The grey streaks in his hair, the light blue eyes and the flash of white teeth felt like I was taking a huge breath in of the ordinary. I knew this man standing before me, I had grown up with him; I couldn't stop my mind from racing, how was he here? My psycho mother had killed/ate him alive however before I could function what was in front of me, Lucas pulled me close and gave me a bear hug; he was freezing but there was somehow still comfort in his embrace. This was the first time I had ever been hugged by Lucas which was odd. I had known Lucas for eleven years and I had never hugged the guy? I think soap operas had better family bonding than I did, wow that was actually really sad realisation. "Where have you been?! I got home to find you and your Mom both just... gone" He shouted, yanking me back to arm length from him. I felt my body tense up and my eyes widen, something definitely wasn't right here, Lucas never shouted at me and his gaze was studying me intently; too intently and it made me crawl out my skin. There was an odd change in him but I couldn't quite figure out what. There was something missing from Lucas, he had the same voice, face, body and clothes but no, there was something gone. I opened my mouth to reply but no words would come out, just wasted air, I just couldn't get over the fact Lucas was here... alive. This changed a lot of things for me as I continued to stare back, my mouth gaping like a fish in astonishment. "Never mind it doesn't matter anymore, you're home. You won't need to run from her anymore, I'll look after you" Lucas beat me to it and now had the smile on his face again, totally calm again. I had never seen him angry or worried before but for normal human reactions I don't think they changed that quickly only fake fronts happened that fast and all I now had in return was serve whiplash, it was if he knew that yelling at me was the wrong approach... unlike him. "Wait—what? Run from who Lucas?" I questioned, my voice tentative, still feeling as light as air and my mind spinning from confusion; my suspicion of him was also growing but what conclusion was I going or thinking of coming to? Lucas was Lucas. My stepdad. "Your Mom... Kalena I know how we treated you was wrong. We should've been here more, made time for you. So that will happen from now on, I'll make sure I'm here when you're here, we will be able to do stuff together" He told me gently, he had never called me Kalena and I felt myself go numb; what he was saying was everything I had wanted to hear for years and as I looked at him something seemed genuine about his words, it gave hope in my heart. I could get my old life back... "Don't you want that? To go back to school with all your friends and then we can do stuff, we can do your room up however you wanted, look at colleges for you, finally get you your own car. We can be a proper family, Kalena" We could be a proper family... I had always that, I wanted to know that feeling and now it was being given to me on a golden plate. It was everything I had ever wanted. "No, I can't stay here" I told him in a weak voice. Gods, I had killed two diamons but now my voice was wobbling wildly. The irony. The thing was I did want the life I knew Lucas could give me, there was no denying that but I knew I couldn't and it made me feel so ungrateful but I wanted to go back to the island, to my dorm room with all my new friends. I could never have that normal life I once had because that just wasn't me anymore and Alexis was gone, I had been through so much and now I had new goals... and I wasn't mortal anymore. Well, sort of. "But Kalena, where will you go?" He asked slightly puzzled as his eyebrows knitted together and looking at the floor now sadly. My heart sank because I knew even if he protested it'd be no use, Stephanos would happily kill Lucas and carry me over his shoulder all the way to the island if that was the only choice he had left. And I knew he definitely would and succeed, he had done it once before when I was under pure-blood compulsion but I couldn't help feel guilt to wash over me, Lucas has just found me again and now I was leaving him on his own without even a proper explanation. I wish my Mother had never involved him in our crazy lives because perhaps then he would be happy and have a real and good family. "Where I've been for about two months, Lucas. I wish I could say more but I can't and I won't be returning here ever again, I'm sorry" I explained the guilt now seeping through my pores. I went to pull back from him now feeling like all I wanted to do was run home and cry and not to mention Lucas had never touched me for this long so I was starting to feel uncomfortable but his grip tightened on my arms, nails digging into my skin. "OW, Lucas you're hurting me" I continued slightly distress now, purposely showing him my discomfort by looking down at my arms as his grip was continuing to tighten on my arms, red marks formed my skin that had slipped on show. I began to pull back forcefully not even bothering about how rude this looked but found that I couldn't even budge him away one bit. "You can't go back with them" He replied, it sounded so deep, almost like a growl. My eyes shot up now petrified to meet his own but they were milky white like an old corpse would have, his skin looked like it was starting to peeling off his chalk-white face then a horrible smell had hit me making me almost past out as it now crept around the room; it smelt like the dead was beginning to pour out the newly painted walls or the smell of sewage was seeping through the slits in the floorboards. I felt myself begin to uncontrollably gag right in front of Lucas's face, oh fuck I could not be sick right now, I prayed to myself. "River Styx... scent" It was the first time Stephanos had spoken since he came into the house with me, it was a such a quiet murmur but then I felt him freeze up behind me like he had just realised something, I was right and before I knew it he had grabbed me by the waist with both hands and twisted me round but Lucas's grip was a steel lock and he came with me. A sharp kick landed in Lucas midsection from Stephan, that sent his grip straight off me. While Lucas doubled over down onto the floor and before I knew it my backside was on the floor too, I fell harshly, whacking my head off the front door in the process. Not how I planned my day trip today. "What the hell, Stephan?!" I squeaked, ignoring the pain in my head and rushing to my feet but my backpack knotted around my ankles pulling me down to the floor again and landed partly right but more pressure fell onto my hip bone and my still weak structure didn't help but what the fuck was Stephan doing?! He had just booted my step Dad! And also threw me across the room at the same time! "He's a shade" He replied so focus on what was in front of him, armed and ready with daggers, whereas all I could do was just stared back to Lucas, who was on his feet again; his neck was cracked all the way back in such an unnatural, sinister position; his jaw was finishing down his now dead grey face. Thick black smoke was pouring out of his mouth and I saw the faintest glimmer of yellow eyes staring back at me, my breath caught and my knees pulled themselves closer to me cowardly as I smothered my scream. "Things have just begun, Kalena Leandros" He bellowed in a shriek, the house shaking slightly. A human definitely couldn't possess the calmness to those words which made all the more eerie as they struck through me but before I could demand an explanation the black fog cloud shot through the living room window, the glass shattering across the room, out of sight. Gone. I sat there for what felt like an entire, trying to grasp what the hell had just happened before my body let out an shaky breath and I pulled myself to my feet when a razor sharp pain raced through me from my hip bone causing me to hold myself desperately as my body twitched downwards. Shit, I had opened the tag stitch there and it now felt like something was pinching me slightly and I knew I was definitely bleeding but I tried to shake it off and put my best blank face on, I had better things to worry about and even if did show emotion. It would show Stephanos I hadn't fully recovered yet which would then in turn lead him to telling Pheonix and just meant no training for me for even longer and I could not let that happen. "Are you okay?" Stephan asked me, putting his clean dagger back in the leather case; that rested on the side of his black trousers, around thigh level on him. I gave a quick nod, stepping carefully over to where he stood ignoring the pain. I landed my gaze on the crumpled form of a man on the floor. Lucas now looked a pale grey-blue colour, the dun white eyes now glassy and staring at the staircase. It was clear to see Lucas had been dead a while but what was that just then? Stephan had said a shade. Whatever it was, it was hella creepy. "Was that what you were on about when you said it may not have been diamons?" I asked Stephanos tentatively as we both looked down at the corpse of what would've been my Step-Father, sort of a little weird I had to admit... in more than one way. "What do you mean?" He asked slightly puzzled now turning to face me, I had only just realised we had stopped holding hands and the chilly sensation rose tiny hairs on my entire body. "When the alarms went off before I got kidnapped. I asked how diamons would've gotten in and you said it may not have been diamons. Were you meaning it could've been that—a shade, I mean" I explained briefly, it felt like years ago that the alarms at the island had gone off at the California Greek Gods Imperial Army base which was literally in the middle of nowhere and no mortal knew about it. It was covered in some sort of protection so no mortal could see from the outside but that also meant it took about half an hour just to get off the island and find the nearest place for a cab; it took isolation to the next level. "Hm, one of the things, I suppose. There are lots of things out there but what you just saw then was a shade" He replied running a hand through his messy brown waves as I bent down to retrieve my hazardous backpack, suddenly realising how stupid I was. Stephanos was about to kick ass and I tripped up on my own bag, I actually hated myself right now. "What exactly is it?" "A shade is the black cloud shaped spirit you just saw, they either go into dead bodies, including mortals like so--" He gestured to Lucas with his one hand "or they go into alive bodies, it's so they can live for long periods of time but when they get angry they start to lash out and are dangerous because obviously when you attack them, you don't hurt them but just the body or vessel they've taken over so it's almost impossible to kill them and you can't capture them because they will leave the vessel in smoke form and if the human is alive they will kill them before leaving that vessel... so simply saying they are nasty things to get involved with" He explained going all professional on me like he normal did when giving me little teaching sessions but man, shades sounded like such a pain in the ass, it was one of those creatures that actually couldn't be killed it. And if they wormed their way into you, it was a death sentence for you also. I was even more thankful to the gods that Stephanos was here because otherwise it may have been two corpses that ended up on my hallway floor or worse I could be possessed by one of those things. "That means Lucas has been dead for..." My voice trailed off at my realisation, I hadn't been around to save him, not that I probably could've anyway but it still made me feel like shit. The tip of my sneakers now began kicking the floor lightly, I could 've tried to have saved him, I should have saved him. "About two months... Kaley, you know you can't save everyone" He told me with a harshness that didn't need to be in that sentence. I knew I couldn't save everybody, I could barely keep myself alive, it had been demonstrated perfectly a few seconds ago but it was the fact he made it sound like lives weren't precious. Lucas was just an ordinary man who fell in love and worked to support that family even with all its flaws and loved them entirely, he never saw any of this coming and it made my insides twist and my eyes stung painfully. "I know that Stephanos, just sucks that he probably died without even knowing anything. Death sort of cheated him in a way" I replied now turning to face him, continuing to ignore how my tag flared against the movement; his eyes were guarded and looking Lucas's body still as if his mind was elsewhere. "Death cheats everyone, Kaley. No one knows what the afterlife can bring. The only things we know are what are in the myths or stories told to us at school" He murmured back to me, losing interest now. I on the other hand, wished I had listened more in history or at least tried and looked into more about Greek mythology. It made me so curious about the beliefs they shared in the army. Greek mythology just seemed different than other religions I had been told about and it seemed to comfort a lot of these Sentinels knowing what may lie ahead and given death in their job was a high possibility, it made them almost fearless. "C'mon we need to head back before it gets dark" He continued now in a clear voice with a final sort of tone, basically saying 'let's stop talking about the dead sort of thing' and I couldn't blame him, it was draining topic to be speaking about but I did take something from it, I wanted to look into what my afterlife could possibly be like... where Alexis may be now. "Shouldn't we call the police about the body?" I asked suddenly breaking from thought and back to reality. I couldn't leave Lucas here on the floor like this, that just felt so wrong, immoral because either way he had been innocent and somehow he had died. Whether it be by my Mom or something else and to be honest I didn't know which was worse, it was something I just didn't want to find out because it meant thinking about my Mom again and that was a hard subject to think about right now. Not only that I also hoped Lucas didn't know what happened to him and that it was quick and painless because if it had been my Mom then that was just be so wrong for him to have known the woman he adored killed him. "What and have them come find us two with him, no witnesses, me with weapons. Not to mention no one has seen you in about two months or your... Mother for that matter. Yes, please do call the police, Kaley because I have to say orange suits me very well. How about you?" He told me sarcastically, shoving his hands in his trouser front pockets, strolling casually to the door as if the situation didn't affect him at all. How many bodies do you have to see to not care about where they were? Everyone deserved respect when they died, it was their final resting place after all. Meanwhile, I gave an exasperated huff, I couldn't deny that he was right though, it would be highly suspicious and I'd basically be calling them to arrest us. However, it didn't stop my tummy from turning and my brain screaming about how disgustingly immoral it was to leave Lucas in such a way. I forced myself to move closer to Lucas, unable to look away from his decomposing features, he had such kind and sweet features. Bending down, ignoring the pain from my wound, I ran my fingers over his eyelids, closing them and I almost believed for a split second he was just sleeping but the coldness from his skin broke me from that illusion quickly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope you're at peace and with the version of my Mom you treasured" I whispered to him, hoping perhaps he would hear me but I was doubtful. I took a shaky breath in and straighten up, my face pained from the movement, however I ignored it and made myself turn around towards the door but I dared to glance back at Lucas, until we meet again, I thought and with that I closed the door. Stephan hadn't made it far, however I still rushed to catch up to him, shaking the guilty feeling off me, though can't say it worked. On the other hand, I guess Stephanos was back to his usual ways toward me then because that helped my shitty mood perfectly, not. "I'm surprised you even know the colour of a prison uniform is" I replied with a sarcastic-shocked tone as I couldn't help but look back towards my house, trying to ignore the fact there was a rotting corpse on my hallway floor, perhaps Stephanos really should've ignited the house when he was going too, there was too much trouble past and pain in this house now. The dirt path way looked so dry now and the day seemed dull and less... blue, I had to remind myself of all the peace I had made today but after that it almost felt stupid, I felt stupid for believing the world was so pure and innocent but that had been when I was mortal and maybe today was me letting go completely of that part of me. Once I had broken out of who am I sort of thought bubble I noticed that Stephanos was now about to go out of sight, walking in the direction where a dark green brush was going to block my view of him, he walked so professionally, almost strict like but somehow it still had a causal and relaxed element to it as well unlike me who walked like I had two left feet. I honestly couldn't believe sometimes that he was the best Sentinel at the place, it was like he didn't have a care in the world but he must have, he killed for a living that had to take a toll on someone... surely? When I made my way around the shrub type plant, which by the way hit me in the face, twice, I found a BMW brand sedan parked at an angle, it was black and dusty like it had just done a fishtail stop, all the windows were tinted, plain to say, it looked like something a fucking vampire or drug lord would drive. "You always have to stop and stare at things, don't you?" Stephanos spoke opening the car door of the driver side as if he was curious about me being curious but I only stared at things because I was so memorised by it and it took my brain to take a second to process how expensive everything the army owned. I had never had the type of lifestyle Stephanos has or any of the pure-bloods for that matter. "Is this your car?" I asked, deciding to ignore his comment because it wasn't worth the hassle and I knew Stephanos would only tease me more and I was too drained at this point to play his game. Instead, I stepped towards it, how much would one of these even cost? I didn't know Stephan owed a car, I thought they were all far too posh to drive themselves places from how often they had chauffeur to drive their limos everywhere. However, I already knew they were all stinking rich, like stupidly and pointlessly rich, they had more money than what they could actually spend type of rich which is why they could afford multiple expensive cars but it just seemed silly that they should even just have one if they hardly left the island and the island wasn't big in itself. There were smaller islands leading off the main island but that was mostly where families owned houses there but didn't live in them full-time might I just add and I was pretty sure you had to travel by rowing boat for most of them. "Indeed it is. Will you be walking behind or getting in?"
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A/N- Ah time to start the sequel! I'm so excited! I really hope you enjoy it. And remember I love feedback about how I can improve so feel free to leave it in the comments. I will try my hardest to reply to everyone's comments because they make me so happy to read and see what everyone thinks about a certain chapter or the overall novel.
So remember stay safe, be nice to each other and keep on reading books!
- Molly L. Jade xxx
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The Apollyon's Revenge. Book #2.
Romance*SEQUEL TO THE LAST HALF-BLOOD* Kaley Leandros is the Last Half-Blood on the planet ever but until recently she had been growing up in the mortal world. Not knowing what she was or who her family and friends were too. After months of training from...
