The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (50 page)

“Yeah, I did but you don’t understand.”

“And now neither do you.” He said on a huffed breath.

“Look honey, I get it, I do but don’t you think you have had enough of running when shit gets serious? So he fucked up, then you stand your ground and demand your answers. You scream at him and prove I’m wrong and that you’ve not gone soft, whatever but you stand there and face it like the bad ass I know is still inside you…” He paused and then stepped closer to me to softly run a finger over my bare shoulder brushing a long escaping curl back. Then he got close to my ear and whispered,

“And, sweetheart, don’t ever be the type of girl to run from the truth because of fear.”
He finished his advice by giving my shoulder an affectionate squeeze and then took a step away from me. Then we found ourselves both leaning against the ledge and finding that comfortable silence you only ever really find with great friends.

“You’re not really friends with that prick Cerberus are you?” He said after a time and I burst out laughing before saying,

“What can I say other than I must have a soft spot of difficult, hard headed bad ass men.” And then I nudged him making him smile down at me.

“Well I am taking that as a compliment.” And just like that I knew he was right and more importantly, I also knew the right thing to do.

But first I gave my friend my honesty by saying,

“And so you should because I love my hard headed, bad ass friends.”

Draven

“Did you find her?!” I said storming down the corridor of my Venice home wanting nothing more than to spend my time tearing it down by its watery foundations!

“No my Lord but…”

“And why not? Am I not right in saying she ran into a crowd full of our kind? Are you telling me that no one, not ONE OF MY KINGDOM SAW HER!?” I let my Demon take over in my rage as he needed the small release I would allow him. Having her finally in my arms these last few days was the calmest I had felt him for a while and if I didn’t get her back soon I didn’t know if I could contain his rage and mine combined for long.

“But…but…”

“Spit it out!” I snapped at one of my generals who was in charge of the security at events like this one. I opened the door at the end and tried to take care in not ripping it off its hinges. I walked into my office and slammed the door behind my nervous subject.

“My Lord, other than some strange occurrence that no one can explain she has gone unnoticed since…”

“What occurrence?!”

“There was a crowd of people that felt a strange presence of power but could see no one. They say it got stronger and stronger until…” He paused and my patience snapped. I grabbed him by his costume instead of giving in to the urge to grab his neck and brought him closer to me.

“Until what
exactly
?
”
I said letting my eyes change with my voice.

“Until the power exploded enough to force everyone back.” He said trying not to show fear and the instant I got my answer I let him go as shock registered.

“Go!” I said turning to hide the pain of the news from being witnessed.

“My Lord.” He said respectfully and then he followed my order. As soon as the door closed I picked up the nearest thing to hand.

“AHHH!” I roared and threw the object at the door, making a palm sized hole due to the paperweight that I heard smashing at the other end of the hallway. I then let my body fall back a step and put my unsteady hand out on the side of my desk as my body leant against it in defeat. I had looked everywhere for her but those damn shields of hers were growing. Hell, not just growing but literally exploding into new levels of power. I always knew she would eventually develop the gifts into which she had been born but I had no clue to the strength I would find myself facing.

“Damn foolish girl!” I said angrily looking at the floor shaking my head. Did she not know of the dangers that surrounded her, despite being able to hide herself to my kind? Anything could happen! The worry and guilt of being forced into yet another position like this was almost crippling.

“Ah, I gather our little bird has not yet returned?” Lucius said after picking a shard of wood from the hole in the door and flicking it to the side.

“I want her found!” I commanded slamming my other hand down on the desk making it crack under my palm.

“As do I which is why I have my council doing the same as you but you do realise the level of power in which we’re dealing with here?” I frowned at my once right hand man and growled,

“You think I don’t!”

“You left her so no, I don’t.” He snarled back and for a moment losing that famous control of his.

“Careful old friend, you tread on broken skin this night.” I warned pushing away from the desk.

“Your love for the girl blinds you and you know it does. What I say is merely a truth you don’t wish to face.”

“Oh make no mistake, I fucking face it! Every damn day I was faced with it and meanwhile what is she doing but being kidnapped and being auctioned off like damn cattle by my enemies! So don’t you talk to me about love making you blind when I was the one to rip out my own fucking eyes in the Gods be damned first place!” I said letting my rage lose enough to flip my desk and make it crash into the wall hard enough to shatter like glass. Lucius didn’t even flinch but instead just crossed his arms and gave me a look I would have liked nothing better than to tear from his skull.

“You are forgetting one very important fact my friend.”

“And what’s that!?” I forced out whilst trying to calm my breathing enough to keep my wings from erupting.

“She came back to you.”

“She ran from me!” I reminded him making him laugh once without humour.

“And what of it, that’s what she does when she doesn’t want to face what she believes is the truth. But like a moth to the flame, she comes back to what she sees as her light in the dark.” I shook my head and said more calmly this time,

“And what if she doesn’t, she could be out there right now getting attacked getting…” I stopped when Lucius actually did start laughing,

“I think out of us all our little bird is one of the safest people alive right now, after all you maybe her light, but the rest of us are
her
moths.” I thought about that for a moment and realised he was right.

To think some of the most powerful beings of my kind, each a King in their own right and each one putty in her mortal hands. All of them willing to risk their very vessels on this earth just to protect something they didn’t fully understand but knew nothing else mattered. Everyone was drawn to her and each had played a part in her journey in keeping her safe and each I knew would still act as such. Which begged the question, did this all have something to do with the prophecy?

“Ah, now I can see you’re finally asking yourself the right question.” Lucius said looking as if this was something he had been waiting for all along.

“You thought the same thing didn’t you?” I said losing the last of my anger as my focus was centred on something far greater.

“Just think about it, think about what she has gained since knowing you? But then think more of what she has achieved since she lost you? She has done what none of us would have ever been able to do, something if I recall we ourselves tried to accomplish with little success.” The more Lucius spoke the clearer the picture became. He was right, there was a time when the plan was to reunite all the most powerful beings the Gods had given life to and join forces ready for the one day we knew would come…Judgement Day.

“You really think it could be possible?”

“If you would have asked me that question before meeting your Chosen, then I would still be trying to kill you but now…well, now I owe her not only my life but also for a life I never knew I
could
have.” I let Lucius’ words sink in deep and held them there until they became completely ingrained.

“So you need to ask yourself, what is the one and only thing that the Fates would need in making you leave?”

“Her death.”
I released my biggest fears on a tortured breath.

“And in doing so she sets out on this prompted journey by the Oracle herself. The sole vessel of the Fates themselves is sent to your girl and guides her. Not only that but also binds her to the broken shadowed King of the Ouroboros and draws her a map straight to the bitter Cerberus, that he even took her to a place he vowed never to return.”

“By the Gods! I have been so blind!” I said knowing now in the depths of my soul it to be all true.

“I think my friend you will find in today’s terminology they call that ‘being played’.”

“The Fates set it all up!” I bellowed feeling the outrage build.

“It would seem so but don’t beat yourself up to much, as like I said, love can blind us all, it just so happens that after she left me to find you I had the time to see things clearly and do a little digging.”

“What do you mean?” I asked after running a frustrated hand through my hair and only just realising my mask was still firmly in place.

“I spent some time retracing the footsteps before she reached me. I found out what each of her unlikely guardians had done for her and then I waited. Once she came home after not finding the outcome she hoped for I put my people on her from afar and do you know what I found?” I growled at knowing he had his men watching her but decided quickly learning the truth was the most important thing right now.

“Tell me.”

“I found that your own men weren’t the only ones keeping a watchful eye on her. That in fact, it would seem there are players in this game we didn’t even know about, that are making it their mission to protect who they clearly consider their Queen.” Hearing this filled me with equal amounts of dread and relief.

“Cerberus and Ragnar’s son?”

“Both of which had their own men watching her.”

“And another you say?” Lucius nodded slowly and I knew him long enough to know the concealed rage at this knowledge that only showed in his eyes.

“I have tried to track him down but the power of manipulation and manifestation is even greater than my own. His mind is near impossible to get a hold of and up until this point I did not think there was a being alive that had the power to defeat me.” I almost laughed and probably would have if the circumstances hadn’t been upon me for I knew how painful that must have been for one such as Lucius to admit.

“I think I saw him in the library where Keira works and I agree, the power I felt was unlike anything I ever felt before.” I thought for a moment and then asked the hardest question,

“Do you think he wishes to harm her?”

“Well that is the odd thing.”

“What?” I asked getting impatient as I watched Lucius casually take a seat.

“He only appeared months later, after she had been home a while.”

“Then something happened, something too…
Cain.”
I said as it all clicked into place.

“To the very day.” Lucius confirmed.

“So this Nephilim turns up and all of a sudden Keira has a new protector, is that what you’re saying?”

“It would seem so, because make no mistake, even with the hidden army she has protecting her, the power this one possesses would have no issues in taking them down as easily as you or I and simply taking her.”

“This thought doesn’t comfort me.” I confessed.

“Well if I was you I would choose to overlook the dangers and look at it as our girl simply drawing in a new moth. You do remember the prophecy words, don’t you...?” At this my head shot up and I frowned down at him.

“But that was never proven…”

“It was also never disproved My Lord.” Lucius said knowing that by once again calling me his Lord that it was a clear sign we were back on the same side once and for all.

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer”
Lucius said reciting the Book of Revelation or better known as simply The Apocalypse.

“The Seven seals.” I said out loud feeling as if the wind had been knocked right out of me.

“There is of course no proof other than time will tell. But at the very least now you know the reason the Fates have been using you and your Chosen as pawns in a game you didn’t even know you were playing.” Put like that I had to agree with him, although he was forgetting one very important rule,

“But you know the Fates can’t lie.” I reminded him.

“No, this is indeed a fundamental truth we as our kind have been born into. However, they are not without their skills at both exploiting their importance and implicating a lie hidden within a truth.” This made sense, so much so I said,

“You’re talking about slight of hand in the form of words.”

“It is easily done preying on someone’s fears but when it is their greatest fear, well up until Keira you had none. But then whisper the chance of the loss of your greatest love and your mind will hold onto that fear and not let go.” Lucius said all this and then I lost the serious advisor I used to have as my right hand when he said,

“I mean, look how they fucked me over giving me you as a friend!”

And there he was… the cocky bastard was back.

Before Lucius left he assured me Keira would be safe and soon found, to which I could only hope my confidence in him wasn’t misplaced. I decided to get out of these clothes and then go in search of her once again myself as the mounting time away from her felt like a razorblade to my nerves. For not only was she out there alone but she was also out there thinking the worst of me.

I slumped on the end of the bed and held my head in my hands. I felt the mask still there and feeling it only reminded me of her own mask and how dangerous it was for people to know what it meant.

Claiming her as my Queen tonight had been a bold move but one I only made with the intention of never letting her out of my sight. But then seeing Lucius and knowing what had happened in Sophia’s dressing room, well that was enough to know what needed to be done. I could not have her hurt by my touch and there was only one person who would know what was to be done about it and that was the person who had put it there.