“And keeping quiet will hurt me,” he says.
“Don’t make me choose between you,” she says with a sigh and rests her head against his chest. She is so small and fragile, but with a stubborn, cruel streak that never used to be there. “Give me some time,” she says eventually. “Once this baby is born, he will take the news better, but I can’t predict his reaction. He will be afraid, Vito, and that scares me. I don’t want anything to happen to you again because of me.”
He wants to ask her if there is the possibility that they will have a second chance to be together. Her words make it sound so, but he is afraid that she will say no, so he keeps quiet. He would rather live with the fantasy that they can be together again than to have it so coldly spelled out that they won’t.
“And Xane?” he asks instead. “It is cruel to let him keep on mourning.” He isn’t the Demon’s biggest fan, but his suffering is unnecessary.
“I will need to speak with Xanthe. She is responsible for this lie and she will have to fix it. She will tell Xane that the baby wasn’t his, but nothing more,” she says firmly. “Not yet.”
“I am not comfortable with this plan,” he says formally, pushing her away from him gently.
“I know you aren’t,” she says. “You will get what you want, Vito, but not yet. Please just leave it for now.”
“This is nowhere near what I want, Aefre,” he says sadly. “But it’s all I have. The memory of us together, that we made a child…” He curls her hair behind her ear, and she smiles mournfully at him.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect her,” she whispers. “I am so, so sorry.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” he say
s to her sternly, leading her back to the bed. She is pale and she needs to rest now. “I will have my revenge on Kalen and Drake. They took away something so precious from me and they will pay.”
“Get in line,” she says with a small smile. “Seems they are on everyone’s hit list.”
“They have destroyed many lives with their scheming. It has to end,” Vito says.
“Agreed,” she says wearily, her eyes drooping.
“Xane must know now, of that I am absolutely resolute. You have one day to sort out that mess, Aefre, before I tell him myself. And know this, on the day your child is born, I will tell Constantine,” he says, letting her know that she hasn’t swayed him with her charms and sorrow.
“I know,” she says softly and then falls asleep.
He stares down at her for the longest time. This didn’t go how he had hoped. He never should have agreed to her terms, but she has this way of forcing her way of thinking onto others. All he can do now is hope that her baby arrives soon, and he can tell the world that they created a child together. It is the only thing that he has of her now. He knows his fantasy is exactly that. He will never get the opportunity again. She won’t risk it. He stops to think why she never got pregnant with Kalen’s child if it is supposed to be so easy. Maybe between her three pregnancies, it was just never the right time. And for that he thanks the gods. Vito owes that bastard a Hell of a lot more than just revenge for his child, and he will get his vengeance on the man whose idea it was to punish him instead of killing him all those centuries ago.
“Big mistake,” he growls out loud as he stands up to leave Aefre to sleep. “Big mistake.”
The Underworld, October 2014 - Devon
The hunger is clawing at him. He didn’t think it would be this bad. He assumed he would just wake up and get on with things.
He is relieved that he didn’t lose his powers, so at least that worked out for him. Now he is just hungry and in dire need of some sire reassurance. He is itching to get back to Lizzie.
He breathes out when Vito arrives back in the library looking like thunder struck his ass. Whatever he wanted to discuss with her must not have gone well.
“You done?” he asks impatiently, already walking forward to go back to her.
“She is sleeping,” Vito answers. “She is still healing; she needs her rest.”
Devon just nods and continues on his way. Constantine catches up with him on the stairs and drags him back into the library.
“Oh no,” he says. “You stay here.”
Before Devon can respond, Remiel reappears and Vito says, “Wait, before anyone goes up there, I have something to tell you all.”
Devon gives him an impatient look. “Well?” he prods when Vito remains silent.
“Something happened in the Fae Kingdoms when I went back to rescue Aefre,” he says. “Now that I have told her, I can tell you. My sister, Maurelle, gave birth to a daughter.”
Remiel takes a step forward and is in front of Vito in a flash of speed. “Does that mean that Aefre is no longer the one they want?”