“I’m going to take you inside, one of my husbands is a doctor.” I tried to stand but she tugged me back down again.
“No, you don’t understand. I’m not going to survive this either way. I’m sorry that what I have to do will come at such a price. If there were any way I could prevent that, know that I would do it.”
Even though she wasn’t making sense, I’d become engrossed in her words as a sick feeling settled in my stomach. “What price? What am I doing that involves a sacrifice?” I tried brushing some of her hair back from her face and felt her scorching hot forehead.
“You have to save the world again. You have to prevent Alistair from destroying the humans, and the only way you can is if I send you back to before the war happened.” Her words were absurd, and I could barely form a thought to argue them with my head starting to spin in confusion. “I’m the last witch alive, and if I’m gone, there will be no one guarding the portal. If the portal opens, the world will be destroyed again, and this time, there will be no going back.”
I blinked and a tear dropped from my eyelashes. Why was I crying? “You said something about a price? And what do you mean by send me back?”
“You’ll never see this version of your family again. Your children. Your husbands. You can get them back, but they won’t be the same.”
In a rush, I straightened and turned as if the world had slowed to a crawl, facing the house where Gwen stood next to Knight and Arthur. Even with my brain trying to wrap itself around this, I reached out to them just as Serene shot her hand out to grasp my ankle. An electric shot went up my leg and I sprang away from her only for her body to fall dead on the ground.
“Mommy!” Gwen cried out to me, running towards me from the steps of the porch with Knight behind her. My legs were stuck to the earth, I couldn’t move. My hand reached to them, but before they could get to me, everything disappeared into a flood of black.
Blood and coffee
I woke up to the scent of blood in my room. Blood and coffee.
Wait. No. I’ve done this before.
I shot up from my bed —when was I in bed… oh god. All around me was a room I hadn’t seen in over fifty years. The cream walls, the vanilla carpet, the golden comforter.
And to my side was…
A shirtless Cameron looked up from his phone, a grin on his perfect, beautiful face. “Sorry, you were shouting in your slee—” I cut him off, launching myself off the bed and into his arms where our combined weight broke the chair he was sitting on.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” I repeated, kissing him all over his face with one chaste kiss to his lips before I hugged him to my body so tightly he grunted in pain.
Cameron was back. He wasn’t dead anymore. He wasn’t a smoking corpse in the city that held me captive for years with that fucking bastard Hendrix. And the fact that Cameron was here meant…
Selene had sent me back in time. Back to the day before my life had changed forever.
Tomorrow Simon would cross the vampire border, and if I wasn’t there to protect him, someone else might see him and do the unspeakable thing that I couldn’t do: kill a child. It would only make sense that someone else had been there, because how else had the Order found out?
“Why are you kissing me? That’s so gross, stop it!” I hugged him through his protests until he hung limp against me. A knock sounded at the front door of the suite and my memories of this day flipped out like file folders, running over my eyes until I was efficiently refreshed on everything.
I had no time to feel the whiplash of time travel. My first action had to be finding the Highborn school thing. Looking down, I saw the compass around my neck with the needle pointing steadily right out my window. I had to get my children and my husbands back. Nothing else mattered.
“That’ll be Othello,” Cameron smarted in annoyance. Ahh shit, I’d have to go through the motions of this day. Goddd, I did not want to do this. I wanted to leave immediately and get my life back from that fucking witch.
“Yes, that man does not know when to quit,” I said before I could stop myself, popping a hand over my mouth as Cameron raised a curious eyebrow at me. I’d said exactly what he was going to say.
“Yeah. That. Be sure to let him down easy this time.” He helped extricate us both from the broken chair and sat down on the edge of my bed to continue with his game, leaving me to deal with another face I hadn’t seen in many years. A robe waited for me on the handle of my bathroom door and I put it on while heading towards the front door, steeling myself for this moment with gritted teeth.
I opened the heavy door and came face to face with my ancient nemesis, the leader of my Order, Othello, who was holding a bouquet of roses to offset his deathly pale face. God, he was as gross looking as I remembered. I pasted on a smile and leaned against my doorway, making sure to keep the door as closed as possible so he wouldn’t see Cameron when he came from my room in about ten seconds.
“Those for me?”
Othello brightened like a light, my sudden enthusiasm very different from how I used to treat him back in that day, and he chimed in with his thick British butler accent. “Yes, of course! Good morning, Lisbeth.”
“Morning, boss.” Ahh, this was a good day. I wasn’t in charge of the entire fucking race of vampires yet. Maybe I never would be now. Yay me.
Othello’s vacant eyes eagerly followed my movements as I marveled at the beautiful flowers in his hands. It had been so long since I’d seen roses as lovely as the ones he’s brought me. “Yes, yes. It’s almost time for the meeting. It’ll be in the drawing-room.”
We both said his last line simultaneously.
“The bigger one.”
I finger gunned him and winked. “Totes. Got it, boss man. However, I kind of have a date today. I’m busy.”
He was taken aback, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that I’d even consider looking for someone else to fill my bed. He covered the emotion quickly, adjusting his jacket and cravat before slicking down his greasy hair in one movement. “We have the turning, Lisbeth. This is your role here; I won’t have you shirking your responsibilities.”
I clicked my tongue and shrugged, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling. “I’d agree with you, but this is one hot piece of ass we’re talking about. I can’t just not go. Can we re-schedule to tomorrow?” Not that I was planning on being there the next day, but it wasn’t like I had a solid plan yet.
Othello looked like I’d just flashed him my boobs, completely flabbergasted to silence that was only broken by partial words as he tried to form a response. “You… This isn’t…”
“I feel ya, boss man,” I comforted, throwing a hand out to pat him on his jacketed shoulder. “But if you’ll recall, I’ve never asked for anything ever. Can’t I get just one little bitty tiny pass?” I held out two fingers to make a tiny space between them and stuck out my bottom lip. God, I was flirting with the ugliest guy in the world.
He was flustered for a few more seconds before he adjusted his jacket again and straightened his spine. “Okay, we will postpone the turning one day. Only one.”
“Awesome! High five!” I held out a hand and Othello stared at it like it had poison thorns. Shit. I wasn’t acting like old me at all. This was me after over sixty years of being married to Knight.
Fuck. He wasn’t with me yet. The memory he was out there not even knowing who I was did not sit well with me. I remembered the look on his face before I’d disappeared, and the look on Gwen’s face as she ran towards me with fear all over her beautiful little features. Fear that she’d never see her mother again.
“Lisbeth, darling. What’s wrong?”
With a deep sniff, I emerged from the memory still standing in my doorway and Othello’s hand was on my shoulder. I shrugged him off, wiping at the tears that had appeared during my throwback. “Sorry,” I mumbled to him and sniffed a few times. “See you tomorrow.” I closed the door on him and sank slowly to the carpet. My old friend, this ugly expensive ca
rpet. You haven’t yet experienced what it’s like for me to be on top of you for weeks on end until your fibers are melded into my skin. Let’s hope it never comes to that.
“You okay?” Cameron was behind me, wearing a shirt this time, and I stood, straightening up to my full height, trying to smile at him.
“I’m great. I just have some things to do today. You okay on your own?” Leaving him would be torture, but he was alive now. I wasn’t going to let him die again. Never again.
“I’m not a goldfish that dies if you look away,” he snarked with that perfect grin of his.
“Right, well, better get downstairs, that orange juice won’t drink itself,” I said with a gesture to the door.
“Don’t you need to feed?” he asked before moving towards the door. “You rescheduled the turning, so you’ll need some blood.”
“I’ll be fine. What’s one day without blood?” I shrugged and hooked his arm to usher him out, closing the door behind him. Unbeknownst to him, Arthur and I had gladly gone hungry sometimes to make sure our children had enough blood from their father. Humans had been scarce before and he was the best candidate for blood. Always being thirsty had become somewhat normal to me, but I’d need more if I wanted to use my powers constantly.
After getting dressed into the least fashionable outfit I had, blue jeans with a blue jean jacket, a plain black tee, and boots designed by someone of zero notoriety, I compiled a list of things I needed as I packed a backpack with clothes and other things.
With my bag almost full, I automatically went to my nightstand drawer for the christening artifacts from my children’s ceremonies, because that’s exactly where I would’ve kept it here. The drawer only had a brush and some mints, and though my brain threatened to be overcome from everything happening to me, I squared my shoulders and left my room behind.
Down in the kitchen, I was packing up some snacks when Olivier entered through the side door that opened up to the patio outside. Looking almost identical to the Olivier from my old life, minus a few scars here and there, she saw me stuffing my backpack as full as it would go with granola bars and twinkies, and leaned against the counters, placing a hand on her hip.
“Going somewhere?”
“Yeah,” I said absently, focused on this task so I could be focused on the next until the tasks ended and my family was back in my arms.
“Roses, huh?”
I chanced a look up at her and she had a knowing look on her face. Oh, right. Othello. I tried an ironic laugh that came out like a limp noodle. “Roses, yep,” I said, popping my lips with the last syllable while zipping up my bag.
“Lis.” I timidly met her eyes to see she had a expression of gentle concern, an emotion that both versions of Olivier rarely displayed. “What’s the matter? And what in god’s name are you wearing?”
Crossing the distance between us, I swept her up in a hug and wished I could tell her everything. I knew what had happened last time, I’d put her at risk with my secrets, and if I saved Simon again, she’d be recruited to hunt me down again.
Oh god, Arthur.
I had to get out of here. I needed to go back home so I could tell them all I loved them so much. Selene said it was a one way trip, but there’s no way that could be true. She did it once, she can do it again.
“I love you, Olivier. You’re my best friend,” I whispered against her shoulder. Her timid hands came up to embrace me back and I felt the questions building up inside her over my behavior. I pulled away and left before she could search my eyes again and see everything I was trying to hide. I made the journey down to the basement where the turned dormitory and its rows of empty coffins greeted me. They should be full of newly turned vampires, but that hadn’t happened yet. I was changing things already. Was that good or bad? Would it effect the future I came from?
Trotting as fast as I could, I got to the underground garage and clicked the fob to light up the car that belonged to me. It wasn’t my old Excalibur. Maybe we’d meet again on this new journey. I pulled up and out of the garage where the front gates opened up for me automatically, then I turned left and sped off down the deserted country road because I had one more stop before finding Highborn.
I had to talk to Balthazar.
Highborn
When I was far enough away from the castle, I stopped my car off the side of the road and got out, traversing down the ditch to a field of prickly grass. Then I breathed deeply and spoke the words Balthazar taught me.
“Balzjanyóur nappnia lanliápob,” I shouted as loudly as I could. A puff of lilacs smacked me in the face and Balthazar appeared before me with his tailored suit and cane that he tapped against his shiny leather shoe. He was instantly wary of me, his blue eyes running up and down me to find what was different.
“I never taught you how to do that,” he said, squinting at me. “You’re not my Lisbeth. You’re a Lisbeth, but not mine. Where did you come from?”
A sigh of relief escaped my lips. I knew it wouldn’t be this easy with the other two men, but Balthazar I could always count on. “The future. Specifically, sixty-seven years into the future.”
His eyebrows raised in surprised as he tapped more with the cane. “What’s it like?”
“It blows. Literally, like…” I motioned with my hands in an explosion gesture, making the sound with my mouth. Bwooookkksshh. “Apocalypse happened. Humans are almost extinct. You were put in jail, that was nice, especially since I tasked you with watching someone important to me and you were arrested before I could get back to him.” I waited for Balthazar to say something, but he was studying me carefully, picking up on things I’d said, and more importantly things I hadn’t said.
“There’s only one reason I’d be arrested,” he noted, his eyes narrowing. “Who was the person you left me with? Boyfriend?” I didn’t answer, and that told him enough. “Son then.”
“We’re not talking about that.”
“Then what are we talking about?” A small grin pulled at the corners of his mouth and my stomach flipped over. I’d forgotten how much he used to flirt with me before we had sex. Once that happened, everything between us was strictly business. I’d also forgotten how attractive I used to find him.
I cleared my throat and brushed at one of my curls to distract the growing warmth in my mid-section. “I’ve been sent back by the witches.” His eyebrows raised in shock again, but he remained silent. “Apparently the apocalypse wiped them out completely and they were guarding some kind of portal or some crap, and everything was going to shit if it remained unguarded. I don’t know, she died before I could get clarification.”
He humphed out an ironic laugh. “Should’ve known the witches would get involved with us sooner or later. Non-involvement treaty, my ass.”
“You knew witches existed and you never fucking told me?” I hissed at him, ready to bring a hand out to smack him as punishment for withholding. “You and your fucking secrets, I swear to god. First my grandmother and now this?”
That stopped him cold and he stepped forward to grab my arm with a dark look on his face. “What did future me tell you about her? How much do you know?”
I pried his fingers off me before he left a bruise. “Everything. The Countess, Anastasia. I know everything.” He stepped away like I’d slapped him, stumbling back and using his cane to steady himself. “Future us had no secrets. Except for the witches, I suppose. Where did they come from, by the way?”
“Where all the other creatures did. Demons mixing with humans.”
“Other creatures?” I spit between clenched teeth. “You’d better start talking, you incorporeal piece of ass.”
“You realize that’s not an insult.”
“TALK.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Fine. When your psycho mother almost destroyed vampires and werewolves, vampires decided to remain closed off from the rest of the world. They didn’t want to be involved with witches, centaurs, faeries, the unicorns, or any of them.”
“Unicorn
s are real?”
“Focus,” he ordered with a stern look. “So the magical world agreed to cut your kind off from theirs. You were never to know they existed because the magical beasts are at war with witches. They have been for as long as you’ve been alive. Something happened between them that I was never told about. I’m not even sure they remember anymore. But because vampires were almost destroyed, they wanted to stay out of it. Your kind couldn’t afford to lose more people ever. Even though Lycans are part of the magical war, it wasn’t possible to erase them from vampire society because of how close your two species are.”
Pacing the prickly grass, I clutched a hand to my aching forehead and tried to wrap my mind around this information. “Okay. But, I was part of the vampire Council in my timeline. They never told me any of this.”
“Of course they wouldn’t have. Most of them don’t even know about it. Those that did are sworn to secrecy. The witches put a spell on the vampires so they’d never mention it unless someone else did first. I cautioned they should do the same for Anastasia’s story, but they insisted they couldn’t just in case she came back. I’m guessing she did.” His spiteful tone brought my eyes back to him with a sharp glare.
“Not in the way you think. She saved us. She’s actually pretty cool now.”
He laughed loudly, ironically, like I was hilarious. “Your future sounds ridiculous. There’s no way Anastasia Bathory is ‘pretty cool.’”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a teasing smile. “Haha, laugh it up, Incubus. She’s related to you in my future.”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 84