“Please leave us,” Finn says without looking at him.
Remiel growls at him and it pisses me off that he is being jealous about this. He has no right. No right! But again, I keep my thoughts to myself as I push him gently out of the room.
“It’s private,” I mutter to him with lowered eyes. Man, I really hate deferring to him. I thought my days of being submissive to ancient Vampires were over. Clearly not.
He stands defiantly in the doorway as I shut the door on him, and after Finn has soothed V.A. and taken Her in, I open the door to find him standing exactly where I left him with crossed arms.
He steps into the room and gives Finn a glaring once over, not particularly liking what he sees in the erection department.
“Out,” Remiel snaps at him.
Finn gives me a secretive smile, which further pisses Remiel off and he leaves with a spring in his step, elated to have performed the act that he was put in this Realm to do.
I am suddenly weary and very afraid of what I am going home to, but Remiel takes me in his arms and Astrals me to the launching pad. I push it all aside as I must be strong when I get home. I am going to get it from all sides, and I deserve it, but it doesn’t stop the pang of nerves in my stomach.
Remiel takes my face in his hands, and kisses me gently before he says, “I will see you soon.”
I nod wondering why Mother didn’t come to see me off. I mean it wouldn’t kill Her to try and be nice to me after all I have endured for Her and this race.
Remiel steps back with a look of adoration that I wish I hadn’t seen, before I Shift to my Dragon form and fly my arse straight up to the twirling, gaping portal in the sky and crash through it. I tear a new portal open and land painfully hard on the carpet in my foyer in my human form, having Shifted excruciatingly, midway so I didn’t destroy my house in the process.
I stand up and look around. It is dead quiet, and it feels completely empty. There is no sign of life and closing my eyes and bringing up my mental map, I see that there is no one here at all except me. I wonder where they all are? I close my eyes and get my Power to take me straight to CK. I should have chosen Cole, but right now I need my sire more than anything else. I will help Cole just as soon as I have received absolution from my sire, along with a much-needed hug. I am surprised to find myself in the house in the Underworld that looks just like the country manor in England that I just vacated. CK is hunched over the desk carefully plotting something on a large map and hasn’t even noticed my presence.
“CK?” I ask him and it takes him a moment to look up. His expression is one of pure exhaustion and confusion, but when he realizes it is actually me, he launches himself at me, sending the desk flying through the French doors in his haste to get to me.
“Aefre?” he asks as he sweeps me up in his arms, crushing me. “Is it really you?”
“Yes,” I squeak, and he loosens his hold on me, but not by much.
“You’re back,” he whispers into my hair and, cupping my face, he plants a kiss on my lips that I have missed.
“I am,” I say when he lets me up for air. “Alone,” I add when he looks frantically about the room, obviously expecting me to have brought a tiny passenger along. He frowns at me and I say, “I will explain everything once I have seen my charges. Where are they?”
He points upstairs and says, “The bedroom.”
“Which one?” I ask.
He looks slightly puzzled and then croaks, “Our–our bedroom.”
He grips my elbow and Teleports me upstairs to just outside the door of our room. I wonder why he didn’t land us inside and I also briefly wonder exactly how long I have been gone and why everyone seems to have moved to the Underworld in my absence. I know it was our plan before my abduction, but it is rather odd, nonetheless.
“Don’t be surprised by what you see in there,” CK says to me cautiously, holding me back. “It is the only thing that helps them.”
I stare at him while I take in what he has said. I narrow my eyes and I swear to the almighty gods, that if Other me is in there with them, I will kill her where she stands. I shove open the door as he mutters, “Not that,” and I march in, my hands at the ready to do some damage.
It isn’t exactly what I thought, though. I’m not so much surprised, as extremely, well, I want to say turned on, but then I remember my fury at Devon, and it washes away as quickly as it flared up. Cole is on the bed leaning over him, feeding from him, their hands intertwined. Devon has his eyes closed and looks like he is completely blissed out, and I ruined it by bulldozing my way into the room. They leap apart as soon as they sense me, Cole quickly snapping his fangs back and looking like he has been caught cheating on me.
“Liv?” he asks in disbelief.
“Yes,” I say softly, wishing I could go back out and start again. I barged into something quite intimate and I feel that CK’s warning wasn’t good enough.
Cole rushes to me and carefully picks me up and holds me. I had braced myself for another crushing, but he is gentle with me. My stomach drops as I realize it is because he is so weak.
“How long have I been gone?” I ask, stroking his face. He looks haggard and exhausted and extremely unhealthy.
“Six and a half months,” CK says with his hand on my back.
I turn my head towards him. I knew it had to be somewhere along those lines and I drop my forehead to Cole’s chest. “I am so sorry,” I whisper. “I got back here as soon as I could.”