The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (59 page)

I lifted up the sword to the ceiling so my face was mirrored back in the blade and kissed my own crest forged there.

“Now let us reunite in the best way old friend and kiss your fine steel in the heart of Nephilim scum.” I said as the Lady of the Lake slid to the side and hidden steps appeared from beneath. And one thought entered my sadistic mind as I took the steps down…

Lucius the Assassin had come home.

Keira

Chapter 42

Scream Bloody Murder and Raise The Dead.

“You’re insane if you think this plan of yours will actually work!” I said just wishing I had Frank’s baseball bat in my hand so that when he turned around I had something to back that statement up with. Oh I had no doubt someone would be coming to rescue me but this time thanks to what Alex had said, I was just wishing for anyone but Draven.

“Insanity only fuels the imagination.” Alex said laughing as he continued spreading jar after jar of what looked like congealed blood around the altar at the top of the Temple. Unfortunately for me though I hadn’t been left to wander round looking for my escape whilst evil villain of the year here had been busy playing lead role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. No, in fact it seems he was sane enough to remember to tie my hands behind my back and then to tie the end to one of the pillars closest to where he was working on redecorating the place. Maybe he was going for the Jack the Ripper crime scene look.

“Well in that case you must be tanked up by now.” I said pulling at the rope and feeling it only twist further and burn against my skin. I quickly gave up and looked around the room taking in the grandeur of the place that was being decimated with old blood by Mr Shits and Giggles mental case over there. It was a huge space that had the shiniest marble floor I had ever seen. It mirrored the sky painted on the ceiling above making the floor almost look like a glass sheet lay on the surface of a lake.

I followed the flame painted pillars around the room and took in the story scenes painted between them, that I now knew were actually not just a war between Heaven and Hell as I originally thought. No, this time I knew it as the War of the Immortals.

It was funny what knowledge could do to how you viewed the world around you and being thrust deeper into Draven’s world with every breath I took was forever an eye opener. So when I took in the winged Demons fighting Angels on horseback I couldn’t honestly now tell you who were the good guys and who were the bad guys.    

But one thing I did know for sure and that was I could definitely say the last time I was here was considerably better than the first. But having my first dance with Draven to Etta James’ ‘At last’ was better than thinking he was Lucius in a black robe at the time trying to kill me. Which made it totally ironic then that he was the person I was actually seeing right now, sneaking in through a hidden door to no doubt save me…
again.
And what was with the massive sword looking like Braveheart?

I saw him do a full body scan before he winked at me and held a finger to his lips to indicate my silence. If it hadn’t been doing the exact opposite of what he asked I would have shouted, ‘Duh, you think?!’ Which I didn’t do for obvious loud reasons. I couldn’t help but notice when he first saw me, the moment of relief I saw in his eyes when he saw I was uninjured. I looked back at Alex to see he was still preoccupied with his little bloody project and it was only now that I could see it was a star inside of a circle, one I now knew was an important Pentagram symbol.

I jumped when I suddenly felt a hand at my mouth but luckily I managed not to make a noise. I knew it was Lucius at my back and that was true in more ways than one. I felt the slack of my restraints as he untied the rope from first the pillar and then I felt lips at my ear.

“Now pretty girl, hold still so I don’t cut you.”
Lucius whispered and then after a few seconds I started to feel the pressure disappear completely from around my sore wrists. I wanted to hiss in pain as I felt the raw skin being disturbed but bit my lip instead. After one last look at the crazy guy to make sure he was still busy doing crazy things, I turned back to Lucius. He didn’t say anything but nodded behind him for me to follow and we headed to the hidden doorway I’d seen him emerge from. It looked like one that could only be opened from one side as he had propped it open so that we could escape that same way.

Keeping behind the pillars and out of sight we made our way to the door as quickly as we could and just as Lucius was stepping through behind me that’s when Alex Cain finally caught on.

“NO!” He bellowed racing towards us and Lucius merely gave him the middle finger as a salute before slamming the door.

“Won’t he just be able to follow us?” I asked making sure and Lucius’ bad ass grin was answer enough.

“I must say if you wanted my attention then you should have just asked me on a date.” He said winking at me and grabbing my hand as he passed to pull me along after him.

“To where, the Devil’s ring?” I said sarcastically referring back to Jared’s private fight club.

“Umm…not your worst idea pet, we could get you wrestling Angels naked in the mud.” I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but laugh, mentally thanking him for putting me at ease in a situation I was trying not to panic in.

“Ha! You wish!”

“Yes, yes I do.” He said looking over his shoulder and doing another all over body scan, only this time not one out of concern.

“Ok, so getting back to the matter at hand, we have to stop Alex, he’s planning something insane and he’s the last in the bloodline and…”

“Calm yourself Keira girl, I know what he intends but soon he will be far too busy with my own plans.”

“And that is?” I asked knowing I would regret it pretty damn quick and I was right.

“Simple…I plan to kill him…which is what I should have done at the auction.” He said as if it was the most natural thing in the world and we were discussing the weather.

“Oh yeah, that would have gone down well… ‘And can I get a bid on this next lot, going cheap thanks to the recent blood splatter damage’…yeah that would have been peachy.” I said making him laugh and it vibrated along the narrow stone tunnel that only barely allowed for Lucius’ height.

“You never know, it might have increased the value, as I am sure all who meet him want to see the evidence for themselves of his bloody end.”

“Yeah, I sure know how to pick em.” I said rolling my eyes when he replied,

“You said it not me, darlin.”

“So where are we going?” I asked as we’d travelled far enough to come to a door at the end.

“
You
are getting your sweet ass somewhere safe, whilst I deal with your boyfriend.”

“What are you gonna do, break up with him for me?” I said finding the term boyfriend for such a man too disgusting to think about.

“Oh I am going to break something alright.” He replied seriously giving me the unwanted visual that Alex had a lot of pain coming his way. I decided it was best not to know too much for what Lucius had planned so I decided silence was the best option as he opened the door.

“After you.” He said bowing as he held open the door for me and I couldn’t tell if he was just being himself or if it was for my benefit at trying to ease my worried mind. Either way I stepped through the door and climbed the few of steps that led up as if we were coming out of a basement. I gave myself a mental shake for obvious reasons as I still had a few issues with basements.

I then stepped into a room I hadn’t seen for a while and one I never really understood but to me it looked like something you would have expected to see in a supernatural museum. Only this museum had been clearly vandalised as there was now glass all over the floor.

“Your handy work?” I asked tiptoeing around the shards.

“Guilty.” He said waving his sword at me, one that I knew used to be in the hand of the statue that had now shifted to the side to allow for us to get up to this level.

“Come on trouble, let’s get you out of here.” He said taking my arm and leading me out of the room when something hugely important smacked me in the face causing me shout out,

“RJ!” And I wrenched my arm free and turned towards the opposite door.

“Keira what are you…!?”

“We have to go back! It’s my friend…he has my friend, it’s how he got me to open the door in the first place...! Please Lucius…
please
, we have to go back.” I felt his arms go around me from behind in order to calm me down.

“Okay pet, calm yourself. Just let me get you to safety and…”

“No! I can’t leave her, not again. She’s by that big tree.” I said interrupting him and when I heard the big sigh from behind me I knew he was reluctantly giving in.

“Alright Keira girl, we’ll do it your way but you are to stay by my side no matter what.” I knew by the sound of his tone he meant business and I nodded my understanding as he came round to face me.

“Then let’s go. The Crypt is this way.”

We made our way to the crypt in silence and I could tell Lucius was thinking this was a bad idea. My only hope was that Alex hadn’t made it there before us, which I knew Lucius must have been thinking the same as I was practically running to keep up with his long strides. The sound of my feet echoing in the massive hallway was combined with the sound of the stone gargoyles turning their heads as we went past.

“Nosy bastards.” Lucius grumbled after growling at them in warning.

We came to the last door and Lucius pulled me in behind him. Then with one look that told me both to keep quiet and stay close to him, he opened the door. The frigid cold air that hit us made my hairs stand on end and the eeriness to the silent crypt wasn’t a comforting one. In fact there was no comfort to be found in this cavernous space, even if there had been a brass band playing some happy Disney tune. The only comfort I found was that I could see RJ’s pink hair against the dull pale grey of the ginormous tree at the centre.

“Over there.”
I whispered from behind him, pointing in her direction and Lucius shot me a look over his shoulder as if to say, ‘No shit Sherlock’. He then continued to look all around the room as if listening out for something important and I gathered it was probably for signs of Alex. He must have been satisfied because he nodded for us to move over to where RJ still remained unconscious. As soon as we got closer I made to go around Lucius, forgetting myself at the sight of my friend when he blocked me with the arm holding the sword.

“What did I say?” Lucius growled scolding me.

“Sorry.”
I whispered shrugging my shoulders and making him roll his eyes at me. I watched as he placed his sword beside her before picking her up in his arms and to be helpful I picked up his weapon for him as he clearly had his hands full.

“No! Don’t touch…” He started to say but it was too late. I picked up the heavy weight of the weapon and sucked in a sharp startled breath. I closed my eyes and my spine straightened from the shock of what was happening. I was quickly being transported back to a different time, one where the vision was ove taking my reality.

It was dark, it was wet and it was foggy but it certainly wasn’t inside the ancient crypt I had been stood in moments ago. I could even smell the damp earth I was now looking down at and I could feel the cold penetrating my thin clothes. I then looked up at the night sky and saw the darker patches of thick cloud where the moon was trying to break through. I felt something dripping down my hand and lifted it to see dark blood running down it in rivulets but yet I felt no pain. What was going on here? And that didn’t even look like my hand?

“Caliburnus.” I heard myself saying, feeling my lips move yet like my hand, it hadn’t been my voice either. No…

It was Lucius’.

I was now Lucius.

This was when the fog started to lift from the ground in a wave towards me. It loomed like a living entity in between my legs and it looked so thick, it was almost as if I could reach out and scoop it up with my hands. But the nearer it got the clearer the sight before me became.

I was stood at the edge of a lake and I lifted my bloody hands in front of me seeing the strong hands of the man I knew. It soon became clear what was happening and it wasn’t a surprise when something started to emerge out of the murky water. I now knew exactly what was happening after I touched that sword as it had formed some kind of physic kinetic link straight into Lucius’ memories. And now that very weapon was rising up out of the water, only instead of fingers of stone it was the hand of both the dead and the living, changing in and out between flesh, bone and decay.

The sword gleamed like a beacon just as the moon finally escaped the shadows of the clouds and just as Lucius’ bloody hand reached out to grab it I was suddenly transported back.

“Wh…what was that?” I asked shaking my head trying to regain my senses enough to focus.

“Are you alright?” Lucius asked coming up to me and holding my face in his hands. I frowned down at the tingling in my own hand and then looked up at him to give him my uncertain answer,

“I think so.”

“Well that will teach you to touch another man’s equipment without asking.” He said on a forced laugh that I could tell was faked to mask his concern.

“Thanks for the tip.” I said only now noticing that he had placed RJ back on the ground to come to my aid.

“We need to leave.” He said looking up abruptly as if hearing something in the distance.

“Good plan.” I said watching as he decided to sling the limp RJ over his shoulder so that he could reach down and this time, grab his own sword. We started walking towards the door when my foot caught on something.