The door rolled back until a colossal Demonic bear stood in its opening. I didn't even notice it had started raining until I saw the water glistening from its scarred tissue, making it all the more frightening. Leivic seemed to see me through his human eyes and for a moment I thought I saw regret in them. Maybe it was down to the utter fear he saw in mine, which brought on instant guilt on my part. Whatever the feeling behind them it pa.s.sed quickly as the Angel took the moment to his advantage and grabbed the curved blade from his back. He began to come towards me, weapon in hand.

The action granted him another mighty roar that shattered the rest of the windows. Leivic seemed to let the anger seethe through him and concluded his actions from it. He reached out and wrapped a claw around the Angel's ankle just before he could reach me. I looked on in horror as the terrified eyes got further away from me as his body was dragged from the mangled van. I almost felt sorry for him, until I saw the deadly looking blade slip from his fingers and quickly dropped that thought.

Leivic pulled the body out effortlessly and once clear, he threw him sideways toward the closest warehouse. He flew upwards like the wind that catches a paper bag and smashed into the building as though made of bricks. He then fell to the ground in a broken mess of feathers and bones. He started to crawl but to where I didn't know. One wing was dragging along behind him all broken and twisted. Blood pumped from the part it connected to his back, which was now open and oozing.

I soon realized why he was desperately trying to drag himself back this way...

Draven was coming.

That powerful frame, aflame with pure hate was walking this way and with me in his sights, he looked as though the power would rip him apart, bursting out and destroying everything with it. He got closer to the Angel that was still painfully pulling his slaughtered body inch at a time across the watered ground. The heavens were still pouring down, making the puddles around him turn into miniature rivers of blood.

Now I actually did feel sorry for him.

He turned his head up and was about to protest but Draven without even looking down speared him like a guillotine with one floor length sword that shot out of his arm so quickly it caused my eyes to blur. The Angel twitched around the blade as its body was trapped to the wet, cemented road. He tried with one last attempt to move but with a swift twist of his wrist the blade turned inside his body and the Angel stopped moving. I wasn't sure if he had killed him, as I didn't know if you could even kill Angels, but at a guess I would have said that he looked pretty dead to me. As soon as the movement was made and Draven withdrew his sword back into his arm, I turned my head and closed my eyes, trying in vain to get the image out of my mind.

When I looked back Draven was by the torn doors of the van next to Leivic who was about to help me out. Draven put a strong hand on the bear's arm and said in an aggravated stern voice, "Leave her to me! Go and find the other one and bring him back to me...alive!" The word alive was said through gritted teeth and very little controlled anger. His friend just nodded and withdrew his hand from Draven's grasp. Draven turned his face away from mine and said, "Remember, I want him alive, Leivic...I need answers." I knew what that meant and the word torture came to mind. Again, I closed my eyes to get the sight of Draven's idea of justice out of my head. I couldn't help but scream at the feel of someone touching my leg.

"Keira." Was all he said, but it was soft enough to get me to look at him. He was right in front of me, so close I could feel his breath as he spoke. It was smooth and calming but I still flinched as he touched me.

He looked hurt, but didn't stop as he put his arms around me and lifted me from the van. I had been huddled in the back with my knees up close to my chest as though trying to protect myself. I must have looked like a small frightened child...h.e.l.l, who was I kidding, I felt like one!

He held me so close to his chest I could feel his heart pumping through my own body. Loud and strong, beating his anger around his Demon ignited blood so that the only thing on his mind was revenge. I wanted to touch his face, to soothe him some way but I was scared. I didn't know of anything that would bring him down from this rage. His breathing was that of a man that was controlling something deep within him and the flex in his jaw every time he looked at me told me he was not happy about what he saw there. The bleeding from my head had stopped and now was nothing but a crusty red mark down my face. My eyes felt sore and puffy from many outbursts of sobbing and for some reason I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking.

"It is the effects of the drugs in your system, it will pa.s.s." He said quietly and I realized that he could hear my thoughts. No wonder, thanks to the drugs, he could probably control me as well.

"Yes I could, but I wouldn't, not even to make it so that you do not fear me. I wouldn't put you through that again." He said bitterly and I felt ashamed, bringing on another overflow of tears. Here was the man I loved saving my life again and he could hear my fear of him, what must he think of me!

He put me down gently, checking I was steady on my feet before leaning me back on the side of his car. He lifted my head as though I would break if he applied too much pressure. I refused to meet his eyes, being too ashamed of myself.

"Keira don't.... Please look at me." He pleaded and on hearing his voice break, I did also. I looked up to find eyes full of pain and almost crumbled.

"I...I...I'm...so...rry" I managed to say but he just shook his head and told me, "Ssshhh, be still." He looked down at my bound hands. I had become so used to that I had forgotten the manacles they were still in. He raised them up to inspect the markings and he mouthed some words I couldn't hear. He then raised one of his own hands to his mouth and bit down hard enough to draw a stream of blood. I let out a little scream but he didn't meet my eyes, as if he has been prepared for my reaction. He rubbed his b.l.o.o.d.y palms together so that both were fully covered and circled both my metal bound wrists. The fastening made the same hissing noise once they had finished spinning and unlocked, then falling from me but turning to dust before hitting the ground. He examined the skin underneath before being satisfied enough to let them go.

He then held me tightly by the waist to keep me up, and then he pinned me to the car with his hands leaning on either side of me. I could feel the tears roll off my chin to the ground and like a flash of light his hand caught one mid motion. He opened his palm as if to show me. It glittered purple sparks before disappearing into his own skin and then he raised the same hand to check my injuries. He moved my hair and little strands had dried and stuck to the blood. I couldn't help but wince when he pulled them, which made him stop and growl.

"He will pay for this!" He said as he let the rage flow back into him. This gave me the courage to raise my hand to his face and touch him cautiously; like stroking a lion that had been ready to pounce. However the effect was different, instead of getting my hand ripped off, he turned his face into my palm and closed his eyes. He seemed to be breathing me in, as if taking the essence of me to help in calming him down.

Whatever it was doing, it seemed to be working as the flex in his jaw relaxed against me, the bulging vein at the side of his forehead disappeared and his heartbeat resumed its normal rhythm. I just wanted us to get in his car and keep driving until we couldn't get any further away from this nightmare. I wanted him to take me away from this madness and wait for normality to take us both.

"That's not going to happen my love, normality can never exist in my world, it just isn't possible and nor can it happen in yours...not when you belong to me." He said in a deep husky voice like he found it hard to form the words I already knew to be true. I forced the tears back deep within myself and swallowed the bitterness at how so unfair the whole situation was. How many times is my life going be faced with this type of thing and survive?

"I won't let them get you, I won't let them hurt you, do you hear me? I...I will keep you safe, I swear it!" He pulled away from me and clenched his hands into tight fists, causing the skin over his knuckles to turn a paler purple and then white. Hearing my thoughts were bringing back his anger and I mentally scolded myself.

"Dom!" Leivic was approaching and the cause of our situation was brought back into view. He came from around the corner with a writhing Agnomen in tow and the last shreds of control crumbled around Draven as he let out a growl so blood thirsty, you could taste the air change. It was like charged demonic static!

He turned his back to me and I closed my eyes as the feel of his folded wings brushed gently across my skin. I knew I wasn't going to want to see this and I wished I could have just kept them closed and curled into a protective ball to hide but I knew I couldn't. I opened my eyes and saw the man I loved ignite into raging flames and the sight had me gasping for air. His wings lost their soft feathery texture and were replaced by flickering purple flames licking the tips. Then they opened to their full wing span giving the dark, grey skies a new light source.

"AGNOMEN!" Draven's Demonic voice said his name like he was at that moment the Devil's right hand man. I hated hearing Demonic voices but to hear it spoken from Draven's lips, made it close to unbearable.

"Draven." I said his name in one last attempt to keep him with me but he was far too gone now to hear my idea of reason. His only response was to turn his head slightly and give me an order I knew better than to defy.

"Keira, get in the car now and don't watch this." At least his voice had turned back to normal to tell me this. At that moment the sound of the car unlocking made me jump. My nerves were shot to h.e.l.l and I was just a bag made of skin still holding my bones in one piece.

I opened the door after trying to control my shaking hand and almost fell on my weak knees into the seat. The door closed on its own and the door locked for extra measure. One of the two orders I had complied with but there was no chance of me not watching what was about to happen. I had never known what was good for me and I wasn't about to change now. I knew full well what the consequences of my actions would be but it didn't mean I cared!

I was going to see this nightmare through to the end, just as I had done with Morgan and how I would keep doing for the rest of my life even if it killed me. It was my nature and sometimes no matter how we try, there is just no changing, even if you know it to be wrong.

So, with this in mind, I rubbed the last tears out of my eyes and sat there to watch as Draven walked over to the man Leivic was dragging on the ground. The side window was down slightly from where I had opened it earlier and I was glad because now I could add words to what my eyes would witness.

It had stopped raining now but the black clouds threatened more. What was left was a sidewalk of dirty puddles and two bodies on the floor. One of which still hadn't moved.

Now Draven had grabbed hold of Agnomen and was dragging him closer to one of the larger puddles. I couldn't understand what he was doing but one look at Draven told me that I was the only one. I could tell he had a plan and I wasn't sure if I noticed a dark, madness creep upon those lips of his that I loved invading my own.

"Tell me, bounty hunter, who holds your contract?" Draven pulled him up by the hair so that his face was above from the floor. That was when I had my first good look at the man behind my attempted kidnapping. I gagged down the bile rising in my throat at the sight of one of the most disgusting faces I had ever seen.

He had dirty, red hair that stood in one point at the back of his head that was currently in Draven's hand. His face looked as though made of chalk, hard and cracking around the edges. His lips were overflowing with blood and the corners came high up his cheek bones giving him a s.a.d.i.s.tic look. His nose was missing, as if it had been chopped off with only the two elongated holes and bone in the middle remaining.

But believe me when I say that none of these were his worst features...oh no, it was his eyes. Or at least where his eyes should have been. There instead were two gaping holes that were filled with moving darkness which bled outwards onto his face. It was only when I squinted my eyes that I noticed why it looked like the darkness beneath them was moving. I saw that they were, in fact, made up from hundreds of big, black flies that had all found a home there. Every time he winced in pain as Draven pulled him this way and that, one would fly away and retreat from the cruelty.

"Answer me!" Draven was losing his cool and with one hand still in his hair the other grabbed his neck and started to squeeze, releasing even more flies from hiding. He coughed out spilling even more blood to the ground, but no words would form.

"Your refusal to talk means signing your sentence to death, NOW TALK!"

"Tal...talk..ing....al...also....signs it!" He spat out, just as Draven let go of his throat to allow him to speak. He dropped him to the floor and Agnomen's hands automatically went to his neck.

"This is your last chance to give me a name." Draven crossed his arms across his chest as he towered above the Demon at his feet. Like this the King in him could be easily seen. Power flooded his veins with every breath he took and with every breath I took, I knew I should not have been watching this.

"If I give you a name, you won't kill me?" This question was not received well, the evidence of that was found in Draven's dark laugh.

"You mistake me, your refusal to talk only signs how your death will happen...for it will happen! You signed it when you try TO TAKE HER FROM ME!" He demonically screamed out this last part which made Agnomen cower closer to the ground.

"But your death, you can choose. Tell me what I need to know and it will be swift. It is far more than you deserve. However, if you choose the other, then be prepared to start praying to a G.o.d you do not worship. For nothing but he could save you the pain!" He did not give him long to decide. He walked over to one of the largest puddles, knelt down and placed his hand in the murky rain water.

"IN nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur: et benedic hoc aquam manuum Dei Amen." ( Means "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and bless this water by G.o.d's hands. Amen. In Latin) The words of perfect Latin flowed out of Draven with a pride I have never seen before. He circled his fingers through the water and it soon turned crystal clear then sealed itself with an icy top. Draven removed his hand just in time as the frost worked its way into the middle. He then got up from one knee and walked back to his prisoner.

Agnomen tried in vain to worm away but Draven was quickly above him once more and took hold of his head to drag him towards the frozen puddle of Holy Water. I watched on, wide eyed and curious as to what he planned to do. Agnomen saw his doom and started to twist and claw at the pavement. Before long he was leaving thin trails of blood after his fingers, as his nails had filed down to the bone.

Draven soon dragged him to the spot, despite all his painful efforts and held his face above the icy gla.s.s that mirrored Agnomen's terrified face.

"You have chosen your fate...NOW FACE IT!" Draven shouted in anger before forcing his head downwards. The last of the flies came out at once in a black swarm, forcing his head backwards slightly but once they had all scattered, nothing was left to prevent his strange torture from being inflicted.

I watched on in horror as his head smashed through the ice and as soon as contact was made the water started to rise and bubble around him. He writhed around in pain, but Draven held his head firm. His body was desperate to break loose and his sticky folded wings tried to open. Draven simply reacted by holding the back of his head with one hand and gripping one wing with the other. He then yanked back taking the wing with his arm, ripping it from the Demon. More pain could be heard but Draven was unmoved and just threw the wing aside like a piece of trash.

I looked to the side, where Leivic was still stood but his face was contorted as if he could imagine the pain himself. I suddenly realized that this statement might be closer to the truth, as he was once tortured in h.e.l.l.

Finally Draven pulled Agnomen's face out of the steaming water and let him drop back down just at the side of it. He was still alive but it was obvious the amount of pain he was in. His face was now melting off leaving a mixture of b.l.o.o.d.y bone and chalky tissue to drip to the cement. Again I was gagging.

"Now speak and I will end your misery!"

"YES...yes, yes any......thing....anything." It came out in a mangled mess of words due to the lack of lips that were now mostly on the floor. He didn't even have teeth, as now he was just a melting face full of deep empty b.l.o.o.d.y holes.

"I want a name!" He barked out and this time he received his answer almost immediately.

"Gal...izur, Galizur was the one who hired me to get to the girl." Draven grabbed his head back so that he could stare into the deep pits of his eyes and said in a breathless fury, "And who is Galizur contracted by?"

"Lucius.... my Lord!" He sputtered out and Draven dropped him at the sound of the name.

"HA! Now I am your Lord. When your life hangs in my control of the balance, you fool! You know that if you had come to me with this information you would have been rewarded but instead you turn your back on me and your faith! And for what! What price has Lucius put on her head?" When he didn't answer straight away he received a prompting kick that sent him rolling up through the air and landing close to the car I was sat in.

"P...P...ower...Power of the spear. He has the spear of Longinus." Draven whipped his head round in disbelief.

"The Holy Spear!" He started to shake his head before continuing, "The one you speak of is not in his possession. You have been deceived old, foolish Demon. Indeed but you are!" He said this last part shaking his head as if sorry for a moment. Agnomen at hearing this started to shake his head saying, "No, No, it can't be." Over and over but Draven wasn't listening. He had ignited his body into purple fire and held his hands out to his sides. His wings shook and the energy started to ripple through his powerful chest and beat down his immense arms. It flowed down and out of his body through his wrists and hands. It kept seeping out from him until it formed two, solid blades that touched the ground. They too were on fire as the flames curled round and licked at the air that fueled them.

He walked to a dry patch but the mangled van was in his way, so with what looked like very little effort he kicked the van and it slid to the other side of the road creating track lines on the ground before coming to a stop by toppling over onto its side. The sound of the back door gla.s.s smashing made me jump as little shards of it rained down on Draven's car roof.

He then started to scratch the ground with the tips of his blades causing little sparks to dance along the ground. It looked as if he was writing something or drawing some kind of pattern that was being scorched right into the cement.

Once finished, he motioned for Leivic to bring his prisoner to him and he did it without question. It was only when he bent down that his eyes burned into mine. He knew then that I had witnessed the whole thing. He closed them briefly as though sad at the idea. Then he opened them and shook his head at me before lifting Agnomen off the ground with one clawed paw. He carried him over to Draven and let him go on top of the marked ground.

Unbelievably he was still muttering about Lucius still having the spear and Draven started to laugh as though he had finally lost it.

"As I said before, you are foolish to think I would ever allow something like that to fall in the hands of power driven madness." He leaned over him and flipped him face up so as he could get close to his face. He grabbed a handful of his jacket he was wearing and lifted him the last couple of inches.

"How do I know...?" Draven asked wearing a s.a.d.i.s.tic grin that didn't fit those perfect lips.

"Of course, I have the Holy Spear!"

With that the Demon cried out and Draven let go. He flopped back down and continued to cry out cursing Lucius' name back to h.e.l.l.

"Don't worry fool, you will be seeing him soon enough!" And with that Draven flew up in the air above him and turned full circle, letting the tips of his lengthy swords make the same circle on the ground around the symbol and its captured Demon. Once each side met, the whole thing erupted into the deep, red flames of h.e.l.l itself and Draven came down from above with both his blades aimed at Agnomen's chest. The impact made not only him cry out but me also. It was horrific to watch but I couldn't stop. It was like the last hold over me was to see it through to the end with my once brief captor.

The two bodies were both now engulfed in the fire and only when the screaming stopped did the heavens open again and flood the earth with its waters. The flames died and Draven was left standing there alone back to his human form. His wet hair hung down over his face as he continued to look at the spot Agnomen's body had disappeared to. I could just make out his lips moving through the rain smeared gla.s.s and then I could see him cross himself.

He had been praying....

Praying for the dammed soul he just sent back, Back to be condemned.

Chapter 41.

My Pretty Little Bounty Head When Draven had finished, he looked up to find my face. I wanted to run out of this locked car and into his arms to comfort him. He looked so sad, so drained of energy that I touched the window. He turned to Leivic and was giving him instructions of some kind. I couldn't hear as the rain had picked up even more and the sound it made hitting the roof was deafening all other noises out.

The gap in the window was now allowing the water to spray inwards and soon my arm was wet through. Draven was pointing towards the mangled van and then back to the only body still lying on the ground. Then, when Leivic bowed his head in respect, Draven put his hand on one shoulder and shook his head. Leivic looked upset despite what looked like Draven's rea.s.surance.

I felt so bad that I was the cause of so much destruction that I couldn't hold back the deep sob that broke free. I cried out with so much emotion that I was shaking. I covered my head in my hands but it wouldn't stop my need to shake it back and forth, repeating silently "Why me?".

I should have been issued with a warning when I was born! Come too close and you will walk in my footsteps of the demolished road that I leave behind me. I know my mind was being dramatic but I felt cursed. I felt consumed by a guilt I couldn't get away from. Almost as if I could feel a sticky layer of it clinging to my skin for me to carry around for the rest of my days. But my biggest fear...would Draven get sick of it all? Would he realise for himself first hand, just how it is, that some love is not worth losing your sanity over! I would have done anything for Draven's love but just how far would he go to keep mine?

I was still crying out into my palms, when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. It was Draven's hand. I knew that, as soon as he made contact with me. Like our blood was somehow connected causing a reaction in me whenever he was near. He tried to pull me round to him but I was resisting.

"Keira, please don't be frightened of me, I won't hurt you my love." He spoke so softly as though anything above a whisper would have me cringing away like a frightened fawn. I pulled back with such force that it shocked him.

"I'm not frightened of you hurting me! I'm frightened of the hurt I cause you! Don't you see? Don't you see that it's me that causes this! All of this destruction is because of ME! I...can't...I can't....do this." That was all I could manage until I lost all control. I was sobbing until I couldn't breathe. Somehow I was in Draven's arms and he was holding me so tight as though he would never let me go. He was smoothing back my hair and whispering words in another language that were having a strange effect over me. It was these words that were seeping through my mind and making it cloudy. I tried to hold onto what little control I had left but it was exhausting.

"Let go, just let go." Draven whispered directly into my ear and it was hard not to obey. I wanted to get up and run away just for the s.p.a.ce to think but when I started to struggle Draven increased the pressure around me.

"Stop fighting me Keira, just let it all go." I lay my head into his shoulder and could feel the wet leather jacket slide on my cheek. I wanted to be free of all the guilty feelings I had weighing me down but what right did I have when others suffered. One of his hands was moving up and down my back making it harder not to close my eyes and let myself drift to another state of mind. He knew I was losing the battle and started speaking to me softly in that other language that he'd been using.

"That's it, good girl. You're safe now, you're safe...." And this was the last thing I heard before the warmth of his words consumed me. I felt my body go limp and the feeling of being lifted before blackness filled my vision and sleep overwhelmed my senses.

I woke to the sound of voices that were irate. It was like when my parents used to argue but do it quietly so as that 'the kids' wouldn't hear...of course we always did. They tried to keep it low but every now and again a word said sharply could be made out. My mind was still groggy but those overwhelmed senses were slowly returning back to me. I didn't open my eyes but I turned my head slowly to free my ear to hear better.

"You are wrong Sophia, what the girl needs is my protection and mine only!" That was most definitely Draven's voice and the added authoritative tone made it clear that he so wasn't happy.

"Yes, but keeping her locked away isn't the answer... She isn't some princess you can hide away in a tower, she needs to live her life Dom!" Sophia spoke carefully but not carefully enough. Draven's growl could be heard even if it came out deep and low.

"Dominic, Sophia is right, don't let your love for the girl blind you into rash decisions. You can't just take her away against her will and we all know Keira enough by now to know that it will be against her will! She is almost as stubborn as you brother...but you know this." Vincent was trying to make Draven see sense and for a moment I took his silence as confirmation that it had sunk in. But I was wrong.

"She will do what is good for her. She may fight me on it but she will come around. I will take her somewhere safe so that no bounty hunter will find her. I will NOT allow what happened today to happen again! She was so close to breaking, so fragile that I fear the damage done is beyond repair. I am going to lose her if she keeps seeing this side of me...the fear in her eyes, brother..." At this I did open my eyes only to see Draven sat down with his head in his hands. I wanted to shout out to him but I knew there was more for me to hear.

"Dom, the girl loves you and that fear, you mistake for fear of loss. She will not leave you, if anything I think she fears you leaving her." Vincent must have gained a great deal of information from my mind, more than Draven had, rather that or he was a h.e.l.l of a guesser!

" I never would, not unless it was to save her life! I tried to leave her alone in the beginning and look where that got me! I became a sh.e.l.l of myself and only when I have her do I become whole! I can't let her go, I won't!" He was working himself up and it was almost unbearable to hear.

I couldn't stand to have Draven feeling so desperate, so lost in feelings that he wasn't alone in. I, too, felt like I would lose him if my situation didn't get better. I almost wished that he could have taken me away...away from anyone that wanted to hurt me, anyone that wanted to separate us. But I couldn't do it...his siblings were right, I still had a life of my own to live. I couldn't just walk away from it all...not again. I had Libby and Frank, I had a little niece or nephew on the way that I didn't want to miss out on. NO, I would have to stay and fight! I would have to rise up above it all and take each knock as it came...I would get back up and stand up for what I believed in. And hopefully I would have Draven by my side to catch me.

"What am I to do if I can't even protect her here in my home? They were so close to taking her...too close. If Leivic hadn't seen her leaving, then she might have been lost. It would have been too late!"

"What was she thinking, going outside by herself? Was she being controlled?" Sophia asked, but Vincent was the one to answer her.

"Why don't you ask her yourself...I believe she has been awake now for some time?" His voice held amus.e.m.e.nt and when I knew I had been busted I opened my eyes fully to see everyone staring at me. I was on Draven's bed wrapped up in a warm blanket with my wet clothes now missing. They had been replaced by soft cotton pyjamas in navy blue. I had never seen them before. My hair had been plaited to one side, I guess thanks to Sophia's nimble hands, and her smile told me I had guessed right.

Draven stood up and pushed the hair back that had fallen forward from looking down at his hands. Vincent was standing amused, with arms folded and Sophia stood in between them making her tiny frame look even smaller next to her brother's larger ones. The staring silence was starting to make me feel uncomfortable, so I shifted in the bed into a sitting up position. This was Draven's cue to step towards me.

"I think Keira and I need some time alone." I don't know why, but the way he said this made me gulp. The other two left without saying a word. Draven came to the bedside very slowly, almost like he was expecting me to scream at any sudden movements.

"It's alright, I'm not going to freak out." I tried to give him a genuine smile but I'm not sure it fully made it.

"I would not blame you if you did." He sounded like his voice would crack, being pushed to breaking point. He knelt down on one of the steps next to the bed and leaned forward so that our faces were level. It reminded me of how you would usually approach a child.

"Well, I'm not going to, I think I did enough of that earlier." Draven didn't look convinced with my brave little act and was still waiting for me to crumble next to him.

"Keira." He said my name edged with doubt and riddled with worry.