The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (16 page)

I grab her by the arm and march her past everyone into the
sitting room and place her on the coffee table. I sit in front of her on the
sofa and Devon sits to my left. Everyone else stands behind me. We must look
like an intimidating bunch and she cowers underneath my baleful glare.

“I will never forgive you for what you have done. You have
forced your way into this group and I don’t take kindly to that. You have hurt
my boy and for that I will make you pay.”

I give her another glass of blood as I am losing her and I
need her focused. I can sense the question in this, why am I giving her glasses
instead of placing a Feeder in front of her? But no one questions me out loud
and for that at least I am grateful; they realize a method to my madness and
accept my authority.

“You will be punished,” I say when she finishes that glass
up. “This behavior is not fitting for our kind and I will not tolerate it.” I
pause again so she has time to take all this in. “Until such a time as I see
fit to allow it, you will be denied the privilege to walk in the sun,” she
looks horrified as that sinks in and looks to Devon for help. This is when I
swoop in and give him the chance to assert his own authority over her. “Devon,
as her sire, do you feel this punishment is acceptable?”

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. Jess looks like she is
about to cry and I don’t blame her. It is a harsh punishment to be denied
sunlight but it is a harsher punishment to be denied any leniency from your
sire.

“Very well. You will be confined to the shadows until you
have remembered your manners.” I take this approach from my own sire and I may
hear a very soft snickering coming from Sebastian behind me.

I soften the blow with another glass of blood which she
accepts gratefully.

“As this whole situation has been very poorly handled, you
are likely to feel hungry all of the time for several weeks and may feel the
urge to go on a rampage. I won’t allow it. Until you get yourself under
control, fully under control, you will not be allowed to feed straight from
humans.” I look at Devon who is still impassive and I offer her something, “If
he allows it, you may drink from your sire, but only at his request.”

Devon raises his brow slightly at that as Jess looks
hungrily at him.

“Do you understand everything that I have told you?” I ask
her. She looks back at me. She is losing focus again, sinking into the
bloodlust and I hand her another glass which she drinks. “Do you understand
everything that I have told you?” I ask her again.

She nods.

“Speak!” I snap at her.

“Yes,” she croaks.

“Yes what?” Devon asks.

She looks back at him and then back at me. “Yes ma’am,” she
says.

I nod back at her and turn to Devon, “I think there are a
lot of things you need to tell her, about everything.”

He nods grimly.

“Then go.” I dismiss them both and stand as he hauls her off
the table and takes her into a corner, I note with interest, not back to the
bedroom.

“Wow, Queen Liv. Remind me never to piss you off. You were
harsh,” Lincoln chuckles.

“No, she was not harsh. She was just,” CK comes to my
defense, unnecessarily I might add as I don’t take offense to Lincoln’s words.
“To force a turning is unacceptable.”

I glare at him. If that’s what he thinks now, why did he
force Devon to do it? He frowns at me, “You know he would have hated himself if
she had died,” he says quietly.

Well, this is true, I suppose. So I concede ungracefully. I
watch them from across the room, talking in hushed tones and she is weeping now
but he offers her no solace. It is quite disturbing that he feels so little for
her. Even his previous emotions for her seem to have been switched off.

I turn to CK to ask if he is seeing this as well or if it is
just me projecting but Cade interrupts me, pulling me off to the side.

“You have been keeping secrets, haven’t you Mrs. O’Dell,” he
asks pointedly, looking at Cole, who tilts his head.

I flick my eyes from Cade to Cole and back again, “What of
it?”

He shrugs. “I am surprised I never sensed it. There again,
your presence does seem to take up the whole room,” he says, bringing his eyes
back to me. “Is he new?” he asks with meaning.

“
He
is standing right here,” Cole snaps. “It’s
nothing to do with you.”

“Just interested. You have a very strange way of life. It’s
very different to see it from the inside than what we were taught.”

“Well get used to it,” I say, staring back at Devon and
Jess.

“You really dislike the girl don’t you?” he asks curiously.

“Yes. She went about this ass backward and I am not happy.”

He chuckles, “You are very protective of the ones you call
yours. It’s admirable.”

“If you hurt my boys, I will make you pay, simple as that.”

“I could always do something about it for you,” he says,
taking a step towards them.

I put my hand on his chest, “Cade. No. Threats only.”

There is a lot of bristling going on around me and I realize
it is because I am touching him. I remove my hand and he gives a fixed stare
down at me. “Jealous bunch. It is quite amusing actually.”

“Threats only,” I repeat, ignoring his comment.

“She is a threat though. A threat to your happiness,” he
says and I start. Since when does he care about my happiness?

“I’m just saying, we need to define what you think of as
threatening.”

He has a good point but Devon would never forgive me if I
let Cade off his charge without good reason.

Devon comes to stand next to me and sighs, “I hate this. She
wants comfort and I can’t give it to her. I don’t want her to think that I am
happy with what she has done.”

“Then tell her.”

“I have but she just keeps justifying it with how much she
loves me and wants to be with me forever.”

“Nico!” Cade suddenly yells, making me jump, and I turn
around where, to my utter surprise, I see Nico standing in front of Jess
twirling an orb, not unsimilar to the one that Cade twirled at me, only she is
in a daze whereas it didn’t affect me.

I look, mouth agape, from Nico to Cade and finally to CK,
who couldn’t be more obviously avoiding my gaze as if he weren’t even there.

The room has gone silent, the only noise coming from the
slow swoosh of the orb, as it spins in a quick circle followed by a slow one.

“Don’t look at it,” I say and push Devon back into focus,
then Cole.

“What the fuck?” I say to CK. “You had better start talking
right now.”

Nico, CK, and Sebastian all turn towards me now but remain
quiet.

CK sighs and fesses up, “Nico is a Hunter.”

“An ex-Hunter,” Nico says shortly.

“A failed Hunter,” Cade adds unnecessarily.

“I beg your pardon?” I say, completely dumbfounded. Christ,
between Gustav, the Book, Sebastian, and now Nico, this man is just full of
secrets. I wonder if I actually really know him at all.

“Of course you do,” he says to me sadly, much to everyone
else’s confusion.

“Explain.”

“By birthright Nico is a Hunter. When he left the Academy in
Rome at sixteen it was his unfortunate task to kill a Master Vampire. As is all
Hunter tasks, fail at it, and you fail to be a Hunter.”

I turn to Nico as CK stops speaking but before I can accuse
him of killing a Master Vampire CK continues, “It was his misfortune, you see,
as they had picked out you for him to kill, when you came to visit me in Rome
that week of the…” he trails off and I nod, knowing which week he means.

“Me? You were meant to kill me?” I say to Nico who just
stands there looking as unapologetic and stony-faced as usual.

“Of course, I was never going to let that happen so when
Alessandro brought it to my attention there was a young boy following you, I
looked into it further. Luckily for you, or perhaps I overestimated his skill,”
he clears his throat as Nico grunts, “he saw you Shift from Lexie to Aefre, as
I had asked you to and he hesitated, assuming you weren’t a Vampire after all.
Alessandro took him anyway to
Ponte
for, erm… discussions…”

“And Mr. D’Arcangelo persuaded me it would be better to use
my skills for protection instead of destruction,” Nico picks up the story.

It all makes sense now, CK’s change in attitude when I said
I wanted Cade to be my Nico. He knew exactly what I meant.

“And you trusted him?” I say in spite of myself.

CK looks pointedly at Cade and well fair enough.

“Well you are just full of secrets aren’t you, my love,” I
say with an inadvertent look at Sebastian who goes on the alert as does CK as
there must be something on my cursed face to give them warning.

I turn to Cade, “You are not a failed Hunter. Who was it you
killed to get your merit badge?”

“Not your concern,” he says. “And before you start judging
me, I suggest you look at your own kill sheet first.”

He is not wrong. I have probably killed more his kind then
he has of mine.

“One of Gregor’s,” Nico says, much to Cade’s annoyance.

I turn back to Nico. I wish they were all standing in a line
next to each other as I am getting a bit dizzy now. “So when I came to you at
Ponte
to find him. You knew exactly who I was talking about. As soon as I said his
name you knew.”

He looks down, “Yes.”

“You wanted to find me?” Cade asks cheerfully.

More spinning, “Yes, after JFK. You had me… intrigued.”

“Ah, the AB Negative thing. You mentioned that.”

“Not just that,” I mutter to myself, remembering how crazy
good-looking I thought he was.

To which everyone hears me anyway and there is a lot of
glowering going on in my direction with the exception of Cade who doesn’t know
whether to be pleased or disgusted that I find him attractive.

“How can you do magick then? If you failed, how do you still
have the ability?”

“I didn’t fail,” Nico says grimly. This is clearly a
sticking point with him but I don’t bother to point out that I am still alive.
“But the magick isn’t ours. It’s the backers.”

“The backers?” I ask and then connect the dots. “A magick
bearer that allows you wield their power through you? Let me guess, Romani?” I
refer to a group of very powerful Paranormal creatures that we have had
dealings with before. I rescued many of them from Lance’s castle and CK took
them under his wing to do… well I guess this with.

“Clever girl,” CK mutters and I preen under his praise.

“You have a backer. I assume you always had one but am
guessing now you are putting to use one of Lance’s?” I don’t wait for an answer
as I ask Cade, “And you? How come you still have one now that you have crossed
sides?” I click my fingers, “You lost yours and now you too also have one of
Lance’s, courtesy of my secretive sire and his Hunter buddy. I knew you two
were looking like you had worked together for years. Clearly you know each
other’s moves.”

“I am nothing like him,” Nico snaps. “I do not kill for
sport.”

“Neither do I. Anymore,” Cade replies blandly.

“Well, this has been interesting. However, I now need to
have words with Constantine and Sebastian. Shall we?” I say, holding out my
hands to Astral them upstairs. My sire looks worried as I have called him by
his full name and Sebastian just looks plain uncomfortable.

“Sure,” they both reply, unable to deny me and I smile at
Cole and tell him I’ll only be a few minutes.

They take my hands and off we go. This is quite fun being
the only one able to do so. Chauffeuring the older Vamps around is quite
liberating. I let go of them as soon as we are upstairs and step back.

“What do you know?” Sebastian asks warily.

“Quite a lot actually,” I say.

“Specifically, Aefre,” CK says.

“Hm,” I say, stalling. I step closer to Sebastian and take
his hands in mine and hold them up palm to palm. I push him into a patch of
sunlight and pull off the ring he wears on his left thumb. He flinches but
under my steely gaze he just shrugs.

“You know,” he says, resigned.

“I know,” I say, giving him back his ring. “It’s a nice
replica but I know the difference.”

“How do you know?” he asks in wonder, putting his fake
Faerie ring back on.

“I figured it out,” I say, taking undue credit for Corinne’s
revelation.

“Aefre. You understand the danger of revealing this secret?”
CK says to me.

Danger? I think about it. Well yes, I suppose Sebastian
would become a very rare commodity and one that those who do not have the
privilege would covet it more than anything else.

“I do,” I say to his and Sebastian’s relief. “I expect you
would become most sought after if they knew.”

“You have no idea,” he says. “You will keep this secret?”

“Yes.”

“Even from your husband?” he presses.

“Of course. On one condition,” I say.

“What?” he asks warily.

“That you do not ever, either of you, tell him what happened
between us. The others know to keep it to themselves and I expect the same of you
two.”

“Done,” he says without hesitation. His secret is far more
valuable than mine and therefore he has nothing to lose by agreeing with me.

“How come you managed to keep your gifts?” I ask the
question that has been playing on my mind.

“We don’t know,” CK answers for him.

“Did you know what he was when you turned him?”

“Yes.”

Interesting, but I see I am getting nothing more from these
two tight-lipped creatures. But now I am curious. Madly curious and even though
I know all about the cat, I cross over to Sebastian who has plonked himself
down on the coffee table. I Shift and placing my hand up to his cheek I slice a
narrow cut, swiping up his blood with my thumb before the cut heals. I bring it
to my lips and whoa, baby. That is some rush.