There is a long, awkward silence as Jess glares first at Devon and then at Cole. Cole has no idea what to do with his flushed face. He wants to run back to his bedroom, but Dawn is still in there and he can’t face her either. He is in such a dilemma, but is saved, if you could call it that, as his bad luck doubles.
Constantine runs up the stairs asking where the Hell everyone has gone. “Am I the only one still concerned with finding my wife?” he asks. He stops to stare at the three standing in the doorway and then another woman joins them in the hallway, tumbling out of the master bedroom in disarray with her underwear in her hand. She quickly stuffs it into her jeans pocket as she sees them all looking at her and it doesn’t take Constantine long to put two and two together. He slams Cole up against the wood paneling and grips his throat, ready to rip his head off.
“Wait,” Devon says, putting his hand on Constantine’s arm and standing too close to Cole. “It’s not what it looks like. It was me,” he says.
“What?” Cole stammers dumbfounded that De
von just took the blame for him.
Constantine lets Cole go and shifts his gaze to Devon. “You fucked that slut on my wife’s bed?” he asks in disbelief.
Dawn whimpers at the word “slut” and she goes to run down the stairs in horror, when Xane appears, taking the stairs two at a time, clearly here to see what the ruckus was all about.
“What in Hell is going on here?” he bellows over Dawn’s crying and Constantine’s accusations to Devon.
“It seems that Devon has decided he would rather take a moment of enjoyment rather than concentrate his efforts on finding Aefre,” Constantine says, even though he is more than sure that Devon took the blame for Cole. But as Devon is standing that close to Cole, it is hard to tell which one of them stinks like sex.
Xane looks to Dawn, who shrinks back, and he sighs. “Must we do this in front of the help?” he asks in a haughty tone worthy of a Demon of his stature. “You are free to leave, dear,” he adds and gallantly steps aside so that Dawn can make her escape.
Cole watches her go with a sinking stomach. He is never going to see her again. It all just gets too much for him and he slides down the wall and slumps to the floor, resting his head on his knees.
“What’s with you?” Xane asks him, not overly concerned, just irritated by all this weakness he is witnessing everywhere he turns.
“He needs rest,” Devon says, crouching next to Cole to remain close, hoping to confuse Constantine’s senses for a while longer. “Proper rest.”
“He needs his sire,” Cole adds as he looks up at Constantine.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Constantine grumbles. “Fine, take what you need, but I will only do this once, so make it count.” He rolls up his sleeve and everyone hears Jess draw her breath in, Devon most especially. Cole’s eyes nearly pop out of his head when Constantine crouches in front of him and offers him his wrist.
“Hurry up,” he growls as all eyes are on him and he is most uncomfortable with everyone watching this. He wouldn’t mind if it were Aefre, but this is not his thing. He doesn’t offer his blood about to every Vampire who wants it. It is powerful, even more so now, and intoxicating, and the high can be addictive. It is also an intimate gesture reserved for the only two people in his life that he is capable of feeling anything for.
Cole gingerly reaches for him and his tension is about to snap as he drops his fangs straight into his sire’s sire’s wrist.
Oh, motherfucker, but he tastes good. Liv was right, he tastes just like blackcurrants. Cole can taste the power and he wants more. He can feel it making him stronger just as if it were Liv who was feeding him. He drinks and drinks and then he pulls back as Constantine pushes on him.
“Enough,” he says. “The girl is getting agitated.”
Cole looks at Jess who has gone feral and is being held back by Devon. She clearly wants in on the feeding action, but Constantine is already rolling down his sleeve and turning away. She growls loudly and Devon pushes her into the bedroom and slams the door before Constantine takes offense and starts ripping heads off.
Xane watches all of this with a modicum of disgust. These creatures are vile. He needs Liv to stop being one in the worst way and if it kills him, he will find a way to make it happen. He spins on his heel and clumps down the stairs in his heavy biker boots, already reaching into his jeans for a cigarette.
“Put him to bed and then I want a word with you,” Constantine says to Devon, who nods and helps Cole to his feet.
Constantine follows Xane down the stairs, cursing his wife for leaving them and forcing him to resort to becoming a Feeder for her charges. She would never forgive him if she came home and found out he hadn’t offered to help. As far as he is concerned, he has done his part. He goes back to the library to continue with his staring at the overlapping map of all the Realms. He knew they existed in and around one another, and somehow, somewhere, there must be portal to get to the Dragon Realms. There just has to be.
Devon leads Cole back to his bedroom. His sibling is in a really bad way, although his color has come back a bit after that very unexpected Feeding offer. “Shower and then bed,” he says.
Cole shakes his head. “I already had a shower,” he says.
“Yes, before you fucked your Feeder,” Devon says. “You know that he could smell it all over you.”
“I know,” Cole says wearily. “I guess he wasn’t in the mood to kick my sorry ass.”
Devon chuckles at Cole’s attempt at humor. “Well, if he had tried to kick mine, I would have relished the fight and gone down with my fists flying.”
Cole snorts at that but says, “Thanks anyway, for taking the blame.”
“No worries, he is in a foul mood. I can take the hit of it better than you can,” Devon replies.