“I was just telling Liv that she looks lovely this evening. She responded by saying she wishes you would let her take us both to bed.”
I stare at him horrified; mouth open.
CK’s eyes flick to me with a small smile. “I am fairly certain she didn’t say that judging by the look on her face.”
Sebastian chuckles. “No, she didn’t but I know she was thinking it. One of these days, it will happen whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t like it. You are to stay away from her,” CK says quietly, menacingly, as he steps closer to Sebastian.
“And what if I don’t? I could always just make her, you know,” Sebastian says just as quietly.
CK’s face hardens into stone at that and the growing atmosphere is palpable. “You should know better than to threaten me, my boy,” he says, lowering his voice even more so that all of our eavesdropping ears struggle to hear, well, everyone except me as I use my super hearing abilities to carry on listening. “Use your gift on her and I will see you dead.”
Gift? What gift? He has a gift? Did he use it on me before? I thought I was immune to such things.
“Noted,” Sebastian says, also in a tone so low that even Vampire hearing can’t pick it up, adding, “But if she starts, I will finish.”
CK growls deeply and loudly so that everyone who hasn’t overheard the last three sentences looks at him warily. I take delight in seeing Jess look terrified and move to stand behind Devon. He ignores her as he is looking at me with that way he has that tells me he knows something about something.
“If you are that worried, you should keep her on a tighter leash,” Sebastian says.
“You are the one who should be on a leash. Make a move and I will ensure that you get it,” Constantine says, and I gulp. This is not going to end well for any of us. I step forward as I don’t want CK to provoke Sebastian into spilling the we-already-did-it beans. I place my hand on CK’s arm and he turns towards me as if he had forgotten I was there. “Whatever you are growling at each other about, can you forget it and play nice? I don’t need a quarrel to fix right now.”
“Of course, my sweet,” CK leans down to give me a lingering kiss.
Sebastian smiles at me when CK lets me up for air and says, “I think we are done with this conversation for now. We have both made ourselves quite clear.” I glare at him itching to know if he somehow controlled my actions earlier.
Lincoln now steps forward and says, “I think we should sit and find out what Liv learned from Xane. I know I’m curious.”
I send him a thankful look for diffusing a potentially bad situation for me, but he looks back at me in a not-so-friendly way. I tilt my head in question at him and he mouths, “Put your blocks up.”
What? Oh, crap. I was that nervous about seeing Sebastian when we came downstairs, I totally forgot about my mental blocks. I cast a quick glance at Scott, who is chewing his lip and trying to look everywhere but at me. Fuck. The cat is so far away from the bag now, it can’t even see it. I put the thought into my head for them both to read: “We’ll talk about it later. Please just leave it for now.”
I look at Lincoln and he nods grimly as does Scott when I stare at him.
I heave a sigh and let CK lead me to the table. We sit and the rest follow. Devon has the sense to dispatch of his little, whatever the Hell she is, first as this is definitely not something she is privy to. Her furious look isn’t well received. Devon gives her one back and she folds like a cheap suit. Sebastian, being foolish enough to sit on my other side, grins at me. I ignore him and, gripping CK’s hand even tighter, I recount the tale of my visit to The Underworld. Leaving out the part about the ritual, of course.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN
“Wow, so basically your Dragon brother is the starter of the Demon race,” Devon says. “That’s pretty impressive.”
CK glares at him and clears his throat in annoyance, never having been given any recognition for his part in creating the Vampire race.
“It’s also kind of weird. I mean, in a bizarre way, I am related to them all. Like some kind of great times-a-million aunt.”
Devon snickers at my consternation. It feels so good to have him back on my side. “You’ve just got family popping up all over the place now. So, what happens next? Do you get some Demon-y type Powers to go with all your others?”
“Yes. I already have them,” I say proudly with a little look at CK’s ring. He catches my glance and tilts his head in question. “Demon magick works similar to Dragon magick but on a way cooler level,” I say. “Xane called it ‘something from nothing’ and that is exactly what it is. Conjuring. It’s beyond awesome.”
“How did you end up with these abilities? Was it another freaky Power transfer? Oh, the gods, please don’t tell me that he bit you,” Devon says with a baleful glare at Lincoln, who just grins.
“No biting,” I say but hesitate after that.
“Yes, Aefre, why don’t you tell the group how you ended up with your new Powers,” CK says in a tone that leaves no doubt that he is still pissed with me about it.
“A small ritual,” I say through gritted teeth, glaring at him. “It was nothing.”
“Ritual? What kind of ritual?” Sebastian asks me now, having been silent thus far.