Revelations (Bloodline Series) (24 page)

I
turned to look at the others, all of them still unable to move. They looked
shocked, confused and heartbroken. Lily had tears streaming down her face, as
did Beth and Elizabeth. I slowly moved closer to them.

“Keira,
what are you doing?” Lucian asked, horrified.

“This
has
to be some sort of joke!” Tyler shouted. “You wouldn’t leave us.”

“Has
he cast a spell on her?” Beth asked.

“There
is no spell on her,” Hecate answered. “Keira, please don’t do this. I don’t
understand how you can leave all your friends...Eligos...turn on your family.
How? Why?”

“I
don’t expect you to understand, any of you; I was brought up to follow my heart,
and that is what I am doing.”

“I
thought your heart was with me,” Eligos said, fighting to move again.

“Eligos,
you will
always
own my heart,” I told him, standing in front of him. “I
will always love you, no matter what happens.”

“If
that were true you wouldn’t be doing this.”

“It
is true, and—”

“If
you truly loved me even half as much as you claim to, you wouldn’t leave me
like this. If your friends meant anything to you at all you wouldn’t turn on
them. You wouldn’t join the son of a bitch who has been trying to kill
them...to kill
you
.”

“I’ve
tried to explain it to you; I’ve asked you to come with me. You decided against
it, so does that mean you don’t love
me
as much as
you
say you
do? Surely, as
you
said to me, if you loved me you would stay with me.”

“Do
not try and turn this on me, Keira. You know what you mean to me, but you also
know I
can’t
go with you. I am
not
a traitor.”

“If
I stay, I am a traitor to my own heart. I’m sorry; I love you all, I love you
so much, but I
have
to do this. Please...please forgive me.” I turned to
look at Lily; she was crying so hard now that she couldn’t talk. “Look after
them,” I told her.

I
kissed Eligos on his cheek and whispered that I loved him one more time. He
tried to grab me, but I moved away from him quickly. The look of hurt on his
face sent a hot pain through my chest and made me feel physically sick. I
backed away until I stood in front of Ballantine. All of them fought as hard as
they could, trying their best to move, to come after me, but Ballantine’s spell
held strong.

“Come
Keira,” Ballantine said. “The longer you stay here the harder it will be for
you, my dear.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and I watched as my friends
started to fade away.

I
closed my eyes, and tears ran down my cheeks. My heart was breaking, but I had
to do this. My friends, Eligos…they all had time to change their minds. Maybe
they would come with me in the end, although I doubted it very much. They would
end up hating and resenting me…that’s what hurt the most.

When
I opened my eyes again, I had no clue as to my whereabouts. Everything looked
strange but beautiful. I turned around, wiping the tears from my eyes to take
in the sights. The early evening sky was filled with bright stars, and I could
clearly see another planet about to block out the remaining hint of light from
the sun. This was something I thought could only be seen in sci-fi films, when
the characters would visit strange planets.

“Beautiful,
isn’t it?” Ballantine smiled.

“It’s
much more than that. Where are we?”

“We
are in the realm of Decorus.”

“Is
that Latin?”

“Yes;
in English, you could say ‘Graceful.’”

“Good
name.”

“Well,
this is where we will be staying for the next couple of days, so you will have
some time to marvel at its beauty.”

“Where
are we going in a couple of days?”

“We
move around; it keeps us from being detected.”

“Oh,
okay.”

“Come,
Keira, let us walk; we’re close to where we’re staying. I think you should eat,
and sleep…you’ve had a hard day,” he said, leading me towards a large stretch
of trees. “You’re doing the right thing. You know in your heart you have made
the right choice.”

“I
know, but in a way it still feels so wrong.”

“You
only feel that way because you had to leave your friends.”

“Ballantine,
I don’t want to have to fight them.”

“Why
don’t we talk about this later? Let me show you where we are staying and introduce
you to a few people you will be working with. I think you will like them…you
may even become friends.”

“Okay,”
I sighed.

“Keira,
it will get easier in time, I promise you. Have faith.”

“I
can’t at the moment.”

“I
understand. Come on.”

He
led me into the trees and onto a little dirt path. We walked in silence. I was
glad actually…I was too upset to try and have chit chat. After about ten
minutes we came to a large clearing, and Ballantine took my arm to stop me. He
held his hand out in front of him, and a large building started to become
visible. Its wooden walls stretched to easily over seven stories high. Its
width almost filled the clearing completely.

“People
cannot find that which they cannot see,” Ballantine smiled.

“So
this is how you have stayed hidden…invisible buildings?”

“Ha!
If only it was that simple. You have no idea how many spells have to be cast in
order for it to shelter us completely. It’s a lot of hard work and takes
several people to cast them all. But it’s worth it if it keeps us all safe.”

“The
building doesn’t exactly seem big enough to hide everyone who follows you,” I
remarked.

“We
don’t stay together. There are groups of us...well, we’re dotted around.”

He
seemed to stop himself from giving me too much information, almost as though he
didn’t trust me enough to tell me everything. I could understand in a way, but
I was also a bit annoyed. I’d just left everyone I cared about, loved, and he
still doubted me.

“Keira,
is there something wrong? You look deep in thought.”

“You
don’t trust me, do you?”

“How
can I trust you fully straight away? I would be crazy if I did.”

“Great!”

“Now
look, I appreciate you have left your friends, your family, but that—”

“And
now I’m hated, despised, known as a traitor. I had my ass pretty much kicked by
Lucifer, I had to leave the realm—”

“You
fought Lucifer?”

“It’s
not like I had a choice.”

“What
happened?”

I
briefly explained about being summoned to Hell, and Lucifer pulling me aside.

“How
did he know you were thinking of joining me?” he asked.

“He
said we had been seen together, overheard. He doubted the stories at first, but
then had to confirm them. When I told him they were true he went mad…naturally.”

“I
don’t know anyone who has fought Lucifer and lived to tell the tale.”

“I
got the hell out of there. He was strong, ridiculously strong; he could have
killed me easily. But I could do the one thing he couldn’t.”

“Which
is?”

“I
could leave Hell.”

He
laughed out loud. “I bet he didn’t expect you to do that.”

“I
don’t know. But there was no way I was staying there a minute longer.”

“I
had no idea the fight had taken place.”

“Well,
now you do.”

“Give
me some time; the longer you are with us the more I will begin to trust you.
You must prove to me that you are
truly
with me.”

“Haven’t
I done enough already?” I scolded.

“Keira,
calm down. I have a lot of respect for you, and part of me
does
trust
you already. Please, just...try to understand.”

I
didn’t respond and turned my attention back to the building. I could feel him
staring at me for a moment before he led me inside.

Chapter 30

Distraught

Danny’s
Story

As
soon as Keira and Ballantine disappeared we were released. The air was filled
with the sounds of crying and cursing. Tyler’s legs gave way, and I watched as
he dropped to his knees, his head now in his hands. Jake tried his best to
comfort and calm Lily, as Lucian did with Beth, but they were inconsolable. All
they could do was hold the girls as they cried in their arms. They were trying
to be strong, but neither of them could stop the tears from falling.

Hecate
ran over to Marley. She didn’t speak or even cry…she simply stood there with a
blank expression, staring at where Keira had been standing only moments ago.
Hecate wrapped her arms around her and tried to talk to her, but still she stared
as if she was in a trance like state. Hecate shook her, cupped her face, but
she remained unresponsive. Marley had felt a close connection to Keira, almost
as if Keira was part of her. She’d dreamed about her; Keira had rescued her and
taken her under her wing. She was so young and had already seen so much, felt
so much pain. I was worried that this event would actually break her.

Olivia
and her brothers looked awkward, standing there silently but watching everyone.
They hadn’t known Keira as long as the rest of us, so they hadn’t really had
time to form any kind of bond with her. They seemed more confused than
anything. I could understand that…I too was
very
confused. I couldn’t
quite take everything in properly.

Finally,
I turned my attention to Eligos. Elizabeth was beside him now. She tried to
take his hand, but he quickly pulled away from her. I walked over to them.
Elizabeth was in tears, but also clearly concerned about him.

“Eligos,”
I called as I approached. “Eligos, look at me.”

“Stay
away from me!”

“I’m
not going to pretend to know how you feel right now. I couldn’t possibly—”

“No,
you couldn’t.”

“I
know you must be hurting terribly, and I wish I could do something to help you.”

He
turned to face me; his eyes were blood red and his whole body seemed to be
trembling. “There is
nothing
you can do. My main reason for living just
turned her back on me…left me; chose a renegade murdering angel over me. Nobody
could imagine how I feel right now. I can’t be here.” As soon as he’d finished
his sentence, he disappeared.

“Somebody
should go after him,” Elizabeth cried.

“No,
leave him be…let him have some time to himself, to relieve some of his anger.
He wouldn’t speak to you
or
me if we followed. He’s going to fall apart.
The least we can do is give him some privacy. We’ll give him an hour or so,
then one of us will check up on him...if we can find him.”

She
nodded. “Danny...what are we going to do? I don’t understand any of this.”

“No,
none of us do.”

“Are
you okay?”

“I
don’t know. I don’t know how I feel; numb, I think.”

“I’m
sorry I—”

“We
should get everyone inside. Everyone is in shock; I think stiff drinks are in
order.”

Again
she nodded.

As
I turned to face the others I could see Hecate leading Marley towards the house,
with Lucian, Beth, and the three new guys close behind them. Jake looked over
at me; he tried to say something, but the words just wouldn’t come out. I
motioned to the house, and he led Lily inside. I was about to walk over to
Tyler when Vetis appeared in front of me.

“I’ve
just heard,” he said simply.

“Where
have you been?”

“I
only went into town. I wanted to clear my head. I wish I hadn’t bothered.”

“There’s
nothing you could have done.”

“Can
you handle this?”

“I
don’t have a choice.”

“Where
is Eligos?” he asked.

“He
just disappeared. I don’t know where he’s gone.”

“I’ll
find him.”

“I
don’t think....” He disappeared before I got to finish my sentence.

I
took a deep breath before approaching Tyler. I knelt down beside him for a few
minutes before speaking.

“You
need to come inside,” I told him.

“I...I
don’t think I can. I don’t know what to do, how to feel, what to say. How can
she...how?”

“I
don’t know…I
really
don’t know. I don’t understand any of this. It doesn’t
feel real.”

“This
has got to be some sort of joke, right? Or maybe even a test of some sort? I
mean, she despises Ballantine...doesn’t
she? She wants to kill him, to
end all this. She wouldn’t turn her back on us. She wouldn’t leave us to die.
And...and Eligos; she loves him! How could she leave him, knowing what it would
do to him? This
has
to be a trick of some sort...right?” he said,
looking at me with hopeful eyes.