The Power of One (The Forever series Book Two) (11 page)

I tut at him as Cole’s mouth drops open. I feel the familiar
tingle up the back of my neck before I hear CK say behind me, “The only
ballerina to perform a classical twenty-turn pirouette.”

I turn to him with a smile, “It could be classified as
cheating, you know.” He reaches out to touch my chin. “Vampire or not, never
has there been a more skilled, talented, graceful dancer. Your passion was, is,
legendary.”

I simper at his words of praise while Cole is still staring
at the picture of me (in my natural form) on Devon’s iPad.

“This is really you?” he asks in amazement. I nod briefly.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a real picture of you. I
mean a picture from long ago. It’s incredible.”

Smiling at his excitement I turn back to CK, “I am thrilled
to see you, of course, but why are you here?” I repeat his words back to him
and he chuckles. He opens his hand and my charm bracelet drops down, “To return
this, my sweet.” He clasps it to my left wrist.

“Thank you,” I say, “but I could have waited until Tuesday.”

“It’s no trouble. I knew you would be missing it,” he says
mildly but I know his game and exactly why he is here. A not-so-subtle way of
letting Cole know we were together earlier.

Casting a sidelong glance at Cole he continues in French,
“My bed was too empty after you left. I needed a distraction so I went back to
work.”

“Hm,” I say nonchalantly, knowing that he has spoken at
length with Eloise due to the nature of this conversation we are now having in
her native language.

“Incidentally,” he continues, “Gregor was asking about you.”

“Oh?” That doesn’t sound good.

“He was quite interested to learn more about you.”

Grimacing, I reply, “Well I hope you didn’t tell him much.
The less that creep knows about me the better.”

Looking slightly puzzled he says, “Really Aefre, you should
be more respectful of your colleagues.”

Devon snorts, “Yeah, like respect is high on his list of
traits when it comes to Liv. Probably just trying to have another crack at
her.”

I step away from CK and hiss, “Devon!” flashing him a “shut
the fuck up” glare.

“What?” he asks before the penny drops. “He doesn’t know,
does he?” he asks in disbelief.

I close my eyes and sigh. I jump at CK’s voice that cracks
like a whip, “Know what?”

He grabs my arm at my silence. “Know what, Aefre?” he growls
at me, his eyes two steel flints piercing mine.

“It’s nothing,” I wince as his grip tightens. Shifting his
furious gaze to Devon’s he says, “Talk.”

“No, Devon,” I say at the same time.

Torn between his sire and his homicidal grand-sire he looks
at me at a loss. “I thought he knew. You never said he didn’t know,” he says
petulantly.

“It was implied,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Liv, what the fuck is going on?” Cole asks and I realize we
have been speaking in a language he doesn’t understand but is aware of the
tension and growing atmosphere.

Switching to English, “It’s okay baby. It’s nothing,” I add
pointedly at CK.

Cole moves to my side and CK releases my arm. I hesitantly
rub it, not wanting him to know he hurt me, but of course he does and casts me
a half apologetic look.

“Someone start talking,” he says in a voice so cold a shiver
goes down my back.

Devon sighs, “Sorry my love, but it’s done now.”

I take a threatening step towards my darling boy and he
knows I am furious with him. “Say one more word and I will stake you myself.”

He blanches. Even though he knows it is an empty threat, it
is a threat from his sire nonetheless.

“Speak now, or I will rip your head clean off your shoulders,”
CK threatens.

“Lizzie,” Devon pleads, inadvertently shortening
“Elizabeth”, my name when I turned him, which shows me his consternation, “I
like my head attached to the rest of my body. I’m sorry but I am way more
afraid of him than I am of you.”

I hear CK snicker as I glower at my charge, “I will show you
who to be more afraid of my boy,” I snarl at him and as he backs away I step
towards him.

At this point of the proceedings, CK realizes that I am a
danger to everyone in this room and touches my arm. I tense and shrug him off.
The Power is rising up in me fuelled by my rage and I can feel the inky
blackness rolling off me in waves.

“Aefre, no,” CK orders as I raise my hand. “Calm yourself.
Now,
my love.” I turn my head to him. He tilts his head in question.
“What is so bad that you can’t tell me?” he asks as if hurt.

I blink and the haze of my rage disappears as quickly as it
came. Glancing back I see Devon who is watching me warily and Cole who is
looking at me as if I am some crazed lunatic, which I suppose I am, I concede
to myself.

“If I wanted you to know, I would have told you,” I say
briskly, emphasizing each word for measure.

“How did he hurt you?” he asks coldly and I clamp my lips
together with resolute.

“He raped her. Repeatedly,” Devon says quickly and before I
can turn to kill him, he’s behind CK for protection, taking now ironically the
lesser of two evils.

Cole draws in a sharp breath as CK just stares at me, his
face getting stonier by the second.

“When?” he asks softly. I say nothing. He takes a step
forward and I inadvertently take a step back, my newfound Power abandoning me
under the threat of my own sire.

“When was this?” he asks again. I shake my head. Spinning to
Devon, Constantine says, “Speak for your sire.”

Devon glances at me. “Lizzie, this is ridiculous. Just tell
him. It was hundreds of years before I was even born,” he pleads again and this
time I think he used “Lizzie” to soften me up.

“May, 1067. After we got back to Italy from William’s
Coronation in England.”

Constantine turns slowly back around to face me. His
expression unreadable. “1067? When he came to
Castellum Aquapontanus?”
He asks, using the old Latin name for
Castello Ponte Sull’acqua
in
Tuscany. “When I left you there to go to Rome and came back to find him visiting?
He was hurting you while I wasn’t there?”

I nod reluctantly.

“Why did you not tell me?” He looks pained and it clenches
around my heart.

“Because I knew that this would happen.” I point to his
face. “I can’t bear the thought of causing you pain.”

He chokes back a sad laugh, “Oh my sweet Aefre. It is I who
cannot bear to see you in pain.” He pulls me into a too tight hug but I don’t
care. He whispers softly, “I will see him dead for this. There is a way and I
will find it. I promise you.” I cling to him, now the tears falling freely. I
hear Devon say to Cole to leave us be for a while and they go. Cole is silent
in shock at everything that has just transpired, and is Devon worried about
whether I will let him see the sunrise. Well actually I don’t know if that is
what he is thinking, but he fucking well should be, turncoat, I think
viciously.

Constantine leads me to the couch and sits me down next to
him. “How many times?” he asks as if not really wanting to know.

“About half a dozen.” He closes his eyes and says, “You
should have told me the minute I got back.”

I shake my head, “I couldn’t. I knew it would hurt you that
you hadn’t protected me in the first place and I was worried about the
repercussions of accusing an Initial Vampire. I was still so new, our bond
wasn’t strong enough for you to sense my fear. He knew that and he probably
also knew I wouldn’t tell you. It stopped before you even you got back as he
got bored when I didn’t give him what he wanted.”

He tenses, “And what was that?”

“My willingness at first and when that didn’t happen, my
fear.” I shrug. “I was used to enduring such acts from my husband. From
Radulf,” I amend, not wanting Fraser and Cole categorized the same as that
monster.

“I killed him for you. And I will do it again,” he growls.

“It’s not necessary, my love. It was over nine hundred years
ago. I’m over it. I was over it the second he left the castle and you took me
in your bed. I didn’t see him again for centuries, and I’ve been hurt worse
since then.”

His eyes snap to mine and harden. “You were too merciful
then as well, my sweet. The thing I love the most about you is also the thing
that frustrates me the most.” He sulks and I giggle at my bloodthirsty savior.
“Don’t ever keep anything from me Aefre. Do you understand? I am your sire. I
am not yours to protect, but you are mine to protect and I will do that.
Semper
et in saecula
: Always and Forever.”

I smile at his words, “I understand.”

“Don’t be too hard on your boy. He was only doing for you
what you were doing for me. As misguided as you charges seem to be, his heart
was in the right place.”

I chuckle at his patronizing “you charges” comment. “I love
you,” I whisper.

“I love you. I will go now and let you deal with your fall
out. I won’t say anything to Gregor.” He spits the word out. “I want him
defenseless. If you let your boy live tell him to keep his mouth shut this
time.” He smiles so I know he’s joking about the letting him live part.

“Done,” I say, and with a last smile at him, he Teleports
out.

I slowly walk to the bar to get a Scotch, doing it the
old-fashioned way to buy myself some time. I sense him before I see him,
hovering in the doorway.

“
Et tu, Brute?
” I say sardonically, not turning
around.

He stifles a snicker at my Caesar quote. “Should I get you a
stake to sharpen or do I get a reprieve?” he asks, half joking.

I turn slowly and say, “I haven’t decided yet.”

He looks mildly alarmed, “In my defense, you never said it
was a secret.”

“Do you really think that Constantine would allow him within
a thousand miles of me if he knew?” I ask.

He ponders that and sighs, “No I guess not. I’m sorry but
once it was half out, he wouldn’t have let it go.”

I sag my shoulders, “Next time just keep it to yourself. And
keep it to yourself now. CK doesn’t want Gregor to know he knows, yet.”

He nods. “He’s really going to try and find a way to kill
him?”

“Yes. I’m not sure it's such a good idea.”

“He’ll take care.”

“I know. I worry though.”

“I know.”

I smile then, as he does know.

“Is Cole okay?”

“A bit freaked out, I think. He’s in your office.”

“I should go and talk to him.”

He nods, “Erm Liv? I think I am more afraid of you now.” His
lips twitch and I burst out laughing.

I find Cole in my office staring at the stained glass
window.

“A bit gory, isn’t it?” he asks, turning as he hears me
enter. You don’t know the half of it I muse, but say nothing.

“So that was…” I trail off.

“Uncomfortable? Scary? Upsetting? Tense?” he offers up.

“All of the above,” I confirm.

“Are you okay?” he asks tentatively.

“I am fine. Are you?”

“A bit shaken up. Both by the secret and you.”

“Your Power,” he amends as he sees my eyes widen. “That was
something else. You weren’t really going to hurt him were you?” he asks,
unsure.

“No! Of course not,” I reassure him with a confidence I
don’t feel. The Power had taken me over completely, fuelled by my rage.
“Constantine wouldn’t have let me anyway,” I add.

“He was really mad. Do you think he’s really going to try
and kill Gregor?"

“Yes. But he doesn’t want him to know he knows…”

“I won’t say a word. I don’t want to risk your wrath!” he
jokes and hugs me gently. “I am sorry that you had to go through something like
that,” he whispers.

“It’s okay. I’ve been through worse.”

He starts, “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not, no.”

“This has been some night,” he says.

I agree.

“How come you never mentioned you were a dancer? That’s
really awesome.”

Surprised, I answer, “You think so? Wouldn’t have pegged you
as a fan of Classical Russian Ballet.”

“Are you kidding? What those women, you women, can do is
unbelievable.”

“Well not so sure I could do it now.”

“It’s probably like riding a bike,” he insists and I laugh.
“Maybe.”

“Since it’s been a night of revelations, how about one
more?”

I pull away and look at him curiously, “Okay?”

“Who is Fraser?”

Hearing his name out loud is like a slap to the face and I
take a step back, my hand on my stomach.

“Wh – Where did you hear that name?” I stammer.

“That night, a few days after you told me you were a
Vampire, when you had that nightmare? You were screaming his name, right before
you started screaming mine.”

Hm, a night of revelations indeed.

“Oh,” I say flatly. I look away and drum my index finger on
my lips. Cole is watching me expectantly. I try to say his name but it won’t
come out of my mouth so I go with, “He was my husband.”

Cole frowns, “I thought your husband’s name was Radulf?”

“My second husband,” I clarify, gritting my teeth against
the pain.

He looks confused. “You married again? When?”

Not grasping that I don’t want to talk about this, he
presses me for an answer.

“In 1745.”

“Oh,” he says and I sense his confusion and hurt that I
never told him. I want to explain but I can’t.

“Kitten?” Devon says from the doorway. “You’ve been through
enough tonight. I’m sure this can wait,” he says pointedly.

“It’s okay, Dev. He has a right to know,” I say, but then I
just stand there like a deer in headlights.

“Liv?” Cole prompts.

“Don’t push her, dude. It’s a difficult subject,” Devon
murmurs, crossing to my side. Cole looks alarmed.

Well the hornet’s nest has already been bashed about several
times tonight. Might as well poke the stick in and wiggle it about a bit.
Crossing to the side table I pour myself a Scotch and grimace.