by Eve Newton
“What, just anybody?” he asks.
“No, just the Fae.”
“Can you use it?”
“Drake said yes,” I reply.
“What’s he like? Your father?” he asks.
“Large and terrifying,” I snort, and he chuckles. “Although, I have no doubt that he can be shit-your-pants scary, I have seen his softer side.”
“What are you going to do about the prophecy?” he asks hesitantly.
“I am going to have the Union with Sebastian,” I say, and he crushes me in protest. “It’s just a formality,” I add before he can yell at me. “It’s a ceremony that is important to my father and has no bearing on our relationship, or our marriage.”
“What about the baby?” he asks.
“There can be no baby, if there is no sex,” I say, and he pulls his face at me. We stand there holding each other and I know I have to reassure him further that I have no intentions of bearing a child. We jump a mile when there is a crashing coming through the woods towards us. My first thought is that Demon-Wolf thing, but it isn’t a full moon…or even night for that matter. Sebastian comes charging towards us with a determined look on his face.
“What are you doing?” I ask him, as he heads straight for the Faerie ring.
“Going to avenge you,” he says shortly. “If Drake isn’t going to kill my father, then I am.”
“Wait, Seb. You can’t do that,” I grab his arm to stop him.
“Watch me,” he says, and pulls away from me as he steps into the ring. He disappears, and I stand there with my hands over my mouth. Ah, Hell. This is bad. I should step into the ring myself to go and stop him, but suddenly, I really don’t want to. I don’t want to go back there, not just yet. I hope that Sebastian is capable of keeping himself alive, but I just can’t go to help him. I take Cole’s hand and back away with a feeling of panic. We walk back out of the woods to the lightly falling snow. “You aren’t going to follow him?” Cole asks me, slightly surprised.
“Nope, I am not getting in the middle of a Faerie fight. It’s between them now,” I say to his relief, covering up my anxiety and real reasons for my lack of concern.
“It’s been a long day,” he sighs.
“It’s been a long year,” I amend. “We need to talk about something though.”
“What?” he asks as we head back into the house.
I Astral us upstairs to our bedroom and close the door. “That Vampire you were with the other night.”
“Oh.” He looks at me in dread, but I smile in reassurance that I’m not mad with him.
“Is it something that you want to be regular?” I ask, fiddling with my rings.
“No!” he exclaims loudly. “No, Liv, I told you then it meant nothing. I was lonely and aching and I wanted you, but you weren’t here.”
I nod, accepting that.
His phone goes off for a message and he looks at it with a frown, but pockets it again.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he mumbles, but he isn’t fooling me. I step forward and pull his phone out of his pocket. He tries to stop me, but I snatch it away and read the message. I spin back to him. “You are being blackmailed by that woman?” I ask in astonishment.
He shrugs and looks uncomfortable.
“What does she want?” I demand.
“Me,” he sighs, running his hand through his hair in agitation.
“You?” I all but shriek. “Does she have any idea who you are married to?”
“I am sure she does,” he says patiently, and I throw him an apologetic look for jumping straight to me, as usual.
“What exactly is she threatening to do? She can’t oust you as a Vampire as she is one herself,” I ask slightly confused.
“Basic tabloid sex scandal. I’ve just been ignoring her.”
“But if it gets out, your reputation will be shot,” I say.
“Does it matter?” he asks in frustration. “A few months from now I’m quitting and disappearing.”
“Of course it matters, Cole. You can’t let her get away with this,” I insist.
“So what am I supposed to do about it? Give her what she wants?” he challenges me, and I roll my eyes at him.
“Don’t be daft. You tell your wife, who happens to be Queen of the Underworld, and she goes to kick her arse,” I say, hands on my hips.
“I don’t like that plan,” he says, chewing his lip. “I don’t want you anywhere near her.”
“Why? Worried we will compare notes?” I ask smartly and brace myself for the scathing look that he does, indeed, send my way.
“No, Liv, because I love you and that is something, I am ashamed of. I don’t want it rubbed in your face.”
“Oh, but having it splashed all over the tabloids is a better plan?” I ask, with an eye roll.
He flushes as he takes that in. “Fine, we will both go and talk to her. Maybe if we offer her some money she will go away?” he asks hopefully.
I shrug. Maybe. I am thinking more along the lines of an arse kicking to make her go away. He inches closer to me and I can see he wants reassurance I am not mad at him, so I take him in my arms. He leans down to give me a tentative kiss, and when I respond to him, he pulls me closer. I can feel his erection pushing against me and I jump back like a scalded cat. He looks absolutely distraught and I say, “I’m sorry, Cole. I can’t. Not yet. I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“No!” he says forcefully. “I am sorry, I know you aren’t. I didn’t want anything from you, that just, ah, happens to me when I hold you and kiss you, I can’t help it.”
I feel awful for having denied him, but I am not ready to go there yet. I curse Aelfric and his bloody prophecy, and I hope that Drake, or Sebastian, is giving him a good beating right about now. I don’t really want his head on a platter. Or do I? A small voice in the back of my head asks wickedly, and I shake my head to clear it.
“We will go now to see this woman. Nip this in the bud,” I say to change the subject and give myself an excuse to move to the bathroom to get freshened up and changed. “Message her, tell her you are on your way. Alone,” I add.
He is disappointed that I don’t pursue the conversation. I know he wanted me to say something about when I will be ready or at the very least that it won’t be long. It must be ripping him up inside not being able to be with me, but I just can’t think about that right now. I slink off as he messages that Vampire bitch and I stare at myself in the mirror. I pull all my clothes off, the natural way, and stare at the burns. They are fading now, thankfully. I have long since healed where he tore me and broke my hand, but these for some reason are lingering. A very clear reminder of what happened. Unfortunately, even after they go, I still don’t know when I will be ready. It’s a crazy notion for me. Me, who loves sex and wants it as often as I can get it.
Just not right now.
I turn from my reflection and magick up some clothes. I go for a badass look with a sassy edge. Black leather pants, a black vest top, with a black leather blazer, and sparkly silver Carvela by Kurt Geiger shoes. Yeah, I look hot. I exit the bathroom and Cole’s eyes widen in desire.
“Wow,” he says. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks,” I say with a soft smile.
“Before we go, I want to ask you something,” he says and takes my hand. He pulls me to the bed and sits me down.
“What is it?”
“I just want you to listen for now. You don’t have to answer me today…”
“But…” I say as he stops speaking.
“As your husband, I am asking you to give me some time, just for me, for us. I want you to tell me that you will be with me every night for the next month. Thirty days, just for us.”
I look at him in silence, wondering where to start.
“I know your sire is going to go ballistic, but I am past caring about him and what he will do. I know you love me and that you don’t want to leave me. So just give me this, please,” he says.
We
ll, CK would go ballistic if I told him I wouldn’t be with him for a month, if he wasn’t in the doghouse. He said he would give me time, and this is perfect.
“Yes,” I say to Cole, to his amazement. “I will give you a month. You need me and I need you.”
“But what about Constantine?” he asks, even though he said he didn’t care.
“Cole, we had a fight before I went off to find my father. A big one. He owes me and he knows it. Don’t worry about it.”
“What did you fight about?” he asks.
“The Fae thing and Sebastian. He said some pretty hurtful things.” No way am I telling him about the spelling. It will send him on a suicide mission.
“Oh,” he says flatly. “Yes, I can imagine he wasn’t very pleased with that news.”
Understatement of the year. “Let’s go,” I say brightly, wanting to change the subject.
He knows I don’t want to talk about it, so he stands up and takes my hand. “Thank you,” he says. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“I do, my love, and don’t thank me. It’s not a favor.”
“I know,” he says, “but I am grateful anyway.”
Chapter 17
Buckinghamshire, England, March 2013 - Liv
We make our way down to the garage and I ask, “You driving?”
He nods eagerly and grabs the keys to the McLaren. I slide in and he follows, roaring the engine to life. We are silent for a few moments and then he says, “I like going on an adventure with you.”
“What, even though it’s to get your one-nighter to keep her trap shut?” I ask with a slight smirk.
“Well, not that part specifically. More that it is just the two of us,” he admits with a shy look.
“Yeah, I like it too,” I say, and run my hand up and down his thigh. We fall back into a silence and I am staring out of the window wondering what I am going to say to this woman, when Cole blurts out, “Liv, please stop touching me.”
I look back at him and snatch my hand away, holding it to my mouth.
“No, don’t stop touching me,” he says taking my hand back and placing it on his thigh. “Just please stop touching me,” he adds knowingly.
Oh, I hadn’t realized my hand had drifted so far up. “Sorry,” I mumble and feel bad. This is, after all, my embargo. I can’t go around teasing him. It’s not fair to him.
He changes the subject and we chit-chat the rest of the way about my Power boost and Finn’s new role. He is not happy about just how close Finn and I are going to become, but he tries to accept it as best he can. When we pull up to the hotel where she is staying, he changes his mind. “Let’s just go home,” he pleads.
“No, we are here now, and she needs dealing with, Cole. Come on.” I get out and he follows after a minute. I wait for him to take my hand and lead me to the bank of elevators and he anxiously punches the button. Moments later we are facing Tanya’s door and he looks at me.
“I have no idea…” he says.
“Allow me,” I say and bang loudly on the door. I know only three things about this woman: that she is a Vampire, that she is named Tanya, and that she is around three hundred years old. Still a baby compared to me, even without my Power increase. We wait and she opens the door with a big smile, which freezes in place when she sees me. I have no doubt now that she does know who I am, as she grips the folds of her skimpy satin robe closer together to hide her nudity. She clearly assumed nookie was on the agenda when Cole messaged her earlier.
“Cole,” she says in a confused tone. “I thought you were coming to agree to my request?”
“Your blackmail, you mean?” I say to her and put my hand up to her chest to push her back. She goes flying across the room, crashing painfully into the opposite wall and sliding down in a dazed heap. Cole and I look at each other in astonishment. I had only meant to give her a gentle nudge so we could enter the room and close the door on this unsavory discussion. I think Cole knows I barely touched her, which explains his wide-eyed awe. I recover quickly though and march over to her, dragging her up by her robe until she is facing me. Her terrified look pleases the Dragon in me, and before I have said a word a stake pops into my hand out of the armory. Her eyes start to pool with tears, and I hear Cole say my name, gently.
“I’m sorry,” she stammers.
“Sorry?” I snarl at her. “Sorry for blackmailing my husband into coming back to you when he doesn’t want you? Sorry for threatening his reputation?”
“He does want me,” she says boldly. “He was here fucking me the other night instead of you.”
She has balls, I’ll give her that. She probably knows that I won’t stake her. Or at least, had we been in this situation a couple of days ago, she would be right in assuming that. Right now, though, the Dragon Queen has come to the forefront and She is pissed.
“Want you?” I sneer, “He doesn’t want you. He can’t stand the sight of you.” I slam her back into the wall and her eyes go to Cole’s. I know he isn’t looking back at her, as I can feel his eyes on me. I can sense his disgust at her and himself for being with her and also his worry over what I am going to do, but he makes no move whatsoever to stop me. Not only because he couldn’t even if he wanted to, but he is leaving me to do this my way.
“I promise, I won’t say anything,” she says when she sees I am right. “I love him, I just wanted us to be together.”
“Not going to happen,” I growl at her and she nods her head quickly.
“I swear, I won’t say anything,” she says again and relaxes as I let go of her. However, the only reason I had let her go was to get my own arm out of the way. I bring the left one back with the stake still gripped in my hand and say to her, “Unfortunately, there is only one way I can ensure this stays a secret.” I stake her, right in the heart, shoving it so far into her chest that it buries itself into the wall behind her. Her wide eyes go dead before she drops to the floor as a pile of ash at my feet.
“Liv!” Cole exclaims, grabbing my arm as I let go of the stake, which is still sticking out of the wall. “What the fuck?” he asks me desperately, spinning me around.
“What?” I shrug and dust off my hands and then my pants.
“Was that really necessary?” he cries. “How the Hell are we going to explain this?”
“Explain this to whom exactly?” I ask with my hands on my hips. “I report to no one.”
“Liv,” he says, taking me by the arms and shaking me slightly, “You just killed her.”
“I know,” I say calmly. Does he think I am a dimwit? I am perfectly aware of my actions. “No one hurts my family and gets away with it.” I step back from him and regard him closely. I feel no remorse for the girl. No regret, no sorrow, no doubts about whether I did the right thing. Before the Power boost, if (and that is a mighty big “if”) I had done something like this, I would be in hysterical fits over it. Now, I just feel calm, controlled, and completely Powerful. The Dragon has taken over, and I understand fully now what my mother expected of me when She said I had to let the Dragon rule. She is the exact opposite of my willful, flighty, overly emotional Vampire self and I am liking it.
Cole is still staring at me, so I say, “Look, Cole, I have to protect you, and this was the only way. As the old saying goes, with a slight twist…two can keep a secret…”
“If one of them is dead,” he finishes and sighs. “I still think you went a bit far.”
“Paying off a blackmailer never works. They always get greedy and come back for more. She would have been a thorn in our side. Now, it is over with.”
“Are you feeling all right?” he asks in concern.
“Never better,” I say and try to explain it to him. Fortunately, he gets it, or maybe he is just pretending because he doesn’t want to end up on the receiving end of the stake, either way, he drops it, cuddles me, and then pulls the stake out of the wall. “What do we do about this?” he asks as he indicates the ash with distaste. I sweep my hand over it and it disappears.
“Wow, you are handy, aren’t you?” he says with a shaky smile and takes my hand. “But we are going to have to explain her absence.”
“Very well, she attacked you and I defended you. Simple,” I say and open up the dresser drawer to poke around. No point going through all of this if there is evidence lying around. I find her journal and pull it out. I flick through it and determine this is going to have to come with us. There’s a laptop and her phone and those are coming with as well. I hand them to Cole, and he puts them under his arm. It looks kind of suspicious, but I’m not too worried. We leave the hotel room and I remember that I haven’t fed since those bottles I downed when I got back from the Underworld. Strange thing is, I don’t feel hungry. Not for blood anyway. I worry slightly as I drop my fangs and poke them with my index finger to make sure they are still there and haven’t disappeared as they do when Xerxei turns up.
Cole eyes me weirdly. “What are you doing?” he asks, as I am still poking at my fangs.
“Making sure they are still there,” I say.
He bursts out laughing at me, but then sobers quickly when he, too, remembers Xerxei and her lack of Vampiric abilities. “Does it really feel that different?” he asks.
“Yep,” I say. “It’s really quite odd. All the hot and cold emotions I had as a Vampire are all calm now.”
“You haven’t lost your bond to me, have you?” he asks, worried.
“No, of course not,” I say, touching him to prove it to him. “I am still a Vampire, she is just…resting,” I add. This is what Tiamat had said to me. Cole pulls me to him in the elevator and I lean on him, enjoying this immensely. We have so little time to ourselves. I am glad that I now have the next month with him. Pity he still has to work, but this late in the day he can’t quit, so we will have to make do.
Back in the car I flip through Tanya’s journal just for something to do. Such a nosey bitch, but I want to know what she had to say about my husband. Holy crap, I think as I read, she was obsessed with him. I scan a few more pages and then stop. “Tuesday night?” I spit out at him, waving the book in his face.