“You know that I still love you,” he says.
I bite the inside of my mouth to stop the tears that are about to break free. “I know,” I say hoarsely. “I love you.”
I turn from him then and stalk out with CK right behind me. Devon stares at Cole for a moment and then follows us, catching up with me and taking my hand.
We walk downstairs in silence and by the time we reach the library, I can breathe again.
“I love you, Lizzie,” Devon blurts out. “I loved you from the minute I laid eyes on you and that hasn’t changed. Do you feel the same?”
I smile softly at him and reach up to cup his cheek. “Yes, I feel the same. You are still my darling boy. We may not be bonded anymore, but we are still connected through lifetimes of love and passion and friendship. I will never leave you. And when all of this has died down. Ask me again.”
His eyes light up, swimming with such emotion, I well up. “I will never leave you either,” he says forcefully and kisses me fervently, not caring that CK is growling in the corner. In fact, he would probably have taken me right there and then if CK hadn’t grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
“You are going around kissing far too many men in front of me for my liking today, Aefre,” he says.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “I don’t know what happened with Remiel earlier.” Although, I am starting to get a pretty good idea what is going on.
“You have sworn your love to everyone but me, my sweet. Am I going to have to drag it out of you?” he asks, thankfully ignoring the Remiel thing for now.
“No.” I smile at him, taking his hands. “Since our eyes met in the marketplace over a thousand years ago, you have been the one for me. We have been through good times and hard times, and even harder times, but I have never, ever stopped loving you. The girl, Aefre, is still inside me, more than you know, and you are her one true love. My one true love. That will never, ever change. I do not need to be your charge to love you, as I hope that you do not need to be my sire to want me.”
The depth of emotion that passes across his face fills my heart with joy. I hadn’t realized how petrified I was that he wouldn’t love me anymore until that moment.
“Oh, Aefre,” he says and kisses me softly. “You have always been the light of my life and no, I do not need to be your sire to still want you, or love you, or need you. I have given you everything that I am as the woman that I love.”
I grab his face and pull his mouth to mine and we kiss before Devon clears his throat.
I pull back with a slight flush. There have been too many kisses and too many heartfelt conversations made public today.
“It’s inappropriate, but…” he says wickedly, but I interrupt him with a cry of horror.
I go a bit thunderstruck as the awful thought pops into my head. “What about Jess?” I squeak.
“Jess?” Devon asks. “She’s gone. I threw her out after her intolerable behavior.”
“No!” I yell at him. “If you are no longer a Vampire, what happened to her?”
His face goes ashen and I turn to CK. “Where is she?”
He shrugs. “How am I supposed to know?”
Good question, but I am clutching at straws. If she suffered the same reverse-turning as the rest of us, she will be dead by now for sure.
“We have to find her,” I say and head for the door. “Where was the last place you saw her?”
“In the kitchen,” Devon says, following me quickly.
I aim for the kitchen, but it’s empty. I go to the back door and haul it open, half expecting her to be lying in the doorway dead. She’s not, so I run around to the front, scanning the area for her.
“Over there,” Constantine says quietly, pointing to the border between my house and Xane’s.
“She
’s gone,” he adds.
I Astral to where he was pointing and then fall to my knees in front of Jess. CK and Devon follow slowly this time. I cradle her head in my lap and despite everything she has done, I shed the pent-up tears that I had been holding onto. She had collapsed, probably at the same time as the rest of us, and her mortal wounds had come back. Her wrists are slashed deep and she and the ground are covered in blood. She will never know what happened to her and why she died this way, all alone. For that I have regret.
“Aefre,” CK says, touching my neck. “Let her go. There is nothing you can do.”