Chapter 28
Kara
We all stare at Gran, who’s looking at Poppy with an expression of determined expectation on her face.
The garden feels different now, filled with an energy I’ve never felt before. Marcus’s arm is around my waist, and I’m still processing everything that just happened. Gran is staring at Poppy with such intensity that I almost expect the squirrel to burst into flames.
“Well?” Gran’s voice carries an authority I rarely hear. “Surely this is enough now?”
Poppy twitches her tail. Her tiny paws fidget together, but her eyes never leave Gran’s face.
The rest of us exchange confused looks. Mom steps forward, her brow furrowed. “Mother, what’s going on?”
“Hush, Georgia.” Gran waves her hand dismissively, still focused on the squirrel. “This is between me and her.”
Marcus tenses beside me, and I catch a flash of his thoughts – concern mixed with curiosity. Rowan moves closer to Darick while Mia and Soren share a puzzled glance.
Dad places his hand on Mom’s shoulder, holding her back when she starts to speak again. He seems to sense, as I do, that we’re witnessing something momentous.
Poppy sits up straighter, her usual sassy demeanor replaced by something… older. Wiser. The way she holds herself reminds me of Gran when she’s presiding over important coven ceremonies.
“Three times,” Gran says, her voice firm. “Three vampires willing to die for love of our bloodline.”
“Could have been the blood match,” Poppy mutters. She hops off the bench and bounds up onto the edge of a fountain, looking out over the water.
There’s something truly strange going on here.
“Really, Gaia?” Gran folds her arms, one toe tapping. “You’re not convinced.”
Gaia?
“Maybe I am.” Poppy looks away.
I watch as Gran takes a step toward Poppy, her voice carrying that tone she uses when she’s about to deliver a history lesson.
“First, there was Darick Drake.” Gran’s eyes flick to where Darick stands with Rowan. “He chose mortality – gave up everything he was, everything he’d built over a thousand years – for love of my granddaughter.”
Darick pulls Rowan closer, and I feel Marcus’s arm tighten around my waist.
“Then Soren.” Gran’s gaze shifts to where he stands with Mia. “He endured torture, fought through a maker’s bond that should have been unbreakable, faced the sun – all for love of another Blackwood witch.”
Soren’s jaw tightens, and Mia squeezes his hand. The garden feels charged with an electric tension I can’t quite understand.
“And now Marcus.” Gran’s voice softens as she looks at the vampire holding me. “Who threw himself between Lucien and that sphere, knowing it would kill him. Not for advantage, not for power, but for love.”
I feel Marcus’s thoughts brush against mine – confusion mixed with a fierce protectiveness that makes my heart skip.
“Three vampires,” Gran says again, her voice gaining strength. “Three times we’ve seen them choose love over power, choose sacrifice over self-preservation. And you still doubt?”
Poppy sits unnaturally still on the fountain’s edge, her usual fidgeting completely absent. There’s something about her posture that seems wrong for a squirrel – too regal, too knowing.
Mom makes a small sound of confusion, and Dad’s hand tightens on her shoulder. Rowan’s mouth is hanging open slightly, and even Mia looks bewildered.
I glance around at my family’s faces, seeing my own confusion reflected back. Only Gran seems to know what’s really happening here, her eyes fixed on Poppy with that strange intensity.
What the hell is going on?
I realize with a start that I don’t know if the thought is my own or Marcus’s, but somehow, it doesn’t matter anymore.
“I think it’s time, Gaia, don’t you?” says Gran.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Fine!” Poppy huffs.
The air around her begins to shimmer, like heat waves rising from a summer pavement.
I stare in amazement as the squirrel’s form starts to blur and expand, growing taller, more human.
The energy in the garden shifts dramatically, immense power rolling off her in waves that make my knees weak.
Marcus steadies me, his own shock evident in his bearing.
Where Poppy sat moments ago, a woman now stands.
She’s tall and elegant, with flowing red hair that catches the moonlight like flames.
Her green eyes – so similar to mine, to Rowan’s, to Mia’s – survey us all with an unearthly wisdom.
Her presence fills the garden with an otherworldly power that makes even Darick and Soren take involuntary steps back.
“Oh, my God,” Mom whispers, her hand flying to her mouth.
Rowan makes a strangled sound, and I hear Mia’s sharp intake of breath. Dad’s face has gone pale, his usual composure completely shattered.
The woman – Gaia – wears a gown that seems woven from starlight and shadow, shifting colors with each movement. Her features are hauntingly familiar, like looking at an old version of our family portrait. The resemblance to all of us is uncanny, especially around the eyes and cheekbones.
Time seems to freeze. The fountain’s splash goes silent, the breeze stops rustling the leaves, even the birds halt their songs. It’s as if the whole world is holding its breath, watching this moment unfold.
A collective gasp echoes through the garden as Gaia takes a graceful step forward, her bare feet barely seeming to touch the ground. The raw power emanating from her makes my senses tingle almost painfully.
“Well,” she says, her voice carrying echoes of Poppy’s sass but layered with something deeper, more silky, “I suppose I can’t argue with the evidence before me.”
“I don’t understand,” Dad whispers.
Gran looks around at us. “Allow me to introduce your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great—”
“They get the point, Evelyn,” Poppy-Gaia says drily.
“…great-grandmother Gaia Blackwood,” Gran finishes.
“Holy shitballs,” Rowan exhales. “Poppy?”
“That’s me.” Gaia winks at her and twitches her nose.
I stare at the elegant woman before us, my mind struggling to process what I’m hearing. The sassy squirrel who’s been hanging around our family for as long as I can remember is actually our ancestor? The one who…
“The witch who created the Bloodbane,” Mia says, her expression echoing my own shock.
“A Blackwood witch created the Bloodbane?” My eyes are wide.
“Indeed.” Gaia’s smile holds traces of Poppy’s familiar mischief. “Though I prefer to think of myself as the witch who’s about to end it.”
Mom sways slightly, and Dad steadies her. “But…how? All this time?”
“Someone had to keep an eye on you lot.” Gaia waves her hand dismissively, but I catch the affection in her gesture. “Making sure the bloodline continued, watching over each generation.”
I feel the truth of it in my bones, in my magic. The power signature I’ve always sensed from Poppy but dismissed – it matches the magic that runs through our family spells, through our very blood.
“That’s why you’ve always been around,” I breathe. “The family familiar who never really belonged to anyone…”
“Because I belonged to all of you,” she confirms, and for a moment, her form flickers – I catch a glimpse of the squirrel superimposed over the woman, like a double exposure in an old photograph.
“But I thought you were my familiar.” Rowan looks dejected.
“Come now, Rowan, did you ever truly believe that?” Gaia’s smile is gentle.
“But…then…” Dad’s face is a mask of confusion. “You’re immortal?”
“If I want to be.” Gaia shrugs. “Some of us are born with magic that transcends death. I guess I was just lucky. Or not, depending on your perspective. In any event, we live a long time. Just look at Evelyn. How old are you now, honey?” She looks at Gran, who waves a hand.
“It’s not polite to ask a lady her age.”
The magic in the garden surges, responding to her presence. Every plant, every stone seems to recognize her, bowing slightly in her direction.
“I don’t believe it,” Rowan whispers, but her voice holds wonder rather than doubt.
Gaia raises one elegant eyebrow, and with a casual flick of her wrist, she sends a cascade of golden sparkles through the air – Poppy’s signature move when she was showing off. The magic carries her distinct signature, unmistakable now that we know to look for it.
The light in Gaia’s eyes dims slightly as she settles onto the fountain’s edge, her otherworldly gown pooling around her feet. “I suppose you deserve the full story.”
Marcus’s arm tightens around my waist as Gaia’s magic fills the air with shimmering memories. I see flashes of a younger version of her, dancing with a handsome vampire at a medieval feast.
“His name was Xander. Alexander Grove,” she says, her voice carrying centuries of pain. “He promised me eternity, promised to turn me after our handfasting.” Her laugh is bitter, reminiscent of Poppy’s chattering. “Instead, I found him drinking from my sister on our wedding night.”
The memory shifts, showing her sister’s lifeless body, Xander’s bloodstained mouth, his cold smile. “He said immortality had shown him the truth – that witches were merely food, pets to be used and discarded.”
“The betrayal broke something in me,” Gaia continues, green eyes flashing.
“So I broke something in return. I cursed him, cursed every vampire he made to slowly develop an allergy to human blood. They would need witch blood to survive, but only from my lineage – a constant reminder of his betrayal.”
“Just his line?” Mia asks. “The ones he made and the ones they made?”
Gaia nods.
“But why?” Rowan asks.
“Because I knew that as long as they carried a hint of his blood, they carried a piece of his betrayal. The potential to do it again. And I was right. Just look at Lucien. The epitome of it.”
“Lucien Marlowe had the Bloodbane?” Darick looks astonished.
“Why does that surprise you?” She cocks her head. “Could you think of another reason why he was obsessed with it? Why he wanted to manage the cure?”
“I thought there was no cure. That it could only be controlled…by drinking from us. Their matches.” Rowan is confused.
“Hmm…I guess you’re right.” Gaia gives a casual shrug. “Oh, well. Whatever.”
Soren is shaking his head, his expression thunderous. “My entire line is cursed with this affliction. My maker died to save us.”
“But not before he teamed up with a monster who caged witches like animals.” Gaia snorts. “Some might say it was good riddance.”
Soren makes a choked sound. “You’re not sorry at all, are you?”
“Sorry?” Gaia’s power crackles. “He murdered my sister, treated our love like a game. Hunted witches like animals. The curse was justice.”
I feel Marcus processing this, his thoughts a mix of understanding and wariness. Beside us, Rowan clutches Darick’s hand while Mia leans into Soren’s embrace.
“That’s a really awful thing to do, Gaia,” Mia says cautiously.
“Hey, I’m a witch, not an angel,” says Gaia.
“And you sure know how to hold a grudge,” Marcus mutters.
“But now,” Gaia’s expression softens as she looks at each couple, “I’ve seen true love prove stronger than vampire nature. Three times over.” She shakes her head, a familiar gesture I’ve seen Poppy make countless times. “Perhaps it’s time for justice to yield to mercy.”
I watch as Gaia rises from the fountain’s edge, her form seeming to grow taller, more luminous.
“Very well,” she says, her voice carrying that familiar edge of sassiness. “The curse ends now.”
She raises her hands and pure golden light streams from her fingertips. The magic feels different from anything I’ve ever experienced – older, deeper, like the roots of the world itself. It spreads through the garden in waves, washing over us all.
Marcus stiffens beside me, his grip on my waist tightening. It occurs to me that there may still be a part of him that believes we are bound.
Across the garden, Darick gasps, one hand flying to his chest. Soren’s eyes widen, his free hand clenching into a fist. The vampires’ reactions make my heart race – is something wrong?
“What’s happening?” I demand, turning to look up at Marcus. His face is a mask of wonder and confusion.
“The hunger…” Soren whispers. “It’s different. Cleaner somehow.”
The golden light fades, leaving the garden feeling somehow both emptier and more alive. Gaia lowers her hands, looking satisfied.
“The bloodline curse is broken,” she announces. “Your hunger for human blood is restored to its natural state. You’re free from the taint of Xander’s betrayal.”
“But the bonds?” Rowan’s voice shakes slightly. “Will this change what we have? Will the connection fade now that the curse’s influence is gone?”
“Those were never part of the curse,” Gaia says, rolling her eyes in a gesture so reminiscent of Poppy that I almost laugh despite the tension. “True love creates its own magic.”
Rowan’s expression is almost comically relieved as she flings her arms around Darick and dots kisses all over his face while he laughs.
Meanwhile, Mia is gazing up at Soren with a look of such open adoration that I can practically see the emotion glowing from her.
He pulls her against his chest, holding her close and resting his chin on his head, his lips moving as he murmurs softly to her.
I turn to Marcus, my heart swelling with joy. “So it really wasn’t the blood match. All this time.”
His eyes meet mine, that familiar connection humming between us stronger than ever. “I knew it wasn’t. Every time I tried to convince myself it was just the bond…” He cups my face in his hands. “I kept falling in love with you all over again.”
“I love you,” I whisper, the words feeling different now, lighter somehow. “Even when I was fighting it, even when I thought it wasn’t real—”
“It was always real,” he says softly.
Mom sniffles loudly behind us. “Oh, this is perfect! We can have a summer wedding for all of our girls. The roses will be in full bloom, and—”
“Georgia,” Dad warns, but he’s smiling as he looks around at all of us. Darick gives a wink, and Soren nods his head, and suddenly I suspect that Mom’s wish is about to come true.
I lean into Marcus’s embrace, watching my family’s joy unfold around us. Mia and Soren are wrapped in each other’s arms, while Rowan and Darick are nose to nose, gazing into each other’s eyes.
Gran stands with Gaia, both women watching us with matching expressions of satisfaction.
The future stretches out before us, bright with possibility. No more curses, no more doubt, just this – this feeling, this connection, this love that was strong enough to break centuries of sorcery.
Marcus’s thoughts brush against mine, full of warmth and promise. “Forever?”
“Forever,” I agree and kiss him.