“Draven… wants to see me?”
“The King has ordered it and now knowing I am the one responsible for sending you to him in the first place, there is little I can do but obey.” She slumped down in the chair and all of a sudden looked very worn out.
“I’m sorry for all of this Pip,” I said coming back over to join her on the opposite couch. I finally rubbed the crust out of the corners of my eyes and rested my neck on the back of the chair looking up trying to find reasons in this room full of whys?
“It’s alright Toots, not your fault you’re a pain in the ass!” She said with humour glinting in lush green eyes. I smiled and threw a cushion at her head in retaliation. She caught it without looking and placed it behind her head like she needed it to help her relax.
“That might be so, but it doesn’t change the fact…I can’t go Pip.” At this she bolted upright, no longer looking relaxed.
“Toots!” She said in warning but I just waved her off.
“No Pip, I said before and I’m saying it again, I am not going and his Highness can’t do a damn thing to make me!” I said feeling the pulse of anger swimming on the surface getting ready to emerge.
“Oh shit, please don’t do this to me Toots, the King scares the Bejesus out of me and you want me to tell him…no?” She wasn’t kidding, she looked terrified.
“Well, I can’t do it without you sending me back and that kind of kills my point doesn’t it? I’m sorry Pip, but he can order me around as much as he likes but that fact remains I am not his to order into doing anything… not anymore.” I added feeling the bite of pain in my chest at the memory.
“So let me get this straight…” She stood up and held her hand out in a dramatic way about to count her fingers off with each point she was about to make.
“One, you want me to send myself back there…two, you want me to tell the King and one of the most powerful Beings on earth, that I couldn’t send his Chosen One back because of what exactly?” This made me stand up and face her.
“I don’t know, you could try reminding him that next time not to listen to his masterful dick! Yeah, tell him that and while you’re at it tell him that I may only be a lowly human but he’s a low life two timing bastard who doesn’t deserve this low ranking human…oh and don’t forget to mention how this ‘Chosen One’ un-chooses him! Yeah I think that will do it!” I said panting like a rabid dog.
“Feel better?” She asked trying to hold in her smirk. I deflated into the chair I had left, stuck out my bottom lip and shook my head saying,
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Good, but you know I’m not going to say all that…right?” Pip said sideways at me from checking another nail, I think this time it was a fruit salad wrapper.
“Why not, it was a damn good speech?”
“And to the point definitely, but never the less I like my head attached to my spine thank you very much and I hear it’s very hard to have sex without an actual body, I might add.” Pip said finishing with doing the actual actions for sex, which I so didn’t need to see.
“Thanks for the educating sex display, that I so didn’t need, but my answer is still going to be no Pip. I can’t see him.”
“Why not? You could say all that to his face and hell…knock his block off for all I care but by the powers of Greyskull Toots, I can’t go there and tell him for you.” She was starting to look desperate and I felt my reserve slipping.
“Because I know if I take one look at him ever again then I don’t know if I could stop myself from begging him and I have more self-respect than that. It would break the last fragments of my heart Pip, I can’t do that to myself…I just… can’t.” At this she finally softened and thankfully by seeing how much this meant to me she caved before I did.
“Alright, but if I come back dead then I’m blaming you! Oh and if you think you have seen creepy then you have a shit load of spooky in store when I haunt your ass for the rest of your days!” I laughed a little snort at her adorable threat and with one guilty look from me she rolled her eyes and came over to kneel next to my chair.
“Alright, I am going to do this but if I do then my one condition is that you’re coming with me.” What! No way...she saw my face and cut me off before I even started to voice my opinions on that matter.
“He won’t know you’re there Toots. You will be just in the background being a witness. You will be hidden I promise, but I am not going in there and telling the King why…that is not my place, that and like I said, I’m not bloody suicidal!”
“Aww come on, we both know Adam could take Draven.” I said trying to lighten the shadows that had crept in, rimming her eyes with doubt. She raised an eyebrow in a look that said…you think so?
“Alright Toots, time to get this show on the road because Mr ‘I Am Too Impatient for my Kingdom’ is calling me.”
“He can do that?”
“Oh Toots, don’t you yet realise…?” She crawled on my lap and slapped her palms to my temple in what was becoming an everyday occurrence before finishing her statement…
“He can do anything he wants!”
Chapter 28
Angry King
I had once again found myself whisked off to a place my body didn’t follow. I opened my eyes and for a moment I held my breath in waiting for Pip’s promise to present itself.
I took in my surroundings and realised I was in a room I had not seen since this whole thing began. Draven’s Marble room took me back to what seemed like a lifetime ago and I guess in a way it was, for this life that I was living now was still new. Of course the difference was that before I was living that life for Draven, now I had no need for this supernatural existence. Did that mean I could just go back to the way I was before…? Somehow I didn’t think so.
Still, seeing this room plunged me back to that day when Draven plucked me from my ordinary life and set in motion the wheels that spun me into one filled with the unimaginable. I still remember lying there on that same couch waiting for everyone to leave the room. It was just after Draven had taken me from the car park outside Afterlife. I was running from my past and ended up running into the arms that held my future. At that time I was confused of what to think of my handsome captor and now it was no better, as I was even more confused.
Why he wanted me here I couldn’t understand. The person he wanted was by his side once again and with me out of the way, didn’t that make things easier on him? Or was it because he felt responsible for my human life and he was now doing the responsible thing in trying to get me back to my family? Either way I was definitely confused.
For the moment the magnificence of the room just held me….Pip and a magnitude of marble statues, some bigger than your average person, like the two winged warrior Angels that stood either side of the gigantic fireplace. The room was long and immensely grand, with lush red and gold fabrics that complemented the pale Marble that ran throughout the room. Marble table tops and a mix of carved Gods and Demons on plinths ran along the edges, while softer furniture was placed in certain parts, creating separate sitting areas from the main focal point of the room.
The grandest table stood there in the centre like it belonged in some royal dining room used by the world’s most powerful people. Of course this table was most likely used by the most powerful people in the world and needless to say, none of those were human. The thought of that dining experience caused a tingling in a body that wasn’t fully here.
It was one of the most beautiful pieces of furniture I had ever seen and it had a red tint to the high polished wood which drew me to believe it was made from Brazilian Rosewood thanks to one I had seen before on a school trip to a manor house in the Midlands. It gleamed under the rustic wrought iron chandelier that flickered against the smooth marble that dominated the room. The other domination in the room, being that the table was large enough to hold twenty people on each side with only one end that had a seat, one that was clearly at the ready for the master of the house. All the seats, b
ut one, were made from the same high polished wood. Two long rows of arched backed chairs that looked like gothic steeples from an imposing cathedral stood in waiting ready to be filled by Draven’s elite. But at the top was nothing short of a carved marble throne that was more than fit for a King’s place.
It was made from a marble I had never seen before and was the only piece in the room that was like it. It was the purest of white but veined with blood crimson running through it like that of a person. Almost like someone’s skin had been turned transparent and the travelling blood could be seen flowing around the human body.
It stood taller than the rest and had two large spiral pillars that joined the wide arm rests. From where I stood I couldn’t see if there was a comforting cushion on the seat but I knew the chair was more than wide enough for Draven’s large frame with no doubt room to spare.
The back arched like the others but a round section had been cut out to fit the glass plate that the window behind caught in its daylight. It was one piece that was swirls of yellows, oranges and reds that were made to look as though the section contained liquid fire. In the centre a simple symbol and it was one I was very familiar with. The symbol was the same one I had lived with on my body since my birth, the same one I had received as acceptance on entering the Temple and the very symbol that to this day I still didn’t understand. I had asked Draven about it but every time I had mentioned it, the subject had been brushed away as being unimportant. But every time I saw it, it was as if I could feel a pulsing at the back of my skull where it lay hidden under my hair line. Now you couldn’t tell me that meant nothing!
The odd shape at the back of my neck was like a quarter moon with its back to a sideward V but this time it was different and I realised why. In the centre of the seats glass plate it was angled differently. Now it was an A with the bottom parts flicked upwards and inside the bottom part of the A was the quarter moon fit snug with added flat side pieces. I was just about to ask Pip to test whether or not she could hear me when I heard the door open and my heart leapt at the sight.
Draven walked in dominating the room with every step and with one look at his granite features that were set in a formidable wrath, I actually took a step back. With one scan of the room his eyes narrowed and a muscle in his jaw twitched before even saying a word. He walked up to his throne and the sound of it moving back against the stone floor echoed around the room making me flinch. He hadn’t touched it but it slid back by an invisible force and the King took his seat.
My heart pounded so hard it hurt and I was sure, even though it wasn’t in the room with me, that it would be heard. It was just the sight of him like this and I now could fully understand why Pip hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell him no. This was not a man you said that word to often and survived, that much was as clear as seeing your reflection in the high sheen of the marble that gave this room its name.
Draven was dressed all in black and it was the first time I had seen him in one of these visions back in a full suit. He unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back before resting one elbow on the solid arm rest. His deep set eyes and his black stare reflected his dark mood, causing my guilt at putting Pip through this to double. Poor Pip might have me unseen by her side, in her magic shadows but I was unlikely back up for the clear anger on Draven’s face. But it was not only Draven she had to contend with, it was also Vincent, Sophia, Zagan and Takeshi who were all situated behind their master. I gulped on her behalf.
Pip started to bow graciously and Draven actually growled.
“Cut the fucking formality Imp and tell me why you’re here and Keira is not!” Draven snapped out with a voice so deep it was like he had swallowed gravel. It was also the first time I had heard Draven swear in front of me this way but then again, as far as he was concerned, he wasn’t in front of me.
“My great Lord, she…she would not come.” Pip looked like she really didn’t want to say it and the reaction she received backed up her fears. Draven roared out and banged a hammer like fist on the table and a crack travelled almost the full length, splitting the beautiful wood down the centre. Pip tried not to cringe but Draven ended up being the only one in the room that didn’t react to his outburst.
“Dom, calm yourself.” Vincent braved to say but he was shot down with one of Draven’s hands, held up in a motion for silence. Draven then looked as though he was trying to get his dangerous emotions in check for a few still moments. He placed his hand at the place of impact and the crack that had ended just short of the table’s edge started to fuse back together and it did so all the way back to Draven’s large hand.
With that epic over-reaction finished Draven opened his eyes and stared at one scared Pip.
“Come closer!” His command was one I wouldn’t have liked to have received right now but as Pip walked closer I did the same, keeping my word and watching her back while facing this.
“What do you mean…she would not come?” This part that was repeated by Draven came out in nothing short of a demonic growl.
“She refused to see you, my Lord.” Pip stated bravely making Draven’s glare darken further. Meanwhile I was utterly confused as to why he was behaving this way? It just didn’t make any sense…or was I still needed for something and I had been kept in the dark all this time? Was I not only just a pawn for Lucius but one for Draven as well?
“I tried to convince her of your order my Lord, but she is, as you know, a little wilful.” At this Draven looked like he would have throttled me at that moment, given half a chance.
“Wilful or not, I have ordered her to be sent to me and as you know little Imp, I am not a patient King.” Pip looked at that moment like she wanted to run away and with Draven’s penetrating natural dominance, I really didn’t blame her.
“My Lord…I…can’t…I…”
“ENOUGH! Bring her to me now, with or without her approval!” Draven was so furious I saw his eyes had changed from their usual very dark night colour to flaming purple in seconds. But this wouldn’t have stopped me from what I did next. I stormed past Pip and stood myself in front of him ready for the fight.
“How dare you! You can’t order me around after you cheated on me, you two timing shithead! And who the hell do you think you are talking to my friend like that? You might be a King but at the moment it’s ‘King of the Assholes’ speaking about me like I am one of your bloody minions ready to jump on bloody command!” I screamed out but only when I had finished and not one person registered what I had said I realised I still wasn’t being seen. But wait…I looked up and saw a slight smirk on Vincent’s face. Could he see me? He was staring straight at me and when I looked behind me to see if there was anything there, I realised that yes…he could see me!
I looked back at him and he winked at me without anyone noticing.
“You can see me?” I couldn’t help but say and when I saw the slightest nod I knew he was the only one.
“Well at least someone enjoyed my speech,” I said sarcastically and again he smirked as if to say, yeah, he really did.
“But my Lord…you know I can’t do that…I…I cannot bring someone unwilling, it doesn’t work like that…the mind has to be open for the taking, she has to want for you to see her.” Pip said emphasising the word ‘want’ making Draven’s frown deepen until it became scary.
“And why is it you suppose she refuses?” Draven asked folding his arms across his massive chest that expanded even more when he was trying to rein in his anger.
“Oh for bloody hell’s sake, do me a favour Vincent and smack your brother upside his head for me. I think he needs to get a clue!” I snapped out making Vincent trying desperately to hold in his need to grin.
“My Lord, it is not my place to say.” She said lowering her head in submission.
“Make it your place little Imp!” Draven wasn’t giving an inch for her to back out of this one and my guilt tripled. Maybe I should have just been brave and not chickened out of doing this but at the time I had felt more needy tha
n angry but at seeing this…well I felt more like punching than grovelling.
“My guess….she saw something she didn’t like the last time she asked to see you.” At this I saw Sophia and Vincent look sideways at each other.
“Yeah, you’re damn right I did!” I shouted but when Vincent’s eyes flashed to mine, Sophia noticed his tense expression. Now this was the part where things were turning even more serious. However Draven took a deep breath and closed his eyes as though this new information caused strain and tension in his handsome face. Well so it should I thought, folding my arms.
“Keira doesn’t know what she saw and it is clear she does not know what is best for her. No matter what the circumstances are or how they may have changed, she will be returned to me. You will go back to your Master and tell him the negotiations have now changed. I know Keira too well, as now it is quite possible, given half the chance, she will do something stupid! Foolish girl!” He added angrily and he wasn’t the only one feeling as though about to blow! I was utterly fuming!
I think Vincent saw the moment my eyes turned cold and my blood started to boil. He touched his brother’s shoulder and said,
“Brother, think, you are upset and are not thinking clearly. Keira knows what she saw, as did we all.” At this Draven stood so quickly the throne was tossed as though it was made from polystyrene to one side and it crashed into a sitting area like a boulder from a mountain slide. Wood splintered and pieces of a sofa, small table and a mounted vase in a glass square turned into the broken evidence of Draven’s destruction.
“Dominic, NO!” Sophia shouted but it made no difference to what I was already seeing. I stood there with my mouth hanging open at the sight of Draven squaring up to his brother, one hand curled into the shirt he was wearing.
“Tell me Brother, what did you see?” Draven snarled but Vincent didn’t even flinch or back away one inch.
“We saw you, my Brother…breaking her heart.” Vincent said softly and then turned to look at me before continuing,