Blood Tied (28 page)

“And if we don’t?” Pierce asked.

Gerald didn’t answer right away, and he wasn’t magically talking to the Conclave either. He was looking for the best way to phrase his answer. “We will have to find an alternative place for them to live. One that is
not
here.”

His tone, not his answer, piqued my curiosity. The idea of the fae returning to our plane troubled Gerald and most likely the rest of the Conclave. Had Ben been telling the truth? Did the fae somehow threaten the power of the Conclave, or was there another reason?

Gerald threw me a cautionary glance and shook his head. He had read my thoughts, and for some reason, he didn’t want my musings to reach the rest of the Conclave.

“What about me?” Aiden asked. While the pain of being kicked out of Otherworld continued to sting, he met Gerald’s gaze with his usual confidence.

“I’m uncertain, young prince,” Gerald answered.

“I’m no longer a prince,” he admitted, devoid of any emotion.

Gerald nodded in understanding before he studied Aiden from head to toe. “During our conversation, there has been much discussion taking place regarding you. It’s been quite annoying listening to the constant buzzing in my head.” He snapped around to glare at the Conclave.

“And?” I asked.

“Ah, silence at last,” Gerald said with a smile. The internal communication link had evidently been severed. He addressed Aiden and shook his head. “I just don’t have an answer. There’s never been a vampyre fae before. We will need to study you more closely. Figure out what your presence means.”

“You will not experiment on him or imprison him,” my father said. His voice turned low and gravelly. He was in protective papa mode, and he stepped between Aiden and the Conclave. I couldn’t love him more than I did at that moment. “He’s a victim. He didn’t ask to be turned, and he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to be treated the way he has been.”

Gerald regarded my father carefully. “What do you recommend?”

Dad placed his hands on Aiden’s shoulders. “He can stay here with us.”

“What?” Pierce asked. He didn’t agree.

Mason practically jumped out of his skin. “You can’t be serious.”

The disappointment in Dad’s eyes as he glared at my brothers couldn’t have been more obvious.

“Thank you, Mr. Blackmoor,” Aiden said. “But I’m too dangerous. Too unstable to live with your family.”

“You’re not any more dangerous than the rest of us,” he replied.

And he was right. Mason was a shadow weaver who had yet to reach his full potential, my powers were growing, and Drake had immunity to magic no one had quite figured out yet. And Pierce? Well, he was often a dumbass. With his power, that alone made him a threat.

“Then it’s decided,” Gerald replied quickly. I was expecting more of a fight. He held up his hand to the rest of the Conclave, cutting off their protests before they started. He then plucked a book bound in gray leather from the sleeve of his robe. “Take this,” he said, handing it to me.

“What is it?”

“It’s what we’ve learned about vampyren over the years,” he answered. “It will hopefully help you and Aiden navigate the rough waters ahead and perhaps even provide you with answers.”

Was there hidden meaning in his comment? But I couldn’t pursue that now, not after what was a rather magnanimous gesture that would no doubt cause him some problems with the rest of the Conclave. “Thank you,” I said.

Gerald Wa winked at me before rejoining the Conclave. “We will be in touch,” he said, pulling the hood up over his head.

A second later they were gone.

Chapter 10

THANKS TO
the book Gerald gave us, we were able to use the information the Conclave had learned over the years to understand the vampyre curse and help Aiden.

For one, his ability to remain in his fae form wasn’t a fluke.

It was a common belief that once a person turned into a vampyre the individual he was disappeared and was replaced by the monster he had become. We knew from experience that wasn’t entirely true.

Ben had been able to pass as a warlock, and when he was in his vampyre form, he hadn’t lost control to the bloodthirsty haze. We’d originally believed that to be impossible, that the ferocious nature of the vampyre established dominance.

But that wasn’t always the case, especially for those of us blessed with magic.

Over the years, it had been documented that Ben had learned how to temper the base vampyre instinct, and with practice Aiden’s already astounding control would only grow. This meant he wouldn’t be a danger to me or anyone else. Well, at least to anyone who didn’t deserve a vampyre ripping into them.

That had eased Aiden’s burden regarding his new existence. He wasn’t quite the monster he thought he was, but he wasn’t the fae he had previously been either.

The vampyre curse was more like a magical virus. Once someone was infected, it destroyed life before resurrecting it in a new form. That was what Bartram Kane had done to his son. Ben came back as an undead monster who created others just like him.

While it had a similar effect on Aiden, the process differed since he was fae.

What that fully meant remained to be seen, but at least we now had information, and with facts, I could do just about anything.

A positive side effect of the gained knowledge meant my brothers and Drake could relax the constant vigil they kept, waiting for Aiden to snap and kill us all in our sleep.

“Where’s your bloodsucking boyfriend?” Pierce nudged me in the shoulder on his way past, where I made a late-night snack.

“Resting,” I replied. It had been a long couple of weeks. Although Aiden didn’t need to feed constantly due to his fae nature, he had to drink blood every few days. He’d hunt in the woods behind Blackmoor Manor, preying upon the deer and other animals he came across. Drinking blood kept him alive, but the guilt weighed heavily upon him.

The fae were vegetarians, and he’d never harmed an animal for food before. He’d been almost completely distraught after his first hunt. It hadn’t gotten much better since then.

With what I’d been gathering in my research, though, I might just have an alternative.

“Have you bought him a coffin yet?” Mason asked from the kitchen table. He crunched an apple with a satisfied smirk while Drake read through some of the books from the library. It appeared I wasn’t the only one who was having trouble sleeping.

Drake looked up from the one he was currently reading and smacked his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Be nice,” he said before resuming his studies. Since returning from Otherworld, he’d taken an even stronger interest in magic. His immunity no doubt intrigued him, and like me, he was trying to figure out what it all meant, but that wasn’t the only subject that interested him.

He hoped to find some way to help his aunt Millie.

Unlike us, humans infected with the vampyre curse lost themselves to the virus that seized their systems. It was what made them so deadly and also easy to control. A vampyre who didn’t lose himself to the savagery could manipulate the simple needs of those who did.

Whether he’d find anything useful, I couldn’t say.

Plus, we didn’t even know if Aunt Millie was still alive after being chased away by the fire fae. Drake continued to hold out hope that what we learned from Aiden could somehow transfer to her.

“Listen to your boyfriend,” I told Mason, who shot Drake a pretend scowl. “You’ll live longer.”

Drake agreed, and Mason replied with a raspberry.

“I’m not afraid of you, Thad,” Mason said with a proud jut of his chin. “I’m a fucking shadow weaver.”

I stared blankly at him before cutting my gaze to Pierce. My older brother apparently found Mason’s bravado as irritating as I did. He needed to be brought down a couple of rungs and reminded he was still our little brother.

Pierce’s big grin told me he agreed.

“What the hell are you two up to?” Mason asked, standing up from the table. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“As if you could,” Pierce sneered. A spark of electricity flew out of his index finger and zapped Mason in the groin.

“Fuck!” he howled. He covered his junk and winced. “That hurt.” The shadows that slept in the corners of the kitchen came to life, inching their way toward Pierce.

I flicked my wrist in Mason’s direction, and the shadows retreated. His eyes grew wide, and he hopped up and down, howling. Drake peeked over his book to see what the fuss was, and when Mason pulled down his pants and emptied the ice I’d formed in his briefs, he giggled.

“Nice,” Drake replied with a drawl and a grin.

“Whose side are you on, you traitor?” Mason asked.

Drake blew him a kiss before continuing to scan the pages before him.

Mason hissed and grumbled. He wiped the frozen crystals off his junk and glared at me. “You’re so gonna pay for that.”

I wasn’t worried. My abilities had grown since meeting Aiden. My love for him had unlocked power I’d no clue I possessed. If Mason tried to exact revenge, his balls would never recover from the frostbite.

“Are you three done screwing around?” my father asked as he walked into the room. He eyed the half-naked Mason and rolled his eyes. “Let’s keep the little general in the bunker if you don’t mind.”

“Little’s right,” Pierce snickered.

Mason tucked himself back into his pants and zipped up. He rubbed his hands together, concocting revenge. “Just you two wait.”

“Bring it,” I said, taking a big bite of my sandwich.

“How’s Aiden today?” my father asked. He stole the protein shake Pierce had just made and joined Drake at the table.

“He’s okay,” I replied while my brother grumbled about his stolen drink.

“We haven’t seen him much the past few days.”

Pierce and Mason nodded at my father’s statement, waiting for me to fill them in. Drake even put down his book to hear what I had to say.

“He’s still adjusting,” I finally replied.

Dad nodded, expecting that answer. “How’s his appetite?”

Aiden’s desire for food other than blood was improving, but it wasn’t where it should be. If he was truly going to master his vampyre side, he had to eat our food every now and then. We all knew that.

“It’s getting better.” It was a white lie, but I didn’t want to say anything that would bring about my brothers’ previous fretting.

“I hope so,” Mason said. “I know he doesn’t like eating deer and shit, but it’s better than us. I’ve just stopped sleeping with one eye open.”

“He’s not going to eat you,” I said. “He says you smell funny.”

Mason started before sniffing his underarms. “What the hell does that mean?”

Dad poked him in the chest. “It means you need to bathe more. I’m always telling you that.”

“He has to eat,” Pierce said. His serious tone brought the light-heartedness to a halt. “We might need him in the weeks to come.”

There were still so many unanswered questions. What did Ben want with the Hearthstone? What was his endgame? And even though I tried not to dwell on it, how much of what Ben had told me about the Conclave was true?

Those were answers we needed to find, and getting them was most likely going to lead us down darker paths than we had traveled so far. Having Aiden on our side, a powerful combination of fairy and vampyre, might turn the tide in our favor.

“Don’t worry,” I finally said. “You know me, always searching for solutions.”

Dad finished Pierce’s protein shake and tossed the empty plastic cup into the trash. “You’ll find them, son. I have no doubt about that.”

The pride that filled his eyes when he looked at me caused a lump to rise in my throat. When was the last time that had happened? “Thanks, Dad.”

When he left the room, Mason returned to strutting around the kitchen like a peacock. As usual, Pierce took the bait. They wrestled and used their powers on each other while Drake read his book. He acted as if my brothers and their chaos didn’t exist.

The old me would have glared at them disdainfully, telling them their antics were juvenile. But I wasn’t that Thad anymore. My icy interior had thawed, and in its place now lived a warlock who wanted to hurl snowballs at his brothers and then run and hide.

Thad, come to the library.

I stiffened when the familiar voice spoke in my head.

After our last meeting with the Conclave, I’d been waiting for this. Gerald Wa was here, and he wanted to talk in private.

WHEN I
entered the library, Gerald was waiting for me by the desk. On top of it sat the book he’d given me that documented the Conclave’s findings on Ben throughout the years.

“I trust this has proved useful,” he said.

He wasn’t here to discuss Aiden. There were other subjects he wanted to tackle. “Yes, thank you,” I said. “It’s made the transition somewhat bearable.”

“I’m pleased,” he said with a smile that told me he wasn’t quite ready to discuss what had actually brought him here. “I took quite a beating agreeing to let Aiden stay with you. The others wanted to take him back and study him. They are still debating this as we speak.”

I got the message. He was asking me to make sure he didn’t regret his decision. “Everything will be fine. Aiden’s control is getting stronger. He spends more time in his fae form than as a vampyre. He only shifts to hunt.”

Gerald exhaled. The news offered some relief.

“Tell the Conclave that being kept a prisoner for centuries drove Ben mad. I believe that is partially to blame for the problems we face today.”

He averted his eyes and nodded. He felt the same way, and the burden of his guilt weighed heavily upon his shoulders. “That’s why I’m here. To discuss Ebenezer Kane.”

I had figured that out already. There had been more the wizard wanted to say when he was here the last time. The urgent look in his eyes told me that much, but he couldn’t say whatever was on his mind in front of the others.

For whatever reason, this information was for my ears only.

“What is it?” I finally asked.

“Before I tell you, I need to ask you something.” He crossed the room and stood before me. Worry hooded his usually kind gray eyes. “There’s something you haven’t told us about your time in Otherworld, isn’t there?”