The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) (32 page)

“I can feel you girl
, and your words fool no one. I can scent it here…” He held my head out to the side and took another deep breath before continuing to prove the weakness in my denial.

“…I can taste it here…” He licked at my skin
, making me shudder, then tapped once again on my pounding pulse.

“…I can feel it here… and…” His hold left my neck and pushed his
flat palm down until it lay in-between my breasts, over my heart.

“
…I can hear it in here.” He then moved himself back to rest his arm over my lap, as he had proved his point.

“Now
, watch the fucking show.” My head shot back round to the stage, just to get away from the closeness he was creating by whispering into my neck. I found myself trying to calm the torrent of emotions that were crashing like waves into my battered senses. There was only one word that tamed the storm my mind was getting lost in.

Draven.

It worked. My heart ceased its pounding and I wiped my sweaty palms down my skirt. I knew Jared was taking in my every move, but I was thankful when he didn’t comment. Instead, we both took his advice or more like demand, and watched the show. Although, if he thought that watching what was now happening on the stage would help me relax, then he was damn crazy!

The creepy fairground music started back up as demon clowns started to ride little bike
s, which looked to be made from small animal bones, around the stage. I recognised the music to be ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’, only when it got halfway through, it changed from the high pitched whistle into a rock version, when the band started to play. This happened simultaneously to when all the hellish clowns stopped and started to squirt water from their flowers, at the crowd. The screams that filled the room coming from the smoking front row quickly told me that it wasn’t water at all, but… acid!

I had to tu
rn away from the disgusting sight of skin melting into raw flesh and the only place I had to go was into Jared’s chest. I felt his rumbling chuckle but felt somewhat comforted by the hand at the base of my skull that held me to him.

“Not to your sweet taste
, my pet?” I ignored his question and held onto his jacket in a steely grip. His hand slid down to my back and he patted me gently before assuring me softly,

“They have gone now
.” I lifted my head and looked up into the palest silver eyes, which for the first time, had a beautiful softness to them. He winked at me and then nodded back to the stage. I mumbled a small,

“I hate clowns
,” as I turned back and I felt his laughter once again. The next act was coming out and I almost tried to find home in Jared’s chest again, only he held me still before I could get there.

“Just wait, they won’t scare you…see, they are not part of the act
.” He said pointing at the two macabre harlequin clowns, who were carrying out a small girl who looked like a living doll. Her head was bent over at an angle and they used her outstretched arms as a way to move her into position. They set her down gently and floated around her like ghosts, dancing upon the grave. Their muted faces were frozen in shocked expressions, thanks to the masks they wore.

One broke away from the feather like dance and made a silent request that the audience be silent. His gloved hands went to her back and started to turn a large key
, like one you would find on a giant windup toy. It was situated just above her massive skirt that flared out and stood rigid as if she had something hidden under the fabric.

As soon as the winding was finished the girl
’s small limbs started to twitch as if coming alive. Then, the clowns ripped off their masks, to show the same faces underneath, only this time painted with their own blood that oozed from their sliced throats. Well, at least we knew now why they were silent, as the cuts were so deep they no longer could use their diced vocal chords. 

Just as the girl was waking fully
, they both made a quick dash off the stage. She spun round on one foot like a petite ballerina and when her face came up, I saw the cutest features; a head full of curls pinned back into two pigtails and large brown eyes shone under the oil lamps, dotted around the huge space. She looked like a living cartoon character. The girl started to dance around the room, to the sweet lullaby that was playing and the innocent sight was leading me into a false sense of security that I knew I should not be falling for. This was of course proven with her next few steps.

The spinning in the centre of the stage was getting impossibly fast and just at the right moment
, she unsnapped the material from her skirt. A sea of red silk flared out and hid the gruesome part of this dancing doll for seconds, before it floated away like a cloud. Her lower body was covered in an oversized bird cage that she was stood in the middle of. It was filled with a least fifteen scruffy black birds that had all pecked away at the skin of her bare legs!

Once again
, I was left feeling sick at the sight and it was only when I heard the hushed tones behind me that I knew I was struggling to get away from the horror.

“Calm yourself and watch what happens next
.” I shook my head over and over wishing he would just let me be, but when I felt his merciless grip on my chin, I knew he wouldn’t let me go without watching it to the revolting end.

The girl was soon joined by the rest of the acts and a large muscular woman
, dressed like the earlier strongmen from the first act, came to her aid. She knelt down and used her strength to bend the bars open, releasing a black swarm to come flying out. The birds moved as one like a fog clogging the air. However, they didn’t get very far. Another one of the acts came out and the heavily pierced man removed the blades that were embedded under his skin and they whizzed through the air, all hitting a bird each. The power of each throw propelled the little black bodies backwards and they landed in the centre of a round bullseye that someone was wearing on their chest.

The crowd cheered and the girl kissed her hands, throwing her invisib
le kisses into the audience which obviously adored her and her act.

“See how her legs have already started to grow back the skin. She doesn’t feel the pain like you would think
.” Jared told me and I had to say it did ease some of the tension that seeing such an act caused. After that, things got a little crazier, if that was even possible! The acts all performed as one, moving into the centre when the music hit a chorus. The fire eater first blew on the sides of the stage and let out a stream of orange creating a line of dancing girls made up of large flames. The next stream out of his mouth created a flaming ringmaster, complete with tailed jacket, top hat, stick and dickey bow.

Other acts came and went in a flourish of the unbelievable. Jugglers that used surgical tools instead of balls, gymnasts that used the bodies of their partners as swings and the most nauseating of all was the living Russian doll. A man came out that was at least seven feet tall. He first opened his jacket and then dug large nails into his own flesh to open his own chest cavity. He cracked back his rib cage
, creaking like opening a rusty cabinet door.

“I’m going to be sick!” I shouted before scrambling to get up from his lap. Thankfully he let me and I flew into the direction of where the ladies
’ room was. I had to pass the stage and did the stupidest thing in this situation, I looked at its centre. There a smaller version of the man popped out of his chest and rolled to his feet with his blood covering his costume. Then he did exactly the same thing as his taller brother had by opening up his own chest to then let another smaller man come rolling out. That was when I ran faster and threw my whole body into the door. I threw up, thankfully making it to the bowl just in time.

By the time I had finished my stomach hur
t, my throat felt like I had drunk acid and my mouth tasted of churned bile. As I made my way from the toilets, I saw two guards stationed either side of the door, dressed in black combat gear. They didn’t speak and neither did I. Instead, I just followed them back to the amused Jared, who only lost his cocky smile when he saw how pale I must have looked. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something I didn’t catch.

He motioned for the two guards to leave and walked over to me. He groaned out of what seemed like frustration
, as he bent to pick me up.

“I can walk
.”

“You look close to passing out pet, so now is not the time to argue
.” He sat back down with me and placed me in-between his legs, this time facing forward. An arm came round my front and passed me a bottle of water, even going as far as opening the cap for me. I didn’t speak. I just took what was offered and downed the water, taking away the taste that was left, thanks to my weak stomach.

His actions kept surprising me. I couldn’t help but wonder what had h
appened in his mind to stop him viewing me as the enemy? When he had described how he could feel it, what exactly had he meant by that? In the silence of the room and the stillness behind me I knew I needed to take advantage of this moment and talk to Jared. I needed to get answers and in return give him some of my reasons. He needed to know that I had come here solely to seek him out. So with this cemented in my mind, I started to turn to face the only being that could help me get into Hell. But that turned out to be the exact moment that the time had come for my own little slice of Hell on earth.

“Time for the main event
.” Jared announced, making my stomach flip over. I turned my gaze back to the stage so slowly it was almost as if, in my subconscious, I was giving myself time to brace for the nightmare that was still to come. But no matter how long it took, it didn’t change the outcome. Sigurd was now at centre stage, waiting for a fight that I had gotten him into. That thought weighed heavy on my mind… that was until Sigurd’s next actions had my jaw dropping. For now Sigurd, my hooded knight and shadowed warrior, was stood there in all his glory. 

All his bare glory that showed every inch of him
, now no longer hidden, but more importantly and for the first time…

I could finally see his face. 

Chapter 29

Black Betty

When the veil lifted in the form of Sigurd tossing his jacket aside, I couldn’t take my eyes from him. It was like having a blindfold take your sight from you for days and then at once being ripped away having you blinking rapidly. Well, that is what I was doing right now, blinking as though the sight before me wasn’t real. It wasn’t from seeing the formidable display of muscle upon muscle that made up his tall body. It wasn’t even that most of his colossal body was covered in thick black tattoos of snakes tha
t circled his torso in diagonal lines. No, what had me blinking was all I didn’t expect to see and that was the breathtaking beauty before me. His face was the very meaning of stunning masculinity.

Hair the colour of desert sand was a disarray of choppy waves that was longer on the top, lying in every direction as though hands had been roughly raking through it. High sculptured cheek bones came down into a square jaw that was speckled with tawny coloured stubble. A long straight nose gave him a vicious and predatory air as he turned his head up to the sound of his opponent coming into the ring. But the real beauty came from his incredible eyes.

They were like the light in burning amber and dark drizzled honey mixing together in swirls.  Only, one was unusually different than the other. Brighter one minute and then darker the next. Almost as if the iris was coming alive, swimming around and pulsating with anticipation for the battle to come.

At some point Sigurd must have been asked to get ready for the fight, because now he stood, cracking his neck to the side, wearing nothing but his leather trousers with every other inch of him on impressive display. I recognised the tattoos that consumed most of his body as the Ouroboros, which wasn’t surprising considering he was the master of them. What was surprising was just how alive they appeared. They weren’t just flat against his skin, but they had a real depth to them. The further up on his arm they went, the thicker and more intricate they became, each one looking as alive as the body they lived on.

“Now, this is a sight I have been looking forward to.” I couldn’t help it when I turned quickly and shot daggers at Jared. He was, after all, the very reason that this fight was taking place.

“Please, you don’t have to do this! I will tell you anything you want to know but please…please, don’t make him fight.” I decided begging was going to be a much better way to go in helping my friend from the dangerous situation I had put him in.

“Now, that sweet pleading just answers one of my questions.” He said laughing.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is simple…” He paused to hold onto my neck with one hand and turn my head with the other, until I was once again facing the stage.

“…i
f you really knew the Demon you keep as company, then you wouldn’t at all fear this fight.” He hummed in my ear.

“But what about the Demon he fights, should I underestimate him too?” I said in clipped tones, not being able to take my eyes from the stage even if I had wanted to, thanks to the hand that still held me positioned, ready for his ‘entertainment’. I felt the deep chuckle at my back before I felt lips at my ear,

“Never underestimate your enemy, young one and further more…” This time both his hands came to rest on my shoulders and he tugged me back sharply in time for him to finish his frightening words,

“
….never underestimate…me!” The ‘me’ part was not only emphasised by the fingers that bit into my flesh, but also the dangerous growl that was all the warning I needed to trust in his threat. When he heard me swallow a plum sized lump in my throat he relaxed his punishing hold on me.

“Now, relax back and enjoy the show, I think you will find the outcome surprising.” He said now back to his comforting tone that still held that undercurrent of dominating command and well, this combined with his arm that banded itself across my upper body to pull me back to him, I had little choice than to do as I was told. So, needless to say, I ‘relaxed’ into him.

“Oh good, I didn’t miss this bastard’s bloodshed.” I heard Marcus say behind us and I turned my head as he flung himself back into his seat, legs thrown casually over the armrest. I sent him my fiercest scowl hoping in the next ten seconds I would develop the supernatural power of heated death rays from my eyes. Unfortunately, there was no such luck seeing as his lips didn’t come melting off his evil clown face!

“Get your ass outta of my seat, pencil dick!” Smidge said coming to stop in front of him with her arms folded and her orange hair slightly glowing with her anger.

“Sit your big ass down Smidge and I’ll prove just how wrong that statement is by drawing a moan from those succulent ripe lips of yours.” He said making slow work of licking his lips after creating a few tiny sparks when sharpening his wicked looking nails against one another.

“
Arrrhhh!” She shouted storming off to Jared’s other side to take the empty seat there. Marcus laughed heartily when he heard her mumble,

“Frustrating fucker!”

“Now, now children, play nice.” Jared commented dryly.

“Now where’s the fun in that
, J?” Marcus asked then shouting,

“Wench!” to get the attention of one of the waitresses, who rolled her eyes before handing him a bottle.  

“Don’t worry Jared, he couldn’t find the right hole to put that ‘pencil’ in, if the dipshit had DickNav!” At this I couldn’t help the laugh that burst through my anxiety from the upcoming fight. Marcus slammed down his beer, sloshing foam over the neck and leaned forward towards me,

“Think that’s funny, human or do you wanna see me test my statement on your skinny ass!?” This turned out to be the wrong thing to say as Jared had suddenly lost his patience. His arm tensed around me in a protective way and he let out a booming word that hurt my ears,

“ENOUGH!” At this the whole room stopped and lowered their heads at the sound of such rage and the air became thick with the pulsating energy of their master’s wrath. I looked to Sigurd and saw him make a move in the ring that brought him closer to me. I knew he was about to do something stupid just to save me in this but because I knew something he didn’t, I quickly shook my head at him. He thankfully ceased in his risky plans but you couldn’t miss the proof he was less than happy at seeing me in the arms of Jared. The beautiful amber heat in his eyes started to get consumed with black smoke, leaving only one flaming ring that spun with his building anger.

I did the only thing I could think of and mouthed the words,

“I’m okay,” which thankfully was enough to unclench his hammer-like fists.

“Now get on with your fucking job,
Jester and leave this human to ME!” The beast snapped out at the end, making it clearer than ice who was in charge. His once friendly manner gone the instant my life seemed threatened. This was how I knew I had nothing to fear from the beast at my back. The only question now was…why?

“Of course,
My Lord.” And with these words from Marcus, it meant I regrettably didn’t have long to ponder this as the jester took off back to the stage. He jumped gracefully over the wired sides that acted as crude boxing ring ropes, ones I knew, would soon be coursing with electricity, caging in the fighters with power created by mere mortal men. This irony wasn’t lost on me considering it was the supernatural world that fought against each other, as us lowly humans couldn’t do it for ourselves. Well, we certainly were good at lighting the way for their ‘entertainment’ weren’t we? I thought on a huff.

“I will have your held tongues now my gits and bitches, for the real fun is about to begin.” Marcus said as he took centre stage, arms open wide, like he was solely created to be there.

“For our first contender is not unknown, as you can all see the snakes that scar his skin. I give you the Master of the Ouroboros and with him his shadowed kin. For the power that he controls, it is a wonder we do not see him grin.” This part got a few laughs from the crowd but surprisingly most seemed to just stare at Sigurd with nothing short of awe and admiration. But one thing was definitely coming through and that was the excitement for the upcoming fight. 

“But now I invite you to view our next contender and give your heads a spin. The mountain that mounts the steps is none other than
Deumus Drekavac, so please cause a thunderous din.” At this the crowd went wild with shouting, fist pumping and feet stomping causing it to become a frightening background base for the snarling growls that were coming from the parted crowd. I looked up just in time to see an enormous form pushing back demons, sending rows sprawling to the floor before stepping up to the stage. He too jumped over the wires and his feet landed with a cracking thud that caused dust to rise in a small cloud around his bare feet.

“Oh shit!” I felt the words escape my lips and paid no attention to the response at my back. I couldn’t. I was frozen in suspended horror at Sigurd’s opponent. This guy made Sigurd look
like a regular sized man and with him being 6’5” at least, I thought this was an unbelievable feat. But it wasn’t just his height, it was everything else, including the look that expressed only one emotion and that was clearly the intent to kill…no, not just the intent but more like the pure, raw…need. It was the rippling muscles that tensed, while waiting for the word ‘go’. It was the saliva that dripped from behind the teeth that couldn’t be contained in a closed mouth due to him panting like a rabid dog. But it was in his eyes, the eyes that wanted nothing more than to see the blood of his kill on his hands. Hell, he looked like he wanted to bathe in it!

This was when my heart started pounding.

“So, sit back and enjoy or cause a ruckus within. But whichever you do, place your bets, on the demon win!” At this, the same ladies fanned out amongst the crowd like before and started taking bets from the eager horde of demon spectators. This was obviously the cue for Sigurd to get ready and he did this by circling to stand directly opposite the one called Deumus Drekavac, whose drool was now coming down his chin in a long disgusting chain until it pooled on the dirt floor by his feet.

He stood at least three inches taller than Sigurd and instead of the massive broad shoulders and defined graceful ridges of muscle that tapered down into a slim waist, Sigurd’s enemy was just an undefined mass of bulk. He was like an old crone beaten with the ugly stick in her youth, who had got it on with a bull sized swamp thing and here now stood their love child! But when I say ugly stick, I actually mean a Being so ugly that his parents could have mass produced their own ugly sticks, ‘cause bloody
Hell…this was one ugly ass dude, who was taking ugly asses to a whole new level!

His skin was wrinkled like he had spent a lifetime living in a stagnant pond which animals only used to take a shit in, not drink from! It was ghost grey and all his veins were shown through the thin layer of his translucent wet skin. If it wasn’t for the size and obvious strength in the raging creature of
Hell, then I would say he looked ill. His head was devoid of hair and that too was wrinkled. Most of which gravity pulled down on his forehead in flappy swags of loose grey skin.

His eyes were two piercing black dots in a mist of dirty white, that were set deep into his large head. Like Sigurd, his clothing only consisted of trousers, only his were made from some sort of animal hide. Most of his chest was bare
, but I couldn’t escape the sickening straps of leather that were sewn directly into his skin. Attached to these he had crude metal hoops and some thick chains that acted as some form of armour. This must have been covering a weak spot of his, as the skin underneath his ribcage was darker, with black veins spanning out as if poison had been injected there.

“
Wh…who…is that?” I mumbled.

“That, my pale pet, is
Deumus, the human soul gatherer of the Drekavac.” His deep voice informed me and then paused to swallow heavily at his bottled beer.

“And who is the ‘
Dre…acvk?” I said knowing I hadn’t said it right, but not really caring considering I already hated the guy.

“The
Drek…avac is a race of demons that are said to be created by the souls of those not of sound mind…” He corrected, then leaned into me and his voice once again did that soft rumbling that left little bumps along my exposed neck, when he spoke the rest,

“…c
razed, deranged, mentally unbalanced and certifiably psychotic.” He pronounced each word with his lips at my ear and almost snapping out with his teeth, making me shrink further away. But with nowhere to go, I had no other choice than to sink myself closer into his hold. He seemed to like this, as I felt a growly purr behind me.

“He…he looks… insane.” I forced myself to say.

“Oh I will confirm that, he most certainly is, but well, considering the level he has gained through his gluttony of consumption, then for the Drekavac, madness lies hand in hand with the power they take from others…this, for the most, is why they are immune to their demise… the stronger their opponent, the stronger they become… so as you can imagine, fighting them has its difficulties…drink.” He finished by bringing his bottle round and holding it to my lips, lips he could see because his head rested above mine and was now cocked to the side, looking down at me. But hearing all I had about this dude made me snatch the bottle from his hand and down the whole thing! Jared laughed heartily behind me and when I came back up for air I passed the now empty bottle back and wiped the dripping beer from my lips using the back of my hand.