Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Ready?” Sophia asked me softly placing a hand to my forearm. I couldn’t speak, so nodded, as I wanted to reserve all of my words left for Draven…for my King. I saw her nod to her brother as did the rest of my girls, before one by one they stepped through the portal until all that was left was me and Draven.

  “Wait for me?” I asked on a shuddering breath and I wiped away my tears so that I could see him more clearly and not through a watered veil of sadness. I took a step back and I knew only one more and I would be gone from this land…Gone from him.

  His last words granted him another of my smiles,

  “I will wait for you always…my wife.” I mouthed the words ‘I love you’ and he did the same in return and then I closed my eyes and took that last step back…

  Back home.

  Draven

  (The Present Day)

  Standing in the window of one of Brockencote Hall’s feature suites I looked on to the lake and thought about my bride to be. Truth be told she was already my wife and had been for some time. But I wanted to make her mine, not just in my world but also her own. I needed to make her mine in every way possible.

  But her emotional reaction to saying goodbye this morning was unsettling me. It felt like so much more than a simple, ‘goodbye for now’ and much direr. Hell, if I hadn’t known better, I would have said it felt like she was saying goodbye for a small eternity. The way she had clung to me, the way she had been trying to hold back the tears. I knew a bride’s wedding day could be an emotional undertaking but this…well this felt like so much more.

  It felt as though she held the weight of the world on her shoulders and because of it she was now being forced to do something she didn’t want to do. Now I know that could have just been my paranoia speaking and considering how many times I had almost lost her, then no one could blame me for such. But it wasn’t just her reactions, the way her heart pounded in her chest, or the way her breathing hitched on her words. The way her fingers bit into my flesh, as though trying to anchor herself to me. No, even without those things, if nothing else, it was that kiss.

  It was the way she had grabbed me to her as if my own farewell hadn’t been enough. The way small bumps broke out along her skin and the way her tongue duelled with mine, as if trying to burn the memory of my taste to her very soul. I hadn’t lied when I placed my forehead to hers and told her it felt like another gift. But now, as I looked down at the ring she had given me to hold on to, it felt more and more like a long goodbye.

  To say it was a disconcerting feeling that was quickly taking hold of me, was somewhat of an understatement. I knew something was wrong. I could just feel it.

  ‘Take care of my heart and my wings, Dominic,’ had been one of the last things she had said to me. At the time, I had found such sentiments a beautiful reminder of the gift she was giving me…her tender, loving heart. But now, it felt as if it had been said to mean so much more. I had made her promise me that she would be at that altar and I had believed her whole-heartedly when she replied with,

  ‘I promise you I will be there. I vow nothing in this world would be able to stop me’.

  Now, looking back those seemed like choice words indeed and I was now asking myself, had she been planning something behind my back? I knew deep down we were both keeping something from each other. Mine done so out of protection, for there was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her safe. But what if she had somehow found out about the prophecy?

  Not that it mattered as there was nothing she could do to change the actions needed to fulfil it. I had seen to that, for as much as the idea elevated my soul, I would never be able to give her a child. There was too much at risk and her life was too precious to me to ever take that chance. I knew one day I would have to tell her. The Gods knew how I had tried, but the truth of the matter was simple. I had taken a coward’s way out and used the excuse that every time such a conversation was interrupted, I took it as fate.

  She deserved to know, I knew this but not yet. Not until we were married. Which in itself, now seemed like a worrying prospect, if my little Vixen was indeed up to something. So, this was why I stood at this window and waited. Waited to see her limousine arrive, which I knew from the tracking device I had on my phone, would be any minute now. Looking down at the GPS app I watched that little blue dot getting closer and closer, until finally it pulled up the long driveway, coming to a stop outside the main entrance.

  And finally, I could breathe.

  I couldn’t see them from this angle but I allowed them enough time to exit before making the call to the front desk.

  “Hello Mr Draven, how may I help you?” a generic voice answered, one trying to sound overly helpful. Not surprising considering they knew that I was the insanely rich man that had booked all of the rooms in this place. And at late notice had to also find other accommodation for any guests they may have had booked. But money talks as it always has done and more importantly, it got me the results I needed. It was rare in this world I didn’t get what I wanted and now was no different from any other.

  Or so I thought.

  “I am enquiring about my bride to be, has she and her party checked in yet?” I asked allowing my voice to seep into undertones of great authority, as was usually effective when dealing with the human world.

  “I am afraid not, although we are booking in some of the wedding party, there seems to be four guests missing, your bride being one of them, Sir.” I had to repress the urge to growl. Especially as I watched the limousine coming back into view before driving down the lane and joining the main road.

  “Very well,” I said hanging up and forgoing the pleasantries…after all, it looked like I now had more pressing matters on my hands. I tapped my phone a few times, placed it to my ear and issued only one order,

  “Bring the car round.” Then I placed a hand to the window as I watched their car go out of sight and asked the question aloud…

  “What are you up to now, little wife of mine?”

  Sat in the back of the limousine I quickly found myself wishing for any one of my Ferraris, so that I might be able to put my fucking foot down and catch up with them. This traffic had me nearly pulling my hair out. I looked down at my phone once more and followed their progress. I had tried ringing my sister, knowing now that she, along with the Imp and Ari, my brother’s chosen, were also with her. However, my sister wasn’t answering her phone and that fact alone was enough to scream trouble.

  I don’t know why I felt the need to get to them with such urgency, but I just did. I could feel it, and that combined with Keira’s goodbye to me this morning, then I knew something was happening. Something big.

  By the time I saw where their blue dot had arrived I released a sigh of relief, knowing that in all likelihood, Keira could not wait to see the venue. I allowed myself the gratification of a smirk at thinking of such but then started to ask myself the important question, one I knew I should have done so long ago…

  Why here?

  Why had Keira asked to get married here and so quickly? At the time, I had simply found myself delighted that she wanted to marry me with haste as it seemed, like myself, she couldn’t wait. But now, well now I was giving into paranoia and near praying that was all it was.

  I wasn’t long behind them, however I was cursing our current situation as we were stuck behind an old Ford hatchback that would have been better served on the top of a scrap heap about fifty thousand miles ago. What was worse was being in a limousine. It wasn’t as though my driver could overtake the old fool on these winding country roads. So, in the end I did the only thing I could think to do. I accessed the senior’s mind and had him pull into what looked to be a garden centre, so that the long line of traffic stuck behind him could now move more freely…but more importantly, with greater speed.

  By the time we pulled onto the private road into Witley Court, I knew they had been there almost twenty minutes and by the time I exited the car my heart was pounding. I looked up at the huge dramatic s
hell, remembering the day it was ablaze. Of course, the ones responsible had paid dearly for the offense as, unlike what the mortal history claims, it was no accident in the bakery that caused it to burn to its bare bones.

  I couldn’t help after witnessing it again and seeing the result at such a deception, I found myself pulling my phone from my jacket and placing another call.

  “My Lord, I am sorry but you wish me to do what?”

  “As I said Lauren, I wish you to break into Keira’s truck and tell me if you find anything she might have left. Call me when it’s done.” I waited for the call back, not wanting to be seen inside until I was given the sign to do so. I hated it but I had a gut feeling that just wouldn’t go away no matter how I tried to digest it. I even found myself flinching when I heard the buzzing of my phone, becoming as jittery as a human.

  “Speak to me.”

  “There is nothing here, my Lord.” I released a sigh and closed my eyes looking up at the sun and silently thanking the immortal Lords above. I started to walk back towards the limousine ready to go back to the hotel and leave my wife to be to her pre-wedding plans… then Lauren continued,

  “There’s only some cds, some fuel receipts and a couple of dollars…oh and some old book.” I stopped mid step and froze, then I gripped the phone so hard it nearly shattered in my hand.

  “Wait! Which book?” I asked sternly and when I received her answer it felt like someone had kicked me in the chest for I couldn’t breathe…

  “The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells.” At this I dropped the phone and ran towards the fountain as though every second counted. No, she couldn’t! It was impossible, for no one could! That maybe so, but she was foolish enough to try and that alone would mostly likely get her killed! What had Sophia been thinking?! Had she been tricked? For surely so, as she knew the dangers of such an undertaking as much as I, as much as all our kind.

  But then how, for she would need…

  “A coin…no! Please by the Gods, no!” I ran faster, harder and the mere seconds it took felt far too long. I reached the side of the fountain, looking around for any signs of them, silently pleading to any God that would listen that I must be mistaken, that it couldn’t be. I turned around and that’s when something crunched under my foot. I looked down to see broken glass and when I followed the source I bent down and retrieved my dreaded answer. For there, in my hands, was the broken remains of a gift I had given to her.

  Its message was still there.

  The coin was not.

  ‘I will always bring you home.’ That was what it said and now it became a mockery of what it was supposed to symbolise. For it might have once brought her back to me, but now it had been the very thing powerful enough to take her away…

  “And I was the one who fucking gave it to her!” I snarled down at the remains in my hands before crushing it until nothing remained. Then I roared in anger before producing one of my own coins from my vault and throwing it into the fountain. I cursed the path for taking too long in appearing and once it had, I stormed through to the doorway caring little for the water that rained down around me. I ran down the tunnel and into the Janus Temple, cursing its very existence.

  “Ranka?!” I shouted her name in utter shock, one that quickly morphed into rage.

  “My Lord?!” Her own shock was clear enough to know I was the last person she expected to see. I looked around and when I didn’t see Keira, my reactions couldn’t be helped. I grabbed Ranka by the throat and applied enough pressure to cut off her air supply. Such a thing wouldn’t kill her but it would make her vessel pass out if I wasn’t careful. I tried to get a hold of my fury enough to ease off slightly or I knew I would never get my answers.

  “Where is she?!” I demanded, seething.

  “Mmmy…my…Lord…I…” She scratched at my hand in vain, trying to remove the current instrument of her torture.

  “WHERE?!” I roared, bringing her face closer to mine and her fearful eyes looked behind me. I dropped her and she fell to the floor gasping. Then I turned to the main Janus Gate, the one that powered them all and the one utterly forbidden to be used. For certain death was all that awaited those foolish enough to try it.

  “No! You cannot fool me Ranka, now tell me, where is she?” I demanded knowing it was a trick, that she had travelled through one of these doors, I just needed to know which one.

  “I do not lie,” she hissed though a ragged breath.

  “WHICH DOOR?!” I roared again having done with her games! I looked left and right down the endless corridors that branched off from the octagonal shaped room, with only one that remained centred at its core.

  “She didn’t walk through any door, My King,” Ranka said with a severity that couldn’t be denied, one that added with but a look and I knew…By the Gods,

  I knew, it was true.

  “NO! No, no, no. What…what has she done!?” I shouted first up at the Heavens and then threw the question back at Ranka. Someone I had once thought as loyal to me as my own blood. I stormed back over to her and let my demon have its say, letting it growl down at her,

  “Why didn’t you stop her?!” She looked back up at me like a wounded animal receiving another lashing before strengthening her resolve and telling me,

  “Because there is no stopping the Fates.” I snarled and then turned my back on her, storming over to the cause of all my anguish. How could she do this to me!? What in all of Hell’s levels could have possessed her to do this? I looked up and down the forbidden gate with a hatred of the likes I had never known. I hated its very existence, for it stood here all this time like a taunting beacon, attracting those stupid enough to think it could grant them anything but death.

  And she was but a moth, where usually…

  She was the flame.

  I tried to recap all that she had said to me in these past weeks, to give me any clue as to why she would do this? I knew she was plagued by nightmares, but I didn’t think that enough to guide her to…

  “The book,” I uttered aloud to myself, for what else could have been the cause of such a foolish notion. Did she really believe that heading into the past would have the power to change the future?

  But it wasn’t just the title of the book that held my interest, for it was where that book had come from that was more cause for concern. Yes, it was all making sense now. Lucius had told me of Pythia being there, could she have gotten to Keira before he intervened? Could she have told her everything that I would not? Well, seeing where I now stood, it seemed a likely cause for who else was strong enough to plant such a poisonous root in her mind?

  The same root strong enough to get me to deceive her in some foolish notion it would save her life. She was like some demonic puppet master playing us both for the Fates’ entertainment.

  Well, in this she had gone too far…

  No! I couldn’t be led to believe that she was gone, for no one entered into the eternal fountain and survived. And yet, there was no body to suggest her death, for that was what would be left if a mortal tried to cross over into its path. My own kind would simply disappear and cease to exist, but a mortal?

  To be honest I didn’t know, but I knew one thing, if she was in there then I was going in there too, and I would rather drag her back with me or die trying!

  “NO! My Lord you cannot! You cannot go in there!” Ranka shouted trying to stop me. I looked back at her over my shoulder and snarled only two words…

  “Watch me.”

  Keira

  (Present Day)

  Chapter 39

  An Autumn Day in June

  Stepping through the Janus Gate was like being suspended in time. It wasn’t like it was before when I had simply woken up on the other side. No, this time using the Janus Gate was explained to me. Personally, I thought it a bit late to do so now, considering I had already done the deed and stepped back through.

  But when I first found myself stood in an empty, white endless space looking all around waiting for something to happen,
I had no clue as to why I was here. Had I done it wrong? And if so where were the others?

  “Hello?!” I shouted and nearly jumped a mile when I heard a calm voice behind me.

  “Hello.” I spun around to face a man in white robes and with white curly hair. He smiled at me, showing me a set of perfect white teeth but none of this was why I sucked in a sharp breath. It was his clear white eyes that unnerved me the most. He placed both his hands together in front of him and they soon became hidden in the huge sleeves that covered them.

  “No need to fear me, for I would not harm one such as you,” he told me in a kind, warm voice that was soothing.

  “Who…who are you?” I asked after having to find my voice.

  “Why, I am the God Janus and I am very pleased to meet you, Keira.” he said shocking me. Holy freaking Moly! I was talking to a God!?

  “You’re Janus?!” I screeched making him wince.

  “Sorry,” I said and he shook his head telling me it was fine.

  “I am indeed and I am very pleased to meet you,” he told me and once again his voice was like a sweeping lullaby blanketing me in trust.

  “It’s umm…well it’s nice to meet you too…I have never met a God before,” I told him making him smile again, one that caused sweet crinkles to appear around his eyes.

  “Then I am pleased to be the first,” he informed me, this time smirking. Well, he certainly was a happy fellow for a God, that was for sure.

  “Where are we?” I asked looking around at…well, a whole load of nothing.

  “We are in the Void,” he told me looking around at the same nothing.

  “What is the Void?”

  “It is a place in between worlds, a place where I can keep watch over the gates.” I looked around again not exactly seeing any windows.