Page 50 of Vampire's Hearth

“Kentucky, ma’am.” He lifted his eyes to me. His sclera glowed red, and his irises were the color of ash.

I gasped, the change in his eyes revealing the monster within. I had heard of it but never seen it. I stared at the flask he had left on the table.

Isla’s voice was calming as she spoke. “Don’t worry about his eyes. He’s just had a bit of blood, is all. It happens to all vampires when they feed. It scared the shit out of me too the first time I saw it.”

I nodded, my questions forgotten. I focused on my stew, the meat melting over my tongue, its richness filling me with a warmth that reached all the way to my fingertips, including under my ring. Finally, Mac caught my gaze and smiled, his lips curling at the corners as he gestured toward the window behind me. “It’s beautiful around here, isn’t it?”

I nodded, looking over my shoulder to see the view of the harbor. “It absolutely is.”

He glanced down at his bowl, looking uncertain, before raising his eyes to me again. There was a rare glint in them, which I would say was vulnerability in anyone else. “I was wondering,” he stammered before looking me in the eye, “I was wondering if you might join me for a walk after dinner?”

I could have sworn I heard a faint chuckle from somewhere, though I couldn’t be sure why. Lyra gasped, but I simply smiled at Mac. “I would love to.” My heart fluttered, and I had to admit I was looking forward to spending some time with just him.

“Fantastic,” he said, lifting his glass of wine and glancing at it. “I very much look forward to it.”

A lopsided smile came to Conall’s lips. “Well, friend, I guess that means you and I aren’t going out for a drink then.”

“You can go with Declan,” said Mac, his look changing to complete nonchalance. “Just leave your victim breathing.”

“Always,” Conall whined before looking at Declan. “But you aren’t going, are you?”

Declan wrapped an arm around Isla, pulling her into a side hug. “She is the only one I want.” He kissed her deeply, causing Conall to roll his eyes and throw his napkin across the table, hitting Declan’s shoulder.

Mac stood, his gaze not leaving mine. He held out his hand. “Aurora, shall we retire before this descends into madness?”

“Madness could be fun,” I said with a mischievous gleam in my eye. “But I would love to.” I took his hand to stand before dropping it.

He led me out one of the dining room doors into a garden full of ivy and roses. As I stepped onto the path, I could feel the connection to my ancestral magic flow through my foot into my body, creating an energy I pushed to the side.

The scent of the harbor mixed with flowers swept over me as the evening air caressed my arms, raising goose bumps along them. Or maybe that was from my feelings toward Mac. Antique sculpted bushes lined a path, allowing us to walk unhindered, much like Mac’s home in Kentucky, but here, the plant life was alive and vibrant, like him. One path led to a cottage I’d yet to see, but another seemed to wander into an open area. Mac led us down this path, taking us along the cliffs, high above the sand, overlooking the harbor.

Without thinking twice, I looped my hand through his arm, feeling an unexpected comfort in the gesture. I could only imagine what it must have been like here hundreds of yearsago, wearing a dress with skirts instead of the jeans and crop top I’d found this morning when I opened the wardrobe in my bedroom. As Mac had said, it was filled to the brim with every needed bit of clothing in various sizes.

The cool air around us made me want to pull closer to him, but I held back, uncertain where these feelings led me. “Was there a reason you wanted to go for a walk?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

“None, other than to get away from the others.” I could feel him glance at me as he placed his opposite hand on my arm looped through his and giving it a slight squeeze. It was a gesture of a man from a different time, one of caring and gentleness that I never knew a vampire, even one that is half human, could possess.

“You seem to know a lot about the coven.” I wanted to find a conversation of some sort, our silence almost too comfortable.

He nodded, but his eyes remained glued to the water. “Yes, it’s something I’ve learned a lot about over the years.”

I hesitated for a minute. “Are there any other stories you can tell me?” A hand gripped my heart. I wanted answers to my past, to why I had to grow up without my mother. Answers that maybe a man nine hundred years old could give me, but I feared it would be something I couldn’t face.

“Aurora.”My mother’s voice echoed in my head.“Be careful what you ask. It may be more than you want to know.”I shook off her warning.

We shuffled along as he took a deep breath. “There is one,” he said.

His eyes perked up as though he heard something. He pointed into the distance where seals played in a harem. I strained to see the little white waves around them, and my brain imagined the sounds of joy they might be making.

After a moment of watching them, Mac took a deep breath, one with a sense of determination and finality. “Centuries ago, probably around the 1700s, there was a story about the High Priestess of the coven. She was courted by a vampire, a progeny of the O’Cillians.”

“A vampire and a witch were involved with each other?” I asked, incredulous.

Mac nodded. “More than involved.” His voice held a puritanical tone. “When her husband died, she was devastated, although she already had a daughter, the High Priestess Heir. As she faced years alone, she met a man. He would accompany her on her nightly walks into the woods as her protector. At first, she didn’t realize who he was, only that he made her feel alive again.”

We turned away from the water and continued to walk. The parallels between the High Priestess’s love and my own growing feelings capturing my heart. Mac continued speaking. “Not only did they fall in love but they ended up getting married.”

“How was that allowed? The coven is supposed to be neutral.”

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