Bloodlines (25 page)

“Eligos,” I whispered. “Got you!”

I photocopied the page and was about to see if I could find out more information on him, when a lady came up to me and told me they were closing. I thanked her and left.

It was starting to get dark now, which upset me a little. It had been such a nice day and I had spent the whole of the afternoon stuck inside a library. Then I asked myself what was more important – finding out who the tall, gorgeous stranger was, or sitting out in the sun.

I was driving along tapping my steering wheel to the beat of my favorite song, minding my own business. I was only a mile or so away from my house when all my tires blew out and I nearly lost control of the car. I came to a sharp stop and got out. All the tires were shredded. I went to look around but something hit me and sent me flying over the hood. I landed on my right shoulder and heard a loud crunching sound. I couldn’t help but cry out in pain and hold it. I heard footsteps coming towards me and tried to get up, I couldn’t move my right arm and when I let go of it to use my left hand to support me, the pain was near unbearable.

I’d just managed to get on to my knees when I saw it. It had a relatively human shape but its face looked too large for its body. Its eyes were a rich green and its skin seemed to be torn and scaly in parts. I tried to get to my feet but it came at me quickly and I felt a searing pain in the side of my stomach. I looked up at the creature for a moment before a fiery blade tore through it, splitting it in two. Before its body hit the floor it disappeared. In its place stood Eligos, sword in hand. I looked down and saw a bronze dagger in my stomach. There was blood completely covering my jeans down my right thigh. I felt so weak. I tried to use my power to get the dagger out, but I didn’t have the strength. His fiery blade disappeared and Eligos gathered me in his arms and put me in the passenger seat of my car, before fixing the tires and driving us to my home.

I could feel myself getting weaker and colder every minute. When we pulled up the drive everyone came outside. Tyler was shouting, “Where the hell have you been? We were worried to death,” while Lily was shouting at me for not having my phone on. They soon went silent when they saw Eligos get out of the driver’s side. He ran around the car and pulled me out.

“Who the…?” Tyler began.

“Get out of my way!” Eligos told them all as he walked towards the house.

When they saw me limp in his arms and the blood on my clothes they panicked. Lucian ran and opened all the doors for us while Jake threw all the cushions off the sofa so Eligos could lie me down. When Lily saw the dagger in my stomach she burst into tears and dropped down beside me, taking hold of my hand.

“Keira!” She shouted. “Why aren’t you healing yourself?”

That’s when the guys saw the blade.

“She’s too weak. I need all of you to back off,” Eligos told them sternly.

“Who the hell are you?” Jake said, coming towards him.

“If you don’t back off she will die. Is that what you want?”

“No!” Tyler said, grabbing Jake and pulling him back. “Do what you need to do.”

I couldn’t see properly anymore. Everything was a blur.

“Can I stay close?” I heard Lily ask. “She’s my best friend; she’s like my sister.”

“Just stand back a little,” he told her.

“What are you going to do?” Danny asked him anxiously.

“My job,” he answered as his eyes turned red.

They glowed so bright that even I could make them out.

“What the hell!” Tyler said, looking into his eyes.

He turned away from them and raised his hand, and as he did so the dagger rose out of me, yet I felt no pain. He sent it flying across the room so hard it stuck in one of the walls. He put his hand over the stab wound and I felt a tingling sensation. Then it turned into the feeling you get when you have pins and needles. A moment later I felt the same sensation in my shoulder. My vision started to come back slowly and I saw him pull his hands away from me.

“Keira,” I heard Lily say. “Can you hear me?”

“…yes,” I croaked.

“Get her a drink,” I heard her say to one of the guys.

“Can you sit up?” Eligos asked me.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said, looking into his now sapphire-blue eyes.

“Come on.” He took my hands and pulled me slightly until I was sat back normally on the sofa. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, looking down at the blood on my jeans.

He stood up in front of me and Lily grabbed him and hugged him.

“Thank you,” she cried.

“You’re welcome,” he told her.

She let go of him and came next to me, wrapping her arms around me for a moment. Then the guys came over and thanked Eligos.

“Here, get this down you,” Danny passed me a cup of tea.

“Thanks,” I said, before sipping it. “What was that?”

“A demon, and quite a high-ranking one,” Eligos told me. “It takes a lot of power to summon something like that.”

“It was so fast.”

“And you weren’t on your guard. You must be ready for anything at any time!”

“How do you know so much? How did you know where I was, that I was in trouble?”

“It’s my job to, now,” he told me.

“Says who?” Tyler asked.

“Lilith.”

Everyone went silent.

“I had a feeling that would get your attention,” Eligos smirked. “Now, I must go.”

“Why?” I asked.

“You need to rest – you lost a lot of blood. We’ll meet again,” he said as he started to disappear.

“Thank you,” I shouted to him.

Then he was gone.

I tried to stand up but I went really dizzy and Danny had to catch me.

“You need to eat,” Lily told me. “It’s the best thing for you, and drink plenty; you need to get your body to replace the blood you lost.”

“I need to get showered,” I told her.

“Not yet,” Danny said, lowering me back down on the sofa.

“See how you feel once you’ve eaten something. One of us will take you upstairs and Lily can wait while you’re in the shower,” Lucian said, sitting next to me.

“I’ll go and get you some food. I cooked dinner but we were so worried about you that none of us have eaten it yet. I’ll go and warm everything up and bring it in to you,” Lily told me.

“Thanks, Lily.”

The guys sat around me.

“You scared us to death,” Tyler told me.

“When I saw you in his arms I thought you were dead,” Danny said.

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “I just let my guard down for a few minutes, that’s all.”

“Like that guy said you can’t at the moment – none of us can,” Jake said.

“Who is he?” Tyler asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied. “I think he’s the guy who was here with the army, the leader.”

“What?” they all said.

“I only said “Think”; I don’t know for sure.”

“He’s a demon,” Tyler shot.

“I don’t care what he is,” I told them. “If it wasn’t for him I’d be dead.”

“He said it was his job to know where you were,” Jake said. “That Lilith had given him that job. What did he mean?”

“I don’t know,” I lied again, staring at Tyler in the hope that he wouldn’t open his mouth. “I wish I did know.”

“Lilith!” Lucian pondered. “Isn’t she supposed to be the wife of the devil?”

“Yes,” Tyler confirmed, staring back at me.

“Well, she is my new favorite person,” Lily said, walking in with my dinner. “If it wasn’t for her, that guy wouldn’t have been there, and I’d have lost my best friend,” she choked, as her eyes welled up. “As for him, he should be an angel.”

I nodded in agreement and took my dinner from her. Everyone went to grab theirs and stayed in the living room with me.

None of them questioned me again, other than to ask what the thing that attacked me looked like. Once I’d let my food go down I let Lucian carry me upstairs into my room. Lily came with him and sat on my bed while I was in the shower. I looked at my stomach to see if the blade had left a mark, but there was nothing. I put a tank top and shorts on and pulled my dressing gown on over the top. When I picked my bloodstained jeans up, Eligos’s ring fell out of my pocket. I looked at it and smiled, knowing I could get him back here whenever I wanted. Even if it was only for five minutes, I had to see him again and it had to be soon.

“How you feeling?” Lily asked as I walked into the bedroom.

“Tired and a little light-headed.”

“Here give me those,” she said, taking my jeans off me. “No matter what, I don’t think this amount of blood will come out of them. I’ll throw them out.

“Thanks, Lily.”

“Are you coming back down?”

“No, I’m going to try and get some sleep. I only got about three hours last night and, after all this, I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

“Ok, well the guys will probably come and see you before they go. I’ll tell them not to wake you if you’re asleep.”

“Thanks,” I said, hugging her.

As soon as she walked out I got on my bed with my laptop. I went straight on to Google and looked up the name Eligos. What I found amazed me:

Eligos – also known as Abigor. Grand Duke of Hell. Appears as a handsome knight, carrying either a lance or sword.

I clicked on to another website, it said:

Eligos. Grand Duke of Hell and a demon of high degree. Possesses knowledge of all wars, past, present and future. Commands sixty legions of demons…

“Sixty legions!” I said to myself. “A legion of something is six thousand…that’s 360,000 demons!”

I looked back at the screen:

… a demon of the superior order, favored by lords. A fierce warrior demon.

I closed my laptop and lay back staring at my ceiling. So I have a warrior watching me. He commands an army of 360,000 demons. Lilith sent him, I thought to myself. Why, why now? Why hadn’t anyone come to see me before now, if my blood is your blood then I’ve had this since birth, so why wait until now?

I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, not with so many questions in my head. I stumbled across my room, still light-headed. One thing I needed to master was how to use my power to combat blood loss. I pulled a pair of loose jeans on and my boots, and grabbed the ring. I opened my door quietly and listened for a moment to make sure nobody was around.

I sneaked as quietly as I could down the hall and stairs, holding on to the walls and banister for support. I could see the others sitting in the living room. I grabbed my car keys and went out the back door. I walked around the house, occasionally stumbling into the walls, and got in my car. I knew I couldn’t start the engine; they would hear it. Instead I took the handbrake off and made the car roll down the path, constantly checking that the guys hadn’t seen or followed me. When I reached the end of the approach to the house I started the engine and shot off into the countryside.

I drove a mile out and stopped the car. I was about to call his name when he appeared in front of me. I dragged myself out of the car and leant against the door.

“You shouldn’t be out,” he said seriously.

“I don’t care.”

“What if you were attacked again? You couldn’t fight back properly in your state.”

“I’m fine.”

“Oh, really!” He mocked. “So move away from the car; it’s not a leaning post.”

“I’m fine here.”

“Hmm.”

“I know who you are,” I told him.

“I gathered that, but you could have waited until tomorrow to tell me.”

“No I couldn’t.”

“I admit I’m impressed. It didn’t take you long to figure it out. I thought it may have taken you a few days.”

“Maybe I’m not as thick as you think,” I shot.

“I don’t think that at all. Well, I do at the moment – look at you – but in general I don’t.”

“What exactly is your job here?”

“So that’s what you’ve dragged yourself out here to ask. See now I’m disappointed, you could have at least come out in that state just because you wanted to see me,” he smirked.

“How do you know that’s not another reason?”

“I don’t,” he said, walking towards me. He stopped a few inches in front of me and looked deep into my eyes. I swallowed hard. “My job is to assist you in what’s to come,” he told me. “Oh and protect you as best I can.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Hey, do you really think I wanted this job.”

“Then why accept it?” I asked.

“Because my queen asked me specifically. Out of all the dukes, demons, lords, she asked me to protect you.”

“Tell her I don’t need you.”

“Oh I’ll tell her, but she won’t change her mind. You’re her connection to this world, her creation, she looks at you as her daughter and she wants you protected. It’s strange; you look the double of her sometimes. Especially when you look pissed off; you both squint a little. That’s normally people’s cue to get away from you.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You haven’t met her yet, but you will one day.”

“Will I?” I asked wide-eyed.

“I promise you will,” he said in a rather kind voice. “Do your friends know you’re out?”

“No.”

“Oh dear, you’re going to be in trouble,” he laughed. “No car on the drive, not in your house; they’ve probably realized you’ve gone by now.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should get back to them.”

“Why now? Why has she sent you now?”

“Someone is pissed off. They’re on earth and they shouldn’t be. This someone is starting a war, and you and your friends are their next target.”

“So why doesn’t Lilith come and get whoever it is and take him back to hell.”

“Oh dear, you do have a lot to learn.”

“You know I’m sick of being told that,” I snapped, slamming my hand on the car. “Everyone says that, and they don’t teach me anything.”

“See, you looked like her then,” he told me.

“Fine, to hell with you…literally,” I got back in my car.

“Hang on,” he said; holding the door so I couldn’t close it. “Lilith cannot walk this earth long enough to take him or her out. She isn’t allowed to – it’s the rules. Just like the big man upstairs can’t stay on earth for long. The last time one of them broke the rules it caused a war.”

“So why can you come here?”

“I’m not the big man or woman; they are the ones who are bound by the rules. Anyone or anything else can come to the earth. They can influence people, corrupt, fill them with love, fear, hope. But if they try to act directly…well, it gets ugly. Listen, I know this is confusing for you, but if I tell you everything all at once it will overload you. You need to learn a lot of this as you go along.”