Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “She can see you, Sophia!” Vincent shouted from across the room where he was now trying to contain his brother’s rage.

  “Oh by the Gods!” She uttered in horror, covering her mouth and taking a step back. Then her hand flew out as the one name Ragnar stepped forward. He was utterly monstrous to look at with his horned face and beast like eyes that seemed to want to draw out my nightmares so that he may feast upon them.

  “Calm yourself Kitten, no one is going to hurt you here.” The biker said trying to reach me slowly as I had started moving backwards trying to get away from them all! I looked to him and when I saw the face of many beasts trying to break free I shrieked in fear.

  “Holy Shit! What the Hell are all you people?!” Luc was stood the other side of me and could see what was going on as everyone seemed to crowd around as if ready to pounce.

  “Give her some fucking space!” He snarled out at them all before turning back to me,

  “Listen to me Katie, you need to concentrate, you need to fight this…focus on the sound of my voice and this will all go away…trust me, I will take care of yo…” Suddenly Draven broke free from his brother’s hold and charged.

  “She’s mine!” He roared at him before flying straight into him, knocking them both onto the floor and rolling in a heap. Draven came out on top and was currently pounding Luc’s head into the floor. Luc didn’t put up with this for long as he managed to crack a sideways punch across Draven’s jaw and it was enough for Luc to gain the upper hand.

  “She can fucking see us, you Asshole!” Luc shouted at him but Draven was far too lost in his rage to listen. He charged at him once more and took him off his feet until he ran straight into the table. There he body slammed him onto the solid wooden top, only for it to split straight down the middle. Then he ripped one of the winged statues from the fireplace and with crumbling stone raining from its base he held it high above Luc, ready to kill him.

  “Oh God!” I said putting my hands to my mouth just as Sophia had done and it was only when I uttered the question,

  “What in God’s name are you?” that he finally stopped, realising for the first time that I had witnessed everything. He was stood there panting in his torn clothes, wings out and still holding his weapon above his head.

  “Are you still my Draven?” I asked through the tears and this was enough to finally stop the madness. He lowered the statue and dropped it beside him, cracking the stone slabs underneath. The whole terrifying room was silent and the only sound made was coming from his heavy breathing and me trying to keep it together.

  For long moments everything stopped. I just stood there as he did as if we were both too afraid what the other one would do if we moved. Then Draven looked around the room at both the destruction he had caused and the room full of Demons he had allowed me to see. I saw the very moment he realised what his actions had caused as pain sliced through his features. His eyes that were once purple simmered back down to black and he folded his wings back in a subdued, more relaxed position.

  Then he did something that surprised me. He reached his hand out to Luc and with no hesitation, like I would have expected to see, he grasped the offered hand and let Draven pull him from the splintered wreckage.

  “You are in love with my wife?” Draven asked him and Luc quickly looked to me, when I inhaled sharply. He straightened his stance, looked me right in my tear filled eyes and said,

  “Yes.” I sucked in a shuddering breath and let even more tears fall, for somewhere deep inside of me knew what this meant. They knew the depth of this single word spoken and I cried for the loss of so many things.

  Draven winced against the torrent of emotions hearing this must have flooded him with and instead of tearing into him again he seemed to just accept it.

  “Yet you know she can never be yours.” He stated and it wasn’t done in an arrogant way but just in a way that told him I had sealed my fate long ago and there was no going back now…And not one single part of me would ever want to go back on that vow, not even after seeing him before me as he was now.

  Luc turned to face Draven side on and said,

  “I know, old friend.” Draven closed his eyes for a second, no doubt because of the pain he heard in Luc’s bitter acceptance and then after placing his hand on his shoulder he said,

  “Then it is done.” Luc nodded. The moment quickly passed for him and everyone else but there were still two people that had explaining to do, so I wasn’t surprised when Luc, knowing this, shouted,

  “Everyone out!”

  Draven and I didn’t watch as Hell’s creatures walked from the room. All we saw was each other as the door closed and left behind the fractured mind of a terrified girl that was so close to breaking entirely.

  “You didn’t answer my question.” I told him, finally finding my voice and I was shocked when it didn’t waver like I thought it would. He looked down at the floor for a moment as if trying to decide what he should do. I found something shocking in myself as I waited for what my answer would be and that was the longer I waited the more I started to panic. Not about what you would have expected after witnessing everything that just happened or finding out the truth about what these people were. It wasn’t what they could do to me, or what they would for that matter. No, it was nothing that questioned my survival or even my beliefs in this world. It was all centred around one thing…

  Around one man.

  Was he still my Draven?

  His answer first came in the actions he took as in only five long strides he was in front of me. He put both his hands on my face and told me the only thing I needed to hear,

  “I will always be your Draven.” And then he wrapped me in his wings and kissed me.

  After this emotional turn of events, Draven simply picked me up and carried me back to his bedchamber without either of us saying another word. Once there I quickly realised the food had been cleared away and the bed had been remade. He set me down on the couch taking a seat opposite me and ran a hand through his hair before saying,

  “Okay, so let’s start from the beginning.”

  This turned out to be a long beginning, and even longer middle and the end, well that was taking us into the night. But by the time we were done, we both knew a lot more than what we started with. So much so in fact Draven was ready to storm into the Colony right now and massacre the whole lot of them just to be sure he punished anyone that had ever hurt me.

  But even as I stated that we both knew a lot more, which was true, there was a lot that Draven held back and I could tell it wasn’t because he wanted to. There was still the issue of this other life of mine looming over us and a lifetime of history I didn’t remember wasn’t what I needed right now. Sure, I was buzzing with questions, but as much as I wanted to know there was an equal amount that I didn’t.

  So even though Draven explained it the best he could on how we met, this was a difficult task without delving too much into my past life. At one point he asked me how I got my scars and he seemed surprised when I simply held up my arms and said,

  “What these? Oh they were from the car wreck when Ari pulled me out. She has some too on her back.” He gave me a kind and tender look and then raised them both up to kiss all the way down the various lines. After this I knew there was definitely more to the scars than I first thought as he seemed both saddened and strangely pleased by my answer.

  So I continued on freely with my side of the story and he continued on restricted by his side. I managed to tell him most things about how Ari and I grew up and for a lot of it I could tell he struggled to hear all the pain we had suffered. I had only got as far as to tell him about my time at the Colony, not about when I escaped, which brought us to now and what I had to explain next.

  “I think they were Vampires, like Lucius.” I said his full name and this hadn’t been for the first time today, as during our talk, I had learnt all about the real ‘Luc’. I knew of the rocky past he and my other self had been through together but more importa
ntly, what we had overcome. And in the end, what he had done for me.

  “You mean these men you call the ‘Fathers’?” He asked pulling both my legs up and draping them over him when he saw me stretching them out from being sat so long. I smiled at how natural the act was, still not used to that type of caring attentiveness that came from a lover who cared deeply for you.

  “Yes. I mentioned about what we discovered they were doing to the girls every month…” I made a disgusted face at just thinking about it again. He nodded so I continued,

  “Well, when Ari and I found the cabin, we knew what they had in store for one of us and how walking away from the Colony was never going to happen, so we knew we had to get away.”

  “So that’s when you ran.”

  “Yes but…” I didn’t know how to finish as I had tried to block most of the details from my mind.

  “It’s okay, let’s just take a minute and continue…”

  “But that’s just it. I can only remember bits of what she said to me. She started acting crazy, telling me things I didn’t understand at the time but now looking back, I think she was trying to tell me something important, something that could have helped us.” I said after interrupting him and feeling as though by not remembering every word she had said, I was not only letting him down but I was letting Ari down as well.

  “I may have a solution to that but again you would have to trust me.”

  “I do.” I told him, squeezing his hand.

  “You know not what it means to me to have your trust and I can only hope my brother is rewarded with the same.” I gave him a confused look and asked,

  “Your brother? But what has he…?”

  “He is my solution.”

  “Oh” Was all I thought to say. Since the disastrous meeting I hadn’t seen anyone else as Draven thought it best not to until everything had been explained. I couldn’t say I was looking forward to seeing these people again but not for the reasons you would expect. It wasn’t through fear but through the utter shame I felt in my first reactions to seeing them in their ‘True form’ as Draven had called it.

  The very first thing Draven had done since entering the room was to explain about his world and the people in it, most of whom had been in that room. He also explained how, before I lost my memories, that I had been used to his world long before he had ever come into it.

  Then he continued to explain about my gift at seeing Demons and Angels in their natural forms, one I had been dealing with since the age of seven. He also had a theory that when I experienced Vincent’s touch when he was in ‘Angel protection mode’ which is what I named it, that this is what must have triggered it. I then in turn told him about the Gypsy and he in turn told me how she worked for Lucius.

  It all quickly started to slot together and make sense, so the next job after that was to teach me how to control it. I was shocked to find out he wasn’t really an expert on this and when I asked him who was he told me,

  “Well…you are.” When I questioned him he simply explained that I had learned how to control it by first drawing what I saw, which then managed to lock out the form until I chose to see it again. Then he told me how my gift continued to get stronger before pretty soon all I needed to do was,

  “Well, switch it on or off.” He grinned at me and it took me a moment to decipher what that look was, until I realised it was pride.

  However, other times it would be the choice of the supernatural beingI was encountering at the time. Or in some instances in which the power gets too great for the supernatural to control both elements of sorcery and hiding what those around them can see. Sometimes what happens or what you see can’t be hidden from the world as it’s too important and the Gods take over. Fate intervenes and decides for you. It’s just the way of their world Draven told me.

  If you asked me, it all sounded very hazy with the rules and confusing enough to make me realise that I just needed to focus first and then make sense of it later.

  Either way, after about half an hour of trying various different tricks he advised, I found it was only when the clock struck the hour that Draven’s form went back to the one I was most used to. I gathered it had something to do with when I listened carefully to the number of chimes as my back was to the clock and I wanted to know the time.

  “I did it!” I had shouted like an excited child finally finding the right answer to an equation and the praise I received from him came in the form of a kiss.

  “As I knew you would.”

  A little after midnight Vincent came in to find me yawning and half asleep on the couch. Draven had gone to fetch him and as soon as they both walked through the door I shot up.

  “I’m awake!” I shouted automatically like I would sometimes do at the Colony when hearing my mother/bane of my life, banging on my bedroom door.

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Vincent said chuckling. I sheepishly pushed my hair back behind my ears and said,

  “I’m so sorry about what happened earlier, I told Draven to apologise to your sister for me and…” At this point Vincent raised up his hand to stop me and said,

  “After what you have been through, your reactions were only natural. Everyone understands that there is a great difference between learning how to cope with a gift such as yours on a daily basis as opposed to having one thrust upon you in a room full of the world’s most powerful beings…fighting.” Vincent added this last word in reprimand aimed solely at his brother as he looked off to the side to where Draven stood. Draven cleared his throat and said,

  “Yes, well let’s get on with it should we.” Then he walked towards me putting his back to Vincent who then winked at me, making me giggle. Draven and I hadn’t discussed what happened back there between him and Lucius and to be honest, I think it was obvious enough that we didn’t need to. I had kissed Luc back in the bus before Draven and I had even met, so even though I felt some guilt, it wasn’t solely for Draven. Lucius, as I needed to start calling him, was simply a man in love with another man’s woman, and from what I gathered, had been for a long time. I had to ask myself then, what had gone on between him and my other self?

  My musings were quickly interrupted when Vincent came to sit down next to me.

  “Are you staying this time?” I was about to ask what Vincent meant when I realised he wasn’t speaking to me.

  “I will.”

  “Very well but Dom, please try and…”

  “I will control myself, just be gentle with her.” Draven replied and I shot him a quick look of panic.

  “As always.” His brother replied in a smooth, hypnotic voice that could have one believing you would sit back happy while he tortured you with a smile on his face and be asking you to do the same.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked him tentatively.

  “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. I am just going to access your memories to see if I can piece things together.” I nodded, thinking that didn’t sound so bad, so I gave him my hand.

  “Oh wait, umm…well you might see something that I had no choice but to do and it was to save my sister, so you will…”

  “She killed one of the bastards that hurt them.” Draven stated very matter of fact and I had to grant it to him, it sounded much better the way he said it. I looked up at him to see him standing next to me like a private guard with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Fair enough.” Vincent said and I coughed in surprise,

  “No offense, but that’s not very holy of you.” I commented in jest.

  “What can I say? I must get it from my father’s side.” Then he winked at me again and I instantly relaxed, which is what I think he was aiming for.

  “You have done this before…right?”

  “Yes, Katie, we have danced this tango before.” I laughed and said,

  “Oh good, because for a second there I thought…” I never got to finish before he suddenly made the connection. At first it felt like being plunged into an icy lake and for some reason my mem
ories started to show me just that. I was floating under water in the dead of night, trapped in an arctic cage. Then someone burst through the icy roof above me, shattering my prison and saving me from death…it was Lucius.

  I could feel my mouth opening and see in a fogged gaze the frozen breath escaping before being plummeted back through a series of memories I didn’t recognise. Flashes of ones appeared that I did know but they were few and far between the horrors my past life had been filled with. So many prisons, so many captors, so much blood lost. If I thought life at the Colony had been hard then this was something else. But amongst it all there was hope, there was strength and there was love. A tremendous amount of love that if I had been standing would have knocked me over.

  Pretty soon all visions that were shared between us became about the Colony and how I escaped. I didn’t hear what Ari was saying to me by the wall that night but I could see her lips moving. I cried out her name silently, mimicking what I had done that night before falling back onto the other side of the wall.

  This was the point I’d had enough and tried to pull away from him, knowing what he could possibly see if he hung on much longer.

  “Vincent?” I heard Draven’s voice as it was clear he must have seen the start of my distress but Vincent wasn’t ready to let me go. He held on through, skipping passed Lucy’s house, the fair, the gypsy, all of it until he finally found what he needed to see. It was the memory of him and Ari together. It started with how it did in the dream, with me walking in on Ari playing a glass piano and Vincent watching from the shadows.

  But then it suddenly changed.

  “Vincent stop! What are you doing?!” Draven shouted as he took over my own memory and banned me from seeing it. He took my dream from me until all that was left was a blank void as I was left staring into an empty nothingness.

  “I SAID STOP!” Draven’s command cut through his power over me and suddenly I was free.

  “By the Gods Vin, what were you…?”