by Eve Newton
“Not much. It is the place dead things go to…be.”
“Obviously,” I snap at him. “Something I don’t know.”
He shakes his head.
“What good are you then?” I ask him. “You are normally more informative than this.”
He laughs at me. “I am a lot of good. I normally just point you in the right direction and you take it from there.”
“Normally?” Cole sneers. “And exactly how many times have you steered my wife in the right direction?”
“Oh, plenty,” he says, and I purse my lips at him.
“Shut it.”
“As you wish,” he says blandly. “How about in your dreams?”
“In her dreams what?” CK is starting to lose his temper now with this and I have to say I am too.
“You kill him in your dreams. Somehow.” He taps his chin and says, “You say they are real, vivid, that you feel everything that goes on in them, maybe he does, too. Maybe he is vulnerable when he is inside your head. And remember it is your head, not his head.”
“I have the power to steer the dream, you mean? Like to the Spirit Realms where I find the sword and kill this bastard dead?” I am getting overly enthusiastic in my irritation at not being very effective.
Five sets of eyes bug out at me and my vigor. “Well, maybe not exactly like that…” Xane says trailing off, “But perhaps something along those lines. It is worth a think about.”
“Hmm,” I say and then fill them in on what Corinne has said about him being born under a cursed moon. “What do you think that means?”
“Cursed moons are very rare,” Xane says. “They come along in The Underworld once every millennium if that. Parents take great pains to ensure that their offspring are not born on that day, because if one happens to be born as the cursed moon rises, they are feared as no one knows the amount of power they will hold.” The thought of what happens to the babies that do unfortunately get born on that day makes me swallow loudly. I don’t ask, and neither does anyone else when Xane doesn’t offer up the information.
“Screw this then,” I say. “I am going to ask other me.” I add to CK, “Oh yeah, be a dear and fill them in on that would you, Devon and Linc too. I’ll be back when I’m back.”
He grabs my hand. “Not so fast. You mean to say that you went off half-cocked yesterday and nobody knew about it?” He fixes his steely gaze on Cole. “You were supposed to be watching her.”
“I was, except when she tricked me,” he says, annoyed, “into having a bath by herself. Explain yourself.” He snaps at me in a very CK-like tone, which has him nodding his approval.
“Later, sweetie. Right now, I am going to make a deal with the devil.”
“Aefre, no! You cannot comply to her demand.”
“A little flirting never harmed anyone,” I say with a shrug. I close my eyes and wish myself back to the other world and other me.
This is getting easier every time I do it. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I look around the hotel suite, only this time it is not empty. It is, in fact, full of everyone from this side, including other me and now proper me as well.
“Well, hello again, Lil’ Sis.” she drawls at me, hands once again on her leather clad hips. Black this time…super kickass…I want some. “I have been expecting you,” she says.
“You have?” I ask with a frown at her “endearment”. She clearly thinks of me as littler and weaker than her.
“Of course. You want to know how to get rid of The Thirteen and I know. There is the small matter of my payment though,” she says with a sidelong glance at her sire, who is staring longingly at me.
I close my eyes and try that thing future me did and I say in her head as I open my eyes again, “We can’t exactly switch now, can we? He is standing right there.”
She starts momentarily at my voice in her head, then she grins and projects back, “Not a problem.”
Out loud, she says, “Follow me. Alone.” I trail in her wake to the bedroom and she closes the door and zings a spell over it to stop anyone from listening.
“Shift to look like me and I will Shift to look like you, then we just swap places.”
“For how long? I can’t be here very long. I have a life.”
“Stay an hour and make nice and I will give you a piece of information in return. Come back again and you will get more. See how this works?”
Unfortunately, I do. I’m like Pavlov’s dog. A reward for good behavior. But I am here, and I need this, so I Shift to look like her and I grimace down at the far too revealing top, chiffon with zippo underneath, feeling odd as myself but with bigger tits, longer hair, and bright green eyes. She Shifts to me with a matching grimace and looks down at herself. “How do you stand it?” she asks, gesturing to the halter-top.
“Stand what?”
“Having no boobs?”
“It is my, our, natural form. I don’t like to adjust it. If I want a change, I make a proper change.”
“Huh,” she says as if that thought never even occurred to her. “You do know that all your boys prefer bigger tits though, right? Oh, except maybe Cole, but he doesn’t complain when he has his dick in between them.”
I gape at her and her crass remark. She shrugs and grumbles, “Who knew you were such a prude?”
Prude? Me? Hardly, but she is just disgusting.
“Let’s get this over with, shall we? And just so we are clear, CK is my target, I don’t want anyone else coming near me. Make it happen or I walk,” I add as she is about to protest.
“How? They will all think you are me?”
“I don’t care. Think of something. Oh, do you call him CK? And your Dragon tattoo, let me look at it, make sure it’s the same.”
She turns to me, nodding respectfully at my foresight and says, “No. I call him Constantine. Why do you call him CK? Is it the same? What about the Demon mark?”
“Yes, both the same,” I say. “If you don’t know then I’m not going to tell you. Now act like me. And I will try to act like you.” I shiver in distaste as she does the same.
“I don’t do sweet.”
“And I don’t do skank,” I say as I undo her spell, well, her magick is my magick, right? And stalk back into the sitting room, trying to act like her.
I plonk myself next to her Constantine and smile winningly at him as Devon glares at me. Constantine starts and stares at me before he hesitantly smiles back. He shifts his eyes to her, and the adoring look returns. Geez, this is going to be harder than I thought.
I touch his leg, sliding my hand softly up his thigh. “She’s staying awhile,” I say in the best New York accent I can muster. Having listened to Devon for decades, I think I manage to pull it off. I just hope she can do mine. “Make yourself at home,” I say breezily as I reach the top of his thigh and his eyes bug out of his head. “Can I have a word, in private?” I murmur to him, my mouth very close to his ear.
“Erm, sure,” he says cautiously. I stand and pull him up with me. I step towards the bedroom, but Cole stops me. “Where are you going?” he asks.
“I need a word with Constantine,” I say. “In private.”
He stares at me in suspicion. “Why?”
I glance at other me for help and she catches on. “Cole, dahling,” she says, her British accent just slightly over the top but then again, my American one probably is as well. “I am just dying to find out about you. You know we are married in my world, don’t you?” She casts him a sultry gaze as his eyes heat up and drop to her chest. Huh, she’s right. He hasn’t even looked at mine…hers…mine? Whatever. “Come and tell me all about yourself. All of you,” she says flirtatiously, batting her eyes at all of them and I inwardly cringe. If I come back out here and there is a full-on orgy happening with 'me' I am going to be pissed.
I drag Constantine to the bedroom and close the door. “Sit,” I say, but he remains standing. “Please,” I say with that look that I know undoes my own sire. He sighs and sits on the
bed. I go to sit next to him.
“What do you want, Liv?”
“You,” I say simply, and he turns to stare at me.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I want you. I want a better relationship with you. I saw her with other you and I want that for us. They are in love you know,” I say, my mouth inches from his. This is very strange. I feel a bond with him. It is nowhere near as strong as the bond I have to my Constantine, but it is there all the same.
“Suddenly, you want to try and repair all the damage you have caused just because of… what is it? Petty jealousy that she has something you don’t?” he sneers.
Ouch. Okay, gonna have to try harder.
“Please, Constantine. Can we try to make it work?”
He looks into my eyes deeply and then drops his mouth to mine. I hesitate for a second but then kiss him back. Would look odd not to after I just told him I want him. Hope he doesn’t actually try to have sex with me. That would be awkward.
He pulls me to him, and I pull him to me, losing myself in his kisses as it is exactly like kissing my Constantine. He pushes me back to the bed, his mouth never leaving mine and I start to have a mild panic. Uh-Oh.
He lifts his mouth from mine and looks again into my eyes. “I know it is you, Aefre. You aren’t fooling anyone,” he says with an innocent smile.
I blink at him and then sigh. “How did you know? Did I come on too strong?”
He laughs. “No, strong is exactly her style. Your eyes. They may look like hers, but I see in yours everything I don’t see in hers. Love, passion, compassion, fear, guilt. She feels none of those things,” he says bitterly.
“Oh,” I say.
“May I ask what all of this is in aid of?”
“She wants you to love her. She asked me to help make that happen in exchange for the information I need on The Thirteen.”
“She wants me to love her? Why? She has done nothing but push me away for a thousand years. Why now all of a sudden?”
“I think you may have been right when you said she is jealous,” I say, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he is still lying on top of me. “Please, can you just pretend it is working so that I get what I need?” I ask him.
“You want me to pretend? You agreed to manipulate me and now you want me to do you a favor?”
“I knew you would figure it out, I just hoped it would be after she helped,” I say with a pout. Unintentional, but it works like a charm as he stares at my bottom lip.
“A favor for a favor then,” he says. “Shift to yourself and kiss me again and I will do as you ask.”
That is not the usual hardcore bargaining of my Constantine, so I agree readily and Shift back to me. His eyes darken with desire and he drops his mouth to mine again and pushes his tongue into my mouth. I can feel his erection pushing against me and I feel the need to put a stop to this. Having an affair with an 'other' is just too weird. Even for me. In fact, it is the very epitome of “Substitution”. I shudder in disgust. It probably doesn’t bother her though, as my thoughts return to her on top of Lincoln.
He trails his hand down my side and up under my skirt, brushing his fingers lightly over me, and he groans into my mouth. Oh, crap.
“Oh, Aefre.”
“Constantine, wait.” I push on his chest, “I can’t do this. It’s not right.”
“It’s not wrong. I can feel the bond between us. In some strange way, you are also my charge.”
“No, I am his. Like it or not, you are different to him. All you have to do is look at her and me to see that none of us are the same.”
“Well, I suppose that is true. I am renegotiating,” he states.
Oh, now this is more like it and I wait for the other shoe to drop.
“Spend the night with me, one night, and I will get you everything you need to defeat The Thirteen.”
“No. I can’t. I’m sorry.” I shake my head.
“Your loyalty is admirable; however, those are my terms. Agree or I go back out there and blow this little charade apart and you will never get what you want from her.”
“Constantine. You can’t ask me to betray mine.” I push on his chest again, but he doesn’t budge.
“One night, Aefre,” he whispers as he kisses me again.
“I have to go; I have to get back.” I push again and this time he gets up.
“Just tell me you will,” he says, taking my hand. “Tell me you will come back and be with me.”
“I can’t give you a night, there is no way I can do that. I’m sorry.”
“A couple of hours then. An hour. Please,” he all but begs me.
“Why?” I ask. “Why is it so important to you? If you want your charge, she is right outside, looking like me.”
“I don’t want her, I want you. You are everything I wanted her to be, everything I thought she would be.”
“You don’t know me.”
“But I do. I feel it.”
I sigh. “Can I think about it?” Even though there is no way. I just…can’t.
He frowns. “How will I know if you accept?”
“I will come back,” I say, and he nods.
“Very well. I suppose it is that attitude that makes me want you. Your thoughtfulness for those you love.”
Thoughtful? Well, can’t say I have been called that much. Especially as of late.
I nod and Shift back to that dreadful woman with a moue of distaste which doesn’t go unnoticed. He laughs and it lights up his face. “I happen to agree.” He stands and takes my hand. “I will go along for now, but you know my terms.”
I open the door and we stroll out hand-in-hand, which in turn does not go unnoticed by everyone in the room. Mostly Devon and other me. I am sure I don’t need to tell you which one looks like they are about to blow a gasket?
“Lizzie,” Devon steps away from other me and pulls me away from Constantine. “What is going on here?”
“I am mending fences,” I say, hoping that sounds like something she would do. She shakes her head imperceptibly and I bring my hands up to my hips and adopt her trademark sneer. “Problem?”
He narrows his eyes at me and takes my hand, pulling me further away. He looks at other me and says, “I think it is time for you to go.”
She stands gracefully and steps away from the boys who have her surrounded. Well, I guess I am kind of a novelty. She must have been doing a better job at being me than I was of her. “May I have a word before I go?” she asks me.
“Sure,” I drawl, and she rolls her eyes at me. I smile prettily at Constantine, who smiles knowingly back, and she pulls me back to the bedroom.
“Well?” she says. “It seems to be working.”
“For now. I am not a very good you,” I say dryly.
“I am a really good you,” she boasts. “And man, they are eating it up. They love you. I think I might have you come back later and take them all for a test drive.”
“Don’t you dare!” I snap. “You will not trick them by using me.”
“Oh, please, what’s it to you?”
“I don’t want them thinking I am like you,” I say haughtily, and she laughs.
“Oh, whatever,” she waves her hand dismissively.
“Tell me what I want to know.”
“Have you earned it?” she asks slyly.
“I told him I want him, that I want us to have a better relationship. He kissed me, tried to have sex with me and asked me to make time for him,” I say, which is all true.
She raises her eyebrows at me. “Wow. You managed all of that in five minutes? Very good.”
“Now tell me what I want to know.”
“There will be a test, a trial personal to you I can only imagine, and you can only defeat him in the Spirit Realm.”
Again, with the trials. I wait expectantly but there is no more.
“That’s it? That’s all I get for everything I just did? I already know most all of that.” Not the part about defeating it in the Spirit Realm though
. That’s new and useful. And I know I didn’t exactly do much to help her, but she doesn’t know that.
“I told you, bits at a time. Now do you think that I should go and be with him or should you come back and do it? Maybe make it more believable the first time?”
“What? I am not coming back here to sleep with him!”
“Do it and I will tell you everything,” she says with a mean gleam to her eyes.
“Do you love him?” I ask, needing to know. “Or do you just want what I have with my sire?”
“I love him,” she says, not all that convincingly.
“Then how can you ask me to come back here and fuck him for you?”
“Because he wants you,” she snarls, and I take a step back from her hostility. “Whatever it is about you that he wants, I don’t have. Do this and you will get everything you need to defeat your Thirteen. And believe me, you need it.”
“I don’t know when I can return,” I say in a small voice because as much as I hate to admit it, she has me exactly where she wants me.
“Find a way. I will know when you are here. It’s like a pop. We aren’t supposed to be occupying the same space.”
“But as from tomorrow, I will be in Miami and then on to Europe.”
“Doesn’t matter, you come to my world, I will find you.”
“Fine. But whatever it is you have to say had better be worth my while or I swear to the old gods, I will kill you.”
She laughs at me. “Sure, you will. I have five hundred-and six-years’ worth of Queen Power on my side. Plus, also Empress now. Doesn’t seem likely you could best me.”
“Ah, but I am the one who taught you to time travel…oh wait…you don’t seem to have grasped it much, only to get yourself back to your own timeline. And there’s me jumping all over the space-time continuum,” I say sweetly.
Her face flushes with anger. “How do you know I can’t time travel?”
“You said you’d come back, and you never did. Catch me if you can,” I say with a little wave and, hoping that I am right and she can’t follow, I relocate myself back to my own timeline.
Chapter 25
I find myself alone when I come back to my time. Well, I hope I am back in my time. I was expecting a mass Q & A session but apparently, everyone had better things to do.