The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (28 page)

“I’d better come and get you then.” He said finally as a truck went past kicking up the dirt and blowing it in my face. I almost wished the pieces had been tiny shards of glass just so I could feel the pain cutting into my skin. Instead it was just an annoyance that made my Demon growl.

“That would help, yes.” I said and I hung up as Vincent was still chuckling. Before I knew what I had done or got a handle on my anger I felt the pieces of my phone rain down from my palm to the roadside. I rolled my eyes and batted away the bits looking for the sim card knowing what an annoyance it was last time I had to get a new phone.

I had left it to Sophia and in an attempt to get my attention she had annoyingly renamed all the contacts to nicknames, set flowered pictures for each and set 80’s pop as the individual ringtones. My reaction to this ended in needing a new phone. So in short she succeeded in getting my attention and I learned when destroying my next phone in anger to at least save the sim card.

I was just pocketing the tiny square when another truck came past but this time I threw up a hand in time to create a barrier between the debris it kicked up and myself. Unfortunately I ended up sitting here long enough to see quite a few planes leave the ground and every single one in my mind had my Keira on it. In fact I eventually lost count of the amount of times I had to heal myself after I would rip my flesh to ribbons while crushing stones in my bare hands.

I was finally glad when Vincent arrived just after I broke three fingers. This happened when punching the ground in an attempt to stop myself from releasing my wings and launching myself into the sky after the last plane.

“Thank fuck.”
I muttered as the heavy duty and fully kitted 4x4 pulled up with Vincent in the driving seat. I frowned at his choice of vehicles before yanking the door open with too much force, ripping the top from its heavy duty hinges.

“Don’t say a word,” I warned on a growl and then barely concentrated as I quickly reattached the metal work before slamming the door.

“I don’t think there is much left to be said, Brother.” Vincent spoke anyway and I clenched my fists in an attempt on getting a handle on my building rage. I had no reason to get angry at my brother, if anything he understood me more than anyone else on earth. He too loved Keira and even though this knowledge should have angered me, it didn’t. The reason for this was I knew it was in his destiny to love her and as cruel as that sounds he would one day understand it too, for it was not my place to intervene.

“Unless you too have lost your senses Vince, I don’t recall this being the way to Afterlife.” I commented after quite some time of silence. He turned his head and gave me a smug look before saying,

“Well you would certainly know.” I rolled my eyes at my brother’s attempt at improving my foul mood and his dark humour in reference to what others would class as my job…that being sending the unruly souls back to their Afterlife.

“So are you going to tell me the reason we are soon going to be leaving this road?” I asked knowing now my brother’s reasoning behind his choice of vehicle.

“I think it’s time,” he said cryptically. I frowned and tried to reach out and find the answers myself but he just laughed when I felt him blocking me.

“Can’t you wait for ten minutes?” I replied to his comment with an umf sound which only managed to further add to his amusement.

“I didn’t ever take you for one who played in to the dramatics.” I commented before I recognised where we were heading.

“Oh I’m not, however I know a certain blonde beauty that found a taste for it around this time last year.” As soon as he said this my back straightened and I gripped the dash so hard that I felt the material give in my hand. I then quickly scanned the area and when he pulled suddenly off the road I knew where we were headed.

“Stop the car.”
I warned on a growl.

“Just wait, you will understand when…” I didn’t give him chance to finish as I cut the engine with enough force I blew a head gasket causing steam to bellow from the bonnet.

“Fuck, Dom!” Vincent swore as he slammed on the brakes and skidded in the narrow dirt road. But I was already ripping off the door I had not long ago fixed.

“Dom, wait!” Vincent shouted after me. I turned quickly and slammed my fist through a tree trunk splintering it like a battering ram before roaring at my brother.

“NO! You know my feelings on this, why must you persist! Do you not think I am in enough pain, enough fucking agony!” I watched as Vincent rubbed the back of his neck with his hand in frustration before taking a calming breath no doubt at the sight of my Demon panting.

“I know of your pain Brother, you know I do but what you don’t know is the full depth of
hers.”
On hearing this I laughed without a shred of humour. I was just about to deny this ridiculous statement when he held up a hand to stop me.

“You are not listening to me…just stop for a second and calm yourself, I can see your Demon breaking through.” I frowned and then looked down at myself to see he was right. Even my wings had erupted and I had not even felt it. I shook my head to try and bring forth the lock and key I kept that part of me controlled under.

“Now hear me Brother, for what I say now should have been said a long time ago but you were never ready…I had feared until recently you would
never
be ready..”

“And what makes you so sure I am now?” I growled.

“Because for the simple fact is you are here…you came all this way to see her the second you thought she was in trouble but more importantly…you
stayed.”
I knew he had a point as soon as he started. I had spent all this time wallowing in my own Hell and self-pity convincing myself and others that I would never see her again when it was all in vain. The second I found that not only was there another man in her life but a damned Nephilim at that and I was back at her mercy.

“Fine! You made your point so speak and get it over with!” If my brother had smiled like I knew he wanted to at that moment he would have been the next thing my fist encountered.

“It is not so much what I need to tell you but more what you need to find.” As soon as he said this I watched as he released the full magnificence that were his heavenly wings. They were different to mine, not just in colour as his were a startling brilliant white but also in shape. They were larger at the top but curled round thinner at the bottom and that came past his ankles. They also skimmed the floor when they were relaxed which I always teased him about, asking if they annoyed him. His reaction was always the same as he rolled his eyes and as usual I would fend off a punch heading my way.

“What are you up to?” I asked as he stretched out readying himself to take flight.

“You know where we are going?” I nodded as I knew these woods as I knew my own vessel and what I would find opposite the cliff’s edge at the end of this track.

“Then you will find out when we get there.” This was the last thing he said before he launched himself into the air and I watched a brilliant flash of white disappear envying his speed. I took a moment to breathe deep readying myself for the blow I knew was coming. When I finally opened my eyes I too launched my body into the sky to catch up with my brother.

“You were always the faster one.” I said as I landed on the ledge to my cave to find Vincent there waiting. He never took a step inside and I let the level of my love and appreciation for my Brother flow freely from my mind. He gave me a sad smile and then walked up to me to place his hand at my shoulder.

“Just remember, this was her only way,” he said lowering his head in a sign of deep respect. He then gave my shoulder a squeeze before he left the only space that had never been tainted by another soul other than that of two people who loved each other enough to give their lives in the name of that love.

I waited until I heard him land in the distance then I lifted my eyes from the floor. I pushed all my hair back with one hand and held it to the base of my neck as I took in her lingering presence. To feel how faint it was brought me back to earlier and being in her bedroom once more.

I first felt confused as to why nothing had been touched in so long and then the pain I saw in her eyes when she tried to explain. She didn’t notice my reaction as she turned away but if she hadn’t been trying to mask her own suffering then she would have seen my own.

I took in the space and was instantly transported back to that first time I brought her here. Ever since I had found out about her becoming the Maiden needed as her part in the Triple Goddess I had always known I would claim her here. In this space which was the only place that truly was my own. It had become a bit of an obsession once I knew and I couldn’t help but smile when thinking back to her obvious frustrations at making her wait.

But for me, it was the last part of perfection that should have always been mine to take, to possess and to own. I had her heart that was as clear as her holding my own captive.

But then to be given the chance at being the first and last man to take her body, well something primal snapped within me and the thought was now making me murderous! I hadn’t truly let myself think about it before now but what if this cretin of the earth had touched her? What if he had tasted that purity and in doing so trying to sully it with his own unworthy hands?!

“اجازه دهید که خدایان او را لعنت به جهنم!” ( ‘Let the Gods damn him back to Hell!’) I screamed out at the ceiling in my vessel’s native tongue with enough rage to cause the rock to shake. I quickly had to get control enough to stop my private space from caving in on itself. It took me back to every other time this had happened and every one of them included my Keira.

This was the place I flew off to after setting her down safely in her home after first meeting her in the meadow. The same was said after making the decision to distance myself from her and lying about Celina in order to save her from another attack from Layla. Even now the name of that vile bottom feeder made me want to destroy something.

“Get a handle on it!” I shouted at myself trying not to let my emotions manifest the only way they knew how…into rage. But there were other times too. Like when I had Ava searching the skies for where Sammael had taken her. I had stood on the edge waiting until finally hearing Keira’s call. In that instance I don’t think Vincent had anything on that type of speed that spoke of only desperation.

But the one distinct difference between all those times and now was back then I still had her heart but now…well now I had not only trampled that heart but I had practically threw it back in her face and walked away. So no matter what Vincent thought I needed to find it wouldn’t have made any difference. The Fates had decided and I could never take that chance…
ever.

So with this dejection in mind I slumped down back on the bed letting my wings cushion my landing on the black sheets. I let my mind take me back to that night. The most precious night of my life other than the first time I felt my body join with hers. The moment our souls connected and fused together in an everlasting union that even death could not part.

My entire body shivered as the memory took hold, staring into her eyes as she found her pleasure of release from the feel of me stroking that deeper part within her. They would glaze over and go out of focus and then that would be the end of me. Seeing that was like flipping a switch to my control, rendering me utterly spellbound and powerless. Yet my goddess had no clue to the power she held in just her eyes alone.

The thought made me groan and bang my head back against the pillows.

“What’s this?” My voice felt foreign due to the thundering in my chest. I turned my head and the first thing I could sense was like a kick to the gut!

“You cried for me little one.” I said running my fingertips over the place I knew her tears had landed all that time ago. Was this what I was supposed to find…the evidence of what I did to her? Well if so then it was all in vain just like I knew it would be. I didn’t need to scent her tears to know she had shed them!

I got up angry with myself for letting Vincent bring me here. I knew this was all I would find and what did it accomplish exactly, only more cracks to add to an unclaimed heart?

“Foolish old man!” I cursed as I heaved myself up from the floor ready to leave this place and never return! I stretched out my wings and walked to the edge to take in this sight, hopefully for the last time. No, I could never come back here. So with this in mind I turned one last time as something inside me told me just one last look. I needed to see it as it was that morning.

I had got up and stood right here as the sun rising filled the cave with the softest glow. I remember being transfixed on her skin, the way it shone like an Angel’s would but somehow seeing it on a human was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever witnessed. She lay so still and so peaceful I remembered smiling knowing how I had tired her out. Her leg was tangled in the black covers and her hand held in a loose fist at her lips. And then there was her hair, like a rope of gold where she had plaited it at some point in the night so it wouldn’t…

“Wait!” I shouted suddenly as I was seeing the impossible.

“It couldn’t be…”
I whispered as my footsteps caught jarring me forward.

“No…no…oh, Keira my darling no!” I spoke to no one as my knees hit the bed and I pulled out the golden plait I found sticking out from under the pillow. I must have disturbed its resting place for now I sat back on my haunches holding in my hands the softest most beautiful hair in the world. I couldn’t believe it as much as I could. Was there ever any end to the level of love that girl had for me?

Even as I asked myself this in my mind I quickly thought to what I knew about her…about how she did things and if Keira had to say goodbye what else would she have done. This thought had me throwing the pillows wildly away until I found I was right. As there I found a small white envelope with my name written across. Only this time it wasn’t Draven, it was…