by Eve Newton
“Enough,” CK says to him. “She is your sire and your Queen, and you will respect her.”
Devon turns to him and then back to me, where I am just standing stock still under the tirade of my charge. “Yes, enough. Enough is enough. I have my own charge now and I am going to show her the way. Our way. If she chooses to indulge, then I will revel in it,” he says, arms wide as he turns in a circle coming back to face me. “I will show her the way and she can decide. You should do the same with your own instead of making the decision for him.” He stalks out, slamming the door behind him and I lose my shock at his words and turn my fury back to my sire. I am shaking as he has stepped up, vocally, about taking Jess on as his charge. I am devastated. I have lost him. And he has let me know in a really horrible way.
“How many?” I ask, my heart breaking.
“Six in total,” CK says carefully.
I nod and look to Cole. “How many are you responsible for?”
“Two,” he says and my heart breaks even more.
“Two,” I repeat softly. “And the clean up?” I choke on the words.
“Taken care of,” CK says.
“Liv,” Sebastian starts, but I hold my hand up to quiet him.
I put my hands on my desk to steady me. “The fact that you took my husband, my charge, out Hunting without my knowledge is unforgivable, but that aside, a carnage on the scale of which you have conducted, in a country not our own that we have arrived in less than twenty-four hours ago, is dangerous and irresponsible and puts us all at risk. How could you?” I ask this to CK specifically.
“Liv, listen to me,” Sebastian says again. “They weren’t just six random people we picked out of a crowd.”
“’Bastian,” CK warns, as I shift my steely gaze to my sibling and fellow Fae-pire.
“No, she needs to know,” he says. “We can stand here and be berated, and maybe we deserve it for not telling her what we were doing, but we sure as hell don’t deserve it for why we did it.”
I look back to Cole, who is looking like he wants to die under my callous gaze. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Don’t blame him,” Sebastian says to me.
“Stay out of it,” I tell him. I am surprised he came to Cole’s defense. I don’t think they have said two words to each other since they met.
“No,” he steps forward. “Livvie, did you speak to Cade yesterday?”
I frown at him and ask, “Cade? What does he have to do with any of this?”
“Nico and Cade were in Italy finding out what the Hunters were up to with regard to you,” Sebastian says.
“Yes, I know that. I sent them,” I snap at him.
“And?”
“And, yes I spoke to him yesterday. He said that there was a team of Assassins already in London…” I trail off and look at each one in turn as understanding dawns on me. “A team of six,” I say quietly and they all nod, relieved that I have figured it out and no further explanation is required. “I see, so I am guessing Nico gave you the heads up and you decided to take it upon yourselves to take out the team before they took out you. Is that it?”
“In a nutshell,” CK says. “Look, Aefre, we are well aware of your disapproval, and while I have to disagree with his methods, your boy is right. You cannot expect us to be something we are not. Your choice is admirable and while we don’t understand it fully, we respect it. You asked me the other week to take you Hunting so you could kill. I knew you weren’t in your right frame of mind and I refused, because I know you. I knew it was something you would regret, and I respected your choice. You need to respect ours and not deny your new charge to be who he wants to be. If he decides he doesn’t want to Hunt and kill for his own reasons, then fair enough. But you will not rake him over the coals about this. I won’t allow it.” He emphasizes his point with a stern finger to my desk. “And furthermore, nor will you think that you are better than we are for abstaining. I, quite frankly, think it is absurd. Especially under your personal circumstances that Devon quite succinctly pointed out. I taught you to Hunt and you taught Devon. You should offer your new charge the same courtesy.”
I flush with anger and shame under his Initial Vampire-like reprimand but keep my mouth shut. Pointedly, in a very tight, grim line. Yes, I remember how he taught me to Hunt, the heavy-handed brute. I, at least, went easier on Devon. His defense of Cole is also quite staggering, but I think that is only because he sees him as a charge now. A new member of the race he helped create. But I can’t argue with any of it now that it has been so neatly laid out in front of me. Twice. I have been a pious hypocrite expecting every Vampire to be like me and take my moral standings on Hunting and killing.
He sees that he has got through to me and says softly, “We should have told you what we were planning. For that I am sorry. It was a shock to you and maybe had you had more time to process it, it wouldn’t look as bad as it does.”
“We knew we had to keep you, all of us, safe from this super-Hunter assassin team and it seemed like an ideal time to take Cole out,” Sebastian adds quietly, asserting his point that it was for the good of the team. “But we should have told you.”
I flop back into my chair now and sigh. “Fine, I get it and see your point about Cole. But as far as I am concerned, this never happens again, on this scale, without my say-so. No matter the threat, none of you have the right to make decisions like this on my behalf. Not even you.” I point to CK.
“I know,” he says with a small smile. “Your show.”
I look again at Cole, who has relaxed slightly but tenses up again as my eyes meet his. “I will talk to you later. I need a few minutes,” I say to him but effectively dismissing them all. They all nod and back out and I spin in my chair to stare out of the window. I can’t believe them, the sneaky fuckers. Disappearing and killing like that. I should have their heads for this. But I can’t argue that firstly, Cole needed to go and that regardless of my opinions, it should have been me that took him. And secondly, that the Assassins needed to be dealt with. I wonder briefly if Cade knew what they were up to? He had better not for his own sake.
“Dissension in the ranks? Never a good sign of a great leader,” Fake Lance says from behind me.
I spin around in my chair again to face him. I have lost all of my fear of this creature and all I want now is to see him dead. In whatever manner possible.
“Fake Lance,” I say. “How long have you been creeping about?”
“Long enough to see you can’t control your little group. Or is it perhaps that you can, but don’t wish to?”
“Probably the last one,” I admit, and he delights at my honesty.
“You are so afraid of your own Power. It would be quite amusing if it weren’t so tragic.”
“Tragic? Yeah, you are probably right. Tell me something. You have all of Lance’s memories, right?”
He nods at me carefully, wondering what I am getting at.
“Can you explain to me, in all honesty, why he did what he did to me?”
He looks taken aback. “You want to know why he took you and tortured you? Don’t you already know?”
“Not really, no.”
“Hmmmmm,” he draws it out as he taps his chin. “He loved you,” he says, and I roll my eyes.
“He wasn’t capable of it,” I scoff.
“Yes, he was. He loved carefully but fiercely. When your sire turned him, he enjoyed a cruel streak to be sure, but he became what he was because of the way your sire showed him. He turned him into a diabolical fiend who, although loyal, became unsure of his place in Constantine’s world. More so after you were turned. He craved you, needed you, watched you from afar. For over a century he watched you become everything he wanted. A vicious creature that could match his own cruelty.”
I gulp but stay silent, wanting him to continue. He starts to pace, getting into his story now. “Eloise went to him and goaded him. Told him how your sire only wanted you and that he was no longer required. Told him he shoul
d do something about it if he ever wanted his relationship with Constantine to be the way it was. He waited until the day your sire came for you. He knew he would come and that you would let him. He also knew you wouldn’t return with him. Once Constantine was gone, he made his move on you, knowing that you were ripe for the picking. He thought you would love him. If he could just get you to go back to his castle with him. Unfortunately, you needed a little persuasion and he was terrified of losing you so he locked you up in the tower room, where you couldn’t escape. It wasn’t his plan. Not his original plan, anyway, but as you got weaker and weaker, he thought you would come around once he scattered affection on you and took it away, only to give it back to you. But your will was strong and although he persevered, he knew he would never win you.”
“How…how long was I in the tower?” I ask, needing to know, as time lost all meaning after the first few weeks.
“Nine years. He was so sure you would eventually tell him you loved him, he kept you in there for nine years. That is eight and a half years longer than anyone else ever made it,” he says as if I should be grateful. “But what you didn’t get, what you didn’t understand, was that he needed you to show him how to love you. He didn’t know. You were different, special. He was relying on you to show him and you failed, and he eventually became so frustrated with you that he could no longer stand you being so close to him. He lost his mind, he was so crazed by your refusal to accept him, that he just flipped.”
I blink at him. “Are you saying that he wasn’t always a crazy arse lunatic?” I ask.
“No, he was quite sane. Cruel and somewhat evil behind closed doors, yes, but he was a perfectly acceptable member of society. Your sire wouldn’t have turned him had he been anything but. Such a perfectionist,” he tuts. “So, as you see, it was you, my dear, that broke him. All you had to do was love him.”
“Broke him? Broke him? You know what he did to me.” I stand up and stride forward to where he is standing in the corner.
“Yes, indeed. He broke you too. Shattered you into tiny little pieces. It is a shame, really. You probably would have made for a great couple.”
Gah! This thing had better be fucking joking. I stare at him as he regards me quietly and I think back to the Lance that the other world still harbors. They said he was great and wonderful and a perfect match for Cassis. She said she loved him, and they were compatible. Is it true? Was it me that broke him?
“You have caused so much destruction in your lifetime. I am surprised you find it so easy to judge the choices of those you love,” he says casually, interrupting my thoughts.
“You know nothing of that,” I snap at him and he shrugs. I look at him again now with new eyes. Standing there, looking like Lance. There is every chance that he is lying to me but somehow, I get that he isn’t. He wants to talk, to converse, to have intellectual stimulus. He has been stuck in the Spirit Realms for eons with nothing to do but gain power and plot his revenge. I take full advantage of this and ask him, “What do you really look like? The whole Lance thing doesn’t scare me anymore. It’s kind of pointless.” I put my hands on my hips in a show of nonchalance, but my hand is ready to draw my sword should I need to.
He laughs and says, “Yes, I feared my revelations might cause such a reaction in you.” He shimmers and then stands in front of me looking like no one I know. No one I have feared or loved and lost. I step forward but bounce back off the damn magickal barrier as I peer at him. “Nice,” I say. “You should keep it.”
“Yes, it does seem that I fit in with your ‘type.’” He uses air quotes with his wry tone, which makes me laugh despite myself. I look closer at him and he looks somewhat familiar. I narrow my eyes at him. “You are of the House of Dracul, aren’t you?” I ask.
He looks startled and doesn’t answer me for a few minutes. He clears his throat and says, “Yes. What of it?”
“Thought so, you look like you belong to them.”
“Just as smart as a whip. I like that about you.”
“What’s your name?” I ask curiously.
“Oh no, you don’t get that,” he laughs.
“Why not? I already know your House,” I point out.
He ponders that for a long while. Long enough that I start to wonder what the Hell I am doing chatting to this creature who has put me through the ringer.
“Remiel,” he says eventually.
I take a step back in surprise. “Remiel? As in…” I flap my hands like wings, “…the Archangel?”
“Hardly, my dear,” he scoffs. “Although, I do have a special station. The seventh son of the seventh son,” he adds.
“Holy crap,” I exclaim, taking that in. “You are Dracul’s grandson? You are my grandnephew?” I ask in horror and disbelief.
“As it were,” he says with a shudder, as he clearly finds that as distasteful as I do.
“Then why? Why did Tiamat kill you? Her great grandchild,” I ask without thinking and his face goes cold and menacing and I take another step back as he steps forward.
“She turned on me. She was threatened by me. I was more powerful than even Dracul. She gave me enough power to take over The Underworld, but She didn’t want that, it was being saved…for you,” he snarls at me, and it looks like playtime is over. What does he mean that She gave him power? There seems to be more to this story than we first thought. A lot more.
“So, you decided to wait for me to become Queen and try to do me in?” I ask, showing no fear to his amusement.
“Precisely. Tit for tat. I don’t get to rule, neither will you.”
“Not only is that highly juvenile, but why did you wait? Why not just take me out at the start?” I ask him but have no idea why these words are coming out of my mouth.
“Nobody knew who you were until you ascended, or I would have,” he says sullenly.
“But I didn’t do anything to you. That’s hardly fair.”
“Fair? You want to talk about fair? I was hacked into thirteen pieces by Her and that blasted sword so that I couldn’t rule. Do you think that is fair?”
“No, of course I don’t,” I say truthfully, and it stops him dead in his tracks, having clearly expected a different answer. I clearly don’t know the half of this story, but no one deserves a death the likes of which he seems to have endured. “But what do you gain from destroying me?” I add.
“Revenge!” he screams at me. “And for Her to feel the pain of defeat. She will never have another daughter. You are Her last chance at passing down Her rule of the Dragon Realms. You cease to exist and Her whole regime collapses, taking Her with it.”
“Wow, bitter much?” I say and he glares at me with those beautiful blue eyes that I look into every time I look at Xane. “If you are as powerful as I think you are, why can’t you just bring yourself back to life?”
I startle him with the random question, ignoring his dramatic speech on my demise. “Death doesn’t work that way. Believe me, I have tried. I want the life that was taken away from me. Even to just be a regular Demon again with no amplified powers. That’s why I manipulate dreams. Because that is all I have,” he says sadly.
He looks so forlorn; I almost buy it for a second but then I remember everything he has done to me. “If I had said I wanted to stay in the dreams, what would have happened?”
“You would have been mine for a time. We would have lived out our lives in the dream and your body would have withered away as the energy in you dissipated.”
“Don’t you get how icky that is?” I say, trying for a show of indifference. “We are related.”
“Oh, hardly, my dear,” he scoffs. “You may claim Tiamat as your mother, but we are not related by any means that count. Same as you and Xane,” he adds idly, and I blanch.
“So, what you really want is not to kill me, but to be with me?” I ask, not out of arrogance, but trying to understand his warped motivations.
“That is the preferred option. You are strong and your body will last a lifetime,” he admit
s. “At least I get something out of it. You immobilized and all but dead, but we can be happy together. Your actual death, however, will suffice if you don’t accept the life, I can give you.” He shimmers again and Fraser is standing in front of me. I breathe in deeply as his moss green eyes stare soulfully at me. Lance may no longer have an effect on me, but Fraser still does and my heart aches.
“You don’t play fair,” I cross my arms defensively, not falling for it. Not this time.
“You are still weak. You may have conquered your fear of Lance, but this man will always haunt you. But I can be him for you.” He steps closer to me and I stand my ground. I can still feel the force of the barrier between us, but he is so close to me I want to reach out and touch him.
“No, you will never be him.” I shake my head.
“But I can be, Emmie. I have all of his memories. The day we met, I fell in love with you the second you scowled at me,” he says, switching to the first person. “Our wedding day was the happiest day of my life.”
“Stop,” I say. “Stop this.”
“You know you want me. All the others don’t mean as much to you as I do. You would give them all up in a heartbeat to be with me. So, do it.”
I know by now that we have an audience, gaping at us from over by the door. Fortunately, they remain silent. I put my hand up to the force field and he does the same. We are barely touching and most of me is yelling to accept the lie, to forget this life and go and live the one I should have. But the sane part of me…
“Liv,” Xane says to me from my side. “Don’t do this.”
I ignore him and he pulls me around to face him and whispers, “It isn’t real.” He kisses me slowly, to the bristling of the crowd behind us. I can hear scuffling and I assume it is Cole being held back by Lincoln. “This is real,” he whispers.