Afterlife (Afterlife Saga) (47 page)

“Aww Lib's that's great news, God mum is going to freak out.” She shot me a look and I quickly said, “Don't worry my lips are sealed as long as you promise me I can be here when you ring her.”

We sat and chatted about baby stuff until Frank walked in and I realised that I would be late for work if I didn't get a move on. I ran upstairs grabbing my stuff and ran out to my car. I turned up five minutes late but because I was still wearing the stuff I had on for college, it made me even later as I had to change in the back room before I could start.

“I'm sorry I'm late Karmun!” I said as I whizzed past him taking my first tray to my tables. When I came back for my next one he stopped me.

“Umm sorry honey but Mr Draven wants to see you.” My heart dropped. This had been the last thing I was expecting. I couldn't help but ask,

“What about?”

“I don't know but he wants you to go over to his table now.” He said it as if he hated being the one to tell me this. Once again I felt like running. I had never been over to his table before and it was somewhere I never wanted to go. Not only did I have Draven to face but now I had to face a whole table of unfriendly faces! Sophia was the only one I wasn't scared of but against six others I didn't think it was going to make much of a difference. So I placed down my tray and took a deep breath, feeling as if I was about to be thrown to the lions.

It was like walking towards the electric chair, I couldn't stop from shaking and I could feel my pulse pumping under my scars at what I was about to do. I could see them all as I got closer and their faces became clearer. But my eyes focused on the man that had requested my presence at his table. I decided that I wasn't going to speak. I would just nod. This was because I don't think I could have found the words even if I tried. I walked up the steps to the same level of his table and was stopped by the biggest guy I had ever seen. It was one of Draven's bodyguards, but this guy looked like he ate other bodyguards for breakfast.

It was the same guy that I had seen that night when Draven first arrived. His face was scarred and full of potholes, his eyes were small and dark but rimmed with red. His hands looked as though they could have crushed the head of a cow and he reminded me of a Viking warrior. He stood in my way with his arms folded, which looked like hard work considering how big they were.

“Ragnar let her through
” Draven's voice ordered. I shuddered as I walked past
him.

Once I was next to the table I froze. It was like being in front of a king and his court. His sister looked up and smiled which gave me a bit of courage but not enough to get me to move or speak. I looked at the other two whom I had never seen fully but I didn't hold my eyes to them long as everyone was staring at me as though I was their next meal. It was like being in a confined space with every type of deadly creature and they were all thinking the same thing... Snack time!

“Why were you late?” Draven said without looking at me and the others raised their eyebrows at the sound of his
harsh
words. I still couldn't find my voice and Sophia was about to say something to her brother but he held up his hand to stop her. She gave up and turned back around to face the front.

“
So.
..let’s have it.” He snapped
with no emotion and my heart sank at his coldness. The anger I felt from this replaced a bit of my fear so I said,

“It's personal.” Which wasn't a lie but my shaky voice made it sound like one. I bit down on my lip and tasted the blood as it cracked inside.

“Right, well in that case you
will
work
t
omorrow night to make up for it!
” Sophia looked up at me, eyes full of sorrow but my face must have got the message across that I wasn't happy because she quickly looked away. The way he had emphasised the word “Will” was a clear indication there was no getting out of it.

“Fine!”
I said through gritted teeth and the man next to Sophia shot me a disapproving look. He was very serious and the huge scar that went down one cheek wasn't the only thing that added to his frightening face. All of one side of his face was covered in a strange series of tattoos that snaked around the scar, which ran the full length of his face. The black ink passed through the scar but the ink disappeared when it reached the damaged tissue. It made it look as if there were pieces missing from the design.

Apart from this, he had a very serious handsome face with long platinum blonde wavy hair that fell down under the black hood he wore over his head. He was snow white and scary. He was also the first albino man I had ever seen. So when I received this look I couldn’t help but find my feet with my eyes. Draven shot him a glare and his eyes looked elsewhere. Then Draven spoke again.

“That will be all.” And then he picked up a shot glass shaped like a claw that had been defying gravity by staying up on a single point. He shot it back and placed it back on a tray that Layla was holding out to him. Again the claw stood up, floating as she took it away. Ragnar the giant motioned for me to leave and I did gladly, without looking back!

The rest of the night I worked in a red mist of anger. I couldn't believe that ten minutes of being late warranted that!  Stupid rich pompous ass! Who the hell did he think he was? I just didn't get him. One minute he was acting like the most amazing guy and the next he was some scary bad ass godfather type. I finished my shift and changed back into my normal clothes, as if to make some point when I walked past his table to go home. Ok, so I didn't know what type of point I was trying to make but his eyes followed me all the same.

When I got downstairs I was met by Jack and the rest of the gang. RJ had
wanted to catch this band playing that was called “The Dizzy Bandits” who were a mix of punk and rock.

“Hey what's wrong with you, you look tense?” Jack said as he joined me at the bar. I looked back at the VIP area and glared in the direction I knew he was because from there I now knew you could see everything down here.

“Yeah, well I'm pissed off!” I said as I ordered a coke from Mike and then changed my mind saying “Ah hell, give me a shot of tequila.”

“Whoa aren't you driving?”

“Yeah, but one won’t hurt and trust me I need it!” I said downing it in one without the lemon or salt.

“Wow you're hard core baby!” He said giving my chin an affectionate little squeeze. Then I don't know why but I did something so out of character that I shocked myself as I went on my tiptoes and kissed Jack on the cheek, not being able to help the look up towards Draven as I did this.

“Well the band might be Crap but it was definitely worth coming tonight but I have to ask, what was that for?” He said with the biggest smile on his face.

“For being sweet and cheering me up.” I said as I ordered a more sensible coke.

“So come on, what happened… leader of the vamp pack been throwing his weight around?” He said as we walked back to the others.

“Something like that yeah! But hey I'm really sorry I'm going to have to cancel our date.”

“What, Grrr that sucks! But it's nice to see you all worked up about it. What can I say, I bring out the fighting spirit in every girl, ha.” He laughed leaving me feeling guilty. I excused myself and went to the ladies to compose my thoughts. Of course it didn't help that I felt like I was being watched everywhere I went.

I looked in the mirror back at my reflection and didn't like what I saw there. I shouldn't have used Jack to get to Draven. I mean why would it even affect him anyway, he had made it perfectly clear on his feelings about me and if not by treating me like a leper for the past couple of weeks then most certainly tonight's humiliating torture. It had felt like 40 lashes to my heart and I hated that I still felt the same for him. I was like a magnet for the worst type of men, they would dig their claws in and I couldn't escape their clutches. Only with Draven, he would suck me in again and again and then spit me back out whenever it suited him.

I splashed some cold water on my face and rubbed the back of my neck with my hands. What a fool I was. Here was Jack who thought that I was angry because I couldn't go on a date with him and secretly I had been relieved. There was nowhere I would rather be than at the club. The reason I was so angry was the way he had spoken to me. His coldness! His contempt! He was insufferable!

I stayed later than I had expected to but I knew that if I had gone early I would have just spent the time in my room stewing over “Lord Draven”! When the band finished and RJ had flirted with every member including the sound technician, we said our goodbyes and I walked to my car.

It was one of the only ones left in the car park and it made it look dark and eerie. I fumbled with the keys in my bag trying to get into the safety of my ‘tank’. I found them but only to drop them on the wet ground, which I could barely see. I bent down
feeling around for them as they had gone a bit under the trim of my truck. I felt the cold metal and grasped my fingers round them. I bent back up and tried the lock but when I looked through my window I noticed I wasn't alone.

Staring straight back at me was the bird perched on the top of the next car. Its eyes were glowing purple and it spread its wings as though ready for flight. It made a high-pitched screech and put its head down making its razor sharp beak shine in the moonlight. I screamed at the noise, dropping my keys again. Damn it! I bent down again quickly and whipped them from the gravel floor as they had fallen by my foot. I came up like shot and rammed the keys in the lock. I looked to check the bird hadn't moved closer but it had gone. I didn't wait for it to reappear, jumping in the car, locking the
doors and starting the ignition
I drove out of there like a bat out of hell!

When I got home all the lights were off and I knew Frank and Libby would be in bed. I sat in my car for a while, feeling still too freaked to move. The bird was the one thing I knew wasn't in my head because Jack had seen it too. I sat there tapping my hand on the dash trying to pluck up the courage to walk the short distance to the front door. I mean it was only a bird, what was I so frightened about?

Ok, so it was the scariest, biggest most demonic looking bird on the planet and it looked like it could rip out my jugular with one swipe but hey apart from that! I counted to three and bolted out of the door not even bothering to lock it. I ran to the door with my key already in hand and shoved it in the keyhole. I pushed open the door and slammed it shut forgetting about Frank and Libby in bed. I listened but there wasn't a sound so I gathered they hadn't heard.

I just wanted this night to end, as it had been one thing after another. I walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured myself a drink of whisky, then I went into the kitchen to get some ice from the dispenser. I just needed a drink to calm my nerves and seeing as I hadn't yet made an appointment to see a therapist it was the next best thing to sleeping pills.

I took my drink upstairs and the first thing I did was close the blind above my window seat. Knowing that the bird was out there somewhere and seemed to have a tendency to keep finding me, I thought it best to hide. I knew I would never sleep right away so I took myself and my glass over to my desk and pulled out the drawing pad that I kept my secret demons in. I tore out a page and began to sketch.

I woke the next morning to find Draven's face staring back at me. I didn't remember at first that I had sketched a picture of him so I was shocked to see the perfect features that I had burned to the memory slot of my brain. It was his deep set eyes, his strong jaw line, even down to his stubble and his shoulder length hair styled back off his face. I had captured every bit of him as though I had copied a photograph. Just looking at it gave me
Goosebumps
and I quickly put it away in my drawer, hiding his cold glare. I had drawn him the way he looked last night and the memory made me close my eyes and push it back into the far corners of my mind, next to the other bad stuff I stored there.

I got to college early, as RJ wasn't in today due to a hangover she called “study time.” I went to the Library to kill time and to get out a few books on American History, as it was the one subject I was going to be in the dark about. Of course when it was the time for British history then I would be back in the game but for now,
seeing as pretty much everyone in the class except me was taught it in school, I was going to need to learn it all from scratch.  By the time I found the section I only had time to grab one book and run to my first class.

While I was in History class Sophia had apologised for her brother's “Bad mood” and asked me if everything was all right at home? I
explained that it was all fine,
not wanting to disclose any details. I thanked her for her concern and lied about being fine with what happened last night.