“Not yet,” Fraser says. “Let go, Emmie. Let go of that life and come to me. Let us live our life.”
I bite my lip. I want to go with him. Very much. I have dreamed of this moment over and over again for centuries. But, Constantine…our daughter. Delinda. They need me.
“My daughters…” I start, shaking my head regretfully. “I can’t leave them.”
Fraser’s face falls. He drops his hand to his side.
“Don’t give up,” the blonde woman urges him. “Get her to come to you.”
“Why? Why do you want me?” I yell at her. Why does she want me so badly?
“It’s your time,” she says simply, indicating the gaping wound. “You have lived longer than is normal, Aefre. Why would you want to continue wasting your life?”
Wasting my life? What is she talking about?
“You aren’t happy there. You can be happy here. Loved.” She touches Fraser on the arm and smiles gently at him.
“I have love!” I exclaim at her. “Plenty of love.”
“But it’s not real,” she says, shaking her head.
“It is real! It is!” I start to panic. Why is she doing this?
“You are wasting your life,” she says again. “Come with us where you can be happy.”
“I am happy!” I cry out, my eyes meeting Fraser’s sad ones.
“Then go!” she snaps at me, clicking her fingers and everything goes dark.
Chapter 1
Ponte, Italy - January 2015 - Constantine
This can’t be happening; this just cannot be happening.
He tightens his grip on his dead wife’s hand and blinks back the tears. The utter dread and sorrow he feels is overwhelming him. He can’t see straight. He can’t think straight. For once in his life, he has no idea what to do.
“No!” he roars at Devon, who is trying to move her. “Leave her alone!”
“Please let me put her on the bed,” Devon pleads. “I can’t bear to see her on the floor.”
Constantine looks up at the boy and sees the sheer agony on his face. He has lost his sire, he understands that, but he has lost his wife, his only one true love. The half of him that is good and pure and right. How is he supposed to go on without her? He knew he should have tethered his life to hers. This wouldn’t be happening if he had.
“Move aside,” Dracul says, appearing out of nowhere, stepping over the murderous bitch and pushing Devon away. He looks back at Jess with a moue of distaste, well, the separate parts of her, and snaps his fingers. With a bright light, that burns everyone’s eyes, the corpse vanishes from their sight, leaving no sign of the damage Constantine caused to her.
“No,” Constantine growls after this display. He is not leaving his wife’s side. Not ever.
Dracul makes a noise of frustration and with a snap of his fingers again, Aefre vanishes out from next to him and is placed on the bed. He peers down at her and then his tense set relaxes a fraction. He reaches out and places his hand around the hilt of the sword still sticking out of her chest.
“No!” Lincoln roars, finally showing some emotion. He has been cowering silently in the corner staring at his dead Alpha for the last five minutes.
“Watch,” Dracul says and drags the sword out of Aefre’s chest with a loud sucking noise.
Constantine makes a noise of anguish, not caring that it makes him look weak. He flings himself onto the bed and takes her hand again. “It was preserving her!” he yells at Dracul. “Now she is…”
He stumbles back on the bed as Aefre’s eyes open and with a gasp, she sits bolt upright, blinking erratically.
“Fraser?” she screams. “No! I didn’t…”