The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (137 page)

No-one working at
Afterlife really had anything to complain about as the wage
s Draven paid were the best
around and people usually tipped the bar well which got shared fairly
,
taking into account the amount of hours we all did. Of course every
one
put the bonus down to me and no one believed me when I said that I had nothing to do with it.

“I think keeping the boss this happy helps Kaz
.
” Mike had replied with a sly grin that forced me to flick water in his face after washing my hands. It was my last shift before I travelled back to England tomorrow and one night that Draven let me work. It was the C
hristmas party and Afterlife kne
w how to hold one heck of a party! The entire place had been decorated in thick rich
colours of green, red and gold
. Wreaths and holly swags hung from the tall arch
ed
windows and doors. A huge black Christmas tree dominated one corner of the roo
m, which was covered with blood red ribbon the width of
a body cascading down to the floor. Massive gold baubles, the size of melons were decorated with the same blood red drips in glossy paint. There were thousands of red twinkling fairy lights not only covering the tree but the whole club. It wa
s like a gothic Christmas fairy
land had replaced the usual Afterlife and I
knew straight away one girl who
was responsible for the transformation.... the sensational Sophia!

The first drinks of the night were on the house and at one point of the night the lights dimmed and the music stopped for everyone to raise their classes to the VIP and to a man they couldn’t see to thank. I wore a hidden smile the rest of the night. The night carried on in full swing and when my shift was over I joined my friends in the party. We all danced in a group and I
even let down my hair to whip
round as the mixture of rock classics and dance music gripped me enough to dance until sweating. All my friends knew I was leaving for the holidays as a few of them were doing the same. Chaz was leaving his aunt’s house to go back to his mum
’
s or mom’s as he kept saying.

“So is Dreamy Draven going
back with you for the holidays?” RJ asked me when we were both in the ladies trying to cool ourselves after out work
out
on the dance floor. I had been told not to tell anyone the plan me, Draven and his siblings had constructed so I didn’t know how to answer this one without lying. In the end I didn’t need to as Lanie came in with streaming mascara down her face. She was in floods of tears and between sobs told us how Drew had just broke up with her. I spent the next half hour rubbing her back and scowling at RJ every time she tactlessly mentioned how she was going to ri
p his head off! This just made
Lanie give way to fresh new tears. In the end Draven must have been worried at not seeing me in th
e club because he walked through
the door in the body of a nineteen year old cyber Goth with electric blue and fuchsia pink hair. I only knew it was Draven when her eyes flashed purple and she winked at me. I tried so hard not to laugh as th
e situation but failed miserably
. Both my friends shot me a shocked look at my tactless behaviour.

“Umm
...sorry...I guess I don’t handle crying in the right way
.” I said lamely whilst giving
Draven evils as his female host left the bathroom.

“You’ve been doing fine up until now
.
” RJ commented under her breath.

It only took us another ten minutes to clean Lanie up and convince her that Drew was a moron and therefore not worth her tears. It hadn’t really worked as she was still sniffling but it did get us out of the loo. Af
ter that things started to wind
down and I soon found myself being crushed by Jack’s embrace. I could almost hea
r Draven’s growl in my head as
no doubt he was watching. After saying goodbye to all my friends in turn I decided to go and help Mike with the bar close down.

I was acting on autopilot as my thoughts wandered to tomorrow. I had already packed that day and my black case with a smiley sticker on
the side lay on my bed ready for the last few items before zipping it up and heading home for the first time this winter. We had planned for Draven to follow shortly afterwards in his
private
jet but Ragnar was to guard me on the actual flight. At first Draven had wanted me to fly with him but I knew my mum would have been upset to know that the expensive ticket home wasn’t going to get used. Draven had wanted to keep my departure date a secret, with only my family and his knowing the ins and outs. Ragnar was going to be instructed on the day. He told me this was so no one’s mind could betray them. I guess they knew mine wasn’t an issue with that problem anymore. It had been a week since the last time I had heard Lucius
’
voice and my dreams were no longer being controlled or intruded on. It was becoming a distant memory, one Draven was happy for me to forget.

Draven had gone as far as not making any plans for England and I had told my family that as far as I knew his work was keeping
him
in the US for the holidays. My mum thought it a shame but was just happy to have us all home for Christmas so didn’t make a big deal out of it. I was ju
st glad to be turning my back on
the past few weeks and hoping to come back to start a fresh
new year
...nightmare free.

My sister sent Frank up to get my suitcase and after saying a mental goodbye to the view I was going to miss
,
I met them all downstairs. It was hard to pretend to say goodbye to the waiting Draven at my doo
rstep. For him it was
hard
,
as he looked far too vulnerable to be the one in control.

Frank, Libby and
Hilary had all wished him a
Happy
Christmas and said their goodbyes
before quickly giving us some space. I walked around the side of the house to gaze at the sweeping valley and snow covered national park. Draven wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him for a tight embrace.

“We don’t have to do this, you could change your mind and your family will understand after time. I could take you away where
you wish to go, somewhere
only you and I know the whereabouts
.
” I had heard these words all week. It was the same pleadin
g voice and
another twist on him hiding me away from the world.

“Draven it will b
e fine, we have planned it so that
nothing could go wrong. Even my family are convin
ced you won’t be meeting me. No-
one knows I’m not spending Christmas in Liverpool, that I’m actually going to my Grandparents in Cornwall to be with the rest of my family.” At this point he was looking deep into my eyes and caressing the side of my face in his palm. He looked so sad, like it was the last time he might see me.

“I can’t let anyone harm you...I can’t let them take you Keira...it would finish me
.
” He said before burying his head
in
to the top of mine.

“Nothing is going to take me, don’t talk like that! Look at me
!
” He didn’t so I turned my head up so he had no choice. His face was riddled with pain and angst, it was the closest I came to giving into him and letting him take me wherever in the world he considered safe.

“We have a plan, you are
going to ring Ragnar if there are
any problems and he will do the same. If anyone is watching they will just think I am in the car with you and getting on your j
et, not getting on a conventional
flight with over a hundred other humans where they can do nothing. If anything I am worried about Ragnar!” He grunted at this.

“No human eyes apart from yours can see him
.
” He said
,
although I already knew this.

“I know
,
but that’s not what worries me. I am just wondering how he is going to get his huge body into one of those tiny seats
.
” At this he finally eased up and laughed.

We remained entwined until Draven loosened his hold and re
luctantly said,

“It’s time, they are
waiting
.
” At which point I found I really wasn’t ready to let go. I turned into him and held him around the waist, making him wrap his arms around my body like he could protect me from anything the earth held against us. I knew this was silly of us both acting like this, as I knew he would be with me only hours after I landed but I couldn’t help feeling the little nagging at the back of my mind...what if something did go wrong?

“Honey, sorry
,
but we
’
re gonna have to leave now before we hit traffic
.
” Libby’s head popped around the corner and looked guilty as hell for dragging me away. I just nodded in a sullen way before looking up to find Draven looking far off towards the mountains, like this is where he would have liked to have hidden me. Well
,
it was too late now, I though
t
with a touch of regret. I looked back and saw Libby had
gone to wait in the car, and Frank had the engine
started already to warm up. Another hint for me to hurry up, I thought bitterly.

“Ragnar will follow you in the black Range Rover behind and once you’re at the airport he will board the plane. My jet won’t be far behind and I should be knocking on your door tomorrow around noon, but Ragnar won’t let you out of his sig
ht until then.” He had gone through
this over and o
ver but I just nodded as though
it was the first time. I knew poor Ragnar wouldn’t dare let me even go to the bathroom without guarding the door, not if his life depended on it!

“Ok, don’t look so worried or is the idea of meeting my parents for the first time is what worries you?” I joked and it looked like it took all the effort in the world for him to smile.

“You forget, if they don’t like me I can just alter their minds so they think I’m the only man around they want d
ating their beautiful daughter.”
He winked and now I was laughing, just glad we were saying goodbye on a high note.

“I will miss you
.
” I said reaching up to kiss him. He bent his head down and kissed me with all the passion of a love starved man. I locked my arms around his neck and kissed him back with equal starvation. A shiver shot down my back when it ended as the nagging feeling sunk deep
er to my core and I knew why.

It felt like...

A last kiss.

Chapter 61

The Wrong Flight.

Before I knew it I had
waved goodbye to the owner of my heart and left feeling slightly empty inside. The nagging feeling was beginning to grow
,
the further the car took me from Draven. I kept giving myself a mental s
hake, saying it was only for a
day, two at the most. Everyo
ne else around me was buzzing with
excitement and even had Christmas songs playing through the car’s stereo. I found myself just mo
ving my lips, trying to act as if
I felt the same excitement but one look from Libby in the mirror and I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone. Libby had felt for me when I told her that Draven couldn’t join us for the holiday season and I had felt even guiltier lying about it and receiving undeserved sympathy. But like Draven had said it was for everyone
’s
own good.

They had discovered that someone must be leaking information from somewhere inside the VIP and Draven suspected it was one of the new guests as Lucius came to me not long after they had arrived. As far as Draven knew
,
this was his first encounter. I had tried in vain to tell him it wasn’t but I was met with the same problem as usual. Every time I opened my mouth to speak I found blank w
ords behind my lips. It was as though
I was cast with some spell that wouldn’t let me form the words, so as a result Draven went on thinking this was the first incident. One
thing became clear though, who
ever had made that phone call to Libby pretending to be Draven was surely the traitor. It
didn’t take me long
to find out that Draven had never needed time alone and he was only waiting for me to forgive him.