The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (33 page)

“It is certainly a beautiful thing to watch.”
Draven whispered to me just after Sophia got up and went over to the floor to play with Ella and Pip. You could just hear Sophia telling Ella what a pretty dress she was wearing and Ella was shouting about the strawberries that were all over it.

“It is.” I said feeling myself getting choked up at the sight.

“What are we playing?” Sophia asked as Pip had emptied the contents of her purse to find there were more toys in there than grown up stuff.

“How about we play Pirates?” Pip shouted then took her head scarf off and tied it round Ella’s little head like a bandana.

“Well in that case I want to play!” Zagan shouted surprising us all by getting up and going over to them all on the floor. I wasn’t sure if this wasn’t just a ploy to get away from my Nan’s wandering hands or not but either way he looked happy on the floor.

“Wow honey, at this rate date night will be twice a week!” Frank said to a smiling Libby who was watching her child boss around the grown-ups. If only she knew the power of those grown-ups and who they really were she would have been even more impressed with her daughter’s obvious skills at leadership.

Later in the evening, after I found out Draven had arranged for everyone to stay at the hotel, I was saying goodnight to my slightly tipsy mother.

“He’s such a lovely man, such a gentleman.” She said hugging me for the fourth time.

“I know mum.”

“We couldn’t be happier for you both and after he explained about why you two split up, which we completely understand, it’s just so great you got back together and you can see he adores you…can’t you see that he adores her, Eric?” My mum repeated to my father who was calling one of the elevators. I was still stuck on what exactly Draven had told them when my dad walked over to collect my mother from hanging on me for support.

“Yes you can. Now let’s go see this fancy room
,
Joyce.”

“Oh yes let’s. Oh the girls will love to see this place, have you got my phone, I must be sure to take pictures for Facebook.” I smiled shaking my head and then kissed my father on the cheek.

“He’s good for you and your mother is right, we couldn’t be happier.”

“Thanks dad.” I said giving him an extra squeeze, one he pretended took out his back.

“Oh give over Eric, you’re not that old yet!” My mother said and then gave him a wink as if to say he was going to get lucky tonight if he played his cards right. I was slightly mortified and moaned about it,

“Uh, hello daughter here remember…line you don’t cross waving right here.” They laughed and my mum launched herself at my dad and I was thankful when the lift doors opened to take them away before things got to the point I would need therapy. Because as nice as it was to know your parents were still blissfully married, no child, no matter how old, needed to witness the evidence to it of more than first base…ever.

Libby and Frank had already gone up to their room and taken Ella with them much to Pip’s dismay. She had actually fallen asleep in Draven’s arms after she spotted him and ran to him shouting,

“Uncle Dom Dom.” How she knew to start calling him uncle yet was anyone’s guess. It was a lovely sight to see and one I was sorry I would never get to see him holding our own child. I pushed those thoughts from my mind not wanting to go there on such a happy occasion.

Over all it had been the most perfect day and one that followed an even more perfect night. Everyone cooed over my ring and my mother inquired about the sentiment over the wings and Draven just said as a matter of fact,

“She makes my heart soar, so I thought it fitting to give her wings.” All the women in my family all voiced their thoughts on this sweet statement by shouting ‘Aww’ all at the same time. My dad just winked at Draven and Frank said,

“Oh you’re smooth and trust me, you will go far with marriage with those skills.” Then tipped his beer bottle at him in a male salute.

Draven and I were the last ones left and after he said goodnight to his siblings it was our turn to wait for the lift. We stood silent next to each other and I had the biggest smirk on my face. Then I said without looking at him,

“She did it again didn’t she?”

“Yes, yes she did.” He said and I burst out laughing throwing myself at him as he stepped in the lift. We were of course referring to my grandmother who had just made Draven another one of her victims.

“Well Zagan survived.” I said kissing him in between speaking.

“I think for the first time in his Demonic life he will be going to sleep tonight with the total understanding and concept of what nightmares are.”

“Ha ha!” I said smacking him on the arm in my Nan’s defence.

“Well it just means it’s a good sign I will end up a horny old lady.” I added.

“Oh I have no doubt about the horny part however the old lady bit will never happen.” I raised an eyebrow in question and just as the door opened to our penthouse floor he said something that filled me with dread,

“Not after our marriage ritual.”

“Uh, our what now?” I asked and one look at his sheepish face and I knew it was bad but after what he said next I knew it was even worse…

“I think we need to talk.”  

Chapter 76 

Smoke and Mirrors

Being back in my room in Libby’s house was strange, as if I hadn’t been here for ages, when in actual fact it had been just over a week. If I’d have woken up here I could have been fooled enough into thinking it had all been a dream.

I’d had a lot of explaining to do when we got back, especially to Libby, from whom I received the whole ‘I knew it!’ and ‘I told you so’ speech. And of course she was right, after Draven was the one to drop me off that day she told me this would happen. Of course I didn’t exactly tell her about the whole psycho Alex thing but I did saying that after being stood up for the last time I told him where to go. I would have liked to have said more, that I found out he had a rotting willy from sleeping with too many crack whores but that would have been derogatory to crack whores.

I’d explained, even though it was obvious to all how I wasn’t over Draven but Draven’s idea of filling in the blanks was to tell people as close to the truth as he could. He explained to my family that he had received a threat due to some sour business dealings and he became terrified that this threat could get to me. So he broke things off with me, not explaining why so that I couldn’t argue with his decision. Then he came back into town after the threat had been eliminated in the hopes of winning me back.

My father and Frank had agreed with his decision wholeheartedly, being men themselves and protective ones at that they admitted to him doing the right thing. My sister and mother had almost swooned over the fact he wanted to play knight in shining armour and the sacrifice made for the woman he loved. It sounded like something from a soap opera or some period drama. I was in half a mind to remind them of my running snot, no showers, over eating, greasy hair and red eye days but decided it best they continued to think about the man I was going to marry as a hero.

During the meal the subject of a date came up and before I could say in about a year, due to what I remember of Libby’s wedding planning, Draven surprised everyone. He said very casually,

“In a few weeks.” I was just glad I wasn’t eating at the time as I might have choked on a mini Thai fish cake. I think my sister and mother simultaneously dropped their cutlery. My father and Frank just smiled nudging each other as though Draven was some kind of ancient war lord that didn’t mess around and therefore was to be admired by anything with a penis.

“Excuse me?” I said after finally finding my wits and putting them to good use.

“I am not waiting.” He said firmly and that was that. I had moved closer to him and said we would talk about it later. But when I tried to do this I found myself thrown on the bed and talking about weddings was the last thing I had on my mind. He claimed afterwards it was to prepare me for the wedding night and I had just laughed before promptly falling asleep from exhaustion.

I yawned now thinking about the three other times I had been woken up throughout the night to find Draven entering me. I was now deliciously sore in all the best places and was getting wet again just thinking about it. Although before we had this wild night of sex, which clearly was both of us trying to make up for lost time, we did have one little ‘chat’ about things to come.

As soon as he said the words ‘marriage ritual’ in the lift I just knew this was going to be one of those conversations where I was going to be left feeling out of my depth. I had prepared myself for bad and received the worst. I would have loved to have found out it was something similar to throwing the bouquet or having the groom pull off the garter with his teeth but this was something else alright, and it was happening tonight!

I was trying not to think about it. I really was but so far the longest time I had gone without thinking about it was about 15 minutes and that was when I was changing Ella’s nappy, then having to chase her around the downstairs half naked just to get another nappy on her really helped.

Tomorrow was my birthday and what needed to happen for the ritual was at one minute past midnight. It was this or we would have to wait until their New Year’s Eve party but Draven didn’t want to wait that long, as he was a tad impatient. Another thing Draven was impatient for, which was why I was here now, was me moving into Afterlife for good. He had kindly sprung this on me the first night home and I was just commenting on how much I had missed his bed.

He informed me it wasn’t
his
bed but
our
bed as I was moving in as soon as I was packed. I had asked the obvious question, ‘isn’t it too soon?’ to which he just laughed and said,

“We are getting married.” And this was the end of that conversation as again it was obvious he had more pressing issues on his mind, like the need to take me again pressing against my pyjama bottoms. I asked him if we should discuss this a bit more and he agreed, only his agreement came with his hand dipping into my waistband. Once there he gathered up the evidence of my arousal and used it to rub my sweet spot over and over. I only managed to say how unfair this was until I was moaning and begging for my release.

After it finished I just managed enough energy to say,

“I will pack tomorrow.” The last thing I heard was,

“Good girl,” before I fell asleep.

Which brought me back to what I was doing now…
packing.

To be honest I really didn’t have that much to pack so it wasn’t this part that I had been dreading doing, no it had been telling Libby. I had expected her to try and talk me out of it or at least say that she thought I needed more time. But in actual fact as soon as I sat her and Frank down to talk about it they started laughing.

“Well no offense Kaz but we weren’t expecting you to still live here and not with your husband.” And I guess when Libby put it like that it did sound pretty stupid. And it’s like she said, it wasn’t as if I lived far away and besides, this way she got to go behind the scenes of the famous Afterlife.

I had to say I actually got excited about the idea of showing her around, although I think there were certain places I would be leaving off the tour. Can you imagine… ‘And to your left is Draven’s weapon collection but I assure you he’s not an arm’s dealer. Then in this next room is Afterlife’s very own crypt that leads onto a prison for Heaven and Hell’s worst criminals on earth… oh and then on from here is the Temple, where we hold our death sentences, host sacrifices, some annual fights with bad guys, New Year’s Eve parties and tonight our very own Supernatural Marriage ritual’. Oh yeah I could see this going down well with my mortal family.

“Do you need a hand?” Libby asked popping her head round the door and seeing me on the floor pulling things from my bottom two drawers to stuff into the suitcases I had when I first arrived here. Wow that time felt like an age ago.

“Wow, it only feels like yesterday that Frank was lugging those bad boys up to your room.” Libby said coming in to sit on the bed and watch me. It was strange how similar our minds worked.

“I was just thinking that.”

“I bet you never thought you would be packing to move into Afterlife with your future husband when you were on your first day of work there.” I laughed at the thought.

“Definitely not.”

“I was surprised to see RJ looking a bit glum the other night, considering Dominic had her flown all the way over to England for your surprise engagement.” I let my hands drop to my lap and sighed. It was true that RJ had been quiet during the dinner and especially from how Libby was used to seeing her, so the only thing I could say was the truth,

“She’s kind of going through a tough time at the moment.” And really that was all I could say. I had spoken to her and she had seemed distant but I could tell it wasn’t directed at me, just distant in general. I managed to get a moment alone with her and she explained,

“It’s weird, like I know I should be all freaking out about everything that happened and then to have Mr Cool Blonde Hottie out there explain even more to me, you would think I would be screaming in a mental institute by now, but it’s like, that’s the part I am cool with, ya know?” I nodded agreeing with her that yes this was weird.

“But do you wanna know the part I am not cool with, the part that I am
so not
cool with! It’s having that asshole just leave me like that after showing me what it was like having someone all protective over me! Having someone nice to me and sweet and caring and then BAM! He turns into every other asshole I have ever met or been interested in!” And this was the root of it. RJ had accepted this other hidden world around her like she was just moving house but one guy she started to really like turns out to be not so great and it was as if the world was ending…and I could certainly relate!

In fact I didn’t feel so crazy now knowing I’d had pretty much the same reaction about Draven. That night on the rooftop when I saw Draven’s true form for the first time and the part I lost it over was when he told me he was engaged the next day! It was maddening what men could do to you but when I mentioned this to Draven, he just assured me that woman could do the very same thing.

This then brought on a whole new conversation about how hard he found it when he used to torture himself watching me but knowing he couldn’t touch me. This was another one of what I like to call ‘Draven dense’ times when he got it into his head I would be better off without him. Talk about conflicted! The man could win medals, awards and shiny gold naked statues for being conflicted! Which was precisely what I told RJ making her laugh for the first time that day.

I had called her once we got home but I got her voice mail. I tried again and again until Draven told me to just give her time. They had been assured enough that she wouldn’t be telling anyone what she knew and her exact words were,

“Uh duh, as if I want to live out my days known as a Wacker Jack, never find a boyfriend, get laid and then have no choice but to be the town’s crazy cat lady…no, no, I think we’re good.” Later, Draven explained that he didn’t know why, nor did he trust the fates but they obviously knew of the reason that RJ couldn’t be controlled into believing it had all been a dream. Therefore Draven knew better than most not to meddle in these things so had little choice than to have his men watch her from afar just to be safe. I agreed to this, reluctantly but when Draven said it was more for her protection there was little I could argue against.

“So you’re definitely getting married that soon then because that mad friend of yours assured me that I would receive the invite soon in the post as she was helping you plan it.” This made me laugh as Pip had threatened the same thing to me before we left the Hotel. I also found out that she and Adam would be staying at the mansion as Pip didn’t want to miss a thing, including the Hen Do.

The word ‘Hen do’ and it coming from Pip’s mouth made me shiver as I dreaded to think what it would be like and had to remind her there would be mortals present.

Her reply made me cringe,

“No biggy, we will just cross off the warehouse nightclub that big bear bugger Leivic runs.”

“It looks like it.” I said to Libby and then continued filling up the last bits in the cram packed suitcase.

“Hey, do you remember this?” Libby said finding my old Halloween costume, the one I wore to Afterlife for the battle of the bands.

“Yeah I do.”

“No wonder that man snatched you up, especially after seeing how hot you looked in this! Ha, I remember now, you went with Jack didn’t you?” I groaned making her laugh.

“That poor guy didn’t stand a chance against Draven, bless him. He was nice, is he dating yet?” Her question went unanswered as thoughts and memories assaulted me. A story of how he fell in love with a girl who suddenly disappeared. Then it hit me. A strange thought coming to me out of the blue…

Where had Celina gone?

There had been no mention of her and considering she was on Draven’s council I had not seen or heard about her since Draven came back. Actually thinking back the last time I remembered seeing her was at Draven’s Villa at Lake Como. I found this so odd that I got up off the floor, leaving my suitcase and told Libby,

“I just remembered something, I will be right back…”

“Look out!” Libby shouted as I backed into a side table and the box I had packed there came crashing down. It was one I had emptied from my desk so only had art supplies in it and a few note pads from college work.

“What’s that?” Libby asked as I looked down to one sketch pad that had opened up and pencil drawings littered the floor from where they had been stuffed in there.

“Oh, I remember these.” Libby said sadly, going back to a time when she knew I had issues growing up and started seeing things. I blushed and went to take them from her hands as she started to help me pick them up when something caught my eye. About four months ago I had started having nightmares of recurring demons I used to see. It wasn’t that many, and at a guess about one a month. But I would wake up calling out for Draven and wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, so picked up the habit of sketching what I saw again.

I hadn’t thought about it at the time I was doing it, as when I was in the zone I just kind of let my hands do the talking in the form of pictures. But now, in my hand it all started to make sense…