Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “And I am getting the idea that you want this to be rubbing against something other than your stomach.” Oh god the blush!

  “Are you reading my thoughts?” He laughed once and said,

  “Baby, you may not be aware but you are currently trying to climb me like a tree.” He looked down and I followed only to find he was right. One of my legs had snaked its way up, hooked over the top of his thigh and the other one was close behind. I looked back up shocked and said,

  “It wasn’t me.” At this he threw his head back and gave me those delicious belly laughs that made his whole body shake.

  “Oh sod it!” I declared and quickly used his shoulders to hold on to as I hoisted myself the rest of the way, straddling him where he stood.

  “Please do,” he replied before holding me back against the car so I wouldn’t slip down as he ran both hands through my hair and kissed me deep.

  “By the Gods woman what it is you do to me,” he said breaking the kiss so I could breathe. I panted against him and couldn’t help the roll of my hips against him, trying to feel the head of his erection against my sweet spot.

  “I can’t wait!” He told me and I let my head fall back against the car in relief,

  “Oh thank the Lord!” I said as he released himself and then lifted me slightly so he could rip my jeans from my waist, so they quickly became baggy denim stockings. Then he stopped and raised one eyebrow at me in question, like he usually does and I rolled my eyes before soothing his ego,

  “Of course I meant you, my lord.”

  “Good girl” He told me before rearing up unexpectedly, thrusting deep inside me. He grabbed my head, holding the back so I wouldn’t bang it back against the metal frame before he started to hammer into me. I closed my eyes against the intense feeling of having him buried inside, his cock caressing my inner nerves with every plunge.

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I shouted over and over so close to coming it felt like I was running towards a cliff face. Then I remembered where we were and I opened my eyes not wanting to miss it. I wanted to make another memory and making love under the night sky against my Ford Bronco like a couple of teenage runaways was definitely one I didn’t want to let go of. There was something so carnal about it all, so desperate and unleashed that it quickly sent me spiralling down into the euphoric rabbit hole. I came with such force that I found his shoulder to scream into and instead ended up biting into his flesh. This consequently sent him falling into the hole with me and it wasn’t until I realised that Draven’s legs had given out, that we were actually falling. Draven’s wings burst free and cushioned our landing, or more like his as I fortunately had his beefy body beneath me.

  I rested my head on his chest and he held me to him as we both caught our breaths. And lying there on the floor in the middle of the clearing, on the hard dirt ground, outside in the cold, half naked was one of the most beautiful moments of my life,

  In fact it was…

  It was French Perfect

  Chapter 8

  Eyes in the Dark

  When I woke the next morning I had been expecting two things, first was to be feeling slightly sore in my happy place and the second was to find Draven next to me but neither happened. The first one, well obviously that was a good thing, the second, not so much. It was rare waking up to find him gone as he usually walked me to the dining room for breakfast after morning nookie…okay not right after, we would at least shower first.

  I frowned down at his empty side and felt to see if it was at least still warm. However, when cool sheets met my palm I knew I had been alone a lot longer than I would have liked. It was true that last night I had pretty much passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow but all things considered I think it was forgivable. In the end I just shrugged my shoulders and stretched out my arms on a yawn.

  “Ah, I wondered where you had got…oh.” I stopped short and was slightly disappointed when I saw Pip and Sophia stroll into the room instead of the tall, dark and handsome I was looking for.

  “Holy Hole in a Donut Batman, she’s still in bed!” Pip shouted and Sophia put her hand on Pip’s shoulder and said,

  “Precisely Robin, we seem to be in a sticky situation.”

  “Sticky situation? Batman wouldn’t say that!” She complained at Sophia’s attempt at superhero roleplay, 1960’s style.

  “Oh give me a break, you only made me watch one episode.” Sophia argued and I had to try not to burst out laughing when Pip rolled her eyes at me and protested with a huff,

  “Royalty.”

  “You guys are like my own personal comedy wake up call. Can I put in a request tomorrow morning?” I asked grabbing my pjs off the floor and stuffing my legs in the trousers under the covers.

  “That depends if you want to sleep in until lunch again.”

  “What’s she doing, she looks like she’s trying to kick a crocodile off her legs?” Pip commented and Sophia just shook her head and said,

  “Must be a human thing.”

  “Wait, what do you mean ‘til lunch, I haven’t slept…” Pip stopped me when she started tapping what looked like a kid’s watch.

  “I beg to differ, old boy,” she said and I frowned asking Sophia,

  “Who is she now?”

  “You think I can keep up?”

  “Jeez you guys need to watch some telly.” Maybe she was right, I did end up liking that Firefly program she made me sit through that one time.

  “Anyway, yes it is lunch time and yes you slept through breakfast,” Sophia said ignoring the telly comment.

  “Where’s Draven?” I asked yanking on a vest that matched the bottoms.

  “Uhh…well she’s right here of course…great now that’s settled get your booty in the shower.” I jumped when she clapped at the ‘great’ and I knew that didn’t sound good, but it did come from Pip so who knew.

  “Who Dom, well he’s…uh…” Okay this was definitely not good as this came from Sophia and if she didn’t know where her brother was then that wasn’t a good sign…at...all!

  “He’s meeting us for lunch is what!” Pip shouted enthusiastically and Sophia shot her a look of disbelief.

  “What? I panicked!” Sophia closed her eyes and shook her head before looking back to me.

  “What’s going on guys?” I asked swinging my legs out of the bed and giving them one of my ‘out with it’ looks.

  “The truth is we don’t know where he is.” Sophia admitted and I jerked my head back in surprise as this wasn’t something I was expecting.

  “Explain.” I gritted out knowing by their reactions there was more to it.

  “He left early and didn’t say where he was going, only to keep you company and…”

  “And?”

  “Busy.” Sophia finished off and then added,

  “But I swear we don’t know where he was going.”

  “Yeah it’s true, not even that Ranka chick would say where they were going.” At this Sophia smacked her own forehead and swore under her breath. Pip’s reaction took a moment longer to fully sink in and when it did she covered her mouth with both hands and started shaking her head, muttering her own swear words. Mine however was dumb struck silence before erupting my own swear words,

  “Son of a Bitch!”

  “Personally I prefer ‘son of a hairy bollocks mother’ but tomato, tomayto.”

  “Not now Pip,” Sophia said before coming up to me on the bed and sitting down next to me.

  “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “Great, then you can recommend me a good knife to cut your brother’s balls off with.”

  “Ooo, a company call Global do really great kitchen knives…what? I tried to cook Chop Suey once and like the name suggests, I thought it was all about the chopping…” Pip said as she actually did the chopping motion, just to be sure we got it.

  “Turns out not so much, besides, the recipe told me to add noodles…but you don’t even need to chop noodles...it just made no sense…” she added shaking
her head in wonder, whereas Sophia and I both shot her a look of disbelief.

  “Why would he do that? Why would he just leave without even telling me and…and with her?” I asked forgetting the Chop Suey and letting my head fall forward into my hands so I could cover my face. I felt the other side of me dip as Pip sat down and said the only helpful thing yet,

  “When Adam knows that someone in the room doesn’t like me he just picks me up and walks out with me without ever telling me why. His excuse is always that he is sick of sharing me, which yeah, I enjoy hearing. Of course I know the real reason but I don’t tell him that.” She shrugged her shoulders, sucking in her lip ring and then said,

  “When it comes to those we love, we protect them any way we can and if it’s a harmless little white lie or trying to keep them from what they deem as unnecessary hurt, then what harm is really done if they do it out of love not malice. Trust him grasshopper, he won’t leave you out in the cold long.” I looked into her bright green eyes and didn’t think it possible that I could fall in love even more with one of my best friends, but I did.

  “Pip…”

  “Yeah Toots?”

  “You’re brilliant, you know that?” She gave me a beaming smile, blushed pink and jumped up to her knees in excitement asking,

  “You think so?” I looked to Sophia and she too was smiling. She bent her head around me so Pip could see her and she replied for me,

  “Make that bloody brilliant!”

  “Well shucks and Holy Granola Batman…I love you guys!” Then she jumped into us both for a three-way hug and it was normal for all of five seconds when I looked down to see pointy mad hatter painted nails attached to a dainty hand, one that so happened to be latched on to one of my breasts.

  “Uh…Pip?”

  “Too much?”

  “Yeah, kinda,” I replied and she winked at me and pulled back.

  “Sorry Toots but I had to take the opportunity to check that the fun bags were real and I am happy to report that yes, yes they are…good job on growing them.” I laughed when she saluted me and reminded her,

  “You could have just asked.”

  “Yeah but where is the fun in that?”

  “She has a point…plus she lives for those awkward moments, most Imps do.” Sophia informed me and Pip made a tutting noise, correcting her,

  “Tut tut, only the best ones do don’t you mean, it’s those damn water Imps you have to watch for.”

  “Right. Well moving along from water Imps and boob groping, which I will point out takes our friendship to a whole new level by the way.”

  “Do you want me to fondle the other one so we are all equal?” Sophia teased.

  “Oh yeah, and then you could touch ours and then we will be like Boob buddies! I mean men get the whole ‘blood brothers’ deal so we could start our own group.” Sophia and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing, which pretty much continued all the way to the shopping mall. But before that I had to convince Sophia and Pip to let me shower in peace, which I eventually managed.

  Once in the shower I let the smile my friends had put there fade away as only one thought troubled my mind…

  Where was Draven?

  I didn’t understand why he would have just left like that without telling me and with…her. In Draven’s defence he didn’t understand the issues I had with this Ranka and to be honest I hardly understood it myself. I couldn’t exactly go around hating everyone who had a fancy for Draven but deep down I knew this was different. She didn’t just fancy him, she was in love with him and that burning desire and drive for love returned was a powerful thing indeed. After all it hadn’t stopped me back when I thought Draven was about to marry that bitch Celina.

  I put my head under the spray and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the most important factor in all this and that was how much I wanted to admit to trusting Draven. Yes, he had lied in the past and in the most horrific of ways. But I knew the reasons and when you break them down and start putting yourself in that position, then things become clearer. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for Draven and other than killing another person, especially one I loved then it was hard to find a list. That isn’t saying that there wouldn’t be anything on it but without getting off track with my thoughts, the point remained that to save Draven’s life, I only had to ask myself a very simple question…

  Would I leave him?

  If one of the Gods dropped into this shower right now and told me that Draven would die if I didn’t leave him…what would I do? I couldn’t say as a certainty as thankfully it hadn’t happened, but after the screaming in shock had ended, I could imagine I would pack my bags and leave. It would break my heart without question but love sometimes pushes you against the grain, chopping you into little pieces so you can’t even see it anymore…Draven was my grain. But what if it meant sacrificing a piece of it so that you could save the tree.

  What if that piece of someone you had to give up, was the piece of yourself that they fell in love with. That’s what Draven did and I couldn’t blame him for it anymore. So asking myself the question on if I trusted him or not, then it became one of the hardest answers to find. The only certainty I had was that Draven loved me and would stop at nothing to keep me safe and if that meant sacrificing himself to do it, then I knew without question he would. Which meant only one thing…

  I couldn’t trust him.

  It was like Pip had said,

  ‘When it comes to those we love, we protect them any way we can and if it’s a harmless little white lie or trying to keep them from what they deem as unnecessary hurt, then what harm is really done if they do it out of love not malice.’

  The problem with that was what if the other person didn’t want to live in this world without the person they loved beside them. Understandably not many people get the choice…but what if you did? What if you had a choice to keep them for as long as you could, even if meant giving yourself to the mercy of the Gods below and above early?

  I had to believe there was something more for us than this constant threat of being ripped apart and I couldn’t feel this way anymore. I couldn’t torture myself whenever he was gone, believing him never coming back as no doubt he was doing as well. To be fair on myself I wasn’t exactly the one that kept walking away but more like being taken. Oh God this was so confusing! And now there were these damn baby thoughts that had been planted in my head to deal with and Draven’s freak out over them. But more importantly, there was what Draven still needed to tell me to worry about. Which got me thinking, was that the reason he had disappeared for the day…?

  “Was he avoiding me?”

  After asking myself this aloud I decided to shake away my thoughts and tried to focus on the fun day ahead. And if one thing was for sure, if I wanted distracting, then I was going shopping with the perfect duo. But before that there was something I needed to do. So I dried myself, gave my hair a once over with a hairdryer and applied minimal makeup before taking a deep breath and facing what I had come to loathe. And this was just another reason I hated that Draven had forgotten about how much I hated this.

  He had suggested we move rooms or maybe remodel the whole room if it might help but I had told him no. I knew I needed to get over it and move on but it was almost like living in a house after discovering a dead body there. How long was it before you stopped seeing the image that haunted you and it simply went back to being the harmless room it used to be?

  Maybe it was for the best as I couldn’t rely on Draven to be there every time I wanted to get dressed. It still stung though that he had forgotten.

  “You can do this.” I told myself walking up to the place it all happened and a chill crept its way up my body, knowing deep down it wasn’t just affecting me but Katie as well. Then I took a deep breath and pushed open the door to Draven’s and my dressing room. Draven had smashed every mirror in here shortly after I was taken and thankfully they had not yet been replaced, nor would they ever if I had any say about it.
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  I took my first steps inside and once I was through the door frame I grabbed what I needed in a rush, in no way wanting to linger. I don’t think I took a breath the whole time I was in there so no wonder I was gasping for air by the time I reached the bed. I threw the clothes down, bent over slightly and with a hand to my pounding heart tried to regain composure.

  “It’s just a fucking room Keira, get a grip!” I said getting angry with myself. But that’s where I was wrong. It wasn’t just a room at all. It was a symbol of the unsuspecting destruction that was waiting in the shadows for us to walk past. Aurora was still out there on her pursuit for world domination with her Uncle Cronus. The prophecy still loomed right alongside the threat of the apocalypse they wanted to bring with them, punishing the Earth and all who inhabited it.

  If anything it just felt like borrowed time and as we were forced to wait there was nothing to do but live as though none of it were true. We all knew it was coming but not knowing when was almost as bad as if we did. And with the Oracle still missing that also meant so was our only link to the Fates.

  With nothing to do but act the part then that’s what we did and now was no exception. So with this in mind I decided I couldn’t do that in a towel, no matter how funny Pip would no doubt find it. I got dressed in stonewash jeans that flared around the leg but were tighter around the bum and I was glad I skipped breakfast or I would have had to have gone back in there to get another pair. I grabbed the top I had pulled off the hanger and ripped off the tag that was still attached holding it up to see it in more detail. It was a sweater made from thin lightweight material with long sleeves that hung from the shoulder like bat wings. The design on the front was little grey stars on pale pink fabric that bunched together made a bigger star. I pulled it over my head and naturally pulled up the sleeves, which was when I first noticed something.

  I hadn’t been wearing my fingerless gloves recently and it wasn’t just when I was inside Afterlife but outside as well. I had to wonder if this could be put down to my time spent as Katie? I knew that her reasons for the scars were what she believed was from the car accident, one it turned out she had died in as a child with her twin sister. Could it then be possible that because there was no guilt or shame surrounding them that it never mattered to her about showing them to the world. Because in the end if you don’t judge yourself then you have no reason to believe others will. Which begged the question…