by Eve Newton
I stare at him dumbfounded. Never in a thousand years have I heard him talk like this, opening his heart up, being so vulnerable.
I lean forward and kiss him with so much emotion racing through me, my head is spinning. I just don’t know what to say or do.
“There’s more,” he says when I let him go.
What? More?
“Come with me,” he orders.
I climb off his lap and pocket the ring as he stands up. No way is he getting this back. He stalks off back in the direction of the right wing from Hell. I cringe, but I follow. He stops suddenly so I crash into him as he turns around. He grabs my arms to stop me from falling over.
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “Aefre, have you thought about what would happen if you tried to sire again now? Now that you are clearly more than your average Vampire,” he asks.
Erm, no, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“I’m not exactly in the market for another charge, my love. I have my hands full with the two that I’ve got,” I say wryly.
He chuckles. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then,” he says.
“Why? Do you think it wouldn’t go according to plan?” I ask, now worried.
“I don’t know. It is something we shall have to look into,” he says cryptically, turning back around.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I say, grabbing his arm. “I told you, I’m not in the market for another charge. Experiment or not.”
“Yes, I heard you,” he says, infuriating as ever. He grabs my hand, leading me back to a room a little way down the corridor from the empty room of doom.
He stops at the door and hesitates, wondering if he should open it or not. Again, he turns to me with a question, “Do you think it is possible to co-sire a Vampire?”
“I beg your pardon? What do you mean ‘co-sire’?” I ask, perplexed.
“Exactly how it sounds, Aefre,” he says, exasperated at my apparent denseness.
My tired brain trying to play catch up, thinks it over. “You mean two Vampires draining and feeding a human? Two lots of Vampire blood?”
“Yes,” he confirms.
I blink at him as if he has lost his mind. I stay silent. He blinks back at me clearly expecting an answer.
“I have no idea,” I say eventually as I have nothing else to say.
He actually rolls his eyes at me. “You’ve never thought of it before?” he presses.
“No! Why would I? I can’t think of anyone who would want to do that. It would be like being parents together or something…” I trail off, my eyes going wide as saucers as I apparently reach the conclusion he was hoping for.
“What?” I squeak, as he unlocks the door and pushes it open.
A massive cloud of dust swirls out of the room. We both cough and wave our hands about trying to clear it.
“Sorry, I have not opened this room in several hundred years,” he says in between coughs.
I spot several hundred years’ worth of dust piled onto every surface as my Vampire night vision kicks in. He strolls in to open the heavy curtains, again creating a dust storm to be proud of…not.
My mouth drops open in horror as I see the room clearly now. Closing it again quickly in distaste and dust, I turn in a circle, my eyes bugging out of my head.
“It’s a nursery,” I croak, as my eyes take in all the furniture of a centuries-old nursery.
He is studying my reaction closely with a closed expression.
“Start explaining, D’Arcangelo,” I say, rounding on him in stupefaction.
His set mouth lifts on one side at my last-naming him, but then resumes a grim line as he sees I am not altogether clear on what he is showing me.
“In 1506, before I left you, I was so in love you, Aefre. I was happy. I had never been so happy. With you, with us, and our planned life together. It took you so long to get over what Lance did to you; I was worried for a really long time you wouldn’t ever be yourself again. When you came back to me, we had our difficulties, but when you started talking about a future for us again, I was overjoyed. I wanted nothing more than to make you my wife. No, that’s incorrect,” he says, stopping briefly to organize his thoughts. “I wanted you to be my wife, but I did want more than that. It wasn’t enough. I wanted something that would hold us together forever. Our Vampire bond wasn’t enough, a marriage commitment wasn’t enough. But a child, our child was what I wanted.”
My ears are burning with the intensity of his words; my head is spinning so fast, I think it’s going to fly right off my body.
“What?” I stammer. “What? How would that have even been possible?”
“A human child created especially for us by parents we chose. Given to us at birth to raise, aware of our nature, until her eighteenth birthday. We would then have given her the choice to stay human or be turned and be with us forever. Our child. Co-sired by you and me.” He finishes up his master plan and in utter distress, I pass out.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
C oming to in a pile of dust, my head on my batshit crazy sire’s lap, I sit up suddenly.
“Are you insane?” I snap at him.
He just looks at me mildly in that infuriating way of his. “I take it then that you are not a fan of children?” he says blandly.
“Children are just fine. But do I look like I want one of my own? Or, part own? Or whatever the Hell,” I mutter.
“Hm, there’s more,” he says again but I just can’t cope with this anymore.
Calling my abandoned Scotch to me from the alcove, I down it in one gulp when it appears. Calling his as well, I down that one but it’s still not enough.
“I can’t cope with anymore, Constantine. It’s too much. It’s all just too much,” I say.
“You were to be a mother, Aefre,” he blurts out before I can protest further. “Before Radulf stabbed you and I turned you, you were with child.”
I shake my head in utter disbelief. “No. That isn’t possible. It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t get pregnant. I went two years without getting pregnant. It wasn’t possible,” I say again more firmly.
“My love, you were. I heard the heart beating, so softly. At first, I didn’t know what it was. It took me several days of being with you to figure it out, to separate the beating from your own. Once I did, it was clear to me,” he explains cautiously.
I stand up suddenly, putting my hands up. “No! I don’t believe you. You are wrong. Wrong!” I yell at him and then make a run for it. I’m not entirely sure where I’m going, but I need to get away from him, from all of this. I head downstairs and outside. It is dark now as I flee to the gardens I used to love. I half expect him to follow me, but I’m relieved when he doesn’t. I’m unsure why I’m so mad with him. Maybe because he waits a thousand years to tell me I was pregnant with my rapist husband’s baby before I was mortally wounded and turned into a Vampire, effectively killing my unborn child. Or is it because the life he wanted to offer me before he was a stubborn fool sounds so appealing, or the life he wanted for us before I was a stubborn fool? How is it that he kept all of this so close to him that I had no idea how or what he was feeling until it’s too late? Until I’m married to my weeks-old charge, that I love more than anything. Well, maybe not anything, not anymore. Talk about ripping my marriage apart at the seams. I accepted his ring, we agreed to the terms and yet it seems that he wins anyway by dropping massive bombshells on me that have rocked me to my core. Yes, I am mad at him. Furious, in fact, that he could do this to me. Calling on the trusty pack of cigarettes from his bedside table and the Scotch from the kitchens, I light up and pop the lid, drawing deep on the cigarette and then the Scotch in turn. As my mad starts to dissipate, I realize with dread, that all of this is actually my fault. I was the one who dredged up the past. He seemed quite happy to leave it alone, but I had to pick at the loose thread until it all unraveled at my feet in a big pile of shitty worms that should have been left in the can. Okay, so I know I’m mixing my metaphors, but I don’t really care about that
.
What do I care about? Let’s see. I start a conversation with myself, never a good start to any story. I begin with Devon. He isn’t involved in any of this, so he is safe. A nice, safe subject to think about, my darling boy whom I love dearly. That thought leads to our company and everything we have built together. Also, a nice, safe, pleasant subject. I pick up the bottle of Scotch and my wedding rings clink against the glass. That brings Cole to mind. We love each other so much. So much that he asked me to turn him and I did. But since then I have caused him nothing but pain. Okay, maybe it hasn’t all been pain, but pick out the highlights and it hasn’t been a funfest for him. I think of my other husband, Fraser. Seeing him last week, so real, his arms around me, his lips on mine, makes me choke back a sob and push his memory away. That brings me to my next topic, the Power. This mysterious She Power that surges through me, making everything seem so much worse than it really is. Except in this case. This is just really as bad as it is. And so, my thoughts come full circle back to Constantine Kaius Anasetti D’Arcangelo. My formidable sire who can scare the crap out of me with just one look. Talking about babies? Fuck me. I really do think I’ve heard it all now and I start laughing. I think vaguely it is hysteria setting in. The old gods know I have enough to be hysterical about. As I laugh myself out of energy, I realize I need to feed. I am hungry, tired and I can smell AB Neg around here somewhere. Hoping it isn’t coming from the dungeons, I stand up to try and find the source.
I turn to see a large, very attractive, toweringly tall man hovering on the edge of the hedge.
He sees me notice him and he says in Italian, “I am Ramon. Mr. D’Arcangelo sent me.”
Oh, did he now? Of course he did. He always knows exactly what I want, when I want it. Except maybe in the case of too much information.
“He said to give you whatever you need,” he adds.
Humph, I think rudely. How about the last afternoon back with none of this mess? “Thank you,” I say politely to him. He comes closer. He is really good looking. Whatever I need, eh? He is such an arse sometimes. I motion to Ramon to sit on the bench, which he does. I sit on his lap, fully aware that not only am I still just in my robe and nothing else, but also covered in ancient nursery dust. He doesn’t seem to mind though, as I squirm against him to get more comfortable. I’m not going to fuck him. I’m sorely tempted just to get back at CK, but that wouldn’t be fair to Devon and Cole. Ramon places his large hands on my hips to steady me as I push his head to the side, my fangs already down. He groans in pleasure and tightens his grip as I sink my fangs into his neck. I take my fill, then I lick his wounds and then my lips.
“Do you want me to please you?” he murmurs huskily and again, I really want to, but I shake my head. I kiss him softly and say, “No, but thank you.” I climb off him, feeling more in control now. I pick up the Scotch and the cigarettes and head back into the castle to find my sire.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
I find him in his bedroom. He’s changed out of the dusty jeans and t-shirt and into sweats and a vest, also in black. I have to say, as much as he rocks the expensive suit look, he does casual so much better. Maybe I just think that because I don’t usually see him dressed down. I cast my eyes around the room and yes, there they are: In three’s. He remembered. I relax a tiny bit.
He seems surprised to see me and says, “I didn’t think I would see you so soon. Did Ramon not find you?” He keeps his distance from me.
“Yes, he did. Thank you.”
He nods at my gratitude while he peers at me.
“No, I didn’t fuck him,” I add thinking that must be what he is after.
Looking relieved, he comes closer. “Are you, okay?” he asks hesitantly.
“Depends what you mean by ‘okay’?” I snap, remembering everything I was trying to forget. “That was two major fucking bombs CK, I’ll give you that.”
He looks slightly abashed. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
“Are you? I don’t understand. Why would you tell me this now? Especially the last part,” I ask.
“Aefre, you have gone around for the last millennium thinking I didn’t care about you enough to want to commit to you. In a public, ‘everybody-knows’ sense. I started off thinking that our Vampire bond was enough, but it didn’t seem to be enough for you. You wanted me on a level I couldn’t quite comprehend, that I didn’t want to comprehend. I didn’t want you so reliant on me because I knew I would hurt you. How could I not? You were so sweet and innocent, and I was a disillusioned, dark soul with depravities you wouldn’t even know existed. You were the light of my life, Aefre, when I met you. You still are. No one else has even come close to what I feel for you and they never will.” He sits heavily on the bed while I stand there fiddling with my charms. “This. All of this,” he says as he waves his arm about indicating this afternoon. “I never wanted any of this. You pushed me in that infuriating way of yours. I was happy to let sleeping dogs lie. But it became apparent that it needed to be said. That you needed me to show you I wasn’t some heartless bastard. That I did have plans for us. Twice. What I said about the baby. Your baby. I should never have told you that. It wasn’t fair. I am sorry.”
My baby. My baby. My baby that would have been born to a weak mother and a vicious father in a world where even if it had survived the pregnancy, life was so uncertain. No, I didn’t want children, not with Radulf, probably not with anyone.
“What was your plan, Constantine? If you knew and still wanted me to come away with you and turn me. What was your plan?” I need to know, because I am at a loss.
He looks afraid that I would ask him that and says, “Honestly, I don’t know. I thought of not telling you and turning you anyway. I even for a second thought about telling you, letting you have it and then turning you after. But I was so sure you wouldn’t want me to after. I don’t know, Aefre.”
I nod, taking it all in. “You didn’t trust me to choose you,” I state.
He can’t quite believe I voiced his fear. “Would you have?” he asks earnestly.
“I don’t know. Probably. I do know that I never wanted a child. Not with him. Even if we had gone away together, I would still be forever linked to him, reminded of him every day. I didn’t want that. But it’s a moot point, my love. Don’t you see that the baby was doomed either way? It matters not now what decisions were made or not made. What concerns me now is that we have opened a can of worms that can’t be resealed, try as we might.”
“No shit,” he mumbles, making me laugh. A proper laugh now instead of the hysteria from earlier.
I pull him to me. “What are we going to do about it?”
He kisses me softly. “Nothing. We will do nothing. You will go back to your charges and your life in L.A. I will be here waiting for you, seeing you for two days every week and making the most of the time I have with you until I can make you mine. Then we will revisit,” he states it as a done deal.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Move to L.A.,” I say on impulse.
His eyes widen. “Come again?” he says.
“Move to L.A.,” I say again.
“No,” he says. “No, Aefre. That is not going to help matters. Besides which, The Council is here.”
“Not for much longer. It will be wherever I say it is,” I say with authority and then curse myself for giving that nugget of information away, even to him.
His look of surprise turns to one of curiosity. “Oh?”
I try to look away innocently, but who am I fooling?
“Aefre. What do you know, that you aren’t sharing?”
“All will be revealed soon. I don’t know the whole story yet myself, only the bits She wants me to know, but CK, Ahmed was right when he said that I will rule, and I will rule alone.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
M y sire is less than pleased with my statement and my reluctance to share. I am, however, good at distracting him, even though he thinks he can stay focused. I s
hed my dusty robe in a show of nonchalance.
He narrows his eyes at me. “Lovely as you are, my sweet, if you think that is going to distract me, you are sorely mistaken,” he growls.
I’m glad that my familiar, foreboding sire is back. This other side to him has been very unnerving.
I smile seductively and start to play with my nipples, bringing them into two hard points, as my eyes never leave his. He doesn’t look down as I move my hands closer and closer to my clit, lightly brushing them over me. I moan.
“Aefre,” he warns me, “start talking.”
Instead, I slide two fingers down my slit and then bring them back up to my mouth to lick them. He inhales sharply so I know I’m close to getting him undone. I move closer to him, still sitting on the edge of his bed, and I stand in front of him. He smirks up at me and places his hands on my hips. I shiver at his touch as he moves his thumbs over to play with me. Circling in opposite directions, he brings me to the point where I’m about to throb all over. He stops suddenly and gives me a light smack on the rear. I glare down at him in fury to find he is smiling up at me with that innocent smile I want to knock off his face.
“Don’t be mean,” I pout, trying a different tactic, as I know fury won’t work on him. Petulance usually does. “Or am I going to have to call Ramon up here,” I add with a hint of mischief.
His eyes harden briefly as that thought sinks in, but then he sits back and holds his hands out in a go-for-it gesture.
Oh, really? Two can play this game. I gleefully abandon him in a swirl of black and return shortly, still naked I might add, with the handsome Ramon, who couldn’t be more startled if he tried. CK’s eyes light up at my defiance, even as he tries to hide his smile at my bold action.
“Oh, Aefre, you are in trouble now,” he growls as he stands and stalks over to me. He grabs my throat in his strong grip and pulls me to him for a rough kiss. I relax under his harsh touch as he has returned fully to my fearsome warrior that eats babies, not talks about having one. Okay, he doesn’t actually eat babies, but my point has been made.