We went off into the night and embarked on a mild killing spree with a body count that left us fleeing the town in the early hours before dawn. Oh, he was a beautiful, vicious creature, killing without mercy. But I needed to get him inside before sunrise. We found a disused barn where I told him to wait for me till I returned. It was time to go and perform my sire duty and get him his protection. I knew of a place not far from there, which was why I came this way to begin with.
“I will be back before nightfall,” I said to him and he kissed me passionately.
“I love you,” he said. “Don’t leave me.”
“I must. I must go so that I can protect you, so you can be free to roam with me.”
“Please, make haste. I don’t want to be apart from you. I love you,” he said again.
“I love you, my darling boy. I will be back soon. We will be together now, forever.”
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO
Las Vegas, USA, 2013 - Liv
Devon looks at Constantine in horror. “Sire her or let her die?” he repeats in disbelief. “I can’t do that. I can’t sire her.”
“Dev,” I say as he gives me a terrified look. This is his worst nightmare come true.
“Fuck!” he yells, running his hand through his hair in agitation. He steps forward. “I said I’d help her, goddammit!”
I am on him in an instant. “No, Devon. Don’t do this. Don’t do this because she forced your hand.”
“Lizzie, I can’t let her die because of me. Because of something I didn’t do.”
“No!” I shriek. I won’t let him do this. I make a decision and step forward, saying, “I will do it then.”
Devon looks at me with a mixture of relief and horror, but Constantine pulls me back.
“No, Aefre. You don’t know what will happen.”
“Well, you want to know. Now is as good a time as any to find out,” I hiss at him, agitated to the point of anger.
“You would experiment on an innocent girl?” he asks me in disbelief. “No. This is Devon’s responsibility.” He turns to Devon and says, “You have seconds left, my boy. Make a choice.”
“Devon…” I plead with him not to do this. He is making a massive mistake.
He squares his shoulders, resolute, and slits his wrist open. He leans over her and hesitates for a second before he places it to her lips, making sure it gets into her mouth as he saw me do with Cole. He scrunches his eyes up, hating every second of this.
“Devon!” I scream. I’m struggling in Constantine’s grip.
“It’s done,” Devon says and with a glance at me that breaks my heart as I see his pain and his uncertainty, he goes to slump against the wall, sinking to the floor in the corner, pushing his hands into his hair.
“We need to clean this mess up. Pull yourself together, Aefre. You need to be his sire now, not his friend,” CK advises.
His words snap me into action. He’s right. What’s done is done. I know Devon isn’t ready for this, but he wouldn’t, couldn’t leave her to die. Could he?
Constantine lifts her carefully off the bed and places her on the floor as I strip the sheets off the bed. I grimace at the mattress. The blood soaked through the sheets into it.
“We’ll have to scrub it,” Constantine says grimly.
“No, I may have another way,” I say and hold my hands out over the stain. I pull on the Grimoire for instruction. The blood flies up into my palms in a reverse rainfall and is absorbed into my skin. Primarily used for absorbing energy, I twisted it to work the same with blood. I shake my hands as I feel a slight warming of my palms. I conjure up a fresh set of sheets and make haste. I could have just magicked them straight onto the bed, but the few minutes of busy work keeps me from falling to pieces. Constantine places her back on the bed and I swap her bloodied clothes for clean ones, not wanting to take anymore of her blood by magick. It’s dark and dangerous and I need more instruction on it. I magickly dispose of the bloody sheets and clothes.
And then we just stare at her.
Constantine pulls me to him. “We’d better tell the others,” he whispers quietly.
“No, not yet,” I say to him. “Let him process first.”