Chapter 26 – Rorik
Any potential news interviews Vara planned were rescheduled, and we’re now meeting at Xander’s penthouse to talk about Ciara’s writings that Aurora was finally able to translate.
We arrive late, well after the sun has set. Everyone’s here. Xander, Evangeline, Layla, Vara, Thorne, Locheran, Farrah, and even Millie and Teddy.
I’m not sure why everyone must be here. Especially the former vampire queen and her mate. She’s basically retired and won’t go into battle. She also won’t let Teddy fight. She’s way too protective of him. I think they’re here because they don’t like to be left out and thrive on drama.
Though, as much as it pains me to admit it, this group of supes has been trying to befriend me lately. I’ve never had friends. Not ones I can call to meet up with to watch a sporting match or to go camping with or to text each other about women or whatever the fuck human men do.
Yet when we enter Xander’s place, I get handshakes from the gargoyle king and Thorne, a fist bump from Locheran, and a hug from Teddy. I can’t even remember the last time I received a friendly hug. I won’t even lie—I liked it. I like this feeling of belonging.
I’ve lived over 3,000 years in shame and never found where I belonged.
This group is changing that.
Aurora peels away from me to give shrieking hugs to the women. They tell her she’s glowing and compliment her lovely cottagecore dress then steal her away for gossip.
I assume that’s what they’re doing as they huddle together in the living room.
I could listen in on their conversation, but I can’t concentrate with this many bodies in one place.
Despite these supes keeping their thoughts shielded, that underlying hum of noise is still there, and I’m working overtime to block it.
Aurora speaks animatedly with the women. Her beautiful pale face lights up with a smile and a blush lightly paints her cheeks. I could watch her like this for eternity.
She’s happy and free and mine. Every day she chips away at my darkness.
I am simply the moon who fell in love with the sun.
“You’ve got it bad,” Locheran says, slapping his palm on my shoulder.
“How could I not?” I reply to the gargoyle soldier. “I kidnapped her, and she still chose me.”
“She loves you. You know that, right?”
Aurora glances my way, smiling as big as her face will allow before turning her attention back to Vara, Layla, Millie, Farrah, and Evangeline.
“She looks at you like you’re the only one in the room.”
“Well, I am the hottest one here so of course she’d rather look at me.”
Locheran playfully pushes at my shoulder. “Cocky fucker.”
He has no room to talk. The way he looks at Farrah is as if she’s the remaining bright star in the night sky.
“I think I’ve loved her since the day she silenced the world for me.”
“You should tell her.”
I nod. I will. Soon. But I’m scared she’ll say it back because the last time I fell in love, I lost two wonderful souls. I’m worried the same will happen with Aurora.
Xander interrupts my heart to heart with Locheran by offering me something to drink. He has blood on hand, but I respectfully decline. I find myself less in need of blood the longer I’m with my mate. I’m also eating more human food, which keeps me full.
“Alright everyone,” Xander says to the room.
The women wrap up their conversation and make their way into the living room.
Teddy sits in an oversized chair with Millie in his lap.
Locheran, Farrah, Vara, and Layla squeeze onto the oversized couch, giving the two winged creatures plenty of space.
Thorne stands behind Layla and Vara with a hand on each of their shoulders.
Evangeline and Xander stand at the edge of the living room where it merges into the kitchen.
Aurora and I make our way to an open space, allowing us to see everyone clearly.
"Ciara’s magic is weakening,” I begin.
That immediately gets everyone’s attention. Vara and Layla lean forward. Xander’s wings flutter behind him, loosening as if preparing for a fight.
“The coven said as much,” Xander says. “Does that mean it’s true?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?” Locheran asks.
“I told him,” Aurora says, her voice slightly shaken. I take her hand and squeeze. “My mother had journals and papers. Rorik found them at the warehouse where the hunters took Vara.”
“What the fuck, Rory?” Vara growls. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”
Oops. My bad.
“How is that possible?” Locheran asks. “My teams cleared that place. Everything was confiscated. The coven sensed no more magic.”
“There was a hidden room,” I say, shrugging. “Ciara placed a spell on it to hide the scent of magic. Even I didn’t sense it following the raid there. But as I said, her magic is weakening so that cloaking spell didn’t last as long as she intended. When’s the last time anyone did a sweep there?”
Now would be a good time to tell Farrah that her brother is a ghost who lives in that warehouse, but then the attention will be on that little detail and not on me and my mate.
It’s fine. She can wait. I don’t expect Ethan to find the light any time soon.
“There was no need to go back,” Locheran grumbles. “Why did you go there?”
“I had a hunch.”
“Okay. It doesn’t matter. A room was found. But don’t think I won’t deal with you later,” Layla says to me before turning her attention back to Aurora.
I silently curse and hope she’s not going to make me teach another supernatural history course for humans.
Hesitantly, Aurora continues. “My mother wrote down everything. Every thought, every spell. Some of it was rambling that didn’t make sense. But when it did… she made it very clear that her magic was not what it used to be.”
“Did she say why her magic was weakening?” Xander asks.
“No,” Aurora says.
“I mean, she’s older than I am," I explain. “Not by much, a few dozen years, but after living that long, the mind starts to turn on you. Trust me, I know. Her body could also be withering from the amount of black magic she uses, which is what the coven suspects. Or she pissed off someone more powerful than her. Either way, she’s likely scared and desperate.”
Everyone nods at that information. When no one says anything, Aurora continues.
“She wrote about me a lot. About my magic. She knew I would become more powerful than her.”
“Do you know why you’re more powerful than her?” Layla asks.
Aurora glances at me. We talked about whether we should reveal our theory to this group of supes. My mate trusts them. I suppose I do too. They’re all becoming our friends. So, I give her a subtle nod.
“My father was half fae, half human.”
“Witches breeding with fae is rare, even half fae,” Xander says. “Fae blood is extremely potent. The child’s magic would be unpredictable. Dangerous.”
“Yes,” Aurora says. “It’s why we believe she tried to steal it from me. She likely intentionally mated with a fae for this purpose: to steal my magic to become more powerful herself.”
“But she probably couldn’t convince a full-blooded fae and settled for a half-fae man,” Millie suggests.
“Yes,” Aurora says. “But she wasn’t able to take my magic.
Instead, she suppressed it. I guess if she couldn’t have it, I couldn’t either.
When I turned eighteen, I went to New Orleans and got help from a coven there.
They were able to release any suppression spells my mother placed on my magic as a child, but they warned me not to use any strong spells. ”
“Why?” Millie asks, mouth wide open in awe.
Aurora shrugs. “They believed my mother put some sort of magical tracker on my powers. The New Orleans coven tried to remove it but had no luck.”
“If she couldn’t steal your magic, why was she still trying to find you?” Vara asks.
Aurora huffs. “Her journal mentioned that my magic would release once I’ve died. She made an entry last year detailing a plan to track me down, capture me, and give me to the monster hunters. She hoped they’d kill me and release my powers.”
“Why couldn’t she just kill you herself?” Xander asks.
“When she found us outside Aurora’s apartment in the East Village,” I begin, “she said something about not being able to because of destiny, a prophecy. We tried finding more on that, but so far, we haven’t come across anything.”
“Well, your magic is definitely no longer being suppressed,” Layla says. “It’s very… potent.”
The rest of the supes in the room agree.
“Yes. Mating with Rorik released the block my mother cast on me.” Her cheeks darken pink, and I just want to snatch her up and really give her something to be bashful about.
Wow. Okay. We clearly need to fuck some more.
The bond wants to be satisfied, and we haven’t had time.
“But even though I have my full powers back, I don’t know how to use them. ”
“And you can’t do anything too strong or Ciara will find you,” Evangeline adds. “My mother and I can help with that. There’s somewhere we can go that will shield your magic while you practice using it.”
Aurora thanks Evangeline, then continues.
“My mother wrote that I will be the one to break the first vampire’s curse. I just don’t know how yet. I’m still looking over the papers and books Rorik found.”
“Did she say anything about why she wants to capture and kill humans?” Locheran asks.
“She’s always hated humans,” Aurora answers.
“Humans killed her family—her mother, father, and sister—for using witchcraft. She was just a teenager and only survived because she was out in the woods collecting berries to prepare dessert after dinner. She returned home and hid in the trees while she watched the townspeople burning them at the stake. But now she actually believes that getting rid of humans will satisfy the universe or the gods and bring her powers back.”
“So, how do we stop her?” Thorne asks. He’s been silent up until now.
Aurora takes a deep breath before answering. “She’s extremely hard to kill because of her age, but she can die.”
“How?” Layla asks, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
“The key to killing the rogue witch is to kill her creation,” I say.
“But you can’t die,” Farrah says, the words barely a whisper.
“Only the first vampire’s mate can end his life,” Aurora adds.
“What?” Thorne says, but they all heard her.
“I have to kill Rorik to kill my mother.”
Silence.
Not a word, a gasp, or a cough.
We’ve officially stunned this group of monsters.
“And how do you do that?” Xander asks.
Aurora reaches behind her back to grab a dagger tucked into the belt she’s wearing with her skintight jeans. I almost made us late to this meeting when she walked out, looking mouth-watering. I wanted to peel those jeans off and fuck her against the wall of windows in my living room.
My little lamb holds up the weapon for everyone to see. “With this.”
The dagger was in one of the boxes from the warehouse that I gifted to Aurora since she loved it so much. It was mentioned in the papers saying it’s been infused with a spell that only Aurora’s magic can activate.
“So, what? You’re just going to kill your fated mate?” Locheran asks. “I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. The bond won’t allow it.”
“It will because I’ll also be able to bring him back to life.”
Now that gets a mix of gasps and shocked grumblings.
We just hope the spell to bring me back to life actually works.