Bloodlines (24 page)

“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.

“Morning, Keira,” I heard Danny say as he came and sat by me. “Oh god, I’m never drinking again.”

“Hangover?” I asked.

“That’s an understatement,” he said, lying back on the grass. “Haven’t you got one?”

“I never get them. I wake up fine, a little tired, but other than that it doesn’t bother me.”

“I hate you.”

“Do you want me to make you something to eat?”

“Argh, please don’t mention food.”

“Ok,” I laughed. “How about a coffee?”

“Please, if you don’t mind.”

“Back in a moment.”

I walked in and made us both coffee and checked on Tyler and Lucian. Both of them were still out for the count.

“Here you are,” I said, passing him the drink.

“You’re an angel.”

“Hardly.”

“What’s up?” He asked.

“Nothing, I was just staring into space and clearing my head,” I lied. “It was nice to have nothing to think about for a little while.”

“Yeah I bet.”

He lay back on the grass, occasionally dragging himself up to take a sip of his coffee. Within half an hour Tyler and Lucian were awake and came out to sit with us. Both of them looked rather rough. Once they had all gotten coffee down them they headed home to get showered and changed. Each of them asked if I wanted to go back with them so I wasn’t on my own, but that’s what I wanted. Time to think and my own space. After convincing them I would be ok they got in a taxi. Finally I was alone.

I went down into the cellar again; I wanted to see if Elizabeth had written anything about an army appearing. If so maybe she could tell me who the leader was. I still couldn’t get his face out of my head. I knew I would see him again, I could feel it, but I didn’t know when and that’s what was annoying me. I couldn’t tell the guys it would cause too much trouble and I would be questioned to death. In the end they would understand why I kept things to myself, when they could go home safe and not have to worry about being attacked any more.

I went through pile after pile of papers, until I had skimmed over everything, but found nothing. I didn’t find any more mentioning Lilith either. I didn’t know where to look next. If I went on the internet I’d find myths and legends about Lilith, but where would I start with the guy from last night? If I put in the words ‘army of hell’ it would bring up thousands of stories – how would I know which ones to believe?

I went back upstairs and sat on the steps of the front porch with another cup of coffee. I had so many unanswered questions and they were driving me insane.

“So many questions,” I heard an unfamiliar male voice say.

When I turned around nobody was there.

“Hello,” I shouted as I got up and looked around the sides of the house, but there was no reply.

I thought I’d imagined it until I turned to face the porch again. He was sitting on the step close to where I had just been, looking out towards the gardens. I froze on the spot.

“Who are you?” I asked warily.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said.

“I’m not.”

“Then why don’t you come and sit down?” He quizzed, still staring ahead of him. “Or would you prefer to stand there like a statue?”

I slowly made my way to the steps and sat across from him. Finally he turned to look at me. I nearly choked on the air. He took my breath away – he was even more beautiful in the daylight. His eyes weren’t the bright red they had been last night. Instead they were an intense dark blue, like deep-blue sapphires. His skin was pale and without a single blemish. His perfect black hair was shorter than it had looked in the dark – it went to just below his chin, parts of it spiking outwards a little, with half a fringe, quite long, falling lightly over his left eye and cheek. He looked young too, only a little older than me, dressed in dark-blue jeans, a black shirt and black-leather steel-toecap boots.

“Who are you?” I eventually asked again.

“A friend,” he said before turning away from me.

“Why were you here last night?”

“Hmm, inquisitive, aren’t we?”

“If you haven’t come to tell me anything, then why are you here?”

“I wanted to meet you.”

“Why?”

“Questions, questions and more questions. Can you actually hold a conversation with someone without asking them questions?” He asked sarcastically.

“I can if I actually want to speak to the person,” I replied coldly.

“Well, all you had to do was tell me to leave,” he said, standing up.

“Wait!”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk.”

“At least tell me your name,” I said.

“Ha, I’ve got a better idea,” he grinned, taking off a silver ring. “You tell me,” he dropped the ring into my hand and walked down the steps. “When you find the answers you’re looking for, call my name,” he said, turning to face me. “And don’t lose that ring; I want it back.”

He smirked at me for a moment before fading away in front of me. It was as though he had dissolved into thin air. I stood up and walked into the house with the ring. I sat at the kitchen counter studying it for a moment. It was big and heavy, with a circular display. Carved into the silver was a picture or symbol of some sort. It looked like a rectangular box, only the lid was an arrow pointing east. Spiraling along the arrow was what seemed to be the carving of a snake, and, at the bottom of the box, five circles put together to form a ‘plus’ symbol. There were no words or numbers anywhere, just the carving.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I said out loud, as though he could hear me.

Then it dawned on me. He was a demon, and what do almost all demons have? – a seal. I put the ring in my pocket and grabbed my car keys.

I drove to the library in the new part of town. It was enormous and had a section on the supernatural. I turned my phone off out of respect for the people studying in there, and, besides that, I didn’t want to be disturbed. I looked along the shelves gathering as many books as I could carry relating to demons and fallen angels.

I got myself a cup of water and sat at one of the desks towards the back of the room. I looked through the books one by one. I found seals for all kinds of demons, but none of them were even similar to the one on the ring. I went back to the bookshelves and looked for more. I found one that looked really old. The pages were tarnished and the cover was in really bad condition. It was so badly damaged that I couldn’t make out the title of it. I sat down again and skimmed through it. In the middle of the book, spread over several pages, were more seals. There were so many of them that in the end my eyesight started to blur and I had to take a break for a few minutes. I looked at the clock and was shocked to see that it was now 5:15 p.m. it felt like I’d been in there an hour at the most, not over three.

I got another cup of water then carried on looking through the old book. After examining a few more pages I found it. I grabbed the ring quickly and put it next to the illustration. It was an exact match. I looked underneath the drawing and found his name.