The mood in Lannetta's home was as dark as her tinted windows. It couldn't be more obvious to the wolves and witches that this new leader of the vampires was once someone the young vampire prince had cherished dearly. Awkward silence hung heavy in the air, apart from Aidan's deep breaths carrying heavily across the room.

The four wolves looked to Emilia, hoping for answers, but she quietly shook her head while continuing to gently rub Aidan's back, not having an inkling herself. Someone had to ask, but no one wanted to be that someone. Eventually though, when his level of impatience rose enough to break the silence, Andy asked Aidan point blank, "Now that you know who controls the vampires, how are you going to defeat him?"

Head still bowed, Aidan answered in a forlorn voice, "It's not so simple anymore."

Andy, Charlie and Brandon exchanged unhappy glances as they pondered, barely days into their unstable alliance, if Aidan was already going back on his word now that he'd found out the current leader was someone once close to him. The mood in the room felt ever more oppressive.

With how well he knew his friends, Gavin picked up on their vibe and decided to dispel any unnecessary speculations by quickly asking his brother, "What do you mean?"

Sighing deeply, Aidan began explaining, "The Dukeship of Havar can be traced back to the reign of Lucius Bloodreign. Orsan is a great-grandson of Lucius, just like Lannetta and I, however his family are not of the direct lineage of Lucius' firstborn son. It would never stick in our homeworld, but here on Earth, just being related to Lucius is enough to lay claim to rule."

Maxim chimed in, "The fact that he has a Talent also makes him, in the eyes of many, a worthy leader to follow especially during such uncertain times, even if Lanneta's leadership skills are far superior."

Lanetta looked sour as she added, "Fear has given Orsan power, and I have long suspected him of spreading the rumours and falsehoods needed to grow these incendiary emotions within our society with the sole purpose of harnessing it, to weaponize it for his own goals. Right now, vampires collectively fear that the coalition of witches and werewolves are close to launching full scale attacks with the sole objective of exterminating the entire vampire race on earth."

Propped up next to her in the comfy armchair, Flint couldn't help rolling his eyes, revealing his annoyance, "Considering how small wolf and witch numbers are, it isn't a realistic scenario, but try rationalising this fact with the conspiracy theorists and warmongers and you'll quickly realise how fruitless it is to try."

It made more sense now. The usurper had the backing that the rightful heir did not. In a nutshell, it was like trying to be first pick for the national team while standing right beside the star athlete. Seated beside Gavin, Hailey spoke up, asking what everyone else was thinking, "If you can't go barging into vampireland and demand the throne, what can you do?"

Aidan was at a loss. Was there anything that their small group could do? Their 'fellowship', to quote Charlie's analogy, was in its infancy, barely taking baby steps but already they were hit with a massive speed bump. While he was lost in thought, Maxim calmly answered, "The only way to oust him from power is to give the vampire community something so magnificent that they will willingly return Lannetta to power."

Hailey mused, "You could offer them the peace treaty."

Maxim immediately shelved the idea, "That wouldn't work. As far as most vampires are concerned, the initial peace accords were broken by the wolves and witches. They'd look at the new peace treaty as nothing more than wasted ink on paper."

The pale haired vampire's words sent Aidan's already depressed heart plummeting to the floor. The rather opaque and half baked plan of his had been to get some sort of treaty sorted between the three groups. Without that, how was he supposed to solve anything?

Nodding in agreement with Maxim, Lannetta scoffed, "Yeah, most vampires would trust the sun's rays more than another treaty."

Aidan, who until that moment had been staring dazedly at the floor, jolted at his sister's words. "That's it!"

Lannetta's brows drew together in confusion. "What's it?"

Aidan waved his arms about in excitement, giving everyone whiplash at his complete mood turnaround. "The sun!"

All eyes present continued to stare blankly at him.

Hidden hope sprung back up to refill an almost empty well in his heart as he exclaimed, "If we can find a way to break the curse of the sun, we can win back power for you!! Vampires will flock to worship at your feet!" This time, the four vampires stared at Aidan as if he'd grown a second head.

The non-vampires just looked dumbfounded.

Andy, Charlie and Gavin collectively turned to look at Brandon for answers since he was the smart one in the group, but he just shook his head. "This is the first I've heard of it," he answered, just as baffled.

Seated beside Emilia, Samaira's eyes went from narrowed in confusion to as round as saucers as she muttered to herself, "Curse of the sun?" Incredulous, she levelled a question at Aidan, "Are you telling me that vampires aren't naturally sensitive to sunlight?! Did a witch curse you guys to burn in the sun?"

Emilia did not bother waiting for the answer and haughtily dismissed the idea completely. "You know that's not possible. A witch's curse is a myth. If it were real, that would be the equivalent of a get out of jail free card for any witch. It just doesn't exist."

Lanetta huffed in response. "It's real! How do you not know about this? I would've thought your stinking shithole of a Committee would've gloated about it for centuries."

"Exactly!" Emilia stubbornly refuted, "The Committee would have gloated about it if it were real! Which is why I'm telling you, it isn't! I would know about it if it were true."

"Stop being in denial about your role in the Portal Wars. You witches are the reason everything went to hell! And then to top it all off, the Committee decides to place all blame and wrongdoing on vampires?! All of it was a stinking ploy to steal Earth's resources from vampires and prevent us from expanding territory!"

"Oh please! Stop acting like you're the victim in all this! Your ancestor didn't magically gain a Talent out of thin air!"

"No he did not, but my father was always vehement that Lucius Bloodreign never stole anything from Nina Forst. She gave it of her own free will! There's no way he could have taken it by force, not from someone as powerful as her, and you know it!"

"Have you never heard of the word trickery before?!"

The two headstrong women continued to lash out, while the others were forced to sit meekly and watch it all unfold. The four young werewolves in particular, watched with wide eyes, almost unwilling to blink, like small puppies absorbing every move in a nasty cat fight.

"Netta...Emi...c'mon..."

Poor Aidan was caught between them, all the while struggling to find the right moment between their scathing accusations to step in and diffuse the situation. As she stopped her yelling long enough to take in a deep breath, Emi's attention temporarily shifted to Aidan, "No offense, my love, but your ancestor was a piece of work, victim blaming Nina Forst while being a conniving manipulative ass."

Aidan looked like a deer caught in some very bright headlights. "Uh. None taken, I guess?"

From his spot on the sofa, Charlie made it known to no one in particular, "I hate when people say that."

Byron chuckled, "Yep. It actually means I'm going to offend you but please pretend like you don't give a shit."

The vampire and werewolf shared slow nods of agreement.

Gavin, in turn, looked at them and humorously thought to himself, 'Well at least some people here can agree on something.'

Aidan gently said, "Emi, back in the palace, there are old paintings of vampires basking in the sun while having a picnic by the sea. The royal library is filled with classic stories where vampires carried out their day-to-day lives without ever worrying about the sun being dangerous. And then there are the thousands of horrific accounts of the day the curse fell on vampirekind. People began combusting on the street, in their backyards, while out farming. It really did happen. The only explanation for it would be a witch's curse."

Flint leaned forward on the recliner, and raised a hand to speak, "My great-great-great grandfather wrote a memoir of that day. It's been passed down as a family heirloom from one generation to the next. Some of the stuff in there was pretty disturbing," he said with a wince. "Anyway, the elder Stevenson seemed to think the curse had something to do with Lucius Bloodreign since it happened not too long after the prince gained his Talent."

Unlike Emilia, Samaira wasn't as resistant to the idea of the curse. Looking shrewdly at her friend, she suggested, "Could it have been Nina Forst?"

Emilia was troubled, and it showed in the tightness around her eyes. She turned her gaze to Aidan before reluctantly forcing herself to entertain the idea that maybe Lannetta Bloodreign was right.

She found herself mumbling, "I mean... we don't know how curses work. She was powerful, but young, not at all in her prime. Curse the entire vampire race? I don't think she could've pulled it off. Plus, there's no mention of her having such a Talent in the first place."

"Maybe she hid the Talent from others," Aidan suggested mildly.

The witch looked even more troubled, "Maybe."

Unlike Emilia, Samaira was fast following the curse theory, "Now that I think about it, a curse would explain the odd inconsistencies of the sun's effects on vampires."

"Like?" Quietly fascinated over the whole curse idea, Charlie couldn't help but ask.

"Like, why do vampires burn under direct sunlight, but not indirect sunlight passing through cloud cover, or even moonlight? After all, moonlight is actually reflected sunlight."

The wolf had no clue, "Umm..."

"It's because a curse is supposed to be extremely specific to what was uttered by the curse giver. If the words uttered specifically said 'direct sunlight', or something similar, then all other scenarios wouldn't be affected by the curse," Samira patiently explained.

Charlie nodded slowly, "So it's like saying 'I curse everyone who eats vegetables to turn into frogs' versus 'I curse everyone who eats carrots', or something like that."

Samaira snapped her fingers, "Spot on."

Andy shook his head, still doubtful, "How is it even possible to conceal such a secret from an entire society?"

Andy had a valid point. Aidan tilted his head in thought, "A thousand years ago, during the time of Lucius Bloodreign but before the start of the Portal Wars, was it common for the supernatural races to interact with one another?"

Once more, Andy turned to Brandon for answers. "I don't think so. Even if it did happen, it must have been rare. Everyone pretty much stayed on their own turf, so I'm assuming contact was minimal," the strawberry blond man replied. "There's been no mention in the ancient texts of trade between werewolves and vampires or even the witches for that matter,".

"Emi?" Aidan looked to the witch, who said, "From what I recall, intra-species interactions were minimal. The witches and wolves only began cooperating more during the Portal Wars."

"Then it wasn't impossible for those in power to convince everyone that sunlight was naturally detrimental to vampires," Aidan stated, already feeling certain that was exactly what happened. "Silence the few who know the truth and fabricate a lie. If you repeat it often enough, falsehoods will become reality. It's the illusory truth effect."

Andy slowly nodded after giving it thought, "I guess if you take into account all the infighting and strife that happened within werewolf society after the portals were sealed, it makes sense that no one living knows anything anymore."

But Brandon hesitantly said, "Even so, it's impossible that none of the Clan Heads or Elders know something." His friend's words left Andy looking visibly uncomfortable.

Emi reluctantly agreed with Brandon, "If a curse exists, then someone in the Committee probably knows as well." She didn't have to point out that the person most likely to be privy to such information would be her father.

Slow to the uptake, Charlie finally got the gist of the conversation, "Are you trying to say that our elders have been sworn to secrecy over this vampire curse? But why?"

Aidan looked about the room, "I think if we answer that question, we'll also find our solution to breaking the curse."

Charlie still looked confused, but for a different reason, "About the whole vampire power play issue... why not turn Aidan into a vampire again? Didn't everyone follow him before? And who knows, maybe he'll even get his powers back. Then the portals can open again and everyone who wants to can go home," he said, thinking this was a very obvious solution to their problem.

"No!" Lannetta vehemently refused, "In my seven hundred years, I've offered dozens of humans a chance to become vampires. Do you know how many succeeded? One!" Byron was staring at Lannetta, looking like he wanted to say something, but Flint stopped him with the minutest shake of the head.

"I've just got my baby brother back. I'm not going to risk his life over a less than one percent chance that he'll turn into a vampire," Lannetta said resolutely. "Researching the curse is the only option right now."

Nodding his obvious agreement about Aidan's safety, Gavin hummed before saying exactly what was on his mind. "I feel like we're clutching at straws here, looking for a way to break a curse from a thousand years ago. I mean, there's got to have been countless other vampires who've tried before?"

Aidan looked at Gavin as a slow smile lifted the corners of his lips. "Others have tried, but none have had help from witches and werewolves."

"A fool's errand," Maxim muttered, "and yet it may well be the only choice we have." There was a momentary silence as the group retreated into silent thoughts.

Byron reached down and yanked a lever on his recliner, extending the footrest from its folded position. The vampire stretched his legs and settled back in his chair before saying in a drawl, "Well, it's settled then. We're going curse hunting. Right?"