Chapter 12: Seiran

Chapter Twelve

Seiran

B eing back in the place I called home for so many years makes my skin itch with a strange nostalgia. I can’t help but wonder if my room will be as I left it or if they long ago tossed my belongings like rubbish. It’s a nagging thought in my mind as I help Greer clean up in one of the guest bathrooms in the home I used to share with Reign and Novak.

I’m not sure why, but I believe it will hurt my feelings if they discarded my things. Although, I shouldn’t blame them. I’m the one who walked out one day and never returned.

The beautiful siren looks rougher than she has yet. Her eyes are red with burst blood vessels, and her cheeks are pink. It goes against everything I understand about vampires, but if Novak is correct, she’s at risk of changing yet again.

Only, into a ghoul this time.

The species is a mystery to me, outside of that they feed on human or supernatural flesh and brains to survive.

Greer wouldn’t even eat the chicken Alfredo I prepared for her. I can vividly imagine her starving herself into her final death rather than feeding.

The nagging feeling that this is all my fault weighs heavily on my chest as I tuck her under the sheet. She’s so groggy, she doesn’t say a word at the feeling of my lips brushing over her forehead.

I need to find Novak, so he can explain exactly how bad this is and what our options are.

Steeling my resolve, I walk toward the door.

Novak owes me this .

I don’t care if he has to repeat her transformation. Nor do I care that it would make her his progeny. I’m not ready to lose the pink-haired beauty. We need the opportunity to argue over Granny Rollins’s house and who is its rightful owner—it’s clearly her, but I enjoy our playful banter—for at least another few hundred years. She brightens my days in a way I haven’t experienced in quite some time.

No, I can’t risk losing her forever.

Using my knowledge of the mansion to my advantage, I stay as silent as possible. It’s instinctual to avoid the floorboards that creak after living here for so many years.

I come around the corner, stopping abruptly when I pick up on Reign’s and Novak’s voices coming from Novak’s home office.

“I feel slightly responsible for her current situation,” Reign says. “If she had fed on an actual human that night, would it have prevented this?”

“Fuck if I know,” Novak growls. I don’t have to see it to know the clinking sound is ice swirling around his now-empty tumbler. “But I doubt it. She should have been fed human blood immediately after her maker gave her enough of his venom to facilitate the change in her cells. This is Basic Turning 101. There’s also no way he was a baby vamp. Not that it would excuse his abysmal behavior even then, but he’s not. There are very few lines strong enough to override my compulsion. In fact, I can only think of three or four in the world.”

“So, if her maker was turned by someone more ancient than you, then he could be significantly younger than you?” Reign asks.

“I can’t see any of the primordial vampires taking on such a careless progeny.” Novak sighs. “But someone must have. That means even trying to correct her botched transformation could be dangerous.”

“How so?” Reign asks the question I’m thinking. “Her maker released her.”

“He released her from the sham of a bond they shared, but he clearly didn’t wish for her to survive for long,” Novak says with a thoughtfulness to his tone I haven’t heard in many years. “When a fledgling vampire fails to fully transition, they turn once more, but into a ghoul this time. Unlike vampires, who retain the memories of their life before the change, a ghoul loses everything that made them who they were.”

My stomach tightens, twisting in knots. I’ve never vomited in my long life, but the churning in my gut makes it seem like a real possibility.

“That leaves little choice to if we intercede,” Reign says. “If not, she’ll die or, at the very least, cease to exist as she is now.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Novak hisses. “At the same time, I’m not prepared to take on the responsibility of a progeny. If she snaps and kills someone, I’ll be on the hook for the fine. Not to mention how needy newborn vampires are. That level of commitment…it makes my brain ache. That’s not even considering what happens if her original maker shows up to make sure his inattentiveness did the job of finishing her off.”

My head shakes.

That’s exactly like Novak. He’s calculating, and any situation needs to benefit him before he’ll even consider it.

I back away slowly, and I’m up the stairs before I can stop myself.

Novak will need a concession, and I only have one thing to bargain with—my magic.

I made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Rut took off to the level it did because my magic fueled it. Everyone wants to experience the buzz of lust that comes from being high on incubi magic. It’s the most intense sex they’ll ever experience.

I’ll offer fifty years of servitude, and we’ll likely settle on one hundred. It’s longer than I’d like to commit, but I will to ensure her survival.

My gaze lands on Greer as I make it back into the room. She whimpers in her sleep, and the sound alone drags me toward her.

Crawling onto the edge of the bed, I fight back my own terrible memories. I was her a few hundred years ago—in an unfamiliar place, with no idea of the rules or what was happening to me.

Someone worse than Novak could have been the one to summon me, and I’ve always understood that.

Her original maker was shit.

Novak will treat her with basic kindness. He might grumble his way through every lesson, but he will teach her. It’s in his nature to guide those around him. I just have to ensure he can’t say no.

Once her life is intrinsically tied to mine, he won’t be able to.

Leaning over Greer, I slide my palm between her skull and the bed. I gently lift her toward me, pushing her hair back from her cheek with my free hand.

“Sorry, kitten. I need you to wake up for just a minute,” I murmur, nuzzling my nose to hers.

Her gray eyes pop open, but her blood vessels are so damaged that the white of her eyes is almost completely red. “I don’t feel good.”

“Aww, precious. I know you don’t, but we’re going to get you fixed up.”

“How?”

“I need you to do something,” I say, swallowing thickly. “Accept my claiming bite.”

Her eyes widen, but I don’t allow myself to hesitate.

My magic pulses in the air, and I brush my lips over hers. Her skin is feverish to the point it burns my lips, and that only ratchets my alarm higher.

Vampires are supposed to be cold, not borderline hotter than me. I’m a creature of Hell.

Capturing her lower lip, I don’t hesitate to dig my teeth in.

She gasps as her blood fills my mouth.

I avoid swallowing it, considering the circumstances. Pulling back, I spit it into the trash can next to the bed.

“Me next. Dig those baby fangs right into my bottom lip,” I coo, brushing my fingers over her sweaty cheek.

“No, I can’t. What if I die? I’ll take you with me…”

“I’ve already marked you. Our lives are tied together, but it will hurt my feelings if you don’t claim me back.”

Her eyes flash to white, and I move close enough that she can strike. Her teeth pierce my lower lip as she runs her tongue over the bite.

She’s so weak, it’s alarming, and I can sense it fully as the bond clicks into place. She begins to draw from my life force, which I forgot would happen, but it’s fine.

I can pop over to Rut and replenish in less than ten minutes if she drains me dry.

Her teeth retract, and her tongue swipes over the wound. Those beautiful gray eyes of hers are huge and glassy as she pulls back to look at me. “What if?—”

“It doesn’t matter,” I assure her. “We’re in this together.”

Focusing on my magic, I dose her heavily with my pheromones to help combat the pain. She lied when she said she didn’t feel well…Greer is in agony.

“Rest,” I murmur.

It makes my entire chest ache to force myself to leave the room, but I have a stubborn as fuck vampire to negotiate with. And it’s not just Greer’s existence on the line anymore.