Constantine growls at her and sees Rosalina’s eyebrows skyrocket at the term “daughter.”

“I will protect her,” he says stiffly, but he drops his fist and lets Remiel go.

“Interesting,” Rosalina mutters, but then turns to Remiel to answer his question. “I am the ruler of Minerva, the very dawn of magick. Yours is nothing compared to mine.” Her regal stature just pisses Remiel off, but Aefre steps in.

“Now is not the time for a magickal pissing contest. I know that is white magick so start explaining,” she says.

Rosalina doesn’t say anything; she just walks over to the windows to have a look out. Constantine doesn’t let go of Aefre’s hand as hers tightens in his and she stoops slightly.

“Are you okay?” he asks, worried. If anything happens to his daughter, he will not be able to stop the darkness from consuming him. No one will.

“Yeah,” she mutters back, but he knows she is lying. He needs to get her to bed, but he also knows she won’t rest while she still has questions and fears and creatures throwing magick at her home.

“Well?” he snaps at Rosalina. “My wife asked you a question.”

“It is as I feared,” Rosalina says as she turns back to face them with a sigh. “They are rogues. Clerics that used to be mine, now working for the enemy.”

“The enemy?” Aefre screeches, making his already shot nerves ping even tighter.

“I believe they are the Vampire Hunters,” Rosalina states and Constantine catches his wife deftly as she passes out next to him.

Chapter 5

Ponte, Italy, October 2014 - Constantine

“Vampire Hunters?” Devon bellows, taking Aefre’s hand as Constantine carries her to the sofa.

Rosalina nods gracefully and Devon cuts his eyes to Constantine. “I had forgotten about them,” he admits with a sheepish look.

“Well, they were being quiet after they lost Cade to our side,” Constantine says, not willing to admit that he, too, had forgotten about them in all of the rest of the fucked-up nonsense that has occurred lately.

“Speaking of…where is my pseudo charge?” Remiel asks, looking around with a frown as if he had only just remembered.

“Sebastian’s mother has him spelled up in the Light Fae Kingdom,” Devon answers. “And before anyone says anything, yes, Lizzie wants to save him.” He heaves a massive sigh that is repeated around the room.

“Of course she does,” Constantine mutters under his breath. “But that is not a priority. Why have th

e Hunters suddenly decided to attack on the very same day that the Vampires did?”

“Good question,” Lincoln says, kneeling next to Aefre and stroking her hair out of her face. He looks up at Rosalina and says, “She is in terrible turmoil and she needs rest. The child inside is agitated. Is there anything you can do?”

“What do you mean ‘agitated’?” Constantine roars, dropping to his knees next to Lincoln and stroking his wife’s bump.

“Well, all the yelling isn’t helping,” Lincoln says dryly. “But her thoughts are racing, it is stressing the baby out.”

“I will make her sleep peacefully,” Rosalina says kindly and places a hand on Aefre’s forehead. Aefre scrunches up her eyes, but then her features relax into a soft expression and he can see she is now sleeping and not just unconscious due to shock.

“Thank you,” Constantine says, clearing his throat. “I will take her upstairs to rest in bed.”

To his immense relief, no one objects as he gathers her up in his arms and leaves the room with her via Teleportation. The sooner he can get her comfortable, the better for his child.

He lays her on the bed and strips her clothes off, replacing them with a loose-fitting nightgown, and then tucks her up into bed. He lights the three candles placed on the nightstand to give her as much peace and contentment as possible, enjoying the fact that all he had to do was place a finger to each wick for it to flicker to life.

“Sleep well, my sweet. I will take care of everything,” he whispers to her. Starting with those assholes outside. He can still see the shine of the magick as it bounces off the wards and, while he has no doubt they will hold, they cannot be holed up in here as prisoners forever. This needs dealing with immediately.

He Teleports back downstairs to complete silence. He had half been expecting the usual arguing, but it is as quiet as a graveyard.

“I want to know why they are here. Now,” Constantine says with authority. “This cannot just be a coincidence.”

Tags: Eve Newton Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net