The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (94 page)

I look
ed
to the side
, where Leivic was still stood but his face was contorted as if he could
imagine the pain himself. I suddenly realized that this statement might be closer to the truth
,
as he was once tortured in
Hell
.

Finally Draven pulled Agnomen’s
face out of the steaming water and let him drop back down just
at the
side of it. He was still alive but it was obvious the amount of pain he was in. His face was now melting off leaving a mixture of bloody bone and chalky tissue to drip to the cement. Again I was gagging.

“Now speak and I will end your misery!”

“YES...yes, yes any......thing....anything
.” It came out in a ma
ngled mess of words due to the lack of lips that were now mostly on the floor. He didn’t even have teeth, as now he was just a melting face full of deep empty
bloody
holes.

“I want a name!” He barked out and this time he received his answer almost immediately.

“Gal…izur, 
Galizur was the one who hired me to get to the girl
.
” Draven grabbed his head back so that he could stare into the deep pits of his eyes and said in a breathless fury
,

“And who is Galizur contracted by
?
”

“Lucius.... my Lord
!
” He sputtered out and Draven dropped him at the sound of the name.

“HA! Now I am your Lord. When you
r
life hangs in my control of the balance, you f
ool! You know that if you had
come to me with this information you would have been rewarded but instead you turn your back on me and your faith! And for what! What price has Lucius put on
her
head?
” When he didn’t answer straight away he received a prompting kick that sent him rolling up through the air and landing close to the car I was sat in.

“P
...P...
ower...Power of the spear. He has the spear of
Longinus
.
” Draven whipped his head round in disbelief.

“The Holy Spear!” He started to shake his head before continuing,

“T
he one you speak of is not in his possession. You have been deceived old, foolish Demon. Indeed
but
you are
!
” He said this last part shaking his head as if sorry for a moment.
Agnomen at hearing this started to shake his head saying
,

“No, No
,
it can’t be
.
” Over and over but Draven wasn’t listening. He had ignited his body into purple fire and held his hands out to his sides. His wings shook and the energy started to ripple through his
powerful
chest and
beat
down his
immense
arms. It flowed down and out of his body through his wrists and hands. It kept seeping out from him until it formed two, solid blades that touched the ground.
They too were on fire as the flames curled round and licked at the air that fueled them.

He walked to a dry patch but the mangled van was in his way, so with what looked l
ike very little effort he kicked the van and it slid
to the other side of the road
creating track lines on the ground
before coming
to a stop by toppling over onto its side. The sound of the back door glass smashing made me jump as little shards of it rained down on Draven’s car roof.

He then started to scratch the ground with the tips of his blades causing little sparks to dance along the ground. It look
ed as if
he was writing something or drawing some kind of pattern that was being scorched right into the cement.

Once finished, he motioned for Leivic to bring his prisoner to him and he did it without question. It was only when he bent down that his eyes burned into mine. He knew then that I had witnessed the whole thing. He closed them briefly as though sad at the idea. Then he opened them and shook his head at me before lifting
Agnomen
off the ground with one clawed paw. He carried him over to Draven and let him go on top of the marked ground.

Unbelievably he was still muttering about Lucius still having the spear and Draven started to laugh as though he had finally lost it.

“As I said before
,
you are foolish to think I would ever allow something like that to fall in the hands of power driven madness
.
” He leaned over him and flipped him face up so as he could get close to his face. He grabbed a handful of his jacket he was wearing and lifted him the last couple of inches. 

“How do I know...
?
” Draven asked wearing a sadistic grin that didn’t fit those perfect lips.

“Of course, I have the Holy Spear!” 

With that the Demon cried out and Draven let go. He flopped back down and continued to cry out cursing Lucius
’ name
back to
Hell
.

“Don’t worry
fool,
you will
be
see
ing
him soon enough!” And with that Draven flew up in the air above him and turn
ed
full circle, letting the tips of his lengthy swords make the same circle on the
ground around the symbol and it
s captured Demon. Once each side met, the whole thing erupted into th
e deep, red flames of Hell it
self and Draven came down from above with both his blades aimed at
Agnomen
’s
chest
. The impact made not only him cry out but me also. It was horrific to watch but I couldn’t stop. It was like the last hold over me was to see it through to the end with my once brief captor.

The two bodies were both now engulfed in the fire and only when the screaming stopped did the heavens o
pen again and flood
the earth with its waters. The flames died and Draven was left standing there alone back to his human form. His wet hair hung down over his face as he continued to look at the spot
Agnomen’s body had disappeared to.
I could just make out his lips moving through the rain smeared glass and then I could see him cross himself.

He had been praying....

Praying for the dammed soul he just sent back,

Back to be condemned. 

Chapter 41

My Pretty Little Bounty H
ead

When Draven had finished, he looked up to find my face. I wanted to run out of this locked car and into his arms to comfort him. He looked so sad, so drained of energy that I touched the window. He turned to Leivic and was giving him instructions of some kind. I couldn’t hear as the rain had picked up even more and the sound it made hitting the roof was deafening all other noises out.

The gap in the window was now allowing the water to spray inwards and soon my arm was wet through.  Draven was pointing towards the mangled van and then back to the only body still lying on the ground. Then
,
when Leivic bowed his head in respect
,
Draven put his hand on one shoulder and shook his head. Leivic looked upset despite what looked like Draven’s reassurance.

I felt so bad that I was the cause of so much destruction that I couldn’t hold back the deep sob that b
roke free. I cried out with so
much emotion that I was shaking. I covered my head in my hands but it wouldn’t stop my need to shake it back and forth, repeating
silently “Why me?
”.

I should have been issued with a warning when I was born! Come
too close and you will walk in my footsteps of the demolished road that I leave behind me. I know my mind was being dramatic but I felt cursed. I felt consumed by a guilt I couldn’t get away from. Almost
as if
I could feel a sticky layer of it clinging to my skin for me to carry around for the rest of my
days. But my biggest fear
...would Draven get sick of it all? Would he realise for himself first hand, just how
it is,
that some love is not worth losing your sanity over! I would have done anything for Draven’s love but just how far would he go to keep mine?

I was still crying out into my palms
,
when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. It was Draven’
s hand.
I knew that
,
as soon as he made contact with me. Like our blood was somehow connected causing a reaction in me whenever he was near. He tried to pull me round to him but I was resisting.

“Keira, please don’t be frightened of me, I won’t hurt you my love
.” He spoke so softly as though
anything above a whisper would have me cringing away like a frightened fawn. I pulled back with such force that it shocked him.

“I’m not frightened of you hurting me! I’m frightened of the hurt I cause you! Don’t you see? Don’t you see that it’s me that causes this! All of this destruction is because of ME! I...can’t...I can’t....
do this.
” That was all I could manage until I lost all control. I was sobbing until I couldn’t breathe. Somehow I was in Draven’s arms and he was holding me so tight as though he would never let me go. He was smoothing back my hair and whispering words in another langu
age that were having a strange e
ffect over me. It was these words that were seeping through my mind and making it cloudy. I tried to hold onto what little control I had left but it was exhausting.

“Let go, j
ust let go
.
” Draven whispered directly into my ear and it was hard not to obey. I wanted to get up and run away just for the space to think but when I started to struggle Draven increased the pressure around me.

“Stop fighting me Keira, just let it all go
.
” I lay my head into his shoulder and could feel the wet leather jacket slide on my cheek. I wanted to be free of all the guilty feeling
s I had weigh
ing me down but what right did I have when others suffered. One of his hands was moving up and down my back making it harder not to close my eyes and let myself drift to another state of mind. He knew I was losing the battle and started speaking to me softly in that other language that he’d been using.

“That’
s it, good girl. You
’
r
e
safe now, you
’
r
e
saf
e....” And this wa
s the last thing I heard before the warmth of his words consumed me. I felt my body go limp and the feeling of being lifted before blackness filled my vision and sleep overwhelmed my senses.

I woke to the sound of voices that were irate. It was like when my parents used to argue but do it quietly so as that
‘the
kids
’
wouldn’t hear...of course we always did. They tried to keep it low but every now and again a word said sharply could be made out. My mind was still groggy but those overwhelmed senses were slowly returning back to me. I didn’t open my eyes but I turned my head slowly to free my ear to hear better.

“You are wrong Sophia, what the girl needs is my protection and mine only!” That was most definitely Draven’s voice and the added authoritative tone made it clear that he
so
wasn’t happy.

“Yes
,
but keeping her locked away isn’t the answer... She isn’t some princess you can hide away in a tower, she needs to live her life Dom!” Sophia spoke carefully but not carefully enough. Draven’s growl could be heard even if it came out deep and low.

“Dominic, Sophia is right, don’t let your love for the girl blind you into rash decisions. You can’t just take her away against her will and we all know Keira en
ough by now to know that it
will
be against her will! She is almost as stubborn as you brother...but you know this
.
” Vincent was trying to make Draven see sense and for
a moment I took his silence as
confirmation that it had sunk in. But I was wrong.