by Eve Newton
“Well, could you blame me?” Sebastian snarls at him. “Everything you see in her, don’t you think I see it too? Isn’t that why you kept her from me all these centuries? She is so Powerful but has this vulnerable side that I just want to protect.”
CK is not looking very happy about that. “Protect? So, you are in love with her.”
“Maybe,” he says mutinously. “You don’t understand. When I touch her…it’s like it was meant to be…” he trails off at CK’s murderous look. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. This was all your idea.”
“And now you are suffering,” CK says. “I’m sorry, ‘Bastian. I am trying with the book, to see if there is a way to reverse what I did to you, so you can be free. It is taking time. I don’t know what else to say.”
Reverse? That’s why he wanted the book? He thinks there is a way to reverse turning?
“There is nothing to say. I don’t want to be saved. She knows my secret, but I can’t act on it in the way I want to because she won’t. And I won’t take her by force. Not again.”
“We have spoken of this,” he says casually, turning away.
“What do you mean?” Sebastian jumps up.
“She knows of your desires. Not towards her, but in general.”
“How?”
“I mentioned it, in passing.”
“In passing?”
“We were talking about something else and it came up,” he says, avoiding Sebastian’s glare. “That is irrelevant. The point is, she asked why we didn’t just find someone we trust to fulfill your needs.”
“Because there isn’t anyone we can trust. We’ve tried that and look how it always turns out.”
“We trust her,” CK says quietly. “I told her that.”
“You did?” Sebastian asks, dumbfounded. “Why would you say that?”
CK moves to stand in front of Sebastian and raises his hand to his face. Sebastian turns his face towards him, as I would. “Because I love you, Vincentius. I don’t like to see you suffer so. You and she are my two greatest achievements. If she can help take care of you, then I will allow it.” Sebastian closes his eyes at the gentle words.
I stare at them in wonder. Never in a thousand years have I ever heard him speak like that to anyone except me. How is it that I never even knew about Sebastian and that CK felt this way about him? He said in Vegas that he loved him, but Sebastian was dismissive of his feelings, saying he was just a means to an end. Maybe he doesn’t really know or believe that our sire does love him.
“What did she say?” Sebastian asks quietly.
“She said no,” CK says just as softly. “Although, in all fairness, I didn’t really ask her.”
Sebastian sighs and turns away. “That rule!” he snaps suddenly, punching the wall with his fist, taking a rather large chunk out of it in the process. “If it weren’t for the leash around her neck, she would be free to be with me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that exactly,” CK says, clearing his throat.
“You know what I mean,” Sebastian says, waving it off.
“I do, fortunately for you,” CK says with a pointed look. “I will speak to her again.”
Sebastian throws him a grateful smile and then he turns into Lance and I am running into his arms. He picks me up and twirls me around, careful of my baby bump.
“I want to make love to you,” he says with a smile.
I lower my eyes shyly. “There is only one easy way to do that,” I say, running my hand slowly over my belly.
“Then come, and I will see to your needs,” he says, taking my hand and leading me up the stairs.
“My needs?” I look at him with a smile.
“Okay, my needs,” he gives in easily with a low chuckle. “But I am sure I won’t have to try very hard to get you in the mood.”
“You never do,” I say to him and he stops in the corridor and kisses me. We continue walking hand in hand as he leads me up the next flight of stairs. I frown, I feel a slight chill go down my back. “Where are taking me?” I ask him.
He looks at me curiously. “To our bedroom, my love. In the tower.” He pushes open the tower room door and I scream...
I wake up to Cade shaking me gently.
“Liv. Liv. It’s okay, it’s just a dream.”
My heart is racing, and I am all flustered. “Where am I?” I ask him.
“Your hotel room in Toronto,” he says. “I hope, anyway, that you haven’t time travelled us somewhere else.” He looks around a bit worried.
“Shit,” I say and cling to him, needing a bit of a lifeline.
He stiffly hugs me back and I come to my senses and pull back. “Sorry,” I mumble. “I just…”
“You were scared.” He shrugs.
“Scared?” I scoff to cover up the fact that I was indeed a bit scared. “I don’t think so.”
“Sure,” he says. “Although, I am concerned.” He frowns. “Liv, there was magick being used in here.”
“What? How so?” I ask in surprise.
“I don’t know what and I don’t know how. It was…evil,” he replies.
“Evil? As in…?”
“Evil. I have never felt anything quite like it before. What were you dreaming about?”
I ponder that question briefly. “Erm, I can’t remember how it started but then I was dreaming of Lance.”
“Who is Lance? Another of your…” He waves his hand about.
“Oh, Christ no!” I shout at him in horror at the thought. “He is, was, an evil man. Vampire,” I amend for his benefit. “Long story but I killed him. Last year.”
“What was the dream? Was he hurting you in some way?” he asks, and I wonder why he cares.
“No, not at all. The exact opposite,” I say in confusion, remembering his smile. I don’t think I ever saw a genuine smile on his face, only just a cruel smirk. “We were together at Castelul Negru. Castle Black. Together and happy.” I leave out the part about the baby. That is too private.
“Then why were you screaming?”
“He was leading me to our bedroom, but it was the room where he…” I trail off, not really wanting to tell him my horror story.
“So, in your dream you were happy but then you remembered reality?”
“Yes. Exactly,” I say, and he frowns. “Do you know what is going on?”
“It seems that someone is using magick on you to distort your reality with your dreams. Whatever happened in that room, I assume was bad enough to have triggered a real response from you?”
“You could say that,” I mutter more to myself. “But magick doesn’t work on me. How can someone be manipulating me, my thoughts?” I think to Sebastian’s gift and my eyes go to Cade’s. “You said you didn’t recognize the signature of who was using it?”
He shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t anything I have come across before.”
“So, it wasn’t any one close to me?” I ask hesitantly.
“No, definitely not. You think one of them would try to hurt you?”
“Not intentionally,” I say, hoping I mean it. It can’t be Sebastian. He wouldn’t use Lance to hurt me like that. My hands reach for the cuddly black dragon he gave me, and I hold it to me, having kept it close to me for reasons I can’t quite explain.
“Well, rest assured, it is not one of your own,” he says and pats my hand in a fatherly-type gesture, and it makes me smile. “You should, however, take extra precautions when you go to sleep.” He points to the candles and I light them.
“Thank you, Cade. I’m still tired. Would you stay with me? Just for a bit?”
He looks uncomfortable as he glances at Cole’s side of the bed. “I didn’t mean on the bed,” I say, and he looks relieved as I point to the chair in the corner. “Sure,” he says and gets up to walk over to it as I flop back down, still holding on tightly to the dragon.
I wake up alone and thankfully not having had any more Lance dreams. I just can’t bear the thought of him in my head and us together and happy. Er
gh. It makes me want to be sick.
My Vampire hearing tells me Cade is working at the dining table on the laptop. I go and find him.
He doesn’t look up from his task. “Hey,” he says.
“Hi. What are you doing?”
“I am going through the Regency databases trying to find what is causing your mystery dreams.”
“The Regency databases? How did you get access to those?”
“Constantine gave me the passcodes.”
“He did?” I ask in amazement. “I’m shocked. Wait, you didn’t tell him about this, did you?”
“So am I,” he says with a wry twist to his mouth. “And no, I did not. I am offended that you think I would tell. I told him you asked me to investigate something and fell asleep before you got any further. He seemed to buy it. You must be well known for issuing orders and then crashing,” he chuckles as I bristle at the insult. “He was loathed to at first, but Sebastian told him to ‘quit bitching and give the Hunter bodyguard the codes’.” He chuckles. “Is that what I am? A bodyguard? I am sure that you are more than capable of guarding your own body.”
“Yes, that I am. Good. Sorry, I don’t mean to offend you, but I suppose we are still learning about each other. No, I don’t think of you in that way. It surprises me that the others do. Did you find anything?” I go to stand next to him and lean down to peer over his shoulder. He looks at me now for the first time and his eyes are directly in line with my barely covered breasts. He clears his throat and I become aware that I am still wearing the lacy negligee from earlier, albeit adjusted to fit my Liv form. I don’t bother with covering up now as I am not embarrassed and it’s not like he hasn’t already seen me naked before. A few times.
“Cade?” I question him and he brings his eyes up from breasts to my eyes.
“Yes, Liv?”
I arch my eyebrow at him, and he shrugs. “I have eyes.”
“Indeed. I asked you if you found anything.”
“Not much to go on, I’ll admit. There are beings called Dream Weavers that can manipulate dreams, but they are low level, in comparison to you at least, so I think you would be immune, having seen firsthand how magick doesn’t affect you. I will keep looking.”
“Can I help?” I offer.
“Not unless you have anything more to add?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Sorry.”
I sit and he carries on, tapping away, making notes here and there. After a few minutes, I say, “Speaking of magick, what is it exactly that your blood is supposed to do to Vampires?”
He looks up, startled by the question. “Forthright, aren’t you?”
“No point being any other way.”
“True. Well, it incapacitates. Paralyzes.”
“Oh. Is that how you got James to sit still long enough for you to…” I make a slicing motion across my throat and he chuckles.
“Maybe,” he says and goes back to his work.
“So, you killed your first Vampire at sixteen? How long did you train for?”
He sighs. “Really? We are going to have this conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. We train formally from the age of ten, but we are taught at our father’s feet long before then.”
“That’s young,” I say, mildly shocked. “Are all Hunters men?”
“No, the first born.”
“Oh. You have brothers and sisters?”
“No. Do you?” he asks with a slight smile.
“Haha, very funny. How did you kill your first?”
“Oh, now that is quite personal, don’t you think?”
I shrug. “I want to know about you. I think this qualifies as need-to-know.”
“Well, I was lucky that they assigned me a female. It might have turned out differently had it been a male,” he says and turns back to the laptop.
“Oh no. You don’t get to end there. Why is it lucky it was a woman? Gender has no meaning when it comes to Vampire strength and skill.”
“I know. However, I am fairly certain that I wouldn’t have been able to seduce a male Vampire into bed with me.”
“What?” My voice is a high-pitched squeak and he just laughs at me. “So, you seduced her into your bed, and she bit you and then you, what?”
“Turned around and staked her,” he says bluntly. “You wanted to know,” he adds at my mortified expression.
“Cade! That’s…”
“A genius plan? I thought so. So, did my tutor,” he says proudly.
“Oh, the gods,” I say to him. “I am speechless.”
“That’s probably a first,” he snorts.
I ignore the barb and say, “I thought you would rather shoot yourself in the eye than be with one of my kind? Not to mention killing yourself before you let one of us get our fangs in you.”
“Again,” he says simply. “I had a job to do and I did it the best way I could.”
“And that is why you are known as the best Vampire Hunter in the history of Hunters,” I remark.
“Am I?” he asks, surprised. “That’s nice to know.”
“Was she your first?” I ask slyly, trying to knock him off his high horse.
“Oh, now what do you take me for? I can assure you; I was an accomplished lover by the time I got to her.”
“At sixteen?” I croak.
“Weren’t you?” he asks back just as slyly, and I shake my head in honesty.
“No. That wasn’t our way back then. I was ridiculously naïve. Before I met CK, the only man I had been with was my husband, and that wasn’t exactly a normal setting.”
“Husband? Huh. I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, a thousand years has brought me out of my shell a bit,” I say dryly, and he laughs again.
“A bit? No, in all honesty, I was fairly innocent. It was what attracted her to me the most.”
“Yes, innocence can be seductive,” I say, thinking of my own sire and his wonder at me being so sweet. “Her name?”
“Sasha,” he says, and I think I see a small shadow pass over his features.
“Did you feel anything for her?”
“Other than contempt for what she was? No,” he says almost too forcefully.
“Do you feel contempt for me?”
“I did,” he says warily. “Having gotten to know you a little better, I see that you are more than just a bloodsucking leech.”
“As are most of us,” I point out.
He shrugs. “I am only concerned about you. You are a productive member of society. Pay your taxes, give back. You have morals, such as they are, towards feeding and killing. Well, at least now, I assume that wasn’t always the case. I like you,” he states to my surprise. “But I won’t ever forget what you are.”
Hm. “I like you too. And I, too, won’t ever forget what you are.”
He chuckles. “Well then, we should have a very successful business relationship. For however long it lasts.”
“It could last forever,” I say with a feral grin.
He huffs at me. “Why do you insist on bringing that up almost every time we speak?”
“I just like to remind you that you have options,” I say, tapping my sharp nails on the table.
“No, thank you. I quite like being human.”
“I think you would quite like being a Vampire,” I tease him.
“If I said now, okay, Liv, turn me. You would just do it. Easy as that?” he asks, changing tactic.
“No, not easy as that. It isn’t something you just do. You must be completely sure because there is no going back. And I wouldn’t do it. I would have to find someone else to do it.”
“Why not you? You are the only one who can bite me,” he says, now interested enough to pursue this conversation.
“I am not sure what my elevated status would bring with a siring. And I can just picture CK’s face if I told him I would have yet another bond to ‘nurture’ as he calls it.”
He laughs long and hard at that. “Oh, Christ. So can
I, now that you mention it!”
I laugh with him, enjoying his company. I say, “I am intrigued though…can Hunters be turned? You know, since your blood incapacitates?”
“Yes,” he says. “There have been a few who have gone to the dark side. As you well know, a Vampire doesn’t have to drain to sire.”
“Good to know,” I say with a tilt to my head and he shakes his at me. “And yes, that is true. Jess aside, I myself was fatally wounded when CK turned me.”
“Well, Queen Liv. I fancy that option even less than you sucking me dry.”
“What if I gave you another option?” I say, suddenly serious.
“What do you mean?”
“What if you could live a longer life, not age, but not be a Vampire?”
“How would you propose to do that?”
“I have a theory, but it needs testing,” I admit.
“You want me to be a guinea pig?”
“Only if you want to. Haven’t you already noticed a difference in your behavior after the blood oath you swore to me?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” he asks confused.
“I mean you may have started out with this job because you said you know how to pick a side, but don’t you feel differently now?”
He stares at me for the longest time and doesn’t look all that happy as he says, “Yes, I suppose I do.”
“I…I am not used to having humans around me, working for me so closely. I get too attached; it will sadden me when you…you know…” I admit then cautiously.
“Oh, bless you,” he says. “You will miss me when I am dead. I am flattered,” he jokes, but I am not joking.
“Cade,” I say. “I am being serious. Just think about it. Please? Thirty-odd years is a lot for you. It’s nothing to me and it will go by quickly. Even then you will have to stop working before that time is up.”
“You are being completely serious now, aren’t you? You want me to stick around,” he says.
“I do.”
“Hm. Well, it isn’t ever something I have thought about, but the answer is still no, thank you. It’s unnatural and therefore falls into the category of Supernatural.”
“We’ll see. And I prefer Paranormal.”
“It just annoys you, doesn’t it? That I don’t want to be like you.”
“I wouldn’t say annoy. I’m just surprised. Do you know how many people would love to be in your shoes? Asked to be turned instead of asking?”