mean, I thought vampires only fed from humans. Why would a vampire drink another vampire’s blood?”
“We don’t feed on other vampires, Skye,” Archer explained, letting go of Aoife’s hand and resuming his seat in a nearby chair. He motioned for a still fuming Seamus to do the same. Archer watched as Seamus reluctantly complied and then resumed speaking. “Feeding off another vampire for nourishment is considered cannibalism. It simply isn’t done and, before I became aware of these murders, I wouldn’t have believed that someone was capable of doing something so unspeakable.”
“The only time a vampire really consumes the blood of another vampire is when they have chosen their mate.” Aoife interrupted as she walked over to stand beside Archer. She reached up to lightly stroke his dark chestnut hair, and a look filled her eyes that clearly stated ‘he’s mine’. “There is a sacred, private ritual that is performed. You can liken it to one of your marriage ceremonies. In the sharing of blood, two vampires become one. Forever.” She sounded like she spoke from experience. Had she and Archer performed this ritual? That would explain a lot, I thought silently. Not dating anyone my ass, Archer. Yeah, you’re not dating her because you’re probably already married to her. I saw the way they acted around each other. There was a comfortable intimacy and carnal familiarity there. Even a blind man could see that. I glanced over at Archer before quickly looking away. He was staring straight at me and I had no doubt that he had psychically heard my thoughts. Well, at this point, I couldn’t have cared less.
“Sometimes, it’s exchanged during intercourse with your mate for bonding purposes, but it’s not done often,” Aoife elaborated further.
“Why are you only telling us about this now, Archer?” Trey whispered, breaking his silence and I jumped at the unexpectedness of it.
“Because, my dear Nathaniel, I can no longer protect any of you from this. Believe me children, I didn’t keep this from you to hurt you, quite the contrary. I didn’t want to unnecessarily alarm you. I had no way of knowing that this…creature would come here. I’m telling you now because this monster, whoever it is, has entered our home. They came into our house and murdered our brother.”
“But Seamus, Aoife, and I were in Boston when those in Sliocht Sheáin were murdered,” Lochlan said. “You should have told us, Athair.”
“I wish I had been able to, but I had been given my own orders to remain silent,” Archer sighed. “Other leaders didn’t want to incite panic amongst their own. We didn’t know if the killings were random or if that monster was specifically targeting some of us. All of the vampires that this creature has killed so far are of our own species, those who walk in the light. Our inside sources have informed us that there have been no similar cases among the Dark Ones. We still haven’t found a pattern in the killings and we don’t yet understand why some of our kind was killed and others seemingly overlooked.”
“What of An Dílis?” Hunter asked. “When will they be here?”
“They should be here in roughly nine hours,” Archer replied. “They have been preparing for the journey here for the last few days.”
“I’ve never seen one before,” Trey leaned over and whispered to me, passing me the bottle of scotch. He seemed like he had some margin of control over himself again and I was glad for it. I guess drinking helped dull some of the raw emotions he was picking up from everyone.
“Who are the An Dílis? What does that even mean?” I asked Trey before taking a big swig from the bottle and passing it off to Jameson on my left.
“An Dílis means ‘The Faithful’. They are kind of like our race’s equivalent to your military. They are big and bad, and if they’re coming, shit has definitely hit the fan.”
“Oh dear…,” I whispered.
Archer stood up and walked to the center of our haphazard gathering, slowly looking around at us as he spoke. “I want each of you to pair up with someone and stay with that person at all times. When we leave here tonight, we all leave together as a group. Jameson will lead the way in his car and I will bring up the rear in mine. I want you all to stay with me in my house until this is over.”
“Aye,” Jameson said.
“Tonight, we will say goodbye to our Greyson. Tomorrow, we