by Eve Newton
Chapter 9
After a quick wash down, I hastily get dressed again and dry my hair in a quick spin of inky black. I kiss him, desperately wanting to take him to bed for the rest of the afternoon but I leave him and land back in my empty suite. Still no Cole. I wonder briefly where he is, when Xane pops in.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey. I’m back,” he says.
“From where?”
“Vegas. I had to go back for a couple of days. I messaged you on Monday night.”
“Oh, no. I wasn’t here then.”
He looks at me curiously and tell him the story of the switch.
“Ah, yes, I was sure that something was off when I saw you, but it was so brief and then I had to go. Glad that you are back though,” he says, coming closer. “And alone.”
“Not for long, Cole is going to be back any minute.”
He sighs. “Oh, Xerxei, you are killing me, really. But that aside we are supposed to…” he holds up the Grimoire that suddenly appears in his hand.
“Yes, I know. Tomorrow, I promise. We will go to your home and look at it there, then there will be no interruptions. Come for me first thing and we will go before anyone else gets to me.”
“Done,” he says without hesitation. “My parents are desperate to see you again, and you made quite the impression on young Xanthus. He asks about you all the time,” he says slyly. “I think he has a schoolboy crush on you.”
“Oh, please,” I scoff, waving my hand at him as he laughs at me.
“Remember, 6:30 AM. I will come for you. Be ready,” he says as he Astraports out, right before Cole walks in.
“Where have you been?” I ask him as he kisses me.
“Just planning a little something for later.”
“And what would that be?”
“Well, you got to have your fun with me and Devon, so I decided it was time for my own fun,” he says mysteriously.
“Oh, really?” I ask with an arched brow. “And who, pray tell, did you manage to rope into doing that on short notice?”
“Rope? I didn’t have to rope anyone into doing anything,” he says, affronted. “Paid maybe, but that was kind of expected,” he adds with a shrug.
“I see. And what time will she be here?”
“No, not here. We are going there.”
“There?” I say with a frown. “Is that such a good idea what with you being so recognizable?”
“It’s a masked party, my dear, and the girl will be blindfolded. At all times. A pre-requisite.”
“Well, you have certainly thought this through. Where did you find out about this place?”
“Devon. He seems to know where everything is in the whole world when it comes to Vampires being themselves,” he says with a small chuckle and a shiver goes down my spine. And not the good kind. Seems that my darling boy has been keeping some secrets regarding his extracurricular activities.
“He will be coming with us?”
“He will be coming with us, but to do his own thing,” he says.
“Where is it?”
“A mansion out in Coconut Grove.”
“Okay. Wait, that seems unfair on Devon,” I state.
“Actually, he’s bringing Jess,” he mutters.
I frown at him. “Oh?”
“Yeah, He…doesn’t feel quite so anti about her now.”
“Is that right.” This is not what I wanted to hear. “You’ve spoken now?”
“Briefly. He’s kinda digging the sire worship.” He gives me a lopsided smile which I squint at.
“Is he now?” I inquire not-so-sweetly.
“Look, I know it’s not what you want, but it is what it is now.”
“I guess,” I say uncertainly.
“Anyway, stop thinking about them and think about us,” he says with a winning smile.
“Mm, what would you like me to think about?”
“What I am going to do to you later,” he says as he kisses me.
“Just me? Or her as well?” I ask slyly.
“Oh, I have specific plans for her, but you are what interests me the most.”
“Specific plans?” I ask, suddenly worried.
“Uh-huh,” he says as he slowly bites me with his regular teeth before he Shifts and his fangs puncture my skin and he starts to suckle, distracting me from further inquiry as to his plans. He is getting good at that…too good.
“Don’t be worried,” he says. “I am not going to do anything you don’t want me to.”
“What is it you want to do?” I ask with a slight gulp.
“I’m not sure yet. I will see when we get there. However, I do have one small request,” he says with a wicked glint to his eye.
“Oh?” I ask, intrigued.
He leans down to whisper in my ear. “I want to see you two together.”
I chuckle, typical bloke. “Of course, you do.”
“Hey, it’s a valid fantasy.”
“I know, sweetie. Oh, by the way, what should I call you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I can’t call you ‘Cole,’ that would defeat the object.”
“Don’t call me anything. No names.”
“Done. What time do we leave?”
“Not for a few hours yet. Can we go to bed?”
“Definitely,” I say with a leer.
“Not for that, we will do enough of that later. I’m tired and I want to hold you and sleep with you. I feel oddly needy today,” he says with a frown.
Uh-oh, I hope that isn’t something to do with the blast back to the past.
“Come then. I could do with a siesta,” I say, leading him to the bedroom.
“You always have a siesta,” he says lightly.
“Hey, I can’t help it. These Powers are murder on the energy sapping.”
“Oh, quickly, before you fall asleep, message Constantine to send your fella Ramon up before we go. You will need all of your strength.”
I snicker. “What about you? Should we get Dawn up too?”
“Dawn is in L.A. with Scott,” he says with frown, which turns to a grimace as he realizes this is something else, he probably told other me. “Besides which, I intend to feed when we get there.”
“Oh, would that be part of your specific plans?” I say, putting the phone back down, and climbing into bed next to him.
“Definitely yes,” he says before he falls asleep in much the same manner as I normally do. Only now I am really worried, and it takes me ages to drop off. But I keep my arms around him and hope that just being with me like this will be enough to put his equilibrium back on track.
I fall into a fitful sleep and start to dream of Constantine and Sebastian. They are both at Ponte in my old room and talking about me and my decision to take care of Sebastian.
“What do you think made her change her mind?” CK asks.
Sebastian shrugs nonchalantly. “I guess this whole situation with the other her.”
“She seemed so adamant before, it is a surprise to me she folded so easily.”
“I’m not. You haven’t changed your mind though, have you?” Sebastian asks, worried.
CK ponders that for a moment. “No. But there are going to be rules. And they will be adhered to,” he says sternly.
“Of course. Whatever you want.”
“Well, first things, she said that it will take place while we are here on either a Tuesday or Wednesday when she is with me.”
“Oh?” he asks.
“It is imperative this remains a secret, ‘Bastian. I know you have your reasons for keeping it, but I have my own and she has made it quite clear that if it gets out, I will never see her again.”
“What? She wouldn’t do that,” he says, but with a strange look on his face.
“Oh, I believe her when she says it. She has left it to me to decide when. I would prefer it out of the way, so first thing Tuesdays is when you will have her.”
“Out of the way?” Sebastian asks. “You m
ake it sound like it is something nasty.”
“Well, it isn’t pleasant for me,” CK snaps and Sebastian looks away. “Two hours in your room. Not a second longer and nowhere else in the castle. You will follow us here and then leave afterwards. Understood?”
“This is turning into rather a chore,” he grumbles.
“This or nothing,” CK says with finality.
“Done,” he says straightaway.
“And one more thing. It is your responsibility to make sure she is fully fed up on human blood before she returns to me, just as I gave her to you.”
“Meaning?” Sebastian asks.
“Meaning, freshly showered and not smelling like you,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Oh.” Sebastian looks somewhat embarrassed by that. “What about the other thing?”
“The spelling?” CK asks and continues at Sebastian’s nod. “You will do it. At the end so it doesn’t ruin your time with her. And you will push her hard. I am sick of waiting now,” he says as he turns to stare out of the window. “And you will get that boy to focus on that fucking girl if it kills you! Any questions?”
“Not so much a question as something you need to know,” Sebastian says idly.
CK turns to face him and asks. “What is that then?”
“As it turns out, we do belong together. She is my Faerie soul mate.”
I awake suddenly, sweating. What was that about? It makes sense I would dream of CK talking to Sebastian about the ground rules, but there is no way that Sebastian would betray me like that. Would he?
“Ah, you remember it, don’t you?” Lance says from the corner.
I hadn’t even noticed he was hovering there until he spoke. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” I say, checking quickly on Cole, before sidling carefully out of bed, pulling on some comfy arse-kicking clothes as I do so. Here is my chance to get rid of this thing once and for all. I bump into the force field and it flings me across the room. I land painfully, yet silently, on the floor, not wanting to wake Cole up. Gods, that thing is fierce. He wags his finger at me in a reprimand as I rub my head.
“The vision, Aefre,” he says in exasperation. “Do you know how many I have given you, to show you that your sire can’t be trusted? That you are making a mistake? I am trying to help you.”
“You are talking bullshit. And why would you want to help me?” I say as I edge closer to the force field, closer to him.
“You think it is just a dream. Pretty vivid for a dream though, wouldn’t you say?”
“Well, never let it be said that you weren’t damn good at creating dream worlds,” I sneer at him.
He laughs quietly. “Well, you have me there. However, I can assure you, this had nothing to do with me. I just showed you the truth. I want him destroyed as much as I do you.”
“Truth? From you?” I scoff. “Tell me another one. What has he ever done to you?”
“I’m glad you’re back from your adventures. I was most disappointed to find you gone the other day.” He changes the subject. “That other you took great delight in fucking your husband.”
“You don’t tell me anything I don’t already know,” I say even as the hurt stabs at me.
“Question is…did you take great delight in fucking hers?”
I glance quickly at Cole and thankfully, somehow, he is still fast asleep. He must have been beat. He follows my gaze and frowns. “Something seems off here. What have you done?” he steps forward quickly to peer at me from just the other side of the magickal barrier, pushing it back into me. I stumble as he says, “What have you been up to?”
Having enough of this damn barrier, with a quick zing, I bring G.I. to my hand and he quickly steps back again but regains his composure straight away and chuckles at me. “You can’t get to me. You don’t know how.”
Well, I would if he would drop this bloody barrier. That is something other Liv forgot to mention. “I will figure it out and end you once and for all,” I say, keeping up the pretense of knowing nothing and trying to slice the sword through the force field, to no avail. Damn, it’s powerful. If even the fake G.I. can’t get through it, I am screwed without assistance.
“I look forward to your efforts, my dear,” he says before he vanishes, and the force field drops as Cole wakes up.
“Liv?” he sits up as he sees me standing there with my Hellfire sword brandished at nothing and a murderous look on my face. “What happened? Did you get rid of him?”
“No. I wouldn’t be standing here with this in my hand if I had,” I whine, waving the sword about and he flinches, so I send the sword back to the armory. “Other me forgot to mention how to get him out from behind that fucking force field.”
“Oh. Maybe same as last time? Get him to pull you into it instead?”
“Gee that was a funfest…not. There must be another way.” I chew my lip as I crawl back onto the bed beside him.
“Goad him out. Call him a coward or something. You know, like in a Western movie,” Cole says with a chuckle and I smile at him.
“Do you feel better?”
“Yes,” he says, checking the clock. “We’re going in an hour. Go feed and then get changed.”
“Yes, sir.” I salute and he grabs me.
“Hm, now that is what you can call me,” he murmurs against my mouth before he bites my bottom lip.
“You like that, don’t you?” I ask seductively as I push him back to the bed and climb on top of him. He grins at me but pushes me off.
“I told you, later,” he says.
“Don’t reject me,” I say, pouting.
“I’m not rejecting you; I’m postponing you. Think of it as foreplay,” he teases.
“Humph, I remember that feeling of having to wait. It’s not fun,” I complain.
“But remember how incredible it was when we didn’t have to wait anymore?” he reminds me, and I sigh.
“Yes, all I wanted to do was bite you and fuck you senseless,” I say, snuggling into him.
He laughs. “It seems so strange that I didn’t know what you were then. I feel like I have known you forever,” he whispers.
“We were destined,” I whisper back. “In this world you are my destiny. The Chosen One.” I pull him to me for a kiss and he kisses me back with fervor but then pulls away.
“Oh no, you don’t get to manipulate me into fucking you before we get to the party,” he says, and I flop back to the bed with a groan.
“You are no fun.”
“Oh, I will be later. I promise you,” he says. “Now, go feed.”
And on cue there is a knock at the door, and it is Ramon and CK.
I approach him, starving, and he smiles at me as CK eyes me warily and coldly. “Aefre,” he says. “He is here for you, do not forget about him.”
“But I do,” I say. “I think I need to take a leaf out of her book.”
“And what was that?” he asks, distracted about something and not in a good mood at all.
“She had regimented feeds. Specific times every day. No matter what, she was interrupted and had to feed.”
“And you know this how?” CK asks curiously as Cole frowns at me.
Err, watch what you say… “Because I was fast asleep and was woken up by her servants to feed. They were the only ones I saw while I was there,” I say, feeling bad that it wasn’t exactly how it happened, but they believe me and decide between themselves that this is a good idea.
“Very well. 6:30 AM and 6:30 PM are now your designated feeding times,” CK declares and Cole agrees.
“You have to keep it up, Liv, especially if you are to go after that thing.”
“Fine. But I won’t be responsible for seeking it out. He comes up or it gets forgotten,” I say. Don’t get me wrong, I love to feed on humans. But there is always this icky side to me that reminds me of what I could do to them if I let the beast out. I don’t want to be that person anymore and if I could get away with it, I wouldn’t feed on humans at all. But Queen Power
s are draining and the only thing for it is human blood.
“Done,” CK says and pushes Ramon towards me, which is unnecessary as he is eager for the bite and that concerns me as well.
Chapter 10
After taking my fill, Cole asks them to leave as we have to get ready for our night out. CK is reluctant to leave but with a lingering glance at me he goes, bending down to whisper in my ear that he has spoken to Sebastian and the rules have been set, but he needs to talk to me about something, before he kisses me.
I nod and step back and in a swirl of fog, I am ready to go as he leaves.
“No,” Cole says. “You are also too recognizable with your Dragon. Change.”
I look down at myself and sigh. Fine, back-covered clothing it is. I choose a black crushed velvet dress, which reaches my mid-thigh, with a plunging neckline but with a full back and long flared sleeves.
“Happy?” I ask as I twirl in a circle.
“Very,” Cole says as he kisses me.
“Time to go,” Devon says, breezing in with a very excited Jess next to him.
“Dev…” I start, but he holds his hand up.
“Lizzie. She’s fine.”
I’m not so sure and he can see it on my face.
“I promise you; I won’t let anything bad happen, but she needs to get out,” he says glancing at her with a small smile that breaks my heart.
“Fine, but we need to talk. Soon,” I say quietly, and he nods.
I take Cole’s hand and he leads us down to Grayson and the waiting limo.
Masks already waiting for us as well, I am getting quite excited about this myself.
Several minutes later we pull up to a huge mansion that I quite like the looks of for myself, and we don our masks and get out of the car. Nothing too fancy, for any of us, as we are all trying to keep as low a profile as possible, we slink into the house and give our names. Turns out that pseudonyms are the norm and I chuckle as Cole gives ours as Mr. and Mrs. Coortan, which is of course my maiden name from when I was a human.
“Funny,” I murmur as we glide into the foyer.
“Well, I thought it was kind of cute being your real name and all,” he says with a sideways glance at me.