The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (10 page)

His face hardens as he registers what I am saying. “How
long?”

“A week at least, if not more,” I say in dread.

“I see.” He pulls away from me and ponders this for a good
long while. Long enough that I get to pour myself a drink and make myself comfy
on the sofa and have a look through the rest of Sebastian’s gifts. Each one is
meaningful in some way and I am really surprised. I think he is trying to show
me that he does know me and doesn’t think of me as a wanton whore. Although my
eyes do go straight to “W” expecting something unsavory there but what I see is
a globe. The World. He gave me the World.

“Ten days,” CK says eventually. “Ten days starting with a
Thursday to the next Saturday and I get the following Sunday to Wednesday. Take
it or leave it.”

“Done,” I say without hesitation. I will have to work on
Lincoln and Devon will be unhappy but my priority is spending proper time with
Cole.

He nods, “I am not entirely unreasonable, Aefre. You just
need to be able to offer me something in return.”

Oh sure, if I looked up “unreasonable” in the dictionary my
sire’s photo would take up the whole page.

“I may have more than that to offer you,” I say carefully.

He looks at me sharply, “I’m listening.”

“While my mother is very protective and defensive of Cole,
She said today that you would make an excellent partner for me one day.” I
leave out the “for a while” bit.

He beams, “Of course I will. We belong together.”

Hm, I seem to be hearing that a lot today.

“It has also been suggested that I may be able to…” I clear
my throat, a bit embarrassed to discuss this with him. It’s odd and unnatural.

“Be able to what?” he prompts me.

“Bear children,” I say quickly, looking away from him.

“What?” he says, somewhat dumbstruck.

“Not with a Vampire. At least not with any ordinary
Vampire,” I say just as quickly.

He frowns. “Then what are you saying? You want to get
pregnant with, whom? Lincoln’s pups?” he asks as if he can’t believe it. “Or
Xane’s Demon babies?” he yells at me.

I roll my eyes at him, “No, you idiot.” And he glares at me.
This is the second time in a few short days I have called him an idiot, which
is probably the only times in his supremely long life anyone dared. “I want to
find a way to make you no ordinary Vampire.”

“Say that again?” he asks now, beyond confused.

“While you were busy with Vivienne, or not busy with
Vivienne, whatever,” I amend at his look, “a few things happened and we saw
Corinne.”

“Corinne?”

“Yes, downstairs.” I launch into my tale about the wards and
my blood amplifying the status of himself, Devon, and Sebastian. “So basically
Sebastian’s gift worked on me because while his own power is strong, my blood made
him stronger.” I decide to leave out the Faerie bit for now. “You can Teleport
because I am making you stronger.”

“Okay, yes, I get that, but why would you think that has
anything to do with what you said before?”

“I obviously don’t know for sure, but I think it might. I
think my blood might evolve you into something more, more like me, if we tie
ourselves with the Blood Magick bond. The proper Blood Magick bond.”

He is staring at me like I just fell from heaven and offered
him the world on a silver platter.

“You would do that? You would try this for me?” he croaks
out.

“For us. I would do this for us.”

“Oh, Aefre,” he swoops down on me and folds me in his arms
and picks me up from the sofa, twirling me about. I laugh at his joy and I see
for the first time maybe just a tiny glimpse of what he might have been like as
a human.

“I had hoped for just a child to raise with you, but to know
that I might get one of my very own. Our very own. That would be the greatest
gift of all.” He plops me down gently. “Let’s do it. Let’s do it now. Do you
know how?” His eagerness makes me love him even more but I shake my head
solemnly.

“No, Constantine. Not right now. I am saying we will try
this in the future. When we are together. When I am free to do this with you.”

His face falls as he realizes I am serious. “Of course. I
forgot for a moment that you are anything but free to be with me,” he says
bitterly.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could give you what you want right now.
I need to find a cloning spell,” I mutter more to myself.

“Well, if you find one, I want the real you,” he says and I
smile at him. “How did you think of this?”

Well, I can’t answer that, not honestly at least. I try for
semi-truth, “The Blood Magick that Lance’s Romani performed was a weak version
of the real thing. The intent was dishonorable and it made the spell weak and
twisted.”

“Twisted how?”

“Its sole purpose was to link two bodies together so that if
one died the other would as well. There was nothing more in it than that. But
this isn’t the true purpose of the spell. Its true purpose is for good: a tie
to bind soul mates, true loves for eternity. It is the most powerful of all
spells and the effects are limitless, if performed correctly with the right
people.”

“I see. How do you know this?”

“It is a form of Dragon and Demon magick.” I leave out the
bit where it is strongest when connecting a female Dragon to a male Demon.
Somehow I am going to have to find a way to untie that one. So far there is
nothing in the Grimoire that I can use, or know how to use.

“You think that it will work?” he asks hopefully.

“Well, I have proven you are my true love. Am I yours?” I
ask slyly.

“Do you even have to ask me that?” he says, shaking his head
at me.

“Prove it,” I challenge him with a glint in my eye.

He frowns at me, “How do I do that? Is my word not good
enough?”

“I want you to prove it. Find a way.”

“All right, I accept your challenge,” he says. “I will find
a way to prove to you that I love you unconditionally and without prejudice.
That you are my true love.”

I smile widely at him. “I look forward to it.”

He smiles back. “I look forward to making a baby with you. I
want a girl,” he declares, twining his fingers through mine.

“Given it some thought, have you?” I joke.

“Yes. A girl. And I want to call her ‘Eternal,’” he says
back seriously. “A tweak on your own name.”

“Okay, my love. You have not been a human for many centuries
so I don’t mind reminding you that it isn’t something you get to choose.”

“I know that,” he snaps at me as I hide my smile. “But it’s
what I want.”

“Okay,” I say again.

“Speaking of being human…” he changes the topic in his
abrupt fashion, “If you could be human again, would you?”

“Erm, that is a bit redundant, isn’t it? I can’t say I have
ever even thought about it. Would you?” I ask, interested

“Maybe. If you were as well,” he says.

“But we would grow old and die together. Where is the fun in
that?” I ask.

“There are so many things we miss out on, Aefre. So many
things that I want to feel again.”

Gee, melancholy much?

“Well, I am afraid to say that even if I could reverse being
a Vampire, I am just too many other things now to ever be human again. But I
don’t think that I would want to be.”

“Hm, I suppose that is true. I suppose I have been thinking
about it a lot because of my desire for a child. If you can offer a solution, I
could think of nothing more that I want than to spend eternity with my two
beautiful girls.” He smiles at me.

“Or a boy,” I say.

He chuckles, “You have made me so happy today, Aefre. I love
you more than I ever thought possible. Thank you.”

“It is my sole mission in life to please you,” I say.

“If only that were the truth,” he mutters. “Come, we should
go and see what is going on downstairs. I think your boy might need you near
him for a while.” I must look astounded at his remark as he says, “I am feeling
magnanimous. Just go with it while it lasts.”

I grab his hand and Astral us downstairs before he can
change his mind.

Scott nearly jumps out of his skin as we land next to him as
he talks on the phone.

“Sorry,” I mouth and he waves it off. I go into the bedroom
to find Devon who is lying flat on his back on the bed staring at the ceiling.

“At least it is more comfy than the floor,” I say, going to
sit next to him.

“I wish she would wake up already. Get it over with,” he grumbles.

“Dev. Are you going to be okay with her once she does? I
know you are upset with her right now but hating her is only going to make
things worse.”

“I don’t hate
her
. I hate what she did. What she made
me do. Will you tell her it’s not okay? That what she did was wrong?”

“I will, don’t worry about that. But I think she needs to
hear it from you first. After you have reassured her she is going to be fine,”
I add.

He looks at me then, “You said you would take care of it. Of
her. You said you would do it for me.”

“I will, Devon. But no matter how much responsibility I take
on, you are still her sire. The one she will find comfort in and need to be
with.” It kills me having to defend her. I don’t think I can do it much longer.
I am this close to just leaving her here and going home.

“I’m not sharing a room with her. In New York. Or Miami, or
anywhere else.”

“Sweetie. We only have three bedrooms in New York and four
of us living there. Short of us or me and Lincoln sharing a room - to which
Cole will have an apoplexy – you are going to have to. Anyway, we aren’t going
to New York. From here we are going to Toronto. Scott is sorting it all out and
you can have separate rooms. Grayson can watch her. Okay?”

“Thank you.”

“No worries. I am here to fix your problems,” I say with a
smile and brush his hair away from his forehead. He turns his face into my hand
and sighs. “You should get out of here. Get some space. Why don’t you go and
hit the casino. Try and win us a shitload of cash,” I say.

He chuckles, “You know that I will. I never lose.”

“No, you don’t.” I smile.

“Will you come with me?”

“Sure. CK is feeling generous, he said to make the most of
it.”

“I don’t even want to know what you promised him to get him
to say that,” he says as he sits up and pulls his t-shirt over his head. “Let
me get showered and changed.”

“Okay, baby.” I kiss him softly and leave him to his
business.

“Bad news, Liv,” Scott says as soon as I walk back into the
sitting room.

“Oh Scott. Don’t start a sentence with those words, please,”
I beg him.

“Sorry. We have to give up some rooms. There is a conference
coming into town first thing tomorrow and they need the rooms free.”

“What? Just offer them more money, or ask to speak to Xane.
He’ll sort it.”

“I did offer them more money and also offered to pay for the
other guests to be put up elsewhere but it’s a big conference. There are no
rooms anywhere. And you speak to Xane. He’s your….” he pauses, waving his hand
around, “friend.”

“What can they give us?”

“Two suites. Yours and Mr. D’Arcangelo’s and this one.”

“So Sebastian, you, and Linc have to give up yours. Where is
Linc by the way?”

“Took an opportunity to conduct some business.”

“Oh. Well, we have two rooms and this has two rooms. That
leaves one unaccounted for.”

“Aefre,” CK interjects, “I am not altogether happy about
sharing.”

“We don’t have much of a choice. Besides, we shared with
Sebastian back in New York.”

“That was before he… you know…”

“Fine, Lincoln can have the other room.”

“Humph, not likely,” he says.

“Scott, looks like you are ‘It,’” I say to him and grimaces
at me.

“I’ll take my chances elsewhere if that’s all the same to
you,” he says and CK snickers.

“We promise to keep it down if it will make you feel any
better,” he says.

Scott blushes bright red. “I will still know. I may be able
to focus my gift better now but it’s still not a hundred percent around you,”
he says haughtily and we giggle at him.

“So, Sebastian or Lincoln? Which will it be?” I ask CK.

“’Bastian,” he says reluctantly. “At least I know you won’t
be sneaking into his bed in the middle of the night to get some.”

I laugh out loud but quiet at his murderous look. I turn
back to Scott, “Where will you go?”

“I’ll find somewhere. I don’t mind slumming it, unlike you
guys,” he says ruefully.

“There is nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in
life, when you can afford them,” CK says patronizingly.

“I’m sure. Maybe you should talk your girlfriend into giving
me a raise,” he says smartly and CK and I look at each other in amusement at
the word “girlfriend.”

“I think I pay you quite handsomely,” I say, somewhat
offended that he thinks his six-figure salary isn’t enough.

“You do. I was only kidding. Believe me, I will be the first
to come to you with a request should the job description exceed the
compensation.”

“I would expect nothing less from you,” I say proudly.

He pouts, “Although, it has to be said, I think I may need
some therapy sessions to be paid for after this particular trip. There are just
some things you can’t unhear however much you try.”

“Tell me about it,” CK and I agree in unison.

“Are you ready to go?” Devon asks, coming into the sitting
room.

“Go where?” CK asks.

“Downstairs. Dev needs to get out of here. We, or rather,
he, is going to go and win us a shitload of cash.”

“Like you need any more?”

“The cash is not what is important. It’s the winning,” I say
with a smile.

“Maybe to you,” Scott says, standing. “Mind if I tag along?
Maybe get in on some of your action.”