What the fuck?
Spinning around my mouth wide open, I try to understand what just happened. Teleportation! Holy shit. All of the other Vampires who have gained this ability, were well over two thousand years old. I start to panic when I try to get back to the hotel in Monte Carlo but fail. I sink to my knees, placing my hands in front of me on the plush red carpet, draw in a deep breath, and try again. Nothing.
I stand again, shaking out my hands. Eyes closed; I try again. I open one eye. Shit, still in my bedroom.
Okay, time to try a different tactic.
Ignoring my phone buzzing away in my pocket, I think not of the place, but of Cole. I want to be where he is. I want to feel his arms around me, his mouth on mine.
“Liv!” CK, Cole, and Devon all yell at me. I open my eyes as they descend on me, hugging me to make sure I’m really here.
“I’m fine,” I grumble, trying to untangle myself from this very arousing group hug.
“Where the fuck did you go?” CK demands. He does overly concerned, so well.
“L.A. My bedroom, more specifically,” I say.
“I couldn’t sense you,” CK says worriedly. “It was like you were just… gone.” He pulls me to him, stroking my hair and whispering to me in Italian to never scare him like that again.
Pulling away, I try to explain that I wanted out of the room, away from all the arguing and tension. I pictured our house that Cole would share with us when we got home. Both Cole and Devon look quite pleased with that. Cole takes my hand. “The next second, I was there. I Teleported home.”
CK is shaking his head, as is Gregor and even Eloise. “No,” he says, “you didn’t Teleport, my sweet. It was the same as with the glass. A swirl of black fog.”
I gape at him. “I displaced myself?” I ask rhetorically. “It was weird. I couldn’t get back right away. It took me several tries to get back here. It was only when I thought of getting back to Cole that I came back.” Cole looks pleased as punch and hugs me. CK’s face tightens briefly at my words, but then resumes its usual features. “Well, my love, it looks like your abilities are surpassing our own. The Power of One, indeed.” He looks at me with pride and I grin back as Devon suddenly pulls me into a hug.
“Don’t fucking disappear like that again. You fucking freaked me out,” he whispers. I nod reassuringly, telling him that I’m not going anywhere.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
T he flight back to L.A. is uneventful. Things started to move forward quite quickly after my little disappearing act. I haven’t been able to do it since, which is quite annoying for an overachiever such as myself. Devon has taken great delight in telling me that it’s because I don’t want it enough. So ironic, seeing as I keep harping on at him about the Shifting thing. Thank the old gods, I can still Shift. I was quite concerned it might have gotten lost in the new Power Surge. Gregor, Eloise, and most especially James, left us alone soon after that, along with CK and Nico, leaving Nico's two security guys with us. I can’t imagine any reason why they would need to be here, but CK’s resolved face was in place when I protested, so I relented.
Cole and Devon are getting on like a house on fire now, which warms my heart. I know how hard it must be for Cole. I never had to go through the ‘sibling rivalry’ with CK’s other charges, or at least not so much in that he was sleeping with any of his other charges while we were together…not that I know of at any rate, but I have come across some of them from time to time. The less said about that the better.
Once back on the ground in L.A., we have to pit stop at the Vampire club, X-tasy. Cole needs to feed and until we find him a regular Feeder, this will have to do.
It’s a bit of a dungeon. I’m not a massive fan of the place, although Devon and I have visited here before. It is more of a place for the lower-class Vampires. The weak ones stuck to the shadows. Master Vampires are not too common in here. There are a few Greater Immortals, aside from Devon and Cole, and yet more Lesser Immortals knocking about, along with a handful of human employees. All eyes turn to us as we walk in. As it is early evening, the place is not busy as the majority of their clientele will only be here after dark. I send Devon off to find a Feeder. I keep Cole close, even though he is a Greater Immortal, he is still brand new and despite the lower levels in the Vampire hierarchy, all of them here are older and stronger and jealousy is rife that he has been turned by me. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am old, and I belong to CK. Quite the prize in our world.
Devon returns shortly with a man. He shrugs and says, “Only one willing for a newbie.”
I exhale in frustration. Cole has more control in two days than all of these creatures would have had over two years. He’s looking less than comfortable with feeding from a man. I understand that he still associates biting as being an intimate act and not a form of survival, but he still agrees. He’s hungry and that’s too strong of a feeling to deny.
“It feels a little weird,” he whispers as we head to a back room, and Devon disappears. “Biting is so intimate.”
“It’s only intimate when you do it during sex. This is just food,” I say to the alarm of the man. I shoot him an apologetic look and shrug. “Sometimes you just have to do it.”
Cole nods steadfastly. “Okay. Don’t stop me unless I need stopping. I want to try and do this on my own,” he whispers quietly so as not to alarm the man any further.
“Are you sure?” I murmur.
“Yes. I think I can do it,” he replies.
To my surprise, he does do it on his own. He went over by a second or two, but he pulls back. Snapping his fangs back into place, he pulls me to him, and I kiss him.
“Good boy,” I murmur against his lips, and he glows with pride.
We exit the back room and go in search of Devon. The club has filled up some which means it must be dark out now.
“Stay close,” I mutter, gripping his hand hard.