“I’ll take my chances,” she said seductively.
“Daring as well as beautiful and brazen,” he said admiringly, and she glowed at the compliment. She had him hooked, now all she had to do was reel him in.
“And so much more,” she said. “Care to buy me a cup of coffee and find out?”
He frowned over her shoulder and his demeanor changed rapidly. He stiffened and shifted his eyes back to hers quickly and said, “Actually, yes I would like to find out. Give me your number.”
Jess was slightly taken aback. She had expected a bit more flirting and maybe that cup of coffee before she handed her number over to him under her own terms. He had demanded it of her, and she wondered if perhaps Feenyx had been right. She hesitated, but then when she thought about all the things, she wanted him to do to her, she handed it over. She was either stupid or crazy. Probably a bit of both.
“Thanks,” Devon said. “I’ll call you.” He stood hastily and dismissed her as he practically ran off. Jess watched him go with a frown. He met up with a beautiful, small, blonde woman in expensive killer heels and a suit that probably cost more than Jess’s mom’s house. He kissed her on the cheek, and she smiled up at him and took his arm through hers.
“Probably his wife,” Feenyx said, sitting down in the seat he had vacated.
“Yeah, maybe,” Jess said, but then smiled at her friend. “But who cares? He said he was interested and that he’d call.”
“Jess!” Feenyx admonished her. “You can’t go after him if he is married.”
“He wasn’t wearing a ring,” Jess said and shrugged. At least not a wedding ring. He did have a very pretty, silver ring on his thumb. “And he asked for my number, so he wants me too.”
“You gave him your number?” Feenyx yelled at her. “Are you crazy?”
Jess shrugged again. Maybe she was, crazy for him. Devon. What a perfect name, for a perfect guy. Jess was going to make it
happen for them, she didn’t care if he was a married psycho killer. She wanted him and she was going to get him. She didn’t care how; she didn’t care what it took or what she had to do. She was going to get Devon and God help anyone who got in her way.
Seven months later
Jess stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, halfway across the world from where she met Devon. She loved him more than she ever thought possible. She wasn’t stupid, she knew a lot of her feelings were the bond she had with him, but she had loved him before he had saved her.
She frowned as she remembered that feeling of utter desperation before she had taken the razor to her wrists. She had gone to find Devon; she knew he had gone to see that bitch he called his sire. How Jess had hated her. She hated everything about her, most especially the hold she had on Devon. She had lingered at the door to the hotel suite she knew he was in, doing God knows what. He had only told her the very basics of Vampire life. He had told her enough that she knew she wanted to be one, but not enough that she really knew how hard it would be. Jess had pressed her ear against the door and heard him say the words that had driven her over the edge.
They still swirl around in her head now all these months later: “Oh, Christ, Liz. I have missed fucking you.”
The thought that he was in there fucking her was too much to bear and she had run. She had never had an easy life, and it had made her strong and resilient, but the absolute desolation had swept over her, overwhelmed her, and she knew without a doubt what she had to do. It was almost like the thought had been there all along, worming its way closer to the surface, needing a trigger to set it off. She swallowed loudly, not wanting to think of that moment. It was the worst moment of her life, followed closely by the time she had found out that she was almost identical to Elizabeth. It had coiled around her gut like a snake, squeezing so tight. She had never hated anyone so much in her entire life as she did in that moment when she saw them together in Devon’s bed. She clenched her fist and forced herself to relax. Jess knew he didn’t want her to be Elizabeth. He had told her he wasn’t into Substitutes, and she had believed him. Maybe only because he didn’t want a Substitute, he wanted the real thing. She was also grateful that Elizabeth was just a Shift. If Liv looked like that every day, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
But she had secrets that would make him hate her. He just about acknowledged her as his charge now, if he ever found out about her plotting it would disappear in a heartbeat. Secrets she held that he would consider huge betrayals. But she did it for him. Everything she did, she did it for him. He was her life and she did it so they could be together, just the two of them.
Chapter 1
Tuscany, Italy, March 2013 – Liv
“Liv? Liv? Livvie? Fuck, where is she?”
I hear my name being called; I think. It might just be a dream. I open my eyes to find myself in semi darkness. They adjust quickly to the gloom and it all comes crashing back to me: The fight with CK, him hurling me out of the windows, the tower collapsing, and him leaving me here. He left me here. Alone and broken. The tears prick my eyes and I bring my hand up to wipe them away. I can move. At least I have healed now. I rearrange myself so that I am lying flat on my back instead of in a crumpled heap and breathe in deeply. Dust and bits of stone, blood, and rain. I can smell it all.
“Liv?”
“Livvie?”
I can hear the shouts again. Two voices. Neither one of them my sire.
I sit up suddenly, pushing the debris from me. At least it has stopped raining, even though the clouds are still dark and menacing overhead. I put my hand to my now healed stomach, remembering what he did to me, and I whimper despite myself. I have never seen such violence or hate on him directed at me. I know that I hurt him over this whole Fae/Sebastian business, but he just flipped. It was probably - no, definitely - one of the scariest things I have ever seen. Because I never thought that I would see it.
“There!” I hear Sebastian shout, as I force myself to my feet. “Liv? What the fuck happened?” He grabs my hand as he clambers over the chunks of stone and shards of glass. I grip it tightly to steady myself. I meet his eyes and then wish I hadn’t. The horror shown there, no doubt at my ghastly appearance, makes me cringe. I try to Shift, to change, but I can’t. I am too weak, or disorientated, or something. “Livvie, say something. Are you okay?”
Xane appears at my other side, grabbing my elbow as my knees buckle.
“I’m alive. That’s about it right now. Can you get me out of this mess?”