But it was far too late to think of this now, for the damage had been done, and this monster in front of me had already awakened the beast inside myself… one that I knew was more powerful than he.
So I stood looking down at Lucius’ body one more time before turning back to face the Demon that had planned on taking everything from me. Thoughts of being with both Draven and Lucius flickered through my mind like a time capsule exploding. Hundreds of images flashing there over and over until I felt I would burst from the love I had. A love that with one look at Pertinax, and I knew he had tried to take it all away from me. I looked down at my hands to see the angry sparks of power lick out against the skin, like electrical charges desperate to be freed.
“No-one takes them from me,” I snarled in a voice that didn’t sound like my own. The Demon looked back at me and frowned for a moment before he smiled, happy he had one last obstacle to play with.
“OH GOOD, ONE MORE LEFT!” he snarled but this just managed to double the strength in my hands. I looked up feeling my eyes change along with the rest of my voice. Then I pushed out my hands and let the rage flow out of me and towards the cause of my pain.
“NO-ONE TAKES THEM FROM ME!” I roared and hit him with so much force it flung his body back, like Zeus himself had hit him with a lightning bolt forged from Mount Olympus. He flipped over and over until managing to stop himself just before going off the edge. He looked utterly stunned as he stared back at me from the sandy floor.
“BUT YOU’RE HUMAN!” he thundered back shaking his head, but hearing this only managed to cause this demonic side of me to build once more, taking it as such an insult that I released a scream so powerful that it could destroy the earth below.
“I AM THE ELECTUS!” The force of this started to shatter the mountain he had made and, with one section at a time, the tower started to burst, like each floor on a building being blown one after the other. We started to fall but I kept my hands facing down to the ground knowing that this would steady the top enough to take us down without it toppling over.
Pertinax looked all around him as if he couldn’t believe that there was something facing him that was more powerful than he and worse still, it all came from a human girl.
The sound of the last part of the tower crashing to a stop was when I knew it was time to finish his life but something inside of me had waited because I wanted him to die closer to Hell than to Heaven. It was my gift to those waiting below and I smiled a sadistic smile thinking about what tortures awaited him there.
I walked back to Draven and knelt down on one knee, placing a hand to his cheek as he had done for me. I felt some part of my old self slipping back through so that I could look upon him with my own eyes and smile down at him with my own smile.
“You…you’re…my…” He looked at me as if he couldn’t believe I was real and then stammered out the sentence I knew exactly how to finish.
“Electus.” I confirmed then suddenly yanked the spear free from his shoulder making him wince before snapping off the end to make it into a dagger.
“I have to finish this,” I told him and he nodded to me, trusting me that I could. So I stood back up and turned to face the Demon for the last time.
“YOU CAN’T KILL ME, I AM A GOD!” he bellowed at me and before saying another word to him I started to run at him like Hell was powering me forward. He roared down at me just as he swung his sword but I knocked it back with the power that erupted from my hand causing the blade to shatter into thousands of pieces like glass. Then before he knew what to do, I leapt up at him and drove the bloody spear deep into his heart.
“Yes, but even Gods can die on Earth!” I told him as he looked down at the glass blade sticking from his chest as if this was the first time he saw that his body could bleed. The glass started to fill with his blood and the second it reached the top, something inside of me told me to take it as a trophy.
I pulled it out and jumped back from him just as he fell to his knees, exploding into a black cloud as he landed, one that was quickly sucked back down into Hell where I knew Lucifer would be waiting for him. Then I looked down at the black charred sand that I knew would be there for centuries to come. That type of evil doesn’t leave the Earth without leaving its eternal scar.
The dust had barely settled when I heard Draven’s call behind me.
“Electus?” This acted like an off switch to the rage, cutting out my power in one single heartbeat. I dropped the blade into the black sand as I slammed back into myself, as if my vessel had been missing a soul. Then I turned and ran back over to him.
“I am here! I am here!” I told him, crying over his injured body.
“Ssshh, it’s alright now. You’re safe…you’re finally safe,” Draven said holding my head to him as I let my tears fall down his cheek and mine.
“I was so scared I had lost you,” I told him and he hushed my crying again by telling me,
“You did it. You killed him.”
“Not without your help and…Lucius, I have to save Lucius!” I suddenly shouted getting up and running to the other body, one that this time was silent. I skidded over next to him and lifted his head from the sand and into my arms.
“He is gone. There was nothing you could have done. He gave his life in sacrifice,” Draven told me after getting up himself, holding a hand to his injured shoulder.
“No! I can save him!” I told him and Draven frowned down at me.
“It isn’t…”
“I can, now bite me, for he needs my blood,” I told him holding out my arm to him, making Draven frown before quickly trying to reason with me.
“No, it is impossible, there is no blood on Earth that can save him now.” I looked back down at him and said,
“It’s not the blood on Earth I am using, but the Venom of God!” I said and picked up his sword to slice into my own wrist before Draven could stop me. I cried out in utter agony and so that it wasn’t all in vain, I quickly let it pour into his mouth as he had once done for me, gifting the power back that he had first given to me to restart his own heart.
“Come on! Drink damn it! DRINK!” I screamed down at him and the second I did I placed a hand over his heart, letting the small residue of power I had left spark from my fingers. His eyes suddenly opened and the blood red in his eyes started to turn black as he sucked back in the life I gave to him.
“ENOUGH!” Draven shouted ripping my arm away from Lucius’ mouth as he could see my own life was being slowly drained away. I collapsed in his arms just as the last of my energy was fading away.
“Nāzanin! Nāzanin! Don’t leave me!” Draven shouted down at me frantically and I just had enough strength to raise my head up to him and say…
“Call me Keira.”
Epilogue
I opened my eyes to see I was being blinded by the sun and I blinked back the dark spots in my eyes a few times before things started to become clear.
“Wakey, wakey sunshine.”
“Pip…is that you?” I asked in a groggy voice that grated on the back of my throat like I was trying to swallow sandpaper.
“The one and only,” she said in her usual happy tone.
“Where am I?” I asked trying to sit up but finding it too difficult to accomplish.
“Well, you’re not in Kansas anymore,” she said and my eyes widened.
“We’re home!? We finally made it back…back in time!?” I shouted no matter how painful it felt to the back of my throat.
“Uh, well about that…” she started to say as I lifted myself up to look for myself where we were. The first thing I saw was the desert sand outside of the stone arched window and my heart started to sink.
We were still in Persia.
But this wasn’t the worst part I now faced. Not when I saw the tall looming figure of Draven standing at the bottom of the bed with his arms folded.
Pip looked back over her shoulder and said,
“We have some explaining to do.”
To be Conti
nued…
Book 8
Coming Soon
2017
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Acknowledgments
Well first and foremost my love goes out to all the people who deserve the most thanks and are the wonderful people that keep me going day to day. But most importantly they are the ones that allow me to continue living out my dreams and keep writing my stories for the world to hopefully enjoy… These people are of course YOU! Words will never be able to express the full amount of love I have for you guys. Your support is never ending. Your trust in me and the story is never failing. But more than that, your love for me and all who you consider your ‘Afterlife family’ is to be commended, treasured and admired. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough, so one day I hope to meet you all and buy you all a drink! ;)
To my family… To my amazing mother, who has believed in me from the very beginning and doesn’t believe that something great should be hidden from the world. I would like to thank you for all the hard work you put into my books and the endless hours spent caring about my words and making sure it is the best it can be for everyone to enjoy. You make Afterlife shine. To my wonderful crazy father who is and always has been my hero in life. Your strength astonishes me, even to this day and the love and care you hold for your family is a gift you give to the Hudson name. And last but not least, to the man that I consider my soul mate. The man who taught me about real love and makes me not only want to be a better person but makes me feel I am too. The amount of support you have given me since we met has been incredible and the greatest feeling was finding out you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me when you asked me to marry you.
All my love to my dear husband and my own personal Draven… Mr Blake Hudson.
Another personal thank you goes to my dear friend Caroline Fairbairn and her wonderful family that have embraced my brand of crazy into their lives and given it a hug when most needed.
For their friendship I will forever be eternally grateful.
I would also like to mention my wonderful team, Claire Boyle and Sally Taylor who, without a doubt, keep me sane and constantly smiling through all the chaos which is my life ;) And a loving mention goes to Lisa Jane for always giving me a giggle and scaring me to death with all her count down pictures lol ;)
Thank you for all your hard work and devotion to the saga and myself. And always going that extra mile, pushing Afterlife into the spotlight you think it deserves. Basically helping me achieve my secret goal of world domination one day…evil laugh time… Mwahaha! Joking of course ;)
As before, a big shout has to go to all those mentioned in the list below. I wish I could name you all but these are just a few to show my love to those who, take the time in reaching out to me sending me your lovely messages. And also to the wonderful people on social media that make it their mission to spread the Afterlife word and always go the extra mile.
Extra Special thanks to my Admin team: Alison Hucker, Nicole Murphy, Lee Ann Milum and to the lovely Carrie Anne Wyman.
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