Page 23 of Vampire's Hearth

“You know,” he said, with his eyes sparkling, “if you had ever been on the receiving end of having your ass kicked by a circle, you would hesitate too.” Instantly, he was beside me. “But you did nothing to drain a vampire’s powers once they are inside the circle.”

“I could make your blood boil again.” I smirked.

“Please don’t.” Mac gazed deeply into my eyes.

I took a step away from him. “Plus, are you able to leave?”

Mac cocked his head and walked toward the edge. “If I got in, surely, I can—” The magic propelled him to the circle’s center.

I laughed. “Impenetrable from both sides.” I hobbled to my backpack, picked it up, and slung it over my shoulder. As I did, I felt the surrounding magic absorb into the ground. “It makes a fantastic trap.”

Mac dusted himself off as he stood. “I see.”

“How do you plan to get me to this house of yours?” I leaned forward on the crutches and spread my arms, demonstrating my inability to travel far.

“I have a kayak waiting on the water. I brought it back last night when I went to get supplies for you. Now, what can I help with?”

“Could you get the hammock?” I asked. Mac strode to the bed and nimbly loosened the straps. I admired the ripple of his muscles before I caught myself and cleared my throat. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

He stopped working on the hammock and looked at me. “I want you to know I mean you no harm, and I am quite serious about working together to find the Cure. I have someone we can give the lineage to who can help us complete the family line.”

“How?” The dream nagged at the back of my mind. I needed to get away from him as soon as possible, but to do that, I needed to get the lineage. It had come from my coven, yet it was hidden from us all, including Aunt Amara. There had to be something more.

Mac brought the hammock to me, and I put it back in my bag. I glanced around. “I guess that’s it.”

“Allow me.” Mac picked up the backpack. “You focus on getting to the river.”

I raised my brow at his words.

“That way.” He pointed out an obscure path along the riverbank and stepped before me.

The fallen leaves from the past few years crunched under the points of the crutches as Mac picked through the trees with me close behind. We deviated from the path only once when rocks blocked our way.

“Why didn’t you bring it closer to camp?”

He didn’t stop walking or even glance back. “And have you think I was trying to abandon you?”

I nodded, accepting his point as a kayak came into view. Mac placed my pack in the rear so I could stretch my legs in the front.

He stood with his hand extended to me, one foot keeping the boat still. “Come. Let’s get you home.”

“Aurora,”my mother’s voice called.“It is not your home. It is the home of a vampire, the home of evil. Be careful, daughter.”

Twisting the ring on my finger, I hoped my mother would understand, yet I knew her warning carried a truth to it. Nevertheless, my heart sank at the thought of leaving him.

It took us almost an hour to make our way down the river. Underbrush and trees packed together on the banks throwing eerie shadows over the water. If we added some fog, it would be the perfect setting for a horror movie. It didn’t help that the pilot of our small craft was a bloodthirsty monster—literally. Time stretched as I took in every new tree and view around us. Finally, the endless pattern of green was broken by a small, rickety wooden dock jutting into the water. Mac navigated the kayak alongside it with ease before springing from his seat. Without a word, he helped me onto the wooden structure and retrieved my bag.

Using the crutches, I made my way through the once-formal gardens. Flowers and plants that appeared to have bloomed sometime over the past one hundred years now withered along the pathways. The cultivated shrubs remained, outlining the way but kept as simplistic as possible.

“This place must have been spectacular,” I said as we walked along the path, now mulched instead of being paved with stone. I gazed over it in awe.

“Yes, it was gorgeous,” said Mac. “I have quite fond memories of my family from here.”

“Really? Why so?” I couldn’t help but think I needed to know something about his family. Something he wasn’t telling me. And I needed to get him talking about it.

“We were happy here and adopted the youngest in our clan,” said Mac. “It was before the Civil War. My family needed a change of scenery, so we traveled through the Deep South,visiting the more organized cities—Savannah, Atlanta, and New Orleans. We met the factions and let them know we weren’t here for their territory. We even made our way to Charleston for a while. We hated the human’s political climate, but change was already coming.”

“Your entire family is vampires?”

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