by Eve Newton
“I told you to leave,” he snarls at me as I cautiously enter the room.
“Well, too bad. This is my home as well and I am not leaving it,” I say calmly.
“Not anymore it isn’t,” he bellows at me and my heart almost stops beating.
“Yes, it is. It is mine and yours.” I am still being quiet and calm, the complete opposite to his loud rage.
“Liv, just get out. I don’t want to see you.” Yet more things crash to the floor around me, but I don’t move. “Get out!” he roars at me as he Vamps out and rips the entire bed to shreds in a matter of seconds.
“No,” I still say, and it is the last straw for him. My defiance in the face of his anger tips him over the edge.
“You want to stay?” he asks then, focusing intently on me, his eyes black as they pin mine. “You want to be in here knowing what I did to all those whores wishing it was you?”
My sharp intake of breath at his hurtful words makes him smile, a cruel and evil flash of fangs as he advances on me now rooted to the spot. “Oh yes, Aefre. Every second I was in here hurting them, fucking them until they cried and begging me for mercy, I was wishing it was you.” He pauses to gauge my reaction. “Does that hurt you?” he asks casually.
I just blink at him, knowing that he doesn’t mean any of it, he is just saying it to hurt me. “You don’t mean that,” I stammer and curse myself for my weakness.
“Don’t I?” he asks as he glides closer to me in Hunting mode. I inadvertently take a step back and it pleases him. “You should be afraid. I have let you get away with far too much over the years. You need to be punished. Do you want me to punish you?” He is now standing so close to me with his hand around my throat, his claws digging painfully into me. He knows I can’t go anywhere as he has cut off my ability to Astral, and I can see it in his eyes that he is going to play with me as a cat would a mouse. All those times I pushed him to show me his monster had been a big, big mistake. I don’t want to see it. Not when it looks at me like it hates me and wants to tear me apart.
“Constantine,” I whisper, and he tightens his grip on my throat. I can sense a Power building, but it isn’t coming from me. It is coming from him. I have never felt anything quite like it before. His eyes are now completely black, as in not just the irises, but his entire eyeball is glowing an evil black that I didn’t even know he was capable of. I struggle to breathe as the pressure starts to increase in the air. It is stifling, like it is pushing down on me. The wind picks up in the room, a swirling vortex that we are standing in the middle of and I am actually terrified, as I don’t know this man standing in front of me, not even a little bit. I choke as he squeezes tighter, the wind speeds up and the unseen pressure pushes down on me, literally forcing me down.
“That’s right. On your knees, whore,” he says to me as I drop. The only thing holding me up is his hand at my throat. “I have tried to treat you differently, I never wanted to use my Powers on you as I wanted everything you felt to be real. Even if it wasn’t love for me, I still never wanted to manipulate you in this way. Even now, when you need to see reason, I couldn’t do it. Had to have someone else do it to you and that little prick you sired. You just couldn’t let him go to that girl, had to keep fighting it. You made me do this, made me make someone else do this, because I couldn’t bear to think about hurting you that way myself. Violating your mind. Bending you to my will. But no more! You are no better than all the others,” he shouts at me as if he is about to rip my head off, and I know now that the visions that Remiel were showing me were all true. It is the thing I need to get my own Power to work. It’s there all right, hovering under the surface, but I am not used to it. Not used to calling it to me to defend myself with it. He has nearly three thousand years’ worth of experience over me, and it shows. I start to coil it up deep inside, ignoring the pressure he is putting on me. It is exactly as he just said, he is bending me to his will, and it is scary, scary stuff. Even more so that I never even knew he had this Power. “All this time, all I wanted was complete control over you,” he continues as he lets me drop to my knees. “But you could never even give me that. Not even once. You belong in here with the rest of the whores to be taught who owns you,” he snarls the last sentence at me and I gasp as he backhands me so hard across the face, I go flying into the unforgiving stone wall behind me. My head bounces painfully off the wall but I shake it off and stand. I am fighting against his own Power and it enrages him further. “Complete control,” he roars at me over the twister that is whipping around the room, ripping everything into even more tiny pieces. “Submit!” he yells at me as he grabs the front of my sweatshirt. “Submit!” His inner monster has completely taken him over and had I been a weaker Vampire, I would have been on my belly ages ago by now, groveling at his feet, but there isn’t a chance in Hell he is going to win this Power struggle. He may have finally revealed his scary ass Initial Vampire mojo, but I have some scary ass Queen of The Underworld Power of my own lurking somewhere. Somewhere where I wish it would hurry up and show itself before he kills me. Or at least tries to kill me. That thought petrifies me more, as at least if we both knew how I could die, it would be quick and painless. As it is, he throws me across the room and I slam into the opposite wall, rattling me painfully as I slide down it, only just staying on my feet. “Don’t fight me, Aefre,” he warns. “You know how much I can hurt you.” And just to remind me he slashes his claws down me, cheek to navel, ripping my clothes and slicing my skin wide open. My blood spurts out all over him as he nicks an artery and I hiss at the agonizing burn his claws have left. I sink to the floor trying to fight through the pain, as he cut me so deep, he hit my rib bones on his way down. Fuck. He is vicious. When I said that I would rather he take it out on me than walk away…I was being a fucking idiot. I should have done as he said and left. He may be only slightly physically stronger than me now, although my own strength seems to have abandoned me in my time of need, but he knows how to fight and harness his Power and he isn’t afraid to hold back. To be truly ruthless and merciless.
Even on me.
“Give in?” he taunts as I take a deep breath to steel myself.
Never, I think to myself and it gets me on my feet. Just.
“Oh, Aefre,” he mocks. “You really never did know when to give up, did you?” And he slashes down the other side of me in matching lacerations that blur my vision and have me gripping my middle where the wounds have intersected, and it feels like my insides are going to fall out.
I feel my Power stirring in me as I gasp for breath, knitting the wounds together enough that I don’t spill out all over the floor, but that is all I get. I let him think that he has me right where he wants me, but he is sorely mistaken if he thinks this is the end. I gather all of my resolve, every last ounce of Power I can grab a hold of in me and I stand up straight. His eyes flash, a mixture of pleasure and also pain, which he quickly squashes to leave only the pleasure. He wasn’t kidding when he said I never wanted to see this side of him. If either one of us survive this, I hope never to see it again. Or him, for that matter. I can feel the wind swirl around and I know this time it is my Power, the lightning strikes and the thunder claps, the rain lashing against the windows. He steps back, coiling himself for a fight, as he knows I am going to come at him now with everything that I have.
The windows burst out and splinter into a million pieces as the Power in me grows and I know I can grab everything else I need from the storm outside, to throw him back against the wall as I step forward. He laughs as he recovers quickly but doesn’t move any closer to me.
“Show me what you’ve got hiding under the surface, little girl,” he sneers.
I whip my hand up and the Power cuts him viciously down his chest, throwing him back against the wall again. The tower shakes violently, and he seems mildly surprised that he doesn’t heal straight away and then he advances on me, but this time I won’t let him get his hands on me. I throw the lightning at him again and it hits him on the chest
and sends him crashing into the wall again. I form an orb of Hellfire in my palm and twirl it, making it grow bigger and bigger and I see the flash of fear in his eyes that I am going to hurl it at him. He knows he won’t survive it, yet he closes his eyes waiting for me to throw it at him and… I cave.
As much as he has damaged me, I can’t end him. I think he probably knows that deep down as well. In the end, I close my hand over it and instead throw another lightning bolt at him that he dodges, but I was hoping for that and I am quicker and in the space where I wanted him, and I have him by the throat, digging my claws into him, wanting with every fiber of my being to rip his throat out, but again, I don’t. The rumble of my Power shakes the tower beneath our feet and bits of the roof start to crumble and drop to the ground outside with the bits of window. His eyes return to normal and the evil mask drops. The pain on his face rips at me but then he smiles his made-just-for-me smile at me, whispering something I don’t hear. He relaxes and it catches me completely off guard and I relax my grip slightly in response.
It is a rookie move and exactly what he was hoping I would do, as he suddenly tenses back up and slaps my hand away from his neck before I can blink. His own hand goes to my throat, everything then seems to go in slow motion as he takes a step towards the gaping maw where the windows used to be, drenching us with rain, before he hurls me out of the hole in the wall and I fall the one hundred and fifty feet to the ground, landing in a bone-shattering heap.
Every bone in my body is broken and not healing as the wounds he inflicted are still wide open, ripped apart again by the fight and slowing the healing process down. I struggle for breath as my lungs feel like they are going to collapse and I look up towards the open hole, my eyes the only thing in my body that can still move, going blurry as I see him standing there staring down at me. My focus goes double, and I see two of him standing there before he Teleports out, leaving me there, broken, soaked in my own blood with the rain lashing down on me and alone.
All alone, I think, before I see the roof collapse completely and fall down towards me, and I thank the old gods as the sweet, black surrender of unconsciousness pulls me under before it hits me.
Epilogue
Caen, Normandy, 1012 – Aefre
“You must,” he said to me as I refused for the millionth time. “You are a Vampire, my sweet. You need to learn how to Hunt.”
“Constantine,” I pouted. “I don’t want to. Why can’t I just feed on the willing like I have been doing?”
“Because while that is acceptable, it is not our way. The thrill of the Hunt,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me. “The fear makes their hearts beat faster.” He placed his hand over mine before he lightly moved it lower down. “The blood is sweet and full. Don’t you want to taste it, my love?” He bunched his hands tightly in my skirts and I wanted him to lift them and have his way with me. He knew I wanted this too, but he dropped his hands and stepped away from me. “You give me what I want, and I will give you what you want. And only then,” he said with a sly smile on his perfect, handsome face.
I stared at him in disbelief. “You are being cruel, sir. You know I want to be with you, do not refuse me.”
“Do not refuse me, sweet Aefre. You will do what I want you to do. You will always do exactly as I ask. Your only task is to please me. Or do you wish for me to be unhappy?”
I hesitated, not wanting to make him unhappy with me but not really wanting to learn how to Hunt people either. “Very well,” I whispered, giving in. He was the only thing that mattered to me. He smiled at me, happy then.
“At sundown then,” he said, as he swept me off my feet in a loving kiss, but true to his word did not give himself to me.
I was aching with need for him as the sun set and he led me into the forest. “Hear the heartbeat, sense the fear,” he whispered to me. “He has a good head start on you. You should catch him before he escapes.” He slapped me lightly on my rear and gestured for me to enter deeper into the forest. I was afraid. Afraid of what I would do to the man if I found him, all to please my sire. But I would please him, because he wanted me to. I picked up the scent easily enough and followed it steadily, tracking him as I would a deer. His fear was washing over me, and I felt my fangs descend and the hunger clawed at me. I was now close enough to him that I could hear him crashing through the woods trying to escape, but there was no way out for him. He would die in this forest. I found him and in a flash of speed I had him by the throat, holding him close to me, I drank and drank. Past the limit. I felt myself get full and stronger, but I just could not do it. I let him go and he slumped to floor, still alive.
“Finish the task, Aefre,” Constantine said from behind me. “You cannot allow him to live now that he knows about us. He will betray us.”
“No,” I said and shook my head. “He won’t. We can make him a willing Feeder,” I added desperately.
“No, you cannot make someone be willing, my love.” He crouched next to me. “Finish the task and I will lift your skirts and take you right now.”
I wanted him desperately, but I could not. I shook my head and he sighed at me. “I am disappointed in you,” he said as he turned to the prisoner and dropped his fangs. He fed from him until he lay motionless and dead in his arms and dropped him to the floor without a second thought. “I shouldn’t have to clean up your mess, Aefre,” he said sternly. “This night, you will be punished. You will stay out here with him until sunrise and then we will try again.”
I watched him sadly as he left me alone in the forest with a dead man. The tears fell silently down my face. My sorrow over disappointing him and making him so angry with me gnawed at me. All through the night, I vowed to myself that in the morning when he came back, I would do exactly as he asked.
He returned at sunup and offered me some solace in his arms, but he was still unhappy with me. “Are you ready to try again?” he asked.
I nodded and he led me back out to the edge of the forest and let me go. I tracked the human down quickly, but again, I could not finish the task and he was furious with me, as he had to drain the man again.
Three more times we did this. Each time, I failed, and he left me in the forest, all alone with the bodies that had piled up that he had killed because I could not. Each one brought up from the dungeons for me to Hunt and kill. On the fourth night of being alone, I was tired and despite the regular feeds, I felt weak. I knew it was because I hadn’t been near enough to my sire. I had barely seen him over the last few days and it was affecting me. He said that it would, if I wasn’t close to him, and yet he had still left me out there in the forest, miles from the castle and him, all alone, to punish me. He returned and led me back to our starting point. I just wanted to cry and have him hold me and comfort me, but I knew he wouldn’t, and he would think less of me for it. I straightened my back and this time, this time, I was going to complete the task and make him happy with me again.
He found me crouched low over the prisoner, drinking heavily, determined to do this. I felt his heart beat slow and I kept suckling until he was dry and there was nothing left in his veins. The blood was coursing through me now as I pushed him away and stood with a smile on my face. Constantine was smiling back at me with pride and joy in his eyes. “There you go,” he said. “I knew you could do it, my clever girl.”
“Are you pleased me with, sir?” I asked quietly and he answered by kissing me deeply and sweetly as he pulled my skirts up around my hips.
“Very,” he murmured before he resumed his kisses and nips to my lips. “Do you want me?”
“Yes,” I whispered straightaway. “I need you.”
“Right now?” he asked as he pushed me to the ground next to the man I had killed.
I looked into the dead, glassy eyes of the man with no name, the human who had fed me and gave his life to help me please the man that I loved. The man that I would love with every part of me, always and forever. “Yes,” I said as I looked back at my sire, the man forgotten. “I want
you to take me here, now.”
He devoured me with his mouth, his hands, and his tongue. Every inch of me was licked, nipped and kissed before he slid easily into me. Moving inside me, he made me quiver with pleasure again and again, until the sun rose overhead, and I asked him to his delight, “Will you Hunt with me tonight?”
The End
Reader’s Note
To find out what happened to the ‘Other Aefre’ once Liv returned to her own World, read on with the Switch spin-off novella. A quick, fun story from the other side about what happened during the Switch and when she returned to her own World!
The Other Switch
(…and what happened next)
Eve Newton
Forever Series Novella
A Switch Spin-off
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2014
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2017
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.