Choices (The Forever series, Book Four) (28 page)
Read Choices (The Forever series, Book Four) Online
Authors: Eve Newton
“Humph,” he says rudely.
“All besides the point,” I say. “When do we leave?”
“I will get Dawn to email you the schedule. Are you sure you
will come with me?” He sounds so unsure of himself and my heart breaks.
“Hang on,” I say and climb out of the bath. Grabbing a
towel, I dry my hands and pick the phone up, taking it off speaker and wrapping
the towel around me. I walk into the bedroom all but bumping into CK who frowns
at me (at me! He’s the one lurking and eavesdropping!) and say, “Of course
Cole. I am not going to leave you wandering around the globe on your own. The
distance is too far for too long. For both of us. I will be right by your side,
wherever you go,” I say softly. The feeling of guilt is almost bringing me to
my knees to beg his forgiveness for what I have done but I close my eyes and
hold my tongue.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
“I love you. I need to get some sleep. It’s been a weird
day.”
“Yeah, the message you sent me before was pretty out there.
You are okay though, with the whole Demon Power thing?”
“Yes, just fine. I will see you on Saturday.”
“Saturday? I thought you were coming back on Friday?”
I sigh as Devon moves behind me and picks up the comb from
the dresser. He sits me down and starts to comb out my tangled wet hair. I am
comforted by the familiar gesture and it relaxes me more than the bath did.
“I’m sorry, baby. Saturday. Devon has agreed to come home
with one condition.”
“That you give him all day Friday,” Cole says unhappily.
“Yes.” I glance at Devon in the mirror, who can quite
clearly hear both sides of this conversation but he avoids my gaze, intent on
his task.
“Fine,” Cole snaps suddenly and I jump. “You will be here on
Saturday morning early enough so that we go to bed together. Do you hear me,
Liv?”
I stare speechless at the phone for a moment wondering where
the hell that audacity came from. Devon raises his eyebrow at me in the
reflection of the mirror with an amused expression.
“Liv? Do you understand me?” Cole barks at me.
“Err, yes I hear you. I will be there.”
“3 AM on Saturday. No later.”
Or else what, I wonder, but have the good sense not to say
it out loud.
“Yes, Cole. I said I would be there,” I say, highly put out
by his tone.
“Good,” he says then, happy. “Ring me later. When you are
alone please,” he orders and hangs up.
Christ, that’s me told. On the surface I am furious with him
for dictating to me but underneath he has every right to make demands. Fuck
knows everyone else does. Coupled with my overwhelming guilt I will take it and
do as he asks and more.
“Time for bed, my sweet,” CK says, handing me a large glass
of blood.
“Thank god,” I say taking it and gulping it all down. “Thank
you,” I say when I finish it and hand him the glass back.
“More?” he asks sarcastically and I nod.
“If you don’t mind.”
He grumbles something about slave labor but goes off anyway.
Devon leads me to the bed.
“Do you have clothes or do you just magick them up when you
need them?”
In response I magick on some pajamas. I haven’t worn pajamas
ever, I don’t think, but no one is coming anywhere near me tonight. I am
exhausted and for the first time ever, completely sexed out.
Devon chuckles at my outfit of long bottoms and camisole
top. “Nice choice,” he says. “Get in.”
I climb into bed and he tucks me in. He kisses my forehead,
“Get some sleep. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I nod sleepily. “Okay. I love you.”
“I love you.” He leaves as CK returns and he hands me
another glass. I drink it more slowly and I feel loads better. Less exhausted
but still worn out.
CK climbs onto the bed with me and pulls me to him. “Sleep
now, my love,” he whispers as he too kisses my forehead and I fall asleep
instantly.
I wake with a start, something has woken me. CK is lying on
the bed next to me reading and he looks startled at my movement.
“What is it?” he asks.
I look at the clock. It says 3:30 AM. I have only been asleep
about twenty minutes.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“Fine, are you?”
I shake my head, as again a jolt goes through me. “Devon,” I
say suddenly as I grab CK’s hand and Astral us to him.
He is standing in the bedroom of the suite and I smell the
blood before my eyes find the source.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
He turns to me, “Lizzie? What do I do? Help me. Tell me what
to do.” His voice gets louder as he starts to panic and shoves a piece of paper
at me.
He is staring at me in terror and I am staring at the scene
in front of me in absolute horror.
Jess is lying unconscious on the bed, soaked in blood, her
wrists slashed and bleeding out. I glance absently down to the paper he gave me
and it says simply: “If you love me, save me. If you don’t, my life isn’t worth
living.”
“Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Constantine,” I turn to him.
He steps forward to Devon and places his hand on his
shoulder, “You have a choice to make, my boy. Sire and save her or let her
die.”
London, England, April 1746 - ?
I was still in shock. My husband was dead. The man I
loved more than anything in the world, was no longer in this world. I was
furious with him. How dare he leave me? How dare he leave me all alone? If he
had let me turn him he would have been there with me then, like he was supposed
to be. With me, forever. I started crying again as I stared out of the window
of the inn room. Constantine brought me here by way of an ability that he had
acquired that allowed him to be one place one second and another in the next,
to wait for something. I didn’t know what; he just said it was something I
needed. He was taking me back to Tuscany. I had to get off this island.
Whatever it was wasn’tt due for a few more days, so in the meantime I just sat
there staring out of the window.
“Aefre, please my sweet. Don’t cry,” Constantine said as
he sat down next to me.
“Don’t call me that. It isn’t my name. Not anymore. I am
Emily. Emily Campbell,” I said forcefully.
He stared at me silently. I knew what he was thinking.
“No, I’m not,” I said. “I don’t know who I am. I am
nothing, nobody without him.”
“Don’t say that,” he said sadly. “Be Emily. Mourn your
loss as his wife,” he added softly.
I shook my head, “I can’t. I won’t ever be her again. She
is his and no one else will ever see her again.” I brushed the tears away as I
remembered Shifting back to my natural form as soon as Constantine found me
crouched a little way from the battlefield, bloody and dirty and in shock,
having been pulled away by Fraser’s fellow soldiers. I didn’t want anyone else
to see me as her. But who was I? I was not Aefre, I certainly was not
Elizabeth, nor Mary, and I couldn’t be Emily.
“Just don’t call me anything. I don’t want a name.
Please, Constantine, can we just leave here?”
“Soon, I promise.”
I sighed and continued to just sit and stare and cry.
The mysterious thing arrived a couple of days later and
when Constantine told me we could finally leave, I was relieved. I wanted to be
as far away as was possible from that dreaded place. Even London was still too
close, still too connected. Mind you, Italy wasn’t exactly high on my list of
places I wanted to go either with all of its connotations but I didn’t want to
be alone so I would allow Constantine to take me there. He stood me up and
pulled on my cloak.
I just stood there and let him do it. The door to the
room opened and in walked the only other person I wanted to see then and my
heart thumped. “Devon,” I said and he strode forward to me and picked me up.
“I’m sorry Lizzie. I would have been here sooner but I had business that I
couldn’t just vanish from. Nice trick by the way,” he said to Constantine who
just grimaced at him. Still no love lost there then.
“You should have come back with me right away. Your sire
needs you.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “He is here now. Are you alone?” I
peered over his shoulder expecting a charge in tow.
He looked over his shoulder in confusion, “Yes I am
alone.”
I smiled a weak half smile, relieved he was alone, “You
are back then?”
“Yes. I am back. I am sorry I left,” he said. “I was
stubborn and a fool. I should never have left you,” he said and bent down to
kiss me but I turned away. He looked hurt but soon realized I didn’t want
anyone to kiss me on the lips. Fraser was the last one to kiss me there and I
didn’t want anyone else to take that away.
He kissed my forehead instead and twined his hands in my
long blonde hair. “This,” he said, “this is going to take getting used to.” He
lifted my chin up to gaze into my green eyes and he flashed that devastating
grin that I loved and said, “You are so short.”
I smiled the first real smile that I had in days and
gazed adoringly at him, my darling boy.
“She is beautiful,” Constantine growled at him.
“I didn’t say she wasn’t. I am just not used to seeing my
sire as a petite, green-eyed blonde,” Devon growls back. “Any chance I can
persuade you to be Elizabeth again?” he asked me, half joking.
I shook my head and he looked disappointed, asking, “So
what do I call you then?
“Nothing,” I told him, the same as I told Constantine.
He looked worried at the seriousness of my tone but
didn’t say anything.
“Is your business conducted? Are we free to leave?”
Constantine asked him brusquely.
“Free as a bird,” Devon said.
“Good.” He grabbed us both by the elbows and transported
us in that very unsettling way to his castle in Tuscany.
We arrived in my old room, which had remained unchanged
since I left it 240 years ago. I looked around in surprise.
“Everything is as you left it, my sweet. I will leave you
to get settled. Devon, Francesca will sort you a room when you are ready.”
He left abruptly as Devon looked around in wonder, “This
is a very nice room. It’s yours?”
I nodded. “It was. I suppose he wants me to be
comfortable and in a familiar place. Would you?” I asked, pointing to the
candles.
“Of course,” he murmured.
I took my shoes off and crawled onto the bed.
“I can come back later, if you want to sleep,” he said.
“No, I have missed you. Come here and never leave me
again,” I pouted at him.
He crossed over to the bed and held me in his arms. “Yes
ma’am,” he said.
Forever
(The Forever Series Book One)
The Power
of One (The Forever Series Book Two)
Revelation
(The Forever Series Book Three)
Choices
(The Forever Series Book Four)
The Ties
That Bind (The Forever Series Book Five)
Trials (The
Forever Series Book Six)
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I was born in
England and grew up in South Africa. I moved back to England in 1997 and met my
husband, now separated, but we have two beautiful children: a girl and a boy.
I am currently
studying towards a BA in English Language & Literature, which is something
I have always wanted to do and never had the time before. I enjoy the finer
things in life. I love Louboutins and fast cars & my beloved Manchester
United. A perfect evening in, is good wine, candles and a good book!
I have always
loved to read, anything Paranormal catches my interest, and writing has always
been a passion of mine so I decided to take the plunge and combine the two into
a series novels. I have many more ideas churning around in my head and can’t
wait to get them down on paper!
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