Page 94 of Love Heals
"We're gonna have to find a new base for ourselves, though," Aldrich threw in. "Much as I'd love to take you all, my place is a little too small for that."
"We'll have to think about it," Crimson said. "There's so much to figure out. Like why Luke's magic didn't work..."
"Jared's magic didn't exactly work either." A shadow passed over Aldrich's features. I could only imagine what he was thinking of.
"They must have been taken to the hospital," I said. "Jared and the others..."
Aldrich wasn't listening to me, though. He stalked over into his bedroom where Puck was still sitting by himself. "Hey, Mr. Magician, question for you."
Puck looked up, his brow furrowing. He obviously did not like to be interrupted mid-thought. "Pray tell, what's so important that it can't—"
"Why didn't Jared's magic heal Remy?"
Puck blinked, either surprised by the question or the fact that he'd been interrupted. He rose to his feet and paced the room, staring down at his hands. "I have a theory."
"What theory?" Aldrich demanded.
"It's about Vlad and the secret he sold to Sage. I couldn't hear what he said, but there is a possibility... I've been reading that diary and I keep wondering how he got it."
"What diary?"
Puck didn't seem to hear Aldrich's question, wrapped up in his own musings. "Atlus passed several centuries ago, of course. He was a witch, and while we live long, we aren't immortal. Vampires, though... How long could a vampire live, theoretically? Forever? If nothing killed him? We know that Atlus is dead, but what about his lover? What happened to Cyril? I can't find any records of his passing."
"Get to the point, man. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Silently standing by the door to the bedroom, I was glad that I wasn't the only one who didn’t understand what Puck was going on about. Neither the name Atlus nor Cyril meant anything to me.
Puck gave a heavy sigh, as if he was wondering what crimes he might have committed in a past life to be stuck with such ignorant fools now. "Atlus and Cyril were the witch and the vampire who conceived the first dhampir babies. Vlad recently procured Atlus's diary for me. How old do you propose Vlad is?"
"Very old," I said, suppressing a shudder at the memory of the magic I'd sensed around him. "Ancient. He's gotta be."
Puck nodded. "I got that feeling as well, but could he be about a thousand years old? Cyril would be that age by now."
A thousand years... could we really live that long? Logically speaking, I couldn't see why not, but still... the idea felt insane.
"Let's assume that Vlad has kept his real identity a secret for a long time... for whatever reasons he may have." Puck paused. "Now let's assume he shared this secret with Sage. Now he doesn't remember who he is."
Aldrich shook his head, impatience coloring his features. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"What if he didn't forget only his identity but that of his lover as well?" Puck asked. "Do you remember what fuels dhampir magic? The origin of their power? That epic love that wouldn't die? Ring any bells for you?"
Aldrich huffed. "I'm not a school boy. Just give me a straight answer."
"Well,plainlyspeaking," Puck said with emphasis, "if Cyril doesn't remember his love for Atlus, that can have ramifications for dhampirs everywhere."
"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Aldrich asked. "Why couldn't you just start with that?"
"It pains me to say this, but I'm not a hundred percent certain that I'm right." Puck cast his gaze around the room as if the answer he was looking for might be hiding somewhere under the dust on Aldrich's shelves. "But the love that created dhampirs was supposed to be undying. I'm assuming that it's still alive in Vlad, or should I say Cyril, somewhere, but it's suppressed for now. Imprisoned in a marble..."
I mulled this over in my head. "That's why Jared's healing powers aren't so great anymore?"
"Luke's magic too," Crimson commented. "How do we reverse that? We need them at full strength if the vampires are retaliating now."
Puck grimaced. "You would have to discuss that with Sage. She owns that memory now. We got the wording of the prophecy in return."
"What did that prophecy say anyway?" Crimson asked.
I repeated it for him. "On the day the marked dhampir loses his heart to a child of night, a sacrifice shall raise the veil of sleep, and death will lift the curse of the vampire from this world."
