Page 12 of Shifting Hearts

Aldron chuckles. “That is true. But that’s not why you’re here.” I am confused beyond measure. So instead of speaking, I wait for him to continue. “Everything I have created in the last three hundred years is under threat. No one respects the old ways anymore and they are trying to work me out.”

“Three hundred years?” I ask incredulously.

“Let me start at the beginning. I am a vampire.” He flashes a set of distended fangs at me, his eyes glowing an eerie yellow. “And you are a witch.”

“Excuse me?” I squeak.

My mind is still reeling from the vampire bit and now he is telling me I’m not what I thought I was. Korvin rubs his fingers across the exposed sliver of flesh between my skirt and shirt.

“You are a direct descendant of the witch, Marie Laveau. After the accusations in New Orleans, your forefathers must have changed your last name to escape the stigma that came with being part of the Laveau line.”

“My grandmother told me the stories when I was a child,” I muse softly.

“So, you know?” Korvin asks.

“They were the ramblings of a crazy old lady,” I say. But deep down inside I know she wasn’t crazy, no matter what my mother used to say.

“You know you don’t believe that no matter what yousay,” Aldron says with confidence. “You’ve always felt outside of everyone and everything else, like you don’t fit in or belong anywhere. Strange things have happened around you for your entire life, and you probably have some kind of visions or premonitions.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because all witches are the same with the basics,” he replies. “What matters are the natural abilities. Like your healing power.”

“What?”

“The way you healed the woman’s hand on your first night here was amazing.”

“I didn’t…”

“You did. And even though you weren’t raised as a witch, your latent abilities make you the perfect candidate for what I need.”

“Just get to the point, Aldron,” Korvin says gruffly.

“I want you to study with some of the local witches. We need someone powerful enough to cast a protection spell around Brooklyn to keep Lucius from getting in and taking over,” he explains. “He is pure anarchy and chaos.”

“Meaning?” I ask.

“My brother doesn’t believe in the sanctity of life and inner species living. Where I prefer to find donors to fulfill my dietary needs, he will bring his coven here and they will destroy the harmony we have created. No human, shifter, magical being, or even animal will be safe from them. And then he will move on and destroy the next place.”

“Shifters? Magical creatures?” My mind is swirling with everything he is telling me.

“If witches are real, won’t so much more be true also?”

“I think that’s enough for now,” Korvin cut in. “Why don’t you give her a chance to process everything, and she can come toyou if and when she is ready?”

“Korvin,” Aldron starts but stops abruptly.

“It is not your story to tell.” Korvin’s tone is final as he stands placing me on my feet. “Let’s get you home, Akasha.”

Chapter Ten

Korvin Slater

The Forest

The drive from The Gin Room is quiet and intense for longer than I am comfortable. I know Aldron has shocked her with everything he said. She is working through a million things right now.

“What else do I need to know about?” Akasha asks softly, gazing out into the rainy night through the passenger side window.

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