room into darkness. I shrank back against the metal roses at my shoulders and I suddenly felt trapped as he slowly leaned his frame in and over me. It was only the current of his other self that I could see traveling his veins that lit up my startled features.