Neither of them made mention to their wives what had happened, though they didn\u2019t discuss keeping it a secret. It just didn\u2019t 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. \u201cThat did really happen to us, didn\u2019t it?\u201d
\u201cI think so,\u201d Aaron shrugged. \u201cI mean, it couldn\u2019t be a dream or else one of us wouldn\u2019t remember, right?\u201d
\u201cRight,\u201d Kian agreed, though his voice wavered. \u201cI do hope those girls made it home safely. I would hate to think that anything happened to them after all that.\u201d
\u201cMe, too\u201d Aaron replied. \u201cPerhaps we can check in on them on our way back.\u201d
Before they even reached the tavern, they saw Ward leaning against the same building where they\u2019d seen him yesterday, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he were waiting for them.
\u201cWard!\u201d Kian shouted as they approached, \u201cmay we speak with you?\u201d
He nodded, though he didn\u2019t say a word, and as Aaron and Kian reached him, he turned sharply on his heel as he had the day before. \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d Aaron asked.
He called quietly over his shoulder, \u201cNot here.\u201d
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\u2019t 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.
\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d 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\u2019t 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.
\u201cYou\u2019ve began the process then?\u201d Ward asked, looking from one of them to the other. \u201cYou killed the Dark Ones yesterday, and now you feel the fire within your blood, don\u2019t you?\u2019
Both of them were confused. \u201cWe did kill the Dark Ones,\u201d Kian admitted, \u201cbut they did not turn us. Neither of them was able to wound either of us.\u201d
Shaking his head, Ward said, \u201cThat\u2019s not what I mean. Not at all. You are both members of what you refer to as the Order, yes?\u201d They nodded. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d
As he spoke, Aaron realized his accent was shifting. He was no Irishman. He sounded almost French. Aaron\u2019s brow narrowed as he struggled to comprehend all that was being said to him. \u201cThe Ternion?\u201d he finally asked. \u201cWhat is that?\u201d
\u201cWhen 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.\u201d
Aaron could tell by Kian\u2019s expression that he was having just as much trouble understanding what was being said to them. \u201cDid you say\u2014Vampire? Is that what the Dark Ones are?\u201d
\u201cDark 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\u2014those who could have Transformed as you have into beings that could destroy them\u2014to 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.\u201d
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? \u201cYou\u2019re saying that the Order are the families who could change into these Hunters and Guardians if they wanted to\u2014but that none of us remembered?\u201d
\u201cAnd the only reason we started changing yesterday was because those Vampires ignited something within our blood?\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Neither of them made mention to their wives what had happened, though they didn\u2019t discuss keeping it a secret. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shadows-bargain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demonslayerrmanga.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}