The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga)

  Justin knew we were outside his room and with one last burst of energy pushed both of us into his room, making us land on his bed. Now here I was lying under him, with both our chests rising in rhythm together. I shifted under his weight making him speak.

  “Keira, wait!” His voice was urgent, but both soft and sour.

  I looked from the side and into his eyes that were starting to clear. Like the storm outside, the storm in his eyes was disappearing. The black clouds moved like smoke from his lids and dripped down his cheeks like mascara tears. I raised my hand to wipe them clear but as soon as the black liquid touched my skin it started to tingle. It felt wrong, as though somehow what I was doing was not meant to be.

  “I can see again, I can see you.” He blinked causing the rest of the blackness to drip away, leaving clear whites and crystal blues in its place. His hand came to my cheek and he gently wiped away the blood that had dried on my cheek. It was as if he didn’t recognise the position we were still in, or if he, did he didn’t want to change it. He moved his fingers over to my lips and he traced them with his thumb. I couldn’t help the tremble that escaped them but when he started to move his smile closer to them, I couldn’t then stop the quiver.

  “Justin!” I whispered as he lingered over my bitten lip before moving away to my ear. He was holding all his body above me like a muscular cage I couldn’t move from but at this point, did I want to? My quickened pulse was uncontrollable and I had to bite down even harder on my lip to bring myself back. At any minute I would have to tell Justin to stop but in the end I didn’t need to. He reached my ear and simply said one word.

  “Sorry.”

  And then with that, he rolled over to the side of me and passed out. I closed my eyes and allowed one single tear to fall before curling over and holding myself cradled for a moment while I let the night’s events sink in.

  I don’t know how long I lay there in a state of my own desolation but when I sat up again I was sure of what my next move would be. I left Justin alone once I had removed his shoes and covered him up with a bed blanket. I climbed the next set of stairs being carful where each foot went, making sure not to wake Libby or Frank.

  My room looked cold and forgotten. Neglected from endless nights with Draven, it hardly felt like my room anymore. I could almost see the past of me still sat at the window seat waiting for another dream of Draven to come and find me. Back then, life didn’t seem to be as worth living as it was now. I was just waiting in the shadows for a man I loved but didn’t think existed the way he does now. But there was one thing I could say…life was, without a doubt, easier in those innocent days of being kept in the dark as to what Draven’s world was really like. Would I change it knowing what I know now?

  No I wouldn’t, was the answer to that one.

  And with this in mind I quickly changed into warmer, more practical clothes, being jeans, a black, long sleeved top over my ever more secure gloves. I then pulled on a hooded sweater before doing the stupid thing and leaving the safety of my room. I knew what I should be doing is getting into my PJ’s and collapsing my sorry state on my bed but this I couldn’t do. I needed answers. I needed to hear Draven tell me that he wasn’t the one to cause tonight’s disaster. And I just prayed I’d hear what I wanted to hear.

  The worse part of this plan was knowing I was going to have to go back outside and face whatever it was that was out there. Hopefully, it would be gone by now and all I would have to do was get back to the club without another incident to push me over the mental edge. Luckily the stormed had calmed but it was still raining cats and dogs, so I grabbed a jacket that was hung up by the front door and slipped it on before braving the night.

  I turned the key like it was a grenade and held my breath like death was going to be the one meeting me on the other side. So when I opened the door I couldn’t help the sigh of relief that left my body.

  I saw my truck sitting there like the finish line and after quickly locking the door, I ran through the rain so fast I was sure there would be a streamline behind me. I got to my truck but only when I reached for the handle did I realise how much I had been shaking the whole way. I couldn’t grip it at first and closed my eyes in frustration. Seconds ticked by before I finally got a hold of myself and with a steadier hand opened the door.

  I automatically went to brush the glass from my seat but found it strange when I felt nothing. I jumped in and slammed the door shut when I noticed the window was still intact. How was that possible.... did I dream the whole thing? I found myself leaning over and feeling it for any loose shards or even cracks, but there was nothing.

  Half way to Afterlife I was still shaking my head in disbelief. I was now starting to feel like I had lost it again…was I really going crazy this time? As this thought entered my mind I could no longer hold back the tears that mirrored the windscreen, making my vision all the more for dangerous driving. The rain pelted against the glass faster than the wipers could cope with and I knew that if this carried on I would miss the turning. I decided to pull over and get a hold of myself for a minute.

  I looked in my mirrors before stopping, which is when I saw that I was being followed. Lights loomed behind me like a warning glow and I knew that I couldn’t stop now. I had to carry on and get there as fast as I could. I couldn’t be sure I was being followed but why would another car be out at this time and trying to match my speed? I don’t know, maybe I was just being paranoid but I didn’t want to take any chances after what I had seen tonight.

  That’s when I changed my plan and decided to pull over to wait. I indicated before coming to a stop on the side of the road. I wiped the condensation off the rear view mirror with my sleeve, all the time not taking my eyes off the car behind. I held my breath and couldn’t help shaking behind the wheel. It was only when the lights got closer that I realised I’d been right. I had been followed.

  The car came to a stop about five metres behind me, but in the dark and this weather there was no telling what type of model it was. I leaned forward and my grip on the wheel tightened as I braced myself for my next move. I could just make out the driver’s side door open and a figure emerged into the stormy night.

  He was getting closer now and I waited until the very last moment counting under my breath. One…two…three! And then I hit it! I pressed my foot to the floor making the truck let out a screaming noise before it snaked its way back out onto the road. I gave the figure behind me one last look before speeding my way onto the road that led to Afterlife. I couldn’t stop the panic breaths that fluttered out of my body and by the time I reached the parking lot outside I was a shaking mess.

  I remembered this feeling well and since being locked up in Morgan’s basement I hadn’t been this uncontrollable since…until now that was. I used to hear his car’s engine and I knew when the door slammed shut I would have at least three minutes until he would come down to my prison like Hell’s keeper.

  I screamed out to myself “NO!” And hit my fist onto the dashboard. The pain shot through my knuckles like it had done when I hit Justin but it felt good and brought my mind round to safer thoughts. He was dead! He wasn’t ever coming back to torture me and nothing would ever be as bad as that in my life again. And I had to keep a hold of that thought and get through whatever life threw at me. See, once you have experienced your own living hell for months, anything after that should be a piece of cake.

  It was the first time I had seen the club closed and mine was the only car here. The place looked dark and eerie. In fact, it looked like the perfect place for the secrets it kept. My mind flashed back to the Temple and the horrors it housed there, making me shudder.

  I looked round for any head lamps as I pulled the hood over my head to try and shield myself from the lashings of rain. Once I was sure I really was alone, I locked my truck and headed over to the main entrance. I ran making the puddled floor splash back up my legs and soon my skin was covered in wet denim and goosebumps.

  The main entrance had been tran
sformed into an impenetrable force, with huge iron gates that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a castle door. They were as thick as my arms and had deadly looking spikes sticking out that nobody in their right mind would have chanced climbing. And what good it would have done them even if they did, as the next door was locked up and made of solid oak as thick as the stone walls that held them.

  By this time my fist was throbbing from hitting two hard surfaces all in one night. I looked down and even though it was dark I could still see the bruise that was forming under the moonlight. I touched the edges and winced when it hurt.

  I rolled my eyes and said “Great, so what do I do now?” Ok, so it didn’t help my situation by talking to myself, but it did produce a thought. It took me back to my first day working in the club, back before the only things I knew about Draven was how damn sexy he was and how much I wanted him. Of course that want quickly turned to need and that’s when things got complicated.

  I was walking around the building to the right side. This was the side that was close to the cliff face of what was the biggest canyon in the national park. It was also the side where the huge, industrial bins were kept. I remember my first day when I was taking out the “trash” as they say here. I not only nearly lost all eight fingers but also got locked out of the coded security door.

  Unbeknown at the time, thanks to Draven, I had kept all my fingers intact. Back then his powers worked stronger on me than they did now and thanks to possessing part of my body for a short time, he helped me open the door. Since then it was like he had left pieces of himself behind and till this day I still remembered the code.

  It was darker around the side as the trees blotted out the moon with a disturbing silhouette. They loomed over me like a cage and the rain hitting their leaves made a rustling that made my imagination go into overdrive. Memories of the Gorgon Leeches Draven had fought by the cabin came seeping back and I could almost see their broken twisted bodies crawling out of the forest, oozing black liquid and blood from their cracked limbs.

  I was confusing the sound of the wind beating against nature for scratched nails along tree bark. This made me all the more quicker and thankfully there was a light that flickered on when I reached the steps. The door was cold to touch and sent an icy chill down my spine. Thankfully the code was still the same and after I punched 1452 into the controls the door clicked and opened. I didn’t hesitate. I walked into pleasant warm air but it was, for once, a silent empty space. The room looked the bigger now minus all the bodies and when I accidently knocked into a chair the noise echoed, bouncing off the tall arched ceilings. In that sense it reminded me of a church and I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea.

  I looked up to the VIP but couldn’t see anyone there. It was as silent as down here, and now there was no need for security, the doors and staircases were also bodiless. For the first time the club looked defenceless. And for the first time, I entered the club using those stairs. These were the stairs that had started the obsession what seemed like a life time ago. I had watched Draven enter the club for the first time this year and stop to look at me sat in the booth closest to them. Then he disappeared up into the VIP room to never be seen down here again…that was, not until tonight.

  The VIP was empty, but no surprises there. I moved into the centre and found myself in front of the top table and it looked odd to see Draven’s chair empty. Then something hit me like a wave I couldn’t control. My breath caught, my vision blurred and I staggered back before I could regain control of myself.

  I blinked back my fogged mind and focused on Draven’s chair once more. There I saw myself sat, curled up like a child crying. I held myself into a secure ball and my face was pressed close to the tall back, as if I was searching for a scent. I blinked again and the vision disappeared. What the hell was that? Was that even me? In the vision I had short dark hair and looked ill with misery. I didn’t know what that was but I knew one thing for sure…I would pray every night for it not to be a glimpse of my future.

  The huge double doors at the back were the ones that I had been through a hundred times but it had never scared me before. Now nobody was around it felt like I was an intruder and in this place I was sure to get caught. What was I saying? This was like my second home for God’s sake. What did I have to be frightened of really? Draven was behind these doors and Draven was precisely who I needed to have it out with right now. So with that in mind I pushed with all my might thinking that the doors would weigh a ton, but I was wrong.

  As soon as I touched them they opened automatically, so all my weight was thrown forward into the hallway. I landed on the floor in a heap and when I pulled my hood back that had covered my face I found myself staring at some high stiletto heels that would have cost the same as my car.

  “I forget how clumsy humans can be!” Said a satisfied voice that went through me, mainly because I knew whose voice it was. I got to my feet quickly to look my enemy in the face before giving her any more reasons to play with.

  “Aurora!” Was all I could say at being met with my boyfriend’s ex, who clearly wanted to make a hood ornament out of my head. She wore a long slinky dress that looked like it was her second skin. It had a long slit up one leg exposing her stockings. It was a midnight blue colour which made her blonde hair look like it belonged to the sun’s rays. She was astonishingly beautiful which made it harder for me to swallow.

  “I assume you’re here to see Dominic?” I hated the way she said his name, like she owned it. Like she owned the rights to it, meanwhile I was still left calling him Draven like he was still just my boss. All I could do was nod at her, which provoked a dark smile to wriggle its way across her red soaked lips.

  “This way!” She said and I had no other option than to follow her like a lost soul. We didn’t say a word to each other along the different hallways we travelled. I couldn’t recognise where we were, so it wasn’t as if I could bail out now. Every time Aurora stepped into the warm glow of the wall lamps that flickered against our surroundings she looked like a goddess. She moved like she owned the place, swinging her perfect figure around with an air of grace and seduction. She would sweep the longer parts of her dress along with one hand like a bride on the way to see her groom. I wished I wasn’t so jealous but in the shadow of such perfection it was a hard pill to swallow.

  Finally, after an eternity of feeling like crap with my appearance, we had come to an end.

  “He’s in there but be warned, you may not like what you see!” It would have been less convincing if she hadn’t been smiling at whatever warped thoughts she had to go along with this statement.

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” I said not helping that my hands automatically went to my hips.

  “Only the truth…enjoy!” She opened the door for me to pass through as though making sure that I would actually go inside. The door had been keeping in the sound of ethnic music like sounds from an ancient east. There were a lot of people in this room and the noise of lots of conversations filled the incense smoked air.

  I walked in to find familiar VIP faces, only they were different. They all looked happy as if this was one big Demon/ Angel party. It took my naive mind a moment to realise that it was indeed a party but one of a very different variety. It was when I saw all the naked bodies that it clicked, I knew where I was.

  I couldn’t help but look even though I didn’t want to. There, my eyes found groups all mingled together like human jigsaws. Only they weren’t human and there was nothing humane about five men all sharing one girl. I winced for her but when I saw that she wore an expression of ecstasy, I didn’t feel sorry for her quite as much. She was lay among a bed of pillows and had five men I recognised, all from the same table at the club. Each one of them had a piece of her and was kissing each limb like she was a Royal.

  This theme continued throughout the room, only some corners were replaced with five girls all hung around one man. There were also some couples dotted here and there that were engaging in int
ercourse. And it didn’t seemed to matter where, chairs, tables, cushions and there was even a couple doing it on the bar where people sat around them like there was nothing in the way of where to put their drinks. Candles offered most of the light and in the side booths that were covered by bright pink and orange material with the light making the bodies behinds them seem like shadow puppets in some sexual show.

  I stood dumbstruck for a moment and it seemed everyone was far too busy with each other to recognise me. I walked a bit further into the room but making sure not to get too close to their activities. I knew I had turned a very healthy shade of plum as I could feel my cheeks burning. I should have just turned around now as I knew Draven would never have been in here, as I had it on good knowledge that he never came to this room anymore. But maybe I would see someone that would know where he was…someone not doing the dirty I should add.

  Ah yes, that would go down well, “Excuse me for interrupting your orgasm but do you know where my boyfriend is?” Yeah I’m sure that would go down well…NOT!

  I was nearing the middle which seemed to be the focus of the room. There I found a girl dancing for entertainment. She wore a long flowing skirt that was low to the hips and looked as though staying there by the power of magic. Her top half was nude with only a very large, gold necklace that covered her breasts. It spread out like a jewel encrusted spider and barely even managed to cover her hard nipples.

  The young girl was dark skinned and like a gipsy, she had long black wavy hair that moved like a black river around a stream. She swayed her curvy hips to the music of instruments that were playing themselves in the corner. A large curtain covered half of the room and it was only when I walked round it that I found what it was concealing.