“That’s up to you,” I turned from him.
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“That’s the only answer I’m giving.”
I tried to get past him to leave the room, but he grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. He brought his hand up to the side of my face and looked at me for a moment, then moved his head forward as though to kiss me.
He wasn’t even an inch away from me when Lily burst through the door.
“Keira, something’s happening, quick!” She said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me downstairs.
She ran with me down the stairs and through the hall, straight to Jake who was standing in the front doorway. Tyler was right behind us.
“What is…?”
I didn’t need to finish my sentence – there in my front garden was the answer.
“What the hell!” Tyler said.
In front of us were hundreds of creatures, more than hundreds – thousands. All of them different shapes and sizes. When I looked up I couldn’t see the sky at all – winged creatures, some of them like small dragons, others like monkeys but with wings like bats, blocked out the view of the clouds above them. It was as though they themselves were the clouds. All of them were hovering around my house and the surrounding grounds. The noise from their wings sounded like very loud thunder.
The creatures in front of us looked like a demonic army. Some looked relatively human, standing line after line, in perfect formation surrounding the house. Each had some kind of weapon in its hand, some with swords or huge axes, others with maces that were easily half the size of me. They varied in size, from around three feet to easily over twice the height of me. Some of the others on the ground looked like monsters and stood there snarling, baring their large teeth. They looked ferocious, fearless, terrifying…
Three creatures made their way through the crowd. Two of them stopped a few feet in front of the army. The one in the middle came forward a little more, obviously the leader. These were different from all the others. The two either side had a human shape, but they were heavily armored so I couldn’t see their faces. The one at the front was smaller than them, without any armor. He stood there looking to either side of him. He wore a long black coat, open and swaying at the bottom in the light breeze; what looked like leather trousers, not too tight; a black top and big, black-leather and metal boots. He turned to look at me. That was when I noticed his eyes – they were glowing bright red.
“Keira, what do we do?” Lily asked in a shaky voice.
“Nothing.”
“What?” Jake whispered. “We can’t fight all these, Keira.”
“We don’t have to. They’re not here to fight us.”
“How do you know?” Tyler asked.
“Look at them – they haven’t moved in all this time. If they wanted to kill us we’d be dead by now,” I said.
I started to walk slowly towards the leader.
“No, Keira...” The three of them whispered.
“Keira, please,” Lily pleaded.
“It’s ok,” I told them.
I walked until I was only a few feet away from the leader. He was head and shoulders taller than me and was abnormally gorgeous. His skin was perfect and his long black hair fell around the side of his face. I looked up into his eyes and all the fear I had just moments ago left me. He seemed to bow his head to me slightly, before he looked at me once more, and then he and the whole hellish army faded away.
I stood there with my back to Lily and the others for a moment, staring out into the now visible sky.
“What the hell was that?” Jake said grabbing my arm tight.
“Ouch, you’re hurting me. Let go!” I said, trying to get my arm free.
“No, what was that? Who were they?”
“I don’t know,” I cried, still trying to free my arm.
“Get off her!” Tyler thundered, pushing him away from me. “Don’t hurt her!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to grip you so tight. Forgive me, I’m sorry,” he said as he walked over and hugged me. “I’m really sorry, Keira.”
“It’s ok,” I told him, ending the hug. “I don’t know who they are, or what they were doing here.”
“We need to tell the others,” Jake pulled out his phone. “We need to warn them.”
“I don’t think they need to worry about them – I don’t think they meant us harm.”
“Maybe they were sent to scare us,” Tyler said.
“Maybe,” I said, walking back in to the house, grinning to myself again. The others followed behind.
Jake got on the phone to Lucian and Danny. He put them on speakerphone so we could all talk to them.
“I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even on the TV,” Jake said, pacing up and down. “In a way it was breathtaking. I couldn’t take my eyes of them all. But I tell you, I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”
“We’ll keep our eyes open. If we see anything we’ll call you,” Lucian said.
“Keira, I can’t believe you were stupid enough to walk up to them,” Danny shouted through the phone.
“I couldn’t help it. Besides there’s no harm done,” I shouted back.
“Right, I don’t want arguing,” Lily shouted. “Just keep in touch. We’re hanging up now. See you tomorrow,” then she cut them off. “That solves that, doesn’t it?” She said, before walking out of the room.
Jake and Tyler sat down and stared at me, so I walked out of the room and went back into the cellar. I wanted to put all the information I’d found up to now together. I carried on looking for more details about Lilith and what the deal Elizabeth made with her was. But I found nothing. In the end I got so frustrated I had to go back up into the house.
When I went back upstairs I found Lily alone in the kitchen. Jake and Tyler had left. She said they didn’t want to disturb me and that they would speak to me tomorrow.
“I’m thinking of calling Sofia to see if she wants to come and look at the garden this weekend,” I said.
“Why not? She said you’d be curing boredom. I’m glad you said the weekend; it would be nice to meet her. Oh, don’t forget, I’m not here tomorrow. All the stock is being brought to the music store.”
“Oh brilliant.”
“I thought I’d told you.”
“Maybe you did; I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, sorry.”
“It’s ok. Jake will be with me obviously and I think Lucian is coming to help him with something. He did tell me what but I wasn’t really listening,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
‘So that means I’ve got Tyler and Danny to put up with then.”
“I don’t know. Tyler didn’t say he was coming around tomorrow. Normally he does.”
“Well, I’m calling his mom,” I told her before getting my phone.
When I called Sofia she sounded really pleased to hear from me and said that she would love to come around. I heard Tyler say hi to her when he walked in. When she told him who was on the phone, I heard him ask her to pass it over to him. I told her to come around any time she liked, and then she put Tyler on.
“Hey, Keira,” he said.
“Hey, your mom’s coming over this weekend; she wants to do my garden.”
“I know, she’s just walked off with a big smile on her face.”
“She won’t be smiling when she sees the state of it.”
“Oh I wouldn’t be too sure,” he told me. “Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t say bye; I thought you were busy.”
“Don’t worry about it. Are you coming around here tomorrow?”
“If you want me to I will. I haven’t got anything else planned. What are you doing now?”
“Not much. I got too annoyed in the cellar so I’ve given up for the night.”
“It’s only nine o’clock. Do you want to go for a drink somewhere?”
“Yeah, but I don’t like the thought of leaving Lily on her own.”
“Bring her with you.”
“She’s in her pajamas.”
“Ok fair enough. Well, call me if you change your mind.”
I put the phone down and turned around to see Lily glaring at me, one eyebrow raised.
“What?” I asked, giving her a funny look.
“Tyler obviously asked you out. Why are you making me the excuse not to go out with him?” She said, folding her arms.
“I was being serious actually. After everything that’s happened lately and all that before, I don’t like leaving you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll tell Jake to come back. He can bring his things with him and stay the night,” she smirked.
“Oh I see, so what you actually mean is, piss off, Keira, I want a night in with my boyfriend.”
“No…”
“Call him first. If he comes over I’ll go out.”
I waited until she called him. I don’t know why; I already knew he would jump at the chance to stay with her. So I called Tyler back.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi, do you still want to go out,” I asked.
“Yeah, Danny’s just rang. He and Lucian are at Heaven and Hell – it’s a rock club on the outskirts of the new town. Do you fancy meeting them with me?”
“Sounds good.”
“Right, well I’ve got to get changed, then I’ll order a taxi. I should be with you in about twenty minutes.”
I ran upstairs to get changed myself. Lily followed behind me.
“Finally I get to go to a rock club,” I told her. “I didn’t think they’d have something like that around here.”
“Poor Tyler,” she said with a grin.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you dressing like you did when we went out in West Chester?”
“Of course, that’s how I feel comfortable.”
“His tongue is going to hit the floor,” she laughed. “Did I hear him right – is Lucian there too?”
“He and Danny.”
“Ok, I’ll correct myself – Tyler and Lucian’s tongues will hit the floor.”
I didn’t have long to get ready so I got changed while she was talking to me. I decided to wear my tight leather pants, with my knee-high new rock boots that had metal skulls running up the sides of them and thick metal heals and grills on the front; two studded belts that I let hang on my hips instead of putting them through the belt loops on my pants; my low-cut strappy black top with a silver skull on the front and, of course, my thigh-length black leather coat. I decided to make an effort because I hadn’t been out like this for a while. So while Lily straightened out the few kinks I had in my hair, I put my make-up on. Not much, just black mascara and eyeliner with a bit of dark-grey eye shadow.
“How do I look?” I asked, giving her a twirl.
“Gorgeous, it’s nice to see you dressing like you used to again.”
“I’ve missed it. This is the real me. I think I might have to let loose again,” I laughed.
There was a knock at the door, so I grabbed my coat and my black coffin handbag and made my way downstairs. When I opened the door Tyler stood waiting for me. He was wearing his black jeans, with a black satin shirt, his black boots and a black leather biker jacket. He looked gorgeous.
“Wow!” He said, looking me up and down. “I don’t know what to say – wow!”
“Thanks,” I giggled. “You look very nice, too.”
“Told you he’d like it,” Lily said, stepping out on the porch.
“I more than like it,” Tyler told her.
“Right, I’ve got my phone in case you need me – ok?” I told her.
“Stop worrying and go and have a good night,’ she told me while hugging me. “Look, Jake’s here now anyway.”
When I turned round I saw his car pulling on to the driveway. He wound his window down and wolf-whistled at me. Then I got in the taxi with Tyler and we set off.
All the way to the club he was staring at me. I didn’t say anything to him; I just let him look. When we arrived he wouldn’t let me pay for the taxi, not even half. We walked across the road to the club. It was big and had a huge skull decoration hanging over the front door.
“Wow, I like that,” I grinned, looking up at it.
“I thought you would. Come on, let’s find them,” he said, taking my hand and leading me in.
We decided to find the guys first and then get our drinks. The club was perfect and everything I wanted it to be. The tables were in the shape of coffins; the walls painted black with hints of silver and purple. The floor was all black with a few silver lights fitted into it lighting the way to the bar, dance floor and toilets. All around the edge of the bar were bones, painted silver and varnished to reflect the light.
Tyler kept hold of my hand while we walked around the place looking for the guys. Finally we found them sat near the dance floor. When they saw us they waved us over.
“Hey,” Tyler said, “Do you want a drink?”
“No, were fine. Just sort yourselves out,” Lucian shouted to him.
“What do you want, Keira?”
“Erm, I’ll just have a bottle of something. I’m not fussy, just not cider,” I told him.
“Ok, back in a moment,” he said as he walked off to the bar.
“You look amazing,” Lucian told me. “You should dress like that more often.”
“Thank you, I’m going to.”
“You look like a model,” Danny said.
“Oh yeah right. Come on, move over,” I said, pushing him along the black velvet cushioned seats.
It wasn’t very busy in there, but Lucian said more and more people would come in as it got later. By midnight it would be full. Tyler came back with the drinks and sat facing me, next to Lucian. He seemed to smirk a little when he saw I hadn’t sat next to Lucian, but his face changed a few minutes later. Danny and Tyler were talking, something to do with someone who worked at Danny’s dad’s business. Lucian looked over to me, then looked to the dance floor and then back to me. I smiled, took a sip of my drink and got up just as he did.
There was only us two and eight others dancing, so we could see Tyler and Danny perfectly. Lucian came behind me, wrapping one of his arms halfway around my waist and we danced very close for a few minutes. Tyler didn’t look impressed. Whenever he was annoyed or slightly ticked off with something his jaw tightened. You can’t really see it when a lot of people do that, but when he did it, his whole face seemed to change, including his eyes – they seemed to go bigger for a moment and look rather menacing.
I saw Danny hit Tyler’s shoulder out of the corner of my eye, to snap him out of it, and I couldn’t help but giggle a little. When Lucian came from behind me I thought he would relax a little, stop watching us and talk to Danny again. Instead he drank the rest of his bottle, which was three-quarters of the way full, down in one gulp. Then he got his wallet out and Danny nodded just before he headed to the bar again.
“Danny’s on his own. Shall we go back to him for a bit,” I said to Lucian.
“Yeah sure, I’ll get you up again later,” he replied, grinning. “I’ll see you there in a minute.”
I went back to sit with Danny while Lucian went to the men’s room.
“Don’t leave me like that again,” Danny said to me as I sat next to him. “I don’t mind you dancing, but please don’t dance dirty like that with Lucian and leave me to deal with Tyler. I don’t like hitting him,” he said.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked
“One word – jealous,” he said quickly.
Tyler sat down facing me again. He slid Danny his drink and looked at me for a moment.
“Are you ok?” I asked him.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m fine. So do you like it in here then?”
“I love it.”
He seemed fine now, even when Lucian joined us again.
By eleven the place was busy, so Lucian and Danny decided it was best to stock up on drinks before we’d have to wait twenty minutes to get served. Oh
my god, they really did stock up too! I was so glad I wasn’t driving. The table was covered in bottles. By 1a.m. we were all drunk, not stupidly, but we were very giddy and rather loud. Nobody in there cared though, besides the music was so loud I’d be surprised if anyone actually heard us. I ended up dancing with all of them throughout the night, but Tyler saved himself for last and longest. At 2:30 a.m. the owners started throwing everyone out. We still had a lot of bottles left, so we smuggled them out under our coats.
There wasn’t a taxi in sight so we decided to cut across the fields and walk home. To make life easier, because my house was closest, we decided they’d all crash there. I was having a hard time crossing the field in my boots at some points, so I jumped on Danny’s back. He was the biggest of the three of them, so it was only fair. Bless him. He ended up giving me a piggyback most of the way back. The only time I was on my feet was when I was either play-fighting with Tyler, or dancing round parts of the fields with Lucian.
When we got back to the house we noticed the lights were still on. We were going to try to go inside quietly, but it didn’t happen. We all had the giggles and no matter how we tried we couldn’t be quiet. Luckily Jake and Lily were still up. They came into the hallway and started laughing at us. Then when they saw how many drinks we had left, they decided they wanted to join in. We all ended up very drunk and passed out in various rooms in the house.
Chapter 22
Eligos
I woke up at 10 a.m. in the chill-out room, sprawled out on one of the sofas. When I sat up I saw Lucian asleep on the one facing me. Then I remembered Lily and Jake had been drinking with us and they had to get to the store. I jumped up and went looking for them. When I walked in the kitchen I found a note – she had woken up, got Jake and gone. They’d left Lucian asleep and would be back around dinnertime. She also told me that Danny and Tyler were asleep in the little living room when she and Jake left. I made myself coffee and took it upstairs with me while I got showered and changed.
When I came back down the guys were still asleep and I didn’t have the heart to wake them, so I shut the doors on them and sat outside in the sun for a while. It was nice to have time to myself; I rarely got any these days. I wanted to sit there, close my eyes and clear my mind completely. But every time I closed them, I saw bright-red eyes and the face of the leader from last night. I wish I knew his name, why he had seemed to bow his head to me and why he had come. Only one thing was certain – I wasn’t afraid of him at all.