Revelations (Bloodline Series) (20 page)

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I
didn’t return until just after 3 A.M., earth time. Eligos was with Vetis having
a shot of whiskey in the game room; everyone else was asleep. They told me that
nobody had come out of their rooms and eventually must have cried themselves to
sleep. I was tired myself now and decided to call it a night.

The
following morning I didn’t wake up until 11:30. Eligos sat at the side of the
bed watching me.

“Keira,
there’s a real bad atmosphere in here today. Nobody’s talking, and when I said
I was coming to wake you up, the guys...well, there’s no easy way to put it.
They looked disgusted when I said your name.”

“Oh.”

“Give
them some time to come to terms with everything…you’ll all be okay.”

I
nodded and got out of bed. He waited with me until I was washed and dressed then
accompanied me downstairs and into the living room. Tyler, Jake, and Lucian all
sat there. As soon as I walked in, they glared at me.

“Are
you okay?” I finally managed to ask.

“We
watched you all kill our parents last night; do you really think we’re okay?”
Lucian shot.

“They
weren’t—”

“Just
leave us alone…we don’t want to be near you.”

“Hmm.
So you’re going to let them win then? You’re gonna let them drive a wedge
between us?”

“This
is nothing to do with them, this is to do with
you
,” Jake snapped. “You
did it right in front of us! We begged you not to. You of all people should
have listened! You should have stopped the others!”

“She
was saving your asses, AGAIN!” Eligos raged. “You knew what she,
we
, had
to do. If you didn’t want to watch you could have gone inside. Instead, you all
chose to stand there….that was
your
decision. They were sent to kill you,
not mollycoddle you.”

“Piss
off…nobody asked for your input,” Tyler snapped at him.

“If
you talk to me like that again, I swear to God I will send you straight to Hell,
and we both know how much they would welcome
you
there.”

Tyler
didn’t respond. He knew Lilith would love to get her hands on him after what he’d
done to Eligos.

“How
do you expect us to be with you, Keira?” Jake asked, softer in tone than the
others.

“Do
you think it was easy for me? You were there…you saw them attacking me; I
couldn’t even fight back at first. Should I have just let them kill me? Would
that have been better?” I almost cried.

“Just
stay away from us,” Lucian warned.

“Or
what?”

None
of them answered me. Eligos was getting more and more annoyed by the second,
and I was worried that if he didn’t get away from them soon, he may cause them
some serious damage. I grabbed his hand and stormed out of the room.

Lily
was in the hallway with Olivia; both of them had heard the goings on. Lily
looked sad but never spoke to me. Danny came out of the kitchen, and asked how
I was and if I’d managed to sleep. He wasn’t angry with me at all…he knew how
hard it had been for me. He didn’t hold anything against me.

He
and Eligos had to go to Hell; they needed to spend some time with the army
members, and Eligos wanted to introduce him to Buer, the other duke who’d said
he would be here to help us when needed. I was kinda glad Eligos was going—it
meant I didn’t have to worry about him attacking the guys if they spoke out of
line again. Then again, I had no intention of sticking around much myself
today. They both left, and I decided to go into town for coffee and something
to eat. I found Elizabeth and told her I was going out, and that if they needed
me just to shout or get Marley to use her gift.

I
went into the closest little town to find a cafe, since I could no longer go to
my regular ones. The place was nice, but I didn’t feel as comfortable there as
I had in the ones in Salem. Still, I ordered my coffee and food and sat next to
the window. It felt strange not being in familiar surroundings, but that was
something I’d have to get used to.

“You
do not look impressed,” a now familiar voice said.

“What
do you want?”

“I
know you hate me Keira,” Ballantine sighed as he sat opposite me. “I wish I
could prove to you that I had nothing to do with what happened.”

“They’re
your
followers.”

“I
promised you nobody would attack your friends, or you. I also promised I would
keep Salem safe. I don’t break my promise’s Keira.”

“Whatever;
now say what you have to say then leave me the hell alone. The only time I want
to see you after today is when I’m about to kick your ass,” I snapped.

“I’m
hoping we won’t be like that. I want us to be friends…I want us to work
together. I want to be able to trust you. Also if I’m honest, I need you.”

“Go
screw yourself!”

“I
know who arranged everything last night.”

“What?
Who?” I demanded to know.

“One
step at a time.”

“Tell
me!”

“No!”

“I
swear to God—!”

“Listen
to me! I will take care of this person myself—”

“No...damn
it, you give them to me!”

“And
what do I get?”

“The
pleasure of watching me kill someone who betrayed you,” I said, trying to
perform some reverse psychology.

“Hmm,”
he smirked. “Nice try, but I don’t think so. I’ll tell you what…I’ll swap you.
I’ll give the person to you, gladly, but then
you
come with
me.
”

“Never!”

“You
said you agreed with what I was doing, didn’t you?”

“So?”
I shrugged.

“So
why are you treating me like your enemy?”

“You—”

“You
could be with all your family...forever! Everyone could.”

“Except
you!”

“Yeah,
except me, but knowing that others wouldn’t have to feel the way I did, and
still do, would make me smile. To know I can stop peoples’ heartache, Keira,
that’s... that’s worth fighting for, worth the risks involved, worth losing my
life for. I’ve felt pain, my children felt pain, and despair. I don’t want
people to have to face those feelings anymore.”

“Spirits
can still come back and see people they love.”

“Yes
they can, but the people can’t see
them
. Plus, if, for example, a man
goes to Hell and his soul mate goes to Heaven, even if they both came to earth
afterwards they wouldn’t be able to see each other.”

“I
don’t understand,” I frowned.

“Heaven
and Hell don’t mix well, do they?” he laughed. “God didn’t want his people to
be around evil spirits.”

“But
they’re not all evil…
most
of them aren’t.”

“Exactly,
but that doesn’t change things. I can bring them together; I can make them see
each other.”

“Even
if this happened, war would rage between Heaven and Hell, and you would be
caught in the crossfire.”

“And
I would have the whole of the earth’s population on my side. That’s around six
billion, plus my followers now. Something tells me I wouldn’t have to worry too
much. Besides, I would offer myself.”

“What?”

“It’s
me they want. I would make a deal; they could have me if they left everyone
else alone. I’m the grand prize, after all.”

“You
would give them your life when you’d fought so hard for everything?”

“This
was never about
me
. It has always been about everyone else,” he sighed. “As
long as I knew I’d achieved what I set out to do, and that my people were happy
and would
remain
happy, never have to feel heartache again...I would
gladly give myself up.”

“Lucifer
told me that all your followers must be destroyed too.”

“And
how exactly are they going to do that?”

“I
don’t know. Your numbers are growing daily; we all know that, but there are
legions of demons ready to fight you, to bring
all
of you down.”

“Only
if we don’t bring
them
down first,” he smirked.

“They’d
need weapons for that…they’re just spirits.”

“Yes,
and believe me, we have plenty of those.”

“Keira,”
I heard Olivia say.

I
turned around to see her and Marshall standing a few feet behind me.

“Hey,”
I tried to smile; I was starting to feel rather uneasy.

“We
just wanted to get away for a while; we weren’t following you or anything.”

“I
understand.”

“Well,
I must dash Keira,” Ballantine said, standing. “I’m sure your friends will want
to join you.”

“But...yeah,
okay.”

“Aren’t
you going to introduce us?” Marshall asked me.

“Yeah
sorry…guys, this is—”

“Steve,”
Ballantine interrupted. “Nice to meet you both.”

“I’m
Olivia, and this is my brother Marshall.”

“Hello
there.”

“Don’t
leave on our account; please stay.”

“I
have to get to work now, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me,” he smiled to them
both. “Have a great day…and Keira, keep in touch.”

He
walked out of the cafe, and Olivia and Marshall sat with me.

“Where
do you know him from?” Marshall asked me.

“We
met in Salem a while back; we shared a table in a cafe,” I lied. “The news was
on, talking about the attacks, and we got to talking. He moves around a lot
with work. So we were just saying how lucky he was to have been away when Salem
was destroyed.”

“Jesus,
I bet he feels like he has an angel on his shoulder.”

“You
could say that,” I said, trying not to laugh. If only they knew.

I
didn’t really speak much after that, and they didn’t speak much anyway. I think
they noticed I wasn’t in a sociable mood, and thankfully in the end, they left
me to shop for some new clothes. They asked me if I wanted to go with them, but
I politely refused. I just wanted to be alone.

Chapter 23

I’m
In

Keira

I’d
spent most of the day alone; nobody bothered me after Olivia and Marshal left
me in the cafe. I’d gone home, but there was still a terrible atmosphere…nobody
spoke to me other than Elizabeth. She checked to see that I was okay and then
told me Hecate and Vetis had also returned to Hell, leaving her to keep an eye
on the guys while they were gone. She suggested that I should keep away from the
guys for a while and that they would come and talk to me once they’d gotten
their heads around things.

I
lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling, my mind completely blank. Eligos then
appeared next to me.

“Well,
I’m glad to be back here,” he sighed.

“What’s
happened?”

“Not
much, I was just bored. Lucifer was talking about the attack last night, and
then about what he wants us to do when Ballantine attacks full on.”

“Why
wasn’t I there to hear this?”

“To
be honest he kept changing his mind; before we left he said to forget
everything he’d said and that once he’s made his mind up properly he’ll call us
back.”

“Erm,
okay.”

“He
was just saying to make sure we all had soul destroying weapons that every
follower of Ballantine must die, or their souls returned to Hell so they can be
destroyed there and blah blah.”

“We
knew that anyway.”

“I
know; now do you understand why I was so bored?”

“Yeah,”
I giggled.

“How
are things here?”

“Just
the same.”

“It
will work itself out, don’t worry.”

He
went quiet for a moment then pulled me close to him. “Keira, I need to ask you
something, but you need to promise me you won’t get mad.”

“Okay.”

“You’ve
been acting differently lately. I know there’s a lot going on, but you seem...
secretive…and if I’m honest, I thought you were lying to me the other day when
you said you’d been to see Lucifer. So I kinda checked up on you.”

“Thanks,”
I said, rather cross.

“I
was just worried.”

“What
did you think I was doing?”

“I
don’t know.”

“Nice
to know I’m trusted!”

“I
do trust you; I was more worried about you being in some sort of trouble, or
about things getting you down too much.”

“If
I was in trouble I would have told you.”

“I’m
sorry Keira, I just worry about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you,
you know that.”

“It’s
okay,” I sighed, moving and snuggling into him. “I understand. I’d be the same
way.”