The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (33 page)

“I know you’re in here, girl.” A voice said and I tried to place it, almost like I had heard it in my past from some time I couldn’t place.

“Uh…yeah, sorry I was just looking for…”

“I know what you’re looking for.” The male voice said cutting me off. I frowned in the dim lighting and said,

“And what’s that?”

“You’re looking for answers,” he said quite offhandedly.

“I am?” I replied with a nervous laugh.

“Yes, but you won’t find any, not until you start asking the right questions.” This time I actually groaned out loud, no longer caring if the voice thought me rude.

“Yeah right, give me a break.”

“You like Demons, little girl?” The voice asked and the amusement could easily be detected in his voice.

“I…I don’t know what you mean.” I said only stumbling verbally in the beginning. The voice didn’t answer me but instead I heard the sound of a large switch being flipped before the section I was stood in lit up. There was a few hanging lantern shaped lights that hung from the high ceiling but I could tell not all of them were turned on. So I turned to the wall as there was obviously something he wanted me to see.

“Oh my,” I said holding my hand to my face as I took in the painting before me. It was nothing like I had ever seen before and was a combination of a black and white photograph, paint and words crudely scratched into the finished canvas. In fact if the words hadn’t gone with the piece so well I would have said it had been vandalized.

The black and white picture was of two lovers embraced and entwined in peaceful sleep. The bed in which they lay had an ocean painted beneath it which looked so serene and calm. Yet it was the faces of the people that had been painted over in such a way you could see both how they looked before and how they would have looked as demons.

There were slanted slashes in their eyes, mouth and nose and the writing was reflected on the sheets that covered them. It bounced off the wall behind their bed where it had been scratched into the actual canvas. And it read…

‘Monsters don’t sleep under your bed,

But they sleep happy inside your head.’

I shuddered at the thought but more like the memories of so many nightmares I had witnessed in my life, this was something I knew to be true. I was about to speak when another switch was flipped and I stepped further into the room to see the next painting. It too was in the same style as the one before it, only this time it was a picture of two lovers on their knees holding one another in a tight hug. It had also been taken in the form of an x ray so only their bones were showing. The background was a hospital room and behind them showed the same picture on a lit white board. Only unlike the main picture of the two, all the bones were broken in the background with the bloody words…

                 
‘Sometimes I wrestle with my demons,

Sometimes we just snuggle.’

“Ok, so I am seeing a trend here,” I said thinking the one Draven bought was the crowning jewel compared to all these morbid tales of woe. As soon as I said this the piano playing stopped and it was in a way as if he had just placed both his palms down on as many keys at once.

“Demons come in many forms but sometimes it takes others to push people into
really
seeing them and the unknown pain they inflict.” The voice said and suddenly I wasn’t feeling so great about my little exploring.

“So you’re a demonic artist?” I asked hoping that question could go either way in case I was talking to a human.

“Amongst many things.” He said and I heard the sound of a chair being pushed back against the stone floor.

“Ok…well…uh…it was nice chatting to you I guess but I’d better go…people will be looking for me.” I added this last part in the hope that this wouldn’t turn into one of those slasher movies and any minute a knife was gonna come bursting out of one of those paintings. Well that would certainly make me the stupid blonde who ended up getting chased and knowing me the clichéd tripping over would definitely happen.

“Until you’re ready to be pushed, Girl” The mystery man said and this time it was so much closer to me that I screamed out, 

“Ahhh!” Then I spun round and ran straight into someone.

“Hey?!”

“Alex?” I said out of breath from fright and as soon as I said his name all the lights in the storeroom came on with a loud bang. I actually thought it sounded like a fuse had blown but all the lights were still on. I turned slowly now in Alex’s arms and gasped. There must have been hundreds of paintings all like the two I had been shown, meaning Alex and I were now surrounded by hundreds of Demons.

“Oh God!” I said in shock. I stepped further back into Alex and his grip tightened on the top of my arms until it was almost painful.

“Who was in here with you?!” Alex suddenly demanded angrily.

“Uh…I…”

“WHO?” He roared from behind me and at the sound of him getting so angry I tore myself from him. I turned to face him and the rage I found there was so out of character I took a step back. This was a side of Alex I had never seen before and it twisted his features into something ugly.

“No one! I was in here alone.” I snapped back and for once it didn’t sound like a lie. It was more like a determination to protect someone I didn’t know but more importantly I had no idea why? I couldn’t help but feel like it was the right thing to do, which only left me feeling more confused about this weird situation I had put myself in.

“You’re sure?” He asked, this time a bit calmer but the damage had already been done, so when he took a step towards me I took one back. A flash of anger made him frown but then he quickly masked it by then turning regretful.

“Catherine I am sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that, only I was worried. I couldn’t find you and when I found you here you looked so terrified, I was angry at the thought of someone scaring you that’s all.” He said and he seemed so sincere that I now took a step closer to him.

“Its fine, you just scared me when you shouted and with all these paintings...” I didn’t need to say more as Alex took me in his arms and whispered the rest of his apologies in my ear. Then he said the only words I needed to hear right then,

“Let’s go.” I smiled and nodded by his shoulder. He then reached down and took my hand to lead me from the room. I looked back one last time and tried not to react to what I was seeing. My mouth dropped in the face of the man now standing at the far end of the room stood in front of one of his biggest paintings.

His face was half hidden with a hood that was covered in straps hanging down. His trousers were the same as before but the tight long sleeved top was black with the same straps crisscrossing his torso that were hanging from the hood. He was looking down at the floor and my eyes followed to see words in shadow were stretching out at me like fingers.

‘See him, See me,

See the Devil, See all three.’

My eyes snapped back up to him and I saw he was now looking at me smiling. I then watched as he raised his hand to his lips and placed a single finger over his mouth to indicate my silence. This all played out in slow motion as I was still being dragged away and I nodded to the man who I had now seen for the second time that day. Once in life and once in my dreams, only he wasn’t the only reassurance to happen to me this day.

I was just about to be pulled from this place through the door when the man nodded once and moved from in front of the painting. I had to put my fist to my mouth to bite down on to stop from crying out as I took in its horror for the second time…

My Demon Alex. 

Chapter 22

Seventy Seven Reasons

     I let Alex pull me from the room and as soon as the door closed behind us I let myself believe it was all in my head. Had that guy even really been there? And if so, then what was going on in my mind? Why was I dreaming about this guy and what was he talking about me really seeing? There were once again just too many questions and not enough answers to deal with.

“You’re sure you were alone in there?” Alex asked again looking back at me and it was starting to look like he was a bit paranoid. Only was it still classed as paranoia if in fact he had been right in thinking I hadn’t been alone? Well whatever the answer, it still didn’t change mine.  

“I’m sure.” He looked at me as if assessing the truth for a second and then nodded once. I must have been getting better at this lying business I thought wryly as we made it to the end of the corridor.

“I think I’m good now, Alex.” I said nodding down to where he still had his hand gripping the top of my arm.

“Oh,” was his response and it was as if he hadn’t realised until then that he was still holding on to me.

“I’m sorry, I guess finding you alone and frightened is just playing on my mind.” I smiled at him and peeled away his fingers hoping there wouldn’t be a bruise tomorrow as that was the last thing I needed a certain someone to see.

“Its fine, I was silly wandering off.”

“Yes you were, but I understand your frustrations…you weren’t expecting him were you?” Alex asked and I could tell he was trying not to let that question sound accusing.

“Of course not,” I said and in turn trying not to let my answer sound like snapping.

“Right.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I asked folding my arms and unable to resist the urge to cock out my hip to one side.

“Nothing…look, let’s just get out of here, I think this night has been ruined enough for us, don’t you?”

“Fine!” This time I didn’t care about snapping and just walked past him knowing that he followed. I didn’t see Draven as I was making my way to the entrance and for once I was happy about it. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction that it was obvious Alex and I were fighting. After all, there would have been little doubt as to why or more like
who
we were arguing over.

When we both reached the street I left it up to Alex to shout a taxi over and after a few tries we finally got one. I was just bending down to get in when I noticed a blacked out Rolls Royce that looked very similar to the Phantom we drove in that one time. It didn’t take a genius to know who that held inside and as I scooted over to the other side I watched as it went past slowly. I quickly sucked in a breath when the passenger window started coming down and Draven’s worried expression was all I could see. He then went out of sight and by the time Alex got in beside me I still had my eyes closed.

“Still angry?” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and instead turned to look at him. What could I say? I mean the guy had tried everything tonight to give me something special and because of my past it had been one thing after another. He had bought me this dress, shoes and all what lay beneath it. He had taken me for a beautiful and romantic dinner and then to a gallery simply because he knew how much I loved art. In theory it should have been the perfect evening. So surely the guy could be forgiven for getting a little pissed off when my past shows up to bite us both in the ass…right?

“Only with myself.” I found myself saying.

“Why?”

“Because it was the people from my past who turned up tonight that ruined it for you but for what it’s worth, I still had fun.” And that was the truth, however I just didn’t want to delve too deeply as to why. For starters I would then have to fully admit the pounding of my heart when seeing Draven again or what his words had meant to me, no matter how confusing.

“Then that makes me happy to hear.”

The rest of the journey back to our fancy new hotel was mainly taken in silence but at least now we had cleared the air it was comfortable. It didn’t take us that long and soon we were seeing one of the most beautiful sights I believed in all of Italy. The Duomo, Cathedral of Milan.

“It’s stunning,” I said on a sigh and Alex chuckled next to me before saying,

“It has a haunting beauty at night I think.” Of course he was right, it did have a haunting beauty. It dominated the open square and with its many spires looked as though it was reaching to the sky and trying to touch Heaven. The lights surrounding it illuminated it in such a way that it almost looked painted against the black canvas of the night. 

“Can we go see it tomorrow?” I asked as the car came to a stop not far past the centre.

“We will have to see, I was supposed to being in a meeting tomorrow regarding this new account.”

“Oh.” I said feeling dejected.

“Maybe another time or you’re welcome to explore on your own.” Oh goodie I felt like saying but instead I said,

“Yeah, I should do that.” Then I got out of the car hoping he missed my sarcasm.

“What’s wrong?” Ok, so maybe he
didn’t
miss it.

“Nothing,” I muttered and as we walked through the lavish reception I had an idea.

“Come with me.” I whispered and pulled Alex along to the elevators.

“But I am on this floor.”

“I know, just trust me, I wanna have some fun.” I said giving him a playful wink. I dragged him in the lift and pressed the floor to go down.

“Catherine, down there is the gym and spa.” Again I gave him a cheeky grin and said,

“Yeah, I know.” And down we went.

“You know it’s going to be closed at this time of night.” I ignored Alex’s worries and waited excitedly until the lift came to a stop. I then had to pull him out and I looked up to see the marble archway that had a metal sign in script writing,

‘Spa Sensuale’

“Spa Sensual” Alex read the sign and my first thought was…perfect! So I pulled him through the arch with an exaggerated tug and looked round to find it empty.

“See it is closed, let’s go.” I laughed and ran away from him, thanking the fact that there was at least some light still on. You couldn’t see much but enough to know the large open space held what I had been looking for. So I reached round and unzipped my dress, letting it fall to my feet.