Page 7 of Vampire's Hearth

“Speaking of your father. Where are Kieran and Aine?”

I spun my glass on the bar before picking it up. “I haven’t heard from my parents in almost thirty years, and when I did, they were distant—evasive.” There was no masking the sadness in my voice. I missed them. “The only way I’m getting my family back together is figuring out what happened with Aiden and sorting it out.”

Declan took a deep breath, then cleared his throat. “Do you think the only reason Runa protects Dún Na Farraige is so she can stay a day walker?”

I couldn’t help but smile as images of the grand Irish manor, the fort by the sea, flashed through my mind. Our family home, built to keep us all together, usually sat empty, with only one of us sending people there at a time lest a battle break out. “I’d love to ask my father about that.”

“But the flasks…”

“You’re sure the flasks in her cell had the O’Cillian knot on them?”

He pulled a metallic flask from his pocket; on the front was my family’s crest, a seal rising from a Celtic knotwork heart adorned with deer antlers. “Every single flask looked like this. But the taste was slightly off, sweeter than I’m used to drinking from you or Aiden.”

“I trust you can identify our blood by taste at this point. Plus, no other blood I’m aware of allows a vampire to walk in the sunlight,” I said with a shrug, acknowledging the peculiarity Ishare with my brothers. Any vampire with our blood in their system can walk unharmed in the daylight. Over the years, my father implied we had inherited this from Runa, but someone supplied her with flasks of our blood. I wish I knew who.

“And what about the Cure she mentioned? Do you think it’s what’s needed against Aiden? Tell me I didn’t destroy all those flasks for nothing,” said Declan.

I tilted my head. “You didn’t just ask Isla?” His mate studied Irish folklore and was sure to know this answer.

Declan grinned. “Maybe I’m just verifying her story.”

“According to Irish folklore, any seventh son of a seventh son is said to hold the cure to an ailment. With each one, it’s different. It could even be something as mundane as the hiccups. My grandfather’s youngest son had seven sons, and his youngest son also had seven sons. Those subsequent seventh sons have always been known as the Cure. I never paid attention to them because they appeared a generation too late to be associated with the vampire curse. At least that is what I thought until Runa told Isla about my father’s older brother. If what Runa said is correct, my youngest uncle is the seventh son, and each seventh son continued to have seven sons through to the present times. I suspect the Cure in my family knows something no one wants to tell us about how and why we are different.”

Declan raised an eyebrow. “Do you think he knows the cure for vampirism?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think vampirism can be cured. Ultimately, the only cure is death.”

“So what’s your plan now?”

I bit my lip, uncertain how to answer. I didn’t want to kill Aiden, but if I didn’t stop him, someone else would. In that case, the rest of us may not survive. And the only hint I had at how to stop him were the cryptic ramblings of a vampire hell-bent on revenge. “His invulnerability has gone to his head. If he expandshis reign outside of the Charleston area, then what? If there is a war, my entire family, including you, is at risk.”

I stared at the bar. Images of my brothers and me as youngsters playing in the fields invaded my mind, causing fresh turmoil in my chest. I clenched my jaw. What I wanted was my family back, and if Aiden stood in the way of that, then yes, he must die, but I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t admit I would kill one brother for the sake of two. “I must find the Cure. I have to find out if he put Aiden on this path or if he can pull Aiden off it. Even if not, he knows something about us, something hidden from my brothers and me for centuries. It is imperative I learn it so I can reunite my family—or protect them from it if I must.”

I sipped my drink, my path resolute. “Has Isla learned anything new?”

Declan nodded. “Yeah, she hasn’t found the Cure himself, but a clue to find him.”

“Why don’t you go get it?” I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

He smirked and shook his head. “Here, I thought only one of you was that demanding,” Declan said before sipping his drink.

We were going to play this game.

“Go on. Please,” I said by way of an apology.

“Isla is slowly making her way through all the papers in your father’s study at the manor. She found a map of the cave system near where I was born in Kentucky. She said to tell you there was an ailm on the map, but she wouldn’t tell me what it meant. Care to elaborate?”

I pressed my lips together before inhaling. How many times had I seen an ailm growing up? “An ailm is the ancient symbol of health and purity. It is the perfect symbol for a Cure. Can you make it to the caves? Show Isla where you were born?”

Declan shook his head. “Aiden is getting annoyed by my travels.”

“Your mate is a human who travels extensively for work. You can’t leave her for longer than a flask will hold out,” I said with a shrug. “He should know. Our parents were never apart for more than a day. Mother liked Father’s blood better from the vein.”

“Isla prefers to drink from the vein too, but she’s perfected the length of time she can survive from a flask. I don’t trust that he won’t kill her, so I don’t keep her with me when I’m in Charleston. I spend a week with her, then two with him. I’m headed back tomorrow.” He let out a sigh.

I turned to him, the patrons around the bar briefly distracting me before I laid a hand on his shoulder. “He loves you. You are a brother to us all. And the last one standing with him.”

Declan nodded as his eyes fell. “We want to marry, to be together. I wish I could trust him.”

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