Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6) (32 page)

“Katie was this the only picture you found?” He asked me ignoring his sister’s question.

“No, I found loads of them, over a hundred at least.” I told him and Lucius held his hand out to take the paper from him. Draven handed it over without looking at him and Lucius’ eyes widened at the sight. It was beginning to look as if they all knew who my mother really was.

“And was this woman, the one you say is a younger version of your mother, was she in all of them?”  I shook my head and answered,

“No but she was in a lot of them.”

“How many is a lot?” He questioned further as these little facts seemed to be most important to him.

“I would say over half.” As soon as I said it Draven growled in another language which I could only assume wasn’t something very nice. Lucius walked over to Vincent and handed him the paper. He took one look at it and shocked us all by reacting the worst. He roared and powered his fist into the stone wall. Sophia gasped beside me and the others looked at each other in a questioning way, hoping no doubt someone held the answer. It became very obvious that nobody was used to seeing Vincent react this way, including Draven who looked shocked.

“Something must be done about this!
”
Vincent said storming up to his brother and Draven stated in a calmer tone,

“Something will be done.”

“Now Dominic.”
Vincent growled at his brother and even I could tell this wasn’t the way things usually went between these two.

“I understand your torment at the moment brother, as it has been my own…
many times over.
But in light of this new information, now is the time for caution.”

“No, now is that time for action. You heard it yourself, your Chosen One has been targeted ever since she was a child and by someone in your own council!” Vincent said getting angrier but with this new information Sophia stood up and demanded,

“Who is it damn it!?” Meanwhile Zagan had been handed the picture and came over to stand next to his wife to break the news.

“It’s Celina, sweetheart.”

“What!?” She screeched out in shock.

“Who is Celina?” I decided now was a good time to ask.

“She’s a fucking traitor, that’s who!” Sophia shouted and Pip who had joined me on the sofa whispered,

“She’s a bit upset because they were kinda friends…not like BFFs like us three but still, bitch has gotta burn.” I frowned not understanding the last bit but this seemed to be a common occurrence being around Pip, so I was quickly getting used to it.

“Oh.” I said thinking my mother was sure pissing off the wrong people. But wait! Why did I still keep calling her mother? She was an imposter, plain and simple but most of all, she needed to be stopped.

“We need time to think about this.” Draven said addressing the room but it was clear Vincent wasn’t happy.

“No, what we need is to stop wasting time.” Draven sighed and turned back to his brother,

“We don’t know who she is working with, so we don’t know what we are up against. We first thought this could be the work of one of our kind using the humans as pawns, but now we know that is not the case.”

“And if it was Keira that was still in there, would you wait then!?” Vincent snapped, stepping up to him. I hated that he said her name but then what else could I expect. In the end I ignored it and could only hope there wasn’t going to be another fight. Draven folded his arms and said sternly,

“You’re crossing the line, Brother.”

“And your Chosen One isn’t the only one on that line anymore!” Vincent snarled back.

“Okay, am I the only one that fancies some popcorn?” Pip said nudging me and Sophia shot her a look that told her best not to go there. Pip just held up her hands and then made a zipping motion across her lips.

“I agree with Dom.” Lucius said speaking up and Vincent shot him a look.

“Just hear me out. There was more than one reason none of us could find her until she left the Colony and now we know Celina is involved then it makes sense, as she would know the lengths we would go to and therefore know exactly what to do to stop us. This might be the case also if we just storm in there without a plan to guide us.” I could see that Vincent was finally starting to see sense as his shoulders started to relax and his tense muscles didn’t strain as much against the sleeves of his t shirt.

Draven nodded his thanks to Lucius behind his brother as this had been what Draven had been trying to say all along. He placed a hand on Vincent’s shoulder and said,

“Have no fear brother, we will stop at nothing until she is safe. And understand, I didn’t not just make this promise to you.” Draven said then nodding towards me and it was true, he had also promised me that he would save my sister.

“Okay, so now is anyone going to tell me who by the Gods’ names this person is and more importantly, what she means to my Brother?!” Sophia said losing her patience now the tense moment had passed.

Vincent looked slightly guilty and my guess was it was because he was only telling her this now. He turned to face her, walked straight up to her and put both hands to the top of her arms, before dropping the bombshell to everyone in the room…

“She’s
my
Electus.”          

Chapter 30

Dangerous Deceit

I found out very quickly that Draven had kept his cool because he was a King and that was what was needed of him at the time. But as soon as we were back in his room and I showed him all the pictures ‘Keira’ had drawn, he lost it.

“Fuck!” He shouted before picking up one of the side tables and throwing it across the room. It was destroyed on impact and I jumped as splintered wood littered the floor around where it landed.  

“Better?” I asked and he shot me a look that said everything. I held up my hands and said,

“Hey, I’m not judging, as I think we know who wins the ‘destroy the room when angry’ contest here.” Thankfully saying this helped diffuse his anger enough to stop scowling.

“Come here.” He ordered in a gruff voice. I did as I was told and it was a bit like getting into a cage with a male lion that was slightly domesticated. You knew they were unlikely to attack you but Hell, it was still a lion!

“Now I feel better.” He told me once I made it within reach and he pulled me into him. I turned my head and laid it against his chest, only to hear the quick beat of his heart pounding.

“Everything will be alright.” I told him and he huffed,

“That’s usually my line.” I smiled against him and then looked up, putting my chin on his chest.

“Yeah well didn’t you hear, I’m kick-ass now, so I think this means I have to take care of you from now on.” Hearing this I finally had him laughing.

“So, what now?” I asked and he kissed me briefly on the top of my head before pulling back.

“Honestly I don’t know, I just make most of this shit up as I go along.” He replied shrugging his shoulders and I laughed saying,

“No you don’t!”

“No I don’t but it got you laughing.”

“Now that’s my line.” I said repeating what he said.

“Do you think Vincent will be alright?” I asked and he turned from me, dragging a hand through his hair in that frustrated way he usually did.

“Based on how I was…then definitely no, he will not be alright.” I gave him a small smile of understanding and sighed.

“To give him his due, he is holding up a lot better than I was or ever have done when it comes to you being taken from me.”

“So it’s happened a lot then?” I asked and he shot me a look that added to him saying,

“Let’s not go there.” In this I had my answer.

“Well they haven’t met yet.”

“No but he has been dreaming of her for a while now.” Now hearing this surprised me. Had they both been sharing the same dreams? But then asking myself this question was quickly followed by another and this was one I asked out loud.

“So what about you?”

“You mean did I dream of you?” He asked clarifying things and all of a sudden I felt very vulnerable whilst waiting for his answer.

“Yeah.”

“I have dreamed of you a lot since first meeting you and not once have you been from my thoughts.” He said and although it was lovely to hear, it wasn’t what I was asking and he knew it.

“Draven, please… you know what I am asking.” I said softly, biting my lip and playing with the ends of my sleeve. He took a deep breath and said,

“I know what you’re asking Katie but you have to know, that before you turned up that night I had only ever known you as Keira. So every night in the last eight months that’s how I saw you…
as my wife.”
  I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. I mean what had I expected really?

“Do you think it will ever be the same again?” I asked sadly knowing that deep down, no matter what he told me, it must have been so difficult for him to see me as a different girl.

“Listen to me when I say that a name doesn’t define you. You define you.” Hearing this I remembered someone telling me something similar once only it wasn’t about my name, it was about my scars.

“I’m sorry I can’t remember for you.” I told him and he stepped right up to me so I had to look up at him. He took my face in both hands and said,

“And I am sorry I can’t help you remember
for you.”
 

After telling Draven everything I could about my ‘mother’ he left to discuss all he had learned with the others. The difficulties they had were simple, most of whom they were up against were human and as Draven was King, he more than most had to abide by the law of the Gods. That law being that no harm should come to humans by a Supernatural’s hands. Now there were grey areas to this rule, especially say if there were people standing in the way of the Prophecy. Which let’s face it, we were all pretty much dead anyway if the end of the world happened, so I could see their logic with the whole collateral damage side of things. But that didn’t mean they could just go in there killing everyone and then saying ‘oops’ later.

Of course what now made it even more complicated was they doubted very much that this Celina could be working on her own, so I told them about my Uncle. Draven, after hearing all I had to tell him, could say there weren’t any clues as to who he really was in his world but now at least they could start looking closer into Celina’s past.

He told me briefly how they met and that Draven was actually supposed to punish her for her brief time with a human, one he said was unimportant to mention at this time. By saying this at all had me wondering who the human was because it wouldn’t have been an issue otherwise. I had a feeling that the human had something to do with the Keira he knew, one I still needed to admit to being.

I know it was getting beyond irrational, considering all the mounting evidence there was to prove I was her but I don’t know, it was like something in my mind had been programmed to never fully accept it. It had me worried that if this was the case and they had done something to my mind then I would never get over this. For obvious reasons I refrained from saying anything to Draven about this as I think we all had enough on our plate at the moment.

And speaking of plates being full, Vincent surprised me by knocking on the door briefly before walking in. I just had my mouth full of a toasted bagel loaded with cream cheese when he said,

“I hope I am not interrupting…” Then he laughed when he saw me with a mouth full.

“Nope, com’ ‘n in.” I said with a mouth full and only getting half words out. He laughed again and came to sit opposite me, so I shifted my feet over giving him more room.

“Nice?” He asked, nodding as a mound of white spread fell off the doughy goodness and thankfully hit the plate not my knee.

“Oh my God! Its sooo good and it’s been so long…or maybe it hasn’t?” I added frowning as I thought back to all the things I didn’t know about myself.

“Hey, it will be fine, we will figure it out.” Now it was my turn to laugh, so he asked,

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh nothing really, it’s just you sound exactly like your brother sometimes. He also thinks everything will be fine and we will figure it out.”

“Oh, then I guess there’s no point with my next speech of, ‘We’ve got you back, that’s the main thing’ then uh?” I smiled at him and said,

“It would be a good call to just ask me about the weather.” I said nodding and he chuckled this time.

“So I take it you came to ask me about her.” I decided not to beat around the bush and just get to what I knew his point was.

“Am I really that transparent?” I nudged him on the arm with my own and said,

“That depends, how were my observation skills?”

“Well you never really liked Aurora or Celina much.” I frowned when hearing this new name and he picked up on it quickly,

“Ah that’s right, you won’t remember Aurora.” I put down my plate and waited for him to elaborate.

“It’s a long story and definitely not one for me to tell but I can tell you that she too was a member of my brother’s council and well, let’s just say she deceived us all.” Okay so what was it about female council members in this place…other than Sophia obviously.

“Then I seriously think Draven needs to rethink inviting anymore women to the group because other than your sister, I really think it’s men all the way.”

“I am beginning to easily see your logic.”

“Right well now that we have established the no girl rule, unless they pass the psycho test, which will of course include showing them a picture of me and if they snarl and spit, then I would say it’s a, ‘sorry but better luck next time’ kinda gig.” Again I had Vincent laughing, which was a nice sound and made me feel good considering how I had seen him acting earlier.

“What do you wanna know?” I asked over the rim of my cup that held amazing English tea in it, one that Draven told me was my favourite. He also told me something about which products were bought to impress your posh aunt and something about a monkey on the front of a box. He of course must have been teasing me or it was a joke I didn’t get as he was smirking throughout the whole conversation. However, he had been right about one thing, English tea was awesome and I think I could quite easily become an addict!

“What’s she like?” I could almost hear the vulnerability in his voice and I had to wonder if coming to talk to me now had been the first stage of him breaking. Because I got the impression with Vincent that he kept his feelings very close to his chest.

I told him what he wanted to know, or more like what I thought he would want to know. Things like how funny she was, how she could make me smile no matter what we were going through at the time. I told him about her kindness and the way she always took care of me. I even told him things like her fear of heights, something he found quite amusing indeed. I told him everything that, even though I knew now had never happened, I still thought knowing Ari that it would have happened if any of it had been real.

“I’m sorry, I never meant for this to upset you.” Vincent said after I started to cry without any warning.

“It’s okay, it’s just hard you know…finding out that none of it was real, I guess I’m just in denial about the whole thing. Actually no, I’m not in denial, I’m just torn.”

“Torn?”

“Yeah, because every time I look at your brother I realise how much I love him and I want to know about our history together so badly that I wish I could just remember it all but if I did that, then I would be afraid of what I would lose with the other person I loved in my life. Ari means the world to me and I would do anything to save her…even if means losing everything we had or everything we thought we knew…but you know what the worse thing would be?”

“What?” He asked tenderly and I had to hold it together just to put it into words for the first time.

“What if she had no one? Looking around that room earlier today all I saw was family. I saw a room full of people that all cared enough that even after what I did, not one person said a bad word to me. There was only concern and after living a real taste of life at the Colony, you can’t know what that means to me.” I shook my head as even now it astounded me.

“Because a single second before I jumped over that wall I only had one person in the whole world…but Vincent, when this is all said and done then what if I
am
her only one person left in this world. What if I am the only one who ever cared? I just don’t know how I am going to break any of this to her.” I said letting my head fall back against the couch and wiping angrily at the few tears that fell. I was so sick of crying that it was making me feel ashamed at myself.

“I may not know Ari yet but I know what I feel and I can honestly promise you that she will not face this new world of hers alone. And even though you see a room full of family then in you we not only see the same but we also see hope…you bring hope to everyone you meet and you don’t even realise it.” I let my head roll to the side to face him and gave him a confused look before I asked what he meant.

“I don’t understand.”

“Everything that happens in this life does so for a reason. We may not even realise it because without seeing the flip side of life, the ‘what could have been’, then how are we supposed to believe so unless we have faith in such things.” I knew what he was saying but again I wasn’t following as to what this had to do with me. 

“It’s no different for us and having all the facts doesn’t help matters, if anything it simply complicates them further. What I am trying to say is that we have faith in you because my kind know you are here for a reason. You are different for a reason and it’s only as time goes on that we learn what those reasons are. So when you look at us you see family, when we look at you we see the same but we also see that you are
our salvation.”
  Okay so if I thought I wouldn’t cry again then this blew that right out of the water!

“Come here.” Vincent said, pulling me for a hug and it felt so good that I had to smile, knowing what Ari had in store for her if Vincent was the one for her.

“At the chance of sounding like a family broken record, everything will work out, you just have to have faith in yourself and your sister.” I nodded into his shoulder and he held me there for as long as he knew I needed it.

“So tell me, did Draven send you to check on me…? He worries too much.” I said rubbing my eyes as I sat back, making sure all evidence of my tears were gone. It was only when I was blinking away the blur when I noticed his face.