The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (66 page)

She was the essence of evil and would make a perfect match to Lucius! The trouble that girl had landed me in over the years was epic and above all….unforgivable! Stealing boyfriends was only the tip of the iceberg
but at spreading rumours, she was the titanic
disaster
. She had once told an entire year of my school that the reason I had a
large chest was due to an overdo
s
e
of hormones I had to take, because I was really bo
rn a boy but my parents wanted
another girl to save on buying me new clothes. Of course this didn’t help when I would borrow some of my sister clothes…adding fuel to the fire per say.

By
the time Justin came down,
Libby
and I
were sat in the kitchen talking about the Terminator/Predator that would be staying next week and most of all, who we could palm her off with for the duration.
Justin cleared his throat to get our
attention causing us to both turn at
the same time. There our eyes m
et Justin leaning casually in the door frame. For once he looked smart in a tight black shirt, even if the sleeves were rolled up t
o show strong looking forearms, d
ue to years of throwing a board around the sands of the earth, no doubt.

His wrists
,
as usual were covered in beads and leather ties
but now with an added thick leather strap that was edged with a metal zip. His hair was different too, instead of hanging down around his face
,
like vines from the jungle
,
it was tied back and knotted at the back with pieces of dreads. It was now that you could see his handsome face cle
arer and the sun induced
freckles added to his charm. H
is long legs carried him well in stone wash
ed
jeans that had little tears at the knees and pockets.

“So
,
are
you
ready for our date?”

I
grabbed the bl
ack, leather boots Libby had le
nt me and tugged them on. I
walked over to the door
, realising they made me a little taller
whe
n opposite Justin but when I tried
to pass
him his
arm block
ed
my way, leaning across the frame. I turn
ed
to him and said in a low voice “It’s not a date
!” But his cocky
smile told me he’d been expecting my response because before he let me pass he replied
,

“
Aw
w
,
don’t kill the dream honey
.
” Then he lowered his arm and followed me to the door where I was putting on my jacket. Libby had now joined Frank and perched herself on the arm of the chair her husband occupied.

“Have fun
!
” Frank said cheerfully, like we were off to the prom or something.

“Right kids, no candy after ten
o’
clock
, no scary movies, unless it’s J
aws of course
.
” Libby laughed and Frank sighed at his brother
’
s humour, making me do the same until he added the next bit
, which made my pulse
quicken and Draven’s angry face flash from my memories…

“Oh and most importantly…don’t wait up!”

He finished this with wink.

Chapter 29

Pistols a
t Dawn.

All the way to the club I had been on edge and it wasn’t only down to my passenger. I hadn’t seen Ragnar outside and kept expecting him to pop up in my rear view mirror. I know I didn’t have to worry about Justin seeing him because he was still invisible to everyone else but I knew I wouldn’t be able to help my reaction and I was pretty sure Justin would class me as a mental case if I just screamed for no reason. Although this idea did have its advantages, it might have stopped him flirting
every time he opened his mouth.

Then I saw them
…headlights
,
with a strange red glow that Justin didn’t seem to notic
e. They flashed once and I knew
I was being followed and Justin didn’t have a clue.
The black car behind looked
as huge and intimidating as it
s driver did and it had me gulping at the sight. And it didn’t help that the
closer we got to Afterlife
,
the more I kept thinking I was playing with fire and tonight I would see a Demon throw sparks.

“What you thinking about?” Justin was staring at me with confusion plastered across fine cheek bones. What should I
say…Umm well actually I’m kind
of hoping my boyfriend doesn’t rip your head off and give it to his pet bird to play with! In the end I said
,

“Just college stuff
,” w
hich I could tell he didn’t buy.

“So will I get to meet my rival tonight or will he let me have you all to myself
?
” He laughed lightly at the end but I
just growled and looked in my mirror tensely, praying that they could only see us and not hear us.

“You shouldn’t joke…I’m taken and that m
eans there’s a no flirting rule.
” I said sternly but when I looked from the road to his face
,
I gathered I was just playing
right
into his hands by responding.

“Who said I was joking
?
Besides
,
I don’t know how not to flirt…not with you anyway
.
” I was expecting him be wearing a cocky smile when he said th
is but the serious tone and glance
out
of
the window, I wasn’t expecting. Thankfully t
he conversation turned to light
hearted
tales of his expeditions around the worl
d and I found myself hanging on
his
every word. I couldn’t help myself. It was a mixture of the subject of travelling that was close to my heart and the fact that he was so
damn
charismatic.

He had just finished his story on helping baby turtles get to sea after just being hatched, when we pulled up outside the vast ivy covered building that was both work and home to me.
It made me wonder what my life would have been
like
without
this place
. If I had never come to
Afterlife that night, never found
a job here, what would have become of me? I would have probably be
en
dating Jack and playing it safe
by now and instead of worrying about a supernatural King
’
s
reaction, I would just have the usual, mundane human reactions…shouting, pushing and maybe a fist fight to be broken up by security.

No instead I had the image of Draven in his Demon form demanding power from Heaven and Hell, two large blades protruding from his hands all aglow and ready for action, a might
y
roar into the night before striking his victim to the sound of my screaming! Yeah
,
something like that.

I took a deep breath and got out of my truck, slamming the door a little too hard for big blue. I couldn’t help but say “Sorry” out
lou
d which made Justin chuckle.

“That
’s
adorable
.
”

“Shut up
!
” I said playfully before hitting him on the arm
,
which he then placed around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.

“
Don’t look so worried doll, just a bit of harmless fun…drinking, dancing…”

“Demons” I whispered under my breath.

“Sorry?”

“Oh nothing
,
” I said lo
oking nervously around i
n
case Ragnar was seeing him with his arm around me. The car behind had turned down the side of the bu
ilding and out of sight but it
didn’t mean that no one was out there in the dark watching. My heart started to sound like Dave Grohl pl
aying the drums as
the thought
entered my head
.
I shrugged out of his hold and nodded to
Jo and Cameron
,
the door
men.

Of course knowing Frank they knew Justin, so instead of being stood out in the cold for another ten minutes
chatting,
I left him there and said I
’d
me
e
t him at the bar. Once inside I felt that usual euphoria wash over me whenever I stepped through the door
s
. Like a magnetic pull or a drug that I didn’t know I had swallowed as I entered. I had felt the same feeling the first night and it had remained that way ever since…the feeling
,
like
I
belonged and the building knew it. I don’t know why but every day it seemed to get stronger, especially since the Temple incident. Maybe it had acted like an amplifier.

The club was in full force, with bodies everywhere there was
n’t
an inch of space. Some looked clung together by the tight black clothes and matching
p
ale faces, supporting heavy made
up eyes. When I first started I thought it was all very intim
id
ating but now I knew what was upstairs, these lot looked like pet kittens
playing
under a tiger cage.

I pushed my way passed a couple that looked recently risen from the grave and
with
the evil stares I received
,
they could have been zombies after my flesh. Who knows, in this place it could be possible for looks to kill, after all
,
there was only one rule in Afterlife, no humans in the VIP…So what did that make me?

The bar wasn’t as packed as everywhere else due to the band that was playing. It was a heavy gothic band with a girl as its lead
singer
. The soft sound from her lips then shocked me as she s
tarted to scream out the last f
ew lines of what I assumed to be a chorus. Actually the beat wasn’t that bad and
the crowd was enjoying themselves, which freed up the bar. Mike was working and unfortunately
Cassie
the ‘Goth Barbie’
was collecting glasses. Jerry was also serving but Mike saw me first.

“Hey cutie, who gave you the night off…
? A
h, don’t tell me, I think I can guess
.
” He was smirking the whole time which told me he was pulling my leg.

“You know I don’t work Saturdays but what a shame your biggest fan does
.” I nodded to Cassie who
was collecting only two glasses at a time.

“Thanks for reminding me, you’ve now destroyed an illusion I had been working on all night
.
”

“So who was she this time…Jessica Biel or
Jessica Alba?” He laughed at how well I knew h
im and just as he put my usual C
orona with lime in front of me
,
he answered,

“Ne
i
ther smarty pants
.” I raised my eye
brows and put up a hand.

“Wait
,
don’t tell me…I got this one…Umm… Sarah Michelle Gellar
!
” I could tell with his face I
’d
guessed right. See Cassie was a grade A pain in the arse that loved Mike and practically hum
ped his leg whenever she got the chance, so I came up with the idea of blocking her out by pretending she was someone else. I doubted he actually did it but it was still something we joked about
every time we saw each other.

“Hold on, here comes Buffy now
!
”