Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “So how about your sister Sophia?” I asked as I let him lead me down the grand looking hallway.

  “Ah, now that’s where I think our parents must have got it wrong as her name means ‘Holy Wisdom’ in Ancient Greek but don’t tell her I said that.” I laughed at his teasing and could tell from the way he said it that he and his brother obviously adored their sister.

  I followed him down the endless corridors, quickly realising this place was huge! I knew that if I ever had to walk this mansion alone that I would easily get lost in its maze of stone walls.

  “It’s not as daunting after you have done it a few times.” Vincent said as if reading my thoughts.

  “Seriously, do you guys have like mad observation skills or something, or do I just have one of the most expressive faces this side of the US?” I said not adding on the part where I thought they might all be physic.

  “Just blessed I guess.” He said grinning and if he hadn’t have been looking I would have rolled my eyes as I thought ‘yeah, they were certainly blessed alright!’ I quickly felt colour invade my cheeks as I then thought back to what his brother had done to me only moments before he’d left and had to agree that he was most certainly blessed in the downstairs department.

  “Are you alright?” I asked Vincent as once again he started coughing.

  “Yeah, it’s just the dry air.” He said and with where my naughty thoughts were I knew I had the opposite problem in between my thighs.

  “Oh, by the Gods, woman.” I heard him mutter something under his breath but I could barely make out what.

  “Excuse me, did you say something?”

  “I said that I think we should hurry, don’t you? Dom will be waiting.” He ground this out and it was the first time since meeting him that he seemed to have lost some of his steely calm.

  “Yes and no wonder.” He walked ahead muttering something more and I had to jog to catch up.

  “Something I said?” I muttered back before we approached the door at the end.

  “Is he in there?” I asked almost panting with the speed he had been walking.

  “Yes he is….thank the Gods.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t catch that last…part…oh my.” I said as he opened the door to a magnificent, long room that was surrounded by marble. Table tops and plinths that held carved marble figures I couldn’t quite make out framed the room along the walls and a grand fireplace I could have lived in was at the centre of the room. Multiple chairs and sofas were situated around the fireplace, where most of the heat could be appreciated and rich reds and golds stood out against all the pale stone coming from the soft furnishings.

  But this wasn’t the most striking feature in the room, or the most terrifying for me right now, it was the biggest wooden table I had ever seen. But, it wasn’t the fact that it seemed like the focal point of the room or the fact that it was big enough to hold forty people around it… it was however, the twelve people it did hold around it that I found most terrifying and they were all currently staring at me in awe. Every single person stood up at the same time, creating an echo in the vast room of the sound of wooden chairs being pushed against the stone floor.

  “Uh…I don’t think I can do this.” I whispered to Vincent, feeling that same strange sense of déjà vu creep over me again.

  “You will be fine.” Vincent said closing the door behind me and standing at my only exit, no doubt in case I decided to bolt.

  “Come to me, Sweetheart.” I looked to the top of the table and I released a pent up breath of anxiety when I saw Draven stood there waiting for me. I did as I was told and walked slowly past everyone sitting around, watching me as if they too had been waiting for me.

  “Uh…sorry if we are late.” I said nervously, as if I needed to make my apologies. Most of them gave me warm looks and respectful head nods but looking at them all, one by one and I don’t think I had ever seen so many diverse people all in one place in my entire life, which, I grant you wasn’t hard considering I grew up at the Colony.

  When I finally made it round to Draven I felt instantly better when he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I was surprised he was displaying such affection in front of what must have been all of his employees or something. I gathered as much considering he had been sat at the top of the grand table in what was an even grander chair.

  Actually from where I now stood I looked down to see it was in fact a solid stone throne made from pure white marble that had blood red veins branching out all around it. It was an incredible work of art in its own right, including the tall arched back that held a fiery coloured glass, featuring a strange symbol at its centre.

  “Be seated.” Draven commanded the room and I looked around to find enough spare chairs, so I took a step away from him and said,

  “I will just grab a…” I was quickly cut off as Draven’s hands gripped my waist, pulled me back and sat down. I had nowhere else to go other than to follow him down, which meant his lap became my seat.

  “You will stay right where you should always be.” Draven said running his hand down my loose hair in affection. Vincent then walked over to the empty chair on his brother’s right and before sitting down he informed him,

  “Never again, Brother.” Draven placed a hand on Vincent’s shoulder and after a moment of what seemed like great concentration Draven burst out laughing.

  “Don’t worry, I will send Sophia next time.” He replied and I frowned, hoping this ‘never again’ wasn’t referring to me. I thought back to everything that was said since Vincent walked through Draven’s door up until this point and I knew I was just being paranoid. It wasn’t like I had dropped my foot in it at any point or made the brief journey unpleasant for him.

  “Miss me, did you?” Draven whispered in my ear and I blushed when his hand squeezed the top of my thigh, making it obvious what he meant with that question. I was shocked at his behaviour in front of everyone, wondering what type of business he was into anyway, as this didn’t look like your typical boardroom meeting.

  Or maybe I had got it all wrong and he was part of some elite, special forces group that helped get out and save hostages or prevent world domination from terrorist groups with bombs. Thinking about it now with the easy way he had talked about murdering those responsible, it would make sense if that was the type of thing he was used to. It was this or he was some billionaire Bruce Wayne type that had one, two, three…a lot of sidekicks.

  “See what I mean.” Vincent muttered to Draven and I heard him chuckle behind me as he pulled me closer to him.

  “I think it’s cool and I am half tempted to set it up.” Sophia said who was sat on Draven’s left and I had no clue as to what any of them were talking about…had I missed half of the conversation?

  “Katie, I would like to introduce you to my council.” Draven said ignoring his sister and starting the meeting. I looked around to each chair and tried not to react badly at how much they intimidated me. I think it was only Sophia, the oriental dude and one other woman with lovely but mad orange hair, that didn’t frighten me. The rest of them I could split between two groups and that was either biker bad boy scary and just plain wet my pants scary!

  I heard Draven sigh at my back and say,

  “Please, if everyone could introduce yourselves, then I think that may help.”

  “Well you know by now I am Sophia, and this hunk on my left is my husband Zagan but don’t let his pale complexionfool you, he’s actually blushing right now.” She said mischievously. I looked to the man that was clearly an Albino and was surprised to find this was her husband. Although she was right, his ghostly skin didn’t detract from his handsome features and the tattoo that snaked through the scar on his face only gave him a sexy edge.

  “Moving on.” Draven said curtly, sounding strangely unhappy and there were a few sniggers in the room. Zagan gave me a kind smile and nodded in what looked like appreciation and it was almost as though I had voiced my compliments to him aloud.

&nbs
p; “Takeshi, My Qu…Dear.” The oriental one said graciously and as he bowed his head in respect I wondered what he had almost called me. Moving on to the next person and I would have said I was back at the fair as the only way to describe him was as a jester that was trying not to be one.

  “Hello Cookie.” He said waving his hand and he was wearing red leather, fingerless gloves, so I could see that his nails were painted black. He also had long blood red hair that was slicked back and tied at the base of his neck, where his high collared, black tight top curled up. The outfit matched the strange, thin black lines painted through his eyes and also down the centre of his chin and neck. He looked like some attractive clown that held an air of arrogance about him, one you wouldn’t expect to find in someone whose sole purpose was to entertain.

  “She’s got a point dickhead.” A massive black guy said and there was nothing funny about the way he looked.

  “I’m Orthrus by the way…and pencil dick over there is Marcus.” The Jester, who I now knew was named Marcus merely flipped him the bird and said,

  “And we all know how the real pencil dick belongs to Mr Walking Steroid.”

  “What did you say to me?!” The black guy roared banging his fist on the table.

  “Fuckin idiots!” Muttered one of the biggest guys in the room as there was only one man bigger than him and he was most definitely the scariest of them all.

  “Sucks to be you, old man.” He added chuckling after I thought this and meanwhile the other two were still bickering. I was left bewildered at half of this bunch that were actually acting like unruly teenagers.

  “Well thought, Lille øjesten” The big guy said nodding making his hood move back slightly.

  “She means you too, Snake Ass!” The black guy name Orthrus said and with that type of name I had to wonder where he was from.

  “Ha, wouldn’t that be an interesting conversation between the two of you.” Marcus said laughing and I was quickly losing the plot.

  “Cerberus, if you will please control your men.” I heard Draven say from behind me as if he was close to losing his temper.

  “Gladly.” The man Draven had aimed this at growled the word and it was a sound that really did terrify me. He was, like most sat around the table, a very handsome man but this being said, it was in a different way entirely. If there was one word I would use to describe this man, it would be…raw. Hard lines, and rough edges through and through and when he spoke, he was definitely used to being obeyed for it was clear he was in charge of the rowdy bunch.

  “Speak your fucking names and be done with it!” He snapped and his silver eyes seemed to flash with something darker lurking behind them. I couldn’t help but shift closer to Draven at my back, needing to feel safe.

  “Marcus.”

  “Orthrus.”

  “Hi I’m Smidge.” The girl with orange hair was the only one who didn’t snap this out like the other two.

  “Chase…howdy” Said the stocky one with a nice smile.

  “Otto.” The one sat next to him said.

  “And I am Jared Cerberus. It’s good to see you, Kitten.” He said winking and making Draven growl low at my back. I whipped my head round and whispered,

  “Did she know all of these people?” He knew what I was asking him and after another sigh he said,

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “I thought Bill was to remain in your Council, Cerberus?” Draven said, once more back to his commanding tone.

  “He is on a mission but will join us in a few days.” I looked back to Draven who had one eyebrow raised but whatever he wanted to say, another voice spoke.

  “Can we move this shit along before I grow even older…Hey øjesten, I’m Sigurd, that big scarred guy over there is Leivic and this scary guy sat right next to me is Ragnar…good, now we all know each other again.” He said sarcastically making the ‘Scary guy’ next to him snarl.

  “Show some respect boy! My Lord I apologise once more for my son’s lack of respect.”

  “Seriously old man, doesn’t that ever get old?” The hooded one said and I was still stuck on all I was learning. Like for one, Draven was a Lord!?

  “Well I knew it would be entertaining.” Sophia said wryly and Vincent responded with,

  “Not now Sister.” Making her laugh.

  “Silence!” Draven shouted, finding he had hit the end of his patience. Just then the door opened and I couldn’t believe there were even more people here ready to join…whatever this was.

  At the first sight of them I shouted,

  “Pip, Adam! You’re alive, oh thank God!” I was so happy to see them and just before I could turn around and tell Draven who they were someone else walked in behind them.

  “Uh…Luc?”

  “Hello Little Katie Girl.” He said in that confident tone of his as he walked past Adam and his wife. It was at this moment that my mind started to go into overtime and as the pieces of the puzzle started to fit into place I knew this was going to get bad.

  “Oh shit” I said, knowing I should have just kept my mouth shut. But as everything he told me about his friend’s wife came slamming back to me, it became one of the puzzle pieces, including the fact that he had feelings for her. But this wasn’t the worst part about any of it…or the fact that I now realised I was the bloody wife and Draven was his friend…

  No, none of it was as bad as what had happened on the bus together. As bad as that amazing kiss we shared…

  My first ever kiss.

  Quickly Luc made a clicking noise with his tongue and said,

  “Ah honey, you just had to do it, didn’t you?” Then directly after this there was an almighty roar as Draven erupted behind me and my hands flew to my ears to help with the demonic bellow that came from somewhere hellish inside of him.

  Suddenly I was plucked out of Draven’s lap by Vincent and he spun me around, protecting me as I heard Draven’s threat that was more than clear…

  “I will fucking kill you this time, Lucius!”

  Chapter 25

  The Scary Truth

  “I will fucking kill you this time, Lucius!” Draven’s roar of fury was followed by Vincent picking me up from his lap and spinning me around, but something unexpected happened. The second he touched me light exploded around us and I slammed my eyes shut against the blinding light. I moaned in his arms that were wrapped around me and when I finally opened my eyes, expecting to see the chaos around me, all I saw were feathers.

  “What’s happening?” I whispered as I reached out a hand and ran my fingertips against the soft feel of pure white wings. Wings that were wrapped around me from behind and came straight from the Angel at my back. I could barely believe this was happening…had I passed out again and was now dreaming?

  “Vincent?” I said his name and turned in his arms to stare at him. With one look at his face I knew,

  “I’m not dreaming am I?”

  “No darling, I am afraid you’re not.” He said gently as if breaking this news to me would cause me mental damage. And I suppose he was right, considering what I decided to do next turned out to be a very stupid thing.

  After this I can honestly say the next few moments were the scariest moments in my life so far. It wasn’t because I was about to see two grown men fighting over a woman, that woman being me. No, it was because even though Vincent tried to hide me from the truth, with one single turn of my head I realised I had fallen in love with a Demon.

  It started very quickly after Luc had entered the room and I had no clue how but Draven knew something had gone on between us and that was enough. All it took was for me to mutter an innocent ‘Oh shit’ and that was it. Draven had transformed into the demon I had seen from my dreams and he was at Luc in the time it took for me to gasp.

  For Draven wasn’t the only one who had changed. He picked Luc up off the floor after I had no idea how he got there in the first place. Then he threw his body across the table, causing him slide towards us and Vincent only just managed to push
me out of the way before he slammed into him.

  “Come on Lille øjesten, let’s get you outta here.” I looked up from where I had fallen to see the colossal figure stood over me and I screamed! A black, shadowed serpent seemed to be circling him and snapping out, hissing like it was angry. I scrambled backwards getting away from him and he stepped forward saying,

  “Lille øjesten? What is wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me!?” I shouted nodding to his body and he looked down and asked in a horrified tone,

  “What can you see, girl?” I shook my head frantically trying to get away.

  “What have you done to her Sigurd!?” The one that was his father came over to ask him and as soon as he came into view I screamed yet again! Jesus Christ, this guy was a monster!

  “GET AWAY!” I shouted frantically but just as I made it to my feet ready to run, Luc was back on his feet and had snatched one of the marble plinths to use as a weapon against Draven. I had to duck out of the way and when I looked back up, Draven wasn’t the only demon fighting. Luc too had grown wings that looked like he had ripped them straight from a mighty phoenix. His eyes looked as if they had been injected with blood and the length of his fangs was as I saw them when he was fighting the men in the bathroom.

  Draven rolled, his own wings going with him as the plinth smashed into the floor, leaving destruction in its path. It was clear the two Demons were equally matched, either that or they could equally take a beating! Draven sprung back to his feet and kicked Luc squarely in his chest, sending him flying backwards. I sidestepped, yet again getting out the way.

  “Let’s get you out of here.” Sophia said and I turned thinking this was a good plan that was until I saw her face.

  “No! No, no, no…not you too!” I stammered at the terrifying sight that was cracked, caked skin and a mouth that had been slit up her cheeks. Black venom oozed from the cracks in her skin and around her eyes and mouth like blood overflowing.