“I’m staying,” he says firmly. “I need time with my wife.”
“I don’t really want to leave either,” Devon says, eyeing up the passed-out human.
CK rolls his eyes at him and then looks to Remiel. “Will you go and get the boy something before he takes it all away from Aefre and our child?”
“Better yet, just let me out,” Devon growls, his hunger now getting the better of him, after the fear has spiked his adrenaline.
“It’s not safe,” I say to him. “Remiel, please, until we have figured this out, will you, please? You are the only one who can leave.”
My begging seems to placate him, and he nods and disappears, returning shortly with a rather less subdued human, kicking and screaming in his grasp.
“Devon, no!” I yell at him but it’s too late. The predator has kicked in and Devon has him by the throat and has torn it apart before I can get to him. He kills the victim instantly before he slurps up the remainder of the blood. I remember my boy was vicious when I first turned him back in 1506 but I didn’t expect this of him now. His more evolved sense has abandoned him with his newly reacquired bloodlust. The body slumps to the floor and Devon wipes his mouth with a look of elation that I recognize instantly.
“Pull it back!” I snap at him. “You are acting like a fucking newbie.”
He stretches like a contented cat and gives me a salacious smile. “I fucking missed that,” he says.
I am sure I hear CK stifle an approving noise in his throat.
“Get him into a room on his own,” I order CK.
“No, Lizzie, I’m good,” he says with his hands up before CK can pounce on him.
“Promise?” I ask him.
“Promise,” he says and crosses an “x” over his heart.
“Great,” I say and then dive unceremoniously on the poor soul that was delivered to me to feed from. I won’t be killing him, that’s for damn sure, but I sure am hungry. I take more than my fill and let him drop back to the chair I picked him up from.
“Thanks,” I say to Remiel, who gives me a generous smile. “I needed that.”
“I know,” he says. “My blood will only get you so far.” And with that he picks up both the living and the dead and disappears before returning shortly.
I didn’t even get a chance to talk with CK yet. I am pushing it with him, I know that, but his calm attitude has me intrigued. Normally he would have bullied his way into everything, pushed everyone else out, and have me bent over the bed with his cock in me to let me know that I am his. Today, he is completely different, and I have to wonder why. What could have possibly caused him to be so laidback? It strikes me suddenly and painfully that maybe I did something to him or said something while I was under Sebastian’s influence to make him act so cool. I frown at him, needing to know what I did, but before I can say a word, a bolt of lightning strikes, right through the roof of the house, hitting me in the chest with a sickening crackle that makes me gag on my own blood.
What the fuck?
Chapter 14
The Underworld, October 2014 - Aefre
“Oh!” I exclaim with a gurgle. My chest hurts like a bitch while the blood is pouring out of my mouth.
“Fuck, Aefre!” CK shouts at me, grabbing me in what appears to be slow motion as I collapse.
“Jesus!” I hear Devon cry and grab my elbow.
Between the two of them, they have me propped up as they gape at me.
“Aefre?” CK shouts at me but it is muffled. I can’t focus, the pain is so bad. “Get her to the bed.” I hear him order.
“What the fuck was that?” Devon asks.
“That would be the guests we were expecting,” Remiel says from over by the window.
“Sebastian and her father did this to her?” Devon asks in disbelief.
“Not intentionally,” he says. “Perhaps.”