The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (10 page)

He started to choke and as his hands went up to claw desperately at my arm his fingers started to smoke when they came into contact with my skin. I let him go and he fell forward landing on all four limbs. The ground around us started to tremor and I looked up in time to see Adam as Abaddon running into the belly of the centre Cyclopes. He ran with them all being dragged along with their brother to the edge of the quaking platform of rock we all still stood on.

I could tell the fight had been brutal but only on one side, given the amount of blood and injury the three brothers showed on their battered bodies. A sense of pride washed over me as my second in command disposed of the brothers and the last thing heard from them was the death call of three Cyclopes as they went falling into the lava below.

Meanwhile the last Titan had painfully risen to his feet and was making a run for it.

“I doubt he will get far.” Asmodeus said coming up to stand next to me.

“I hear Iraq is nice this time of year!” Pip shouted after him putting her dainty little hands together.

“Eh…Squeak?”

“Yeah boss man?” She said looking up at me and flashing me those forest green eyes.

“Don’t you think you should go and deal with that?” She looked to where I looked and then realisation hit.

“Oh yeah…you know I knew there was something I was forgetting.” She said watching as her husband continued to charge the others that were trying in vain to attempt to calm him down.

“Good girl.” I said patting her on her ww2 military helmet, one she had painted an angry cartoon face on the front with buck teeth and glitter pink stars around the sides. I was tempted to ask her about the neon swimming goggles around her neck but knew her answer would have made zero sense, so I let her get back to it.

She ran off and soon made it to Abaddon, taking off her clothes as she went. So by the time she got to him she was waving up at him in nothing but striped over the knee socks, combat boots and that damn helmet!

“She’s a keeper that one.” Sophia said being carried in the arms of her own husband and her broken leg that hadn’t healed yet was the obvious reason.

“As are you my warrior woman.” Zagan said looking adoringly at the beauty in his arms.

“Christ is there something in the fucking water!?” Sigurd said coming up next with his father Ragnar behind him.

“And that right there is why you’re still single!” Sophia teased before throwing her arms around Zagan’s neck and kissing him in abandon.

“Yeah right…So where does asswipe think he’s going to get to?” Sigurd asked after his dry response to Dom’s sister.

“My guess is he thinks if he can make it out of Tartarus then he is imprisoned no more.
”
Asmodeus said and just on cue the Titan reached the edge of the platform but before he could jump, a huge wave of molten lava crashed up against the rock, creating a wall he could not pass. He tried another way but then same thing occurred until it closed in on him, engulfing his form until there was nothing left but a Titan fighting against an element he could not beat...Tartarus itself.

“It begins.” Ragnar spoke after his horns retracted from his face and his lips were free. And he was right, it was beginning. The ground we stood on began to quake harder and the lava that had burst over the sides started to move closer to us. We all walked backwards until it came to a stop and then watched as it formed into shapes.

One black stone after another formed like giant bricks on top of each other from the flowing magma running up the sides. It didn’t take long as before we knew it we were all looking up at a black pyramid that looked as if it had been built by demonic Aztecs. Lava rivers defied gravity and gushed up towards the top where I knew it was cascading down on the Titan it held inside.

The very last part to form was an arched doorway with a keystone adorning the top. It had to be the face of Cronus as it was an angry and twisted face of rage. I had to smile when its mouth dropped open as I knew this was the last act needed in bringing back the rest of the Titans.

“Duty calls.” I said before releasing my wings and when I heard the gasp behind me I knew what they were seeing…

I had changed.

I ignored their response and flew up to the Keystone. Once more I bit into my hand, vowing it would be the last time today and thrust it into the stone mouth. I felt my poisoned blood beating through my veins and pounding against the walls of my organs like unleashed power trying to break free. I felt it drip from my vessel and sucked in a sharp breath when I felt the key respond as I bathed the God’s lock with the blood of their own.

Their blood was their legacy as was their blood their saviour…
My blood was their damnation.

But then something happened. Something none of us expected, least of all me. For now the price of locking up the Titans became clear. It wasn’t just blood they wanted,

It was flesh.

So Cronus’ jaws locked shut around the hand I had willingly given them…

Severing it as payment.            

                                        
Keira

Chapter 53

A Hero Returns

Sitting here helpless as I watched each Titan appear and knowing I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it was pure torture. My mind was on overtime wondering what had happened to Draven and what was happening to him now that prevented him from coming back. I had at least my hope keeping me sane, one that was being kept alive by the sight of his essence still shimmering on the altar. I had to hold on to the idea that if something had happened to him then his essence would have gone from this world.

I watched as yet another body emerged and became suspended inside the giant pentagram. There were nine now in total and with five stood at each point and the other four stood locked at the corners of where the star met, there was space left for only two more. I dreaded to think what would happen when those last two made it through and from the looks of the evil grin on Alex’s face, well let’s just say it didn’t give me the warm fuzzies!

Sammael stood around the Pentagram chanting and with his eyes rolled back up into his head it looked like he was deep into his summoning mumbo jumbo. They were both turned away from me and it made me think about guns.

That sounds random but I was seriously considering getting one if I was going to survive this! Maybe I could get one of those cute tiny lady guns that strap to the thigh and only fire one bullet. But then on further thought there would be little point given the amount of enemies I was racking up. Hell, by the time the year was out I would be needing a bloody Gatling gun to protect myself.

Movement to my right drew my attention away from the villains in the room and I looked to see Draven’s essence shaking violently. I sucked in a painful breath and whispered,

“No…please God no…”
It twisted and turned like it was a body being kicked and at one point it rose up arching its back as if it had been struck by something. I knew it was Draven fighting, this knowledge I could cope with, having seen it many times before. But what I couldn’t cope with was seeing Draven being beaten, which was how it looked now. A man as strong as Draven made it near impossible to believe he could be hurt, which was why I found it so difficult to believe him dead all that time ago.

But then I would have never thought he was capable of releasing the Titans either but one look to my left and that belief went flying out the window.

“Only one more father and my immortal brothers and I will be reunited by blood once more.” Alex said as the tenth Titan came to form. Now there was just one space left and I didn’t know what would become of not just me, but the rest of mankind when a figure of a God filled that central space.

I wanted to shout up at the Gods, ‘what are you waiting for?!’ but then I would only be cursing them again when I didn’t receive my answer. Because nothing stood in their way…not God, nor Angel or Demon and certainly not man was left to stop them.

All that was left was a broken girl, whose tears couldn’t stop them. If only my vision of a single tear bringing down the Titans was something that could actually happen, because I had those in abundance! I think right now I could take out a whole army with the power of pain behind each drop. I looked towards Draven’s essence and just knew when the end came I had to be near him.

So I made this my last mission.

As long as I had breath left in me I would get to him. I took one last look at the two that were busy and decided I didn’t give a shit what they saw me doing. I didn’t care if they caught me crawling my on my belly trying to get to him. I didn’t care what they did to me or even if they killed me for it. All I cared about was that my last action in this world was going to be either dying with him or dying trying to reach him.

Because now, all I wanted in what was left of this life was to go home. I wanted to reach that safe place that comforted my heart and warmed my soul. The place I thought about whenever I was afraid or sadness overwhelmed me. The one place in this world that made me feel like I could do anything. It gave me wings to shelter the blinding light of doubt and to soar the skies in confidence. It was a place of solace and understanding. But most importantly it was a place that surrounded me with an intense love that matched my own.

Yes, I wanted to die at home. Every single day having that same choice given would have resulted in the same answer. Because the reasons were so clear and so simple. And they were the same reasons I crawled and dragged my broken body across a sickening temple floor. Through the filth of death and the blood of innocents slain. I gagged, swallowing down my disgust and worked harder. Everywhere on my body hurt but I didn’t care. The closer I got to him the more numb I became to the feeling of hurt but the devastation I would feel if I was too late would strike my heart like an icy blade. I needed to make it home, because…  

Draven’s arms were my home.

So I pushed with my toes and I pulled myself along the floor until my fingernails broke. I used every muscle to breaking point until my body was screaming out at me to stop. But I couldn’t ever stop. I looked up to see how far I had left to go and felt my heart flutter when I saw I was nearly there. A few more pushes and I reached out to touch the altar with my fingertips.

“Draven…”
I whispered his name, hoping being this close somehow he could hear me. I looked up and knew I had the hardest part to come. Another push and I gripped onto the grooves that made up the symbols carved all around the marble slab. I felt like crying out and shouting as the pain ripped through me like my skin was splitting, but I pushed on. I dragged my weakened body up the altar and feeling only some slight relief then I used my legs together with my upper body.

“Oh Draven.”
I whispered looking down at his shimmering form that heartbreakingly reminded me of his ghost.

“Draven if you can hear me…come back to me…”
I choked back a sob and leant over his face, one that was still hauntingly beautiful even in this form. I put my hand to where his cheek would have been and held myself back from touching it, too scared that I could lose the sight of him. I looked down at him and let a single tear fall as I whispered…

“Come home to me.”

The tear went straight through him and his form shuddered as if he had felt it travelling through his soul. Every tiny grain of floating dust grew brighter and for a miniscule second of hope I allowed myself to believe it had been enough to bring him back to me. That was the second before my heart shattered.

“NO!” I cried out my utter agony as I felt him die for the second time in my life, only this one I was here to witness. He faded away to nothing before my eyes and I desperately reached out to try to cling on to what I could of him. I cried out over and over becoming hysterical in my loss.

“DRAVEN NO! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME! You can’t leave me...! You…you…can’t…please…please don’t leave me…” I started sobbing out my words in my devastation and I let my body slump from the altar, landing on the stone, cold floor.

“Go get her!” I heard the order coming from Sammael, Morgan, Alex…it didn’t matter who. The order meant all the same…absolutely nothing! None of it mattered anymore now he was gone and the only hope I had left was that soon I would follow him into the next life and find him there waiting for me.

I saw a blurred figure coming towards me and I knew it was Alex. I turned my face away and pressed my cheek to the altar and whispered my heart break one last time before I took my own life…

“You left me again.”

“I could never leave you…
I promised.”
I heard his voice say and even though I let my heart pound in my chest in reaction I knew I must be hearing things. But then I felt his touch and knew nothing on earth or in my mind, heart and soul could create a feeling so beautiful without the one I loved being behind the action. I opened my eyes and gasped as I saw the truth. I felt my lips tremble and my breathing hitch as I tried to take in the air needed to cry.

“Is it…can it be…Draven please, I can’t take this heartache anymore…please, please just say something so I know it’s not a dream…so I know…” I never finished as he crushed his lips to mine and I couldn’t breathe from happiness. Then he spoke over my lips the only words that mattered in the face of death…

“I love you.”

Then he heard Alex coming up behind him and turned quickly, creating a barrier between us both.

“NO! It can’t be, you can’t be here…the Titans would have killed you!” Alex wined out his misfortunes and I heard Draven growl.

“They failed.” Draven stated in a dangerous voice that had Alex backing up a step. Draven looked down at me and it was clear he was doing a quick scan of my injuries. I dreaded to think the mess he saw and I wasn’t surprised to see him enraged. He turned his head back to Alex and snarled like angry jungle cat. This was enough to get him moving pretty damn quick. To the point he nearly fell over himself to get back to his father quick enough.

“I need to move you.” Draven said trying to rein in his temper at seeing me like this. He lifted me up as gently as he could and I tried not to wince. I knew I hadn’t accomplish it too well when I heard him growl again. I ignored his reaction and instead used this moment to drink him in. His naked torso was covered in dirt and ash and it looked like he had been fighting a war. There was dried blood on his body in smears and drips that had obviously come from injuries that had healed. So apart from needing a bloody good soak in the tub he was in pretty good shape. I, of course, would have liked to have said the same but without his blood in me I wasn’t healing at even near the same rate as he had.

“Here, drink th…” He was cut off and stopped before biting into his wrist as Sammael’s voice echoed around the temple.

“You are too late!” I shuddered and Draven ran a finger down my cheek before winking at me. Was he insane…did he not see what was stood around in that circle? My doubt must have been written all over my face because he whispered down at me…

“Trust me, Love.” He held my gaze for a moment until I nodded feeling the hope bloom so bright inside me it was blinding and could have blotted out the sun.

“Good girl. Now stay here whilst I deal with some loose ends.” I reached out to grab his shoulder but pulled back at the last second, knowing that he would keep his promise…He wouldn’t leave me again. He noticed the action and his hard facial expression softened before he kissed me sweetly, like the face of Earth’s destruction in the room didn’t come first.

“Nothing in this world comes before you…
nothing!”
He told me fervently as if being able to hear my thoughts. I nodded letting him know I understood and let the tears rolling down my cheeks speak for me. He gave me a small smile before getting up and becoming the man I knew had to face the world alone.

“Wait…what’s happening?” Sammael said turning back to where the last Titan should have been coming through to see the faint figure vanish completely. He stomped around the circle with the Pentagram inside and looked around frantically. Was it possible? Had Draven found a way to stop it before it could complete?

Alex pulled out his wooden dagger and Draven just laughed seeing it.

“You’re going to need a lot more than that boy!” Draven warned and Alex looked around and decided his chances lay better stood behind his father. Sammael was shaking his head in disbelief and then his head snapped up to look at Draven.

“You!” He snarled. Draven nodded once and folded his arms across his chest. He looked like some sentinel warrior stood protecting me and preventing anyone from getting close.

“How?” He asked spitting the question out. Draven just lifted his chin to indicate where Alex stood behind him and Sammael twisted his head to look accusingly at his son. Alex’s eyes widened in shock and as he started shaking his head Sammael must have seen something because he started snarling at him. Then he grabbed him by the collar and bent his head to one side to show off where Lucius had taken his last and fatal bite.

“No…NO! YOU FOOL!” Sammael bellowed at Alex and then pushed him aside hard enough he slid the length of the room. Alex looked as confused as I did but instead of mine his eyes were filled with tears of hurt. Sammael spun back to look at Draven and said,

“Then let their only act in this world be to KILL YOU AND YOUR BITCH!” He thundered in his demonic voice and my skin crawled at the sight of his true form causing the decaying skin of Morgan to peel away, leaving a monstrous sight beneath. He raised his hands to the night sky that showed through the glass dome, threw back his head and screamed,

“ELE
F̱
THERÍA!” The roof exploded and I shrieked as shards of glass rained down like a hailstorm all around us. At the same time the Pentagram burnt into the floor which released all the remaining Titans. They all roared as one at Draven and with the glass acting as a deadly backdrop to such a destructive force they charged at us.

“DRAVEN!” I screamed his name but it wasn’t my name I heard him roaring in return,

“LUCIUS NOW!” At that moment I didn’t understand why he chose to shout out his name in desperation but at the same time Draven’s blades came out on a rush and his body ignited into blue lightning. Where was his demon side?