by Eve Newton
With that very cryptic remark, Devon leaves him alone and miserable to ponder his future. Has he made a mistake with this? He has thought of nothing but this scenario and all of its outcomes for months. Constantine wanted Liv all the time, but she didn’t want to leave him. She proved that to him in Vegas when he offered to let her go and she stayed. He needs her all of the time, so he refuses to let her go. This seemed the most plausible option. He just didn’t count on Constantine asking to marry her. That brings its own set of problems, and now this Faerie baby. Christ. All he wanted when he saw her on that red carpet was to be with her. He had been dreaming of her for weeks. He knew he had never met her and thought maybe he was dreaming about Carolyn. But deep down, he knew she was someone different. Something different. Someone he was meant to love and be with. He thinks maybe he loved her before he even saw her. Complete destiny. She is his destiny and he has to be confident that destiny won’t screw this up for him. They belong together, forever. He is her Chosen One. He is happy to share her with Devon; he just hopes that it happens soon and then they can get rid of Constantine once and for all.
Chapter 6
Other World, June 2013 (1506) – Liv
I arrive at my intended destination, which is Claridges in London, but in the Other World. I open my eyes and see the astounded face of Cole. Not my Cole though, I can tell.
“Hi, Cole,” I say, but he just looks at me in awe.
“Liv!” he yells, backing away slightly.
Empress Aefre walks out of the bedroom and eyes me suspiciously. “I thought you said you would be here tomorrow,” she says.
“So, I came a day early to get this over with. Deal with it,” I reply. “Are you ready to do this or not?”
“Yes,” she says instantly.
“Okay,” I say, clapping my hands together. “Do you have my second?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, looking at Cole in confusion.
“You know, the one I have to leave,” I say. I feel awful for this, but I will feel worse if she comes back over and blabs my secret to my husbands. Cole especially. At least I already know that CK would forgive me. Although, maybe not so much under the circumstances of the time shift and all the lying.
“Oh,” she says. “Yes, however, he is your third. I am coming with you.”
“Oh no,” I tell her. “You are staying here. I will do this.”
“No,” she says. “He is my Devon and I am going with you.” She crosses her arms and glares at me. I am sure that lesser creatures would wither under that steely gaze, but sadly for her, I am no lesser.
I Shift, much to her amazement, and Cole stumbles back as they both clap eyes on Elizabeth. “Better Shift then,” I say to her with my hands on my hips. “You are not his type like that.”
“Excuse me?” she says haughtily and looks down at herself.
“You can do that?” Cole asks her.
“Well, yes,” she says and then looks at me in disgust. “I have never used it to get a man,” she adds.
“That is because you have never had to,” I say patiently. “Constantine and Sebastian both love your natural look. And Cole of course,” I add with an apologetic look to him. “Devon, however, likes this.” I sweep my hands down over my body and Cole’s eyes follow my hands appreciatively.
“I can see why,” he mumbles and ends up on the receiving end of his sire’s most menacing look.
I preen with the compliment and then stop myself. That is just weird. “Come on then, if you want to come with me, you need to do this my way. He won’t come with me unless I look like this and he won’t come back with you if you look like that.”
“Very well,” she says and Shifts to look just like me. It unnerves me more than I care to admit, and a slight shiver goes down my spine.
“Will I have to stay this way for him? He seemed to like it just fine when I was you,” she says.
“Because he loves me,” I say through gritted teeth, really not wanting to picture the two of them together. It is definitely something best forgotten. “We have been together for over five hundred years. He accepts me as I am now, but he fell in love with Elizabeth.”
Cole sits down heavily on the sofa. He looks like he is about to pass out. I don’t really blame him. This is very complicated and to be frank, I have no idea how it is going to turn out. But she wants this in return for her silence so here I am.
“Where is the third, then?” I ask to get this show on the road.
“Wait here.” She Astrals off and returns shortly after with an unconscious human man. Oh, dear. Ice slides down my spine as I think I know what she is going to do with him. “Let’s go,” she says. She pauses to give Cole a lingering kiss, which grosses me out, and then grabs my arm and nods determinedly.
I close my eyes and picture where I want to be: Helsby, Cheshire, 1506, this World.
Please let me land in this World and not let me fuck up my own past.
I open my eyes and we find ourselves in a barn on the outskirts of the village. I peek out and we are in the right era, that much is all I can tell though. I change into something sixteenth century appropriate and Aefre does the same. “You will wait here,” I say to her. “We cannot both go to get him.”
“Why don’t you wait here, and I will go and get him,” she remarks.
“For starters, you have no idea where to find him, and secondly, no idea how to get him to come with you. You cannot just take him from the middle of the street.”
She frowns at me but must conclude that I have a point. She slumps the man in the corner and sits on a hay bale. “Be quick,” she snaps at me and presses something into my hand. I find myself rushing off. I want to be out of here as soon as possible as well.
I experience a moment of nostalgia as I see the village as it was so long ago. I picture my own Devon and me here and we are happy. Such a simpler time, I think with a sigh. Then I get a move on. I make my way to the brothel where Devon and I met. I hoped to land myself on the same day, and if I managed that, he should be here.
The men leer at me as I push open the door to the brothel and get accosted shortly after that. I push one away from me as he grabs my arse and gives it a quick squeeze. Of course, they are going to assume I work here so I don’t take too much offense, but I don’t hold back much, and he stumbles away. I quickly find the madam and pull out the bag of coins that Aefre had pressed into my hand before I left.
“Devon Sawyer,” I say to her. “Is he here?”
“Who wants to know?” she replies. “Are you his wife?”
“Uh, no,” I say. “Just someone looking for him.”
“Humph,” she grunts. “Mayhap he is, mayhap he isn’t,” she adds, crossing her arms over her ample bosom. And this is what the coins are for. I take a few out and place them into her outstretched palm. “Is he here?” I ask again.
“Upstairs, third door on the left,” she states as she tucks her booty away safely.
I head towards the stairs and she calls back to me, “If you are joining in, it’s extra.”
“I’m not,” I assure her with a shudder.
I make my way up the steep stairs and go through my game plan. My Devon was first attracted to my fangs, so flash those and I shouldn’t have to flash much more…hopefully.
At the third door on the left, I brace myself for what I am about to barge in on and knock once before I open it. I don’t have time to stand around and debate my entry. Fortunately for me, Devon and his chosen girl hadn’t gotten very far. She is half naked, but he is still clothed.
The whore looks me over and cocks her hip. “It’s extra.”
“I’m not joining in,” I say again and stride towards Devon. His eyes roam over my body and when he gets to my face, I flash him my fangs and his face goes from shock to awe. Thankfully. If I had to wrestle him out of here, that would not have been good.
“What are you?” he asks as I grab his hand.
“Wait,” the whore says. “We were just getting start
ed.”
I toss her a coin and she grabs it and clothes herself. The easiest money she’s made in a long time, she takes it with glee.
“Follow me,” I whisper to Devon, who trails after me like a lap dog. We descend the stairs, with his hand on my arse, which I slap away gently, and take it in my firm grasp.
“Where are we going?” he asks as I lead him out of the brothel. So far, this has been pretty easy. The worst part is still in front of me.
“Somewhere very special,” I say to him with a seductive smile, which practically has him drooling.
“You are something special,” he murmurs to me and I duck my head. I really don’t want much interaction with him, as it isn’t me, he is going to be with. I lead him silently to the barn where Aefre and the unconscious fellow await and close the door softly behind us. Aefre stands up as we enter and she smiles, a cat-that-got-the-cream smile and advances on him. Christ, is she going to turn him first and then go home?
Devon looks from me to her, both looking exactly the same, in delight and I hate to burst his happy bubble, that he thinks he gets to take both of us, in his dreams, and I Shift back to Liv much to his shock and disappointment.
“What is going on here?” he asks, getting angry, but Aefre shushes him.
“Do not worry, Devon. I am going to take you away with me, far away from here. Would you like that?” she asks him soothingly.
He seems to fall under whatever spell she is holding over him and that concerns me, but she strokes his face and he agrees to her request. It sort of reminds me of the power that CK holds over me when I am distressed, he can calm me in an instant.
“Yes,” he breathes. “Take me away with you.”
She nods and let’s go of him. He only has eyes for her, as she turns to the slumped over human. She drops her fangs and Devon’s arousal goes off the charts. She sees it and uses it. She lifts the man up and sinks her fangs into him and starts to drain him. I knew this was her plan. She couldn’t risk leaving someone here that could fuck up her timeline. She is going to bleed him out just enough that he lasts while we Astral out and then he will die. I feel an overwhelming guilt and I look away. All I can hope for is that he is a bad person who deserves this. After only a few seconds, she lets him go and I frown at her, until I see Devon stalking towards her.
Ah! I have to get out of here, before he does to her what mine did to me. I back out of the barn quietly and cover my ears. No way do I want to listen to this, but I can’t leave without them either. After several, long minutes, I uncover my ears and I don’t hear any sex noises, so I take a chance and peek back in. Aefre is slightly ruffled, as is Devon, but both are fully clothed and Aefre is finishing off the human.
“Hurry up,” I snap at her, irate to be in this situation. She blinks at me, but Devon ignores me, no longer interested in me now that I am a petite, green-eyed blonde. He watches her in fascination and when she lets the man go, he grabs onto her. “I want to know everything about you,” he whispers to her and she closes her eyes, reveling at his touch.
Oh, gods, get me out of here!
“Can we go now?” I ask.
“Yes,” Aefre says and I take hold of both of them and Astral our arses back to her hotel room.
Cole is waiting impatiently, pacing, and stops dead when he sees us, all dressed like out of a history book. I return to my normal garb, but Aefre wisely chooses to stay as she is. She is going to have some explaining to do and quite frankly, rather her than me. I’ve done my part and now it is time to go home.
“I’ll see ya,” I say to her.
“Wait,” she says and for the first time looks uncertain.
“Your bed, missy,” I say to her. “I have done as you asked. The rest is up to you.”
Devon is staring at me again, almost in fear, as I have changed into an outfit so scandalous to him, it wouldn’t even be classified as undergarments in 1506.
“Just go with it,” I tell him, and he has no idea what I am saying to him.
He blinks, once, then twice, and promptly passes out.
“I guess he is a little overwhelmed,” Aefre states the obvious.
“Just a little,” I agree.
“What are you going to do with him now?” Cole asks his sire and she turns to him with a loving smile.
“I am going to turn him, and we will be together forever, just like us,” she says as she embraces him tightly.
“No, I mean right now,” he says, indicating Devon’s prone state.
“May I make a suggestion?” I say, as this is just getting ridiculous.
“Please,” she says to me.
“Bath, shave, haircut, and new clothes. The rest will come,” I say, hands on hips, choosing vanity over anything else. I had forgotten how disgusting the sixteenth century was for the less fortunate. Even the fortunate didn’t bathe very often, the gods help us.
“Yes, good,” she says and scampers off to the bathroom to run him a bath. He will probably get all dazed again when he sees the size of the tub, but again, not my problem.
“Thank you,” Cole says to me as we linger in silence. “She has wanted this so badly and you have given it to her.”
“No worries,” I say uncomfortably. “Err, I should…” I jut my thumb out in a 'to go' gesture.
“Do you think she will be okay?” he asks suddenly. “This is a lot to deal with.”
“She will be just fine. Will you be okay?” I ask.
“Me?” he asks in surprise. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you are going to have to share your sire’s attentions now. Did she explain that to you?” I ask. I don’t mean to sound like I am stirring the pot, but he is still Cole and I feel like I need to be sure he will be okay.
“Yes, she did. I know how she will be with him. I am more concerned about her husband,” he says with a frown.
“Does he know about you yet?” I ask, so curious my fingertips are itching.
“No,” he says. “Not yet. Liv hasn’t spoken to him since she arrived here. Something to do with her father.”
“What about my father?” Aefre asks as she exits the bathroom. “Why are you discussing that bastard?”
“Bastard?” I repeat in surprise. “You don’t care for Drake?”
“Care for?” she scoffs. “I hate him.”
“What? How can you say that?” I ask.
She marches towards me. “You mean to say you actually like him?” she sneers in disgust.
“I love him,” I say. “As he loves me.”
“Hah!” she cries. “He is a mean, selfish, bully. He will show you his true colors.”
“I’ve already seen them,” I say. “Yes, he can be all of those things, but I have seen his caring side. He is protective and loving. Your Drake must have those qualities,” I insist.
“Not towards me,” she pouts, and I can see that it bothers her.
I frown at her. “You don’t stand up to him, do you?” I ask incredulously. “You let him push you around!”
“You know nothing!” she hisses at me, but I see it plain as day. She is terrified of him.
“A word of advice, Aefre. Next time you see him, don’t let him bully you. Stand up to him, amuse him, be snarky, clever and sarcastic and I am telling you he will eat it up,” I say to her.
She goes pale. “No, I…how do you know?”
“Because I have come across men like Drake my entire life. All menacing and terrifying and Hell on a stick. Your sire is one of them,” I point to her. “How did you tame him?”
“Tame him?” she says. “What on Earth makes you say that?”
“I have spent time with him, remember? He worships you, adores you,” I say.
She growls as she remembers my time spent with her husband. “I didn’t manipulate him,” she says.
“Sure you didn’t,” I say with a laugh. “You underestimate the power you have over men, Aefre. Didn’t you see it in my World?”
“I am not like you,” she states with digni
ty.
I must admit that, no, she probably isn’t. As much as I am not like Other Liv. We are all carbon copies of one another in looks and even sometimes in life, but we all have very different traits.
“If you try with him, you will appreciate him,” I say as a final piece of advice. “I wouldn’t be without my father now for the world.”
She takes that in, but Devon wakes up, so she doesn’t respond. She goes to him and coos, soothingly. She introduces him to Cole, and it is past time that I leave. This is their family unit, not mine, and I am intruding now. I have done enough of that in her life and I don’t ever want to return to this World again.
“Be well, Aefre,” I say to her as she leads Devon to the bathroom. “Take care of your boys.”
She blinks at me and with a swift nod, she replies, “You too,” before she turns back and I Astral home.
Chapter 7
Buckinghamshire, England, June 2013 - Liv
I land back at home in the Entrance Hall and breathe a sigh of relief that no one is waiting for me. Hopefully Devon and Cole took care of it for me. I should probably go and find one of them to see what excuse they made up for my absence. I turn to head upstairs when I find myself face to face with Cade. I have very little bond with him due to the circumstances, so he still has the ability to practically sneak up on me.
“Cade,” I say cautiously, not wanting him to bolt. I have things I need to say, again, and this time he has to listen. He is looking more than a little ill and I just can’t have this anymore.
“Come with me,” he says briskly. “We need to talk.”
Finally, he is willing to listen and hopefully open up as well. I follow him eagerly into the library and he shuts the door quietly. I wait as he gathers himself, he seems nervous and now I am not so sure he is going to tell me what I want to hear. He turns to me with a look of such agony that I want to go and hold him, but I know he will just push me away, or worse. I step forward anyway to show him that if he wants the contact, I am here for him. He doesn’t back away, in fact he steps forward as well. My heart leaps into my throat, but I daren’t hope just yet that he is coming around. He reaches for me and I let him, staying where I am, not wanting to move in case I scare him off. With an agonizing cry, he grips my arms, sinking his claws deep into me.