Page 27 of Caution

“There is nothingso-calledabout it,” he said, then moved to take a seat beside me. He met my gaze in the mirror. “Many, many years ago, there was an eonian who decided to play in ancient magic from many, many years before him. He had fallen in love with a mortal human and wanted her to join him in eternal life. He couldn’t find a spell for that, so he dabbled in many, frankensteining them together. After many, many failed attempts… he was successful.”

I frowned. “How would he know?”

“I don’t know, actually,” Cassius admitted. “I’m telling you the lore. But I imagine the truth of it is… disturbing. And bloody. And required lots of patience, and a long time.”

“Right.” I nodded. “But… continue.”

“Yes. He was successful. So he spread the news to all his eonian friends, so they could keep the loves of their lives as well. Only… there was something a little different—dangerous—about these humans they’d enchanted.”

“They wanted to suck blood?”

Cassius chuckled. “Yeah. This disgusted and scared the eonians, so they gathered them all up, locked them in a stone enclosure they’d imbued with runes. And then they used more magic, to create a fire, the hottest fire to ever burn and water couldn’t put it out.”

“They wanted to destroy what they’d created.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “And they did. They destroyed their creation, buried the ashes, and moved on. They didn’t expect the ashes to meld with the natural magic of the earth, the water, the moon, the metals and minerals in the ground… and give birth.”

Riveted, I asked, “To you?”

“No, not to me.” He laughed. “But to my ancestors.”

“Did they hate the eonians?”

“For a time, yes,” he confirmed. “But that’s ancient history now. Though, there are still factions that carry the grudge.”

“Understandably. But what does any of it have to do with me?”

“Well, those first vampires… they knew things. Way in advance. Things that would happen and things for us to follow.”

“So like…prophecies?”

“Divinations.”

“And there’s one about me?”

“Us,” he corrected. “The second son, of the second son, of the second son, will find his bond with a mate born of the undead and the eternal.”

I blinked. “Meaning… me.”

“Yes.” Cassius nodded.

“And you’re… special? Or your brothers have their love lives foretold as well?”

“I’m specialandmy brothers have been written in the book. Things have to happen in order.”

My eyes went wide. “So… Celeste…”

“Celeste is mortal, but her connection with Elias was not simply by chance.”

“So they’re… soulmates?” I shook my head. “Wait, no, vampires don’t have souls.”

“According to who?” Cassius challenged. “Some movie? Fairytales?”

I thought about it, then nodded. “Point taken. So I’m…born of the undead and the eternal.Your books tell you anything about how it happened?”

“No,” he answered. “I wish I could give youthoseanswers.”

“I understand why you can’t,” I told him, with a wry smile. “Youcantell me this though, why now? Elias and Celeste have been together for months… Hey, did he turn her into a fucking vampire? Is that why I can’t catch her during the day anymore? Sorry, that’s a tangent. But I still want to know. As well as why it was so urgent to give me this awakeningnow.”

---