CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-TWO
I quickly make my way to the ladies’ locker room and disrobe before I jump in the shower. My mental note to always go via the shower is working, it seems. I hastily dry off and get dressed again. I put the pant suit in a locker and magickly pull out a backless halter top and black leggings. Slipping my Louboutins back on, I head back upstairs.
Pushing the door open, I enter the suite, suddenly weary. I look at the clock: it’s only
1 PM. Christ, it feels like midnight.
I stop dead when I see Sebastian. He is standing uncertainly in the sitting room. “Hi,” he says.
“Hi.” I stay where I am by the door.
“I’m not going to bite,” he jokes badly, but I move further into the room anyway.
“I am here to apologize. I was an ass and I’m sorry as to how I treated you and how I disrespected not just you but your other men as well,” he adds formally.
I come closer and see an array of gifts on the sofa. He sees me notice them and says, “I brought gifts. One for every letter of the alphabet.”
“I can see that. They are all lined up nicely in a neat little row.”
He cringes. “Sorry about that remark. Please know that is not what I think of you. I was only saying it to hurt you.”
I cast my eye over the variety of gifts, and I’m impressed he went to so much trouble. I was only half joking when I mentioned bringing presents.
I chuckle with delight as I see lined up in fourth place is a cuddly black Dragon. I pick it up and smile. “Thank you. This is very sweet,” I say to him and he smiles. I look down the row and under ‘V’ I find a pair of plastic Vampire teeth, the kind that kids use on Halloween. I snicker as I pick them up. “Couldn’t think of anything else? I hardly have a use for them.”
“They are decorative.”
“Thank you, Sebastian. I accept your apology and while you didn’t need to go to this extent, I appreciate the effort.” I step forward to hug him and he accepts.
“Friends?” he asks cautiously, picking up the ‘F’ present which is the Friends DVD box set.
I laugh with delight. “Yes. Just don’t try any more shit on me. I will kick your arse.”
“Don’t I know it. Christ, woman, you are strong. You did flatten me earlier,” he complains.
I laugh a proper laugh now and we are at ease again.
“Everyone happy again now?” CK says, coming out of the bedroom.
I nod and cross over to him, still holding my cuddly Dragon. I kiss him and turn back to Sebastian. “Do you mind excusing us? I need to talk to our sire.”
“Sure,” he says and goes to leave but stops as CK puts his hand on my bare shoulder and says, “What the Hell is this?”
I peer over my shoulder at him. “What is what? I can’t see from here.”
“This.” He pokes me repeatedly on my collarbone.
“Hey, stop with the prodding. I don’t know, is it another marking?”
He looks at it closely and Sebastian comes around to have a look as well. “DX? What does that mean? Roman numerals?”
DX?
“What? Let me look,” I say. I march into the bathroom and face them, looking back over my shoulder and clear as day, in a previously empty spot on my collarbone, is a ‘D’ about three inches in diameter with an ‘X’ in the middle. Oh, shit on a stick. I know exactly what that means. I chew my lip and meet CK’s eyes in the mirror.
“What is it, Aefre?” he asks, knowing that I know.
“That would be my Demon marking,” I say and brush past them on the way back out of the bathroom.