The Power of One (The Forever series Book Two) (8 page)

CK stands and comes to me. He pulls me into his arms and I
relax. He pulls back slightly to kiss me chastely and whispers, “Take care, my
sweet. I will see you soon.” Then he Teleports out.

“Liv, are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Devon asks.
With a quick glance at Cole he continues, “I think you need to be with him.” He
understands better than most a charges need for their sire.

“I will be fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “Cole needs
to be with me. End of story. You of all people should be aware of that,” I
state pointedly, as he also knows this is the case.

He grimaces at my reprimand but nods.

Turning to Cole I ask, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” he says then scowls, “I am great.” He amends, “A
bit tired though. Can we go to bed?”

I nod, a bit weary myself even though it is hours off my
normal bedtime.

Wishing Devon good night with a quick kiss, we head up to
the bedroom the old-fashioned way, using the stairs. I am not yet willing to
take a passenger on my travels through space.

“You need to move in here right away,” I order him.

He looks at me as one would assume I look at CK when he
orders me to do something.

“I’m sorry, my love. That came out all wrong. Will you move
in here with me?” I ask sweetly and he grins.

“Of course. I would love to. Um, we should also set a date,”
he says shyly, lifting my left hand.

I grin back in delight. “How about when we get back from
Milan? We can have it here, in the garden,” I say excitedly.

“Whatever you want, my love. I will be happy as long as you
are happy.”

On impulse I say, “Tomorrow then. We can go to City Hall.”

“What?” he asks, laughing. “No big affair?”

I shake my head, “I only need you. Well and Devon as a
witness.”

“Wouldn’t you want Constantine to walk you down the aisle?”
he asks slyly.

I start in surprise, “Why would I ask him to do that?”

“Because he is your sire.”

I shake my head, completely confident that he wouldn’t do it
even if I did ask him. Cole shrugs and drops it. “Okay, tomorrow it is then,”
he says happily. “What about rings?”

“We can go shopping en route.”

He laughs as we push open the door to our bedroom.

Our bedroom. I haven’t shared a bedroom with anyone in over
two hundred years. At least not officially anyway.

Pulling him to me, I kiss him, desperately needing him
again. He responds to my urgency with his own need and soon we are falling
naked onto the bed ready to take each other to the edge of oblivion and back.
Spreading my legs wide, he plunges into me again and again, bringing me to the
brink and I fall over, clawing at him. Snarling with the pain as I slice into
him, he clamps down on my neck, tearing at me with his teeth, drawing blood. I
squeal in delight at his savagery as his fangs descend and he bites down on the
healing wound. Drinking deeply he pulls back and kisses me, nipping sharply on
my lips. I am in ecstasy. Adventurous Cole has turned into Vamp Cole and Oh My
God! I push on his chest to get him to lift off of me. Crawling onto my hands
and knees he follows and kneels behind me. With a sharp slap to my rear which makes
me wiggle in rapture at the same time as I suppress my sire self’s indignation
in favor of my husband-to-be’s pleasure.

Lifting my hips high, he pushes into me.

“Not there,” I whisper over my shoulder and I hear him gasp
in surprise.

“Oh baby,” he pants, “oh God,” and without hesitation he
positions himself higher and pushes gently. I feel myself give way and gasp. He
groans as he pushes further into the tight hole. “Oh baby,” he says over and
over as he moves in and out.

I’m no stranger to anal sex. I’m no stranger to anything.
When you have been around the block as many times as I have, anything goes. It
doesn’t do much for me I’ll admit, but for my lovers it is another story. A
rare treat. Tonight with Cole is about savage, Vampire sex. His first foray
into the world of our darkest desires, where we can truly be ourselves, to feel
the primal urges we suppress to fit into the human world. Where we can rip each
other apart and not hold back. The sensualism of the situation along with his
obvious pleasure and gratitude sends a throbbing to my clit, which I coax into
an orgasm with my fingers. I growl with pleasure as Cole comes then quickly as
well, pulling my hips back onto him. The need to feed clawing at me, I move
away, turning towards him, fangs already down. I pounce on him, grabbing a
fistful of his hair to yank his head roughly to the side, biting him viciously
as I scrape my claws up his arms to his shoulders. He grunts, caught in the war
between pleasure and pain and lets his claws rake down my sides, my thighs, all
the way to my knees. Taking my fill I rear back, his blood dripping from my
mouth from such a barbaric bite to him. The Power that has been building up
inside me takes over as I grab him by the throat and slam him back to the bed,
forcing him to submit to my strength. His eyes flash in protest, but in
contrast his hands move to my hips, lifting me up and over him. Claws digging
into the skin at his throat, his blood flowing freely as I prevent him from healing,
he writhes under my cruel touch as I ruthlessly take him to no place he has
ever been before. Fucking him violently as he is pinned under me, I come
quickly with a flash of black, glowing fog pouring out of my hands and swirling
around us in a vortex of pure Power. My eyes are blazing, I can see the fiery
depths reflected in his own and I get completely lost in him as he howls my
name when he comes, the orb of Power engulfs us.

A blistering pain burns across my back, and I let go of my
grip on his throat. I feel my eyes return to normal and my fangs and claws
retract, as I grab at the pain on my back, screaming.

Coming out of the trance-like state, Cole’s eyes focus as he
sees the agony on my face.

“Liv!” he shouts as he grabs me.

Breathing sharply I focus my blurry gaze on his. “My back…”
is all I manage and he moves to take a look.

“Holy crap,” he breathes just as there’s a pounding on the
door followed by Devon bursting in. “Liv!” Devon shouts. He rushes to my side,
reaching me about a second before Constantine pops in out of nowhere.

“What the fuck just happened?” he demands, face furious.

“Fuck’s sake! Do you mind, a bit of privacy please!” Cole
shouts in frustration.

CK snorts and says, “Please, it’s nothing we haven’t seen
before,” while Devon has the grace to hand me my robe and Cole pulls the
coverlet over us, glaring at CK in rage.

“Tell me what happened,” CK demands again.

“Before I try to explain, tell me what you felt that brought
you here,” I pant breathlessly.

Devon speaks first, “A tremor went through the house, like
an earthquake, but it was followed by that smoky black swirl of yours. Then I
heard you screaming.”

I look expectantly at CK who answers. “I felt your pain.
Really felt it this time, not just sensed it, and then I heard you screaming in
my head,” he replies.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.

Taking a deep breath as the fire subsides, I turn to Cole
over my shoulder, “And you?”

He shrugs, “I don’t really know, I was caught up in the
moment. I saw the whirlwind, I guess, of black and felt a massive blast of
Power course through me. It’s kind of hazy though. I came to when you started
screaming.”

“And my back?”

“You need to see it for yourself,” Is all he says and I get
up, letting the robe drop to the floor. As I walk past CK and Devon I see their
mouths drop open and I take in a breath and turn around in front of the mirror.
Looking back over my shoulder, I see the marking. It now stretches across the
expanse of my narrow back in four bloody jagged slashes that appear to be made
by some sort of very large claw or talon even.

“Hm,” I say distractedly. “Why is it not healing?” I ask of
no one in particular. I turn back to face the three Vampires standing in front
of me, all staring at me in various shades of horror. Cole, who has now pulled
his pants on, crosses over to me, my robe in hand. My back screams in protest
as I shuffle into it but I know he needs me to be covered up in front of the
other two.

CK clears his throat, “Well certainly, we don’t need to ask
what you were doing to cause this, but why such a significant change?”

Cole shrugs, partly embarrassed at everyone knowing our
business.

They all turn to me as if I know the answer: my turn to
shrug and then wince. “We set our wedding date, for tomorrow at City Hall,” I
say starting at the beginning. “This is going to sound crazy but it’s almost
like the Power approved. It’s like it is a separate entity and I am just the
vessel. It wants this union to be…” I trail off, not able to find the right
word. There’s silence.

I glance up from my musings to find CK and Devon looking
pained. “Tomorrow?” Devon asks.

I nod. “Will you be our witness?” I ask as if it’s the most
important thing right now.

Looking taken aback he eventually nods, “Err sure. Yes of
course.”

I nod, relieved that is cleared up.

CK looks murderous until I catch his eye and he adjusts his
features. Too distracted to be intrigued by his reaction, I try to find my
trail of thought.

He helps by prompting, “This union to be…?”

“Whole?” I struggle to explain. “So it can be whole. A
proper part of me. It has a mission.”

“A mission?” They all question in unison and then glare at
each other.

“I don’t know what. All I got was flashes and feelings.
Fire. Lots and lots of fire.” My thoughts all jumbled, I ramble on, “The Power
didn’t take hold right away. It took control after it accepted Cole, us, after
he embraced his true nature.”

“What do you mean?” Devon asks and Cole looks perplexed, but
when I take his hand he remembers what we shared and he understands: he had
embraced and accepted his Vampire self, truly accepted me as his sire and his
subordinate role as my charge, but also the leeway I gifted him as my
husband-to-be.

“Ah, Vamp sex,” Devon says in his usual glib way and CK
grimaces.

“Back to this mission!” he snaps.

“I told you, I don’t know!” I snap back and he sighs at me
as though I am some frustrating child, as he runs his hand through his short
hair in a very un-CK like gesture.

“Can you tell me more about it being separate from you?”

“It’s hard to explain,” I whine.

“Try,
la mia dolce
, it’s important that we understand
as much as we can,” he says now kindly.

“It took me over. I was still there but the Power wasn’t
coming from me. All these feelings: approval of Cole and me; anger at someone
or something; triumph or relief. And the fire. And the pain,” I add. “That’s
all I can tell you.”

“How do you know about the mission?” he coaxes.

“Again it was a projection of…” I click my fingers
repeatedly scrambling for the right word, “not feeling… knowledge!” I say
triumphantly and pointing at him.

“If you say it approves of your marriage to Cole, maybe you
will find out more tomorrow, afterwards,” Devon muses out loud, ever a step
ahead.

“Agreed,” CK says and shifts uncomfortably, not unnoticed by
me.

“Do you still feel it?” I ask.

”Don’t worry about me,
cara
. I am concerned only for
you. That it is not healing.”

“I’ll live. I hope,” I say jokingly and they all glare at me
not amused.

XXXXX

Shortly thereafter, CK left with reassurances that we would
call if anything happened and Cole and Devon – to my surprise – agreed to take
shifts to watch me as I sleep. I am unusually tired and settling on my front to
sleep is uncomfortable, but I drift off anyway while Cole sleeps and Devon
stays with us and works.

I vaguely remember the boys swapping shifts and I am alone
in bed, as Devon has gone down to his own room.

The dreams keep pulling me under. I am standing in a massive
canyon, which must have been a mile across and just as high. The sky is dark
orange with black clouds. I can see shadows, huge shadows, overhead but I’m not
afraid. Every now and again I hear a loud shriek and a whooshing sound as I
just stand there. I can’t be clear on what it is. I see fire but don’t feel the
heat or the burn and there is a massive sword buried deep into a wall that no
one can reach. I feel content here and powerful, beyond anything I have felt
before. Invincible even.

A voice, a gravelly deep voice, says my name, “Aefre.” As I
turn I wake up with a start.

Cole is immediately by my side. “You okay?” he asks.

A bit groggy, I say, “Fine. Thirsty.” My mouth feels like I
have eaten dust… that was on fire, it is so dry. Gulping all the water he hands
me, I feel better.

“Thank you.”

“How is your back?”

I flex my shoulders and feel no pain. Frowning I say, “Okay,
I think. Check it?”

He peels away the robe carefully and says, “Huh. It’s
healed. It’s like it was before, size wise.” He traces his finger gently over
the lines so I can feel what he sees. “Sore?”

I shake my head, “No. What time is it?”

“Good. 6 AM.” It’s my usual wake-up time but I realize I've
slept for about eight hours!

“I was dreaming. It was… intense.”

“Oh, what about?” he asks, concerned.

“Go get Devon and I’ll call CK. I don’t want to have to go
through it more than once.” Reaching for my phone, I message him, knowing he
will pick it up right away:

“News. Come now.” I cannot be bothered with endearments
today.

He’s there before I even put the phone back down. “How do
you feel?” he asks, sitting next to me on the bed.

“Okay, a bit groggy.” He pulls me to him and kisses me on
the mouth, pushing his tongue through my lips. He pulls away whispering, “I
have wanted to do that since Sunday.” I lean against him and he holds me, not
letting go when Cole arrives back with Devon.