Revelations (Bloodline Series) (33 page)

“Actually,
she’s just aided in the deaths of around four hundred thousand people,” Vetis
commented. “She’s not your friend anymore; she doesn’t care what happens to any
of you. That wave was meant to take out as many of you as possible. I’m sorry,
but she is your enemy now.”

“As
much as I hate to say it, he’s right,” Danny said. “Lucian, she almost killed
you too. She’s gone, and there is nothing we can do about it. We’re going to
have to fight her. There’s no reasoning with her.”

“I
can’t kill my best friend,” I cried.

“Lily,
she’s
isn’t
your friend anymore,” Jake told me. “A friend wouldn’t try
to drown you.”

“What
if she thought you could save us?” I said, looking at our demon friends. “What
if she thought you would teleport us all to safety? She could still care and
just be pretending—”

“Lily,
I’m sorry, but that was NOT the Keira we know!” Eligos snapped. “She’s gone!”

As
soon as he finished speaking he walked out of the room, slamming the door shut
behind him. I wanted to go after him to try and comfort him, but I couldn’t
move. I’d never felt so numb and empty.

Chapter 42

Conflicted

Keira

I
spent quite a while sitting in the tunnel, just looking out at the raging
landscape and skies. Guilt had definitely set in. Tears streamed down my face
as realization hit me. I didn’t know how any of the guys were or if they were
even alive. I’d hurt Eligos, and on top of that, I didn’t know how many people
had died in Cleveland. How many families had I helped to destroy? How many
others would this have an effect on? Everyone?

I
felt so conflicted. There was an argument going on inside me, a vicious one. My
heart and my head engaged in battle, neither one willing to relent. My heart
was telling me this was the right thing to do…allow everyone to be happy, to
never lose a loved one for eternity as Ballantine had. I would get to see my
dad and my granddad whenever I liked. But my head was telling me this was
wrong. Surely Ballantine wouldn’t be able to pull this off for everyone who had
ever lived and lost someone. Also, how would life continue? What would happen
to the children? Would they ever be able to grow up, or would they be stuck in
a child’s body forever, while their minds, their souls, aged?

If
I was going to stay with Ballantine and see this through to the bitter end,
then the end had better come quickly.

“Keira,”
I heard Ballantine say as he approached me. He took a long look at me and
smiled half-heartedly. “I know what’s going on in that head of yours. Your eyes
are telling me your thoughts. Come with me…I’d like you to meet a couple of
people.” He held his hand out to me. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. “This
may put your mind at ease.”

He
led me back down the tunnel and into a rather large opening. Two people were standing
there, a man and a woman around the ages of thirty, maybe thirty-five. I
quickly noticed they were holding hands and smiling.

“Keira,
I would like to introduce you to William and Violet,” Ballantine smiled.

“It’s
nice to meet you, Keira,” they both said, shaking my hand.

“You
too.”

“Keira,
William and Violet are two people who I have reunited. I’ll let them tell you
their story.” Ballantine smiled before leaving the room.

We
sat together on a large stone slab, and then William began to speak. “Ballantine
tells us you are worried about the choices you have made.”

“A
little,” I replied.

“I
was born in 1621, in the south of England. This beautiful woman,” he paused,
taking hold of Violets hand, “was my wonderful wife. We were married for over
twenty years. We had five children, a large farm, and a very happy life. We
couldn’t have asked for more.”

“A
lot of people envied us, Keira,” Violet continued. “We were healthy, our
children were educated, we had money. We weren’t rich, but we were comfortable.
We owned a lot of land and animals, including seven beautiful horses, which our
children took great pleasure in riding. The land we owned was rich, perfect for
farming, growing our crops. We were very lucky.” She paused for a moment, and a
wave of sadness crossed her face. “In the nearby town there were a lot of very
poor people. I would take food to them, clean water, clothes…basically anything
I could to help. I even took some old toys for the children. William use to
tell me to be careful, that although he knew I couldn’t just stay at home and
leave people to starve to death, I couldn’t trust them, and I must always be on
my guard. But these people, I felt like I knew them. I’d seen them and spoken
with them so often, they were like friends.”

“One
afternoon, when she was returning home, a couple of the men she had given food
to followed her. I was away on business. When Violet walked into the house and
tried to close the door, they forced their way inside. They beat her to the
ground and began stealing all they could while she was lying unconscious.”

“My
children found me when they returned from school. They looked after me and sent
for their father. William returned the following morning. We lost a lot of
money, clothes, and food.”

“I
took Violet into town in the hopes of finding the ones responsible; however,
they seemed to be long gone. After that she wouldn’t venture into town alone.”

“I’m
not surprised,” I commented.

“Well,
Keira, around two months later, while we were out walking with my two eldest
children, we came across one of them. I told my sons to take their mother home
immediately. Once they were out of sight, I approached the man. He, of course,
denied everything at first, but then must have realized his lies weren’t going
to fool me. We fought for briefly. He was over me, hitting me, and I mustered
the strength to kick him off. What I didn’t realize was that during our little
tumble, we had rolled close to a break in the rocks. As I kicked him, he
stumbled backwards and fell. When I looked down, he was dead. I assume he
cracked his head on one of the rocks.”

“William
returned home in a terrible state; bloody, bruised, and very distressed. We
cleaned him up and asked him what had become of the man. At first he told me
the man winded him and ran away. It was around three weeks later, when the body
had been found, and William could no longer stand the burden of such a secret
that he came clean.”

“It
was an accident…I never meant to kill him. I just wanted to beat him the way he
beat my wife,” William said, taking a deep breath and shaking his head. “Nobody
ever found out what happened to him…not the truth, anyway. He was simply
forgotten about. People assumed he was just another drunken pauper who had
taken a tragic fall. I never spoke of it after coming clean to Violet.”

“When
William was sixty, the fever got him. He passed away at home. I lived for
another three years before passing of influenza. It was then that I found Heaven
really did exist. I always believed in God, Heaven, and the angels. I also
believed William and I would be reunited. Of course, I was then told we would
never see each other again. William had been condemned to Hell for taking
another man’s life.”

“I
was punished for a hundred years. They said even though the man’s death was an
accident, because I never took the blame—never told the truth about what
happened to him—the punishment would be more severe. Well, nothing they could
have done to me would have hurt me more than finding out I would never see
Violet again.”

“To
cut a long story short, I only began to feel and live once my children passed
and joined me in Heaven. Until that time, I just watched them from afar. I
spent centuries wandering around Heaven, or putting false smiles on my face
when my children spoke with me. All I wanted was to see William, even if only
for a few minutes.”

“I
spent a long time working as a carpenter in Hell. I was close to asking for my
soul to be destroyed, but then I was approached by a demon. He told me of
Ballantine, of what he could do. I guess the rest is obvious,” William smiled.

“You
joined him,” I said.

“Yes.
He summoned my wife from Heaven and we have never been apart since. It is
because of him that we are able to love again, to be together forever. My wife
was a very kind, and warm-hearted woman…she shouldn’t have been punished for my
mistakes. Yet she was forced to live with being torn from me. How can you
justify that? Ballantine is one of the most loving, loyal, and genuinely caring
souls I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I owe him my happiness. We both
do. We will stand beside him until we die...or we win. We will fight for what
we believe is right. So many people are able to be with their loved ones, be
happy, all because of Ballantine. He has truly earned his angel title.”

“Keira,
what we’re saying is it’s only normal to have doubts. We just wanted you to
know how happy he makes people, how he can end people’s suffering and allow
them to spend forever with those who may have been torn from them…those they
love. You are doing the right thing by standing at his side. You have no idea
how many people will thank you for it.” Violet smiled, a single tear rolling
down her cheek. “In your heart, you must know what you’re doing is right.”

“I
do.”

After
William and Violet told me their story they returned to their group, somewhere
in another realm. I remained in the room, their tale running through my mind.
They looked so happy, in love; they were complete and had Ballantine to thank
for it. Maybe I really was doing the right thing. I imagined living in a world
where everyone could be happy…no wars, death, broken hearts—just peace and tranquility.
It certainly sounded like a blessing.

I
stared at my engagement ring. I wondered if when this was all over, and we’d
won if Eligos would be able to forgive me. Would we be able to spend the rest
of eternity together, happily? Ballantine had told me he would do what he could
to make sure his life was spared. He was also an incredible fighter, so strong;
it wouldn’t be easy to take him down. I began to truly believe he would live
through this, and hoped that sometime soon we would be able to put it behind us,
move onwards and upwards, together. I’d never be welcomed back in Hell, but we
could stay on Earth, or any other planet for that matter. I wouldn’t care where
we lived as long as we were together.

I
finally left the room and headed to another very similar one, just a little
further into the cave. This was my own room. Somebody had fetched me more
clothes and left them on the wooden framed bed. Whoever it was, they certainly
knew what I liked. It felt so nice to be able to pull on a pair of black jeans,
a tank top, and boots...I loved my boots. I decided to lie back on the make-do
bed and closed my eyes. Lack of sleep had definitely caught up with me, and before
long, I was swept away into a deep and restful slumber.

Chapter 43

A
Different World

Lily’s
Story

It
had been almost a week since Keira attacked. Olivia and Jared were still
mourning the loss of their beloved brother. Eligos and Danny had returned to
the scene on several occasions, chasing false hopes of finding his body.
However, in our hearts we all knew we’d never see him again. Eligos believed if
he could find his body and allow Olivia and Jared to hold a proper funeral it
may help to give them some closure. But it would never free them from the pain
of losing someone they loved.

Lucian
had been very quiet since the incident. The fact that Keira had almost killed
him had broken his heart. Beth had tried to comfort him as best she could. She
knew Lucian loved Keira…not romantically anymore, but as a sister.

Eligos
hadn’t been around much, choosing to spend most of his time in Hell. Being in
Keira’s house, surrounded by all her things, just hurt him too much. After the
altercation, he seemed to fall into depression. As if leaving him wasn’t bad
enough in the first place, her words, “I’ve already torn your heart apart; don’t
let your body and soul suffer the same fate,”
had crippled him. I’d
tried to comfort him, but every time I mentioned her name he would turn and
walk away from me. Hecate told me he didn’t know how to deal with what had
happened. All he could do was work.

The
rest of us were left to deal with things as best we could. Some of the guys
carried on with the training, only this time with Vetis, who kind of took over
Eligos’s role. Marley and I spent as much time as we could with Elizabeth and
Hecate, learning new spells and to use our power more efficiently. We’d tired
quickly during our last battle, and it had worried them both greatly. Hecate
had also increased Marley, Beth, Olivia, and Jared’s powers.

Outside
of our walls, the world was in turmoil. People lived in fear every minute of
every day. Governments were on the verge of declaring war on the countries they
believed responsible for what they were referring to as “Acts of Terrorism.”
All flights had been cancelled…airports were closed. Very few train or bus
services were running. Some people were living out of their basements,
frightened to death of stepping foot outside. Others were storing large amounts
of food and water, enough to keep them going for months after the coming
apocalypse. Parks and schools were deserted. Government officials were trying
to calm the people and assure them they were doing everything in their power to
keep the public safe. Needless to say, nobody believed or listened to them.