"My Lord wants me to take you to the hanger where one of his jets is being fuelled." He said looking around the airport like he was scanning for enemies.
"But I thought it was only a minute ago he was sending a car for us?"
"It was, but now he has decided to change his plans." His usual husky voice had an uncertain edge to it that I needed to question.
"And you"re not happy?" It was an obvious question.
"No, I don"t like it because it is not like my Lord to be so unpredictable, but his word is law so I do not question it. We have to move," he said taking my suitcase in one hand and me in the other. That was the end to our conversation but I felt his tension flow through me like it was sticking to my skin in the form of a nervous sweat. I found myself being pulled along until Ragnar found what he was looking for. The next thing I knew I was being pulled into a taxi and sitting back while Ragnar took over the Driver"s mind. He sat back with a faded expression on his face like he was listening to bird calls in the distance. It almost made me want to shake him but I wouldn"t have dared. So I did all I could do...I sat there and worried.
I had no idea how we got there but the one lot of security we did encounter after a few words from the driver we pa.s.sed without trouble. Soon we were driving towards a big aircraft hanger where the doors were opening to allow for the sleek black jet rolling out. That"s when the brakes slammed on and thrust me forward hitting into the back of the front seat. I made a noise as the air had been knocked out of me, but before I had time to complain, Ragnar had released his hold over the driver and forced him into a deep sleep.
"Something"s wrong!" He said in the worst tone to hear from a former Viking King...that was panic!
"Why?" I was so scared to ask but I gripped onto his arm as I waited for an answer I was sure I didn"t want to know. He was staring at the Jet like he was waiting for it to blow up or something and when I jerked him for a response, he turned to stare at me so slowly I felt my skin p.r.i.c.k with fear.
"Draven"s jet is white" These were the last words I heard before all h.e.l.l broke loose.
I didn"t even have time to scream as the car suddenly filled with a blinding light like someone had just released a flash bomb inside. I couldn"t see a thing but when the car"s metal frame around us started to shake, I heard all the gla.s.s shattering outwards and landing in thousands of pieces on the tarmac like the falling snow had turned into icy shards.
Ragnar"s roar soon became a distant noise as an ear splitting, high pitched hum filled the small s.p.a.ce and made it near impossible to think of anything other than covering my ears and closing my eyes. It was only when I felt the cold air being inhaled did I realize that it was so I could carry on screaming through the fog of disaster. Then I felt myself being moved. First I heard the rest of the window crash as the door was being opened on my side and then hands were on me dragging me from the car. I still couldn"t see and my hearing was playing on and off as though someone was flipping a switch. The hands gripped onto my shoulders and yanked until my body slid out onto the tarmac, landing on my back with a painful thud. I was so scared, I was shaking but I was trying desperately to hold onto whatever shred of control I had left.
"KEIRA RUN!" I heard Ragnar"s thundering voice shouting through the craziness but for me there was no going anywhere. Once I had fallen, I was quickly pulled roughly to my feet and held on either side by towering men above me. My eyes were still in blur mode but I could just make out their shadows looming so close to me, holding on to me at the tops of my arms. I tried to squirm away but it became too painful when their fingertips started to dig into my flesh like they were pointed at the ends.
"Enough!" A man"s voice shouted without anger, it was more a controlled manner, almost business like. That"s when my sight cleared as though water had just been splashed in my eyes and my hearing was no longer consumed by the high pitched hum that was causing my head to hurt. Of course, although all my senses were back, it only brought a new level to our dire situation into perspective.
Ragnar was fighting off a large group of men all going at him from all angles. It also looked like he had grown twice his size and all the figures around him looked like they could barely touch him. Ragnar was unstoppable and my hopes rose at the sight of three men being flung backwards like bowling pins. Two behind him were approaching him with thick iron chains and I almost laughed at the idea of them holding this Viking beast. They sidestepped in sync and then ran for him at an incredible speed but for the size of my giant protector, he was as swift as a hawk and as nibble as a jungle cat. He spun on his heel and met them head on. He grabbed the chains before they hit him and he wrapped them around his trunk arms a few times to get a grip. He began to run backwards taking the two men with him. He then whipped the chains out to the sides and back causing the two men to collide with each other in the middle knocking themselves out with the force.
I almost started shouting in encouragement at the sight of him beating them down but when the ones who had hold of me started to drag me backwards, my shouts turned into ones of desperation instead. Ragnar stopped after grabbing one by the neck and breaking it with one distinct snap.
"LET THE GIRL GO OR DIE!" Ragnar roared in his Demon voice which sounded as though it could command h.e.l.l itself!
Meanwhile the voice of the man who shouted "Enough" was making himself known as he emerged from the black Jet. Ragnar took one look at me before seeing him coming down the plane"s steps...then his face crumpled in confusing defeat. I couldn"t understand, he was just one man, but one thing I was sure of, Ragnar knew this man.
Everyone froze as if G.o.d himself had just popped down to state his claim in this, but considering I didn"t know who he was, I was going to use this opportunity to run like h.e.l.l! I used my body weight to aid me and let my legs drop and then pushed back with all my strength. It wasn"t a lot but it was enough to take them off guard. They lost their grip on me and I made my legs power forward over to Ragnar thinking behind him would be my only hope at surviving this. The men behind me cursed as they ran towards me but I remained out of reach, and seeing what the other men had endured, they stopped before Ragnar was within reach to do the same to them. He saw me coming and growled out at the men behind as a warning, they didn"t need. He scooped me up with both arms and held me back like I was a frightened child, he needed to prevent from witnessing this.
"Ragnar, the Viking King. It has been a long time since I have seen you. And now it seems you have a charge to take care of. This is unfortunate, as now I will have to take her from you...unless you are willing to stand down." He was a tall thin man with silvery white hair and had a handsome face with sharp features. A long, straight nose and a point to his chin made his high cheekbones seem all the higher. He didn"t look like your typical bad guy, all dressed in a tailored beige suit and red tie...he even carried a briefcase for heaven"s sake! Was he here to kidnap me or make me a business deal in buying real-estate.
"Carrick! Doing errands for Vampires now...I would have thought that beneath you, soul collector!" Ragnar had let me slide down to the ground and he was holding me back with one arm and hiding the rest of me with his colossal frame. I could see his muscular back tensed and ready for another fight, although something told me this next one he wouldn"t find so easy. There was something in Ragnar"s voice that told me as much, like a respect he had to give this man and I knew he must be a big player in the Supernatural world.
At Ragnar"s words he c.o.c.ked his head to one side amused for a moment.
"It is not your concern why, but the will is. Hand the girl over to me and not only with I give you my word that she will not be harmed but you too will walk away with your life...Although I cannot vouch for your Master"s wrath on the matter, I hear he is quite fond of this little human." He seemed intrigued with me as I arched my head round to see him at my mention.
"She is the "Electus"" Ragnar said and if he hoped to shock him into submission he failed, all he got was one raised white eyebrow.
"Is she...ah well that explains the circ.u.mstances but unfortunately for you my friend it does not change them. I am neutral in this fighting prophecy but when commissioned I always fulfil my contract. The girl is still mine and I grow weary of discussing it with one of Dominic"s servants, so I ask only once more...hand her over or face the consequences!" He said this last part with a venomous bite but Ragnar stood his ground. He widened his stance and braced himself for what looked to be his death.
"Ragnar don"t," I whispered, placing my hand on his arm but he glared down at me and shook his head.
"I have sworn to protect her with my life and I am a man of my word!" He barked back making Carrick roll his eyes as though bored.
"Very well Viking, then let your life be the price you pay for your loyalty, I hope you die with dignity old soul for it will not be lacking in courage." He said these words like a prayer and they did hold respect which I found surprising, considering he was the one that was going to take this life.
I made the decision that if I was going to be any help to him, I was going to have to really see what was going on, so I did something I rarely do...I dropped my guard and let the other sight take hold. I closed my eyes tight for seconds until I was sure I had freed my gift, like letting loose the evil side of me. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was Ragnar in his Demon form, and being that this was the first time I had seen him this way I couldn"t stop my reaction. He knew instantly what I had done.
He turned to look at me and I also couldn"t help the frightened gasp that escaped. His face had no skin, just a fleshless bone skull with tiny holes pierced all over it, like he had been locked in one of those medieval iron maiden"s that shut a person into a standing coffin full of nails. His nose was just made of two elongated holes and his mouth was covered in was looked like metal cladding hammered in sections over his jaw line to hold it in place. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks as I looked into the hollow where his eyes had turned into a small white dot in the middle of a dark mist that was flowing freely from his body. It could only be described as his energy that was making his body pulsate with anger. I automatically stood back and saw two twisted horns brake through his clothes and curl up around his exposed skull like a helmet. They had combined at the front once they covered his face and met down at his chin to interlock like a bone beard. Now to look at him there was only twisted horn coming from either side of his exposed b.l.o.o.d.y spine to protect his entire head.
I kept taking steps back to give his growing body room as his pulsating had reached it height and he stood ready for the war against us. He was the size of a Transit van making me look like a toddler. Carrick"s men pulled together and were ready to hit Ragnar with his first wave but Carrick"s hand went up to stop them. Maybe the sight of Ragnar looking like a Demon tank was enough to make him change his mind. Then I received my answer.
The skies started to grow dark, like a storm was quickly taking hold and I felt an icy chill seep through every layer of my clothing. The clouds look angry with us all as they moved at such speeds, I could barely believe what my eyes were seeing. Clouds never moved like that, not even in a hurricane! Who was this man that could command the skies? There was only one man I knew with that kind of power...Draven!
"All in vain, Viking!" Carrick shouted shaking his head, causing me to really look at him for the first time. He was no longer a man but had now turned into death. That was the only way to describe him, he was Death! His suit had faded to the dark cloak that cut off at his chest. The hood raised, hiding his face under a black plastic looking material...or was it skin? It stretched across powerful, large shoulders and floated down stronger looking arms. This was different as the man before was tall and of a slim build but not now...no now he too was a warrior!
All of this was caught in a blink compared to what my eyes were now fixated on. His torso was only half muscle and flesh as it had been stripped away on most of his ribcage. There was left b.l.o.o.d.y ribs that encased a light glow behind, like his own energy source was being protected by bone. As I raked my sight further down I saw that his waist didn"t exist and only his dripping spine was holding him upright. The start of his pelvis was also on show but then his cloak returned and flowed as though alive around the rest of his body. Literally it looked as though a cloaked figure had had a section of his body removed and we were all looking at the result of only a remaining skeleton. If I thought Ragnar was frightening then this guy took first prize for that award!
The Soul collector, as Ragnar had called him, still had hold of his briefcase and this also had changed. Now he held a case that looked as though someone had filled it with blood, set the edges alight and dipped it in black tar. This was now being held back and made ready to throw. It flew through the air and landed in between the two Demons that were ready for the fight. But I was wrong, there was no epic fight about to take place but only an easy defeat. Ragnar didn"t have a chance and the way his body reacted told me this. He actually was moving backwards away from the open black case. At first I couldn"t see why, but once I stepped to the side I saw the black wave coming towards him like a black ocean coming crashing to the sh.o.r.e.
"Get back!" He ordered me in a Demonic voice that was so guttural it was all throat and no mouth! I stepped back again and again, not wanting to make any sudden movements, like sprinting into a run. As the wave got closer I saw it wasn"t mist, or water. It was no element of the earth coming to claim us. No, this was made of the black souls that hadn"t walked the earth for only Carrick knew how many years. They were scrabbling towards us like insects clawing their way across the s.p.a.ce. It was as though, after centuries of being trapped, they had forgotten how to walk, talk or what it was to be human. Twisted, broken bodies, barely made from anything but dust and fears, came closer to Ragnar. Black soulless eyes ringed with rather a crystal blue or a deadly blood red, shifted around, searching out their prey. Their long thin bodies were within arm"s reach when they sniffed the air surrounding Ragnar and then they suddenly began to change and shift into other forms.
I screamed in vain, as I realised what forms they had chosen to torture my guard and friend. It was his greatest fear... his only fear and now it was here to claim him like his past had come back to once again finish the job!
Every black soul had turned into twenty snakes each causing hundreds to go slithering up Ragnar"s body, infesting themselves over every inch of him. He threw his head back and roared to the sky in his pain before falling to his knees in defeat. He curled up after a few pointless attempts at getting free but soon the horrors of his past had him writhing around the ground in an unspeakable pain.
We had lost the fight.
I screamed over and over until I was out of breath. I ran over to him but as I got near, snakes lashed out at me in warning.
"STOP THIS!" I shouted towards Death himself. I couldn"t even tell if he could hear me or even see me so I decided to put an end to my sight. It had only helped in seeing something I had absolutely no control over. I closed my eyes and listened to the chaos around me trying to find some last shred of my world to focus on. Then I heard her. She was calling in the night, flying around in the storm trying to find us.
"AVA!" I screamed out her name and everything went back to normal when I heard her replying call over the wind. I looked at Ragnar who was now back to the Viking I knew, apart from still being on the ground groaning in pain. Carrick had returned into the man in the beige suit and I had run towards him to beg of Ragnar"s life.
"Please stop this! You don"t have to kill him...Please! I will come with you!" I said sobbing but still managing to find the words. Carrick c.o.c.ked his head to look at me with a strange expression.
"You wish to give your life to save a... A Demon?" He was shocked and I gathered that didn"t happen very often in his line of work.
"He"s my friend and I don"t want him to die!" I cried out again turning around to see him barely moving on the floor and a scream erupted at the thought that he might be dead. Meanwhile, Ava came into view, circling above us and she seemed to be mirroring my fears with her own cries.
"How strange...A human girl, friends with the Viking." He mused to himself while stroking the lower half of his face.
"Very well, a deal is set, come now and save your friend, if you so wish it." He replied and he held out his hand for me to take in his. I cringed at the thought but when I heard one last cry from Ragnar for me to run I placed my hand in his, knowing his fate was left with me. What choice did I have, I could not have him die, just to see me taken anyway. He grasped my shaky hand in his and gently pulled me back towards the plane.
"Come my dear, he will live...ah but wait." He stopped and let go of my hand to go over to his open briefcase.
"Our deal!" He said before uttering words I couldn"t hear. Then Ragnar"s body went still and relaxed somewhat, almost like he was sleeping peacefully. His suitcase closed of its accord and he leaned down to pick it up. He casually brushed the dirt off the leather and said, "A true workman looks after his tools," and smiled at me sending fear coursing down my back. He walked back over to me and picked up my hand without uttering another word to me. Some of the others had got into a white rusty van parked closer to the hanger and four others followed us into the plane.
The next minutes went by in a horror struck blur. I was placed in a comfy, white leather seat next to a window and Carrick sat down opposite. He was quickly given a gla.s.s of water by a stewardess as if this was standard procedure. He then nodded towards me and then to the gla.s.s on the tray the girl held out to me. I just looked away without answering. The window shade was up and I saw Ragnar still hadn"t moved from his secure, curled foetal position.
"He will be alright my dear, you saved his Demon soul through a selfless act. You should be happy at least about that." He said like a true business man that had just received news on high stocks. The plane had began to move ready to take off on the runway, and I realised right up until this point I had been counting of Draven to come and save me. Even now, when my hope was useless and at the end of its thread...I still was expecting him to save me.
"I am being kidnapped, I don"t really see the silver lining," I said bitterly making him laugh.
"But you saved another in doing so, this is a n.o.ble act and a rare one at that."
"Are you going to let me go because of it?" I asked devoid of all emotion but a deep fear I was hiding.
"No my dear but I will praise you all the same. I am afraid my contract is life binding. No, I am sorry but it is off to Lucius you go." At this I broke down! The mention of the very name I loathed struck in me like a dagger protruding from my heart. It wouldn"t let it pump my blood or beat my body into action, it had just stopped. I couldn"t breathe for the sobbing flood of raw emotion bubbling up and erupting from me. This was it!
This was my end.....
And Lucius" beginning.
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Read on for first chapter of Book 3.
The Triple G.o.ddess coming soon in 2013.
The Triple G.o.ddess.
Book 3.
Afterlife Saga.
Chapter 1.
Flight of Fears.
My new life was born in the sky high above the world, riding along waves of a calm atmosphere where clouds were the only sight seen and now...well, it only seemed fitting that my death would begin the same way. It was a flight that had taken me to Draven and now it was one taking me away.
It may seem a tad bit dramatic but when sat opposite death himself, it was hard to see any other outcome. I had been in the plane for hours now without any shining, heroic attempt of a rescue being made and my hopes for such had plummeted with all other ideas of surviving.
The silvery head of hair that kept catching the sun"s rays flashed in my peripheral vision and was becoming harder to ignore. Who would have thought that Death would have had kind and handsome features? He reminded me of some typical ageing businessman that had a big white house, complete with picket fence, golden Labrador and a loyal wife baking cookies in a country style kitchen. Someone that went fishing in a small boat on the lake at weekends with his son before coming home with the catch of the day to cook up on a grill for the family feast.
"As quaint and perfectly idyllic that picture portrays I do however hate boats and get quite seasick." My head whipped up to see the man himself staring at me with a soft expression and his head c.o.c.ked to one side as though studying me for more visions on what I believed would have suited this man more than that of the gruesome truth.
"How did you see that?" I asked, opening my mouth for the first time since the airstrip in Portland.
"Ah well, although it is clear my dear, that you possess a most extraordinary mind, it is quite easily accessible when such turmoil and despair enters one"s state of thought. I find you like an open book, only one I wouldn"t wish to read...no, no...far too depressing." He closed his eyes and shook his head as if to emphasise this point.
"Well, please excuse my manners, how terrible of me to be thinking things as depressing as my death and never seeing the man I love again when I should what?...be thinking of happy little unicorns racing over golden hills under rainbow covered blue skies...how inconsiderate of me." I said, laced in sarcasm. I am sure somewhere deep down I should be cowering in fear from my plane journey with Death, but for some reason I just couldn"t find the point, let alone the energy.
"Oh my dear, please do call me by my name, Death sounds so very dreary." At this my mouth actually fell open, cartoon style.
"My name is Carrick, young one and I don"t see where you get this notion of your end being so near?"
"Are you joking?" I almost found myself screaming or laughing hysterically, either one I think would have been acceptable conduct for such a conversation.
"Where I am taking you is not to your grave, but most likely your destiny." At this I snorted.
"I don"t think so, you"re taking me to Lucius, right?" He nodded at my question.
"Then you are escorting me to my end just like any other poor soul you encounter."
"And what makes you so sure?" I kept expecting Mr Death Carrick to keep losing his cool but for someone who was in charge of taking life, I was very surprised at how chilled out a guy he actually was.
"Well, it"s just that the last time I saw Lucius we didn"t exactly play checkers and sip iced tea." At this he laughed heartily, throwing his head back, making the sun dance in silver streaks, almost like a halo.
"Well, let me be the one to a.s.sure you, your life is not on my books and Lucius will need you quite alive for him to accomplish his plans."
"And that being?" I raised my hand and made little circles as if this might help to prompt him to elaborate.
"Oh no my young one, it is not for me to say but I will go as far as to promise you this, for if the G.o.ds will your safe return to their instrumental son Dominic Draven then no Vampire King and his growing army will prevent such actions from taking place."
"Then what on earth would he want with me? I mean, it"s not like he can defeat G.o.ds, then why even bother trying?" This conversation was draining my mental ability to stay calm. I mean here I was, just been ripped away from my life, with the only notion that my death is all that is left to follow, filling my every thought and the man in front of me tells me what?...that I"m not on his b.l.o.o.d.y books! Like life and death is just another number for an accountant to consider. I bet tax season was a riot for this guy.
"These are questions beyond my pay grade so to speak. But have no fear, if Lucius wanted you dead, he would have commissioned me to." I couldn"t believe at this, he actually smiled at me like this was a comforting thought. I shook my head at him in disbelief.
I took his silence for what it was, nothing more to be said on the matter but one thing was for sure, I was secretly s.h.i.tting myself for what was to come next. If there was one man in this world that scared me more than my past, psycho stalker Morgan, then that was the Vampire King, Lucius. Weeks of endless nightmares mixed with a very gruesome crescendo, which I foolishly allowed myself to think was the end of my torment, was to be a constant reminder of Draven"s arch nemesis.
However, every attempt to get to me had been crushed by Draven"s protective nature...that is, up until now. No, no, now I was on my way to become a puppet in the man"s attempts at getting back at my boyfriend. Oh, of course, it would have helped my situation if I had been forewarned what it was exactly that the two had been feuding over all these years. All I knew was Lucius wasn"t the King"s first name or life for that matter. He began his existence as one of Jesus" disciples and his name is what the common world knew as the meaning of betrayal.
Judas.
The very mention of this name can be used to hurt or dismiss the one that has wronged us in some way. History has taught us many valuable lessons in life but not all are to be believed in the ways in which they are written. As a huge history buff, I was used to relying on the evidence, but after being thrown into the supernatural world of the Dravens, I soon learnt that everything has its place in the world and its importance for those that rule our lives yet couldn"t be seen.
Judas played such a part, that of being the important role of wrongly accused, guilty in Jesus" death. Draven said it best once, in which the memory of a great man outlives that of a great man. Jesus asked one of his most faithful followers to help him accomplish his wishes and that of his Holy Father. Of course word of Judas" compliance and not his betrayal never found its way to the other disciples as it should have done. Nothing could have prevented what came next in the way of his most brutal death, but the renouncing of his faith by dying, sun cracked lips was what altered his afterlife by the hands of a very different G.o.d.
Bitterness carried into his next life for all things that were once his strength, his life and his worshipping faith, now lost in a hateful vengeance for the G.o.ds themselves for what he believed was his betrayal. In a way, I felt sorry for him, although difficult to believe, all things considered. He started his life a man like any other, only to let the all-consuming hate twist and grow with the power within him. After all, he and Draven were once friends and coexisted, often working together but now, well that was another matter entirely and one I knew very little about. For some reason, Draven not only neglected to tell me any details on these events but outright refused. So here I was now, with only Death for company under the name of Carrick, and a stomach that felt like it had been pumped full of lead.
Carrick kept noticing the way I would wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans but thankfully refrained from comment. I think if he would have told me not to worry again I would have pulled some hair out and thrown it at him in a full out hissy fit. He might think that no harm would come to me but he didn"t remember in detail the last nightmare Lucius bestowed on me and the everlasting mark of the most painful experience of my life. Think flesh melting from bone and molten lava replacing the blood in my veins and you will have some small concept of why such an event remains firmly embedded in the darkest corner of my brain. And that was only a dream! Now of course, I was to meet the man and to think of what h.e.l.l he could put me through, how much could my body endure and how far would he take his new instrument of revenge too? I wondered what the state of my body and my mind would be in if I was ever to make it back to the arms of my Dark Night.
A sh.e.l.l of myself, was all my thoughts could conjure.
"That is quite enough my dear." Carrick spoke bringing my mind back to the now.
"You will be a mere sh.e.l.l before I even get you to my employer if you carry on with this despair." I merely shrugged my shoulders and said, "I already am, without Draven."
"Ah young, dramatic love, or for Draven, a lifetime in waiting. How sad it is to have lost you now after only a short time." I couldn"t believe he actually looked sad for my situation. His eyes met ones of disbelief and then turned cold in a heartbeat.