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

by Stephanie Hudson

  “So this Goddess of the Dawn was one of the original Titan’s daughters?” I asked and when his expression looked sad I knew the next part I wasn’t going to like and I was right.

  “Eos in Latin is Aurora.”

  “What!?” I shouted in both annoyance and shock.

  “So she really is a Goddess.” I said laughing without humour and feeling my shoulders slump.

  “Yes, in a sense but she is also a Titaness and this believe me, is not a good thing.” Draven said lifting my chin up and rubbing a thumb over my bottom lip that I held in my teeth.

  “Well I guess that’s something.” I said sulking at this new information.

  “So this was the only reason you saw her like you did that day.” I frowned across at him and asked him what he meant. He went on to explain that the only place he knew of that would contain that weakened side of him and therefore force himself under control was Tartarus. The only problem was that he needed his demon side to be tied to a place physically or it would simply override his control and break free. That was where Aurora came into it.

  With her being a second generation Titan she was the only one with the gifts to bind Draven’s demon for the night, until he was once again in control. He told me how he had gone without sleep to begin with but his vessel still needed the rest to function.

  So in the end he found this was the only way. He had a special bed made, that journeyed everywhere with him and this bed would also be his travelling prison. It was made with the same mountain rock that was in Tartarus as its headboard so that his arms would be locked and encased there making it impossible for him to move. Then as his demon side would be sent down to the deepest depths of Hell, his Vessel and Angel side would remain asleep until Aurora came to free him in the morning.

  I thought back to that night and he agreed with me how it must have looked but looking back I knew he spoke the truth. Once again Sigurd’s advice came back to me and I knew I shouldn’t have run even then. But saying that, I doubt I would have received my answers as I was doing this night.

  “So how long did this have to happen for?” I asked although the question pained me. The very last thing I wanted to do right then was think back to the amount of times Draven had to be straddled naked by his ex!

  “Up until the point you tore off your necklace.” He said looking pained by the memory but his answer surprised me. He then went on to explain that it was in that moment that his demon finally recognised that I was no longer theirs. After that there was no longer any pull that couldn’t be controlled and his time in Tartarus was no more.

  Well all this certainly explained all the dreams of him in Hell that I had been having over the last year. And it also explained why people often referred to Draven as being in Hell, along with the Oracle herself. She hadn’t lied but she also hadn’t told me the truth either. I was starting to think back and realise that what Draven had said about the Fates was most likely right.

  “So now you know the truth.” He said finishing the conversation just as the sun had started to rise. We had been up for hours but the importance of hearing everything he had said was like living through something monumental. It all made sense and even though I would never agree with Draven’s decision, I couldn’t honestly say what I would have done differently if the roles had been reversed. After all, I had literally gone to Hell and back just to try and save him. He had died in a sense and imprisoned a part of himself in Hell just to save me.

  “Come, I think it is time we put that busy mind to rest, don’t you?” He said picking me up off the couch I had slumped down on to get more comfy and then he walked me over to the bed. He lay me down and the instant he did I could feel my eyes start to give in.

  “Wait! One more question?” I said forcing my eyes back open and alert making him laugh. He rolled his own eyes in good humour and lay back next to me, pulling my body into his arms.

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Can you blame me?” I asked and he gave me a soft grin before saying,

  “I never would, now tell me your question and then you can sleep.”

  “I just wanted to know if Takeshi was alright as I didn’t see him at the Ball tonight.” I said remembering this was a question that had been coming in and out of my head all day.

  “He is fine, he just needed to rest.”

  “What is it that happens to him?” I said trying to sit up but Draven shook his head and pulled me back down so my head was resting on his shoulder.

  “Takeshi has a very talented gift that I will explain in detail at a later time, but for now all you need to understand is that he has what is known as a ‘Second sight’. His gifts allow him to home into certain beings and channel their memories. I guess the best way to explain it would be like picking out pieces of a puzzle at random and trying to discover the picture. The closer the beings the more puzzle pieces there are to grab.”

  “So what happened?” I asked referring of course to the same thing that must have happened all that time ago after my kidnapping by Morgan.

  “The puzzle pieces all showed the same thing.” I frowned and asked the question I thought was a safe one to ask, but I soon discovered I was wrong…

  “A wooden dagger with a Pentagram.”

  Chapter 38

  Secret Symbols

  “Keira! Keira wake up!” I woke with a start and bolted upright in bed panting at what I had just seen. Draven was holding me and gently pushed my wet hair that had become drenched with sweat back from my face.

  “It’s okay, it’s alright now, I have you my girl. It was just a bad dream that’s all.” He said soothing my jittering nerves as he put my head to his chest. I took the long moments I needed to feel Draven around me and the safety he provided.

  “Do you want to tell me about it?” He asked after my breathing had calmed. I thought about that question and knew that after last night there were still things I needed to tell him. And having this nightmare only reinforced that decision that the time was now.

  I let my mind go back to that frightening place and it was as if I could even smell the blood that saturated the ground. The only difference this time was that in the meadow of death there was no Draven and the sky was raining with blood. Even I knew that this change in my nightmare reflected on the facts that Draven told me that night and I remember looking up in the dream expecting to find the Gods fighting a war above me.

  The skies were filled with dark stormy clouds and the ground was foggy in the distance. It was as though all my dream wanted me to see was what was directly in front of me and that was pieces of a Pentagram. I looked down at my own skin that was quickly getting soaked and was at least thankful to realise it must only have been raining blood inside the circle of the star. Everything on the outside was simply wet and that included me, but so long as I wasn’t covered in blood I didn’t care.

  In my dream I bravely took a step further and came stupidly close to the Pentagram, stopping at the first body part that had been crudely hacked from some poor soul’s body. I could only pray that these people had all been dead when this had happened. That thought alone made me want to heave but I had already done that once in this dream. No, now was the time for me to be brave and really see what the dream wanted me to. I could only hope it would give me some answers as to why this had happened and more importantly, who had done this?

  Was it the man in the painting with the wooden dagger or even worse, the man that was shown to me at the end, the one I thought I had trusted? Could it be? I stepped closer and looked down to see my feet couldn’t get any closer without crossing the gruesome line. Then that’s when I heard it. The sickening sound of meat being butchered and when I saw a shadowy figure of a man throwing chunks and pieces away behind him, I knew I could no longer be naive.

  The figure stood up from being hunched over the slaughtered body with what looked like an arm held in his hand by the bone that protruded from the top. Then he turned, keeping his hooded head down and placed the
arm at a diagonal on the grass, creating the last sections of the symbol.

  This was all so horrifying and sick and twisted that I would have liked nothing more than to take that wooden dagger and drive it into the chest of the man. The man that I now thought was Alex. But this was when something started to dawn on me…where was the dagger?

  This man wasn’t holding a dagger in his hand but something that looked more like a lengthened machete. And it was when the figure started to rise up and finally take notice of me that it all started to make sense. Everyone had it all wrong. It wasn’t Alex who was the bad guy here.

  Not at all.

  It had all just been made out that way with his connection to me. I knew the truth now. I knew it all…now it was just time to have it confirmed and that happened when the figure pushed back his blood splattered hood.

  I knew I was right but no amount of knowing can change the shock you experience when you’re proven right in the worst way. I took in those piercing white eyes with a tiny black dot in the middle that I could barely see. His skeletal face which had seemed to be transferred onto his original handsome features was now even more painful to look at. And then he said the same words to me that he did that day at the Auction.

  “Until you’re ready to be pushed, Girl”

  It was at this point that I had awakened, only this time Draven had been there to hold me.

  “It was Seth, he was the one to murder all those hikers, it was him all along.” I said making Draven frown and this was when I started to explain everything to him. I told him about my dream at his studio and also when I actually encountered him at the Auction in the storeroom. Of course I then had to explain why I hadn’t told him all this before, to which my lame answer of,

  “I kinda forgot,” was one he didn’t care for.

  “This has certainly changed things.” Draven said and when he started to get up I knew he would soon be leaving me to deal with this new information.

  “But now we know that should make things easier right?” I asked pulling the covers up in front of me and sitting up to watch Draven as he dressed. He walked into what I presumed was a walk in wardrobe and came back out a few moments later wearing jeans and pulling down a vintage black T shirt that had some racing car logo on the front in faded white. I also notice he had put back on his leather cuffs that hid the Tartarus markings beneath.

  I had asked him when we had been chatting last night how long before they healed or left his skin but he didn’t have any answers as he didn’t know. Not that I was bothered because let’s face it, I came with enough of my own scars. I think it was more the reminder that bothered me as I felt that they stood for a past I never wanted to look back on.

  He came to stand at the end of the bed and he looked down as he did up his belt buckle, which looked like hammered metal with some kind of engine emblem on the front.

  “Another gift from Vincent?” I asked nodding to his belt.

  “Well I am predictable when it comes to gifts, but now it’s time for my favourite gift.” I was about to ask what when I felt my ankle being shackled and suddenly I was being pulled down the bed, covers and all.

  “What are you…?!” I started but was cut off when Draven whipped the covers off me and bent over me at the end of the bed where my legs were now left dangling. Once there he then kissed my question right out of my brain and I arched up to him trying to get as much of him as I could get before he left.

  “Mmm, I like eager morning Keira.” He said over my lips and I turned my head to moan into his neck.

  “Then maybe you should stay and see just how eager morning Keira can get.” I said before sucking and kissing up his neck making him groan.

  “And my Vixen is back and right where she should be.” He replied before turning his head also to retake my lips in a demanding kiss. The kiss lasted a while and we managed to get so caught up in the moment that I was surprised when he pulled back.

  “By the Gods but temptation isn’t a word great enough to describe what you do to my control.” I gave him a coy smile before lifting my hips to meet the hard length of him I could feel pushing against his jeans. I smiled even more when it made him growl down at me.

  “Then give in to temptation.” I suggested but one look at his pained expression and I knew his duty to protect me would come above all else. This was proven when he pushed off me and raked a frustrated hand through his hair as was his habit.

  “Its fine, I know you have to go and deal with all this.” I said sitting up and covering my nakedness.

  “I won’t be long.”

  “I know and the sooner you go, the sooner you can come back and finish what you started.” I said winking at him making him groan again.

  “You winking at me whilst sat on my bed half-naked and looking all wanton is quickly testing my control again.” He informed me, growling the ‘again’ part and I laughed.

  “Well it’s lucky then that you’re a King and therefore have the natural born ability to delegate.” I said smirking and got my meaning across loud and clear.

  “I like the way my Vixen thinks.” He said leaning in once more and kissing me, only briefer this time considering what usually happened once we got started.

  “I will send someone in with breakfast, you must be famished?” He added and as soon as he said it my stomach felt like it had given up and started munching on itself.

  “Uh…I could eat.”

  After Draven left I decided to get a much needed shower as my hair was starting to look greasy after a night of sex, tales and nightmares. I didn’t want to be too long as I knew precious food would be here any minute, so I did what needed to be done and I did it quickly. Once I was out I then had the dilemma of possessing no clothes as I had left everything I brought with me at the hotel in Milan. So the only thing I could think of was maybe Draven had a shirt I could wear that might pass as a dress given our height difference.

  I walked through the same door Draven had not long before and I quickly entered déjà vu territory. Where I had been expecting a miniature version of what he had at Afterlife the fact that it was the same size wasn’t what shocked me. But what did was the fact that the opposite side was filled to the brim with all summer clothes that I would have worn. I didn’t really know why I should have been shocked exactly seeing as this was Draven we were talking about but I still looked through the vast selection shaking my head.

  In the end I picked out a pair of denim shorts that came with a braided tan leather belt, a duck egg blue vest top and a denim shirt that had pearl popper buttons. I was just tying the ends of the shirt into a knot at the front as I kicked on some flip flops when the door was knocked.

  I think my stomach actually high fived the nearest organ it was that happy about the prospect of food.

  “Come in.” I said as the door opened and a man in some sort of uniform stepped inside carrying a tray. He put down his burden on the coffee table at the seating area and then looked up at me, making me shout his name,

  “Alex?”

  “Hello Catherine.” He said calmly with those piercing grey blue eyes of his taking everything in.

  “What are you doing here?” I said in a panic thinking if Draven found him I didn’t know what he would do, but of course I had ideas alright and what worried me was that they all included blood.

  “I’m here to save you.” He replied closing the door and coming towards me.

  “What do you mean?” I asked trying to resist the urge to take a cautious step back.

  “I understand why you left me and it’s alright, it was always meant to be this way.” I started to shake my head so he carried on.

  “My main reason for being with you was to keep you safe.”

  “Safe from what?” I frowned not liking that our relationship was all a lie but knowing from the very beginning that it wasn’t ever going to turn into more than what we had.

  “My job was to keep you safe for the prophecy and protect you from Seth.” He told me this
time coming to me and taking my hands in his to hold.

  “Seth?”

  “Yes. He and others who are out there are also trying to take you.” I looked into his eyes and tried to find the lie there but I couldn’t see one.

  “What do they want with me?”

  “To keep you from reuniting with their King.”

  “Draven?” He nodded and this was where I started frowning at him and pulled my hands from his to take a step back.

  “If that is the case then why did you yourself try everything in your power to keep us apart? I mean at the time I understood it because you were my boyfriend but if what you say is true then why not tell me this from the very beginning?” I saw him take in a deep breath as if trying to compose his frustration at answering such a question.

  “I knew if I dated you eventually the Lord would allow jealously to override any logical thought he was convinced was right. I was sent to set you two back into motion and played the part of a loving boyfriend to…well to basically rub his nose in it.” I listened to him speak and it all started to make sense. Which made me wonder what would have happened if Alex had in fact not been on the scene…the answer was a crippling one to realise as I knew it would have meant nothing. Draven wouldn’t have come back to me if he hadn’t considered Alex a threat. I knew that deep down.

  “That’s why you kept standing me up isn’t it? Because you knew every time Draven would be there and it would force us closer together?” I asked and for a moment he looked sheepish.

  “It was the only way. I needed you two back together.”

  “You did?” I asked frowning at the odd way he put that.

  “The Fates did and therefore so did I as that was the reason I was sent to you.” Ok so put like that I suppose it made sense.

  “So who is Seth?”

  “He is the leader of a cult whose sole purpose is to put a stop to the prophecy and release the Titans.”