“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Sebastian mutters and then closes his mouth on a whispered curse.
“How do you know so much about her?” Cole asks, stepping forward. “And who the fuck are you anyway?”
“I am getting quite tired of that question. You have all met me before. This is the downside to taking on different personas – when you adopt your own, no one recognizes you.” Remiel sighs wearily and sits.
“Aefre called him Remiel. He is The Thirteen, apparently new and improved,” Constantine says wryly. “But he is not important. We need to find a way to get Aefre back. I am not leaving her there to be tortured or worse.”
“No, not when you can do it yourself,” Xane mutters and it hits him like a ton of bricks. He stares at Xane and he stares back.
“Yes, I know what you did. She told us,” Xane sneers.
The pain in his heart intensifies as he remembers what he did to her. What he said to her. He hates himself for being this monster that loses all control. She is never going to forgive him. He could see that in the cell. All her anger and her pain that he caused, but he can’t think about that now. All that matters is getting her back here. He can start to make it up to her when she gets back. He ignores the Demon, turning from him and back to Sebastian, who also clearly knows what he did to her. But then, of course he would, he seems to be her confidant, the one she goes to with all her secrets and desires. He can still hear them in the tower, fucking and enjoying each other, all the while knowing what might happen. His anger flares up as the betrayal rears its head again and Sebastian steps back, sensing it. He looks at Constantine imploringly and he knows his charge is hurting because he is angry with him, but he can’t forgive him. Not yet. He has forgiven Aefre. He forgave her the second he saw her in the tower, but it was too late. The monster was already out, and he couldn’t hold it back. He tried. He really tried, but her defiance just made it worse. Just once he wished she had done as she was told. He closes his eyes briefly as he remembers now through the haze of his rage, he showed her his true power and he all but told her what he was having done to her and her fucking charge. No wonder she looked so hurt in the cell. He thinks there was maybe a glimmer of hope that she would forgive his actions in the tower but that, if she knows, she won’t ever forgive him.
“She knows,” Sebastian says quietly, able to read his thoughts as clearly as he can read Sebastian’s. “She was going to kick my ass about it after we got you back.”
“Yes, I can only imagine that she was. You will get off lightly compared to me.”
Sebastian shakes his head, his sorrow evident. Oh. She’s told him it’s over between them. He is sorry for his pain, but he’s glad. At least now there will be no question of a baby between them.
“So how the hell do we get her back?” Devon asks. “Why can she not just Astral out?”
“It doesn’t work. Only Faerie powers work in the Fae Kingdoms,” Sebastian says. “I am sure it won’t take Drake long to figure out she’s there and let her go. Well, out of the cell, at any rate.”
“This can’t be happening,” Cole says as he sits heavily on the sofa. “I need my wife back; we have to get her back. I can’t just leave her there.”
“We will,” Constantine says, probably with more malice than he would have liked. He hates that man to his very core, but he has to put on an act of tolerance. Aefre wouldn’t be happy if she knew he dreamed of plotting his death.
“How?” Cole asks.
“I’m working on it,” he says and turns back to Remiel. “Are you absolutely certain of the physics? You weren’t just saying it to get what you wanted out of Aefre? I have a lot to offer you if you were lying and you can go and fetch her.” And over my dead body will she be giving you any days for you to play with her how you see fit, he adds silently.
“No, I’m afraid two out requires two in,” Remiel answers.
“Then we find another,” Cole says. “Remember when Liv was going to bring Other Fraser back and she asked us to find an unproductive loner Vamp with no charges and no sire?”
“Yes, excellent,” Devon says. “We just find one, they are a dime a dozen in London, and make a switch.”
“You cannot take a Vampire from this world and drop him into the Fae Kingdoms. He would be slaughtered,” Xane says.
“And?” Cole says, rounding on him. “All I care about is my wife.”
Stop calling her your wife! Constantine wants to shout at him but bites his tongue. Literally and painfully.
“I care about her too,” Xane says heatedly and Constantine narrows his eyes at him. This Remiel had mentioned something about them a couple of weeks ago. What did he call them again? Oh, yes: “Quite the power couple.” Is there more going on there than just a slight Demonic bond? He wouldn’t put it past Aefre. He said right at the beginning Xane was exactly her type and he has seen the way he looks at her. She is careful not to look at him, though. Almost to the point where she is avoiding it, worried about what he might see in her eyes. Her eyes, the color of the grass in Ireland, with lips the perfect shade of red, and what she can do with them…
The shouting is getting louder and it brings him back to the situation at hand. He slams his hand on the desk and everyone shuts up. “Unless anyone has another plan, I say we do it. The wrath of Drake will reign down on us, but I for one don’t give a damn. We get her back. End of story.” The sooner she gets back, the sooner he can explain to her why he did what he did and start making it up to her. He fears he is going to lose several years, if not more, with her after this. But she must know, and he has to make her see why he needs her. He gains a small amount of comfort in the fact that she still wore the ring he gave her. Even if she had tried to take it off, the curse wouldn’t have worked if she didn’t still love him. She was still wearing it, so she still loves him. That is all he needs to know. After what happened in Las Vegas, when Cole took it from her, he wasn’t taking any more chances that she would deem that acceptable behavior. If she loves him, she has to have the ring on, and woe betide anyone who gets in the way. Simple as that.
“I won’t do it,” Remiel says, standing up again and smoothing down his impeccable suit. Constantine wonders who his tailor is out in the Spirit Realms. Fuck sake’s, focus: your thoughts are more scattered than Aefre’s. He smiles fondly to himself at his precious girl who is so clever but gives “flake” a whole new meaning.
“And why will you refuse?” he asks, with his arms crossed.
“While you all have been standing here arguing, I went to her. She asked that you leave her there and to not do anything stupid,” Remiel says.
“What do you mean you went to her?” Constantine asks, knowing that he never left the room, as he didn’t take his eyes off him. He doesn’t trust him. Whatever harebrained notion Aefre has that she can trust this beast makes him question her judgment somewhat.
“I don’t have to physically leave the room to go to her. I went into her head,” Remiel says.
“You violated her?” Cole yells at him and Constantine raises his eyebrow. When he finds out what Sebastian did at his behest, he is going to be even more mad.