“I helped you because it is what Liv would have wanted me to do. I did it for her. Not you,” Cole adds.
“Well, thanks anyway,” Cade says, trying to hold onto his temper. He is getting pissed off that everyone blames him for being Liv’s charge. He had no say in it, but no one seems to care about that.
“Whatever,” Cole mumbles.
“I’ll say to you what I said to Devon,” Cade says, and Cole looks at him again.
“Yeah, what’s that then? That you plan to make a play for my wife?” he asks as he stands up and goes all aggressive.
“Uh, no. The exact opposite,” Cade says. “As soon as I can, I am out of here.”
That stops Cole in his tracks. He narrows his eyes and Cade goes through the motions of his explanation.
“Humph,” Cole says rudely and sits back down to stare at the garden.
Curiosity gets to Cade and he peers over the balcony. “What are you looking at?” he asks, but he sees the big burnt patch of ground in the middle of what passes for a garden in this place. “What happened there?”
“Didn’t you hear it?” Cole asks bitterly. “That was a fight between Remiel and Constantine over my wife, which ended with her throwing herself into his arms.”
“Whose arms?” Cade asks, as it’s not clear which one Cole meant.
“The father of her dead baby,” Cole snarls at him and Cade steps back. The anger and resentment coming from the man is startling and Cade realizes that now probably isn’t the best time to come clean about how he miraculously got his strength back. If Cole has noticed, he hasn’t said anything, and it’s probably best to let sleeping Vampires lie. He wants to ask if Liv left with Remiel again, because he doesn’t think he will survive another one of her absences, but he thinks it’s wise to go and find out for himself.
As he backs out of the room, he keeps his eyes on Cole. His attitude has him worried. He’s volatile and about to erupt. He looks like he is about to commit murder and Cade isn’t sure if that would be Liv’s or anyone else’s. He vows to keep a close eye on him, cursing his natural instinct to protect his sire at all costs.
He is about to go in search of Liv when he remembers the blood bottle in his hand. It will be getting warm now and won’t last much longer at room temperature. If he’s going to do this, it needs to be now before he chickens out. He disappears into his room and closes the door. He takes in a deep breath and uncaps it. Closing his eyes, he takes a big gulp and then chugs it back until it’s empty. He can taste the copper, but thankfully he can taste the Scotch as well. He opens his eyes and lets out the breath he was holding. He disposes of the bottle and before he has left the room, he can feel a rumbling in his veins and a very distinctive thirst for more.
Oh God, please don’t let me go on a rampage. He rushes out of the room and away from the lingering smell of the blood. Almost instantly the thirst dies down and his body feels stronger. He flexes his hands and a quiet calm that he has never experienced washes over him. Oh, he gets it now. He gets why everyone was haranguing him to drink. It has doubled his body’s efforts to heal from Liv’s absence and he finally feels the power of what he is. That feeling alone is enough to convince him to drink again. But not now. No, he has to go and see if Liv is still around or is back in the Dragon Realms squirting out another kid, this time one more powerful than anything any of them have ever come across. He wonders what their fate will be once the true heir is born. Everyone has been skirting around this issue, but it is time to face the facts.
Once back in the foyer, he can hear arguing going on in the library.
Again.
He strains to hear Liv’s voice, but all he hears is the men. He pauses to listen. He has never been one for eavesdropping, never having cared enough about what they were saying to bother, but now he stops to pay attention. This will probably be the only way he will ever learn anything around here. No one trusts him.
They are arguing over who gets to claim Liv, no surprise there then, but he wonders where she is. He closes his eyes and tries his hand at that sensing thing they go on about.
He waits.
Nothing happens.
He can’t sense her, but he doesn’t know if that is because it’s a load of BS or because she isn’t here. Suddenly, a map of the house pops into his head and he can see little dots of everyone who is currently here. Somehow, he is capable of knowing exactly which dot is who. His eyes fly open with a start. Nobody ever mentioned that before! What a handy trick. With this, he can quite successfully avoid everyone and tense situations for the rest of his fifty-year sentence and get out of here and back to Earth where a normal life is possible. He wonders now if all Vampires have this ability. The amount of times situations has been walked in on that shouldn’t, makes him seriously doubt it is a common thing. It must be another one of those abilities he has because Liv turned him after she got her Dragon Queen-slash-Faerie Power. Like being able to walk in the sun without the Silver.
Interesting.
And most definitely something he plans on keeping to himself.
Despite the power reveal, he didn’t learn much. Liv isn’t here in this house. Yet he doesn’t feel weakened, so that must mean she is still around this Realm somewhere. He breathes a sigh of relief as he comes to this conclusion.
He pushes open the door and the conversation comes to halt. Not unexpectedly. He strides into the room with his old confidence and he can see the raise in Devon’s eyebrows at his renewed attitude. The other two, Constantine and Sebastian, ignore him as they glare at each other with what looks like something close to hatred. So much for “bros before hoes.” That woman has both of these whipped to within an inch of their lives. He really doesn’t get the fascination with her at all.
“Where is she?” he barks out and it gets their attention.
Constantine slowly turns towards him. Cade really hopes that he doesn’t ask why he is suddenly up and about walking around like he owns the place.
“She’s not here,” he says shortly.
“Not here as in not here, or not here as in the Dragon Realms?” he asks.