by Eve Newton
“You need to see To’Kah,” he says.
I look up at the hatred in his voice. What did Finn ever do to him?
He claps his hands and Finn enters the room with a serene smile that aggravates Remiel even more.
“Please leave us,” Finn says without looking at him.
Remiel growls at him and it pisses me off that he is being jealous about this. He has no right. No right! But again, I keep my thoughts to myself as I push him gently out of the room.
“It’s private,” I mutter to him with lowered eyes. Man, I really hate deferring to him. I thought my days of being submissive to ancient Vampires were over. Clearly not.
He stands defiantly in the doorway as I shut the door on him, and after Finn has soothed V.A. and taken Her in, I open the door to find him standing exactly where I left him with crossed arms.
He steps into the room and gives Finn a glaring once over, not particularly liking what he sees in the erection department.
“Out,” Remiel snaps at him.
Finn gives me a secretive smile, which further pisses Remiel off and he leaves with a spring in his step, elated to have performed the act that he was put in this Realm to do.
I am suddenly weary and very afraid of what I am going home to, but Remiel takes me in his arms and Astrals me to the launching pad. I push it all aside as I must be strong when I get home. I am going to get it from all sides, and I deserve it, but it doesn’t stop the pang of nerves in my stomach.
Remiel takes my face in his hands, and kisses me gently before he says, “I will see you soon.”
I nod wondering why Mother didn’t come to see me off. I mean it wouldn’t kill Her to try and be nice to me after all I have endured for Her and this race.
Remiel steps back with a look of adoration that I wish I hadn’t seen, before I Shift to my Dragon form and fly my arse straight up to the twirling, gaping portal in the sky and crash through it. I tear a new portal open and land painfully hard on the carpet in my foyer in my human form, having Shifted excruciatingly, midway so I didn’t destroy my house in the process.
I stand up and look around. It is dead quiet, and it feels completely empty. There is no sign of life and closing my eyes and bringing up my mental map, I see that there is no one here at all except me. I wonder where they all are? I close my eyes and get my Power to take me straight to CK. I should have chosen Cole, but right now I need my sire more than anything else. I will help Cole just as soon as I have received absolution from my sire, along with a much-needed hug. I am surprised to find myself in the house in the Underworld that looks just like the country manor in England that I just vacated. CK is hunched over the desk carefully plotting something on a large map and hasn’t even noticed my presence.
“CK?” I ask him and it takes him a moment to look up. His expression is one of pure exhaustion and confusion, but when he realizes it is actually me, he launches himself at me, sending the desk flying through the French doors in his haste to get to me.
“Aefre?” he asks as he sweeps me up in his arms, crushing me. “Is it really you?”
“Yes,” I squeak, and he loosens his hold on me, but not by much.
“You’re back,” he whispers into my hair and, cupping my face, he plants a kiss on my lips that I have missed.
“I am,” I say when he lets me up for air. “Alone,” I add when he looks frantically about the room, obviously expecting me to have brought a tiny passenger along. He frowns at me and I say, “I will explain everything once I have seen my charges. Where are they?”
He points upstairs and says, “The bedroom.”
“Which one?” I ask.
He looks slightly puzzled and then croaks, “Our–our bedroom.”
He grips my elbow and Teleports me upstairs to just outside the door of our room. I wonder why he didn’t land us inside and I also briefly wonder exactly how long I have been gone and why everyone seems to have moved to the Underworld in my absence. I know it was our plan before my abduction, but it is rather odd, nonetheless.
“Don’t be surprised by what you see in there,” CK says to me cautiously, holding me back. “It is the only thing that helps them.”
I stare at him while I take in what he has said. I narrow my eyes and I swear to the almighty gods, that if Other me is in there with them, I will kill her where she stands. I shove open the door as he mutters, “Not that,” and I march in, my hands at the ready to do some damage.
It isn’t exactly what I thought, though. I’m not so much surprised, as extremely, well, I want to say turned on, but then I remember my fury at Devon, and it washes away as quickly as it flared up. Cole is on the bed leaning over him, feeding from him, their hands intertwined. Devon has his eyes closed and looks like he is completely blissed out, and I ruined it by bulldozing my way into the room. They leap apart as soon as they sense me, Cole quickly snapping his fangs back and looking like he has been caught cheating on me.
“Liv?” he asks in disbelief.
“Yes,” I say softly, wishing I could go back out and start again. I barged into something quite intimate and I feel that CK’s warning wasn’t good enough.
Cole rushes to me and carefully picks me up and holds me. I had braced myself for another crushing, but he is gentle with me. My stomach drops as I realize it is because he is so weak.
“How long have I been gone?” I ask, stroking his face. He looks haggard and exhausted and extremely unhealthy.
“Six and a half months,” CK says with his hand on my back.
I turn my head towards him. I knew it had to be somewhere along those lines and I drop my forehead to Cole’s chest. “I am so sorry,” I whisper. “I got back here as soon as I could.”
“Dragon Realms?” CK asks shortly.
“Yes,” I say. “I couldn’t get home until they let me go.”
I hear a stirring on the bed and look up, expecting Devon to say something to me. Instead, I see Cade. He had been lying on the bed behind Cole and Devon and I hadn’t seen him. He looks even worse than Cole does, and I close my eyes against the pain that I have caused them. I take Cole’s hand and walk over to the bed. I climb onto it and Cole follows me closely, not letting go of me for even a fraction of a second. Cade rolls over in his sleep and places his head in my lap like a content kitten. He grips the soft cotton of my nightgown weakly in his hand and I carefully take his hand in my other one. He opens his eyes slowly and takes me in.
“Back,” he slurs.
I smile and say, “Yes, for good this time, I promise.”
He nods and goes back to sleep. I am about to wake him up to feed him when Cole lunges towards me, shoving Cade out of the way, and has his fangs in my neck before I can blink. He suckles deep and hard and even though he is hurting me, I let him take what he needs. He flattens me underneath him and I can feel him grappling with my nightgown and while I am all for a roll in the sack with my husband, perhaps not while everyone is watching. And by everyone, I do in fact mean all of my people now, including Jess. I push him off me and he releases his fangs with a look of absolute desolation, but he nods understandingly anyway, as he sees all the spectators.
“Later,” I murmur to him as I pull my gown down, this stupid cotton nightgown that I have come to loathe. These older Vampires seriously need to lose the cotton fetish and learn about silk and satin. I change my outfit to suit my liking and feel a world better for it.
I then look up and the questions start. A million all at once, along with hugs, kisses, telepathic murmurings of love with Lincoln and a very quick pull on Xane’s essence to give us both some much needed satisfaction.
“SHUT UP!” Constantine suddenly thunders into the racket. He is holding his head like he has a migraine, but it’s probably more so that it won’t explode in his frustration. Everyone obeys the enraged ancient Vampire and freezes on the spot. “Aefre, I am over the moon to see you, you know that. You know that I love you, my wife, and I have missed you more than my heart can bear…”
I feel a huge “but” coming!
“BUT I AM SO FUCKING MAD AT YOU, I COULD KILL YOU!” he roars at me and everyone takes a step back, even Cole, although he keeps his meager hold on me from a distance. Well, so much for anyone coming to my defense.
I gulp and pull my big girl panties on. There is no point in excuses, they won’t fly anyway. I just have to tell it straight.
“I know,” I say, and he glares at me, mouth open to blast me some more. I beat him to it. “What happened was awful and, and gut wrenching, I know that. I have thought of nothing but all of you for the past five days.”
“Five days?” Cole asks incredulously.
“To me it seemed like five days,” I explain. I sweep my gaze over Devon who has gone really pale. He probably thought time would heal that particularly nasty wound, but for me it was last week, not half a year ago. “Leaving you stranded like that was…”
“Hell,” CK snarls at me.
“I know,” I say softly.
“It isn’t the leaving that I am so mad about,” Cole says sadly.
“I know,” I whisper again, barely audible. “I didn’t know. I swear to you, I didn’t know.”
“How can you not know?” CK asks me. “You obviously fucked him during your Heat, surely that should have been some indicator that things were developing.”
“Not to mention your food intake,” Lincoln mutters and I glare at him. He’s the one that’s supposed to have my back.
“I didn’t fuck him. Obviously or not,” I say firmly. I want that out there so everybody is clear on that.
“Don’t lie,” CK spits out at me. “He couldn’t have been clearer about you carrying his child.”
“Yes, I was,” I say to various sharp intakes of breath. “But it’s not how you think.”
I launch into my story of the dream reality that had been created, just for me, by the master Dream Weaver himself. I glare at Xane throughout this portion of the story as Xanthe was supposed to be protecting me. I watch his reaction and his expression makes it clear that he had no idea that is what happened.
“I’ll kill her,” he growls to my consternation. I’m crazy mad at her, but kill her? Not so much.
“So where is the baby now?” Devon asks into the ensuing silence.
It’s his turn to be on the receiving end of my icy stare. He flinches and shuffles off to sit in the corner like the naughty boy that he is.
“Dead,” I state with so much finality that no one moves a muscle. No one moves to console me, and no one offers up any soothing words.
Just silence.
Cole moves first. He grips my hand a little tighter and I sense him about to speak.
“Don’t,” I say brightly. “It’s all good.”
I expect the shocked faces at my callous attitude and it’s fine. This is better than if I had shown them my grief. They would be upset and hurt, and they have all been through enough.
CK clears his throat and I see the relief flood his eyes that he isn’t stepfather to a tiny Vampire-Demon half-breed Dragon girl. He surprises me with his words, but I shouldn’t be really. They are just words. There is no real feeling behind them, just a nice platitude to make himself feel better. “It’s okay to grieve, Aefre. We understand.”
“Not necessary,” I say. “I am, however, worried about what happens next.”
My swift change of topic is accepted, and the tension drops a couple of notches.
“You mean he’s going to try again?” Sebastian asks me as he pops into the room with his Fae King power puff of smoke. I grin broadly at him, thrilled to see him and after a quick kiss that I wish I could linger over, I say, “Yes. And again, and again until we get it right. That’s a direct quote.”
“Not if I get to you first,” Sebastian says with a salacious look and I swear if my husbands hadn’t already been through so much, I would have laughed out loud in joy. I have missed his wit and bright attitude.
“True,” I say. “But I need a time-out,” I add, much to the relief of every creature in the room, except Sebastian. “I can’t let him get to me next time. I have to find a way to protect myself,” I add more to myself than the room.
“Why him?” Cole suddenly demands. “I thought I was your Chosen One?”
Oh, yes, that reminds me. “Hm, indeed. There is a rather interesting story behind that, my love,” I say and proceed to tell the tale Remiel had told me.
There have been a lot of halts in this conversation so far, but this one is pretty big. It lasts a good twenty seconds by my count.
“A half Demon?” Cole asks. “How? Why? Oh, God.” He looks close to passing out and then gulps and asks, “His brother?”
“Yep,” I say. “I knew you were special,” I add with a soft smile that lights a fire in his eyes.
“My father is a Demon,” he says then in awe. He is taking it way better than I thought he would.
“Dragon once removed,” Xane pipes up and we all look at him.
“What?” I ask.
“Laurentis is a Dragon once removed as Dracul’s son. The Demons only really evolved somewhere around the fourth generation,” he explains.
“Oh. It makes a difference?” I ask with a shrug.
“Of course,” he says haughtily, and I feel I may have insulted him somehow. I smile apologetically and he gives me gruff smile back.
“It seems to have evaded everyone’s notice that I was also a part of this stupid prophecy, and that it stands to reason that I am also Laurentis’s son,” Devon says nastily from over in his naughty corner.
I forget my fury at him for a moment and stare at him with my mouth hanging open. It hadn’t occurred to me even in the slightest, but of course his quick brain would have connected the dots almost instantly.
“Shit,” I whisper as it makes sense. I look back at Cole, who is staring at Devon with more than awe, reverence almost.
“Brother?” he whispers and again I feel like I have intruded on an intimate moment between these two. I look down and busy my hands with stroking Cade’s hair. Cole realizes pretty quickly that they are making a scene and also that I am no longer touching him. He grabs my hand and laces our fingers together and I feel a sense of extreme anger coming from someone. I look up and find that it is Jess, only it isn’t directed at me, it is directed straight at Cole. What the Hell happened while I was gone? Clearly more than I ever thought would. I am now more than a bit creeped out as we all turn as one to look at CK, and he stands up straighter with the most imperious look on his face that I have ever seen.
“I am not a bastard,” he says vehemently. “I am very clear on who my father was.”
I chance a look at Sebastian to confirm or deny. He is the only person alive who can.
He shrugs and I see CK’s look of betrayal towards his lifelong friend.
“What?” Sebastian asks. “You look like your mom.”
I let out a very loud and inappropriate guffaw, to which CK throws a stake at me. I mean a very literal, wooden stake that he pulled out of his back pocket. It hits me square in the chest and I gape at him as it reverberates through me.
“You prick,” I yell at him as I pull it out and throw it back at him. Expecting the action, he holds his hand out and catches it, the smug fucker. “You just tried to kill me!” I exclaim dramatically.
“Hardly,” he scoffs. “Not even the fires of Hell can kill you,” he says with a proud smile, which throws me off my game. His harmless act of staking me has made him smile again and I understand. He needed a release, some way to hurt me without actually hurting me. It brings tears to my eyes and I pull away from Cole and throw myself at him. He catches me as deftly as he caught the stake and I kiss him soundly on his perfect mouth. However, Sebastian is not getting away with his parting shot. I turn in CK’s arms and say, “Go on,” much to CK’s annoyance and Sebastian’s glee.
“Arathia Aquila was the most beautiful woman in Rome,” Sebastian says as he settles himself on the edge of the bed. We all focus intently
on him for this dish. I am practically drooling because I want to know so badly of the things that CK won’t discuss. I repeat her name in a whisper. What a lovely name. Sebastian continues, “It should come as no surprise really when you look at her son.” He smiles a secret smile at CK, and he smiles back a little shy smile that I have seen pass his face only once before in a thousand years. It’s not a great leap to come to the conclusion that I do, and the flutter in my stomach is quite pleasing.
“The only thing that Luceres passed down was his height and his prowess,” Sebastian says and CK grimaces again. I assume Luceres was his father’s name. Sebastian gets a wicked gleam in his eye and CK growls at him. I look between the two and poke Sebastian to spill, which he does, “To his eldest son. Marcus was the spitting image of his father, while Rosalina also favored her mother.”
“Siblings,” I breathe out. “You had actual siblings, a brother and a sister.” I whack him hard for never telling me any of this, but he ignores me.
“Don’t you dare,” CK rumbles to Sebastian, who holds his hands up in a can’t-stop-now gesture.
“Have, Rosalina is still alive,” he declares.
Chapter 6
The Underworld, March 2014 - Liv
“What?” I shriek after what seemed like the longest silence in history. “You turned your sister?” I can tell by the look of mortification on his face that no, he didn’t turn his sister, so I round my fury on Sebastian.
“You,” I snarl at him. “You turned his sister.” It’s disgusting. All I can think of is Eloise and Vivienne, which of course leads to Vivienne, CK and Sebastian and the three of them doing things they oughtn’t to be doing. I don’t go in for turning family members. It’s just plain gross.
Sebastian looks horrified as well and that placates me somewhat. “I did no such thing,” he says haughtily. There seems to be a lot of that going around this room here today.
“Not that she wouldn’t have loved it,” CK mutters and Sebastian flusters.
I ignore that comment in favor of a bigger question. “Who then?” I demand.