by Eve Newton
“Cade?” he asks, confused and I remember that he doesn’t know. I fill him in, and he looks concerned, but I brush it off.
“Don’t worry about it, my love. It’s handled.”
“Sure,” he says, unconvinced. “When did you call Scott and Lincoln?”
I tap my head.
“Oh. No, I have nothing to say. It is your decision. I will support whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” I say slyly.
“Whatever you want,” he repeats. “With one exception.”
I don’t even need to ask what that is, so I just smile and say, “You don’t have to worry about that.” I conveniently ignore the last two days of indiscretions. I’m glad he said that as there is something else that needs deciding but that won’t be up to me to discuss without permission, so I say nothing for now.
CK comes into the bedroom and announces our visitors. “Good. Get Sebastian as well and if Vivienne is here, please ask her to leave,” I order. He nods, wondering what is going on but goes anyway.
“Nice to have you back,” Devon says, coming over to hug me tightly. “I was worried,” he adds quietly.
“So was I,” I agree and again I repeat the wards story, so everyone is up to speed.
“So, what is this meeting about?” Scott asks.
“Please sit.” I motion Devon, Scott, and Lincoln to the sofa. Nico stands in the far corner behind me and Cade in the opposite corner in front of me, already clearly in sync with one another and I find it quite sweet. CK stands next to Sebastian, who is lounging in the doorway of his bedroom and Cole is standing next to me by the coffee table, but a little bit away, so I have the attention of the whole room on me. I sit on the coffee table and begin. “I have come to some decisions about this life I am leading. My life. It is getting confusing and distracting and between running the company, my Queenly duties, and allocating you all onto days of the week, it is getting ridiculous. Something has to give.” I pause and I sense the mounting concern that I am going to turn around and sack everyone off.
I look at Devon and his face drops, but I smile reassuringly at him, “With your agreement, I’m stepping down as CEO at Saxon. I just can’t give it any more attention and to be fair, I am done. I will remain your partner with my shares, but I will no longer have anything to do with the running of the company. It is yours, my love.”
Devon stares at me like I have grown another head or two. “No,” he says. “We do it together or not at all.”
“Devon…” I start.
“Let me finish,” he snaps at me to the amusement of everyone in the room, except me.
“We built that place together. It is ours. If you go, I go. The last year has been so hectic and everything has changed, everyone has changed. I refuse your offer of CEO as I no longer want to be CFO. All or nothing, Kitten.”
“Dev. You don’t have to resign just because I am.”
“I’m not. I will also keep my shares; we will just have to appoint new management.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he says with finality.
“Right, then. I had assumed as much but wanted to make sure. We’re out. Now I do hope that you will agree with my next decision.” I turn to look at Scott, who isn’t looking best pleased that we have bowed out. “Scott. You have been the best assistant that I could ever have hoped for. You have done your job far better than I could have anticipated and to be frank, I think that you have single-handedly run the company in my stead for nearly six months now. I cannot think of anyone else better suited to take over than you.”
“Agreed,” Devon says straightaway, having already known my intention.
“I beg your pardon?” he says in shock. “I am not qualified to run a billion-dollar empire.”
“What do you think you have been doing the last six months? Even before that I only turned up after you had done most of the work. You are more than qualified, and I trust you to carry on doing a great job. You are one of us now. One of mine. I want to keep it in the family and there is no one better to hand it to. You can think it over, but I hope that you say yes.”
He thinks it over. He knows everything I have said is true. His false modesty is touching but he knows he could do this standing on his head, seeing as he has been. “You really want to do this?”
“Yes.”
“Then I agree. I will look after it like it’s my own, I can assure you I will go above and beyond,” he says.
“I know you will.” I smile at him.
“Thank you, Liv. Mr. Savant. It is a great honor that you have given me this opportunity to…”
“Oh, can it, Scott. And it’s Devon, please,” Devon says. “We are family now.”
He looks pleased as punch and says, “I will get the contracts drawn up. Oh, wait, no, I suppose a third party should be involved.”
“I’ll do it,” Sebastian says. “I know a thing or two about ironclad agreements.”
“Thank you, Sebastian.” I turn now to Lincoln, who looks back at me as if he can’t quite fathom what I am going to say to him.
“Linc. I haven’t forgotten you,” I say with a smile. “If Devon agrees, I am going to give you fifteen percent of my shares in Saxon and fifteen percent of Accounts.”
“No, Liv. You don’t need to do that,” Lincoln says.
“Yes, I do,” I say firmly, and he smiles.
I turn back to Devon, “Which makes you majority shareholder. My gift to you.”
Devon shakes his head, “No. I don’t want it. I said it before, Liv, it’s ours. Yours and mine. We stay equal partners. You give Lincoln seven and a half percent of your shares in both companies and I will do the same. We three will make up the board, with Scott as CEO, and Constantine stays as Chairman. All we need now is a replacement for me.”
“You would do that? Give up the chance to be my boss?” I ask him.
He laughs out loud. “Oh, gods, when you put it like that, I take it back! But no, kidding aside, it’s a good arrangement and I am happy with it.”
“So am I. Everyone gets taken care of.”
“Erm, what about me?” Cole says with a mock wounded look.
I chuckle. “You are my husband, what’s mine is yours. Although…” I pause for dramatic effect.
He steps closer. “I hope you aren’t going to name me replacement for Devon. I haven’t got a fucking clue what he does for a living.”
Devon laughs again, as do I. “No. The idea is that we spend more time together. I don’t want you off working while I am stuck at home. But I am giving you my title at the Studio, pending board approval. Scott has already had the meeting; we are just waiting for the vote.”
“What?” he asks, shocked. “I don’t know anything about running a Studio, not to mention I thought you didn’t want me off working.”
“Do I look like I do any work for them? I turn up at a quarterly meeting and give them money. It’s really not that taxing. Edward runs the show and we are both happy with that arrangement.”
“Seriously? How much of my money do I have to give them?” he asks, a bit put out.
“Nothing, you fool. You use mine,” I say, rolling my eyes at him. “Ours,” I amend with a quick look at CK who isn’t very happy about that. It has nothing to do with Cole exactly, but he is very protective of my finances for some reason.
“Oh, in that case, board approval pending, I accept,” he says with a cheeky look.
“Good. We are getting our collective ducks in a row. Now, there is one other matter that needs discussing.” I stand as this is far more serious than who gets what out of my retirement. “There is an issue about to arise that needs our attention. Specifically, for the Vampires in the room.” Everyone stares at me unclear of where I am going with this. I look to CK and say, “May we discuss this freely?”
He knows then exactly what I am about to say, and he moves to stand next to me and says, “Yes.”
I have everyone’s undivided attention now that the tone of
the meeting has gone into serious mode. I take a deep breath, “It has been brought to my attention that some of us are due for a change. A new identity, a new life.” I let that sink in as Devon looks intrigued and Cole looks a bit afraid. “Constantine has a few years on us, Dev, but we are still at nine to his twelve. We need to think about what we are going to do. It isn’t going to be as easy this time. Well, for you guys at least. But all of us here in this room are going to be affected by the change and we need to decide together what our course of action will be. For these purposes, we stand as a democracy and a unanimous vote has to be decided upon. We all have to agree as I won’t have some of us happy and others not.” I blink but no one yet dare say a word, so I continue, “So, I ask that each of you go away and think up a game plan and bring it back and we’ll see what our options are.”
“I say the G6 takes a nosedive into the North Atlantic to go and live next to the Titanic for a while,” Devon grouses albeit with humor.
“I shall bear that in mind for our faked deaths but seeing as we need it for the next few months don’t be plotting its demise just yet, okay, sweetie?” I say.
“How…how long do we have?” Cole asks with trepidation.
I look to CK. “I guess you should answer that.”
“Not long, two years at the most this time. I will have to disappear for a while. There is very little chance I can pull off being thirty-eight without dire suspicion,” he says wryly.
“Thirty-eight?” I say incredulously. “Christ, you can barely pull off twenty-eight. Which reminds me, Dev, no way will you be able to hit thirty.”
“Says you. You couldn’t look less like twenty-six if you tried. Your Aefre/Liv face is far too sweet and innocent.”
“I agree,” CK says. “You always thought you looked older, but you will forever look sixteen, my love, no matter how hard you try.”
Sebastian snorts. “Should have stuck to the rules.”
I focus on him then. “What were you?”
“Eighteen,” he says proudly. “I think I started the rule.”
“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” CK says rudely.
“We are getting off topic. I say we split the difference and call it a year. Then we will all have to move on to the next life,” I say decisively.
“Agreed,” Devon, CK, and Sebastian say. Lincoln and Cole remain silent and it makes no difference to Scott just yet.
“Well?” I prompt them.
“A year? And then what?” Lincoln asks. “I just got my life back and now I have to be someone different?”
“Just a name, sweetie, and perhaps an extended trip to a desert island. We are currently all too recognized to be able to carry on together in the civilized world.”
“I’m in,” Cole says, resigned. “I’m not leaving you,” he adds pointedly. “So, I will do whatever you decide.”
I smile gratefully at him.
“In that case, me too. As I am not leaving you either,” Lincoln says.
“So, we are agreed that we will move on in a year. Now we just need to decide how, where, and when. Go off and think about it and we will meet again about it in three months. In the meantime, we go about the plans we just made and will deal with those changes when the time comes.”
I dismiss everyone and the tension dissipates. Cade sidles over to me and says, “What about me? Will I need to change my name, become someone else?”
“No, you are human. You will get older and die. This change for us is one of hundreds. We expect it and deal with it. It isn’t for you to have to worry about it.”
“I expect I will find it difficult. Watching you stay the same as I get older,” he muses quietly, and I am surprised by his melancholy.
“Speak to Nico about it. He has worked for CK for nearly twenty years now. If anyone knows how to deal with it, he does,” I say and he starts at my sincerity but then I ruin it by adding, “And if push comes to shove you could always join us.” I flash my fangs at him. He glowers at me and stalks off in a huff while I chuckle to myself.
“So, it’s time,” Devon says as he comes to put his arms around me. “Seems like yesterday we were moving to L.A. with our new names and your new-slash-old look.”
“I know,” I say and we both get lost in the memory of our move across country.
New York, USA, 2004 – Lexie/Liv
“Y ou ready to go, Lex?” Devon asked me, as I stared out of the apartment window over Manhattan.
“Yeah,” I said and turned to him with a smile. “It’s Liv now, remember.”
“Right, had better watch that. Seems you’ve been Lexie Williams for a while now,” he said.
“I know, it’s going to be hard to pick up a new life again.” He gave me a cuddle to cheer me up.
“You’re going to miss New York, aren’t you?”
“Very much so. And I had hoped we could go back to England after this, but maybe next time. Los Angeles, here we come, I guess.”
“Wasn’t practical, babe. We had to stay in the States, at least for this next round. Business here is booming. Everything is set up at Saxon for you to take over. We will have a blast, just the two of us, as it should be.” He slung his arm around my shoulders as he ushered us towards the front door.
“I know. So, Devon Savant, what will we do with this place?” I gestured to the penthouse.
He chuckled. “That sounds strange to me too. I had gotten used to being Devon Schaffer. Liv Nelson has bought the place. It’s yours.”
“Oh, good. I didn’t really want to let it go. So many fond memories. You know, one of these days you are going to have to change your first name,” I said to him with a sidelong glance. “And you should try Shifting again. I can’t be the only Vampire to do it. I must have passed it down to you,” I complained.
“Never!” he exclaimed. “I was Devon when you turned me, and I will always be Devon. I will stick with just the surname change. But I can’t Shift, Lexie, err, Liv. I have tried for years. It is your unique gift and I am fine with that. I like the way I look, I thought you did too?” he asked with a devilish smile, which I returned with a sassy wink. “I know you like to use your gift and have a change of style and a new name to go with it and I also get why you have to change your original name, Aefre is lovely, but no one knows how to pronounce it!”
I laughed. “Fine, I will drop it… for now. I know, why my parents couldn’t have named me Mary or something, I don’t know.”
“Mary?” CK said from the doorway. “I really don’t think so, my sweet. You should keep your name, I like it.”
“You know how to pronounce it,” Devon pointed out, with a malicious glare.
“Ah, not really,” I said with a slight smile at my sire. “You always lapse into a Latin version. It’s sweet.”
“Do I?” he said, ignoring Devon in favor of giving me a quick kiss. “I didn’t know. So, you are Liv now?”
I nodded.
“When will I see you again? I don’t mind coming here, but I think next time you will come to me. That way we can be alone,” he added pointedly to Devon’s annoyance.
“Come with us,” I said suddenly. This isn’t the first time I have asked him that, so I know what the answer will be.
He shook his head. “No, my sweet. My life is in Milan. You move there.”
“And so, the argument continues,” Devon grumbled.
“Well, I guess this is it. The G5 is waiting. We should get going.” I held my arms out for CK and he took me in a warm embrace. I wanted to cling to him and beg him to come with me, but I knew better than that. He would never be truly mine again, no matter how much I wanted him to be.
“You haven’t Shifted,” he said as he stepped back with a critical eye, arms still loosely around me. “What will you be this time?”
I patted my bobbed black hair and say with a wide smile, “Oh, now, this you will be in favor of.” I turned in a circle for dramatic effect.
I looked to him for approval and I got it, in sp
ades. It made me feel wonderful, and happy.
“Beautiful,” he said. “Absolute perfection. There isn’t a better look for you than your natural form.” He kissed each of my hands in turn.
“Yes, there is, in my opinion,” Devon said with a case of the grumps. “Elizabeth is far better.”
“Thanks, sweetheart,” I said sarcastically. “Just what a girl wants to hear.”
“You know I love you, Lizzie, in whatever form you take. I just have my preference.”
“Don’t we all,” I murmured as I peeked at my sire from lowered lashes. He was staring at me, his dark eyes with flecks of amber, narrowed slightly.
“It has been a long time,” he said. “I am glad you have chosen to be yourself.”
I bobbed my head. “I will call you when we land.”
“Do. I will worry about you until then,” he said with a slight smile. He Teleported out, still not having even acknowledged Devon’s presence. I did so wish they could find a way to get along.
Devon and I took a final look back and headed towards JFK and our new life in Los Angeles.
“I should get back downstairs, I suppose she might wake anytime now,” Devon says sadly. I know he is going to mourn the loss of his freedom, but I am going to make her pay.
He leaves, along with Scott, who is an eager beaver now he has a new job and recruitment issues to deal with. I hope he can find someone to replace Devon.
“I will do my best,” he says, reading my thoughts as he leaves. “And don’t worry about the New York offices. I have already hired an outside auditing company to complete the work you started. They said it should take them about eight to twelve weeks based on the work you have already done to get back to you with the results.”
“You mean, get back to you,” I say with a smile and he looks embarrassed.
“Yeah, I guess so. Thank you,” he says softly. “You have no idea what it means that you trust me with something that means so much to you.”
“You will be great,” I reassure him.
He nods his thanks and heads off downstairs. I turn to Cole. He is a bit uncertain after recent discussions when I get a phone call. It’s Scott already, needing to use the phone as he can’t get through to me with my blocks up. “Get down here,” he says as I answer. “She’s up.”