“Fuck you,” Constantine snarls at him, standing up. “You have no right to comment. I have done what is best for her.”
“No, you have only done what is best for yourself. That is the only thing you have ever cared about,” Devon yells at him.
“How dare you tell me how I feel,” Constantine seethes. “You know nothing about me.”
“I know you have only done this so that she is your charge again and so she stays with you,” Devon seethes back equally as angry.
“I have done this because she is in agony. Can’t you see it?” he asks mockingly.
“If she doesn’t wake up from this, you have no idea what you have done,” Devon says quietly, looking down at her and taking her hand.
“She will wake,” Constantine says with a confidence he is quickly losing.
“She had better or I am going to make it my life’s mission to destroy you,” Devon hurls at him a split second before Constantine’s hand closes around his throat.
He enjoys the feel of choking the life out of this creature he has loathed since the day he met him in Versailles. He wonders how receptive Aefre would be to his death now that they are no longer bound.
“If she wakes up as a Vampire,” Devon chokes out harshly, “the first thing she will do is turn me. You cannot stop the inevitable.”
It is the wrong thing to say. “I will make sure her fangs do not go anywhere near you,” Constantine says and squeezes that much tighter.
Devon’s eyes start to bulge out of his head and Constantine is seconds away from ripping his head off when he hears Aefre’s voice.
“Stop it,” she rasps. “Constantine.”
He closes his eyes and with a deep breath lets go of Devon and turns to his wife. She looks stricken and pale and he sits down and takes her hand. “How do you feel?” he asks her earnestly.
Her eyes go to Devon, who is panting for breath next to her. She frowns at them both. “What is going on here?” she asks.
“Are you hungry, my love?” Constantine asks her.
She looks at him in question and nods her head. “Yes,” she says. “I’m starving. Can you make me some pancakes?”
His heart drops. Pancakes? “Is that all you want?” he asks hesitantly.
“And tea,” she says. “My mouth feels awfully dry. How long was I asleep?”
“He tried to re-turn you,” Devon blurts out accusingly.
She blinks and pulls her hand out of Constantine’s and he wishes he had finished Devon off a moment ago. “What?” she asks.
“I had to try, my sweet,” Constantine says quietly. “I couldn’t lose you.”
He hears Devon snort as his words seemingly confirm what Devon thought, that he only did this for himself.
“He risked your life,” Devon says. “You have been out for over twelve hours. We didn’t know if you were going to wake up.”
“Twelve hours?” she asks in disbel
ief. “Constantine, what have you done?” She feels her top teeth and bares them, but his worst fears are confirmed when they remain the same. No fangs.
“I couldn’t lose you,” he says again, grabbing her arm in desperation. “You are drowning, Aefre, and this was the only way I could think of to save you. I need you. I love you.”
His words go only so far in placating her, as he knew they would, and she smiles sadly at him. “Oh, my love. You always have to try and be my hero.” She strokes his face and adds, “Not this time. I have to do this my way. You know that I would not have agreed to this had you discussed it with me first,” she chides him gently.
“I know,” he says, wishing that Devon wasn’t sitting there listening to all of this.
“I have to move on, we all do. What’s done is done,” she says.