The Pentagram Child(54)

Draven had sat at the head of the table and I still remember staring at that strange symbol just showing on the high back above his head. It was the same as my birth mark and to this day I still didn’t know what it meant. Sophia had interrupted my thoughts when she thrust a loaded plate in my hand with what looked like two of everything on it, before manhandling me until I was sat down on Draven’s left.

I think in all the time I had been in Draven’s life it was the first meal I had seen them all sit down together to eat. Vincent had given me a wink as he bit into his cinnamon roll and then made me laugh when moaning out loud and slowly rolling his eyes in obvious pleasure. Sophia just rolled her eyes for a different reason before throwing a sugar cube at him.

“You look like a pig.” She had chastised and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing as Zagan grabbed his own cinnamon roll and did the same as Vincent, only louder.

“Ah pigs!” She complained dramatically, only it would have been more convincing without her fighting a grin.

“Well at least one of the men at this table is behaving himself in front of the ladies.” She said nodding at Draven, who I had not been able to look at until now.

“Yeah, but he is trying to impress someone, so it doesn’t count.” Vincent said mischievously winking at me again and igniting my blushing cheeks.

“You need not try and impress me my Lord, I have seen you devour your food many a time.” Zagan said nodding at his lord and the whole table erupted into laughter, even Draven. It was such an unusual but wonderful experience that I couldn’t help but instantly file the memory away as one of my favourites.

After such an easy going start to the day I thought that having Draven drive me home to get ready for my shift would have been the part where it got bizarre between us but I was happily wrong. We just chatted about the new things going on in my life and obviously avoided Alex’s name like the plague. However I did get the impression Draven was holding himself back on asking me about him.

At the end before getting out of the car I turned to him and said,

“I’m not gonna lie and pretend it hasn’t been nice seeing you again Draven…I’m… I’m glad we can still be…be friends.” I stumbled a little bit before forcing the words of friendship past my lips. It was almost as though I was pushing against some invisible force of blasphemy just thinking them, let alone saying them out loud. I didn’t miss the way his eyes had flashed with purple anger, one he hid just as quickly by looking out of his window for long seconds. Had he been trying to compose himself? Had my words of friendship hurt him and if they had, then what was it he wanted from me if not friendship?



“Catherine?” I shook my head and focused back on the man in front of me. Alex laughed and commented,

“I think I lost you there, you looked miles away.”

“Sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind…erm you know, packing, passport and stuff.” I said rushing out the last part to hide my slip up about what was really going on in my jumbled messed up head.

“Don’t worry about a thing, ma chérie, soon we will be on a plane together and leaving behind any of life’s distractions.” He said pulling me to him and brushing some of my hair behind my ear. I didn’t have to look up as much as I did with Draven and I tried to turn this into a positive thing. However my mind quickly rebelled against me, reminding me how much I used to love the feeling of Draven’s massive body towering over me, making me feel both consumed by his presence and immense safety from the brutal and raw strength he possessed.

“Distractions would be a good thing to lose right now.” I mumbled truthfully, looking down to the side and feeling lost in the depths of my confusion.

“Great, then I will say goodbye for now my darling and I will see you later.” He said cupping my face and bringing it back round ready for, painfully, my first kiss of the day. The only thing I was grateful for was that it was a little more than a brief joining of our lips before it was over. The whole thing left me feeling cheap and conflicted. I didn’t want to be that woman who took advantage of a good man but on the other hand this was Draven we were talking about. How could I ever find enough restraint around him? No, there was only one thing to be done about it…

I needed to stay away from him.

Yeah, this was what I would do, I would make it so I didn’t see Draven again before I went away with Alex and then I could use the time to figure out where my relationship with Alex was going without being reminded of what I once had. I needed to focus on the future and who I wanted to spend it with, not the past and who I had lost back there.