26. Aurora
Aurora
J ade and I entered my room, the familiar soft lavender walls and dark wood furniture reminding me I was home. I ran my fingertips across the vanity, yet somehow, the perfume bottles and makeup almost looked foreign. My backpack fell from my shoulder before I made my way to the chaise at the foot of my bed, sinking into it with a groan. I let my head fall back against the soft mattress.
“That bad?” Jade’s voice was light but probing.
I sat up straight, glancing at her. “I don’t even know where to start. The past few days have been...” I shook my head, completely overwhelmed.
“Amazing? Wonderful?” Jade offered, tossing words my way like they could fix everything.
I forced a smile so weak it was more like a twitch of my lips. “Something like that.”
I longed to feel Mac’s arms around me again, his lips on mine, but here with Jade, a nervousness settled in my chest, like it could all fall apart in an instant. A vampire and a witch together felt like an impossible reality.
Jade sat down beside me, her hand finding mine. “When did all this start with Mac?”
I felt the warmth of her hand and clenched my jaw. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. I sighed. “Just yesterday. We walked, and he took me to this beautiful cave. But I felt something even before we went to Ireland. Like I’m... drawn to him—drawn to the taste of his blood, even. I can’t explain it.” I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my free arm around them.
Her eyes widened as she dropped my hand. “Wait, did you taste his blood?”
I nodded, my voice lowering. “After your mom told me about its healing properties, he gave me some for my ankle.”
Jade’s eyes darkened. “And you think that was a good idea?”
I shrugged, leaning forward, my fingers twisting together. “Maybe not. But... there’s something about it, Jade. Something that felt right, like it was meant to be.” I bit my lip, raising my gaze with a painstaking slowness as I feared what I would find in hers. “Please don’t tell anyone, especially not your mom.”
Jade sighed, shaking her head, her voice softening. “It isn’t like they won’t see the two of you together.”
“About the blood.” Jade nodded as I held her worried gaze and forced a smile, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I know, deep down, I’m on the right path. And Aunt Amara told me to follow my heart, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Jade gazed out the window before shaking her head and squeezing my hand. “You’re my best friend. That’s the only reason I’m not running straight to your High Priestess. But I feel like I’m betraying everything I’ve been taught.”
I smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I’m the High Priestess Heir, so technically, you’re following orders.”
We both laughed, though the tension lingered in the air. I desperately wanted to change the subject and shake off the heaviness. The words echoed in my mind. I had set a path for our coven and was seeing it through. In my heart, I knew this was right.
“So,” I said, my voice lightening, “why don’t we head into town and grab a drink? Maybe Mac can come along. He probably needs some fresh clothes by now.”
Jade laughed and tilted her head.
“What? But wait until I tell you about Ireland!”
A smile broke out on Jade’s lips. “I’m still so jealous you took Lyra instead of me!” Her sarcasm rang through her words. “Next thing you know, she’ll be your best friend.”
Within the hour, Mac, Jade, and I had driven into the city. Jade and I sat at a table in a quaint little restaurant, drinks in front of us, while Mac wandered off in search of a wardrobe for the next few days.
“So,” Jade started, her eyes gleaming with mischief, “I guess the topic of blood is off the table, but everything else is fair game?”
My heart leaped as a smile crept onto my lips. “Everything else is fair game, as always.”
Jade grinned like a Cheshire cat. “How was he?”
I sipped my drink, heat growing in my cheeks, a lopsided grin plastered to my lips.
“That good, huh?” she teased.
I nodded, setting my glass down. “Okay, enough about me. What about you and your man?”
She crossed her arms, her face softening. “Things are going well. I still haven’t figured out how to explain the whole coven thing to him, but otherwise, we’re good.” She let out a small sigh.
“When do I get to meet him?” I pressed. “It’s been months.” I couldn’t remember the last time it had been this long before I had met someone Jade was dating, and curiosity burned in the pit of my stomach.
Jade shook her head, a small laugh escaping her. “It is hard with his work schedule being nights. It didn’t help that someone ran off for a few weeks. Maybe I’ll bring him to the plantation and give him the full tour.”
I crinkled my forehead and sat back in my chair. “That might be one way to introduce him to the coven—or make him think you’re ready for marriage.” My smirk caused us both to burst into laughter. “Just don’t bring him around during the full moon,” I warned, half joking. “Introducing him during a ritual could be problematic.”
Jade’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Don’t worry. I’m not that careless.”
Our laughter faded away as the shadow of what the next full moon could bring fell over us. “We should probably head back to the plantation soon,” I said, pushing away the inexplicable unease in my chest. “Let me check on Mac.”
Jade nodded, and I pulled out my phone, dialing Mac’s number.
“Aurora?” he answered, his voice strained.
“We were just about to head back to the plantation. Where are you?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” he grunted.
Why was he being evasive? My heartbeat sped up as I grasped my phone. “Are you okay?”
“Rory, just go home. I’ll meet you there later. Please.” His plea cut through me.
Before I could argue, the line went dead. I stared at the phone, the sinking feeling growing stronger. “Something’s not right.” The knot in my stomach grew with each passing moment.
Jade glanced at the pendulum around my neck, her jaw clenched. “Then let’s find him.”
I hesitated, the pendulum growing heavy. There was only one way dowsing for him without something of his would work. What if I was wrong about how he felt about me? “I’m not sure using a supernatural GPS locator is what we need right now.”
Jade leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “What good is being a powerful witch if you can’t use your power to help the people you care about?” She reached her fingers across the table, brushing the obsidian. “And you love him, don’t you?”
My heart clenched at her question. I bit my lip and glanced away. I hadn’t admitted it out loud, but I knew. My voice was a whisper as I pulled the pendulum from my neck. “Yes.”
I opened the map on my phone, focusing on my connection with Mac, forcing my breath into a calm rhythm. I closed my eyes, gently calling to my ancestors in my mind and feeling the pendulum swing. Finally, it pulled through my fingers to a location close to us. “He’s at the warehouses.”
Jade’s expression hardened. “Are we going?”
I toyed with the chain in my hand. “He asked us not to.”
“And you said he sounded like he was in trouble,” she pressed. “Would you leave me there?”
I gritted my teeth together and gave her a sideways glance before laying cash on the table. I placed the pendulum back around my neck and clutched it. What would we find when we got there?
I didn’t have to wonder long as we rounded the building shown in my dowsing. Mac, his back to us, was hunched over something. Slowly, his head rose as though he heard our footsteps. He stood, moving toward us with vampiric speed.
“I told you not to come,” he growled. My breath caught, the dangerous look in his eyes throwing me off guard before I glanced behind him. The body of a man, balding and overweight, his eyes wide open, unseeing, splayed on the ground. Blood ran from his neck, staining his tattered blue shirt.
Jade gestured toward the body. “Did you do this?”
Mac’s eyes flashed, his voice defensive. “No. I found him like this, left for me. Who would do this?” He ran his hand over his mouth.
I pressed my lips together and looked into his eyes, searching for the truth, only to find fear and pain. “You had no hand in this?”
His voice was low and full of sorrow. “What motive would I have to come to your city and openly feed? Have you seen me do so yet?”
Isla’s words came to mind. It happens to all vampires when they feed. I looked into his eyes, clear as the ocean waters. He hadn’t fed.
He stepped forward, placing a hand on my arm. “I’ll explain it all later. First, I have to clean up this mess.”
The warmth of his touch melted into my arm. Despite everything, I trusted him. “Let’s go,” I said to Jade.
“You’re just going to leave him?” she asked, incredulous.
I nodded, my voice hardening. “If he says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t.”
“Thank you,” he said before pecking my lips with his.
As Jade and I drove home, the silence hung like a cloud. In my heart, I feared she was mad, but the stunned confusion in her eyes screamed the need for some time to process what she saw. The tires ground against the driveway as we pulled to a stop in front of the house.
“Well, if this couldn’t get worse,” I sighed. Lyra leaned against the porch column, arms crossed tightly over her chest as if holding back a storm. Her eyes narrowed into slits as Jade and I approached, cutting into us with a sharp, accusatory glare. A cold, damp wind rustled through the trees as Jade slammed her door and walked to my side.
“So,” Lyra began, her voice biting as she pushed off from the column, the old wood creaking beneath her feet. “You’ve made it back already.”
I could feel Jade tense beside me, her fingers twitching. I held up a hand, signaling to let me handle it. I was used to Lyra’s cutting remarks. Her scorn was familiar, and I couldn’t afford to lose control—not this time. I squared my shoulders, my voice calm but firm. “Mac and I left as soon as we realized you were gone.”
Her eyes flashed with disdain. “Oh, I’m sure that’s exactly what happened—private jet and all.”
I took a step toward her and lowered my voice, clenching my fists at my sides while doing everything in my power to keep my anger in check. My nails dug into my palms as I forced my voice to remain even. “Where’s the grimoire?”
“My mother has it, and you’re not getting your hands on it. She’s changing the spell to find the Cure to locate the unkillable vampire.” Lyra sneered, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Her presence loomed on the top step like she was trying to make herself bigger. “I can’t believe you—the great High Priestess Heir. Allowing a vampire into our home. Bringing darkness and evil into the heart of the coven.”
I stepped closer, refusing to be intimidated. I pulled my shoulders back and tilted my chin. “Mac is no threat to us. He’s here to help.” I climbed the stairs toward her. “And this is my home, my coven. You have no right to judge me.”
Lyra’s eyes narrowed further, her voice dripping with venom. “Your coven? Do you think you’re protecting your coven by letting a vampire run loose? He’ll bring nothing but ruin. He’ll throw off the balance of power in ways you can’t even begin to understand.”
“And what do you think your mother is doing?” I shot back, my voice rising despite my attempts to stay calm. “You think she’s the savior of all of this? How is she restoring the balance of power between the hunters and the vampires? Our coven exists to protect the Cure. How is subduing one vampire going to restore what we have lost?” I threw my arms wide in frustration. I couldn’t fathom how Aunt Amara didn’t realize the best path forward was finding the Cure in Ireland with Conall.
Lyra’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “You’re lying! If we were to protect the Cure, we would be doing that. My mother’s doing what needs to be done. When she’s finished, we’ll finally have the power we deserve.” A dark light flickered in her eyes.
A cold wave rippled through me as her words sank in. Power? She thought this was about power? My stomach churned as I grasped my lynx pendant, steeling myself as my voice dropped. “The coven is not about having power, and I’m sure that’s not what Aunt Amara is after.”
“My mother wants to find the vampire so his power doesn’t grow. She’ll finish this. She’ll finish them all,” hissed my cousin.
“But without the Cure... We were guided to the lineage for a reason. We were guided to the O’Cillians and to Mac for a reason.” I felt the crackle of power in my fingertips. “Our path is to understand what that reason is.”
Lyra’s expression hardened. “You really think we’re going to trust him? One of them?” Her voice dripped with contempt as she spit out the words.
Fury boiled beneath my skin, and magic hardened my spine, a heat surging up my forearms. I had to fight the urge to unleash it as my breath quickened in anger. I closed my eyes as my hands balled into fists again, filling my lungs with air before looking at her. “I’d trust him over you any day.”
For a moment, there was a flicker of something in Lyra’s eyes—surprise, maybe even doubt—but she quickly masked it with a sneer. Her voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “You’re going to regret those words, Aurora.”
Without another word, I brushed past her, heading for the door. Lyra stepped back, her gaze filled with ice. Jade followed me, glancing over her shoulder at Lyra as we stepped inside the house.
Once inside, my anger boiled over. I slammed the door shut behind us, my hands trembling with the effort to keep control, my breathing ragged.
Jade looked at me, her eyes pleading. “Does the coven really exist to protect the Cure?” Jade asked softly, softer than usual, sitting down on the edge of the couch.
I let out a shaky sigh and leaned against the door, the adrenaline seeping from my veins, leaving a hollow ache in its place. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. Mac says we do. I can’t let Lyra get into my head. We need to focus on what’s important—finding the Cure and protecting him. After that, we can figure out how to restore the balance between the hunters and the vampires.” I rubbed my temples, trying to keep focus.
Jade nodded slowly, her brow furrowed in thought. “Do you trust him?”
I stopped pacing and looked at her, my chest tightening. “Yes. I trust him. I have to.” My voice cracked as I spoke. My fingers went to my pendulum, my hand falling over the lynx, a calm in my chest. It wasn’t just love. It was something more, something unspoken that I couldn’t comprehend.
I sat next to her on the couch as she struggled to mask the worry etched into the lines around her eyes with a small, reassuring smile. “Then that’s all that matters.” She wrapped her arms around me in a warm, steady embrace that reminded me I wasn’t alone, regardless of how loudly the chaos screamed inside me.
As I laid my head on her shoulder, settling into her embrace, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was spiraling out of control. The secrets, the lies, and the looming threat of whatever Lyra’s mother was planning were all becoming too much. But there was no turning back now. Conall and his family needed me to keep the balance of power. The Cure needed my protection. And Mac needed me.
Or so I hoped.