Revelation (The Forever Series Book Three)

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any
resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

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)

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

About the Author

Nagyvárad
, Kingdom
of Hungary, 1250 - Lucretia

Later that night there was a loud, insistent banging on
the front doors that brought me out of the dungeons in a temper at being
disturbed. Feeling a familiar tingle down my neck, I grinned cruelly as I
opened the door expecting my sire’s return, but instead of Constantine, it was
a stranger. Evil, pure black eyes met mine from a very tall Vampire with pitch
black hair and the palest skin I had ever seen.

“Hello, Sister. How I’ve been dying to meet you.”

Sister?

“Who are you?” I snapped.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he inquired politely.

“Who are you?” I asked again. “Do I know you?” I didn’t
recognize him but the tingle down my neck said otherwise.

“I am Lance,” he said holding out his hand, “your
brother.”

I took his hand suspiciously. “I don’t have a brother,” I
said to him as though he had lost his mind.

“Yes you do, Lucretia, or should I call you Aefre?”

I remained silent. He sighed, “I am wounded that our
father never told you about me. I know all about you.” His evil eyes glinted as
he said that.

“Father? What are you talking about?”

I could see he was getting annoyed with me but I was
completely at a loss as to what he was saying.

“Our sire, Constantine,” he snapped and the realization
dawned on me that this is another one of his charges.

Curious now I stared at him in wonder. I had never met
another of Constantine’s charges before. Brother. I had a brother.

“No, he hasn’t mentioned you, but then today is the first
time I have seen him in over a hundred years. When did he turn you?”

I expected him to say sometime in the time after I left
Tuscany, but he surprised me by saying, “350 BC. After Rome defeated The
Gauls.”

I stared at him mouth agape. I quickly did the math: that
makes him 1599 years old.

Registering my surprise he smiled slowly. “Have I taken
you off guard, Sister?” he queried.

Recovering my composure, I stepped back and invited him
in.

He grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip I was unable to get
out of and said, “On second thought, I think you can come with me.”

“Where?” I asked, only slightly alarmed.

“Back to my castle. In Transylvania. I think it is time
we got to know each other better.” His voice was like ice and a ripple of fear
went through me.

He dragged me along to his waiting carriage, tightening
his grip on me as I squirmed to get away.

“I don’t want to go with you,” I told him but he wasn’t
listening.

“Father, was right about you. Pretty and with fire. I
think I am going to have a wonderful time with you. I do so hope that you will
enjoy my company, Lucretia. Things will be better for you if you do.” He
stroked my face and I felt a chill go through me as his black eyes grew wider
and he murmured something in a language I had never heard before. I felt myself
getting sleepy and I tried to keep my eyes open but I couldn’t. Well, a little
sleep wouldn’t hurt, I thought to myself as I drifted off, with his arm around
me as he stroked my hair.

Tuscany, Italy, 2012 – Liv/Aefre

Listening to CK do business on his phone is getting boring.
I pluck the cigarette out of his hand and wander over to the dresser to pull on
a black satin robe. My hand feeling bare of my wedding rings, I frown and go to
get them from the bedside table and put them back on, admiring the one that CK
had given me in the process. It’s all I ever wanted from him and he decides
that now is the best time to give it to me. Huffing in exasperation, he is such
a… man!

Stubbing out the cigarette, I wander off leaving him to his
work. I want to have another look at my old bedroom. I can’t believe he left it
exactly as I had. Pushing the door open and walking into the gloom, heavy
drapes still pulled over the windows, I pull one back an inch and peer through.
The view is as breathtaking as ever but it has changed. Quite a bit, I note
with surprise.

Moving to the desk I let my eyes drift over the contents. I
note with surprise that the letters I wrote him are still there in the little
cubby with the glass front, faded and crumbling. I daren’t touch them in case
they disintegrate completely under my fingers but I hover my hand as close to
them as I dare.

“Thought I would find you here,” he says from behind me.

Smiling at his voice I turn and my breath leaves me. He is
dressed in soft black jeans and a tight black t-shirt and nothing else. Casual
CK is a sight to behold. Mind you he could make a sack look good.

“Did you ever read them?” I ask pointing to the pile.

He cocks his eyebrow, “No. Was I supposed to?”

“They were for you. I thought you might have.”

“I didn’t know. I left everything as you left it.”

“Clearly it is housekept though. There is hardly a speck of
dust.”

“A painstaking process that takes many days, my dear. The
staff has their instructions.”

“I see. Are you finished with your business?”

“I am all yours now.”

“Good. Come with me.”

I take his hand and swish out of the room closing the door
behind me. I walk us over to the sectioned off right wing and step around the
blockade.

CK plants his feet. “No,” he says pulling on my hand.

“Yes,” I say. “Come.”

He looks at me pained. “No. Liv, please,” he says quietly.

Startled by the use of my current name--I had gotten used to
him calling me Aefre again--and his tone, I study his reaction to stepping
across the threshold.

“I need to tell you something, I need a visual aid and it’s
this way,” I say as I pull on his hand again.“Come. It’s important,” I press.

His desire to do as I say wins out over whatever is stopping
him from going to this part of the castle.

Hesitantly he steps around the blockade and I tighten my
grip on his fingers as we walk in silence down the corridor, our bare feet
padding on the thick Windsor carpet the only sound. I note with interest this
part of the castle was reconstructed and modernized along with the rest but it
has been neglected, uncared for. I turn right and then left and there it is.
The dreaded room. The thick wooden door is closed but unlocked I note when I
turn the handle.

Pushing it open, I stand just on the brink, not wanting to
go in.

“Aefre. What are we doing here?” he asks, breaking the
silence.

Drawing in a deep breath, I make a massive effort to walk
into the room, taking him with me but then letting go of his hand.

“I know what happened in this room. I want you to know that.
I am tired of playing this game.”

He looks confused, genuinely and it annoys me further. “What
do you mean?”

“The day I left you in 1112, I was expecting you in my
bedroom. The candle burned down a ring and you still had not arrived,” I start,
my hands shaking at the memory. If I have to run it down for him, then so be
it. I continue, “I went in search of you and the servants in the kitchens told
me that I could find you in the right wing. I came up here and stopped at each
door until I found you. In here.” I look at him then, watching me, his
expression unreadable. “With her,” I spit out with venom, “with Eloise.” A
spark of recognition flares in his wary eyes but he remains silent, clearly
still expecting more from this story.

Well fine then. I will give it to him blow by blow. “The
door was half open and I peeked through the crack. You were half naked and had
a “just-fucked” glow about you. You were talking to her in her language and I
didn’t understand. She giggled at something you said. As you sat down on the
bed you closed your eyes and breathed in her scent deeply. She stripped off her
robe and sank her fangs into your neck. That’s when I ran. I ran as far away
from you as I could because you had betrayed me. You told me I was the only
one! The only one,” I repeat with force. “Everything else I could handle. I was
dealing with it, but that. That hurt me more than you will ever know. I gave
you everything, and you couldn’t even give me that one thing in return. You
claim not to know why I left, well, that is why.” I finish up my impassioned
tale feeling weak and shaky. Closing my eyes at his silence, trying to regain
some composure.

My eyes flick open again as he finally speaks. “I did give
you that one thing,” he says in a voice so pained it makes my heart ache in
spite of my feelings of anger. “Aefre. You should not have run, my sweet,” he
says, crossing over to me and taking my hands.

“I know what I saw,” I mumble.

“No, no, no!” he yells suddenly and spins around, his fist
flying into the solid wooden door, splintering it into a million pieces. My
hand automatically goes up to protect my heart from the flying bits of wood. I
step back, not afraid but wary of this rare show of emotion. He drops his head
into his hands. “No Aefre. You don’t know what you saw,” he says, his voice
hoarse.

“Constantine…” I shake my head.

“Aefre, no,” he says ordering me to shut it. “Yes, I was in
here. With her. But not like that. I was in here when I should have been with
you because I was anxious about seeing you. I had something to tell you that
night, something important and it made me agitated. I needed a… release,” he
croaks out, looking away from me and I know what kind of release he means. I
pull my robe tighter around me keeping my arms close. “When the servants came
back to take her away, Eloise showed up with them out of nowhere. I had no idea
she was coming. When you say that you saw me breathe in her scent that wasn’t
the case. I sensed you. Or rather, part of you. It was you but it wasn’t. It
confused me momentarily, distracted me as I tried to figure out what it was.
That is when she tried to feed from me. I swear to you Aefre as soon as I felt
her I ripped her fangs from my neck. I didn’t betray you. I swear it.” He looks
at me begging me to believe him. “If you had stayed just another second you
would have seen it.”

The tears well up and start to fall silently down my cheeks
as I realize that he is telling me the truth, that what I thought happened
didn’t. I let my hatred and jealousy of Eloise and my mistrust of him cloud my
judgement. I ran from him, when I should have stayed.

He wipes my tears away with his thumbs. “I am sorry Aefre.
If I was with you when I should have been this would never have happened. If I
didn’t have this thing inside of me. This monster. We would have been together.
It’s all my fault. You were hurting because you thought I had betrayed you. I
gave you a reason to doubt me, more than a reason. A dozen reasons. You left me
and everything that happened after that happened because of me. Lance happened
to you because of me. Can you ever forgive me?” he asks, dropping to his knees
as my mouth drops open in shock at his words, his actions.

I drop to my knees then as well and take his face in my
hands and say, “No. You cannot blame yourself. I won’t let you blame yourself
for this. Certainly not for Lance’s actions. I should have stayed and found out
the truth. I should have trusted you enough to know that you meant what you
said. I have lived with this weighing on my mind for nine hundred years.
Blaming you for betraying me, when I should have been blaming that bitch.” I
smile softly at him and he returns it weakly.