by Eve Newton
He looks concerned at my tone. “I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you. This guy seems to be obsessed with you. I’m pretty sure when you leave, he will too.”
“I hope you’re right,” I murmur as I tighten my arms around him.
T he mood has been somewhat soured by recent phone calls, so we head back to the hotel soon after. I’m not surprised to see a basket of white roses outside the suite door.
“Yep, obsession about sums it up,” I mutter as I pick it up, smelling the blood straight away. “Do me a favor and call Devon,” I say, opening the door.
“Liv…” he starts.
“Just tell him what’s going on and to watch his back, okay?”
He nods. “Yes. Of course.”
I wait and he looks at me. “Now?”
“Yes, now,” I say and move away from him to put the basket on the table. Part of me wants to taste Cade’s blood again but my more sensible side warns me it is a bad idea. I look at it intently, my fingers hovering over the fully bloomed rose as Cole goes into the bedroom to call Devon. I sigh that it has come to this. I remember when he left me the last time. I was absolutely devastated.
Calais, France, 1692 - Elizabeth/Mary
Devon and I left Versailles soon after the Constantine encounter. Constantine had asked me to go back to Italy with him to pick up where we’d left off, but I couldn’t. Not when I had Devon. He was furious with me that I’d chosen my charge over him, but I didn’t see it that way. I was still hurting after his betrayal and the ease at which he threw everything away and left me. He stormed back to Tuscany in a temper, so Devon and I decided to return to England for a while. Or at least, I decided, and Devon just agreed.
“I want to Shift,” I told him one night at the inn we were staying at, waiting for the boat back to England.
“Why?” he asked in confusion.
“I want a change,” I said with a slight shrug.
“You don’t want to be Elizabeth anymore?” he asked sadly.
I shook my head. “I want to be me again.”
“You?”
“The real me. Shifting uses up more energy. I just want to be able to feel at ease.”
“You aren’t at ease? I can help with that,” he said with a smile and moved closer.
“Devon.” I held my hand up and stood. He watched me as I Shifted and his eyes went wide as he saw my natural form for the very first time, so different from his sire.
“That’s what you really look like?” he asked in disbelief.
Highly insulted, I glared at him, “You don’t like what I really look like?”
“I like you how I met you. This is not who I fell in love with,” he said, gesturing at me.
“I am still me, Devon,” I said sadly.
He shook his head. “No. Not to me, you aren’t. Turn back,” he demanded.
My anger rose up at his disrespect and his lack of enthusiasm for the real me. “Watch yourself,” I warned him. He glared back at me but remained silent. “I am staying this way for a time. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay and look at me.”
He stared at me in horror as my words sank in. “You want me to leave?” he asked quietly. “Is all of this so that you can go back to your sire unencumbered?”
“No. I’m not going back to him. I’m going to England, like this. With you or without you,” I said, stubborn as a mule, resolute in my decision.
“Then you will go without me,” he said, just as resolute, and he too stood up and started to get dressed.
Shocked that he was truly preparing to leave me, I just stood there gaping at him.
“Goodbye, Elizabeth,” he said as he reached the door, adding, “Or whatever your name will be.” And with that he marched out of the room, leaving me to stare after him, speechless.
I knew that one day this would happen. I had hoped it wouldn’t, but now that it was here, I was angry with him. How dare he leave me! How dare he leave me over that! I crawled back into bed refusing to go after him, confident that he would return before morning, before the ship set sail.
He didn’t come back. I waited all night and as I boarded the ship alone, he was still nowhere in sight. Heaving a sigh, I found myself a quiet corner to sit in knowing the sickness would start any time.
“Whatever your name will be,” he had said. Well, what would my name be? Something suitably English, but not Elizabeth. Emily? No, I didn’t look much like an Emily? Mary? I supposed it was as good a name as any. The tears started to fall silently down my face as I realized he wasn’t coming. He really had left me, my darling boy. Would I ever see him again I wondered as the first waves of sickness washed over me.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TEN
“L iv?” Cole asks in concern.
I come back to the present, holding the bloody rose in my hands, tears falling silently down my face at the memory.
“This is really affecting you, isn’t it? Devon being gone. I’m sorry that I didn’t take it seriously.”
“It’s okay,” I sigh. “You can’t know what it feels like to be abandoned in this way. Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine,” Cole says, now with understanding. “Everything will be okay. He will come back. I promise.” He gives me a guilty look. “I was winding you up about Jess before. She means nothing to him. She’s…well, I don’t really know. She figured out what he was, he didn’t set out to tell her.”
“Oh,” I say, somewhat relieved. I was getting used to having him to myself. I can’t even remember if I ever have. I was as sure as I could be that he hadn’t been with anyone else since Cole came onto the scene, and while I’m more than curious if that is the reason for it, this Jess bitch has completely thrown me. “Has he said something about when he’ll come home?” I ask hopefully.
Cole nods hesitantly and says, “All he’s said is he needs time to sort his shit out, but he will come back. Okay? Will you leave him to deal now?”
“Yes, I will.”
“Good. Put the rose down now, Liv. Whatever Cade’s blood does to you, it isn’t good.”
I place the bloody rose back in the basket and hand it to him. “Get rid of it.”
He nods and takes it away. He’s gone for a few minutes, so I assume he is taking it outside. I sit and await his return. Agitated in this unfamiliar place, I get up and even though it is still afternoon, I light my candles, the old-fashioned way, gaining comfort from the small task.
But I need more reassurance, so I call my sire. He answers on the first ring.
“Everything okay?”
“No,” I say woefully.
“What is it, my love?”
“I am… ergh… I’m still not doing very well after Lance… the memories…” I trail off and there is silence.
I grasp that he doesn’t know about my pain, as I couldn’t tell him.
“Aefre, I’m sorry. I should have been here for you, knowing what you went through.”
“I’m okay. I just needed to hear your voice.”
“Did you light your candles?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to come there?”
Yes. But I say, “No. I’m okay.”
“Does he know how much you are hurting? Cole? Does he know?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“Devon does, but he left me,” I start crying again and within seconds, CK is by my side holding me, crooning to me, pulling me under his spell.
Cole walks back in a few moments later and sees me in tears in my sire’s arms and his anger flares up. This is the first time that they have been in the same room together since Lance’s.
“She needs me,” CK says bluntly.
“No, she doesn’t,” Cole says just as bluntly. “You just make her think she does.”
“You don’t know her. You don’t know what she needs.”
“She is my wife, mine. I know what she needs.”
“No, you don’t. She has told me you don’t know.”
; “Constantine, Cole. Stop this. It’s not helping anyone.”
“You should leave. This is my time,” Cole says forcefully.
“I’m not going anywhere until she asks me to.”
“Please stop fighting,” I yell. “Constantine?”
“Yes, my sweet?” he says, eyes still on Cole.
“I’m okay. You should go,” I say quietly, turning him to look at me.
He pulls me close and whispers into my ear, “If you want me, I will be here.”
Want, not need.
“Keep them lit until you are calm again. He can’t hurt you, not ever again,” CK says after a beat.
I nod as he kisses me lightly on the forehead. “I love you,” he whispers quietly, and Teleports back out.
“Why was he here?”
“I was upset. He came. It’s what he does,” I say dismissively.
“I am here. You don’t need him.”
I cross over to him and pull him towards me.
“I love you,” I murmur. “I do need you. I need all of you, but this has all gone to shit! Where did it go wrong?” I thunder, still so angry, I could kill. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were all supposed to be together, not apart.
“Uhm,” Cole starts, but I shush him with a death stare.
If he even says Lincoln’s name, I will commit murder. “I know this is all my fault. I just wish I could fix it. Properly. Us all being separate is the utter pits. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, goddammit!” I smash my fist into the mirror near the door. Hearing it splinter brings me back to my senses. “Shit,” I mutter. “Sorry. Will you hold me?”
“Of course,” he says, staring at me as I’ve lost my mind.
“I love, need and want you,” I say. “But I love need and want him as well. And Devon. Fucking fuck!”
“I know,” he says. “We’ll fix it. I’ll try harder. But I’m not taking any shit from him. You need to tell him to try as well, and to fuck off with this threat. Devon will be back. I’ll talk to him.”
I beam up at him. “Done,” I say, totally back to myself now. “Enough talk.”
With a grin, he picks me up and carries me to the bed, placing me gently down and takes off my shoes. He crawls up next to me and wraps his arms around me. I relax against him, content. I fall asleep as he strokes my hair, utterly exhausted by recent events.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN
I awake suddenly from a bad dream. My heart is beating rapidly. Dead. Everyone I love was dead. I was left alone with no one. Cade had killed them. Killed them all to play with me.
“Cole!” I shout in panic when I see he isn’t there. “Cole!”
He comes racing in. “What is it?”
“Oh, thank the gods,” I say desperately as he hugs me. “You’re okay,” I say over and over.
“I’m fine. You clearly aren’t, though. Bad dream?”
“Yes.”
“It’s okay, it’s over. Everything is fine.”
I relax again and note that while I was sleeping, Cole had placed three lit candles on the bedside cabinet. I hug him tighter and whisper, “Thank you.” I point to the candles.
“No worries. I don’t understand it, but I know it helps you,” he says.
“Can you get me something to drink?” I ask. He jumps up right away to comply.
A few seconds later, he comes back with a glass of blood and my phone.
“Lincoln and Scott have been calling, and Nico texted. I answered it after a few times so it wouldn’t disturb you.”
I take it from him and say, “It’s fine. Thanks. What did Nico say?”
“I didn’t read it,” he says.
I roll my eyes at him and his sweet gesture at trying to keep my privacy and check. “She wanted a pay out,” I say shortly.
“Figured as much,” he sneers in disgust. “How much?”
“It doesn’t matter, baby. Let’s just forget about her now.”
“How much, Liv?” he demands.
“A million dollars,” I admit quietly. “CK paid it to make her go away.”
“Tell him, I’ll pay him back,” he says shortly.
“There’s no need…”
“Tell him, I’ll pay him back,” he interrupts me forcefully, so I just nod to appease him.
I stare at him in silence for a few moments while he regains his composure.
“It’s a, err… nice photo,” he says suddenly, avoiding my gaze.
I tilt my head wondering which one he means and remember the locked screen photo of CK and me.
“Oh. Yes. He sent it to me the other day. It’s from a while ago.”
“Oh. How long ago?” he asks casually but I know he is trying to ascertain if I was with him at the time.
“A couple of years ago,” I say.
He nods. “It’s nice,” he says again, “but I prefer the other one.”
My wallpaper is one of me and him out by the pool at home, draped over each other like ivy. “Me too,” I say softly.
“Do you want to go out tonight?” he asks.
I shake my head, “No, I want to stay in. We can watch TV or talk or something normal. No fans, no Hunters, no distractions.”
“I like that plan. Oh, and room service. Strangely, I’m in the mood for food,” he says with a chuckle.
“I could eat,” I say with a laugh. “Just let me call Linc and Scott back, then we can settle down.”
“Okay, I’ll pour you a Scotch.”
“Wine, please,” I say before punching in Lincoln’s number.
“What’s up, sweetie?” I say as he answers.
“Sebastian is what’s up,” he snaps. “He is driving me nuts and Scott won’t even come out of his room now.”
“What? Why?”
“You know how he gets. Just tell Sebastian to go back upstairs.”
I sigh as Cole comes back and I make a decision. Screw this ban. It’s such a fucking inconvenience. I grab Cole’s hand and say to Lincoln, “Hang on. I’m coming there.” I hang up and Astral us back into the apartment in New York.
“Shit, Liv! You shouldn’t be doing that,” Lincoln snaps at me.
“Fuck that,” I say rudely. “My rule, and I’ll break it if I want to. Now, what is this issue?”
Lincoln sighs, crossing over to me and kissing me on my mouth, swishing his tongue briefly against mine. “Hey, Cole,” he says.
“Hey,” Cole replies. He pulls away from me and has a look around. It occurs to me that he has never been here before. He looks out of the window and says, “Wow, nice view.” I smile at him.
“Livvie,” Sebastian says, coming out of my room. “What are you doing here?” He also gives me a kiss, albeit a chaste one, which sets both Cole and Lincoln bristling.
“Seb, what are you still doing here?” I ask him.
“I like it here. Smells like you,” he leers at me.
I glare at him. “Go back up!”
“Why?”
“Lincoln doesn’t like strangers and you are freaking out my assistant.”
“I don’t want to,” he sulks. “He is still in a mood.” His face brightens suddenly as he says, “Although, now that you are here it might cheer him up. I’ll go and tell him.” He Teleports out to CK’s apartment before I can yell “No!”
“Fuck’s sake. Scott?” I call, marching to Devon’s room and banging on the door. “He’s gone.”
“Thank god,” Scott says as he opens the door. “That man…he has too many issues going on.”
I frown at him. “What do you mean issues? Did you read him?”
“I couldn’t not. Although, I had to force myself to stop. It’s the same with Mr. D’Arcangelo. It just happens.”
“Must be his age,” I mutter.
“How old is he?”
“Same as Constantine. He’s his first.”
“Ah, I see. Yes,” Scott says as if it makes sense now.
“Anything I should know about?”
“Probably, but you need to spe
ak to him. Most of his thoughts are in a language I don’t understand, although I did pick up something about a book, a magickal book,” he says cryptically.
“A magickal book? What’s in it?” I remember Sebastian saying something about a book that CK was looking at.
He shrugs. “That I don’t know.”
“Hm, thanks.” Looking at Cole, I say, “I’m going up. Coming?”
“Of course,” he says without hesitation. I grab his hand and tilt my head up for a kiss from my Wolf. “Bye, Linc,” I say when he lets me go.
I Astral us upstairs, as he waves us off.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWELVE
C K and Sebastian are huddled over the table when we pop in.
“Aefre,” CK stands up to kiss me. “Cole,” he says coldly.
“Constantine,” Cole replies just as coldly.
Fuck’s sake. I really do need to sort this out. It won’t do.
CK looks from Sebastian to Cole. “We’ve already met on the internet. Hello, Cole. Nice to see you again,” Sebastian says politely.
Cole just nods and pulls me back against him, draping his arms over me in a possessive move, which has me rolling my eyes and CK about to blow a gasket.
“This is a pleasant surprise, my sweet. We are ‘Astraporting’ now?” he inquires, using the word I came up with to describe Demon Xane’s transportation maneuver, but it also works quite nicely to combine my Astralling and his Teleporting ability.
“Well, everyone seems to be ignoring my rule anyway today,” I say pointedly, staring at the two who broke the rules. Neither looks overly concerned by my reprimand, which annoys me. Where’s the fear?
“Sebastian. Stay away from Scott,” I warn.
“I didn’t go near him,” he says, affronted.
“Do you know what he is?” I ask him. He shakes his head. “Then stay away from him.”
“What is he?” he asks, intrigued.
Ignoring his question, I ask my own, “What’s this about a book?”
Catching them both off guard, they look guiltily at each other before adjusting their features into matching innocent looks. If I weren’t so mad by the secrecy, I would have laughed at them.