The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) by Eve Newton Page B

and cross over to him, still holding my cuddly Dragon.
I kiss him and turn back to Sebastian. “Do you mind excusing us? I need to talk
to our sire.”
    “Sure,” he says and makes to leave but stops as CK puts his
hand on my bare shoulder and says, “What the hell is this?”
    I peer over my shoulder at him, “What is what? I can’t see
from here.”
    “This.” He pokes me repeatedly on my collarbone.
    “Hey, stop with the prodding. I don’t know, is it another
marking?”
    He looks at it closely and Sebastian comes around to have a
look as well. “DX? What does that mean? Roman numerals?”
    DX? “What? Let me look,” I say. I march into the bathroom
and face them, looking back over my shoulder and clear as day in a previously
empty spot on my collarbone is a “D” about three inches in diameter with an “X”
in the middle. Oh shit on a stick. I know exactly what that means. I chew my
lip and meet CK’s eyes in the mirror. “What is it, Aefre?” he asks, knowing
that I know.
    “That would be my Demon marking,” I say and brush past them
on the way back out of the bathroom.
    “Excuse me? Demon marking? You have a Demon marking?” He is
livid.
    “It appears so, yes.”
    “Aefre!” he barks. “Start talking.”
    “I met my Demon self today. She is quite kick ass,” I say,
waiting for the shitstorm.
    “Your Demon self?” Sebastian asks as CK is just looking at
me with unbridled fury.
    “Yes. I am Xerxei, of the House of Dracul and apparently
Mistress of the Domain,” I say, thoroughly embarrassed. “That would be what the
“X” and the “D” stand for.”
    “Oh, you are, are you?” Constantine sneers at me. “You have
been branded with those initials for eternity now? What a fucking coincidence
you share his name. ‘Fucking’ being the operative word here I’m sure.”
    I growl at him and he glares at me. “Nothing to say, Aefre?
Or should I call you Xerxei? I’m sure he does.”
    “Constantine, don’t be an arse. It isn’t like that,” I lie
through my teeth but no way am I admitting to what we did. “Yes, it would seem
that they are a permanent addition. But it’s no surprise that I have a Demon
part. I have every other part.”
    “The only part you need is your Vampire part,” he snarls at
me.
    “Not according to my mother,” I say and then wish I didn’t.
    “You saw Tiamat?” he snaps. “When?”
    “In The Underworld. She paid a visit after Xerxei made her
appearance,” I say, which is true.
    “What did she want?” he asks suspiciously.
    “To speak to me. About being a better Dragon. I am letting
the side down with my unruly Vampire behavior,” I say with just a tiny bit of
resentment.
    “Excuse me?”
    “You heard me.”
    “She wants you to be a better Dragon?” Sebastian asks. “What
the hell does that mean?”
    “It means, Sebastian, that I am no longer allowed to let my
Vampire side rule, to the point where I stop being one altogether.” So, that is
a bit of an overstatement, but I am getting my mad on now.
    “What! You are a Vampire!” CK roars at me. “You don’t just
get to stop being one. Especially you. Does she know of your voracious
appetite?”
    “Yes. She knows. She wants me to use my Dragon to feed.
Well, sustain. Feed is not the right word.”
    “And how, pray tell, do you do that?”
    “Sebastian, come here,” I say, quite glad of the
demonstration as I am starving again now. He obeys without comment. “Hold your
hands out palms down,” I order. He does as he is told and I show them my
rudimentary Dragon energy-sucking ability. I feel a crazy rush and I relax
again now, happy. Must be that Faerie blood, I think as I narrow my eyes at him
to his astonishment. “Wow. That’s impressive. Although I do prefer the Vampire
way. Far more intimate,” he leers at me but without malice.
    Constantine is watching in disbelief. “No. This is not
right. You are a Vampire. You are my Vampire. I made you.” He is most put out
and I feel