The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (26 page)

Chapter 69

Mortally Hurt

“Keira!” Sophia shouted pushing through the crowd and running into me. We embraced as sisters and again I found myself being bombarded with emotion. I managed to hold in the tears but you would have thought the amount I had cried in the last year and half I would have been immune to emotion by now, that or my tears should have dried up long ago.

But there was something about a happy ending that brought out the humanity in all of us, even Bill who hadn’t seen this side of the world for over fifty years. Because even though we were all different deep down, at the root of our core there was something the same in all of us. Race, gender, beliefs and sexual preference, strip it all down to its bare bones and we filled our lungs with the same air and we pumped blood around the same hearts. It was only our minds that made us who we were, nothing more, nothing less.

We were dangerous if we wanted to be and we were loving if we chose to be. It was that simple. And this brought me back to the destructive being on the floor that
wanted
to hurt. No-one made her that way, she chose that path.

“Let me at her!” Sophia said letting me go and storming over to Aurora until Vincent stepped in front of her.

“I think there are only two people here that can make the decision of what to do with her.” The Angel in my life said, nodding to me and Draven.

“Well you already asked me once not to kill her.” Draven said looking down at me and I blushed remembering my letter.

“What are you talking about, my Lord?” Adam asked coming up next to his wife and prying what looked like a priceless vase out of her hands, one that she had at the ready for when Aurora woke and it didn’t take long for it to happen. As soon as Adam had moved Pip away we heard malicious laughter.

“See.” Pip said mimicking the action of smashing her over the head. Adam just shook his head at her and we all allowed the battered Aurora to struggle getting to her feet.

“Oh how I enjoyed watching you both suffer!” She spat at us and Adam had to literally hold Pip back with an arm around her waist.

I had to say I was tempted to allow her to spin her delusions for longer but I couldn’t wait. Oh this was going to be so good and damn satisfying.

“You really think you made us suffer?” I asked stepping forward feeling Draven keep only a step behind me. The entire crowd was watching this all play out as if it was the night’s entertainment.

“Oh I know I did! The look on his face when I told him his little bitch was dead! And yours when I left you in that hole!” I heard Draven growl behind me and everyone in the room took a step back but me. No, I just started laughing harder and soon her smirk dropped when she finally realised she had missed something.

“You really are a stupid cow aren’t you…I mean she really fell for it didn’t she?” I asked Draven looking back over my shoulder and he just folded his arms across his chest and said,

“That she did, love.”

“What the fuck are you talking about!?” She shouted shaking her head and getting more worked up.

“Get a clue! He never thought I was dead you dumb bitch!” I shouted at her relishing the sight of her jaw dropping.

“Oh this is going to be good.” Pip said nudging Adam and getting excited.

“I…he…” She stuttered for words. 

“I left him a letter telling him what I had planned and knowing it was more than likely you would double cross me, I told him as much.”

“But that still doesn’t…” I cut her off again only this time by laughing first then Draven got his part of the plan in.

“You gave me a lock of her hair and told me the last thing she said to me… but she lied.” At this Aurora’s face twisted into an angry snarl.

“Then why let me live?!” She growled out the words and Sophia looked as if it was taking everything in her not to rip her throat out.

“Good question.” Draven said down at me calmly before then snapping in his rage and storming past me to grab Aurora by the throat and pin her to the wall.

“Whoa!” I said thinking this was it, he was really going kill her and I didn’t think I could do much to stop him. I mean, yes, I had not long ago been trying to kill her myself but now…could I really stand by and watch my boyfriend kill someone with his bare hands.

“Eos Titaness, you are charged with the desecration of a sacred Janus Gate, conspiracy and treason against your King, your attempt at disrupting the balance in which we live by and…” before Draven continued he squeezed her neck tighter and lifted her further so she couldn’t breathe, then got closer to her face and said,

“…even if your attempts at trying to destroy my kingdom weren’t reason enough for your punishment, trying to KILL MY ELECTUS WAS!” He roared in her face and dropped her to the floor where she was left gasping for breath. Then he looked down at her with nothing but disgust on his face when he said,

“You were honoured with a place at my table and on my council. You had more than our kind could ever wish for yet you threw it all away and for what, power? Well let me tell you something Eos…” He leant down, lifted up her head forcefully by her chin and said,

“There is no power in Death!” And then he left her face fall and walked away after giving his sentence. He looked to me and just as his eyes started to soften she started to laugh. He looked back and you could feel the whole room chill from the sound. It was nothing short of madness.

“If you think there is no power in death then you are mistaken
my Lord!
” She hissed the ‘my lord’ and then spat on the ground.

“You think you hold the balance then you are wrong! You think you rule over this kingdom, you are wrong! You think I did any of this without honour WRONG! MY HONOUR WAS NEVER YOURS!” She screamed getting up and again started laughing. Everything in the room stopped and even I, the only mortal in the room could feel something coming.

Then from above Seth ran to the edge of the balcony as if something had only just now hit him. She looked up at him and blew him a kiss and then started to fade from the room but not before she told us of her victory,

“Long hail Cronus and his REBIRTH!” She shouted this last word just as Seth jumped down over the balcony hoping to land on her but he landed with a knee to the ground where she once stood.

Aurora was gone.

“NOOOOO!” Seth screamed and then punched the floor, splitting the wood beneath his fist. He remained frozen in place with all the muscles on his naked torso bulging. He had found his trousers but still remained barefoot and shirtless. He didn’t have the bulk as most of the other men but his slim frame was defined and full of strength. 

We were all left confused or at least I was having no clue as to what any of this meant.

“Tell me she didn’t…” Draven trailed off when Seth raised his head and his glazed eyes said it all. And this was when it finally all snapped into place.

“Titans.”
I whispered and Seth’s eyes found mine before he once again lowered his head in what looked like the deepest shame I had ever seen on anyone before. Then he raised himself up without a word and walked to the door. The crowd parted for him and every eye in the room watched his departure in silence. 

RJ came running from the room above and flung herself at the railings of the balcony before shouting his name,

“SETH!” He stopped with his back to everyone and you could see his naked back tense.

“Seth?” RJ said again this time as a question and you could hear the devastation as a wobble in her voice. But that heart break only became something you could actually hear when he finally walked away…

Without one word spoken.

RJ burst into uncontrollable sobs and ran back into the room above and I looked to Seth as his figure walked through the pillars and down the steps into the darkness. He didn’t turn around once but I knew he had heard her heart breaking. And one thing I was certain of and that was he felt it breaking as well.

For long moments nothing moved and only the sounds of a broken mortal girl could be heard echoing through the house and for once, it wasn’t coming from me. I walked up to Draven, placed my hand on his chest, looked up at him and said,

“I have to go to her.”

“I know.” He said putting his forehead to mine and gave me a look that mirrored my own. It felt as though parting now would tear apart our souls. That was the worst thing about being the people with responsibility, he had to deal with the consequences of Aurora’s actions and I had to deal with Seth’s. We owed it to the people we cared for when really our first choice would have been each other. All I wanted was to find my solace in his arms and close the door on it all.

But we couldn’t.

And so we didn’t.

By the time I got to the bedroom I had an angry RJ to deal with not the emotional, mascara mess I was expecting. She had pulled off all the sheets on the bed and had stuffed them into the adjoining bathroom tub and poured what smelt like bleach all over them. I walked over to close the bathroom door before I passed out from the fumes.

She had obviously smashed a mirror against the wall as there were shards scattered on the floor where she had been sat tied up not long ago. To be honest if she had been free sooner I think she would have probably been right next to Pip passing me shit to bash Aurora’s head with.

I found her stood by the central window in the room looking out over the gardens and staring at the fountain. She looked to be holding something and as I stepped up to her I realised it must have been his t-shirt. She was twisting it over and over in her hands and I remembered doing this a few times myself. It was as if holding something in your hands helped you focus on channelling your hurt to an object, instead of letting it fester in your heart.

“He left.” She said without looking at me.

“I know.”

“He left.” She repeated again and I had to bite my lip at how upsetting it was to hear.

“I know, honey.” I said again not knowing whether to pull her to me for a hug or to go and hunt down one broody bastard named Dickhead!

“Just like that…
Gone.”
 

“I’m sorry.” And I was. Because if anyone in this world knew how she felt at that moment it was me. This was when she finally turned to me and with tears in her eyes said,

“He didn’t even say good…
goodbye.”
She hiccupped and stumbled on the word ‘goodbye’ and I found I too had tears welling up for my friend.

“He’s a fool.”

“Yes but…but…” She burst into tears and threw herself into my arms and said the rest of her sentence into my hair,

“But he’s not a fool in love.”

This was when her knees gave out and I caught her, lowering her to the ground as she wept into my arms. The only thing I knew to say to her was one simple fact,

“You’re not alone.” Which made her cry harder and hug me tighter. I didn’t know if it was the right thing to say and I didn’t think I would ever know but it felt like the right thing to say at that moment.

RJ cried until she was spent and when I pulled back I saw a different RJ looking back at me. She had always been so tough and so strong but now void of all makeup and with tear stains down her face she looked so young and vulnerable my heart melted all over again for my friend.

“What the Hell is happening Keira?” She asked and I actually laughed making her smile at last.

“I would normally say you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but after what you have seen then I think you’re the only mortal alive that would.”

“Ok, hold up…
mortal?”
She asked raising her hand to stop me.

“I think we need to talk.”

“Shit yeah, I’ll say.”

We got off the floor and she followed me into the other room so we didn’t have to be reminded of what had happened in here. I found a much smaller room that was sweetly furnished and of the likes you would have found in most period homes around the country that had been preserved for the public to visit.

We both sat on the flower print bed and I set to the mammoth task of telling her everything I knew from the very beginning. And after a lot of swearing and ‘I knew it’ from RJ my tale was finished and I certainly was in need of a drink!

“Well shit me and call me a TellyTubby!” Yep, my friend was back.

“I know.”

“That’s…that’s…”

“I know.” I repeated again and I knew she needed time to digest all this.

“So why do you think she did that to him?” RJ asked now she had calmed down considerably. Because the first time I mentioned Bitch’s name, let’s just say she hadn’t found her happy place.

“I’m still not sure but when she pushed me in that pit she mentioned Seth as her lover so I thought they were together in this. But that must have been her goal from the beginning…but wait…Oh course, I have got it!” I shouted jumping from the bed.

“What? What is it?”

“This whole thing has been about Seth all along. I couldn’t figure out what had taken her so long…why strike now when she could have betrayed me and Draven over and over, why wait?” I said walking across the room and back as I played it all out in my mind.