The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (133 page)

“I will my love but you must be brave for me. I want you to do as I ask and let me in, open yo
ur mind as much as you can so that
I can take that pain away...otherwise the pain will be too much
.
” He tried so hard to keep his voice level and void of the panic rising in him. He wanted to remain strong for both of us, I could tell but the pain they talked about was terrifying me to a point where functioning beyond reactions was a difficult task. I just wanted my mind to open and let Draven in but it was firmly closed. It had shut down thanks to Lucius
’
influence. It was
now on lock down not
allowing any other intruder in. I tried to concentrate, to break down the walls I myself had put there but it was too hard. The mixture of pain and fear had made it near to impossible to think about anything else.

“Dominic NOW!” Vincent screamed out at his brother who was obviously hesitating.

“She isn’t letting me in!” He shouted back.

“There is no time! Do it now or we all LOSE HER!” So this was my answer...the root of their fears. My life and death hung on the scales each side weig
h
ing the same. One tip, one wrong movement and my life would be no more. My life
, only
without pain, without worry, without the traumatic past... but then I stopped breathing as the worst thought seeped in like a purple coloured blur....

W
ithout Dominic Draven....

Breaking Walls.

NO! I wanted to live! I wanted to feel the sun on my skin, hear the wind blowing
in
my hair and most of all, taste Draven’s lips upon mine. I was NOT going to die! I would fight, I would not let fear take me over to the other side!

“Restrain her!” Draven snapped out at his brother. Through my mental torture
they had turned me around so that
my head was now at the bottom of the bed. Vincent was stood at the end and had grabbed my arms to spread them up above my head. He held onto my wrists like live shackles, his fingers circled around bone like he was ready for the fight in me. I looked up to see his face upside down, nod at his brother. My watery gaze travelled b
ack to Draven to find his stradd
ling me, keeping his weight from crushing me. He was on his knees at either side of my waist and was looking down at me with guilt riddled lines invading his stern face.

I took a deep breath as I waited for Hells fire to touch me.

Draven gave no warning, which I guess was better for me, but at the moment he slashed open his own hands and placed them down on where Lucius had touched me, I felt like dying! I couldn’t hear anything but my own ear piercing screams of pure and excruciating pain. Every type you could imagine! It was like a lifetime of pain, from stubbing your toe, to breaking your arm, all wrapped up into one moment. Years and years of accidents, illness, self inflicted and Morgan induced body mutilation could not compare to this single moment in time where my body was being pushed so far to the limit, it felt like I was dying over and over.

“She can’t take much more! Dam
n
it Keira, Let me in!” Draven shouted down at me. He was now using all his body weight to hold me down as I was using every last surge of energy to thrash around the bed. Draven’s hands were tight around the area that was minus all skin and let his blood flow out from hi
s body
into me. I was trying to focus on his words, his actions but the room span around so fast I felt sick. Like being on a Waltzer ride at the fairground, while smacked up on the worst kind of drugs. I was trying to get a clear picture of what was happening, but the world was no longer the same. I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, only my hole was leading
me through a
passage
way
to hell!

“LET ME IN!” Draven screamed at me as though he could feel me falling. I just wanted it to end! I wanted peace after what felt like a life of suffering. I just wanted to be numb!

“
Gods Keira!
Then let me help you! Open yourself to me!
I WILL NOT LOSE YOU! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE ME, DO YOU HEAR!
” Draven was
screaming out at me,
pleading
with me
and for the first time ever, he was crying. I felt his tears falling onto my face and the effect was like acid to my skin. The tears of a Demon and the tears of an Angel mixed made for a powerful antidote to my suffering. It was this feeling that made me really listen. I found my mind and the walls surrounding it. Walls that went up so high I
could not see the top which was caked
in cloud. I was a smaller version of myself in my mind. Stood at the bottom trying to claw it down with tiny hands. D
raven’s voice still boomed over
head for me to let him in...but how? I needed to think, to find a way of destroying what I myself had put there!

Then the most amazing thing happened. I started to feel Draven’s tear
s
roll down my skin and leave a burning path behind them. I lifted my hand to my face in my mind and caught a tear that was not my own in my hand. I looked down as it glistened like a pearl and diamond combined. Then it started to glow like the orb I had dreamt of my first night at my sisters. It got bigger and bigger until I could no longer carry it so I threw it at the wall with both hands. The wall cra
cked on impact and caused a spli
t to run up until out of sight. I heard it thunder above me and the heavens opened up for the flood. The rain in my mind fell down in giant droplets that soaked on impact and as soon as the first one hit me I woke.

I looked up to see Draven smiling at me with hands still locked firmly in place. I had thought him finished as for the first time since Lucius had touched me I felt no pain. Nothing! I was just numb
and my body felt like it weigh
ed the earth and was sinking into the bed.

“Good girl. You did it Keira.... You let me in an
d now you will suffer no more. Now just s
leep...sleep...slee....” His words flowed over me like a warm blanket coving me from head to toe. I felt my lids grow heavy and being pulled down by no doing of my own. Then the world of hell and fire grew black and peaceful....

I was gone.

“It was Lucius
!
” Draven spoke in my lucid dream. He sounded angry although he was trying to keep his voice low and unheard.

“You are certain?” Now his brother was there and soon the image became as clear as their voices. They were both sat down in Draven’s room on opposite couches. Draven had his head in his hands and Vincent was shaking his head causing his halo of blonde curls to dance around.

“I felt his pain. I don’t know how but she beat him Vincent. She forced him back and denied him access to her mind and she wounded him. How is it possible she is so strong?” Draven voice ached through exhaustion and a mass of nightmare events.

“It
is impossible, Lu
cius is the strongest we know
for mind control...No human would stand a chance! You must be wrong brother
.
”

“But that is the thing! I know I am not! Once she let me in I saw everything. First her dream...he showed h
er the past but changed it so that
she became a part of it. It was when we first met Lucius, when we were comrades. She saw Lucius and called out to me, she tried to warn me of his intent but the dream ended before I could react. He took her away from me and it was a message. He wanted me to know
.
” Draven was now standing tall and firm on his knowledge.

“But how do you know this?” Vincent asked innocently enough but his shock was clear.

“Because to beat him she accessed his mind. I saw for myself her dream was also to become mine, but I had not slept since she left me. He was waiting to send me this message
.
” 

“But what message?”
Draven’s voice replied in stone cold fear.

“He intends to take her from me.”

“But
that was before she beat him. W
hich I still don’t understand how
she did?” Vincent sounded thic
k with disbelief.

“She was so, so cleaver. Sometimes I think I underestimate her. I told you she accessed his mind but I didn’t say what she did with it
.
” Vincent didn’t reply but just waited in silence as Draven once again took a seat.

“She showed him his fear, his only fear. She showed him the Sun
!
” Draven sounded so proud
,
if I could
have
see
n
his features better I believe he would be beaming.

“Yes. I told her some while back of his history and she used her knowledge against him. I doubt very much that Lucius was ever expecting such power from my girl, but power is what he found a
nd one a great deal more than his.
” I even felt myself smile at this in my dream, thinkin
g at least I wasn’t as useless
around the supernatural world as I once thought...I just hoped it to be true.

“But how?! How can it be true...she is human. Nothing on this earth
has that kind of power!” Vincent didn’t sound so willing to believe it and I couldn’t blame him.

“Brother, no one is more shocked than I, but I can only say what I saw. The only way I can make sense of it is the more powerful the mind she gains access to
,
the more power she has to control. In our case, Lu
cius is the most powerful of ou
r kind at manipulating the actions of others, then think of the supremacy she holds over all of us. She is after all
,
the
‘
Chosen
’.
” I couldn’t tell how Draven felt about this but I needed to know...I needed answers. What did that mean? The “Chosen” And what about this so called “Power” he was convinced I held....was it true?

“So what are we to do? What did
Pythia say on the matter?” My mind hunted around to pull that word from my memory and found her to be the Oracle Draven had spoken of.

“Pythia told me of what I already knew the very first time I saw her. Keira is the Chosen, there is no doubt. She told me to protect her with my l
ife and the God
s will do the same. She is too important to the prophecy for anything to be allowed to happen to her. Pythia told me of her power and I didn’t believe it unt
il now. This is the way the God
s have seen to her protection but she must be taught how to use it”

“I’d say she’s not doing too badly on her own on that one!” Vincent said sarcastically.

“Yes
,
but look at the damage he was still able to inflict” Ok so Draven had a bloody good point there! And there wasn’t a cat in Hell’s chance I was going to go through that again!

“And how was he able to do that exactly...I mean if she is so powerful...”

“She is still in her infancy
,
Vincent. Like a child with a dangerous weapon. She doesn’t know how to use it to its full advantage yet. Lucius knew this and used that power back against her, he had little choice, she could have killed that Bastard! Next time I will teach her to do just that!” Draven
both
interrupted and erupted at this last statement. 

“Sounds to me like she came very close
!
” Draven just
grunted at
his
brother’s
statement then added his own views on the murder matter.

“Not close enough!”

My dream was starting to waver and quickly turned another corner. I was in a bed unlike this one. Made up from layer upon layer of furs and cushions spread on the floor. I felt like I was wrapped up in the softest silk and velvet combined. I stretched out and my hand grazed the rough sandstone floor in contrast to the covers I was entwined in. Then a voice broke through my sleepy state.

“My beauty awakes at last
.
” Draven purred in my ear making me jump. I whipped my head back round from staring at the floor and was faced with the different Draven I knew from my dreams. I flinched back not knowing what else to do.

“Do not fear me, I will not hurt you child” His short cut beard tickled my arm as he
lowered his head to kiss my bare
shoulder.

“I am not
a child!” I said in a huffy manne
r and after I said it I wondered why? He raised his eyebrows at my little
out
burst and he laughed once.

“Ah
,
your pride as b
een hurt
, forgive me. I merely mean,
compared to my many years,
that is all. Your body is all woman and pleases me greatly
.
” He was devouring me with his eyes over every inch of my skin which made me realize just how naked I was. I felt so exposed I gr
abbed the cover
and pulled it up to my chin making him laugh again.