Revelation (The Forever Series Book Three) (19 page)

I frown at him and he adds, “I’m not saying it was shit
Liv!” He laughs at me, “I mean there was a part of this afternoon’s…
goings-on…  that I… you know…”

“You what?” I want him to say it.

“You know… enjoyed,” he says shortly.

“Oh really? And what part of the ‘goings-on’ did you happen
to enjoy?”

“Not the fucking!” he growls, but softening again says, “The
feeding part. Before Devon made you Shift. Which by the way I don’t want to
know what promises you broke with him that you owed him one. Even though… um…
even though you were naked and letting them touch you and kiss you, they were
making you happy. That made me happy and I didn’t mind it.”

I smile gently at him, “Part of his reason for asking me to
Shift was to make it easier for you to handle. It can be the most pleasurable
experience with the right people. Even better if everybody is in the same
place. I know that you aren’t so we won’t do it again. But thank you for telling
me. It makes me think that one day you will be.”

“No, I want to do it again. I just don’t want it ending up
like it did today.”

“You want to do it again?” I ask in amazement.

He nods.

“Oh baby. That makes me so happy, but…”

He frowns, “But what?”

“It always ends up the way it did today. Well not exactly
like that obviously but with sex. With everyone. The sexual energy is too
strong for us to fight off. Remember what Devon said that first time we left
X-tasy?”

He nods again with a frown.

“I don’t think we would be able to stop.”

“Can we find a way? Find a way to stop? I want to do this
Liv, but not that part. I was wrong before. I can handle them giving you
pleasure without fucking you. But I can’t watch you do it to them.”

“Then we’ll find a way,” I say with a smile. “Maybe we’ll
start just with Devon when we get home. He’s more easygoing.”

He laughs then, “That might not be such a bad idea. Will you
talk to him? Explain before, so he knows.”

“Of course, baby. Thank you,” I kiss him softly.

“I feel I need to point out something though,” he says and I
raise my eyebrow at him.

“I have had three-ways before you know. I am not completely
naïve.” I giggle at him and he glares at me, “However,” he emphasizes, “it has
always been with two girls, it’s different.”

“I know it is baby. You don’t need to explain anything to
me. I was ridiculously innocent when Constantine turned me. The first time he
suggested a three-way I nearly died! And I had been turned for well over fifty
years by then. I suppose I am lucky in that he didn’t have a sire and his
charges were scattered about.” His turn to giggle at me.

“So who was it with?”

“No one. I refused. I only wanted him and no way was I
sitting there watching him fuck someone else. I do know how you feel about
this. I just have to remember as it was such a long time ago for me. I have
been around centuries-old Vampires for, well, centuries,” I say wryly. “It is
difficult for me to have someone so new to consider.”

“So your first one was after you left him? It wasn’t with
him?”

“Correct on both accounts.”

“Huh. Well what do you know. I bet that pissed him off no
end!”

“You could say that,” I say to his delight. “Come now. We
need to get ready for this bash.” I stand and pull him up with me. Exiting the
bathroom we find Devon and CK already dressed and much to my annoyance not
wearing earphones or any other eavesdropping blocking devices at all.

Neither of them says anything nor gives any indication that
they heard any of our conversation, which I sincerely hope they didn’t.

“Liv, what are you planning on wearing?” Devon asks. “You’d
better summon something quickly it’s nearly 9.”

“Check this out.” I let go of Cole and spin in a circle,
arms outstretched and in a swirl of black I complete the circle and am fully
dressed, hair, nails, jewelry, the works. “What do you have to say about that?”
I say with pride as I smooth down the flowing skirt of my strapless black satin
dress, not concerned with the tattoo due to the company.

“Wow. That is some trick,” Devon says in delight with Cole
agreeing wholeheartedly and even CK looks impressed.

“You look ravishing as always, my sweet,” he says with a
frown. “Maybe too much. You are not to leave my side tonight. I don’t trust him
not to try something and if he gets you behind the wards, there won’t be much
we can do to get you back.”

Cole looks terrified on my behalf.

“Gee, think you might want to ease up on the doom and gloom
there, Granddad,” Devon says using a familial term that makes me snicker into
my hand and makes CK look like he is about to blow a gasket, or two.

“Call me that again and you will find yourself without a
head, my boy. Aefre, we have to be aware of what he might try.”

I nod still struggling to keep the smile off my face and he
sends me a scathing look that could tear strips off a lesser Vampire.

“What is with him and these family terms anyway? I mean
nephews? I thought I was going to puke,” Cole says briskly, buttoning up his
shirt and pulling on a jacket. I note that the other two are equally well
dressed. Did they expect to be asked to a smart dinner or what? Vain fools.

“It is very creepy,” I agree. “It’s all very incestuous and
gross.”

“I think that is part of the reason he does it,” Constantine
says with distaste. “Please do not ever call me… that,” he says to me in earnest
and I grin at him.

“No worries, as long as you never call me… that.”

“Agreed.”

“And while we are at it,” Cole pipes up, “don’t ever call
me… that.”

“Nor me,” Devon says.

“Fair enough. Now that we have that established, shall we go
do this, whatever it is?”

With our new terms agreed we head out of the room and
downstairs. As we reach the bottom step, we are greeted by Tatiana who leads us
to the sitting room we were in earlier.

Lance is already in there with several other Master
Vampires, not siblings, and a few Greater Immortals that are his own.

“Ah, there she is,” he says smoothly as we enter. “Ladies
and gentleman, my sister, our liege lady.”

He is completely comfortable in his surroundings now that it
is dark out and that worries me.

I get a short round of applause and I gracefully incline my
head in response. It would be rude not to.

He moves across to our party and leans down to kiss me on
each cheek and I resist the urge to punch him. He pulls back and looks into my
eyes. I can feel the magick coming off him and I narrow my eyes at him. He is
trying to get me under his spell! I can’t believe the nerve of this man, but it
isn’t working, I think in delight. Whatever my new Power entails, fending off
other magick is apparently one of my new gifts. Although how he is able to
wield this power is still a mystery.

He hisses softly as he realizes I am not under his control
and turns his attention to my husband, our weakest link.

“Try it, Lance, and I will end you,” I whisper in a tone
that makes it perfectly clear I mean business. He smirks and backs off.

“I see you have gained a whole new set of skills, my dear. I
will just have to try harder. I broke you once, I will again,” he says mildly
and saunters off as if he has just uttered pleasantries to us. So much for
playing nice. He is going down and the sooner the better.

“He knows. Watch yourself, Aefre. And don’t let anything he
says affect you. We are here and we will protect you if it’s the last thing we
do,” CK mutters in my ear.

I nod grimly, very much affected by what Lance said to me.
He did break me. Twelve years of being under his mistreatment and I broke like
a china doll. I was minutes away from giving him what he wanted when I was
rescued. When my sire swooped in finally on his proverbial white horse and got
me out of this place. And now here I stand as if nothing happened and it all
gets a bit much. I turn and head for the door. My three boys hot on my tail and
I burst through the front door and into the dark, fresh air breathing deeply to
clear the fear.

“I’m okay,” I say before they can even ask me but head
towards the gates rapidly, needing to be as far away from the inside of this
castle as possible.

Following me at a close distance they fall back giving me my
space as I get closer to the gates.

“Tell them to open it,” I call back to CK who does as I ask
and they open the gates and I step out. Heels sinking into the damp forest
floor I pick my skirts up and walk.

Breathing in calm, deep breaths, I relax and gain control of
myself again. See this through and all will be well, I tell myself.

A soft noise to my right catches my attention. It’s the wolf
from before. The Alpha. He comes to me and brushes up against me. I drop to my knees
and stroke him. I sense his pain, his bright green eyes boring into mine.

“Hey. It’s okay. Whatever he has done to you I am going to
kill him and you will be set free. I promise you,” I whisper to him and I think
he understands. He nuzzles my hand and licks me and I giggle. “I will come back
and find you again,” I say as I stand and resolute as to how the next couple of
hours are going to go I head back to the castle. Magick bearers or not, this
ends tonight.

“Are you sure?” Constantine whispers to me as I stalk past
them.

“Seriously, how do you do that?” I stop and ask him.

He shrugs, taking my elbow and leading me back inside the
castle walls.

“There are a lot of people here who will protect him,” he
says instead of answering me. “If you do this now, be prepared to kill more
than just him.”

I flinch at his words but I have made up my mind. If anyone
tries to protect him, they die too.

“I am going to take care of this tonight. Don’t worry about
me, I can take care of myself. Both of you watch Cole, and Constantine please,
watch over Devon as well. Whatever your quarrel was earlier I need to know you
will protect them both.”

“Of course I will. You have no need to ask me,” he says.

“Thank you.”

Back in the foyer Lance greets us, “Please, we are ready for
dinner now. If you would join us.”

Following him to the dining hall I pause briefly at the foot
of the stairs as we pass.

“What is it?” Cole asks.

“I… I’m not sure,” I say, a bit shaky as an immense feeling
of dread washes over me. I move off to the side suddenly, CK calling “Aefre,”
to me but I ignore him and push open a door. The kitchens. Three maids look
slightly startled at me as I stalk into the room, heading for the door towards
the back. They rush forward to stop me shouting at me in Romanian. CK catches
up with me and pulls me back, “Aefre. What are you doing?” I stop in front of
the door and look at him. He knows as well as I do what this door opens up to.
I put my hand on the handle and he pulls it away, shaking off the women who are
trying to stop us.

As expected, it’s locked and holding my hand up to the heavy
wood I also feel magick. Reinforced wards. Closing my eyes I pull up my mental
map. I see us in the kitchens, and I push out with my mind to encompass the
dungeons. Blocked, just like I was at
Ponte
. I push harder, holding my
hand flat against the door. Still nothing. Determined to break through I put
every ounce of my Power behind it, physically pushing against the door as if I
might break through it. I hear Constantine saying my name, I feel him touch me
and I pull on his energy, giving me an extra boost. He grips my arm in protest
as I keep pulling on his ancient source of power, pushing the mental map to
expand and show me what I already know. It breaks through as I break out into a
sweat, my knees giving way at the amount of energy I have used. Constantine
still holding onto me keeps me on my feet as I whimper in distress.

“Aefre?”

“Liv?”

I hear my name, both of them, a dozen times but all I can
see is the flashback of me being dragged down the stairs from the tower by my
hair and across these kitchen floors and through this door, down the stone
steps and passed a number of cells to my very own. That is now currently
occupied by a girl, who looks like me. Not just a girl. A Vampire. Not just any
Vampire, but a sibling. A charge of my sire’s that looks just like me, that
Lance has chained up to a wall in my former cell. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Lance thunders at me as he
stalks into the kitchens.

Catching me shaky and off guard he smirks and says, “If you
wanted to go back down there Lucretia, all you had to do was ask.”

“Who is it?” I yell at him. “Who is down there?”

He looks perplexed, “There is no one down there.”

Grabbing Constantine I say, “There is someone down there. A
girl. Like me. One of yours. She's yours. She looks like me.” I ramble on
unable to get control of my thoughts.

Constantine grips both my arms. “Aefre, what are you
saying?”

“She’s down there,” I yell at him. “Make him undo the wards.
We need to get her out.”

“Lucretia, you are clearly distressed. Perhaps the stress of
this new post has you not in your right mind.”

Turning to him I snarl, “I know what I saw. Undo the wards
and get her out of there.”

“There is no one down there, my dear,” He says, evil black
eyes focused innocently on mine.

I know that innocent look. I see it on my sire, our sire,
all the time and I don’t buy it for a second.

Turning back towards the door I close my eyes again and try
to force the door open. Only problem is I don’t really know how. The Power is
there and wants to help but I don’t know what to do. Dammit, I slam my palm
against the solid wood and feel the wards give a little but then snap back into
place.

Turning again to Constantine I say, “She’s one of yours. She
looks like me. Don’t leave her down there.”