“At least not to me. Clem, well, she has other ideas. This is about justice,” he continues, stepping closer. I move back as far as the magick will let me, which isn’t very far at all.
“There is no justice in what Lance did to me, or to Gustav,” I say desperately. “You know better than anyone,” I add sorrowfully.
“I do, and I am so very sorry for what you had to endure. This…this isn’t about that though. It’s about the fact that you were allowed to live after what you did, when others died for the same-lesser even-crime,” he says.
“I didn’t do it though,” I whisper through my tears. “It was never my intention to make him a Rogue.”
“No, just to create him and then kill him,” Dmitri states. “I know your works of the time, my dear. Quite well.”
I lower my face in shame, wishing that Cade were anywhere but here. Having him listen in on this is the worst thing imaginable, but even worse than that, he is going to have to witness something that I really wish he wouldn’t.
I step closer to Dmitri, brushing my tears away, seeking comfort. There isn’t a man alive, apart from the blasted Vampire chained to the wall watching this seduction, that can resist me when I play the damsel in distress. It is my last card. If this doesn’t work, I might as well set myself on fire.
He plays into it, drawing me closer, wrapping his arms around me. “Oh, Aefre,” he whispers into my hair. “If only you were doing this for the right reasons.” He pushes me back and my heart plummets.
Dmitri’s eyes flash as he fists his hand into my hair, dragging my head back painfully as he looms over me, crushing his lips to mine in a bruising kiss that leaves me breathless for all the wrong reasons. His tongue laps at mine and I try to get into it, still clinging to the hope that he will let me go, but he isn’t that big of a fool. Not for me anyway.
“To take you now, so vulnerable, would be such a coup,” he whispers against my lips. “To know that I was the last man who ever took you would eat at Constantine for the rest of his life. It’s almost worth it. Sadly, as much as I am tempted by your charms, you sicken me.” He shoves me back against the cage and the magick flares to life, burning my back as he holds me there.
I scream in pain, before I clamp my lips shut. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
“Wanton, little whore,” he says with a tut. “What will your husband think?”
He lets me go and Teleports out of the cage, leaving me to stumble forward, peeling my melted back off the bars with a whimper I can’t help.
“Jesus,” I hear Cade mutter, but I don’t respond. I am in agony, not healing because whatever magick is in force has completely wiped mine out, which includes my speedy Vampire healing. “Did you really expect that to work?” he adds, not without sympathy.
“No,” I admit ruefully, biting my tongue to try and deflect some of the pain so that I can speak. “At least, I had my hopes, but they weren’t very high.”
“For what it’s worth, you are damn good. I’d have let us go,” he says with a smile
that I can’t help but return.
“Thanks,” I say sarcastically and slump back down to the floor, curling my back as it is less painful than sitting upright. “We are fucked.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he replies.
Chapter 15
Ponte, Italy, January 2015 - Constantine
He prowls up and down the hallway outside his daughter’s room. He stares at the baby monitor and all is well with at least one of the most precious creatures in his life. The terror that is sliding down his spine is unnerving him to the point where he wants to go on a rampage and tear everyone and everything apart. He doesn’t know how lesser beings deal with this. He has never felt fear of anything in his life before. He has experienced concern, of course, varying from mild to not-so mild whenever it involves his troublesome wife, but terror? No, this is something new altogether. He watches as Arathia shuffles in her sleep and then opens her mouth a fraction. He bursts through the door of her room and scoops her up before she can utter a sound. Her face relaxes and she goes back to sleep in an instant. He beams down at her. Aefre would be so mad with him if she were here. She has this ridiculous notion that babies need to learn to sleep on their own and be allowed to cry sometimes. He doesn’t understand it. Why would he let her suffer when he is here to ensure that she knows she is safe, loved and above all not alone?
Never alone.
He strokes her cheek lovingly and sighs. This feeling that he has, far surpasses anything he ever thought he would feel for his child. He is delighted with it and her. She is absolute perfection and his redemption. The one thing in his life that he has ever done that was good. Apart from his wife, of course. But she doesn’t count. At least, not in the same sense as his daughter. Aefre is his light. Without her, he would be doomed.
Arathia is his love. Without her, he would be incomplete.
He will do anything and everything to make sure that she is happy.
The terror increases and even though he knows it isn’t his own, it sets his predator on edge. His fangs drop and his claws pop out in automatic reaction to the feeling.
“Dammit,” he mutters as he carefully places Arathia back in her crib, shaking out his hands to get his claws to retract. He has to fix this spell complication and soon. As soon as he finds Aefre. He doesn’t understand how he can talk to her in her head, connect with her in such a way, feel everything she is feeling and yet have no idea where she is.
He turns on his heel and is about to head towards the door when a searing pain slashes across his back, taking his breath away.
“Aaahhhh!” he cries out before he can stop himself. “Fuck!”