Afterlife (Afterlife Saga)

by Stephanie Hudson

  She marched right over to me and hugged me but this time being more careful of my body that was slowly turning different shades of blue and purple.

  “Thank you,” she whispered in my ear and she turned to her brother and said sweetly,

  “Take care of her brother,” before leaving with Vincent through the door they came in, leaving me alone with Draven. His hand caught a stray tear that fell down my cheek and I turned to face him.

  “Why didn't you tell me?” He asked softly as he was examining the shallow cut on my neck from Morgan's blade.

  “I guess because I didn't think it was that big of a deal and after nearly a lifetime of seeing your kind...well now I understand it. It doesn't affect me any more like it used to.” This was the truth, after years of not understanding why me? Well now I knew why and all those years of tears and being frightened...now I knew there was a reason for it and the reason was for the man I loved!

  “Anyway, so what's the diagnosis Doc?” I said trying to add a bit of humour to the situation but he just frowned at me.

  “You’re a mess!” He said with frustration and I winced at this.

  “Is it that bad?” I said giving him my best wide-eyed puppy look which amazingly seemed to work as his eyes softened and the crease on his forehead smoothed.

  “Still beautiful but a mess all the same, but I will soon fix that. Hold very still, ok?” He said as his hand went to my neck as I gathered he needed an open wound for it to work. I couldn't help but close my eyes as I felt the heat rush through my body using my veins to travel. I arched my body and my head fell backwards at the intense feelings produced. Draven lowered me back on the bed so my head could have support. I could feel every muscle in my body relax as the new energy inside me worked as my new blood started to heal me. My feet stretched out as it made it's way down to them and I could almost feel the cuts close up giving me a tingling feeling just like pins and needles.

  It made me feel drunk with euphoria with my mind swimming in an ocean of warm energy making my skin change from warm to cold, over and over, again and again. It was Draven's hand that brought me back to reality. His hand slid up my side creating a different blissful feeling, one I wanted more than air. I let out a moan and the sound of his laughter made me open my eyes to find him smiling down at me.

  “Feeling better I presume?” He said with a cocky grin.

  “Yeah I'll say! Thanks for that but did you have to make me horny when I look like this?” I said laughing and covering my face with my hands to conceal my red cheeks.

  “I wasn't aware it had that effect and there is nothing wrong with the way you look.” Was he joking? I looked down at what he could see. It was just as if the night had never happened! I was wearing the dress as though I had just put it on minutes ago. I sat up making my head spin slightly.

  “Careful!” He warned but I was just amazed to find not only my dress intact but also my hair was the same as it had been, I could even feel the makeup that Sophia had put on me. It was as if I had never left the club! I laughed as my skin was now glowing a healthy shade rather than the red and bruised it had been.

  “You’re good!” I teased turning to face him smiling. He just shrugged his shoulders as if it had been no trouble but I could see the hidden smile behind that confident expression.

  “I will be expecting a reward, not everything I do for you is free.” He teased back as he placed his hands on my face pulling my lips to his. As soon as I tasted his mouth I inhaled his scent making it hard to breath. I could feel the energy that was still inside me, bursting with desire to have him take me. But almost as soon as I thought it his hands released me and I let out a moan of a different kind, which he laughed at.

  “I don't think we should push your body any more tonight, it has been through enough and with you looking like that I don't think I could control myself.” He said swallowing hard as his eyes scanned my body with hungry lust. I frowned at him and my disappointment was as clear as day.

  “Don't look at me like that Keira, you need rest not a body workout!” He got up and left me on the bed as if to help control himself. A control I was trying to destroy like it was my enemy and boy, I knew just how to do it!

  “Fine, if you won't give me what I want!” I said before doing the unthinkable. I lay back down and started to lift my skirt slowly feeling the warm skin on the inside of my legs. I moved my fingertips up them slowly and I licked my lips and closed my eyes, as I got closer up to where my pleasure burned. My head went back on the pillow and I arched my body before getting there.

  I heard a low growl before I felt my wrists being restrained above my head and Draven now on top of me. He held me down pressing them hard into the pillows above. I couldn’t keep the satisfied grin from my face.

  “Nobody pleasures this body but me...do you understand?” He ground himself against me making me bite my lip in response.

  “Answer me Keira!” He commanded in that velvet voice that had my head spinning with incoherent thoughts. He pushed against my sweet spot again making me moan and writhe under him.

  “Keira!” He warned, this time in a deeper voice.

  “Yes...oh yes” I panted.

  “And you say you’re not a temptress,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my neck still keeping me restrained. Moments ago this would have hurt like hell but after Draven's energy was transferred inside me, my body felt stronger than ever before, and well, I wanted to show off my new power. Although the power of seduction I had in mind had quickly turned tables on me.

  “It's not my fault if you’re weak,” I said before biting him playfully on the neck making him let out his own moan, which was more satisfying to hear than I could ever explain.

  “You’re right. I am weak with you in control!” He said before ripping my fresh new dress off my body leaving me in just the deep purple underwear I had picked for this occasion. This was done to prove that actually, I was not as in control as I acted. His eyes scanned every material covered curve and for once he was the one to bite his lip first. This made his Demon form erupt and I could clearly see the same energy flow through his veins that now flowed through mine. He looked up at me with purple fire in his eyes.

  “Scared?” He said through an evil, wicked grin as he pulled me up by my arms to his face.

  “Terrified” I mocked back before crushing my lips to his in excitement. My legs wrapped around his waist and I held my body there using my new strength with ease. His hands held my backside and lifted me the right height before lowering me down as another kind of energy filled me. I let out a burst of moans not wanting to contain my bliss from him making his teeth find my shoulder. He held my skin in his mouth trying to fight the urge to bite down, so when I turned my neck to one side, I made the decision for him as his teeth sank into my skin making the pain quickly turn into the most amazing sensation. He tongue sealed the bite as he licked me, sending tingles down my neck and back making me shiver under his hold.

  As it got more and more intense he pushed our bodies up against the wall behind the bed pinning me against the wooden frame. Again I thought this would have hurt me if his power inside me wasn't making me stronger and able to accept his Demon form making love to me now.

  His wings help him push into me and with every deep thrust his feathers shivered in a stimulated sequence. He held his entire body flush with mine, moving away only to pound himself back into me, making me scream with the building pressure. It felt like his steel arms were the only thing keeping me from exploding and floating away.

  “Say you're mine Keira!” He growled in my neck. I couldn't believe he wanted me to speak now. I tried but I couldn't think about anything other than what his body was doing to mine.

  “Say it! Speak the words NOW!” He was losing control and my body trembled under his hold as his Demon voice vibrated the last word on my skin.

  “Y..yes...I'm Yoursss!” I screamed out as my orgasm rocketed to the surface and shot out of me thundering my insides.


  “MINE!” He roared throwing his head back like a wild animal as he too found his release.

  Time had been lost as our bodies were locked in ice and fire of sexual energy and when he finally laid me down to allow my body to convulse with exploding ecstasy, I knew it had finished.

  “Did I hurt you?” His worried voice brought me back to his arms and his hands that were exploring my shoulder for any marks he'd left. I grabbed his hand and placed it over my beating heart.

  “Not unless this gives out on me!” I said laughing as it felt it would beat right through my skin. He brushed back my hair that had fallen in front of my face and kissed my wet forehead.

  “I would never let that happen.” He said softy as if the very thought of it hurt him to think about.

  “Draven I have to ask, how did you find me?” I said as it was something that I had been wondering ever since I saw him outside the cabin.

  “While you were fooling Sophia into believing that phone call had been nothing, I was with Takeshi when I first realised what was going to happen.” He sat up to face me ready to tell me what happened on his side while I was being taken by Morgan and Sammael.

  “See Takeshi is one of the Guardians, he is a powerful Angel that has a unique foresight of our kind. I had him watching out for signs of Sammael's activities but he was being blocked by his power. Until of course Sammael showed him what he wanted me to see” He spoke as he played with a curly strand of my hair that hung down my bare shoulder.

  “What did he see?” I asked as if I was listening to a fairytale more than the horror story it had been.

  “He saw me and Sammael fighting in the forest but he couldn't make out a precise location but he knew it was going to be tonight. Well as soon as I saw what he saw, it suddenly hit me that I couldn't feel you any more, as if you were no longer in Afterlife. It was soon confirmed, as by the time I got back to the table as you were nowhere in sight. I went a bit insane at Sophia.” He said looking guilty at his memories, so I didn't ask, although I wanted to.

  “She told me how you had a phone call from Frank and she explained the story you told her. I have to say I am slightly impressed at your acting skills, knowing what a bad liar you usually are, for you to fool a demon like Sophia, well that is a power in its own right!” He said making my cheeks red from the intense stare his dark eyes gave me.

  “Don't misunderstand I am still extremely angry at you for disobeying me like that! What were you thinking?” He asked lifting my chin up as I hung my head in shame.

  “I'm sorry, but I knew you would never have let me go and I thought my sister needed me! She means the world to me Draven and when I was found in the hospital after being held by Morgan, she was there for me...she took a flight that night to get to me, so she could be there when I woke up!” I said getting tearful from the memory.

  “I understand, but why didn't you wait for me?”

  “Would you have let me go?” I said already knowing the answer to this question.

  “NO, of course not but I would have checked it was authentic and then driven you there myself if it was the truth.” To this I had no argument, at the time all my common sense went out of the window, being replaced by blind love for my sister.

  “You have to promise me right now, you will never do that to me again! I have never been so worried in all my life and trust me when I say that is a lot of years!” His fingers held on to my skin as though never wanting to part with me ever again.

  “I promise I will be more careful next time.”

  “Next time? Why do you plan on getting kidnapped again anytime soon?” He said sarcastically tilting his head to one side.

  “Well no, but this is me we’re talking about...magnet for trouble remember?” I said playfully flicking him on the nose but he just shook his head at me.

  “That won't happen again Keira!” He said this as a warning to all that may try as I remember when he first told me about the dangers I would face for being the one he loves.

  “So what happened next?” I asked, trying to bring him back down from his heavy breathing at the thought of me being taken again.

  “Well, when I rang Frank and he told me everything was fine and how he hadn't called, that's when I knew Sammael had used Frank’s voice to lure you into his trap. So to say I saw red would be a huge understatement, I was blind with rage! I had the club searched for any clues but there was no trace! I had Ava searching the skies to find you but there was nothing.” His eyes flickered purple as he remembered the feeling, then they grew softer at the next part of the story.

  “Then that boy Jack came forward. He was trying to get up here to see me, he was trying to sneak in when one of my men caught him. He was shouting about you and I had him brought to me at once. That's when he explained and handed me your note, which honourably he hadn't read. This is what saved your life!” He said as my mind went to Jack and how hard that must have been for him to do and from the look of things Draven knew this too.

  “This was all Takeshi needed to fit that last piece to his vision. He saw Sammael using the policeman's body as a host and then he was able to see the cabin. The rest you know....” He said about to finish this last sentence on my lips. Then the terrible thought came to my mind and I shouted,

  “What about the policeman Andy, I mean the real one?” Draven frowned as if he really didn’t want to tell me but when I nudged him he lowered his eyes before telling me the sad truth.

  “Keira, I am sorry to tell you this but he is dead. Sammael killed him before entering his body days ago. There was nothing we could have done to change this.” I could feel the tears well up at the thought of anyone but Morgan to have lost his life during these terrifying events but it made it all the worse because it was a good friend of Franks. He was going to be crushed!

  I closed my eyes and Draven caught the tear that ran from one and then kissed me softly as though I could break at any moment. Then my mind raced back to another fear, as it seemed to be my night for causing problems.

  “But wait, what about Celina?” I said pulling away from him, which he didn't like at all, as his eyebrows knitted together and his strong jaw line flexed. So before he answered, he pulled my head closer to finish the kiss. This made me want to chuckle, after all Draven was very much used to getting his own way. He then continued after his lips left mine.

  “Yes, well the boy...sorry, I mean Jack, well he saw Celina.”

  “Oh no, poor Jack!” I said feeling even more guilty at the trouble I had caused everyone. How could I have been so stupid, I should have given it to Mike or Jerry, anyone but Jack!

  “Do not worry yourself, I have taken care of it.”

  “And what does that mean?” I said getting a bad feeling about what had been done to Jack.

  “Give me some credit Keira, I am not going to harm the boy who helped me save the most important thing in my life! No, I took your advice and allowed the boy to find closure. I allowed Celina time with him to explain her reasons. So ok, not the full truth behind them, but close enough for him to move on.” At this I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him all over.

  “Thank you” I said at seeing the softer side to Draven's humanity come out. He held the back of my head with his strong hand as he rested my head in its little nook next to his bare shoulder. I couldn't help but be happy that at least one good thing had come out of tonight's events but I wasn't about to disclose my feeling on this to Draven, who would in no doubt disagree with me on the matter.

  “Can I ask something else?” This was a question I had wanted to know since I had told Draven the truth about my past.

  “Of course!” He said as if he would give me anything I asked for.

  “How did you find out about my past and... why?” I leant away from him, wanting to judge his expression for the answers he gave.

  “What brought this on?” He said but I frowned and shook my head.

  “Let’s just say that after tonight I want to find my own closure but
first I would like some answers so that I can move on.” He nodded taking this as what it was...something I needed.

  “All right, what would you like to know first?”

  “Why....I mean, why go to all the trouble?” I asked looking down at my arms and found the marks that Sammael had made were now gone.

  “Keira, after the very first time I saw you in the forest, I did everything in my power to find out all about you. I needed to know, but of course you had changed your name so you made this difficult...even for me! I couldn't understand at first why I couldn't find anything, then I realised you were hiding something when you never came to work without gloves. You even slept with them on and I knew the reasons you gave were false.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked looking confused but he smiled as though this was amusing.

  “You would always say you were cold or had bad circulation, but Keira I could feel the blood around your body and the warmth of your skin to know this wasn't true. Just as I can feel the heat in your cheeks now with your embarrassment.” Of course, this made it worse even thinking about it, which just made him laugh.

  “You don't know what that does to me, every time I came near you I would watch the blood turn your soft skin into a rose I couldn't touch...It was close to unbearable, as all I wanted was to have you for myself but I couldn't as you weren't yet mine to have. So I needed to find out everything. I would have Sophia drill you for any information she could get but you never gave away anything about your past. So I had to be content with knowing your likes and dislikes.” His face fascinated me like he was looking back at each day and I thought back to all the times I wished I knew things about him. Of course I didn't have the means like he did.

  “So how did you finally find out?” I asked, as he looked lost in my eyes.

  “After that night you got stabbed, all my fears about you working the VIP came true and I knew I would have to hurt you to protect you. It was the only way and it worked better than I could ever have imagined.” His deep eyes looked like the midnight ocean as the memories came back. I placed my hand on his face bringing his eyes to meet mine.