“No,” I say. “No. No.”
“Oh, yes,” Fake Lance says now. “Oh, I do love unnerving you. Such fun.”
I feel like I want to die, it’s not possible. It can’t be. I step closer to the forcefield and glare at him, “Don’t bring him into this. You want revenge for what my mother did to you, fine. But leave him out of this.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself, you can believe me or not. And make no mistake that I am out for more than revenge. You will go through trials the likes that you never seen before.” He steps closer to his side of the forcefield. He laughs suddenly. “Oh, I can see your thoughts plain as day. You want to go to him and bring him back here to be with you. I don’t blame you. He is the love of your life, after all,” he says with an evil laugh. “But know this. One goes, one comes back.”
I narrow my eyes at him as I don’t know what he means. He sees my confusion and elaborates, “You can go, but you can’t bring him back unless you take someone and leave them there in his place.” He casts his eyes around the room. He taps his chin as he takes in everyone, one by one. “Who will you discard?”
My mouth drops open at his audacity.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked,” he says. “I know you are already thinking up a plan.” He brings his hand up to his side of the forcefield. “Too bad I don’t intend for you to live long enough to execute it.” He drops the barrier and grabs me by the throat, pulling me towards him as he throws the field up again behind me. I can hear my boys shouting to get to me, but I am helpless, just like in my dream. He is squeezing tightly and though he can’t choke me he can probably rip my head off. We haven’t tested that theory for obvious reasons. But as his hand tightens, I can feel him start to suck the energy out of me. I panic for a few seconds before I find my resolve. No way am I dying here, if Fraser is still alive in the alternate universe. He continues to suck the life out of me as I gather my strength.
I pull on the sword, remembering what Xane said about banishing it. I feel it my hand and Lance's eyes go colder as his grip tightens. I can feel the energy leaving me and entering him, leaving me weak. I grip the sword and with great effort pull on everything I have in me which, on a scale of one to ten, one being human and ten being Dragon, I come in around about a six, he has drained that much out of me already. I thrust the sword into his gut and twist it for good measure. His mouth drops open in shock and his grip loosens on my neck. I step back, hand still on the hilt of the sword and I feel the forcefield drop. I pull on the energy of everyone in the room, knowing even as I do it, it is an intimate violation that I should need permission for. But I don’t care right now. I want rid of this thing by any means possible. I can feel their energy flow through me, but I can also feel that I am killing the weaker ones, namely Cole and Jess. I quickly let go and focus solely on the most powerful being in the room apart from myself. My hand goes up to hover between Xane, CK and Sebastian and is inexplicably drawn towards Sebastian. I cover my surprise as I finish off my banishment and the Lance creature vanishes in a flaming vortex snarling at me like a rabid dog.
The sword drops as do I, the sweat pouring off me as I breathe in deeply. I can sense everyone’s eyes on Sebastian and I quickly stand up straight.
“I apologize, Sebastian,” I say, letting go of the sword. “I needed the strongest being in the room and it was between Xane, being Demon Overlord and you and CK, being the oldest two. I was loathed to hurt our sire, so I chose you. I’m sorry.”
He stares at me, his features going from anger to something else entirely as he sees me protect him and his secret from the rest. CK breathes out a sigh of relief, as he too knows I am protecting his charge. I cringe as I see the look in Sebastian’s eyes. I have affirmed that I can be trusted with his secret and now he knows without a doubt he can trust me.
“Yes, I understand that. It’s fine,” he says smoothly. “I am just glad you managed to get rid of him.”
“For now,” I say with a sigh. “This leads me to the rest of the discussion I wanted to have tonight.”
Cole stands then, a bit shaky after my power pull but he is by my side knowing that what is to come isn’t going to be received light
ly.
I will process what I have learned about Sebastian and his power, after I have broken this news. I see now why it is such a big secret. He has some serious boot. It’s strange though how he kept a hold of it after being turned.
“How many?” I ask Xane who is staring at me in wonder.
“Huh?”
“How many was that? You said four or five before. That was definitely more.”
“About eight, I would say.”
I nod grimly. “That leaves another five to come at me again until they heal or whatever it is, they do.”
“Are we just going to ignore what he said?” Devon asks in his usual blunt fashion.
“Liv needs to say something to all of you,” Cole says, ignoring Devon’s question and gaining the attention of everyone in the room. He shifts uncomfortably under the steely gaze of my sire and clears his throat. “Liv?” he prompts me.
Well, here goes.
“We are off to Miami in a few days. Miami means vacation and that is what I intend to have. A vacation. From all of you,” I say wearily, and I sound like a complete bitch. “Sorry,” I mumble as I hear the gasps of surprise. “That sounds worse than it is. I didn’t mean it in a horrible way. Let me start again. I need to focus, and I can’t do that when I am turning from person to person giving you each my undivided attention. I told you back in L.A. that this is my show and I will run it my way. Cade and I have spoken about me training and Xane, you need to help me learn more about the Grimoire and how to use it,” I tell him, and he nods quickly. “The rest of you, I will catch up with at dinner times or whatever, but I need a break to focus on myself.” I stop speaking as I sense the tension going up a few notches. Mainly from CK, who is staring at me like he is going to blow every gasket he has.
“Aefre,” he says quietly. “We have a deal.”
“I know, my love. I do. But you must understand that I am not ready to face this thing in my current state. Ahmed says I should be able to defeat it, but I don’t think that I can.”
“Ahmed?” Lincoln asks. “When did you speak to him?”
“When Devon was undergoing his trials. We spoke briefly. I am going back on Sunday to see him and Corinne. He said they would try to help.”
“On Sunday? I will come with you,” CK says quickly before anyone else can call shotgun.