by Eve Newton
“Mm, Castel Gradile. I wish I was there right now,” I say with a smirk.
He indulges me with his glorious made-just-for-me smile before he goes back to his scolding.
“Liv, this is serious. Devon tells me you haven’t drunk human blood in eight months apart from small amounts the last couple of days and this much human blood in a long while. How much is a long while?”
“Are you really asking me how long it’s been since I drained, or nearly drained, a human?” I ask in disbelief.
He looks at me as if to say “Well, yeah!”
I exhale in exasperation. “1810. His name was Patrick. I drained him and killed him all because he looked like…” I trail off with tears in my eyes.
“Oh, hush, my sweet,” CK says quietly. “Don’t be upset. I’m sorry. I should have known it had been so long. I really thought you had indulged your killer instinct sooner than that.”
“Well, I haven’t!” I snap and leap up to go to Cole’s side. He looks just the same.
CK joins me at his side. “Nico has a Feeder here for you. You should drink or the cravings will start to drive you crazy.”
I nod absently and let him lead me away to the back of the chapel. I can feel the need to feed clawing at me. I’m glad that CK had the presence of mind to get someone for me.
I see her sitting there. A human, provided specifically for me to feed from in exchange for a hefty wad of cash and a threat of her death if she ever told our secret. I know that she must already be on CK’s payroll for Nico to have gotten her here so quickly.
She’s a pretty young thing just sitting there, casually waiting for me. She looks so smug to be a part of our secret that it inflames me. I snarl at her and dive onto her neck, in a move so sudden, she didn’t expect it. She tastes so good. In modern day research, Vampires have been proven to prefer their own blood type. In light of such research, it seems CK, Devon, and I are all AB negative. I also knew this about Cole before I drank from him.
I feel her blood pumping out of her heart and into my mouth as I bite harder, hurting her. I go beyond the limit, the safe amount for a human to give, and now her life is in my hands. A small voice in the back of my head calls to me, “Don’t do this. This isn’t you anymore. Cole wouldn’t want you to be this because of him.” I listen to the voice and snap my fangs back. The woman is unconscious, but she’s alive. She’ll be fine. Also, probably well compensated for my faux pas.
CK hauls me to the side. “For Christ’s sake, Aefre, I haven’t seen you this out of control, ever!” he snaps.
I look abashed. “I’m sorry. I’m nervous and thirsty. Get me more wine. It will offset the cravings,” I say hopefully.
He motions to Nico, who returns almost immediately with a bottle of wine and Devon. I hand it to him, and he does the honors while my eyes never leave Cole. I take Devon’s hand and lead him to the discarded glasses on the old pew.
“Sit with me,” I say and of course he does. He pours out two glasses, then we sit in silence. Time ticks away and soon, it's midnight. I have curled up in Devon’s lap and the others have left us alone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A t first, I thought it was tiredness, bloodlust, and the wine that caused me to see it. I sit up, jolting Devon awake. Cole’s fingers are twitching. I stand quickly and move to his side. I take his hand and stroke his face. He turns instinctively into my hand and I know he’s going to be okay.
“He’s waking up, Devon,” I say excitedly.
Wide awake now, Devon jumps up in search of the others. I continue to stroke Cole’s face as he comes to. Eventually his eyes open, the same blue-gray eyes I love, just as Devon rushes back in with CK, Nico, and what I presume is the Feeder.
I turn to them in amazement. “He’s awake. Less than twelve hours and he’s awake!” I exclaim in delight.
“Liv,” he croaks in confusion.
“Yes, baby. It’s me. I’m here. How do you feel?”
“Thirsty,” he says.
I turn to beckon the Feeder over, but CK is at my side with a bottle of water. “This first, remember,” he chides.
Cole grabs it and gulps it down. He sits up and looks at all of us, looking at him. I take his face in my hands. “Baby, you need to feed. I’ll walk you through it, okay?”
Within seconds, his fangs have dropped, and he grabs me to sink them into my neck.
Whoa, Mama!
I hear CK snicker behind me and mutter, “Oh, like sire, like charge!”
I know he is referring to me pouncing on him in a similar fashion.
I push Cole away and tell him he needs human blood. His fangs snap back, and he shakes his head. “No. I just want you,” he says.
I cast a glance at CK, and he raises an eyebrow at me. “My, my, he is yours, isn’t he? I believe you said the same thing to me,” he smirks in amusement.
“Not helping, D’Arcangelo!” I snap with indignation, my English accent more pronounced than ever.
He chortles at my usage of his last name, something I only tend to do when indignant, so I’ve been told.
“Baby, you need human blood,” I tell Cole. “In time, you will be able to live without it, but now, you need to feed.” I push the Feeder in front of him.
Reluctantly, he does as he is told as I watch expectantly. “Enough,” I tell him when he’s reached the limit and he lets go, retracting his fangs with ease as the Feeder scampers off out of reach.
His eyes meet mine and I grin at him. “How do you feel?” I ask again.
“Better,” he says grudgingly. “How long was I out?”
“Less than twelve hours,” I say proudly. “You did good, baby.”
He leaps off the altar and draws me into a deep kiss. He tastes of blood and Cole. I want to kiss him forever.
Everyone leaves us alone then. I hear CK mutter something about The Council and it reminds me of the prophecy. Nothing has happened yet, not that I know what to expect, so I keep my mental fingers crossed that nothing does. I take Cole’s face in my hands. “You seem under control. How does it feel?” I ask.
He pauses and thinks about it before saying, “Okay, I guess. I don’t want to go on a rampage if that’s what you mean.”
That makes one of us then.
“Good, sweetie. That’s really good. If you take a bit of human blood every day you will build up a tolerance for the cravings.”
He looks at me curiously. “I don’t feel any different. Except maybe with the senses. I can hear, like, everything!”
I smile at his words. “Wait until you decide to move!”
He grins and, in a flash, he is at the back of the chapel. “What, you mean like that?” he laughs.
I’m giggling in delight as I say, “Exactly like that!”
In an instant, he is in front of me again. Taking my face in his hands, he kisses me. “This…” he says, “this is different.” He leans his forehead against mine and sighs. “I get it now,” he says quietly, “what Devon feels for you. I love you completely, but there is this need for you. For you to love me, touch me, comfort me. I want to always be in your presence and do anything to make you happy.”
I shiver at his words. “It’s the bond, my love. We are bound together for eternity now. You are mine and I will love you until the end of time.”
He kisses me again, his tongue pushing against mine urgently, desperately.
Suddenly, he pulls back with a look on his face that I can’t read. “That’s how you feel about Constantine,” he states and steps back.
“Yes,” I say truthfully. “Now do you understand what I was telling you last night? That we are bound, and it will never go away.”
He looks away briefly, but then he nods resolutely. “I do,” he says softly. “I do get it. I feel it here.” He pats his chest. “I do get it now, your batshit crazy possessive relationship with Devon and your very weird, whatever-it-is with Constantine,” he grimaces.
“I love you so much,” I say to him.
“I love you too, but more importantly, I am in love with you,” he replies.
“As I am with you.”
We stroll out into the moonlight hand in hand, to a crowd watching us.
“All good?” Devon asks.
“All good,” Cole replies with a smile at me.
“Well, then. Welcome to the family, Brother,” Devon says and slaps him on the back. Cole looks slightly startled at the term, but then chuckles and punches Devon on the arm. “Yeah, I guess we are family now. Thanks, man. For everything,” he says.
Devon looks uncomfortable, but says, “Yeah, no worries, dude.”
CK is watching us from a few feet away, a faraway look in his eye. Cole, to my surprise, makes the first move. He walks over and extends his hand to my sire and says, “Whatever it was that changed your mind, I thank you. Liv is happy and I’m grateful.”
CK stares at him in that unrelenting way of his for a few moments. I hold my breath, preparing for the worst, but then he accepts the handshake and I breathe out.
“Her happiness is all I care about,” he says quietly, and Cole nods, finally understanding, at least in part, the complexities of Vampire relationships. CK nods back and I roll my eyes at them. Men!
“Nico, the ring, please,” he says and turns to me.
“Of course,” Nico says and takes it out of his pocket and hands it to me.
“Thank you,” I say, and he nods.
Cole returns to my side and I open the box. A tiny glimmer shines off the Faerie Silver ring.
“This is for you, my love,” I say, taking it out of the box. “Do you accept it?”
“Yes,” he says and holds out his left hand. “Same as yours. Will it fit?”
I smile. “It’s made to fit,” I say and slip it onto his thumb as I did with Devon and CK did with me. He flexes his hand, as a current runs through him, protecting him from our limitations.
I feel a sting on my right shoulder, and I hiss in surprise at the same time Cole and Devon also say, “Ow,” rubbing the inside of their left wrists.
“What the fuck?” Devon peers at his wrist as Cole does the same.
“What?” I ask urgently. “What is it?”
Before they can answer, CK is at my back, pulling the strap of my vest top down. He catches his breath and rubs his hand over the place where I felt the pain.
“CK?” I ask, peering over my shoulder trying to see what he is looking at.
“It is you,” he says quietly. “You are the Chosen One.”
“What?” I exclaim, trying again to peer over my shoulder. “What do you see?”
“Potentia Uno, my love. The symbol Corinne saw for the Power of One,” he says.
My mouth drops open as Devon and Cole stand on either side of CK and stare. They hold up their wrists as I turn around. There is a small diamond-shaped symbol about an inch in diameter etched into their skin.
I shake my head in confusion. I grab Devon’s wrist and rub my thumb over it. It feels warm to the touch. Again, I try to see over my shoulder. Helpful as ever, Nico is at my back with a compact mirror, which he holds up and sure enough, there etched on my skin, is a one inch in diameter diamond shape.
Looking back at CK in shock, I get an even bigger one when on either side of him appear two people. A light-haired man and a red-haired woman. CK sighs. I scowl. Gregor and Eloise. The other two Council Members.
“Well, well, well. I might have known your bitch would have something to do with this, Constantine,” Eloise sneers, a nasty look crossing her cruelly beautiful face.
“Eloise,” Constantine growls a warning.
Snapping her evil green eyes from me to Cole, she licks her lips seductively. In an instant, I push him behind me protectively. “Mm, he is handsome, you certainly know how to pick them, don’t you? I bet he tastes delicious,” she says.
I take a step forward, my protective sire side taking control. “Look at him like that again and I will rip your eyes out and stuff them down your throat,” I growl, not afraid of her even though she could squash me like a bug. Fuck her. I have my own sire at my side who would annihilate her if she hurt me.
She cocks her eyebrow at my boldness and also takes a step forward. Devon steps to my side as CK steps in between us, facing Eloise.
“Enough!” he barks.
Glowering at him, she eventually concedes to his, albeit slight, superiority.
“You knew it was her and you told her, didn’t you?” Gregor asks suddenly and we all turn around to face him, having forgotten his presence. His pointed features give me the creeps. Actually, in general, he gives me the creeps. I wasn’t sure where he had been born but had adopted Russia as his native land many centuries ago. Eloise, I think, was originally from Gaul and adopted France as her home in later years.
“I had an idea it might be Liv. The numbers were significant to her, so yes, I told her,” CK says.
Eloise sneers again and says, “Of course he did. He’d like nothing more than to have his bitch serve next to him on The Council.”
CK steps forward. “Call her that again and I will make good on her threat,” he says menacingly and even I gulp at the prospect.
“Yes, well the numbers are still being verified,” Gregor says offhandedly.
“They don’t need to be verified,” CK snaps. “Liv is the Chosen One. It is done.”
“Maybe it’s not done. There are other baby Vamps being sired tonight on Holy ground, as we speak,” Eloise says sweetly.
CK is growing impatient. “Liv is the One. Turn around!” he barks at me.
I obey; to do anything else would be foolish. I face Cole, whose eyes are so wide they may well fall out of his head. I catch his eye and try to look reassuring as CK yanks down the strap of my top to expose the symbol I have been marked with. I hear Eloise gasp in surprise and even Gregor grunts softly. Strangely, I feel Eloise’s cold fingers flit lightly over my shoulder and she hisses drawing her hand back as if she’s been burned.
“It is done,” CK says again, roughly pulling the strap back up. “Devon, Cole, if you please.” It’s not a question.
Gregor moves to stand next to Eloise for the big reveal as Devon and Cole hold up their wrists to show their matching markings.
Eloise gets over her surprise rapidly and is now extremely pissed off. She snaps her gaze to Constantine. “Somehow you planned this. I don’t know how you knew, but this has all been a set up from the start, all for you to get your whore whelp onto The Council.”
I take great offense to that insult, but CK just looks exasperated. “Don’t be an idiot, Eloise. What do you think brought you here in the first place? You sensed The Power. The prophecy was foretold and has come to pass. Deal with it. We have bigger issues to be concerned with than your paranoia,” he snaps.
Oh? Like what?
“We know nothing about this Power of One, only that Liv now has it. Her charges have been marked as well and we don’t know what that means.”
Oh! Like that!
“We need to get back to The Council and gather as much information as we have on this prophecy and somehow, we need to track down Corinne,” he states with profound authority, making me mentally swoon.
“Agreed,” Gregor says, surprising everyone again with this affirmation and he Teleports out.
Eloise is still not agreeable and glares at me with such loathing it takes everything I have not to flinch.
CK turns his back on her to face me. He takes my face in his hands and says, “We’ll figure this out, my sweet. In the meantime, take the car, go back to the hotel and look after your boy. I will return later tonight.” He kisses me softly and I nod.
“Okay.”
Eloise is throwing stakes at me with her eyes over CK’s contact with me. He nods at Cole and Devon. Then, takes Nico’s arm, ready to Teleport them out. “You first,” he says to Eloise, not trusting her. She grins wickedly at me, triumphant in the knowledge that he is leaving me and returning with her. She blinks out and with a last nod
, CK follows.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“M an, she really hates you,” Devon pipes up from the back seat. Cole is driving, as he wants to do something ‘normal’. I get that he must be feeling a bit disorientated and with this whole Power of One business having been revealed, I’m sure he is probably wondering ‘what the fuck?’. I’m going to have a whole bunch of explaining to do now. Stupid fucking prophecy.
“The feeling is definitely mutual,” I sneer with loathing, trying to table my growing anxiety of what happens next.
An uncomfortable silence grows and just as I hear Devon take a breath to break it, as he hates them as much as I do, Cole speaks up.
“So, is someone, at some point, going to fill me in on what the fuck just happened? Or are we just going to ignore it,” he exclaims.
“Oh, baby. It’s so complicated.” I sigh but fill him in anyway. I get looks, grunts, and growls, and more than a few expletives sent my way, but soon he is up to date with the whole prophecy concerning The Council and the Power of One thing.
“That’s why you wanted to turn me yesterday? So, you could be on The Council?” Cole asks incredulously. “Do you have any idea how fucked up that sounds?”
“What? Gods, no, Cole! I do not want to be on The Council. It’s chosen me. We thought it best to act quickly to save you. Had Eloise and Gregor figured it out they would likely have killed you and then probably me as well to prevent this from ever happening. I’m sorry, I should have told you,” I finish, ashamed for keeping the truth from him. Damn CK, he knew my keeping it a secret would cause a rift.
Cole runs a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in that adorable way and he bangs his fist on the steering wheel. “We?” he growls, followed closely by, “Christ, Liv! You should have told me,” he yells. “I feel now that you just did it for your own purposes.”
Abruptly, he pulls off the road and slams on the brakes. “Fuck!” he yells.
I give him a minute to calm down. I don’t blame him for being angry with me; he has every right to be pissed.
