Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “And now, it’s time for me to kill you, old friend!”

  Chapter 32

  Two Kings

  Seeing Draven again had me taking the first steps in running to him but Lucius had other ideas. He snagged me just as I took off and hauled me back against his chest. Then he banded an arm around my waist, holding me back and making Draven snarl at the sight.

  “No, let me go!” I shouted and tried to struggle free.

  “Not this day, little Keira girl,”Lucius whispered down to my ear with purpose and promise adding strength to his words. I closed my eyes against the pain of it all. It was tearing me apart being in the middle of this raging conflict and all I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs before running from it all. I wanted to tell them both that I belonged to no one in this time. That there was only one who I was destined for and he wasn’t named Septimus or Arsaces. No, the one true keeper of my heart was and would always be named…

  Dominic Draven.

  But what had I done? What had being here in this time cost me…what had it cost them? I couldn’t even comprehend what faced me when I returned and the weight of dire possibilities nearly crushed me. Would Draven know what I’d done? And if not, then how long did I have before he found out? I don’t know why I chose now to dwell on the consequences, maybe it was at the sight of the two men I cared for coming head to head with only my flesh in between.

  Draven cut the distance between us like a man possessed and at first, I didn’t think he would stop until he had torn me from Lucius’ arms. But stop he did. Then he issued his threat, one that came straight from his demon.

  “Give. Me. The. Girl.” I swallowed down the hard lump of panic at what Draven would to do to Lucius if he didn’t comply with his demands.

  “She doesn’t belong to you!” Lucius snarled back, tightening his hold on me instinctively. Draven roared at him and let his demon form take over. Purple flame pulsated under his skin, and travelled down the length of one bare arm, up his neck and seeped into eyes as black as night. He looked indestructible and dressed the way he was, you could add demonic warrior to the mix.

  His other arm was covered in overlapping black metal plates that looked tipped with silver at the points. Silver…another thing Lucius didn’t like. It couldn’t kill him but weaken him, yes. This was down to the thirty pieces of silver it was rumoured he took as the price for performing the ‘Kiss of Judas’. This was the signal he used for the Romans, so that they may seize the Son of God. Of course, I knew that this never happened, as did Jesus but unfortunately none of the rest of his disciples did as they made him choke on the silver when they hung him. Hence his aversion to the precious metal. Draven knew this of course and looked to be using it to his advantage. This included the silver tipped, wicked looking talons attached to the end of the gauntlet hand, that also seemed to be part of his armour.

  Oh yes, he had come here ready for a fight all right and I hadn’t missed the hint of chest armour beneath the black hooded cloak he had draped across his torso and over to one shoulder. A deadly blade hung down by his leg, one long enough that if straight, it would have touched the floor. Black trousers strapped with leather and knee-high metal leg guards completed the formidable look.

  “That is where you are wrong, for she is my Electus!” Draven replied and I looked down to where the sound of metal grating against metal could be heard, not surprised to find Draven clenching his gauntleted fist.

  “And you get this information from where, I wonder?” Lucius asked, donning a calmer voice this time.

  “You know where!” Draven snapped, only Lucius didn’t bite back with anger, no he remained in better control.

  “Enlighten me for I want to hear you say her name.”

  “I know not this game you play Lucius but I grow weary of it all the same, however, if it is a means to end this farce then so be it, for you will have your name!” Draven replied barely holding on to his rage enough to speak.

  “But my price?” Lucius asked, beating Draven to it. He raised a brow in question and Lucius scoffed,

  “Come, come, you look surprised, but do you so soon forget how well I know you?” Lucius replied with untrusting ease and again Draven nearly shook with fury and spat out,

  “Yes, but that knowledge died along with your loyalty!”

  “Yes, and back then my loyalty was earned, not betrayed,” Lucius replied now with an icy cool demeaner, only his last two words held the biggest clue to the root of his actions…he felt Draven had betrayed him?

  Draven looked taken aback by this and for a moment I thought I saw regret. But surely it was impossible, for Lucius couldn’t have known what Draven was hiding from him and would continue to do so for almost two thousand years.

  The Spear of Longinus, or better known as the spear tip that had pierced the side of Jesus, had rightfully been seen as belonging to Lucius. For he had been responsible for his death just as Jesus was responsible for his. So, in order to get back what he thought was owed to him by right, he wanted the spear so that he could gain more power from both sides…just as Draven had.

  So, he had been searching for the missing piece since his rebirth. But according to the Fates, Draven was told to withhold it from him until the right moment and that only presented itself when I died so that I could save Lucius. It had all been prophesied but right now, in this time, Lucius didn’t know any of this. Which then begged the question why exactly had their alliance crumbled now?

  “Ah, but you seem surprised, for surely you must know of which I speak?” Lucius commented and Draven crossed his arms over his chest and asked cautiously,

  “What is it you want Septimus?”

  “First, I want a name,” Lucius replied and I frowned not understanding what was happening.

  “Fine, you know my price, now let her go!” Draven barked and Lucius took a deep breath before I felt his arm loosen from me before dropping to his side. Then he took hold of my hand and spun me so that I was now behind him. I sidestepped about to go to Draven but one look towards him told me not to move as he gave me a small shake of his head. It was a warning?

  “Now say her fucking name!” This time Lucius lost his cool and his demon broke through. Draven looked torn for a moment but then one more glance at me and it was all he needed to make his mind up. I didn’t understand what was going on? Why was it so hard for him to just speak her name?

  “No Arsaces! Don’t do this brother!” I heard Sophia shout just before he could open his mouth. She revealed herself on the balcony, stepping out from one of the arches and then jumping down from the balustrades, landing as graceful as a cat.

  “If you do this, then there will be no going back, for none of us know the consequences of such a force,” Sophia warned as she mounted the steps slowly.

  “Then the girl is mine by rights, for if you refuse to summon her, then you have no choice but to accept the truth from me,” Lucius told him and Draven first looked to Sophia and then back to Lucius as if trying to seek the right answer.

  “What do you mean by truth? What claim over her do you think you hold rights to?” Draven asked and Lucius grinned before informing him and the rest of us the reasons why, dropping another prophecy sized bombshell on us all.

  “She is my Electus.” I sucked in a sharp, disbelieving breath and for a second all that could be heard was the echo of my shock.

  “Impossible,” Draven hissed. I shot a panicked look to Sophia to see her pause and close her eyes as if she knew this was coming.

  “So, you doubt the Fates now?”

  “The Fates, what have they…?” Draven questioned but was quickly cut off.

  “Who do you think it was that told me of such things?” Lucius stated firmly.

  “You lie!” Draven threw at him, slicing his armoured hand down through the air. Lucius released an annoyed sigh and then let him have it.

  “No, it is you that lie, to none other than yourself!” Lucius snapped taking a step closer to him, circling hi
m as he stated what he knew.

  “Do you really believe that I would act on such at a mere whim? Do you honestly believe that I had gone to such lengths as these for merely a passing fancy? Now you know what to do if you require your proof! Say her name and summon her here and hear it being spoken from lips that cannot lie, even when you believe that mine still would!” Lucius snarled this at him with a deep-rooted venom that had me doing as Sophia had earlier…but no matter how I closed my eyes I couldn’t blind myself to the pain I’d heard in Lucius’ voice.

  “No! Don’t do it brother, for you know we are not of this time and none of us can say what such a thing may cause.” Sophia again pleaded and Draven was once again left with no other option than to believe in Lucius’ words, as he didn’t want to chance it. So instead he asked him,

  “How…how did you…”

  “The day I left the palace I didn’t return to Rome as you had instructed,” Lucius replied.

  “You went in search of the Oracle?” Draven finished for him filling in the blanks and sounding outraged that his order had been disobeyed.

  “I did,” he said with a mere shrug of his shoulders.

  “But that is impossible! No-one but I know of her whereabouts,” Draven said but Lucius made a tut, tut sound and informed him,

  “You’re not the only one with spies Arsaces, or even greater power at their disposal.” I quickly thought to Dariush and wondered if he had something to do with this? Then I looked around and it was the first time I had noticed that he had disappeared. So, Draven wasn’t the only one keeping secrets it seemed.

  “But why, what made you seek her out…why now Septimus?” Draven asked in a strained voice that had been found in the shadows of their lost friendship.

  “She saved my life and gifted me the Venom of God. For you know what that means as such a thing can only be given, not taken simply by feeding on her.” Well that explained one thing I hadn’t even thought about until now. Why had I never questioned why Draven hadn’t ended up with the Venom of God when feeding from me?

  “I know that she holds the blood of the First. How or why I do not know,” Draven said and this was obviously something that he had held back from asking me. But I couldn’t get away from the look he gave me as it felt like a back-handed slap given to someone through betrayal. Sophia shot me a look of concern as if silently asking if I was okay. It gave me strength.

  “She knows of Tartarus, for I heard her speak of such, but I do not know what happened back in her own time. All I know is what the Oracle told me and the way I feel about her,” Lucius admitted and it didn’t look as though it came from him easily.

  “She is mine,” Draven stated and this time it wasn’t done so in a furious or dominating way. It was merely said as a fact.

  “Yes, well if that be the way of things then it would also seem as though she is mine as well, so there is only one solution I can see in all of this.” Lucius didn’t argue the fact but just accepted it and was moving on with a solution. Well, I felt like raising my hand up at this point and saying, ‘I know, if you want a solution why not try asking what the girl in question wants’. Yep, I am sure that would have been the smart thing to do right now, I thought sarcastically.

  “And what is that?” Draven asked crossing his arms as he waited. I, on the other hand, held my breath as if waiting for doomsday itself…and then it came when he spoke,

  “We each fight for the right to claim her.”

  “What!? No! You can’t…you can’t do this!” I shouted, horrified by the idea but they both ignored me. I had been expecting it from Lucius, but Draven?

  “Done,” Draven said without giving it a single second of thought. I felt my tears start to build as I shook my head in mute disbelief. This couldn’t happen…I couldn’t allow it!

  “Then we fight at dusk at the Flavian,” Lucius added with his mind made up.

  “You want to make the fight public?” Draven asked, clearly surprised and to be honest so was I. How exactly they were planning on fighting with the powers of both Heaven and Hell on their side without the mortal world noticing was beyond me.

  “I do, for I think the only way to settle this is if we fight as mortal men.” Okay, so that was how then! Was Lucius serious? They were going to fight as mortals?

  “Unless of course you would like to see if I am now strong enough to tap into your mind and have you fight against yourself for me?” Lucius added and the question made Draven growl. Of course, he knew he was right, Lucius did have the power to do that but honourably, it looked as though he didn’t want to. He wanted this to be a fair fight.

  “Careful Vampire, for you are still young and I have many years on you,” Draven warned adding a threatening depth to his voice.

  “Yes, but you are forgetting something, King.”

  “And that is?”

  “Thanks to our Electus, I now have blood of the First running through my veins, for I sincerely doubt that you can claim the same.” Draven shot a stern look to me and I flinched back a step. I bit my lip against my inner turmoil and had to close my eyes just to escape that disappointed look. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who needed a few deep breaths to calm frayed nerves. As Draven knew Lucius was right, he was now stronger and because... well, because of me.

  Unbeknown to what I was doing at the time, I had managed not only to save Lucius’ life but also to upgrade it in a way I had no knowledge about. I felt like I was being buried alive under the mistakes I continued to make. As though I was trying to swim in the dark and find the shore I couldn’t see. Was I even getting close or was I just going the wrong way, only delaying when I would drown after my time was spent and I had long given up ever making it home?

  “If you want to fight as men then so be it, but you will also meet my terms,” Draven said after giving himself a minute to think.

  “And they are?” Lucius asked not sounding surprised.

  “The girl, she stays with my sister and does not leave her side.”

  “You think I can’t keep her safe?” Lucius snapped, obviously not liking what Draven implied, but what Draven said next couldn’t be denied.

  “I heard about the attempt on her life Septimus, so do not have me believing myself a fool! She stays with my sister or we will find this fight happening sooner than you think and without Rome at your back!” Lucius didn’t look happy about this, but after releasing a deep sigh, he agreed, adding his own terms.

  “Very well, but she does so at the Imperial Box, for there she will lay witness to the victor before he gets to claim her as his own,” Lucius bargained and I was outraged. I wanted to scream at them both that I wasn’t a piece of damn meat and that I had a say in who I was going to be with! How dare they!

  In fact, I was about to step forward and give them both a piece of my mind when Sophia intercepted. She had silently made her way around to me and now she was close enough that she could place a hand on my arm. She gave me a squeeze and when I looked at her she shook her head, telling me no. I decided to take her advice and remain silent.

  “Then it is set, we meet at dusk… and I warn you Septimus, that this time, only one of us will leave its walls of a blood soaked past alive,” Draven said with deadly promise, then after granting me one last look, he turned and left, walking with purpose to meet up with his band of men he had left waiting near the entrance. I nearly crumbled to the floor as I was left only to watch the man I loved turn his back on me and I was left asking myself why?

  “I will explain later,” Sophia whispered next to me obviously reading the devastation on my face.

  “Yes, but then it could be too late,” I told her and before she or Lucius could react, I ran for it. I didn’t know how I managed to get as far as I did without being held back by Lucius but the second he came within grabbing distance, I whipped back to face him before he could touch me.

  “NO! You don’t get to stop me this time!” I shouted at him holding a hand up, stopping him before he could do the same to me.
My demand echoed around the room and reached Draven’s ears before he had chance to leave. He turned to look back at me and waited to see where my standoff with Lucius would lead to.

  “Just…just give me this,” I asked him in such a way he knew my voice was close to breaking.

  “You have until my men arrive,” he told me before nodding behind me towards his enemy. I didn’t waste any time as I turned and ran the rest of the way. My veil came off and floated away behind me, landing at Lucius’ feet. But I didn’t look back to see the pain etched on his face of what that symbolised.

  I just ran.

  Draven held a hand up, signalling for his men to stop at the sight of me approaching.

  “Keira.” The way he said my name could have been an embrace or almost made up for the lack of one.

  “Draven, don’t do this!” I blurted out and his once soft features hardened upon hearing it.

  “It is done,” he stated in a voice that brooked no argument.

  “But it isn’t, not yet and it doesn’t have to be…I will make him see, I will try and convince him to let me go and that way…” I never got chance to finish.

  “We cannot both live in the same world as our Electus and stand by whilst the other claims her…it just isn’t possible Keira,” Draven told me as if he would have preferred to have choked on the words than see them be true.

  “But you don’t understand.” This wasn’t the right thing to say. He took a step closer to me and his eyes narrowed down at me.

  “What…what don’t I understand? How you never told me of his involvement in your other life or what he means to you in it? How you fear for his life and would plead for me to spare it, just as you would do the same to him, pleading for my very own? Or how by telling the truth for once you could have prevented all of this?” Draven said, nearly growling the words at me and they hit me hard enough that I had to tear my face from his, as my tears started to fall.

  I swallowed hard, knowing that he was right and I said the only thing I had left in me,