Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6)

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I wonder how many of the books you have read in this room.” Draven was still stood at my back but I didn’t need to see his face to know he was being serious when he said,

  “Most of them I imagine.”

  “What!? But that’s…that’s impossible.” I told him, now really intrigued to know how old he was.

  “When you live as long as we do, you come to realise that you have a lot of time on your hands.”

  “How old are you again?” I asked, knowing he probably wouldn’t tell me but it was worth a shot anyway.

  “I’m older than I look.” He said against my neck, repeating what he said about his home on the way here and I laughed.

  I looked back around the room and couldn’t help but wonder how many first editions and priceless books Draven had in his collection. The rest of the room was furnished as you would expect in such a grand space, filled with antiques galore which, for all I knew, could have been bought when brand new. Wing backed Chesterfields in forest greens and tartan foot stools gave it that lovely Scottish manor vibe. Where as in another area, huge old globes of the world stood mounted in spindled wood that I doubted very much had hidden bottles inside.

  There were tall golden candelabras flickering away from the many church candles they held and the same hung down from chains attached to the panelled ceiling, branching off like stars in every direction. Even the smell of the room was inviting and one that welcomed you to stay awhile, surrounding you in luxury and comfort until you’d finished with your story for the night.

  “Okay, new promise, after our reading session we then lie in front of the fire and make love.” I said looking back over my shoulder at him.

  “Now that is a promise…actually, I am making it a vow.” He whispered this last part in my ear making me giggle.

  “I thought I heard voices.” Vincent said coming from behind one of the hidden doors that blended into the vast amount of woodwork.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I was hoping to read a little…you know, to settle my mind.” I said giving him a look I hoped he would interpret in the right way. You know, instead of being one of those people that say, ‘Uh, why did you just kick me under the table’ or in this case ‘Why do you look like a zombie staring at me like you want my brains for breakfast’, that type of thing.

  Thankfully though Vincent wasn’t one of those people and simply smiled and said,

  “Its fine, I am not working in this room anyway, so have no fear, for you won’t be disturbing me.”

  “Okay, that’s good, in that case I will just…” I trailed off as Draven squeezed my arm affectionately before leaving my side to go and speak to Vincent. I tried to pretend I wasn’t listening and wandered over to the nearest bookshelf to pretend to scan the books for one I wanted. I grabbed one without looking and started flicking through its pages as I listened in to their conversation.

  “When was the last time you slept?” Draven asked him and Vincent turned the other way before answering him.

  “I will sleep once it is done.”

  “You’re worried our plans will fail.” He said, stating it as a fact.

  “Of course and so would you be should the risks be as great for you.” Vincent replied sternly, giving me a quick glance, one long enough to tell his brother what he meant by that statement.

  “Do you not think I have had to endure my fair share of risks!?” Draven snapped back and I flinched alongside of Vincent. He released a sigh and said,

  “Yes of course. Forgive me Dom, I didn’t mean…”

  “I know, brother. Let’s speak no more of it.” Draven said putting his hand on his shoulder and cutting his brother some slack. Vincent nodded and then rubbed his forehead saying,

  “I am wary is all and fear that I am not sound of mind. I fear to dream in case she is no longer there, so I do what I can here in case Celina’s name comes up in any of the ancient scrolls.”

  “I remember my times in here as well Vince, you’re not alone in this, you should remember that, for it was you telling me the very same thing when I first encountered my own Chosen.” Draven looked back at me over his shoulder and I ducked my head down hoping they wouldn’t notice my eavesdropping.

  “I remember.” Draven nodded to him and turned back to me.

  “Hey…” Vincent shouted back to him and Draven stopped in his tracks as he waited for what he had to say,

  “If it helps, I no longer think you were being a whiny little bitch over it.” At this Draven burst out laughing and said,

  “I will get you back in the ring for that one, brother!”

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s what you say every time.” Vincent responded before turning the other way in search of something from the row of shelves. Draven was still chuckling when he came back to me.

  “Are you guys all good?” I asked as I had never seen them like this before. But to be honest, I couldn’t really remember what they were ever like, so for all I knew they were always at the pub, shooting pool and arguing about football whilst eating hot wings! Okay so I doubted it but you never know and at least one thing I did know they enjoyed doing together and that was obviously trying to beat the crap out of each other in a ring.

  “Yeah. So what have we got here then?” Draven said and before I could stop him he took the book from my hands and was turning it over to read the front page,

  “The History of Migrating Birds?” He said the title out loud and I had to stop myself from saying, ‘Oh you are freakin’ kidding me!’ Thankfully instead I said,

  “Uh…What, it’s educational…and uh…did you know that the…” I tried to look at the page he had it open on and could just about see the words to read them out like it was something I had just learnt.

  “…The Arctic tern holds the long-distance migration record for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each year. Some species of tube…noses?” I said the last word like a question and then looked up to see he had one eyebrow raised, so I carried on and said,

  “Tubenoses, such as albatrosses circle the earth, flying over the southern oceans…um.”

  “I did actually as I read that one only last week.” He replied crossing his arms across his chest.

  “No you didn’t!” I shouted hitting him on the arm with the book. He grabbed my arm and held it up in the air, pulling me closer to say in a seductive tone,

  “No I didn’t, so stop pretending and go and get yourself what I know you really want to read…I have many editions of them you know.” He said nodding to the far side of the room.

  “Many editions of what?” I asked breathlessly. He moved that extra inch closer and then whispered over my lips,

  “The Kamasutra.” and then he left.

  “I don’t want to know.” Vincent said laughing and holding up his hands.

  “We need to talk.” I said getting straight to the point.

  “About what?” He asked placing the books he collected down on a side table.

  So I finally told him what the last of the puzzle pieces was…

  “Runes.”

  Chapter 32

  Do I Look Viking to You?

  “Runes?”

  “Yeah Runes.” I said again when Vincent obviously started to question my sanity.

  “Okay, you are going to have to give me a little bit of something else to work with here.” He said heaving his books back into his arms and walking back towards the secret door he had appeared from. I followed him and said,

  “This is pretty cool you know.” I nodded to the hidden door as it started to open on its own like something out of a James Bond movie…I wondered if they still made those?

  “Yeah well sorry to disappoint but it isn’t full of guns and yes, they still make those.” He said walking through and making me realise that I had spoken out loud again. As soon as I walked through the door it became another one of those ‘wow’ moments but now for a different reason.

 
“What a mess!” I commented taking in the chaos around me.

  “It might be a mess but it’s an organised mess.” He said defending himself.

  “Yeah, sure it is.” I muttered under my breath.

  “I heard that!” He said sticking his head back over the gravity defying pile of papers, older than dirt. The room was perfectly round and instead of holding beautifully carved shelving, it was surrounded by dusty pigeon holes stuffed with rolled up parchments of all sizes. Some were in brown tubes with aging labels on the sides and others were just aging! Old cobwebs floated from one hole to another and the musty smell was starting to make me want to sneeze.

  “Uh…I hate to point out the obvious but why are we stuck in this forsaken place when there is a perfectly fine and more importantly, clean…” I said running my finger along a line of dirt and then rubbing it on my jeans for later before carrying on,

  “…space out there…no offense.” I added just in case this was like his ‘Special place’ or something.

  “None taken and the reason we are in here is because this is where we keep…”

  “All the crap?” I said filling in the blanks or just plain interrupting him.

  “Hard copies.” He corrected as I was too busy looking up to find it was in fact a tower we stood at the base of but more shocking was that the cubby holes went all the way up until my eyes couldn’t see that far. There was no ladder so I asked the obvious,

  “So what if we need one from up there?” I pointed my finger up, hoping he didn’t think I was referring to Heaven.

  “I climb.”

  “Really?” I asked and he chuckled.

  “No sweetheart, I’m an Angel remember, I fly.”

  “Oh, yeah right. So is there anywhere we can sit?” I looked around the space that only held an island in the middle that was slightly higher than your average table. There were even gaps zigzagged all the way around that with rolls of paper sticking out in every direction.

  “I guess not.” I said answering my own question after a quick scan of the room told me this place looked about as comfortable as a prehistoric man cave!

  “Vincent?” There was no answer and it was becoming clear that he thought he was on to something as papers were frantically being flipped over.

  “Vincent, I think we need to…”

  “Yeah, something about Runes…go on…” He said and I could tell he was elsewhere so I shouted, finally losing my patience,

  “Vincent!”

  “What?” He said at last, laying down his scrolls that were the size of newspapers.

  “I am going back in there, finding myself one of those comfy seats and waiting until you come to your senses and listen to what I am trying to tell you.” I said calmly and without waiting for him to say a word I turned around and walked through the door. Thankfully once I was back on this side I felt like I could actually breathe again. Then I did as I said I would and found myself a seat to wait.

  He took forty-eight seconds.

  “Alright, you have my full attention.” He said coming to sit opposite me on one of the chesterfields.

  “You good?” I asked him and I could see the guilt start to come out.

  “Yeah. Look I am sorry, it’s just we only have tonight and I am not sending you in there with no way of destroying that stone. I know what I said about the risks but…”

  “Vincent…”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think I found a way.” This was it. I had tried casting my line as soon as Draven had left the room but Vincent had been too occupied in finding other bait.

  “Tell me.”

  “Okay, so you know how I could barely make out the symbols on the wall, because they were so bright and blurred?” He nodded for me to continue,

  “Well I woke not long ago from a dream that sent me back there. I found the wall and this time when I hit it, I started to see things more clearly…They’re Runes.”

  “Are you sure?” I knew he had to ask, so I wasn’t offended.

  “Positive. A lad got punished pretty badly for having a pocket full of them. I only know what they are because Ari herself told me.” This definitely got his attention.

  “So what’s your theory?” He asked probably praying right now that I had one.

  “I think that it’s not only what’s keeping everyone out but also what’s keeping everyone inside under control. No-one hardly asks any questions, everybody just follows orders and those who don’t, well maybe it doesn’t work on them, but either way I think the runes and the symbol of the Hexad are connected.” He shook his head and said,

  “The Hexad symbol simply means the power of six. It is rarely used and there is very little history on its origins, that’s what I have been searching for all this time.”

  “But think about it, what if the two are connected? What if the symbols on the walls hold the clue to how to stop it? If we can somehow read the runes, find out what they mean, then maybe we can…I don’t know, maybe come up with our own spell.” I didn’t think we were on the same page until I said this.

  “You mean one to counteract it?” His voice elevated at the end in his excitement, as he too began to see my logic.

  “Yes, exactly, because I don’t know if you will agree with me on this one, but unless I am going in there with the latest World’s strongest man winner to break this thing, then I don’t see a way to stop it.” His face said it all…neither did he.

  “But we don’t have the runes.” He stated and I smirked at him, pointed to my head and said,

  “Yes we do.”

  For the next hour Vincent looked into my memories and drew what he too now saw from my latest dream memories. Once he thought he’d got them all, then the real fun could begin, I thought dryly as we simply both sat there and stared at them.

  “Well, if it helps, you were right, they are definitely runes.”

  “But what do they mean?”

  “I have no clue.” I frowned and then looked around the place thinking how stupid we were, as we were sat in a damn library for Pete’s sake.

  “I know what you’re thinking but unless you have some clue as to where a book on ancient runes could be in all this lot then I think that in itself could take hours.”

  “Google?” I asked but he grinned back at me and said,

  “I have one better.” Then he jumped to his feet.

  “What?”

  “A Viking.” He answered before running out the door.

  Ten minutes later he came back with a gruff and moody looking Sigurd with him and I gave Vincent a look as if to ask silently if this was a good idea. He motioned with his hand not to say anything just yet as he walked ahead of him.

  “This better be important Curly, ‘cause I was about to get me round two from this sweet piece of…oh hey there girly.” Sigurd said not finishing the sentence as it was something I really didn’t want to know. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and I had to say, it was strange seeing him without his usual black hooded jacket on. Now he simply wore a dark grey vest that was tight across his large torso and loose fitting sweatpants that hung low on his hips. As a matter of fact, if I didn’t now know better, I would have said he looked ready to go jogging.

  “Sooo, this looks a bit cosy.” He commented looking around our little space. I had hidden the drawings of runes we had done before they came just in case Draven had gotten restless with how long I had been.

  “Does Captain ‘Holier than thou’ know we are having this little shindig?” He asked sitting down next to me.

  “No.” Vincent said and then added,

  “And we would like to keep it that way.” Sigurd didn’t seem to need much time to digest this before he simply shrugged his shoulders and said,

  “That’s cool by me. It’s no secret he ain’t my choice as a dancing partner. So what are we keeping from him?” He asked and he looked from me to Vincent as we eyed each other warily. Sigurd slapped his hands to his knees and got up saying,

  “We
ll how about you guys just get back to me when you both figure out your shit, but in the mean time I am going for a run.” I knew that’s what he was really up to!

  “Wait!” I said reaching my hand out and grabbing his hand. I noticed all the tattooed snakes and serpents he had up one arm and they vibrated and tickled under my touch. I giggled and dropped my hand.

  “They remember you.” He told me softly and I smiled up at him.

  “Vincent, come on, I really can’t see what choices we have here and besides…I trust him.” I said looking towards Vincent and as soon as I declared my trust the black ink buzzed again under my hand.

  “Stop doing that!” I shouted laughing and chastising his arm.

  “Hey sugar, it’s you not me. Now let’s cut the mushy shit and you two tell me what’s going on.” We all sat down and we told Sigurd what we had planned and why. He stood up and said,

  “Oh Fuck no! We are not sending her in there alone!” At this I had to calm him down and make him see reason before he did something irreversible, like tell Draven. In the end it took all my persuasion and yes, a little bit of pleading before he finally understood why.

  “And besides, if I think I am right with this, then I won’t be going in there alone.”

  “No?” Sigurd questioned, raising a sceptical eyebrow at me.

  “No, I will be going in there with the power to destroy that thing.”

  “Alright, tell me what you’ve got.” And with this came our victory and his defeat. Because the thing I also learnt about Sigurd was that we had a common ground and that was the need to save family. I didn’t know the background in detail but I knew enough to know that if he could have saved his own sister, then he would have done anything.

  “Well, I had a dream…”

  “You know I heard this one, although I am pretty sure he was black and was into some African-American Civil Rights Movement or something.” Sigurd said being cocky and Vincent rubbed his forehead like the Draven brothers tended to do when frustrated. I smacked him on the arm and said,

  “That was I have a dream, jackass! So as I was saying…”