The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) Read online

“Sophia, you remember what we talked about?” He said as he threw her something I didn’t see. She caught it like it was part of her body she’d been missing and she slid it into her pocket before I could see.

  “No problem, leave it to me.” She said winking at him and now I was doubly worried.

  “What are you up to?” I asked before she dragged me away from my happiness. I could just make out him laughing as she pulled me out of the door.

  There was a car waiting at the side of the building and it was like she said, a long black Limo. I really didn’t want to turn up at home in this so I used the excuse that I needed my truck at home and that I would meet her there. She moaned a bit but agreed in the end.

  I walked over to my blue beast and found Ragnar, my guardian stood leaning against it. I sighed and hoped my car door wasn’t dented from his immense size. I knew I wouldn’t get away with driving back on my own. I couldn’t believe how protective Draven was over me.

  “Do you want me to drop you off somewhere?” I said sarcastically but he just grunted.

  “To your home!” He said not getting my humour. Ok, I was going to have to work on this. He got in the cab and I could almost hear the suspension cry out in pain. I tried to get it to started, but it was cold and didn’t want to move like last time. And like last time I rubbed the dash and said,

  “Come on baby!” Making Ragnar stare at me in disbelief.

  “You speak to your car?” His question was serious and I coughed back a laugh.

  “Oh yeah, I don’t have many friends.” I looked across to him and he thought I was serious. I started the car and then turned to face him.

  “I’m joking but it worked didn’t it?” At this he finally laughed, making me jump. Would I ever get used to his version of a laugh. It was a cross between a deer’s mating call and sandpaper being swallowed, then being thrown back up!

  “You are a strange human girl.” I couldn’t tell if this was his idea of a good thing or bad, so I stayed silent. I swung the car round and made for the main road. I could tell he wasn’t happy with my slow driving but my motto was ‘I preferred to get there later than dead’ but considering he was immortal I doubted he would agree with me on this one. I was wracking my brain to try and bring up a conversation but come on, what did I have in common with a Viking Demon?

  “I know it must be very boring for you to be babysitting me,” I said but he seemed not only surprised that I was speaking to him but also that I had sympathised with him at all.

  “It is different. But I have been entrusted with guarding My Lord’s most prized possession, so it is an honourable one.” I let out a growl of my own.

  “I’m not a Ming vase or his family’s crown jewels and I am most definitely not one of his possessions!” I said trying to get it through, but he remained unmoved by my outburst.

  “Humans are too sensitive,” he stated but I counteracted his statement for one of my own.

  “And you? Were you not once human?” He turned towards me and I got a bit scared that I had gone too far.

  “Yes I was, but I was a Warrior King and our women weren’t outspoken. They knew their place well enough.” He said this as a warning for me to behave for my Master but I just chuckled as it was clearly far too late for that.

  “Well times have changed and I doubted even back then that Queens kept their mouths shut.” I snapped back making my point. He didn’t reply but he did at least look as though he was giving what I said some thought but then his thick lips curved on one side and his eyes moved sideways at me. I however, was confused by his sudden amused behaviour but I was smart enough not to question it.

  We pulled up outside my house and the Limo pulled up after. Thankfully Libby and Frank were out. Ragnar walked over to the Limo and waited for me there. I made a motion at the blacked out windows and one rolled down.

  “I will be five minutes,” I shouted to Sophia before running in the house to get ready. It didn’t take long but I remembered to grab my purse with my bank card and some cash, as I really did need to get some new clothes. I quickly changed my clothes and picked up my mobile phone that had been left to charge. And that was it, I was ready. I checked myself in the mirror and for a moment I didn’t recognise the happy Keira staring back at me. It wasn’t long ago that it had been a rare sight but these days I just couldn’t stop smiling. Then the unbelievable hit me…

  Draven really had fixed me.

  The drive there was interesting but this was more down to its passengers. Three Demons and a lip biting human. If I wasn’t already a little crazy this would have terrified me. But let’s face it, I wasn’t exactly normal. If anything I felt more comfortable than I would do with most humans. This was probably down to the fact that finally, I didn’t feel crazy anymore. Being around these Demons and Angels made every second of my life real. Every sight, every dream and every scary touch, I now felt that it had all pointed me to this strange family that I felt so much a part of, that it in itself scared me. I was terrified but for reasons opposite than what they should be.

  I never wanted it to end.

  Zagan sat in the front with the driver and Ragnar sat at the front of the Limo’s long seats. He looked a little cramped but I could imagine this he would be used to. I think he’d even look big in a hummer!. Me and Sophia sat next to each other at the very back and I really didn’t understand the need for this car for a simple shopping trip. But then we passed the turning to the mall I knew, so it made me speak for the first time.

  “Umm, did we just miss the turning?” Sophia laughed at me in response.

  “Keira did you really think we were going shopping in that tiny little mall? For starters they don’t have any designer stores.”

  “I don’t buy my clothes from designer stores.... remember, boring non rich human here.” She was laughing again, only this time she flicked her hair back.

  “Well you do now.”

  “OH no, I’m not been dragged around some fancy store and spending a ridiculous amount of money on stuff I won’t wear.” She let out a moan but I ignored it.

  “Draven likes me the way I am, not because I come with diamonds, an expensive handbag and a five hundred dollar haircut!” She was now pouting and this might have worked around Draven but not me. Although, it was adorable. When I didn’t budge she spoke.

  “Fine! We can go in your boring plain shops but you have to at least come in some of mine.”

  “As long as you don’t make me buy anything in them, then sure, no problem.” She was happy with this outcome. Well this was a first, I had never had to get the rules straight before going on a shopping trip.

  “What did Draven mean back there?” I asked once again breaking the silence. She tried to put on a blank expression but it was hard when she really wanted to smile.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Oh come off it! What did he throw you?”

  “You will just have to wait and see.” And that was all she would say on the matter. I could tell we were heading into the city as I vaguely remembered coming back from the airport this way. The Limo got a lot of attention, especially when we got into more populated areas. People beeped their horns and waved as if we could have been celebrities. I was going bright red even though no one could see me through the blacked out windows.

  “You don’t like attention much do you?” Sophia asked being a little surprised.

  “What gives you that impression?” I said sarcastically but then I felt guilty afterwards so followed it by,

  “Sorry, that was rude. I just get embarrassed when people watch me.”

  “Umm... but you don’t mind Dom watching you?” She smirked and I laughed.

  “I’m starting to get used to it but it is still embarrassing. I didn’t like it before you know…back when I thought he hated me.” She turned to me in shock.

  “You thought he hated you?” I wanted to say “Well durr!” But I refrained.

  “Yes of course, you do remember how he used to tr
eat me…don’t you?”

  “Well that’s interesting. I guess I didn’t see it because I just remember all the obsessing he did over you and all the endless research. He wanted to know everything about you and without access to your mind this frustrated him greatly. I remember when he came back one night from watching you sleep. He was in a rage because you had woken up and he realised he could no longer get away with being near you this way. It was the first time you started to really block him out. If I recall he destroyed the dining room in the west wing, fireplace included.” She was grinning at the memory and like this it was clear to see Sophia as a Demon not an Angel. She looked like an evil doll, one that would have ripped Chucky a new behind!

  “It is still hard for us to accept that our powers do not work over you but I can imagine no one finds it harder than Dom. This has most definitely never happened to him before.” Again, she sounded smug with glee.

  “Is he... very powerful?” I asked feeling nervous for the answer. She turned to face me and with a serious eye she scanned my face.

  “Yes. He is the most powerful of our kind by far but he is, after all, King.” My reaction made her jump.

  “WHAT!” I screamed out and started shaking my head as though this had to be a dream…What the hell...he was king? Was she friggin’ kidding me!

  “Yes of course, but wait... you didn’t know? I would have thought it would have been obvious. You have heard him being regarded as My Lord, have you not?” She actually looked shocked.

  “Yeah, but I just thought that was like a Lord of the manor type of thing but not like a…. Like a King!” I said the word as if it was made of acid or something. It was just crazy to think of him that way and even more crazy to think of him choosing me! Sophia laughed till there were tears in her beautiful eyes.

  “Oh Keira, there is so much you still don’t know but I am surprised this was not one of them. Oh dear you have gone pale, please don’t tell me this is another thing you are going to overreact about…Dominic will not be pleased at me breaking you.”

  “I’m fine…I’m just….umm... a little overwhelmed with it is all.” I was still shaking my head and I noticed Ragnar smiling to himself. I guess my last statement to him about Queens not keeping their mouths shut had him thinking I believed I was one! Well at least now he knew he’d been wrong. No wonder he was smirking.

  “King?” I said again in disbelief.

  “Yes, but not in the conventional sense. You have only history to gauge the ideas on but it is not that way at all. His importance lies in the laws of our ways and how he chooses to enforce it. He is not your King Keira, he is simply your boyfriend and that is all you need to concern yourself with.” Ha, well that was certainly easier to say than do.

  “Ok, tell me something else that will take my mind off all this king stuff.” This turned out to be another big mistake.

  “Ok, you really want to know what Dominic gave me earlier?” In hindsight I should have said no but of course in true Keira fashion I nodded and she said something that made my pulse race with a near blind panic about the experience I was about to endure…

  “He gave me his credit card.”

  Chapter 14

  Shopping With a Demon

  Shopping with Sophia was a mix between shopping with an artist and a very spoilt child. She was a perfectionist in every aspect and eyed every item I picked up as though it was never good enough. Each shop I chose to go in, was then followed by a very expensive designer store. Here Sophia was in her element. She would get the different sections closed off just by showing a black bit of plastic which I presumed to be Draven’s credit card. As soon as the assistants took one look at it, their eyes would bulge wider and we would get star treatment. In one shop we went in we even got champagne!

  I looked so out of place that I felt like Julia Roberts out of Pretty Woman when she went shopping and started to get funny looks. Ok, so I wasn’t in a mini skirt and a crop top but you get the picture. Next to Sophia it looked as though she had found a homeless person to spoil. She would try and get me to try things on that she picked out but I would be adamant that spending over a thousand dollars on one item of clothing was just silly and pointless…well, for me anyway.

  “And how much do you think one of Dominic’s suits cost?” She asked me when coming back out from behind the curtain in a gorgeous white summer dress which was backless showing off her silky skin.

  “I don’t even want to think about it.” I said stubbornly before continuing,

  “I like that one,” nodding at the dress she wore but she was smiling at my response and no doubt to the first thing I said. It was true, I couldn’t think about how much money he had. The thought made me feel queasy just like the word KING did! I couldn’t help but think I was playing a game I just couldn’t win. I was dating someone so far out of my depth that I sometimes felt as though I was going to drown. Everyday I seemed to find out something else about him, that instead of making me relax, it was making me even more nervous to be around him. So I did something very out of character when Sophia re-emerged.

  “Sophia, where’s the best place to get some sexy underwear?” Her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands.

  “Now that’s more like it!” She passed the dress to the assistant who already had arms full of outfits ready for her to try on.

  “I won’t try on the rest but I will take them all” She said waving her clutch bag at the pile. The women looked as though she would drop down and kiss her feet. After all the clothes were rung through the till and the women told Sophia the price I gulped down the five figure number. I coughed and the assistant shot me an evil glare. Sophia just thought it was funny as always. She handed over Draven’s credit card and I noticed it was a black American Express card, the ones that don’t have a limit...another gulp! Ok, so if I was trying so hard for my normal life and to be with Draven at the same time, then maybe a shopping trip with Sophia wasn’t the best way to go. I found myself still shaking my head as we walked out of the store.

  “What? Well if you refuse to use it then I might as well.” She smirked and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. She was most definitely a Demon and the book ‘When the Devil wears Prada’ came to mind.

  She didn’t carry any shopping bags, oh no, not Sophia. Instead she would have someone from the store take them down to the limo for us. I was in awe at how the other half lived. Of course the stores that I bought my clothes from didn’t offer such a service and I wouldn’t let Sophia ring up the driver to tell him to come and get them for me. She ended up calling me stubborn for most of the day but I just laughed it off every time.

  I was actually surprised to find that I was really enjoying myself and I did get quite a lot of things I needed. But now I was out of my league as Sophia linked my arm and pulled me into Victoria Secrets.

  Ragnar had followed my every move but whenever we went into a shop he stayed outside and this one was no exception. It was the first time I think I saw him blush… rather that or he just had wind. I giggled to myself and I think Sophia thought I was just being shy.

  She pulled me over to the really fancy stuff and now I was the one blushing. She picked up something that had more gaps than material. Then I spotted the most beautiful set and I was surprised with myself. I had always just stuck to plain white or black before and I hated red on me thinking it looked cheesy with my blonde hair but this was different. It was black satin covered in blood red roses and a vine that was made from black ribbon. It circled the corset and tied to the thong at either side. At the back it tied up with a thick red cord that crossed over so it could be pulled tighter. Everything matched including the suspender belt, stockings and amazingly the set included full length satin gloves.

  The design was called ‘Temptress’ and I didn’t think it could get anymore more perfect. I bit my lips at the thought and Sophia waited beside me not saying a word but when I turned to her and asked what she thought, she just smiled and held up Draven’s credit card.


  In the end I bought the stuff with my own money much to Sophia’s dismay. I also bought some more underwear sets and some nice stuff to wear to bed, which were more of the comfort variety then sexual. I picked one set of pyjamas because the t shirt had a pair of red lips with fangs protruding from them and underneath it said the words ‘bite me’! I thought Draven would get a big kick out of these and if he didn’t then, I most certainly would when I saw the classic Draven frown. Sophia thought it was funny anyway but no surprises there. After we had made our way round half of the shops my stomach started to cry out at me.

  “You haven’t let Dom pay for anything! My brother won’t be happy.” She looked serious but seeing as I didn’t agree to any of it, I could imagine that Draven would already know that I would be stubborn on the matter. Did he really think that Sophia would have been able to break me?

  “Sophia, your brother knows I’m not the type of girl to just spend someone else’s money Willy Nilly. But I wouldn’t say no to lunch…will that make you happy?” She rolled her eyes at me and said,

  “Well it’s a start. Come on, I know a place.” Her face made me regret not picking the place first.

  “Ok but nowhere fancy…right.” She winked at me and my dread doubled.

  After a short limo ride we pulled up to a huge hotel with an all glass front that reflected the cold but clear day. The door man opened the limo door and another in a red jacket opened the entrance. He did a double take at me and Sophia, making me giggle at what a pair we must have looked like. Her beauty being absolutely flawless and I must have looked like her personal beggar flagging behind. To make matters worse I tripped over my own feet and the guy had to steady me. When I thanked him I was surprised when he winked at me. I blushed and scuttled in after Sophia.

  “Sophia, why have we come to a hotel?”

  “Keira really, hotels do have restaurants and this one just happens to make the best Strawberry Daiquiri’s in town.” She walked straight past the queue and walked right up to the bar as if she owned the place. I followed like a red faced sheep. Once there she got served immediately and ordered me the same as she. I sat next to her with disbelief clear on my face. Then a very tall thin man dressed in a black suit approached with a lowered head. His gold name badge told me he was the hotel’s Concierge and his name was Claude.