The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) (53 page)

“You know I would say ‘like a hole in the head’ but I met a guy last night with an actual hole in his head. I reckon he would take that over five minutes of looking at your butt ugly face...! So no, I really didn’t.” Again, I had to smile as I saw him go a blotchy fuchsia colour, reminding me of someone allergic to fruit being dipped in a vat of the stuff.

“Laugh it up yo
u stupid slut, I am the one who brings you food and once again…ooops!” He said tipping the plate and I watched something that could have been a sandwich but I couldn’t be sure. Then he stamped on it, giving me what he must have classed as his best ‘bad ass’ smile. I felt like introducing him to a few of my male friends where he would receive a crash course on the very meaning of Bad Ass!

“Wow, you know it actually looks more edible now, why don’t you take the first bite
.”

“Oh
, you think you’re so clever, well let’s just see what that smart mouth comes up with when you are begging me for food and water!” I heard a stuttering as Percy must have been back and trying to find the right thing to say in this situation.

“
Yyyyou know you can’th do thhhat, Dimme.”

“Shut your trap! I can do what I damn well want, this is my prison
, you stupid little shit!” Meanwhile I had burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny
, Bitch!?”

“You name is Dimme?” I said unable to hold back on the perfect timing for revenge.

“Yeah so what?!”

“As in Dim
…? What’s your last name, Witted?!” He growled at me and it was about as intimidating as being faced with a featherless baby bird pecking at me. I say baby bird, ‘cause that was the ugliest baby anything I could think of.

“Have fun losing weight,
‘cause I won’t be back here until I hear you beg me for food!” I clapped my hands and stated,

“Oh
, thank you Lord, some good news today after all! I would take death over seeing your bony ass again and as for begging…I would rather eat my own clothes first!”

“Don’t be so sure
, Bitch!” He snarled and then stormed out.

“Oh dear…my, my,
masther isth not going to be pleasthed.” Percy stammered worryingly.

“Don’t worry about it, just be sure to let him know when I am close to death and then ask him if you’
re allowed to bring me a cheeseburger.” I said only half joking.

“How
isth it you’re not worried?”

“Because believe it or not, I have been in stickier situations than this and going without food is just like a stay at a diet camp, not my idea of torture…although I wish I could stop thinking about burgers
.” I heard him giggle and I winked over at where I thought he was hiding.

“I
won’th leth him stharve you.” I gave him a grateful smile but said,

“Look Percy, I don’t want you getting into any trouble because of me
.”

“I will come in the
nighth, he won’th know, I promiseth you to be back.” I nodded my head, as much as my bravado act might be convincing, I didn’t know how long I could hold out on the food front.

“Thank you
.” He made a nervous giggle again and I bet if I could see him he would be blushing.

“I
bether go before he shouths at me.” I nodded and gave him a little wave.

That night I woke to my name being whispered in the dark
, to find a piece of bread, a chunk of cheese, an apple and a tin cup of water just outside my cell. 

My new friend had kept his promise and now it was my turn to keep mine…

To Draven.

Chapter 48

The Blood That Won’t Burn

It had been nine days since that first day, or at least that is what Percy had told me when I got confused. It was strange how all days seemed to mingle into one long blur. Even with the light from the window, I still found myself muddled as to which time of day it was as my sleeping pattern had changed.

It started when the dreams came.

There was an enormous sandstone wall that ran the full length around a sandstone city. People were dressed from a history long gone and I stood in what seemed to be a market place. Handmade stalls were everywhere, in no particular pattern. They sold bowls full of spices, herbs and dried leaves piled high into pyramids. Others sold, fruits, vegetables, furs, baskets, and pottery painted in pretty colours in all shapes and sizes.

The dreams always start
ed the same. I am stood amongst the hustle and bustle of the place, looking round in wonder, trying to make sense of this old world. I am in the middle of the largest space between stalls as if it’s the main path, when I hear the great thundering of hooves. I look up to see men on horseback racing their way straight to me and that’s when I realise I am stood in a road leading straight to the massive palace behind me.

Everyone else around me has moved out of their way, but I am frozen. I cannot move one muscle other than what it takes for my body to produce a single tear. For there, coming right at me, leading the army of men is…

Draven.

He looks so strong and powerful on the back of his midnight black horse. He is armoured as if ready for battle and his fierce expression tells me his sword and shield aren’t his only weapons. I let the slight breeze take away his name whispered on a breath and fro
m his sharp gaze it looks as though he heard me.

It’s in these sweet moments that last only a few beats of my heart
, that a sense of peace envelopes me and I welcome every last morsel of it…before a different Hell rips it from me.

The world turns dark just as he forces his horse into greater speed right at me. I know it will kill me and just as he gets closer enough to see the purple in his eyes
, I fall to the ground to protect myself. Only he doesn’t hit me. No, he goes straight through me and when I finally brave opening my eyes, I find him galloping away from me with a great army behind him.

That
is when my dream turns so dark, I scream out for him to come back to me. But he doesn’t hear my plea for all he can hear is the cries for battle as he races head first into a wall of armed demons and an Underworld unleashed for War.

So
, because of this dream, I no longer wanted to find comfort in sleep and when I couldn’t hold it at bay any longer, I’d wake screaming much to the glee of my captor Dimme. Sometimes I’d wake feeling like I was drowning in the blood of the battle, my dead friends around me like broken ragdolls. But then I would realise like the first night, I was just being woken to an icy bucket being thrown through the bars.

I would grit my teeth and come up with a witty comment much to the displeasure of the sadistic string bean that was my tormentor. This was actually one of the things that managed to keep me sane, as I would spend my solitude thinking up new insults that would make my day purely for unmaking his.

I wasn’t a cruel person, I like to think far from it, but that demon deserved far worse than my harsh words. I would talk to Percy when I could and he would tell me of the beatings he would receive at Dimme’s hands. I still hadn’t seen his face but his stuttering voice brought me so much comfort in this nightmare, he was like my light in the darkness.

He told me that a long time ago his Possession officer was forced into a blood pact with Dimme, over some debt and as a means to pay him he handed over possession of the new Demon he was training to accept his host at the time. That demon was none other than my poor friend Percy. Now until Dimme would release him into the world to face it alone, he was stuck doing his will for the rest of his miserable days.

The hardest part of all this was knowing the real reason Percy kept himself hidden, was from shame at what had been done to his face. I wanted to ask but the deeper stuttering had me worried if I pushed too much, I would upset him. I knew however, with every bone in my body that Dimme was the reason. Percy was a good demon stuck being slave to one he loathed for being so evil.

The worst
part to all this, in those nine days, wasn’t the hunger or the intense thirst. It wasn’t the stench that I lived in or the fact that I had become part of that stench by not being allowed to wash. Hell, it wasn’t even having a bucket for a toilet and shamefully not having any privacy sometimes. No, it was in that nine days the amount of times that I saw him hit Percy and trying not to react to it every damn time! I knew that if I made even the slightest flinch that looked as if I cared, then I would be condemning Percy to even more pain as Dimme would have found my weakest spot of all.

Throughout this I would only cry at night, sometimes to the sound of Percy’s soothing words
, but all he would hear from me was the word ‘Sorry’. I wanted to find the hidden strength in me so badly, that I felt like my head would explode from trying so hard. I not only wanted it to lead to a way out of here, but also to aid in my new mission…I wanted to save Percy.

I needed to save Percy.

I had to!

My heart bled for him and that wa
s why a bitterness and twisted side grew in me. I felt good whenever I delivered an insult that would cause a reaction from Dimme. I wanted to hurt him, to humiliate him in front of those he considered weaker than him. I wanted to show up the bullies for what they really were…weak and scared!

“Only the weak and scared would prey on those they truly feared, for if a smaller man was ever to rise and take a stand against the bigger then that would be their end…that was their real fear and they warped it into a power they thought would keep them powerful…but they were wrong and one day I will prove this to you my friend
.” I told Percy one night.

“I hope that one day you will
.” His voice had not stuttered at all this time and I knew right then that in anger it never would.

“There is a warrior in you my friend and hope for us yet
.” I whispered once I heard the doors lock up for the last time that night.

Which leads me
to now and nine days into my un-judged sentence.

“Good morning
, Skeletor.” I said as Dimme walked up to my cell like he did every morning. He grinned at me so I don’t think he got the He-man reference…pity, it took me half of yesterday to come up with that one! Of course, it wasn’t lost on me the irony of my ‘bony’ jokes considering I was being half starved to death. I didn’t like to think of it as Karma for my nasty behaviour, but just plain old payback. What he didn’t know was that if he really wanted to torture me right now all he would have to do is bring me a mirror and that would do the trick, I thought on a laugh.

“Something funny
, you disgusting Bitch?” Eh…kettle….black much!

“I was just thinking, you know if you swallowed a meatball you would look pregnant
.” I laughed harder at his thunderous face and didn’t even flinch this time when he threw water at me… After all, I needed the wash!

The only thing I was lucky for
, was that he thought I must have some supernatural mojo at work in helping me not starve to death, as he not once suspected Percy was the cause. This rather made him ‘supernaturally thick’ or it was just so unbelievable what my friend would do for me that it wasn’t conceivable enough to consider. I liked to think a mixture of the both.

“Soon you won’t have the strength to laugh!” I had heard this last comeback for a few days now and it was more annoyingly repetitive than threatening.

“Yeah, so you’ve said…again and again… Say, do you know when that’s gonna happen? Do you? ‘Cause you make me want to rip my ears off and choke you with them every time I hear that line.” Yep and there was his trademark blotchy face…score million to Keira and a big fat zero for Mr Puniverse...!

Ooo
h, that was a good one and was so getting used tomorrow!

“You know
, I was going to wait until later to do this, but I think any time to watch you cry is as good as any.” I frowned at this new change of events, normally he just stormed out looking ready to implode.

“Pass me the bag you scarred little turd
.” Don’t flinch, don’t flinch, I said over and over hoping this wasn’t one of those days that he hit him. Instead I slowly released a held breath when I saw him take something from Percy’s out-stretched hand, only to suck it back in again when I saw what it was.

“That doesn’t belong to you
.” I said in a voice that I didn’t recognise belonging to me. It was one that didn’t threaten violence but more like promised it.

“That’s where you’re wrong. See
, my master said I could just burn it if I chose, but I don’t think he realised what it was you had hidden inside.” He said in that snotty nasally voice that grated against my skin. He held my bag that was now torn on one side of the strap, like it had just been yanked from me.

“You will be sorry
.” I warned as he reached inside and pulled out the Ouroboros blood bound book.

“Oh I don’t think so, let’s just take a peek and see what secrets I can report back to my master
, shall we?” I felt the tingling in my fingertips and thought this might be one of those times my anger could transform into a useful weapon.

Then I calmed slightly when I realised I didn’t need to panic about anything, which was proven when I heard his high pitched yell of pain. He had tried to open the book
, only the snake on the front had lashed out and bitten him. He clutched his pale hand to his chest and I saw the black venom from the bite start to travel along his veins.

“I did warn you
.” I said not even bothering to cover sounding smug as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Shut up
, Bitch! Percy, hand me that torch!” He snapped and that was when I lost all my cool demeanour.

“NO!” I shouted at him
, coming to the bars to get closer in hopeful aid to stop what I knew he was about to do. He kept his beady eyes to me and smirked as he took the torch from the shaking hand of Percy.

“It really does mean so much to you, don’t it?” He asked making me hate him even more. I felt my eyes turn into hard slits as I let the true rage fill me to the point where my hands grew hot against the metal bars.

“Then watch it burn, Bitch!” He said raising the torch to the book and watching the flames engulf its pages. I watched the snake on the front hiss and writhe around the page in the face of danger.

“NO!” This time I screamed and it was
Dimme’s turn to laugh. He dropped the square of black charred pages as the flames curled the edges into ashy flakes, ready for a mere hint of a whisper in order to fly away.

“No!” I said, falling to my knees. I had to save it, I couldn’t lose that bond, not when it was one of the very things I was counting on getting me out of here. I knew that Sigurd would somehow find me…he would tell Jared and maybe even Lucius…They would come for me…they had to!

With this in mind, I decided my promise mattered more to me than my own flesh, so even though it was still burning, I quickly reached out my hand through the bars and snatched it back to me to hold it to my chest. I felt the heat of it but instead of pain, I felt light. I inhaled sharply as I felt part of myself being absorbed into the book. As though it was looking for something in me and once it found it, it homed in and drew from its strength.

“NO! That’s not supposed to happen!” I heard Dimme scream out in anger and even with my eyes closed, I smiled to myself at the
sound, for I knew without looking that the book was whole once again. But even better, it was now in my arms and the only way it was leaving them was being pried from my cold dead body!

I looked up at him but what he saw in my eyes had him backing up, stumbling over the fresh bucket he brought.

“No! It’s…it’s not possible! You’re human!” He spluttered out in shock and I had no idea what it was in me he was seeing, but I knew fear when I saw it. And the next sight of him running from the room was confirmation of this.

“
Ke…ira?” Percy’s voice was unsteady, also seeming a little frightened of me.

“It’s alright
, Percy.” I said blinking a few times wondering if what Dimme had seen was still there.

“Your
eyeths, they…changed.” I didn’t really have much to say to that as I couldn’t explain it myself. I looked down at the leather bound book in my hands and noticed that not only was it without a mark from what happened…so was I. Surely I should have been burnt?

“You can come out my friend
.” I said getting up to sit on the cot, feeling as if all the energy had suddenly been zapped out of me. I had asked this of him many times before, but never once had he come from the safety of the shadows he knew…

Until now.

A little man walked out, who I realised was smaller than what I’d originally thought, being closer to four feet than five. He had on him a dark brown cloak, like a monk’s habit and the hood was concealing all of his face.