The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (60 page)

“So how about you Kaz, you going back to England for Chrimbo?”

“Umm, I don’t quite know yet
,” I said half heartedly
, which she took for something other than nerves.

“Oh I get it, now you
’
r
e
with the God Draven, you don’t want to lose sight of that fab bod of his! Hey
,
not that I blame you, if that was me I wouldn’t let him out of my sight for a second.” At this point Jack punched her on the arm and gave her an evil look, and for such a sweet guy, he really did dish out the dirties like a pro!

“Sorry Kaz, my sister is a little
slow when it comes to stopping the nonsense from sweeping from that swallow little head of hers…It’s all the holes!”

“Hey! What’d I say?” I laughed while rolling my eyes and downing my drink.

“Its fi
ne, but I better go. Oh before I
do, are you guys all coming her
e
tomorrow night?”

“Hell yes, you did say that there was a hot surfer dude coming right?”

“I didn’t say hot!” I said feeling the heat reach my cheeks, which made Jack smile at me.

“Yeah but that’s how I know he’s hot, because when I asked you on Monday, you could
n’t
say yes when Sophia was around.”

“So from that, you got Hot?” I laughed as Chaz rolled his eyes at the rest of the group, making Lanie do her usual giggling fit.

“NO but when you went the colour of my
favourite jello then alarm bells rang
.
” She said letting her pink hair cover half of her smug face.

“Whatever
!
” I said lamely.

“Alright
,
we will see you tomorrow
, go and tell wonder boy we all say hi
.
” I couldn’t stay angry at RJ, not when she made me smile so much. RJ and me had been an unlikely pair
from the beginning
but after everything I had been through in my past, she was a perfect friend. She drew attention to herself like bees to pollen and it kept me in the shadows where I was very happy to be.

When first moving here, she quickly became my ticket to
a new life. My first friend who had
welcomed me into her group, despite our differences. She knew there was something under the surface of my past and didn’t buy my reasons for moving here for one second but she never asked and for that I was more than thankful for. Every now and again I would catch her looking at my covered scars and I could almost hear the question playing out in her mind but again she never asked. And for RJ (Gossip queen
extraordinaire
) this was like torture.

This is how I knew she loved me. I
t was her never faltering ability to keep her mouth shut when it mattered the most. I suppose that is why I forgave all her little digs about
Draven, not that there were
many. But still it must have been hard, to see some new girl access the only thing that was completely out of bounds for this small town. Afterlife was like a drug and when the Dravens were around, that drug turned into full blown obsession to fuel their new fix!

After saying my goodbyes, I made my way to the back staircase. Draven had told me that he like
d
to see me come up the front main staircase but I felt too exposed doing that, so I slipped past the crowd of drunk
en
rockers to the door near the stage. This door had always been kind of hidden and it was only when I first went up to the VIP that I
even
knew it existed. 

T
he
two men that filled the door
way took only a slight look at me before they opened the door granting me access. I had used this door so many times you would have thought by now that I would at least get a smile, or some small indication that they recognised me. But no
,
I
would always receive the same od
d cold stare from the both of them.
This is what made me shiver as I climbed the stairs.

Once inside the VIP I felt the warmth hit
me like walking off a plane in
to a hot country. Every eye focused on me for
a spli
t second before returning to their strange companions. It had taken me a while to get used to the unusual characters that the VIP had to offer but now I knew they were all Demons and Angels, well let’s just say
,
it didn’t make it any easier, more
enlightening but no way easier.

As I walked round the tables, not being able to help the Marilyn Monroe swagger I had going on, thanks to the
steel
bones in my corset, I noticed Rue, the bli
nd waitress, give me a nod as a
hello. It was only when I saw her palms turned slightly outwards did I realise how she spotted me. She had tattoos of eyes on her hands that did her seeing for
her. I thought this was so cool
when I found out, plus she had
always been really nice to me, even when some of the others had looked down at me for being human.

I winked my own hello back at her and walked round the front to the top table. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of Draven in his black suit. Everything was black, his shirt, tie and waistco
at. He was simply breath
taking, like some modern day dark knight.

He was looking very serious until his eyes met mine. The harsh glint he was portraying quickly left them and was replaced by a warm glow of fiery purple. He quickly stood and was around the front of the table in micro seconds, making his body turn into a black blur. When his arms pulled my body into his, I let out a gasp at the surprise with him getting to me so fast. It was kind of dating superman in that way, and instead of the cap
e
and spandex, I got wings and a Armani suit! His hands tightened around my waist and his eyes searched out my lips.

“I missed you
, it was cruel to make me wait
!
” His voice was deep and it rumbled out like a passionate man that had been starved of the touch he craved. I had no time to reply as his kiss drew me in like a spellbound race. His lips covered mine with perfect precision and expert timing, making my toes want to
curl up like the witch in the Wizard of O
z
. Of course the effect was similar to
a house landing on me when he kissed me like that!

As you’ve already gathered, Draven had no problems displaying affection towards me in front his council, hell the w
hole VIP for that matter, but
on the other hand
I
still couldn’t help my burning cheeks from near exploding. When he finished tasting me, I looked down with embarrassment, which made him chuckle before raising my face back to his eye line. He smoothed his thumb across the blushed skin and smiled to himself.

“Mmm keep
blushing like that and I will stand here kissing you all night my girl
.
”
This comment didn’t help with the way my cheeks were melting like lava rocks but again he found this amusing and laughed to himself as he pulled me behind him to his table. As always his council all stood for his
approach
and he sat me before taking his place next to me. There I was greeted by all except Aurora. No surprises there! She looked as dazzling as ever, in her peacock coloured dress and hair glittering like the morning sun. Boy I hated her!

Sophia grabbed my arms and looked me up and down before giving me a cheeky wink. I had already seen her once today at college and told her my plans about tonight. This had made her clap her hands together in the middle of class, making everyone stop and stare like we
we
re two morons that found the French revolution exciting. Reed had to swallow his tongue before committing the cardinal sin and asking Sophia to explain herself. If there was one thing you didn’t do in this town and that was to piss off a Draven!

I had my regular bottle of Corona waiting for me and when I felt Draven
’
s hand start to feel up my leg I couldn’t help but start necking it.

“Whoa
,
easy there, rough night?” Drave
n
teased as he knew full well that my night was completely uneventful. Ever since dating Draven my customers had all been super nice to me. I would even hear Jerry on the phone relayi
ng my night back to Drave
if anyone had cause
d
me any trouble
. I thought that this was sweet but a little OTT. I never said that I knew about these little check-ups but I did find it funny whenever he asked me about my night.

“Just thirsty I guess” I said biting my lip at the bad lying I was doing.

“If I didn’t know better I would say you look nervous
my
Keira
.
”
His velvet voice te
st
ed me, causing me to shrug
my shoulders so that I didn’t have
to continue my
lying. I sat quietly while the conversat
ion continued on about how there
was going to be some new guests coming to stay at the club. I put this down to the fact that the Dravens had stayed here much longer than usual and how normally they would have moved on to their next destination.

Draven explained that I might be seeing a few new faces soon as now that t
hey were staying, his leaders w
ere going to have to come to him
to conduct their business. The
business being the controlling of the rest of America’s supernatural. See
,
the way this worked was all down to the Angels and Demons that Draven put in charge of the different states. He was after all just one man
(so to speak) and he couldn’t deal with every supernatural on the planet. So the world was drawn up into sections, which were
all governed by district
members of his council. A bit like police and politics.

I tried to follow the conversation but I shifted
,
uncomfortable in my seat thanks to my squeezed rib cage that felt like it was sucking the air from my lungs. I twisted the bottle of Spanish beer round in my gloved hand
s and focused on the bubbling
movement
it
was creating when Draven banged his fist down on the table in anger.

“NO, that is not good enough! I am their mas
ter and they will do as I order
, there is no negotiating on this! For too many years they have lived in the shadow of the unknown and I will no longer stand for it. If they doubt the truth then let them stand before me and speak
it
but I will NOT
succumb to their wishes j
ust because they forget how to F
uc…”

“Dom!” Sophia shouted at her brother, preventing him from saying the F word and this calmed him slightly. He was standing while making this speech and the entire room had been silenced by it.

“It will be handled brother
.
” Vincent said in a cool, controlled voice and I doubted there was another alive that knew how to calm his
brother’s
temper like he did. The
very sound of his voice had Draven
sitting once more.

“I have no doubt about that brother!” He said harshly and I noticed Aurora’s eyes flicker with a burning passion at the sight of Draven’s outburst, the sight made me feel sick
in the pit of my stomach. Dr
aven grabbed his claw shaped shot glass with
his
anger still in full flame beneath the flexed muscle and em
ptied it of its glossy liquid. Th
is seemed to help with his rage and when he opened his eyes again they turned to me.

“Forgive me, I hope I didn’t scare you
.
”

“No, its fine
,
” I lied. Of course I was scared of Draven when he was in a rage. I would have to be an idiot not to be! He knew I was lying but smiled at the effort I made all the same. He leaned into me and held my head with his big hands so that he could kiss me lightly on the top of my head. I felt my pulse race at just being closer to him and my bottom half felt the
fire his touch created. I wanted him so badly I was close to exploding but the way the conversation continued I knew it would be a while yet. I almost felt like telling him that my body was fully accessible again and I was waiting for him to take full advantage of it
right now
but that would ruin my plan.

I decided to make the first move and afte
r three
drinks and an hour of debating Demon politics I got up from the table.

“I think I’ll go to bed
.
” I whispered and he was about to stand when I stopped him by laying my hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, I will see you when you
’ve
finished
.
” He nodded and took my hand, raising it to his lips to kiss it goodbye. Sophia got up as well and stated that she too was tired and would walk me back to Draven’s room. On the way I asked her how I would know if Draven was coming back to the room before he saw me. I wanted to be prepared.