Chapter 13

Neither of them made mention to their wives what had happened, though they didn’t discuss keeping it a secret. It just didn’t seem like the sort of thing one mentioned to a person who was not there; no one was likely to believe them anyway.
The next morning, Aaron met Kian outside near the road. They decided they must return to the tavern to try and find Ward. Without a word to their wives of where they were going, they set out, certain that Ward would have some answers, though the longer time went by, the more Aaron began to doubt anything about the experience was real.
As they walked along, Kian voiced the same thoughts. “That did really happen to us, didn’t it?”
“I think so,” Aaron shrugged. “I mean, it couldn’t be a dream or else one of us wouldn’t remember, right?”
“Right,” Kian agreed, though his voice wavered. “I do hope those girls made it home safely. I would hate to think that anything happened to them after all that.”
“Me, too” Aaron replied. “Perhaps we can check in on them on our way back.”
Before they even reached the tavern, they saw Ward leaning against the same building where they’d seen him yesterday, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he were waiting for them.
“Ward!” Kian shouted as they approached, “may we speak with you?”
He nodded, though he didn’t say a word, and as Aaron and Kian reached him, he turned sharply on his heel as he had the day before. “Where are you going?” Aaron asked.
He called quietly over his shoulder, “Not here.”
Exchanging glances, Aaron and Kian rushed after him. Aaron had noticed a sharp pain in each of his legs earlier that morning, and he wondered if it wasn’t because he had run so quickly the day before. Here it was again, now that he was rushing after the stranger in the alley, and he had to concentrate to keep it out of his mind as he made his way after Ward.
“Where are we going?” Kian asked as they crossed another path and headed off towards the woods.
Ward said nothing, only kept walking. The other men hurried on behind him, trusting, for some reason, that Ward would do them no harm.
Eventually, they came to a small dwelling back in the trees. While it was nothing fancy, it was made of stone, which made it a bit nicer than most, and Ward held the door open for them, waiting a step inside.
Kian made his way in first, Aaron following. Inside there was a large front room with another room in the back and a loft. Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he was in a home with more than one room.
Ward stepped toward a round table with four chairs and gestured for them to follow. He sat down across from two empty chairs and waited as the other men took their places. He was silent for a long moment, and Kian and Aaron continued to exchange glances, not sure who should start or what might need to be said.
“You’ve began the process then?” Ward asked, looking from one of them to the other. “You killed the Dark Ones yesterday, and now you feel the fire within your blood, don’t you?’
Both of them were confused. “We did kill the Dark Ones,” Kian admitted, “but they did not turn us. Neither of them was able to wound either of us.”
Shaking his head, Ward said, “That’s not what I mean. Not at all. You are both members of what you refer to as the Order, yes?” They nodded. “What it really is dates back thousands of years, and though your Irish countrymen refuse to acknowledge it, you have unknowingly unleashed your own power, and now you must embrace the Ternion and all the power that lies therein.”
As he spoke, Aaron realized his accent was shifting. He was no Irishman. He sounded almost French. Aaron’s brow narrowed as he struggled to comprehend all that was being said to him. “The Ternion?” he finally asked. “What is that?”
“When the world was first created, thousands of years ago, the Vampires sought to destroy all mankind. That would never do. In order to balance their lust for blood, the Vampire Hunter was created. However, sending the Hunter out to fight the Dark Ones alone would not work either, and so the Guardians were created, a group whose sole purpose is to defend the Vampire Hunter, and if that means destroying the Vampire then the Guardian does as he or she must.”
Aaron could tell by Kian’s expression that he was having just as much trouble understanding what was being said to them. “Did you say—Vampire? Is that what the Dark Ones are?”
“Dark Ones is a phrase coined by those who do not understand. Yes, they are Vampires. They feed off the blood of humans. Though they are given permission only to take those who have committed sins against humanity, those who dwell here take all that they want. Somehow, long ago, they convinced your clan leaders—those who could have Transformed as you have into beings that could destroy them—to turn a blind eye to the humans they claimed. Over time, the Vampires no longer acknowledged the agreement, and since the Guardians and Hunters no longer spoke of the Ternion, their ancestors forgot. Now, the Vampires can do as they please so long as they do not excite the Ternion blood within those who can turn and destroy them as you have.”
Aaron ran a hand through his hair. Though he was beginning to understand what Ward was telling him, he could not accept it as truth. How could any of this be possible? “You’re saying that the Order are the families who could change into these Hunters and Guardians if they wanted to—but that none of us remembered?”
“And the only reason we started changing yesterday was because those Vampires ignited something within our blood?” Kian finished.
Aaron hoped Ward would be able to teach them everything they needed to know about the Dark Ones because it was evident now, something had happened to him and to Kian after their encounter. He just needed to figure out what it was.