Cult of the Hexad
Afterlife Saga
Book 6
BY
Stephanie Hudson
Copyright
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the author, as allowed under terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Copyright © 2015 Stephanie Hudson
All rights reserved.
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This book is a work or fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning:
This book contains explicit sexual content, some graphic language and a highly additive Alpha Males.
Cover design by: © thePaperface
www.thepaperface.co.uk
[email protected] Dedication
I dedicate this book to everyone affected by Alzheimer’s and Dementia, which includes my own family. So this one is for my wonderful Nan, who is loved dearly.
Lost Inside
I know who you are,
I have seen your face,
It’s wandering in my mind,
Lost in a wondrous place.
I speak about you fondly to all who know,
The places I find and the places I go.
I reach out to you and take your hand,
To bring you with me to discover my land.
The land in which my memories will find,
A loving heart, one given in kind,
A hopeful day just like the rest,
We will seek together on our quest.
Because I will love you even when I’m not here,
As I hold your hand and you look back in fear,
So please remember my mind is not lost,
It is simply a place you cannot cross.
I am just wandering around in my world,
Where one day I wait for you by gates so pearled,
Because we will make it through this together,
On a high flying day, like birds of a feather.
So don’t be sad if I ask for your name,
I’m just lost in my world that’s no longer the same,
But my memories are sweet and they hold you so dear,
Forever and always, year after year.
Other books by Stephanie Hudson
Afterlife Saga
Book 1 Afterlife
Book 2 The Two Kings
Book 3 The Triple Goddess
Book 4 The Quarter Moon
Book 5 The Pentagram Child Part 1
Book 6 The Pentagram Child Part 2
About the Author
Stephanie Hudson has dreamed of being a writer ever since her obsession with reading books at an early age. What first became a quest to overcome the boundaries set against her in the form of dyslexia has turned into a life's dream. She first started writing in the form of poetry and soon found a taste for horror and romance. Afterlife is her first book in the series of seven, with the story of Keira and Draven becoming ever more complicated in a world that sets them miles apart.
When not writing, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her loving family and friends, chatting for hours with her biggest fan, her sister Cathy who is utterly obsessed with one gorgeous Dominic Draven. And of course spending as much time with her supportive partner and personal muse Blake who is there for me no matter what.
My Love and devotion is to all of my wonderful fans that keep me going into the wee hours of the night but foremost to my wonderful daughter Ava...who yes, is named after a Demonic bird.
Afterlife Saga is going to be 9 books in total and at the moment is working on the next book in the saga.
Warning!
This book has been written by an UK Author with a mad sense of humour. Which means the following story contains a mixture of Northern English slang, dialect, regional colloquialisms and other quirky spellings that have been intentionally included to make the story and dialogue more realistic for modern day characters.
And please note this is the 1st book in a 9 book saga, which means you are in for a long and rocky ride. So put the kettle on, brew a cuppa, grab a stash of snacks and enjoy!
Thanks for reading
Prologue
‘Time.
‘Faith has its tight grip on our lost time like endless sands we cannot touch. Oceans of hopeful space between us mean nothing if the ship cannot sail and Courage is lost in the darkness without the stars to guide us.
One by one the crimson moon will take our sisters of the earth on a never ending journey of stolen power.
The cups will fill, blood will flow and nine by nine will fall to the Hexad.
Time is power.
Power leads to destruction.
Destruction brings forth the end of Time…our time.’
“Draven!” I shouted out his name instantly looking for him in the dark. Like gripping onto the anchor my mind needed to keep me from losing myself to the storm this supernatural force wanted to drag me to.
Ever since getting back from Hell something deep inside of me told me only one thing mattered and that was…something was coming. Something strong attacked my mind when it was at its weakest in sleep. When I was at my most vulnerable and couldn’t focus on anything but the voices. They spoke to me of another life and another time of which was now. It was almost as if I was living parallel to my dreams.
I couldn’t understand it but by the time I would wake the memories unravelled like vapour streams into the dawning sky and were lost until the next time night fell.
I didn’t want to worry Draven so remained silent on these strange nightmares I couldn’t decipher. And besides, it wasn’t as though I had much information to give him, even if I had wanted to explain. It was as if every time I could feel the dream coming to an end I would desperately reach out and try to grasp at the details with my fist. I could feel my fingers curl around something sharp and cutting but I would ignore the pain in sight of the truth I was searching for. But the blood I could feel dripping down my wrist would dry and flake to dust as I opened my hand and found nothing, before I woke.
“I’m here sweetheart.” Draven’s soft voice caressed my fragile nerves and helped wash my hands of my guilt...a guilt I didn’t understand. It cleansed me like I was being both blessed and baptized in a lake of truth. Where these thoughts were coming from I couldn’t say but it was as though I was back to the beginning. It was like I was looking at myself in the stream that day I found Frank’s uncle’s cabin, only now when I saw myself, I saw the figure of Draven standing strong behind me keeping watch.
Upon opening my eyes my visions of our reflections in the water were replaced by the man I loved…
My husband.
“Another dream?” Draven asked and I raised an eyebrow wondering how long he had known?
“We have been married nearly eight months now Keira, do you not think I know when my wife has a troubled mind?” I rolled my eyes making him laugh. He always made it very hard to be moody when he looked so damn handsome.
“Know it all.” I muttered causing his laugh to vibrate around our home… ‘Afterlife’. It was a strange name for a home I would admit but I thought it was more than fitting considering what we had been through. The way I felt was that I had been
reborn since meeting Draven all that time ago and this was the Heaven I now lived in. It was as though the very building itself embraced me into its depths like a mother’s waiting arms…so why did I wake feeling like I missed it when living it?
“Keira?” Draven asked out of concern.
“Make me forget, Draven.” I said and instead of the right questions asked he simply nodded like he knew. He knew what I needed right now and it was the same as always. Eight months is a long time to be lost with only a hand to hold in the dark dreams of what should have been.
Draven kissed me, softly at first and then as he rolled my body under his and the desperation we both felt started to bloom. It opened up between us like the first rays of sunlight caressing the horizon and teasing the sky with light. Golden naked skin lay over me like a blanket of warmth, protecting me against the bitter cold reality that would take me back there.
“No, Keira… I will make you remember.” Draven said and exhaled the warmth hearing those words made me feel. I placed both my hands on his cheeks and brought his lips back to mine. I opened up to his touch and the taste of him bursting across my tongue. I felt myself becoming lightheaded as I relished every second I had in his world.
Such strength he held over me should have frightened me and somewhere in the world I knew it did but here she couldn’t touch me. No, right here I was untouchable, if only for the few seconds the cosmos allowed us. And here, in his arms, I would never fear Draven…no, I only feared myself.
I closed my eyes tight as his kiss touched the deeper parts of my soul and my tears fought to break free as I wished harder than last time that his touch would finally take root and keep me here. But I knew who was watching. She was always watching. Sometimes I would look back at here and scream at her. Sometimes I would plead with her, beg even. I would shout, hurl abuse, throw things and threaten against what she didn’t understand. Because that lost, weak little girl didn’t know me. She didn’t know this life and the gift I had found. She knew nothing of what the touch of a loving hand could bring. She knew nothing of the strength behind every action fighting for it would mean or make you do.
She knew nothing.
But I knew.
I knew it was coming…I always knew.
Because this was the point I would always realise the haunting truth behind my dreams, behind the truth. That hand I reached out in a vain attempt to grasp back some understanding of a life I kept dreaming about was pointless. Because it wasn’t her life I was trying to hold onto and understand, it was this one…It was my one.
This was the dream and that hand, that bloody hand reaching out and gripping tight was mine. It was mine trying to drag me back there. Back to that place I hated. Back to a place where nightmares were real life being lived through and this, my heaven, was the dream I escaped to.
So keeping my eyes closed was pointless because whether I saw her or not she would take me from Draven like some thief haunting the shadows. I had been kidnapped before, God knows I had and survived it time and time again but what do you do when it’s yourself that is the kidnapper? How do you fight yourself in a battle only one of you believes is fighting?
Feeling Draven kissing my neck was trying to combat my sombre thoughts but not enough to stop me from opening my eyes and facing the inevitable. Tears ran down into my hairline as soon as I saw her above me watching like a frightened doe in headlights. It was clear she didn’t understand what she was seeing and when Draven’s wings erupted from within him, her eyes widened and shock always replaced the fear.
She didn’t understand what he was, that much was clear. So maybe I needed to show her. I put my arms around him and pulled his hair making him growl. He pulled back to look at me and just as his eyes flashed violet blood he kissed me once more. He saw me looking at her and growled again.
“Ignore her.” His demon demanded and I closed my eyes against the pain that he knew. Then before that pain could rip me in two he rolled me over so I was above him. He entered me in the same move and I threw my head back in rapture of being taken this way. He commanded my body the only way Draven knew how and I felt my pleasure building like a hurricane.
I rocked my body the way I knew he liked and he thrust up harder knowing the way I liked it. It didn’t take long until we found the peak of our pleasure together because he knew as well as I did that we didn’t have long left.
Time was precious and it was broken. And one look into her eyes as I threw my head back, staring at her the exact moment I came around Draven’s manhood and she knew it too. The mirror she was watching me through cracked. The ceiling of our four poster bed began to shatter and for the first time in eight months I had gotten through. The glass reflected my life back to me in broken pieces and that was now the world she saw me through. I had made her see that her world, well…it was broken too.
Because it had been stolen. Because her world belonged to me. It was mine and one thing was for damn sure…
I wanted it back!
Chapter 1
Which One Is Hell?
I woke up panting and trying to catch my breath like it seemed I did most mornings these days. Last night’s dream seemed to be the most real yet. For the last eight months I had been suffering from these types of nightmares and each one grew in intensity. The theme remained mostly the same and it was a haunting thing to have to witness when night after night I saw myself trapped, scared, angry and devastated.
“Are you awake?” I almost groaned out loud but thankfully stopped before I got myself into even more trouble.
“Uh…yeah.” I said tucking my hair behind my ear which was a habit of mine.
“Oh dear, was it another bad dream?” My mother asked as she pushed my door open and I gave her a small smile as my answer. Her frown soon replaced what I had come to know as fake concern.
“Was it about that man again?” She asked scowling disapprovingly at me, as if I had any control over it. The worst mistake I made was talking to my sister about it when not making absolutely sure no one was around at the time. My cousin had a nasty habit of getting people in trouble that was for sure.
“Mother.” I said pulling back the covers and stuffing my feet into a pair of well-worn tartan slippers that I had owned for years.
“No Katie, your uncle and I have had just about enough of this. It upsets us to see you so distracted for days after. We think it’s time for you to see someone about it.” I groaned wondering how many times now I had heard this all before. I didn’t know why it was, as I had never seen one before, but I hated the idea of seeing a psychiatrist. The very thought of talking about my dreams with anyone other than my sister made me scratch at my arms like I had a rash or something. But no, it was only ever the same old scars that I had lived with ever since the accident.
I shook these solemn thoughts from my mind, casting them away with the last sticky remains of the dream.
“Mother we have been over this.” I said being strong for once.
“Yes I know, but your uncle knows someone and thinks it is best…” I rolled my eyes as I faced the wall getting fresh underwear out of the top drawer. If she had caught me that would have been another lecture.
“No.” I said slamming the drawer shut in an unusual stand against my family. It was as though when I saw that girl in my dream, that other version of me, something in me snapped eight months ago. Just the very sight of her in my mind’s eye sometimes made me strong. It made me want to be more like her in some way. Not the trapped and kidnapped part but the feisty side of her…that’s what I admired. She was strangely like some sort of role model to me, one who unknowingly helped me get through this suppressed life I had been forced into. I didn’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my sister Ariana in my life.
“Now Katie, be reasonable.” I rarely said no to my mother as let’s just say she wasn’t the most forgiving of people and considering how religious she was I always found this surprising.
“I said…”
“I don??
?t like your tone Missy. Now I said you are going and that is final or you will have your uncle to answer to and you know his temper.” My mother said and I jumped when she slammed the door and I heard the latch lock into place. This was my family’s answer to most things. Lock me in my room like I was a teenager, not the grown woman I was.
Most of the time I didn’t care as I enjoyed being alone unless Ariana was the one sneaking into my room. No, it just meant that I was given the time needed to analyse my dreams in peace. Not that this particularly helped as I could never fully understand the meaning of them but I felt like I owed it to her to at least try. It was strange the way I thought about her as a real person and not just another side to myself. I knew it was crazy but it was like looking in the mirror and pretending your reflection is some other person living a better version of your life.
Apart from looks we had very little else in common. She was beautiful and reminded me of the goddesses we had been taught about in class. Although I would switch off in our teachings when they said to shun such creatures as beauty only brought trouble.
Well I guess they weren’t wrong if my cousin was anything to go by, I thought bitterly. It wasn’t as if I was jealous, far from it as I preferred to have a warm heart and kind soul over beauty any day and as my sister often told me, I was blessed with both. I would only blush and laugh the compliment away like I did most things. But oh what it would feel like to be more like the girl in the mirror. For a start, what would it feel like to have those captive hands holding me instead of her?