“I hope you’re planning on helping me finish these?” I had asked at the time which was precisely what he did. We sat at a window seat together watching the Italian world walk by and I regaled him with funny stories about working at the library. He showed no restraint in telling me how he didn’t care for the way my boss had spoken to me that day, making me smile.
We had then moved on and it was me being the one to drag Draven into the next place. It was a big souvenir shop that had a dressing up section at the back. I made a bee line for it and started picking up wigs and trying them on.
“Oh no…no, you don’t!” Draven had said backing up and putting his hands in the air to fend me off. I giggled harder and continued to come at him with the Elvis wig, complete with sideburns.
“Oh come on, you know you will look hot with any of these wigs…you’re not scared of looking foolish are you, oh mighty King?” I said in a way that clearly taunted him. This was when he raised a single eyebrow at me and crossed his arms as if thinking about it.
“Ok, I will play but you have to wear the ones I pick.” I gave him a beaming grin and held out my hand.
“Deal.”
“You should be careful who you make a deal with, darling.” He said winking.
“I am not afraid of you, now put this on and play a different type of King.” I said going up on my tiptoes and placing it on his head. I stepped back and burst into a fit of laughter. Of course it was made even worse when he started trying to do the Elvis’s famous leg move, saying ‘Huhuh’, causing my laughter to hurt my ribs as I bent over double.
He pulled the wig off laughing with me and then went to pick out my own. He came back to me smirking and I knew it was going to be funny. He placed it on my head and then turned me by the shoulders to face the mirror. It turned out to be a massive black Mohawk so I started playing on my air guitar, using my leg at one point making Draven, like me, bend over double laughing.
We ended up being the shop for ages and thanks to Draven’s powers of persuasion no one took any notice of us. So after a blonde mullet, monk’s bald head, black afro and the Mohawk I made him wear, I was forced through the clown’s rainbow wig, red plaits, pink bob and of course not to be left out, the blonde mullet!
After laughing and giggling at each other like loons and me using feather boas and Draven putting on giant glasses we finally left the shop with two matching key rings to remember the shop by. I think my cheeks were still aching the rest of the way round Milan from smiling so much. It was just turning out to be the most perfect day ever and I found myself never wanting it to end. I think if I could have picked my Groundhog Day then this would have been it.
In fact I was just thinking about asking what Draven had planned for dinner as we were making our way back up in the lift to our suites when he beat me to speaking.
“So I have something I have been meaning to ask you.”
“Ok, go for it.” I replied as we came to my door and I bent sideways to pull my key card out of my back pocket.
“I wanted to know if you would come with…” Draven was abruptly cut off when my door was suddenly opened.
“Alex?!” I said in shock at seeing who the intruder was.
“Catherine…oh and look, how surprising to see who you’re with!” He snapped and I felt like I had been caught with my hand in the preverbal cookie jar!
“Draven I will see you later.” I said pushing Alex back and storming into my room.
“Oh I just bet you will!” Alex snapped but I ignored it and instead had to give Draven a small shake of my head as he looked to be holding back his Demon’s wrath from finding his hands around Alex’s neck.
“What are you doing in my room?” I asked turning the emphasis back on him and wondering what in fact he was doing in my room. I slammed the door and stood with my arms folded waiting.
“Well, I was obviously just about to interrupt something between you two, that’s what!” Was his sharp retort.
“Oh don’t be ridiculous, we are just friends.”
“Yeah sure you are…is that why he followed you all the way to Italy!? Don’t be so naive and foolish Cathy.” He said rolling his eyes.
“Don’t be so dramatic, we spent the day together because he didn’t like the idea of me spending it alone in a city I didn’t know.” I said knowing this was actually part of the reason because he told me so himself.
“It’s Milan Catherine, not the Middle East for fuck’s sake!”
“Yeah well at least he cares enough. So far all you have done is take me for one meal and then gave me a night of you acting stroppy!”
“Stroppy?!”
“Yeah stroppy, you know… moody, bad tempered, irritable or my personal favourite being a basic sulky asshole…so pick one!” I said stomping past him.
“Well you didn’t have to deal with my asshole friends turning up and getting in your face!” Ok so he did have a point with that one.
“That’s true but either way if I did, I certainly wouldn’t have been a bitch to you about it!” I said thinking I was making a valid point, however his face told me otherwise.
“Oh right because this is you we are talking about and little Kazzy can do no wrong.” At this my mouth dropped open and I made a strangled noise in the back of my throat at the audacity or what he just said.
“How dare you!”
Draven
“I will kill him!” I simply stated as I walked to the door ready to tear it from its hinges to get to spill his blood quicker.
“Dom stop! You need to think about this.” Vincent said holding me back by my shoulders from behind.
“Oh trust me brother, don’t doubt the hours that I have thought about this!” I said letting a part of my demon speak for me.
“No, I mean that anytime that they spend arguing is only to be seen as a good thing…you need to calm and let him do the damage, not you and your interference right now would only be doing that…damage.” I growled, not only because he was preventing me from feeling the Nephilim’s organs rupture in my hands, but also because he was right.
“Besides just listen to her giving him what for, I almost feel sorry for you Dom, she has a sharp tongue our girl, Keira.” Sophia said walking from one of my suite’s bedrooms with what I could smell was a strawberry daiquiri in hand.
“She arrived this afternoon.” Vincent informed me with a shrug of his shoulders.
“You’re damn right I did!” She said coming over to me and slapping me across the face without spilling a single drop. My head snapped to the side and I growled low down at the floor in response.
“That was for keeping something this damn important from me you big bastard!” She said getting on her tiptoes to get in my face before she then sweetly kissed the cheek she had inflicted her wrath upon.
“Now let’s get back to our entertainment shall we…listen, she is about to tell him to leave.” I quickly forgot about my sister’s disrespect and turned my head to hear my girl giving the half breed what for.
“Will you just drop it now! The picture was a gift because he obviously knew how much I wanted it…it’s not like I asked him for it Alex!” No she hadn’t but once I learnt from Lucius how much it meant to her then no force on earth could have prevented me from getting it for her.
“Oh yeah and are you going to give it back to him?” I wanted to roar at the thought and even took a few steps forward in my reaction.
“Whoa there brother, get a lid on it.” Vince said now putting a hand to my chest and using an abundance of strength to hold me back.
“No, I am not going to take it back! That would be rude and cruel.” I heard Keira say and only then did I stop pushing on Vincent’s strength.
“That’s my girl.” I said out loud causing Vincent and Sophia to share a knowing grin.
“Oh of course you’re not! So you think it’s acceptable to not only spend the day with your ex-boyfriend, who I will remind you left you obviously heartbroken but also to accept gifts off h
im?…Think Catherine, do you not see the only reason he is lavishing all this attention on you now is because I am in the picture.”
“I will destroy him!”
“I think you need to leave.” Hearing Keira saying this quickly changed my thoughts of a vicious death to ones of pride instead.
“Look, let’s just talk about this, we came here to get away to be together not be torn apart by your psychotic ex.”
“Oh he will soon understand the true meaning of psychotic.” I said making Sophia laugh and add,
“Oh go on Vince, let him go and introduce him to our own brand of psycho.”
“Not helping Sophia!” Vince complained but only receiving a casual shrug in return from our blood thirsty sister.
“Ssshh both of you!” I snapped as I missed the first part of Keira’s response,
“…So far it was lucky he was here or I would just have ended up spending all my time alone…which reminds me, I think that is exactly what I would prefer to be doing right now!”
“Booya! You go Kazzy girl!” Sophia said and high fived Vincent making him laugh, she then turned to me and held out her hand for me to do the same. I raised a single eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes before lowering her hand. You would have thought by now she would have got the hint that ever since that ridiculous gesture came into circulation in the seventies I was not one to conform to such things.
“Fine!” We all heard before the door slammed and found extreme relief in the sound of the parasite leaving.
“Fine!” She shouted back and then you heard the distinct thud of something being thrown at the door he had just walked out of.
“That’s my cue.” I said walking towards my own door when suddenly I found an Angelic arm thrown around my neck and a tiny Demon stood with her hands at my chest pushing me back.
“Oh no you don’t!” I looked down at my beautiful sister and snarled, showing her my elongating fangs and thus the extent of my anger.
“She’s right brother, you can’t go storming in there now.”
“Why not!? She needs me, she is upset.” I disputed.
“Yeah she is, but she’s angry upset and right now a pissed off Keira is a good thing just so long as it’s not directed at you.” Sophia said finishing to the sound of something else hitting the door from the next room.
“She will not be angry with me.”
“You’re kidding right, cause in there, right at this moment is a scorned female who hates all men! Trust me on this, I may not be human but if a man pisses me off, then all men piss me off.” I frowned at this silly logic but after hearing another frustrated scream from the other room I took it as a sign that maybe my sister was right. So I told her so and stopped fighting my siblings.
“Maybe you’re right.”
“You think?!” She said on a laugh when we heard yet another bang come from my little spitfire along with the only confirmation I needed to know Sophia was right.
“I do,” I replied on a wince.
Keira
“AHHH! Bloody men!” I screamed out after throwing yet another shoe at the door. I now had a nice pile gathered there. I was just so angry! This was by far the worst argument we had ever had and I had come so close to ending it before he left. But the only reason I hadn’t was because I never wanted to be one of those people who truly ended a relationship on the basis of a fight.
Of course the annoying thing was that a lot of my anger was also aimed at myself. Alex had been right in some of the things he had said about Draven. For one it was obvious the only reason he was back in my life was because of Alex and I hated this thought more than most! And in effect I hated myself for being sucked into Draven’s warped sense of duty.
I knew he wasn’t doing this to hurt me and you could tell that none of the time he spent with me being his usual affectionate self was faked. It could have never been possible between us to fake that type of connection. It was never going to change the truth of the matter and that was Draven and I could never be just friends…not really.
I knew this, he knew this and yet we still played the game just so we could continue to spend time together. Yes the thought made me angry at myself but it was like a drug you just couldn’t give up, no matter what it does to your soul in the long run. So when I cursed men, I included Draven in this as Alex was right, he had left me heartbroken and now he was back again no doubt to put me through the same damn thing. So what did I do…I got angry and the little anthill by the door of sandals and dress shoes was the evidence of that anger.
But I knew what I needed to make this right so I stomped over to the phone and picked it up pressing the only number I needed.
“Room service?”
Hours later I must have passed out from a junk food coma because the next thing I knew I was being woken up by a tapping noise. I lifted my head and felt the line of unattractive drool string from the corner of my mouth. I then lifted my head and the first thing I was faced with was the half-eaten pizza that I shamefully thought still looked quite appetising. I remember feeling the dead weight of disappointment when opening the door to room service and not seeing Draven stood there with the tray.
Which brought me back to the tapping sound that had woken me in the first place. I turned my head and looked towards the balcony doors and ended up letting out a shriek at the figure I saw stood there.
“Draven?!” I shouted getting up quickly and ungraciously knocking the pizza to the floor in my haste to get there quicker.
“Have many midnight callers do you?” Draven asked smiling as I opened the door for him to come in. I stuck my head out and asked,
“You jumped?” His only response was to laugh at me, which would have been fine if he hadn’t then plucked some sort of food from my hair and sniffed at it.
“Pepperoni?” He asked and I went the colour of said meat product before he grinned and popped it in his mouth to chew.
“Tasty?” I asked thinking this situation couldn’t get any weirder if it tried.
“Of course.” He replied with a cocky wink and then walked past me as if he owned the suite, which I guess he did being that he owned the damn hotel.
“So you’re sleeping with your food now?” He asked raising a single eyebrow at the pizza on the floor.
“Well what can I say, a girl has gotta get her kicks somehow.” I said giggling at my own joke as I walked past him to pick it up and place it back on the plate. I turned round to find Draven lifting the other silver domes on the tray to find half eaten pasta, garlic bread and what was the remains of a chocolate dessert that felt at the time it was sent to me from the Gods.
“Did you lick the bowl?” He asked laughing picking up the bowl to show me, which I snatched off him and said,
“No, give me a little credit… I used my finger.” I added because it did in fact look as though I had licked the bowl like a hungry dog. I replaced the bowl on the tray and turned to Draven crossing my arms over my chest.
“So I gather you didn’t jump over to my balcony to discuss my room service pig out.”
“No, but I’m certainly sorry I missed the show.”
“Ha, ha…now confess.” I said trying not to let his handsome face or infectious smile deter me from my ‘What’s going on in Draven’s crazy mind’ fact finding mission. I was actually surprised to find that Draven for once seemed to look unsure. He frowned down at the floor and I noticed he kept clenching his hands at his sides into fists.
“Are you nervous?” I blurted out without thinking. His head snapped up and he looked shocked by my question.
“I…uh…no, why?” Ok so his answer didn’t really back him up at not being nervous but I just smiled and unfolded my arms. I walked over to him and for a moment he looked unsure as to what I was about to do. Then I stepped into him and wrapped my arms around him and said,
“I had a wonderful day, thank you for giving that to me.” He released a big sigh and I felt him relax instantly.
“You’re welcome and it
was my pleasure.” He said to the top of my head. I then pulled my head back a bit and looked up at him.
“Now are you going to tell me why you came here because I doubt it was to pick food out of my hair for a midnight snack?” I said on a laugh.
“You would definitely be my first choice for a midnight snack.” He teased and I pulled myself out of his arms and smacked him lightly on the arm.
“Oi, behave you or I will have to call hotel security on you.” At this he laughed.
“I doubt they would be very effective in this case considering I could have them fired but very well, I did come to ask you something.” I had rolled my eyes at the point he mentioned about firing anyone but quickly became focused on the last part.
“Is it what you were going to ask me earlier? You know, before we were interrupted?”
“Yes it was.”
“Ok, do you want to sit down?” I asked then feeling foolish when he grinned at me.
“What, I am being polite okay.” I defended sitting down anyway but just as I was about to Draven grabbed onto my hands and pulled me to him. He then kept hold of my hands, looking down at them as if deep in thought for a moment before raising his dark eyes to mine.
“There is this Masked ball my kind host every ten years and due to my position I always attend.”
“Okay, so what you’re telling me is that you’re going to be gone for a bit?” At this he smirked at me and shook his head slightly as if I was missing something.
“Then…?”
“It’s in Venice.”
“Right, so in that case you will be gone for…” He never let me finished but placed his fingers over my lips to silence me and asked me something that made me suck in a breath and made my heart soar to new heights…
“I want you to be my date.”
Chapter 26
Alex and Answers
After Draven had dropped that bombshell on me he left shortly after that, giving me the time needed to think about it. I think he could tell with the utter shock on my face that I needed time to process. It wasn’t long ago that I had been convincing myself we couldn’t really be friends but that didn’t mean I still didn’t find this a shock. I even asked him if he meant as friends and the look alone could have told me what his lips did anyway,
The Pentagram Child: Part 1 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) Page 30
