Liam POV

Kathleen and I have been travelling for a good day in earth time. She brought me into the portal near the house and said we had to travel to the site of my murder from there. I didn’t even remember where I was murdered; the only thing I know is that I was from Wolverhampton so I suppose we are going there.

Travelling in this portal is strange and quite different from the journey from the kingdom to the human world. Probably the easiest way to describe it is you first travel to your desired location by a platform where a high-speed shuttle makes stops at locations. You travel in parallel to traffic in the real world but concealed from the human world. Once you arrive at your location, the trip gets real interesting.

“Liam, the next stop is ours,” Kathleen snaps me out of my thoughts.

“Can you finally tell me where we are going?” I ask with a hint of irritation. She has given me very little information since we left the house yesterday and it’s pissing me off. I mean, this was my former human life and my existence on the line.

“Birmingham,” her response is curt.

“Why there? That’s a good half our, at least, from Wolverhampton.”

“It’s where you were murdered.”

“How do you know that I was murdered away from Wolverhampton?”

“Louis told me the location,” Kathleen says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Louis knew?! He never told me!!! How could he do that to me?! Does he hate me that much?!”

“No Liam, please calm down. Louis only found out because he wants to help you and he was afraid you’d run off and meet a fate worse than death if you tried to deal with this on your own. And you know he loves you like a brother so stop with the self-pity and get your anger issues under control. You really are a tiresome creature.”

An ‘hmph’ is the only response she gets from me. I’m over a century old and Kathleen is treating me like I’m a child.

“Now, if you will control yourself, I can tell you that you were murdered in an alley outside of the Rusty Nail Pub.”

“Did I work there?”

“Yes, why? You don’t remember?”

“No, I don’t. My human memories have mostly faded away.”

“Do you remember your family and friends at all?”

“Barely anymore. I remember my mum and dad and my sisters. The only friends I remember are Zayn and Niall. Niall was an Irishman who could put down his weight in food. Zayn was a stable boy. I just can’t remember events or anything else.” It saddens me that my human memories have faded to almost nothing.

“Does it make you sad? Never being human, I don’t know what it feels like to have a whole other life before this.”

“Why are you being nice to me?”

“Liam, what are you about? I’ve always been nice to you. I’m not participating in this adventure to hurt you. This is all to help you even though you might not be happy about it.” She smiles at me.

“Happy about it? I’m damn angry.”

“Yes, you are too damn angry an increasing amount of the time. That’s the point.”

“Bit too convenient to get me out of the way if you ask me.”

“Liam, you are the most exasperating being I’ve ever met. You know Louis loves you like a brother. How many times does he have to tell you. No one hates you! Well, maybe except for Felis; he might actually hate you.” She winks and I try not to chuckle, but I can’t help it.

“Yes, I think it’s safe to say he definitely hates me. I just never understood why.” Kathleen shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head because it’s a mystery to her too.

“Oh, we’re here. Are you ready to learn more about your past?”

“It appears I don’t have much of a choice Kathleen.”

“Stay close to me once we leave the platform so no harm comes to you,” she cautions and I nod. We step out of the shuttle and onto the platform.

“Okay Liam. Now what we will do is walk to the location that Louis gave me.”

“He knows the exact location?”

“Yes and that it was a violent murder, but that is all he was told.”

“Why?”

“I am guessing because your unresolved murder made you a dangerous soul because of the resulting rage.”

“Oh.” I guess maybe this is all starting to make sense. Maybe I shouldn’t fight it so hard.

“Once we get to the location, then we must time travel. It’s an unbelievable experience I can’t describe.”

“If it wasn’t leading to me eternal rest, perhaps I’d be a little more excited.”

“Understandable.”

We walk for a good half hour until I see a Burberry boutique with a picture of Louis and Isla modeling the latest line in the front window.

“Oh you have to be shitting me?!” I yell in disbelief.

“Well, if this isn’t destiny I don’t know what is.” Kathleen laughs.

“This is not funny,” I protest.

“Actually, it is. However, this store sits on the original site of The Rusty Nail where you were murdered. Come along.”

I stood there awhile gazing at the life size photo of Louis and Isla and missing them more than I thought possible. I don’t want to lose either of them regardless of how I behaved. Kathleen tugged on my arm and I moved from my spot.

“We need to go across the street to enter the time portal so that when we come out, we can watch the scene of your murder from a safe distance.”

I followed Kathleen away from the store towards the other side of the street. Once we reach the middle of the road, Kathleen pulls out a crystal wand from her pocket and begins to draw the outline of a door frame. A clear door opens and we walk through the frame and literally into another world. As we walk, the outside remains the same initially and then it begins to change as we travel through time and the history of this intersection. It’s interesting to see the changes in businesses, architecture, and the people in the scenes that quickly pass before my eyes. Eventually, we are back 150 years to the Victorian Era. I can tell because things look oddly familiar to me as if they were part of my history.

“We’ve arrived Liam. When we walk out, we’ll stay in view of the alley, but we’ll have to wait until nightfall for the exact time of your murder.”

“Lead the way Kathleen.” Suddenly, I feel nervous that I am going to have to view my murder.

Hours pass and finally, the sun sets. As we wait, the streets clear out. I know the moment is coming, I can actually feel it in my being.

“Liam look!” Kathleen exclaims and points across the way and I see my human form in the alley carrying out trash cans.

“You were quite the looker as a human.” Kathleen winks at me.

“Really Kathleen? We’re about to watch my murder and you are hitting on me?”

“No, but I would have hit on you in your human form.” I roll my eyes and then my breath hitches as I see a familiar figure enter the alley.

“I can’t believe HE is my murderer! How could he?”

Anger boils inside of me I didn’t know it was possible to feel; it’s a murderous rage. I watch as he throws my human body against the wall of the building in the back alley and plunges a large knife into my body repeatedly. I move to rush to the alley to attack but Kathleen stops me with one arm and I struggle against her. Her phone rings, she answers it but does not speak, and then hangs up after only saying ‘yes’.

“Let me go Kathleen! I am going to kill that asshole! I can’t believe he did this to me!!”

“No can do Liam. I have my orders you are not to leave this portal.”

“Noooooo! Let me go! I’m going to kill him!” I scream and continue to struggle.

“You can’t kill him, but you know the truth now. Unfortunately for both of us, I can’t let you do anything about it and you will have to remain here.”

“Louis said I was coming back before I left forever.”

“Change in plans Liam.”

How in the hell was I going to get out of this mess?

Notes

Thank you all so much for waiting for this update! As a reward for your patience, you are going to get a double update from me. I added more to this chapter than I planned so it warrants being broken up into two chapters. The second chapter will be up shortly. Hope you enjoy!

Who do you think murdered Liam??? Who called Kathleen and why won't she let Liam leave??