Revelation (The Forever Series Book Three) (3 page)

My ears are burning with the intensity of his words; my head
is spinning so fast I think it’s going to fly right off my body.

“What?” I stammer. “What? How would that have even been
possible?”

“A human child, created especially for us by parents we
chose. Given to us at birth to raise aware of our nature, until her eighteenth
birthday. We would then have given her the choice to stay human or be turned
and be with us forever. Our child. Co-sired by you and me.” He finishes up his
master plan and I pass out.

Coming to in a pile of dust, my head on my batshit crazy
sire’s lap, I sit up suddenly.

“Are you insane?” I snap at him and he just looks at me
mildly in that infuriating way of his.

“I take it then that you are not a fan of children?” he says
blandly.

“Children are just fine. But do I look like I want one of my
own? Or part own? Or whatever the hell.”

“Hm, there’s more,” he says again and I just can’t cope with
this anymore.

Calling my abandoned Scotch to me from the alcove I down it
in one gulp when it appears. Calling his as well I down that one and it’s still
not enough.

“I can’t cope with any more, Constantine. It’s too much.
It’s all just too much.”

“You were to be a mother, Aefre,” he blurts out before I can
protest further. “Before Radulf stabbed you and I turned you, you were with
child.”

I shake my head in utter disbelief. “No. That isn’t
possible. It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t get pregnant. I went two years without
getting pregnant. It wasn’t possible,” I say again more firmly.

“My love, I heard the heart beating. So softly. At first I
didn’t know what it was, it took me several days to figure it out. To separate
the beating from your own. Once I did, it was clear.”

I stand up suddenly putting my hands up. “No! I don’t
believe you. You are wrong. Wrong!” I yell at him then and make a run for it,
not entirely sure where I am going but needing to get away from him, from all
of this, I head downstairs and outside. It is dark now and I flee to the
gardens I used to love. Half expecting him to follow me I am relieved when he
doesn’t. I am unsure why I am mad with him. Maybe because he waits a thousand
years to tell me I was pregnant with my rapist husband’s baby before I was
mortally wounded and turned into a Vampire, effectively killing my unborn
child, or is it because the life he wanted to offer me before he was a stubborn
fool sounds so appealing, or the life he wanted for us before
I
was a
stubborn fool? How is it that he kept all of this so close to him that I had no
idea how or what he was feeling until it’s too late? Until I am married to my
weeks-old charge, that I love more than anything. Well maybe not anything, not
anymore. Talk about ripping my marriage apart at the seams. I accepted his
ring, we agreed to the terms and yet it seems that he wins anyway. Dropping
massive bombshells on me that have rocked me to my core. Yes, I am mad at him.
Furious that he could do this. Calling on the trusty pack of cigarettes from
his bedside table and the Scotch from the kitchens I light up and pop, the lid
drawing deep on the cigarette and then Scotch in turn. As my mad starts to
dissipate I realize with dread, that all of this is actually my fault. I was
the one who dredged up the past. He seemed quite happy to leave it alone but I
had to pick at the loose thread until it all unravelled at my feet in a big
pile of shitty worms that should have been left in the can. Okay, so I know I
am mixing my metaphors but I don’t really care about that.

What do I care about? Let’s see, I start a conversation with
myself. Never a good start to any story. I begin with Devon. He isn’t involved
in any of this, he is safe. A safe subject to think about. My darling boy whom
I love dearly. That thought leads to our company and everything we have built
together. Also a nice, safe, pleasant subject. I pick up the bottle of Scotch
and my wedding rings clink against the glass. That brings Cole to mind. We love
each other so much. So much that he asked me to turn him and I did. And since
then I have caused him nothing but pain. Okay, maybe it hasn’t all been pain
but pick out the highlights and it hasn’t been a funfest for him. I think of my
other husband, Fraser. Seeing him last week so real, his arms around me, his
lips on mine. I choke back a sob and push his memory away. That brings me to my
next topic, The Power. This mysterious She Power that surges through me, making
everything seem so much worse than it really is. Except in this case. This is
just really as bad as it is. And so my thoughts come full circle back to
Constantine Kaius Anasetti D’Arcangelo. My formidable sire who can scare the
crap out of me with just one look. Talking about babies? Fuck me. I really do
think I’ve heard it all now and I start laughing. I think vaguely it is
hysteria setting in. God knows I have enough to be hysterical about. I laugh
myself out of energy and I realize I need to feed. I am hungry and tired and I
can smell AB Neg around here somewhere. Hoping it isn’t coming from the
dungeons I stand to try and find the source.

Turning I see a large, very attractive, toweringly tall man
hovering on the edge of the hedge.

He sees me notice him and he says, “I am Ramon. Mr.
D’Arcangelo sent me.” Oh did he now? Of course he did. Always knows exactly
what I want, when I want it. Except maybe in the case of too much information.
“He said to give you whatever you need.”

Humph, I think rudely. How about the last afternoon back
with none of this mess. “Thank you,” I say politely to him. He comes closer and
he is really good looking. Whatever I need, eh? He is such an arse sometimes. I
motion to Ramon to sit on the bench, which he does. I sit on his lap, fully
aware that not only am I still just in my robe and nothing else but also covered
in nursery dust. He doesn’t seem to mind though as I squirm against him to get
more comfortable. I am not going to fuck him. I am sorely tempted just to get
back at CK but that wouldn’t be fair to Cole. He places his large hands on my
hips to steady me as I push his head to the side, fangs already down. He groans
in pleasure and tightens his grip as I sink my fangs into his neck. Taking my
fill I lick his wounds and then my lips.

“Do you want me to please you?” he murmurs huskily and again
I really want to but shake my head. I kiss him softly and say, “No, but thank
you.” I climb off him. Feeling more in control now I pick up the Scotch and the
cigarettes and head back to the castle to find my sire.

I find him in his bedroom. He’s changed out of the dusty
jeans and t-shirt into sweats and a vest. Also in black. I have to say as much
as he rocks the expensive suit look, he does casual so much better. Maybe I
just think that because I don’t usually see him dressed down. I cast my eyes
around the room and yes, there they are. In three’s. He remembered. I relax a
tiny bit.

He seems surprised to see me and says, “I didn’t think I
would see you so soon. Did Ramon not find you?” He keeps his distance from me.

“Yes he did. Thank you.” He nods at my gratitude and peers
at me. “No, I didn’t fuck him,” I add thinking that must be what he is after.

Looking relieved he comes closer. “Are you, okay?” he asks
hesitantly.

“Depends what you mean by okay?” I snap, remembering
everything I was trying to forget. “That was two major fucking bombs CK, I’ll
give you that.”

He looks slightly abashed, “Sorry.”

“Are you? I don’t understand. Why would you tell me this
now? Especially the last part.”

“Aefre, you have gone around for the last millennium
thinking I didn’t care about you enough to want to commit to you. In a public,
‘everybody-knows’ sense. I started off thinking that our Vampire bond was
enough, but it didn’t seem to be enough for you. You wanted me on a level I
couldn’t quite comprehend. That I didn’t want to comprehend. I didn’t want you
so reliant on me because I knew I would hurt you. How could I not? You were so
sweet and innocent and I was a disillusioned, dark soul with depravities you
wouldn’t even know existed. You were the light of my life, Aefre, when I met you.
You still are. No one else has even come close to what I feel for you and they
never will.” He sits heavily on the bed while I stand there fiddling with my
charms. “This. All of this,” he says as he waves his arm about indicating this
afternoon, “I never wanted any of this. You pushed me in that infuriating way
of yours. I was happy to let sleeping dogs lie. But it became apparent that it
needed to be said. That you needed me to show you I wasn’t some heartless
bastard. That I did have plans for us. Twice. What I said about the baby. Your
baby. I should never have told you that. It wasn’t fair. I am sorry.”

My baby. My baby. My baby that would have been born to a
weak mother and a vicious father in a world where even if it had survived the
pregnancy, life was so uncertain. No, I didn’t want children, not with him and
probably not with anyone.

“What was your plan, Constantine? If you knew and still
wanted me to come away with you and turn me. What was your plan?”

He looks afraid that I would ask him that and says,
“Honestly I don’t know. I thought of not telling you and turning you anyway. I
even for a second thought about telling you and letting you have it and then
turning you after. But I was so sure you wouldn’t want me to after. I don’t
know, Aefre.”

I nod, taking it all in. “You didn’t trust me to choose
you,” I state and he can’t quite believe I voiced his fear.

“Would you have?” he asks earnestly.

“I don’t know. I do know that I never wanted a child. Not
with him. Even if we went away together I would still be forever linked to him,
reminded of him every day. I didn’t want that. But it’s a moot point, my love.
Don’t you see that the baby was doomed either way? It matters not now what
decisions were made or not made. What concerns me now is that we have opened a
can of worms that can’t be resealed, try as we might.”

“No shit,” he mumbles and I laugh. A proper laugh now
instead of the hysteria from earlier.

I pull him to me. “What are we going to do about it?”

He kisses me softly. “Nothing. We will do nothing. You will
go back to your marriage and your life in L.A. and I will be here waiting for
you, seeing you for two days every week and making the most of the time I have
with you until I can make you mine. Then we will revisit,” he states it as a
done deal.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Move to L.A.,” I say on impulse.

His eyes widen, “Come again?”

“Move to L.A.,” I say again.

“No,” he says. “No, Aefre. That is not going to help
matters. Besides which, The Council is here.”

“Not for much longer. It will be wherever I say it is,” I
say with authority and then curse myself for giving that nugget of information
away, even to him.

His look of surprise turns to one of curiosity, “Oh?”

I try to look away innocently but who am I fooling?

“Aefre. What do you know, that you aren’t sharing?”

“All will be revealed soon. I don’t know the whole story yet
myself, only the bits She wants me to know, but CK, Ahmed was right when he
said that I will rule and I will rule alone.”

My sire is less than pleased with my statement and my
reluctance to share. I am, however, good at distracting him, even though he
thinks he can stay focused. I shed my dusty robe in a show of nonchalance and
he narrows his eyes at me.

“Lovely as you are, my sweet, if you think that is going to
distract me you are sorely mistaken,” he growls and I am glad that my familiar
sire is back. This other side to him has been very unnerving.

I smile seductively and start to play with my nipples
bringing them into two hard points, as my eyes never leave his. He doesn’t look
down as I move my hands closer and closer to my clit, lightly brushing them
over me and I moan.

“Aefre,” he warns me, “start talking.”

Instead I insert two fingers into myself and bring them back
out to lick them. He inhales sharply and I know I am close to getting him
undone. I move closer to him, still sitting on the edge of his bed, and I stand
in front of him. He smirks up at me and places his hands on my hips. I shiver
at his touch as he moves his thumbs over to play with me. Circling in opposite
directions. He brings me to the point where I am about to throb all over when
he stops and gives me light smack on the rear. I glare down at him in fury and
he is smiling up at me with that innocent smile I want to knock off his face.

“Don’t be mean,” I pout, trying a different tactic as I know
fury won’t work on him, petulance usually does. “Or am I going to have to call
Ramon up here,” I say with a hint of mischief.

His eyes harden briefly as that thought sinks in but then he
sits back and holds his hands out in a “Go For It” gesture.

Oh two can play this game, I think with glee as I abandon
him in a swirl of black and return shortly, still naked I might add, with the
handsome Ramon who couldn’t be more startled if he tried. CK’s eyes light up at
my defiance and he tries to hide his smile at my bold action.

“Oh Aefre, you are in trouble now,” he growls as he stands
and stalks over to me. Grabbing my throat in his strong grip he pulls me to him
for a rough kiss and I relax under his harsh touch as he has returned fully to
my fearsome warrior that eats babies, not talks about having one. Okay, he
doesn’t actually eat babies, but I am trying to make a point here.

Turning me around to face Ramon who still doesn’t quite know
what to expect, I realize that I have made a mistake here. Not that I wouldn’t
care for a three-way but I can’t betray Cole in this way. Where’s Devon when
you bloody need him?

Tensing up as CK grabs my nipples and eyes on Ramon, he rubs
them till I am aching for him inside me. “Do you want us to please you?” he
whispers harshly in my ear.