Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (19 page)

They all stare at me in my unbridled fury, each one
unwilling to start, so I do. “Whose idea was it to go?”

“Mine,” Cole says, stepping forward. “You know that I wanted
to, especially after the other night. I told you,” he says quietly. “You told
me to speak to Devon and I did.” My eyes flick to Devon who just stares back at
me.

“And I told you, I would take him if you refused,” he says.

“And you two?” I bark at CK and Sebastian.

“Sorted out the details,” CK says.

“I see,” I say, moving around to stand behind my desk,
putting the big block of wood in between them and me. “And no one thought to
tell me of your plans, because…?”

“Because you are a hypocrite,” Devon suddenly snaps at me.

“How dare you,” I hiss back at him. “How dare you take my
husband and turn him into a killer.”

“I didn’t turn him into a killer, Liv. You did, when you
turned him,” he retorts and it is like a smack in the face. “You stand there on
your soapbox, preaching piety when you are one of the most vicious creatures I
have ever come across. We are Vampires, we Hunt, we drink, we kill. It’s what
we do. You taught me that. You, Queen of the Vampires, of The Underworld. The
only Vampire in the history of Vampires that absolutely has to feed on humans
twice a day and even that you rebuff. All of a sudden you decided to become all
moral and that everyone else should fall in line. That we should suppress
ourselves because it’s what you want. What you want. It always comes back to
what you want.”

“Enough,” CK says to him. “She is your sire and your Queen
and you will respect her.”

Devon turns to him and then back to me, where I am just
standing stock still under the tirade of my charge. “Yes, enough. Enough is
enough. I have my own charge now and I am going to show her the way.
Our
way. If she chooses to indulge, then I will revel in it,” he says, arms wide as
he turns in a circle coming back to face me. “I will show her the way and she
can decide. You should do the same with your own instead of making the decision
for him.” He stalks out, slamming the door behind him and I lose my shock at his
words and turn my fury back to my sire.

“How many?” I ask.

“Six in total,” he says carefully.

I nod and look to Cole. “How many are you responsible for?”

“Two,” he says and my heart breaks.

“Two,” I repeat softly. “And the clean up?” I choke on the
words.

“Taken care of,” CK says.

“Liv,” Sebastian starts, but I hold my hand up to quiet him.

I put my hands on my desk to steady me. “The fact that you
took my husband, my charge, out Hunting without my knowledge is unforgivable,
but that aside, a carnage on the scale of which you have conducted, in a
country not our own that we have arrived in less than twenty-four hours ago, is
dangerous and irresponsible and puts us all at risk. How could you?” I ask this
to CK specifically.

“Liv, listen to me,” Sebastian says again. “They weren’t
just six random people we picked out of a crowd.”

“’Bastian,” CK warns, as I shift my steely gaze to my
sibling and fellow Fae-pire.

“No, she needs to know,” he says. “We can stand here and be
berated, and maybe we deserve it for not telling her what we were doing, but we
sure as hell don’t deserve it for why we did it.”

I look back to Cole who is looking like he wants to die
under my callous gaze. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Don’t blame him,” Sebastian says to me.

“Stay out of it,” I tell him. I am surprised he came to
Cole’s defense. I don’t think they have said two words to each other since they
met.

“No,” he steps forward. “Livvie, did you speak to Cade
yesterday?”

I frown at him and ask, “Cade? What does he have to do with
any of this?”

“Nico and Cade were in Italy finding out what the Hunters
were up to with regard to you,” Sebastian says.

“Yes, I know that. I sent them,” I snap at him.

“And?”

“And, yes I spoke to him yesterday. He said that there was a
team of Assassins already in London…” I trail off and look at each one in turn
as understanding dawns on me. “A team of six,” I say quietly and they all nod,
relieved that I have figured it out and no further explanation is required. “I
see, so I am guessing Nico gave you the heads up and you decided to take it
upon yourselves to take out the team before they took out you. Is that it?”

“In a nutshell,” CK says. “Look, Aefre, we are well aware of
your disapproval, and while I have to disagree with his methods, your boy is
right. You cannot expect us to be something we are not. Your choice is
admirable and while we don’t understand it fully, we respect it. You asked me
the other week to take you Hunting so you could kill. I knew you weren’t in
your right frame of mind and I refused, because I know you. I knew it was
something you would regret and I respected your choice. You need to respect
ours and not deny your new charge to be who he wants to be. If he decides he
doesn’t want to Hunt and kill for his own reasons then fair enough. But you
will not rake him over the coals about this. I won’t allow it.” He emphasizes
his point with a stern finger to my desk. “And furthermore, nor will you think
that you are better than we are for abstaining. I, quite frankly, think it is absurd.
Especially under your personal circumstances that Devon quite succinctly
pointed out. I taught you to Hunt and you taught Devon. You should offer your
new charge the same courtesy.”

I flush with anger and shame under his Initial Vampire-like
reprimand but keep my mouth shut. Pointedly, in a very tight, grim line. Yes, I
remember how he taught me to Hunt, the heavy handed brute. I, at least, went
easier on Devon. His defense of Cole is also quite staggering, but I think that
is only because he sees him as a charge now. A new member of the race he helped
create. But I can’t argue with any of it now that it has been so neatly laid
out in front of me. Twice. I have been a pious hypocrite expecting every
Vampire to be like me and take my moral standings on Hunting and killing.

He sees that he has got through to me and says softly, “We
should have told you what we were planning. For that I am sorry. It was a shock
to you and maybe had you had more time to process it, it wouldn’t look as bad
as it does.”

“We knew we had to keep you and all of us safe from this
super-Hunter assassin team and it seemed like an ideal time to take Cole out,”
Sebastian adds quietly, asserting his point that it was for the good of the
team. “But we should have told you.”

I flop back into my chair now and sigh. “Fine, I get it and
see your point about Cole. But as far as I am concerned, this never happens
again, on this scale, without my say-so. No matter the threat, none of you have
the right to make decisions like this on my behalf. Not even you.” I point to
CK.

“I know,” he says with a small smile. “Your show.”

I look again at Cole, who has relaxed slightly but tenses up
again as my eyes meet his. “I will talk to you later. I need a few minutes,” I
say to him but effectively dismissing them all. They all nod and back out and I
spin in my chair to stare out of the window. I can’t believe them, the sneaky
fuckers. Disappearing and killing like that. I should have their heads for
this. But I can’t argue that firstly Cole needed to go and that regardless of
my opinions, it should have been me that took him. And secondly, that the
Assassins needed to be dealt with. I wonder briefly if Cade knew what they were
up to? He had better not for his own sake.

“Dissension in the ranks? Never a good sign of a great
leader,” Fake Lance says from behind me.

I spin around in my chair again to face him. I have lost all
of my fear of this creature and all I want now is to see it dead. In whatever
manner possible.

“Fake Lance,” I say. “How long have you been creeping
about?”

“Long enough to see you can’t control your little group. Or
is it perhaps that you can, but don’t wish to?”

“Probably the last one,” I admit and he delights at my
honesty.

“You are so afraid of your own Power. It would be quite
amusing if it weren’t so tragic.”

“Tragic? Yeah, you are probably right. Tell me something.
You have all of Lance’s memories right?”

He nods at me carefully, wondering what I am getting at.

“Can you explain to me, in all honesty, why he did what he
did to me?”

He looks taken aback. “You want to know why he took you and
tortured you? Don’t you already know?”

“Not really, no.”

“Hmmmmm,” he draws it out as he taps his chin. “He loved
you,” he says and I roll my eyes.

“He wasn’t capable of it,” I scoff.

“Yes, he was. He loved carefully but fiercely. When your
sire turned him he enjoyed a cruel streak to be sure, but he became what he was
because of the way your sire showed him. He turned him into a diabolical fiend
who, although loyal, became unsure of his place in Constantine’s world. More so
after you were turned. He craved you, needed you, watched you from afar. For
over a century he watched you become everything he wanted. A vicious creature
that could match his own cruelty.”

I gulp but stay silent, wanting him to continue. He starts
to pace, getting into his story now. “Eloise went to him and goaded him. Told
him how your sire only wanted you and that he was no longer required. Told him
he should do something about it if he ever wanted his relationship with
Constantine to be the way it was. He waited until the day your sire came for
you. He knew he would come and that you would let him. He also knew you
wouldn’t return with him. Once Constantine was gone he made his move on you,
knowing that you were ripe for the picking. He thought you would love him. If
he could just get you to go back to his castle with him. Unfortunately you
needed a little persuasion and he was terrified of losing you so he locked you
up in the tower room, where you couldn’t escape. It wasn’t his plan. Not his
original plan, anyway, but as you got weaker and weaker, he thought you would
come around once he scattered affection on you and took it away, only to give
it back to you. But your will was strong and although he persevered he knew he
would never win you.”

“How…how long was I in the tower?” I ask, needing to know,
as time lost all meaning after the first few weeks.

“Nine years. He was so sure you would eventually tell him
you loved him, he kept you in there for nine years. That is eight and a half
years longer than anyone else ever made it,” he says as if I should be
grateful. “But what you didn’t get, what you didn’t understand, was that he
needed you to show him how to love you. He didn’t know. You were different,
special. He was relying on you to show him and you failed and he eventually
became so frustrated with you that he could no longer stand you being so close
to him. He lost his mind, he was so crazed by your refusal to accept him, that
he just flipped.”

I blink at him. “Are you saying that he wasn’t always a
crazy arse lunatic?” I ask.

“No, he was quite sane. Cruel and somewhat evil behind
closed doors, yes, but he was a perfectly acceptable member of society. Your
sire wouldn’t have turned him had he been anything but. Such a perfectionist,”
he tuts. “So as you see, it was you, my dear, that broke him. All you had to do
was love him.”

“Broke him? Broke
him
? You know what he did to me.” I
stand up and stride forward to where he is standing in the corner.

“Yes, indeed. He broke you too. Shattered you into tiny
little pieces. It is a shame, really. You probably would have made for a great
couple.”

Gah! This thing had better be fucking joking. I stare at him
as he regards me quietly and I think back to the Lance that the other world
still harbors. They said he was great and wonderful and a perfect match for
Cassis. She said she loved him and they were compatible. Is it true? Was it me
that broke him?

“You have caused so much destruction in your lifetime. I am
surprised you find it so easy to judge the choices of those you love,” he says
casually, interrupting my thoughts.

“You know nothing of that,” I snap at him and he shrugs. I
look at him again now with new eyes. Standing there, looking like Lance. There
is every chance that he is lying to me but somehow I get that he isn’t. He
wants to talk, to converse, to have intellectual stimulus. He has been stuck in
the Spirit Realms for eons with nothing to do but gain power and plot his
revenge. I take full advantage of this and ask him, “What do you really look
like? The whole Lance thing doesn’t scare me anymore. It’s kind of pointless.”
I put my hands on my hips in a show of nonchalance, but my hand is ready to
draw my sword should I need to.

He laughs and says, “Yes, I feared my revelations might cause
such a reaction in you.” He shimmers and then stands in front of me looking
like no one I know. No one I have feared or loved and lost. I step forward but
bounce back off the damn magickal barrier as I peer at him. “Nice,” I say. “You
should keep it.”

“Yes, it does seem that I fit in with your ‘type.’” He uses
air quotes with his wry tone, which makes me laugh in spite of myself. I look
closer at him and he looks somewhat familiar. I narrow my eyes at him. “You are
of the House of Dracul, aren’t you?” I ask.

He looks startled and doesn’t answer me for a few minutes.
He clears his throat and says, “Yes. What of it?”

“Thought so, you look like you belong to them.”

“Just as smart as a whip. I like that about you.”

“What’s your name?” I ask curiously.

“Oh no, you don’t get that,” he laughs.

“Why not? I already know your House,” I point out.

He ponders that for a long while. Long enough that I start
to wonder what the Hell I am doing chatting to this creature who has put me
through the ringer.