“You always wanted to be me,” he goads. “Was she just another way of pretending you could ever be as good as me?”
“Hah!” Frederick spits out. “I am ten times the Vampire you will ever be.”
“Maybe because of your sire,” Vito says spitefully, “but I have something that you will never have.” He holds out his palm and his Dark Fae magick springs to life.
Frederick’s eyes flicker to it briefly but then go back to Vito’s.
“This is what makes what Aefre and I shared special,” Vito says tightly. “You can never have this with her. This is what caused me to impregnate her and if it hadn’t been for that bastard, Sebastian, I would be a father right now.” He scrunches his fist up, dousing the magick. “He got what he deserved,” he adds, even though that has nothing to do with the present conversation.
“Ah yes, the blood that tore you away from her in the first place,” Frederick says. “But her love for you wasn’t that strong to begin with. She believed me when I told her lies about you and she couldn’t wait to part her legs for Alexei to get over you.”
Vito hisses at the mention of Alexei. That fiendish cad. He has no idea why Frederick is provoking him like this, but he won’t allow it to continue. With a battle-cry roar, he launches himself at Frederick, his fist connecting with the Vampire’s face with a loud crunch.
“You bastard!” he shouts as he drags Frederick towards him to beat him in the face again.
Frederick lets out a bellow of rage of his own and gets a fist to Vito’s stomach. They grapple with each other, tumbling to the ground, each in an effort to best the other, but they never could. It was always evenly matched, Vito’s age and size crossing out the lither Frederick’s higher status.
Vito suddenly finds himself hauled off Frederick by his collar, dangling a couple of inches off the ground, glowering at Frederick who is in the exact same position as he is.
“What the fuck are you two doing?” Constantine drawls at them, shaking his fists so that their legs swing from side to side.
Vito snarls at him, pissed off that even with his superior height over his old master, Constantine still has the strength to hold him up off the ground, humiliating him.
“Put me down, you fucker,” he says, struggling in vain to get down.
“Not until the two of you call it quits,” Constantine says. “We are still waiting to hear what Frederick has to say for himself, but until then you need to stop this. Aefre does not need the stress of worrying about you fighting with each other.”
“I was only defending myself,” Frederick says sullenly, protecting himself as always. “He started it.”
“And I will end it!” Vito roars at him, holding his arms out straight to get to him, but he can’t reach.
“Frederick,” Constantine says calmly, ignoring Vito. “Tell me why you are here.”
Frederick crosses his arms and sulks. Constantine gives him a little shake and he sighs. “Fine, I am here to protect Aefre from my employer.”
“And that would be?” Constantine asks.
“Laurentis,” Frederick says and fixes his old master with a challenging stare.
“Hm,” Constantine says and drops them both heavily to the ground. “What does he want with my wife?” he asks casually, but Vito knows all too well that the calm belies the storm raging inside him.
Vito looks at Frederick, needing him to answer. He has heard about Laurentis, the man who has caused all of these problems for Aefre.
“He doesn’t want your wife,” Frederick says. “He wants the child.”
“No!” Vito says, jumping in front of Constantine, who has turned around with his eyes as red as blood. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
He stumbles as Constantine pushes him out of the way, stalking back towards the castle.
“Wait,” Vito calls and drags Frederick along with him. He has a terrible feeling that there is going to be one Hell of a mess to clean up later.
Ponte, Italy, October 2014 - Constantine
Stay calm. Stay calm and don’t kill anyone. Constantine repeats this to himself as he steadily walks back into the castle. Vito and Frederick are behind him, but he ignores them in favor of going to find Remiel.
He finds the Vampire in the library, browsing through his enormous collection of books.
“Tell me how to find your father and how to kill him,” Constantine says to him in an even tone.