“Then I will,” Remiel volunteers himself to my surprise.
Tatiana gives him another look. “Hmm, yes, you look like you can handle it,” she mutters under her breath.
“Tatiana, please. We really need this reversal spell. Just tell us what you need,” I almost beg her.
“A fresh human heart,” she says, looking at Remiel and ignoring me completely now.
I glance at Remiel, my stomach clenching slightly. I know by ‘fresh’ she means ripped from an alive person. I see now why she didn’t want me involved in this. But she doesn’t know me. I will do anything for my family, and right now they are all vulnerable.
“Done,” Remiel says before I can say another word. He Astrals off, leaving Tatiana and I to exchange an awkward look.
“He is your sire now?” she asks, sliding her eyes away from mine.
“Yes. It’s a long story,” I reply.
“He is not your true love,” she says insistently. “You mustn’t let him try to sway you.”
I pierce her with a sharp look. “I won’t,” I say. “I know who my true love is.”
“Do not ever forget that or the consequences will be dire for you all,” she says cryptically.
Before I can ask her what she means by that, Remiel returns with a dripping, still beating human heart in his hand. I look away from it briefly, wondering who the poor soul was that has died for my spell.
“What do you mean by that?” I turn my attention back to Tatiana.
“Heed my words and you will never have to find out,” she says absently, taking the heart from Remiel. She ignores us both then as she goes about collecting up the other ingredients for the spell.
Chapter 12
Cassis, France, January 2015 - Aefre
“Did you get it?” Devon is the first to ask me this, strangely, as we land back at Cassis. I had assumed CK would be the one fretting the most about losing his powers. Mind you, I suppose if he is still a little bit of a Vampire and the others aren’t, it stands to reason they would be stressing.
“Yes,” I say, clutching the ten small powered bombs in the drawstring bag. Tatiana said that the spell could create five normal sized ones, but I need us to be prepared in case this happens again, and despite my new-found Fae aggression and desire to kill anything that hurts my family, I still feel queasy about killing another innocent human just in order to keep our powers. “Slightly dumbed down versions, so I need you all to stand together as close as you can get.” I indicate they should huddle together. “What about Arathia?”
“She’s just fine,” CK answers with a proud beam.
“Okay, give her to Remiel,” I instruct.
Neither one of the men looks all that happy about that. I huff at them and waggle my bag of spells. “I am not letting this out of my hand for even a second,” I say, even though I know it will piss them both off further.
CK is the first to give in and walks over to my sire. He gingerly hands over our daughter with a look so pained, it makes my heart break. It is his worst nightmare come true, handing over his daughter to us to take care of. Not that I would ever let that happen. Remiel accepts the precious gift and holds her close, unable to avoid staring down into her wide green eyes, so unafraid of this stranger. He smiles at her and it melts my heart to see them together. I must look too enthralled at this prospect as CK growls at me and grabs my arm.
“Get on with it,” he says shortly, using all of his leftover Vampire strength to make his point known he is not happy.
“Move back over there then,” I reply, just as shortly, using all of my still just fine Vampire strength to shake him off. We are still so far out on the rocks, it’s not even funny. I don’t know how we will ever find each other again in this sadness.
He does as he is told, probably more anxious to get his powers back, than to do what I ask. They huddle together, as close as can be, and I throw two of the bombs at them, watching as they explode into clouds of powder, causing them to choke and wave their hands about wildly.
“Well?” I ask anxiously.
Devon is the first to Astraport away from the group to my side, with a big grin. “Once again, you have come through for us, my perfect, perfect sire,” he says with a big, sloppy kiss to my lips. He freezes and I know he is thinking that his ‘perfect sire’ is no longer really his sire. It breaks my broken heart even more. I don't know how much more sadness and loss I can take.
I smile back at him weakly and his oh-so-subtle dig at the others. “Thank Remiel. He did all of the work.”
My sire grins at me as he hands me back my daughter. “You convinced her to help,” he protests.
“And you got the ingredients and let Tatiana use you to boost her power,” I remind him.