The Power of One (The Forever series Book Two) (16 page)

“Liv,” CK says softly. I blink and take a moment to register
that I am still outside in CK’s lap.

“I’m okay, really,” I say struggling to stand up. “It was…”
I trail off, smoothing down my dress and trying to recover some of my dignity.

“What did you see?” Gregor asks.

I glance at CK wondering how much I should tell them. He
comes to my rescue as usual, my hero, and says “She had flashes of us.” He
points to the three concerned.

Eloise looks suspicious, “Flashes of what?”

“Images of you… before,
Aìa
.” I call her by her first
name and look at her with pity at what she went through but that soon
disappears as she gasps and narrows her eyes taking a threatening step forward.

“How do you know? No one is supposed to know,” she hisses.

I shrug, “I just do. I know about all of you.” I look at
each of them in turn seriously and they shift uncomfortably.

“Among other things,” I say as a distraction.

CK’s eyes snap to mine and he shakes his head imperceptibly.

“What other things?” Gregor snaps.

“A lot of history – about everyone. All the records were
“downloaded” into my head.” They all look at me as if I have lost said head.

I turn to Devon, “All this time, you never told me you had a
sister.” I say hurt.

His mouth drops open in shock. “She died when I was a baby.
I didn’t even know her,” he says eventually. “How would you even know that?”

CK takes over for me once again and says, “The Council
archives has records of every Vampire that has been turned and their history.
It’s automatically updated once the transformation is complete. Regardless, the
fact is that Liv is now a Council member and is privy to such information. The
nature of her knowledge however is somewhat unprecedented.”

“Anything else we should know about?” Gregor asks shrewdly
and I shake my head.

“Very well. I say we take this back indoors. I think we have
caused enough of a scene already,” and he turns on his heel and leaves us to
follow.

“I need another minute,” I say, sitting down on the bench.
Eloise ignores me and goes back inside but my three boys stay with me. Once she
is out of Vampire hearing earshot, CK asks, “What else?”

“A lot. Everything,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Along
with the archives I got the library index and all the history of The Council
and its members. All of its members,” I say pointedly.

“Ahmed,” CK breathes.

I nod excitedly, “It
is
him standing next to Corinne
in my vision! I bloody knew it!”

XXXXX

After that revelation, we don’t really have much more to go
on so we decide to go back inside and kill a couple of hours before the ballet.

CK is pensive and I know his genius brain is trying to
figure out how, where, and why Ahmed is in my vision.

“Dance with me,” I say pulling his attention back to me.

“Of course.” He takes my hand and leads me out to where a few
couples are dancing. He twirls me into his arms and pulls me close.

“Can you tell if he’s alive or is in fact just a vision
himself?” he whispers.

“I don’t know. If I’d have a guess I’d say alive and kicking
though.”

He looks intently at me. “Interesting,” he muses.

“By the way,” he says suddenly, “you do know that you will
have to be here some of the time.”

“Yes. I am aware of that. Thank you.”

“Good. I propose, that when you come, say two days a week,
you come alone,” he says staring into my wide eyes. “I need you to myself, my
sweet,” he whispers then. “How did we let ourselves fall into this pattern of
only seeing each other now and again?”

“I don’t know. Life just happens. I need you to myself as
well, but how do I even go about convincing my husband to let me go for two
whole days every week?” I ask him in earnest.

“Oh Liv, you could convince him even if you weren’t his
sire. I want to work with you during the day, but at night…” he stops leaving
me to imagine. A risky business, I think, as I feel a heat flare up inside.

“I’ll talk to him. But I’m not promising anything,” I warn.

“Oh you will promise me Liv or there will be consequences,”
he says cryptically and I stare quizzically at him. Before I can ask what he
means, he changes the subject again. Christ, his thoughts move so quickly, I
have to really concentrate sometimes to keep up.

“I have a gift for you, in your office. Something for
tonight. Come,” he leads me off the dance floor and to the elevators.

“Wait. Let me find Cole.”

“Let me show you first. I’ll come back down and find him
while you change.”

Change?

He opens the door to my office, which I still can’t get used
to saying, and leads me inside.

Hung up on the coat stand is a beautiful black dress.
Strapless bodice of taffeta covered satin shot through with tiny Swarovski
crystals. The full skirt falling in soft taffeta folds to the floor is covered
in glistening black feathers.

I inhale sharply, “Odile. The Black Swan. Oh Constantine,
It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.” I turn to hug him emotionally, tears
pricking my eyes. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, my love,” he smiles, his heart-stopping
made-just-for-me smile. “I will leave you to change while I go find your boys.”

He leaves me alone then and I slip out of the blue satin
dress and place it carefully over the back of a chair. Taking the black dress
off the hanger I unzip the back and step into it carefully. Pulling it up over
my breasts, I struggle to reach the zip to do it up.

“Allow me,” comes a voice from the doorway.

I turn to see Gregor leaning casually against the doorframe,
startled that I didn’t hear him. Stealthy much? Or maybe that should be:
Stalkery much?

“No thank you. I’ll manage,” I say a mild flutter speeding
up my heartbeat. I haven’t been alone with him since the last time he raped me.

He walks into the room and is at my back before I even
realize he’s moved that far.

“Exquisite,” he murmurs, trailing an ice-cold hand down my
back. I wince. I’m not afraid of him. I am older and stronger now and wouldn’t
go down without a bloody good fight this time, but the dread of having to do it
naked, makes me uneasy.

“Perhaps now that you are older and wiser and more
experienced, have learnt the nature of the Vampire, we can try again?” he
whispers in my ear in Russian, now trailing his hand down my bare arm. “I have
heard you are quite the tiger now, my dear.”

Thankfully CK arrives just then, ever my savior, with Cole
and Devon in tow. He strides into the room, face furious.

“Step away from her now, Gregor,” he says softly, also in
Russian, with venom dripping from every word.

Gregor places his creepy hands on my hips and trails them
back and slowly zips up my dress. “I am just helping the lady,” he says mildly,
“although in the spirit of friendship, Constantine, you really should share.”
He scolds and steps to my side.

CK growls, “Never!” and I am sure he is going to try and rip
Gregor’s head off. Thankful to at last have my hands free from holding up the
dress, my fist clenches, itching for a dagger to stick into him. It wouldn’t
kill him, but it would hurt and it would make me feel better. Oh, and it would
make a point. I like making a point.

The next second I hold a dagger in my left hand. CK’s eyes
flick to it briefly but I hide it in the folds of the voluminous skirt. He said
not to do anything to put him on the defensive, so I won’t. Much as I’d like
to.

Ignoring CK’s murderous look, Gregor turns to me, “Well my
dear, you look stunning.” He continues to speak in Russian with the purpose of
excluding Cole and Devon. “I shall see you later at La Scala.”

“You’re going?” I ask.

He looks surprised, “Of course. It is the Kirov after all
and in your honor. I was there you know, when Svetlana took her final bow in
1895.” He carries on conversationally, “You were breathtaking. Never have I
seen a dancer before or since with such grace and beauty. Your technique and
precision are to this day, unmatched.”

I glare at him, not prepared to thank him for the praise. He
raises an eyebrow at my rudeness and says in English now, presumably for the
benefit of including Cole and Devon in what he has to say, “Think about what I
said, my dear. We would be good together.” He strolls out as casually as he
entered.

“What did he say to you?” CK asks.

“I’m sure you can guess,” I say with a look of disgust.

All three of my boys growl in protest.

“Relax, he won’t make a move on me. He’s too clever for
that. He knows I am… unpredictable with this Power.” I pull my hand out from
behind the folds of my dress and peer at the dagger. It looks familiar. A long
blade with a red stone embedded in the hilt. “Do you know where in here I moved
this from?” I ask holding it out to CK. He moves forward as does Cole to pull
me into a tight hug. “I hate that man,” he whispers.

“As do I,” I whisper back.

“It looks familiar,” CK says. “Where do you think it came
from?”

“No clue. All I wanted was to stab him in the stomach and
the next second it was in my hand.”

“I didn’t see any of the usual black swirl,” Devon says. “It
was literally like it just popped into your hand.”

I frown at him as CK starts laughing then and I look at him
strangely. “Oh Lucretia,” he says in delight, “I remember this dagger as being
the one you stabbed
me
in the stomach with!”

“What?” I say incredulously and grab it from him while Cole
and Devon look gob smacked at that piece of information and of course the name
they don’t recognize. “Holy fuck! I seem to recall being on the business end of
this thing as well!” I laugh at the memory of
Nagyvárad when Constantine came to find me.

“Oh, my love. You were a vicious creature then,” he says,
not too fondly. “But you should have heeded my warning,” he whispers to me.

“Mm, indeed,” I murmur.

All of a sudden the dagger vanishes into thin air and we all
stare at the space it used to occupy.

“Weird,” We all say in unison and glare at each other.

Shrugging it off, CK hands me a medium-sized box, “For you.”

Curious, I open the box and in it is a diamond tiara with
alternating clear and black diamonds. Shocked I take it out of the box. “Fuck
Constantine. It’s exquisite,” is all I manage to get out.

“Like you,” he murmurs and takes it from me and pops it on
my head.

Devon peers at it, “Isn’t that the same design as the one
you wore in Swan Lake?”

CK and I nod together, “Although this one is very really,
real,” I comment. “You shouldn’t have,” I scold my sire.

He shrugs, “Now you are ready to go and face your past. And
you couldn’t look more beautiful.”

Cole and Devon agree heartily. Wow, a girl could get used to
this, and with their praise still ringing in my ears we leave The Council
behind and set off for La Scala.

XXXXX

Arriving at the theatre a few minutes later we are flooded
with paparazzi. CK disappears, always elusive, as we pose for what seems like a
million photos. Finally we are ushered us into the foyer. A welcome reprieve
from the press, it is cool and calm inside. Devon goes off in search of drinks
as Gregor and Eloise sidle over. Eloise smiles seductively at Cole and licks
her lips, “Hello Cole.” He just nods at her as I tighten my grip on his arm.
She gives me a scathing once over, eyes blazing as they land on my tiara.

Unable to resist a dig I say, “Beautiful, isn’t it? My sire
has such impeccable taste.”

Eyes narrowed as she places her arm through CK's in a
possessive move which makes me want that dagger back. “He certainly does,” she
murmurs, eyes on him.

Looking rather annoyed by her advance on him, Constantine
removes her hand and steps away. Slightly mollified I relax and hold out my
hand to him. He takes it immediately to my delight and Eloise’s dismay.

I am smug.

“Yes, Constantine certainly has a good eye when it comes to
his… acquisitions,” Gregor remarks.

I bristle at his comment but say nothing. CK just stares at
him mildly but underneath I know he is seething. Well this atmosphere is getting
to be a right downer so I say, “Excuse us,” and gently pull Cole and CK away.

“What is it with that woman?” Cole mumbles. “Every time she
looks at me I think she’s going to pounce.”

“Well if she so much a makes a move in your direction I will
rip her head off,” I smile as CK chuckles and Cole relaxes a bit.

“Really, Aefre. Your loathing of her amuses me. One day you
will have to tell me why you hate her so much.”

I gape at him. Like he doesn’t know! Rah! I could just punch
him sometimes.

The lights flicker to let us know it’s time to take our
seats so I am saved from having to say anything. CK leads the way as Devon
catches up to us, Champagne bottle and four glasses in hand.

“What’d I miss?” he whispers to me.

“Eloise checking out my husband and Gregor insinuating I was
one of Constantine’s acquisitions,” I say dryly. “Fun times.”

He snickers as we take our seats. I must say I am looking
forward to watching this now that I am here. It’s taken awhile to get me to
here, and with the best seats in the house we have a fantastic view of the
stage.

I get completely lost in the performance. The music, the
steps, I haven’t danced in over a hundred years but I remember them all so
well.

At intermission Devon disappears and Cole and I are left
alone to talk quietly for a few moments.

CK comes back to find us after talking with a group of
Vampires whom I don’t recognize. It’s odd to see him interacting with
strangers. It’s been so long since we were in this kind of setting. Usually
it’s just me and him, and of late Cole and Devon. I actually feel kind of
jealous, which must show on my face as he peers at me curiously before I adjust
my expression, but he says nothing.