“Very,” I say, trying to remain calm.
She purses her lips and gives me a searching look, which I return.
“I ask again, why?” she says.
“I just need to know how She died,” I say.
“Why would I help you?” she asks.
“Because I have a wealth of information to pass along to you for you to put into practice,” I reply.
“Meaning?” she asks with a frown.
“Well, clearly things haven’t gone well with Drake, and I am also going to assume that you haven’t had a daughter yet. These are things I can help you with,” I say.
Liv is in front of me in a flash of Vampire speed gripping my hands so tightly they are nearly crushed. “You have a daughter?” she asks me, her face so serious I almost don’t buy it.
“Yes,” I say.
“Whose is it?” she demands me. “Is it Constantine’s? It has to be. It has to be him.”
“It’s complicated,” I say. “Tell me what you know first.”
Liv debates that for all of two seconds. “I’ll tell you what I know, and you will tell me what I want to know? Plain and simple, no fucking about?”
“Forgive me, but you are the Queen of fucking about. I will take what you give me and see before I tell you anything concrete,” I say, knowing I will incur her wrath, but it has to be said. I am not giving her anything if she just plans on jerking me around.
“No deal,” she says, shaking her head. “We do this my way.”
“No dice,” I say.
“Rah!” she huffs in frustration. I have definitely got what she wants, that much is very clear, but she is still so reluctant to give up her goods. She paces for a few seconds and then she turns back to me with a wicked smile. “You tell me what I want to know, or I will go right now to Devon and see if he is up for round two.”
Oh, but was that the wrong thing to say! “You bitch!” I shriek at her, clenching my fists at my sides. “You leave him the fuck alone!”
She smirks at my rage. “So, he told you, did he? I wondered whether he would. It was amazing,” she drawls the word out. “So empowering to take him that way. I…”
She doesn’t get to finish her sentence, as I have flown at her across the back of the sofa, and Fraser, and now have her in a chokehold. I fight the desire to try my hand at ripping her head off as I still need her, but she waved the red flag and now she will see my wrath. I unleash my Dragon talons in the absence of Vampire claws and rake them down her face and chest. She cries out and Vamps out, lashing out at me in return. I duck as she balls her hand into a fist, ready to smash me in the face, but I kick her legs out from underneath her. She hits the deck hard and kicks out at me, catching me in the stomach and winding me. Fortunately, she is still in bare feet. That would have been so much worse if she’d been wearing six-inch heels.
We tussle and grapple at one another for a few more minutes, trading blows until she pulls out her magick and I do the same. We both hover orbs over our hands: Faerie vs. Dragon. She knows I will win this. We are both panting heavily as we circle each other, two predators determined to win this fight. I want to end this once and for all, get her out of our lives, but I can’t. Not yet. I need what she has.
“You won’t find him,” I say to her eventually. “He is in a place where you can’t get to him. If you want to know about my daughter, then you need to start talking. Now.”
“If you think I am giving out information without something in return you are delusional,” she says to me, warily keeping her eye on my orb of Faerie magick.
“You wanted to know before why I want to kill my mother?” I ask.
She nods slowly, wildly curious.
“She is threatening my family and starting a war against me. I need to stop Her before She takes my daughter away from me,” I say.
Somehow, for some reason, it is enough.
Liv drops her magick and stands up straight. “She wants to take your daughter?” she asks with a tilt to her head.
“Yes,” I say shortly.
“I would rip anyone to shreds who tried to hurt my children,” she says fiercely, and it takes me completely aback. Who knew she had such maternal protectiveness? She may have seven kids, is it? But as yet I have never seen any of them.