Someone knocked on the door, and when I didn’t answer, they (Arthur) walked in anyway, and the other footsteps meant we had an audience for whatever he was going to say.
“Are you done pouting?” he asked blankly.
“Fuck you,” I threw over my shoulder from where I lay on my bed, looking out one of my windows where some birds were fluttering around because their lives were fabulous and perfect. Fucking birds.
“We’ve had a talk, all three of us,” he continued. God damn it. “You’re keeping something from us about the life we had in your time.”
“Go away. I’m done talking about that. It’s over. I’m never getting them… that back.” Arthur’s feet stomped across the room and he ripped the blanket off me, exposing me wearing short shorts and a tank top. I glared up at him. “You’re lucky I don’t sleep naked.”
“Tell us what you’re hiding,” he barked at me, so fiercely I winced.
“Please,” Knight added, coming up beside Arthur, and that did me in.
Standing, I opened the drawer of my bureau and pulled out the necklace with four circles of hair, three black and one blonde. I held it up where all three could see it before clasping it around my neck and letting it settle between my breasts.
“Is that our hair?” Balthazar asked, looking at it curiously.
“No,” I answered, staring up at Arthur, then I dropped my eyes and clasped the necklace front. “The witches took much more from me than the life we had together.” I pointed to the top slot on the necklace. “Balthazar gave me Kitty.” My fingers moved with each child to each bundle of hair. “Then Knight gave me Jason. Arthur gave me Dreya. And then Knight gave me Gwen.”
I dropped both hands and felt the life draining out of me.
“The witches gave me a potion to get them back, but it won’t happen now. Before you ask, it’s because all three of you have to fall in love with me for the potion to work, and I know that’s far too much to ask of you. Two of you hardly know me, and Balthazar is still in love with my grandmother. So here.” I unclasped the necklace and held it out for one of them to take. “I’m giving up. I won’t get them back, and you don’t have to help me. You can all go back to your lives and I’ll save the world on my own. It was selfish of me to bring you here.”
Knight took the necklace and I dropped my arm like it had turned to lead. “Would’ve been nice to know before now, considering you interrupted very important plans I made with a cheeseburger later.”
“We won’t promise to love you,” Arthur informed me, and I felt even more shattered. “But the witches took you from us too. If they’d done nothing, we’d be with you, and our children would be here. I for one won’t let that sacrifice fade away into nothing. And if we don’t stop this Alistair then it will.”
I loved him so much.
“We brought you some food, and the Council will be ready soon,” Balthazar said. “I’d like to hear about my daughter.”
My lip trembled and I shook my head. “No, I can’t talk about them yet, but… I can show you.” I put my hands out to them. “You have to touch me.” They all approached without another word, but Arthur slipped his hand around my waist first.
“Anything to get our hands on you,” he grunted, the most humor I’d seen on him in this timeline, and it brought a smile to my face even though I was broken inside. Knight put his hand on my shoulder while Balthazar clasped my fingers with his.
Using the last of my blood reserves, I opened up their minds and put us down in a field next to our home. Knight recognized it immediately as his childhood home, but he was side-swiped by a tiny Gwen running past him, trying desperately to escape Jason as he chased her around the yard. Kitty stood at the picnic table setting up for lunch while Dreya sat on the front steps crocheting Gwen a little yarn hat.
The sight of my babies had me doubled over, and I felt someone pull me close to them outside our heads in the real world to steady me.
“Where are we?” Arthur asked, his eyes fixed on Dreya’s movements, a hint of a smile pulling on his lips when she grinned at her siblings’ antics.
“This was our home. This is a memory from two years ago,” I explained, so weakened by the pain inside that I could barely keep the illusion up.
The other Knight, Arthur, and myself walked out of the front door, with Arthur holding one of her hands while Knight swept her up in a passionate kiss that all the children made faces over.
“Mooom, we’re about to eat. That’s grossss,” Gwen blurted out from her big brother’s arms once he’d finally caught her.
The other me laughed against Knight’s lips and kissed him again just for good measure before Arthur took her away only to kiss her so deeply it took her breath away.
The stoic Kitty approached them and smiled one of her rare smiles. “Happy birthday, Mom.” The other three children echoed her sentiment, along with my husbands who continued kissing the other me even with the kids complaining.
That day had been heaven. A party with my babies. A night of passion with my lovers. I could’ve never asked for more.
My strength waned and the image broke as my knees gave out. I was in Knight’s arms, he’d been the one to keep me from breaking.
There was no help now. That day was gone forever. They were too.
Knight picked me up and carried me to the living room where they’d set up a tray on the coffee table with my lunch and a bag of blood I desperately needed. I reached for it with shaking hands and Arthur quickly picked it up, pierced it with a straw and handed it to me. Taking long pulls of it, I tried not to gag and finished it as fast as possible, tossing it onto the coffee table. The blood flowed through me and refreshed my powers, but it did little for the deep ache in my chest. I tried to stand but Knight’s hand tugged on mine so I’d say seated.
“You need to eat,” he urged, but I pulled back until he let me up.
“No, I have to go save the fucking world. It needs everything from me again, and I’m going to fuck it in the ass right back so it knows not to mess with Lisbeth fucking Bathory again.”
“Bathory?” Arthur instantly asked, because that was the important part.
“Put your big boy pants on. We’re about to fuck all the shit up.”
The future hates me
I marched out of my room with my three men on my tail, very aware I hadn’t showered in days and I was wearing pajamas. My hair was probably messed up, and there was no telling how rank my breath had become.
I didn’t care. I was done crying, I was done taking this lightly.
We didn’t stop until we were outside of the bigger drawing-room doors, ready to bust them wide open by ripping on the handles until the room was exposed and I could see that stupid giant desk they’d used in my time.
Without waiting for an invitation, I marched up as they were still discussing what they were going to have for dinner. Typical.
“Yo,” I said with a wave at them, automatically looking to Castilla, the only one on the Council who wasn’t a moron. “We’re here. Can we do the thing?” Arthur growled next to me and I expected an ear flick, but he chose not to punish me. Yet.
Othello looked prim and proper, all the giddy crush gone from his face. “I’ve informed them about your insubordination of bringing a werewolf into our house.”
Nark.
“We can begin,” Castilla told him, sitting down while the other Council members did the same. “Arthur, you brought us here because you received intelligence about a threat to us.”
“Correct. Lisbeth here was the one who told me about a vampire named Alistair that is rallying an army against us.”
“She hardly seems credible,” Estinien grumped, giving me an unimpressed once over. “I’m still confused as to why you vouched for her at her trial, Arthur. You don’t seem the type to put your faith in someone as simple as her.”
The fuck did you just say?
“You know what, fuck this.” I stepped up to the desk as Estinien griped about my language so
I shot him the finger. “Everyone put a hand on me. I have something to show you.” Castilla was the first to do so, with everyone following suit, getting up from their seats to lay a hand on me somewhere. I felt Arthur, Knight, and Balthazar get in the mix, standing behind me in case I faltered again.
It took all of my strength to connect the minds of so many I hadn’t drunk from, but I’d worked on my abilities for years to do just that. I showed them all the highlights of my timeline.
Me saving Simon. Running from Arthur. Meeting Knight. Falling in love with him. Being captured. My endless trial. Becoming the leader of my Order. The hidden feelings I had for Arthur. Having Kitty. Finding my parents. Leading us to victory against the turned army. Having Jason. Alistair destroying the world. Having Dreya. Finding Salvation. Losing Arthur. Losing Cameron and Merrick. Hendrix’s cruelty. Kitty and Arthur returning to me. Defeating Hendrix. Having Gwen.
And then that last day, when Selene found me and told me she was the last witch alive and that I had to go back in time to prevent Alistair from destroying everything, and seeing Gwen and Knight’s face for the last time as they ran towards me before I disappeared into blackness, as I did again in the drawing-room, falling back into Knight’s arms and passing out.
When I came to, I was in my bed with an IV in my arm connected to several blood bags on a metal IV stand beside me. My head was spinning as I sat up and I clutched it with a groan.
“Easy, take it easy,” someone, Knight, said to my right. His hands came up and he pressed me back against the pillows.
“You stupid woman, you drained yourself completely,” Arthur chastised on my other side. “You’ve been asleep for days.” He said that, but what I heard was he’d been beside himself with worry over me. “You’re lucky you woke up at all.”
“Mmm,” I buzzed, taking his hand and putting it to my lips. “There’s no way I wouldn’t wake up with you taking care of me, you big icicle.” I kissed his scarred knuckles, one after the other. “I love you.” Another dizzy spell hit me when I flipped my head over to Knight and I reached out for his hand too that I gently kissed. “And I love you. I know you don’t want me to. But I do.”
“What about me?” Balthazar was by my feet, and I smiled at him in my haze.
“I’ve always loved you, silly.” The effort to focus was more than I had in me, but I managed to look up at Arthur. “What happened with the Council? Did they decide not to care?
“Yes.”
I groaned and squeezed his hand. “Stupid cautious fucks. They almost got us killed several times because they’re all morons.”
“They were pretty impressed with your powers, though,” Knight offered, lacing his fingers with mine.
Balthazar clutched my foot, massaging the sole gently. “I quite enjoyed the movie of your life. I noticed you didn’t show us fucking. What was it like?”
I giggled and my head throbbed. “It was pretty awesome. But my first time with Knight was much better.” I leaned into his hand and snuggled it, happy to have his scent enveloping me in my sleepy state.
“Humph,” Balthazar grumped. “There’s no way he was better than me. I’m an Incubus.”
“Blah blah blah, your dick is mind blowing, we know,” I mumbled, and drifted off to sleep against Knight’s fingers.
Unaware how long I’d slept again, I woke up for a second time in my bed, this time missing the IV, but I still had Knight’s hand against my cheek.
He was sitting beside me, playing on his phone with his free hand, and he looked down at me when I stirred. “Ahh, finally. You have no idea how hard it is to play a racing game with one hand.”
I groaned from the heavy feeling in my head and stretched out with a yawn. “I’m sure there are other things you can do one handed.”
He sniggered under his breath, fully engrossed in his game with both hands on the screen now. “Touché.”
I was just about to go to the bathroom and clean up when my phone rang on my nightstand. I picked it up and it was a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Lisbeth?” It was a woman’s voice, and there was something about it I couldn’t quite place. “Look, this might be a little weird, but we’ve never met. I mean, I’ve never met you. You’ve met me.”
Then it hit me. “Sara?”
“Bingo! Listen, I’ve been having some visions about you and I think you should come visit. You can bring your three lovers with you.”
I glanced back at Knight, still playing his game. “They’re not… my lovers.” He looked up at me in confusion and I waved a hand for him to continue playing.
“Oh, I understand,” she chimed in. “That’s one of the things we have to discuss. I’m also gonna need you to leave immediately. I know you’re tired, but you have to. It’s imperative. Capiche?”
“Umm, sure?”
“Awesome! I’ll put out a roast. See you soon!”
She hung up and the line went dead, leaving me staring at my phone with that face I always made when I was around Sara, the one that said I had no idea what she was doing, because I didn’t.
“Who was that?” Knight asked me, watching me slip my phone into my pajama shorts.
“A friend. She’s psychic. She wants us to come see her. Like. Now.” I looked around for my bag and found it tossed into the corner amongst several pairs of men’s shoes and their respective belongings. I grabbed the shoes and bag I knew belonged to Knight and put them on the foot of the bed. “I wasn’t kidding. Let’s go.” He hopped up and started lacing his shoes as I grabbed a change of clothes and put on a clean pair of jeans with a plain tee in the bathroom, then I brought my bag and a pair of boots with me into the living room where Arthur and Balthazar were also getting ready, having no doubt listened in.
“A psychic, huh?” Arthur asked, his head bent over his shoes.
“I’ve learned to listen to her. Sorry if that disrupts our plans.”
Balthazar was tapping his cane against his leg. “We don’t have plans anymore, not after the Council voted on being dumb asses. We’ll do whatever you say.”
Grinning, I strummed my fingers on my backpack strap. “Where’s Cameron?” I asked Arthur once he was up. With Cameron’s room empty, I knew Arthur would know where he went.
“Olivier’s got him. I clued her in on everything. She’s taking him and Renard on a trip to keep them safe, just in case.” My lungs released a sigh of relief that Cameron hadn’t abandoned me, and because Arthur had thought of it before I had to ask him. Good old Arthur. Always anticipating my needs.
With all of us ready, we headed out down to the parking garage and piled into the Impala, Knight in the front seat with me this time. I still wasn’t letting anyone else drive, but he was the only one willing to choose the music on my phone so we didn’t ride in silence again.
James’ town was further away than the one we’d found Knight in, so we had to stop for the night eventually, but first we needed to eat. I rolled into a diner that looked like it belonged on the set of Supernatural, one where Dean shoveled pie into his mouth while he flirted with the waitress and Sam ate a modest salad at his computer.
We got out and went inside. Balthazar was eyeing the place like he was certain just looking at it would make him ill.
“They’d better have confections,” he complained in a whisper.
I navigated to a booth and Balthazar scooted to the inside of one side while I sat next to him with our two companions across from us. A waitress approached us, holding menus and rolled up silverware in paper napkins.
“Welcome to Salty Steve’s. Something to drink?”
Knight put his hand up when she started passing out the menus. “She’s ordering for us.” I tilted my head in confusion. “I want to see what you think we’d like.”
I wiggled my fingers until the waitress handed me a menu that I scanned just enough to memorize what was on there before handing it back. “The long haired gentleman will have a soda, a triple cheeseburger with fries, a
rare steak, and half of an apple pie. The icy hot one will have hot coffee with a BLT sandwich and a bowl of grapes. And the sex god to my right will have the other half of the apple pie with a can of whipped cream and some hot tea.” Knight’s wide grin had me so flustered I almost couldn’t get all of the order out without fumbling over my words.
“And you?” the waitress asked me when she’d written it all out.
“Hot tea, and the burrito meal. No, make it the platter.” She left, leaving me to stare at Knight’s smile for as long as I wanted.
“I’d say she passed any test you had in mind for that,” Arthur noted, unrolling his silverware.
“Never pegged you for a salad guy,” Knight retorted with a smirk to the vampire.
“You’ve definitely been pegged though,” I told him, and had to dodge the crumpled up napkin Knight threw at me.
Arthur was quick to add, “I’m sure he’s had his salad tossed too.” I erupted in giggles and held out a high five for him that he barely looked up at. “Nope.”
“Damn it, you’re the same in every timeline.”
As we were the only customers this late at night, our food was ready in what felt like mere minutes and we all made space on the table for Knight’s three plates. My large plate was loaded with four burritos on it, surrounded by a lake of beans and rice. I lifted two of the burritos and put them beside Knight’s cheeseburger. He looked at them and up at me, his mouth already full of French fries.
“Sorry,” I said, bringing my hands back to my plate. “I forgot to get you some. I know you love them.” He continued staring at me, confused at my actions again.
Arthur popped a grape into his mouth and chewed it as he surveyed my meal. “Where’s mine?” I’d never remembered him liking them, but I lifted one of mine without a thought and started bringing it to his plate, only for him to stop me mid-journey across the table. “I was joking. I just wanted to see if you’d give me one.”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 90