“I’m going to buy this.”
“Really? Now that will be interesting to watch, if I remember correctly the last auction you were at you didn’t get chance to bid on anything…a little tied up if I recall.”
“Ha, ha,” I said nudging my arm into his and once again feeling bad for the amount of money he’d had to cough up for me.
“Ha ha indeed, I couldn’t even claim on my tax for that one.” Now at that I burst out laughing causing a couple next to us to jump.
“Catherine?” I abruptly cut my laughter at the sound of Alex’s voice.
“I guess this is goodbye, Lucius.” I said leaning up on the tip of my shoes to kiss his cheek.
“Oh it’s never goodbye Pet, with you it’s only ever until next time.” And then he winked at me and after giving Alex a scowl he turned and left with his usual masterful air.
“The Auction has begun.” Alex said and held out his hand for me to take. There was no apology but there was no mention of me being found with Lucius either so I focused on that aspect as I walked to him. After a small smile my way he led me to the large open space that had been filled with rows of seats that were filling up. They were white just like the walls and I guessed this was so no other colour got in the way, with the art letting it speak for itself.
Alex grabbed a paddle as they were being given out and I smiled seeing it was the number 77. I could only hope it would be my lucky number considering it was my birthday, the 7th of July.
“You seem very keen, have you seen something you wish to buy?” Alex asked me and I nodded excitedly. However, it was to be short lived as soon my lot was up and it turned out I only managed to afford one bid. I don’t know what I had been thinking but there was no way I could afford over four thousand for it and the price was now at forty thousand. I tapped the paddle on my knee in frustration knowing at heart I didn’t want anyone else to own the picture.
“I only wish I had the money, ma Cherie.” Alex whispered in my ear and I turned to kiss him on the cheek for being sweet. Then there was a load of commotion coming from the back of the room.
“Do we have a new bidder on this piece?” The auctioneer shouted. I shifted in my seat like most people did but I was the only one that gasped out loud. For there was my nightmare and wildest dream combined stood like the master of the universe in a black tux.
“Draven?” I said as a stupid question to my own mind and I think if it could have slapped me it would have also said, ‘Yeah no shit, keep up bitch’. I shook my head like this would help and when I refocused on the man in question that was when I also noticed Lucius standing next to him. He first nodded to the picture then said something to Draven leaning in with that damn smirk of his. Lucius then pulled back, found my eyes in the crowd and winked at me before slapping Draven on the back as he left.
This was when everything happened at once. Draven’s paddle went up, he then shouted a number I missed and the auctioneer shouted,
“Sold to the highest bidder of the night, paddle number seven.”
I numbly turned back to face Alex to see his furious face and made it even worse when I asked,
“How much?” The look he shot me was disbelief mixed with hatred but still he answered and therefore letting me know the reasons behind this look.
“Seventy seven thousand.”
Chapter 21
Painted Demons
I couldn’t believe it. No, actually there were levels to what I was seeing and couldn’t believe. Level one would have been sending Lucius here in the first place. What did he think exactly, that in the hour he wasn’t here something might have happened? Then there was level two which included that fact that the man who had only yesterday stormed out of my life was now in fact here and now evidently doing his own dirty work again. But then there was level three and this was the one I was stuck on the most…
Why buy that damn painting?!
Was he making a statement and if so, what was it exactly? All of these thoughts bombarded my mind in the seconds it took for the auctioneer to write down his number and move on to the next lot. However in these turbulent seconds my mind had to process, it took Draven the same time to find me in the crowd. This was when I stood up making a bit of a ruckus ready to storm over to him and demand what he was playing at exactly.
“Ah the lady in the black dress, your number Miss?” My eyes locked with Draven and the bastard had the audacity to raise an eyebrow and grin at me. I think he must have seen the panic drain my face of all colour and in this he found something to amuse him! I made sure to give him my best ‘I am going to kill you Mister’ look before turning sheepish eyes back to the auctioneer.
“Uh…sorry, I was…uh…” Think Keira damn it! The loo…yes, say the loo!
“She was coming to me.” Draven spoke up and it was one of those voices that just dared anyone to not only deny his claim but brave speaking against it. I was not surprised when no one said a word.
“I will be right back.” I said between clenched teeth and started to side walk past all the people sat down to get out and thus proving just how ungraceful this Scouser can really be.
“Sorry…oh…sorry again.” I said all the way along until finally I was free. All the while Draven stood there casually waiting and with a hand failing to hide half a smirk behind his fingers. I was surprised I didn’t snap my heels with the force of angry stomping I was doing.
“Come with me!” I hissed as I grabbed his forearm roughly and I was thankful when he let me drag him away. I kept looking round for a place that was void of any people as I didn’t need an audience for verbally kicking demon butt!
“You know if you want to get me truly alone it can quickly be arranged.” Draven said in a tone that left me dumbstruck. So much so that I let him go and leaned forward to whisper in disbelief,
“Are you flirting with me?” To which he laughed.
“I must certainly be losing my touch if you need to ask that.” He replied and once again he was actually flirting!
“I’m sorry but I must know…have you lost your ever loving mind?!” I asked once again leaning forward like this would somehow help in getting my point across. He too leaned forward but when he did it he had to dip his head to get to my level. Once there he too whispered,
“I believe a better term is, losing my ever loving heart.” At this I reacted the only way my body and heart knew how to…I gasped.
“Is this some cruel joke?” I asked after a minute of being locked by his eyes and trying in vain to find my answers there. As soon as I said it his eyes got soft and then he looked truly regretful.
“No, it is most certainly is not.” He replied after a pause I knew helped to get his emotions in check.
“You bought my painting.” I said pointing out the obvious.
“It’s a beautiful painting.” Hearing the way he said this made me bite my lip to keep it from quivering.
“It’s love.” I added for no particular reason.
“It is and I remember what it tasted like.” Draven said which ignited the thundering in my heart to start its heavy base. Also his comment reminded me of what Lucius had said about love. Something about what was the point of tasting an addiction before it’s given the chance to really begin.
“I…” I didn’t know what I was going to say exactly but Draven beat me to it.
“About yesterday…”
“It’s fine, let’s just forget about it.” I said interrupting him and not at all comfortable with where this was going.
“Hurting you is never fine with me.”
“Then you came all this way to say sorry?” I asked and this time I was trying my best to keep my voice from cracking and giving away exactly what his words meant to me.
“You know I didn’t,” he said and I sighed letting him know I was getting tired of his rollercoaster ride.
“I know you didn’t, Draven but unfortunately I also know why you did.” That got me a raised eyebrow but before he could comment Alex was
by my side making Draven snarl.
“I would say what a coincidence at seeing you here but I think we all know that would be a lie.” Alex said wrapping his arm around my waist and suddenly Draven looked as though he was three breaths away from committing murder.
“Yeah okay, I am so not doing this again!” I snapped pulling from Alex and stepping away from the both of them. One of the main reasons for doing this was because I could no longer stand to see Draven’s eyes locked to where Alex was touching me and I wasn’t cruel enough a person to let him see me like that. So I turned my back to them both and started walking away.
“Catherine?!”
“Keira?!” They both shouted at the same time but I just flipped them both the bird without looking back. I was so sick of this! I just wanted both of them to decide what it was they wanted and let me get the Hell on with my life! First Alex with his mood swings and blaming me for shit Lucius said to him. But mainly it was Draven. Bloody Draven and his cryptic bullshit! Well I had already decided when I saw him walk away for the last time yesterday that it would be it for me and now this was me walking away proving it.
I kept walking round and down the corridors until the main part of the pictures on display for the auction started to thin out. Also the lighting in this part wasn’t as bright which made me stop and turn, knowing I had gone too far from the main event. I was just about to start on back, hoping that I wouldn’t be returning to body parts and Draven stood amongst the remains of my boyfriend when a noise stopped me.
“A piano?” I muttered to myself as I turned back to face the music. It was another one of those situations that I really knew I should be bitch slapping my curiosity into submission and marching my behind back to safety. But did I do that, of course not. What I did do was follow the haunting sound further down the corridor and right to the closed door at the end. It was much darker here now so you would have thought with the eerie music combined it would have been enough to make me realise this wasn’t a good idea.
So why was I reaching out for the door handle? Because it was like something was pulling me and it wasn’t just my curiosity this time. No it was something much more than that and the word ‘need’ was tightly knitted to that reason. I knew it was an irrational feeling, even as my hand started to pull the handle down and I felt the door give.
I quickly had one last look behind me to make sure no one was there and I half expected someone to coming shouting at me in Italian at any minute. However, when I saw it was all clear I knew there was no other reason to back out now, so I went on inside.
It turned out that this room was some type of storage room or small warehouse for where they obviously stored the art. I still heard the piano playing somewhere so I knew I wasn’t alone. The thought should have scared me but strangely enough it didn’t.
“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.
The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) Page 25
