We were supposed to be in love for eternity. But my vampire fiancé, Caius, has stood me up at our blood-bonding ceremony thirty-three times.

The first time, the girl he’d sired, Evangeline, lost control during a hunt. He raced to her side, leaving me alone in the church under the blood moon.

The second time, he vanished mid-ceremony because Evangeline was being bullied by another clan. He left me to face the elders’ mockery alone.

After that, his little fledgling always had some fresh disaster for him to avert.

And he always had an excuse: “I sired her. She’s like a child to me.”

Then I saw the fresh bite marks on their necks. They had shared blood—the ultimate intimacy between mates.

My heart turned to ash. It was time to burn our betrothal to the ground.

The day I finally disappeared, he went mad, tearing our world apart to find me.

Silver dust from an enemy clan's attack burned in my veins, but I refused the vial from my aide, Heidi.

This was my thirty-third blood-bonding ceremony with Caius. My blood had to be pure for the ritual.

But I waited at the altar for three hours. He never came.

“My lady…” Heidi’s voice trembled. “Caius is still at the graveyard. The fledgling… Evangeline. She says she’s scared of the thunder and won’t let him leave.”

Thunder?

There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky tonight.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed the coppery taste of blood rising in my throat.

I reached for him through our communing stone.

Once. Twice… On the tenth try, he picked up.

“Larissa, what is it now?” His voice crackled through the connection, laced with impatience, not a hint of apology. “Evangeline almost attacked a human! You know how fragile fledglings are. She’s my responsibility.”

“The ceremony starts in ten minutes.” My voice was terrifyingly calm, even as my hands began to spasm.

“I’m on my way! Now, bare your mind to me. I swear I won’t miss it this time.”

The line went dead.

He gave his word. I didn’t hesitate.

I fought through the searing pain, pulling all my power to the surface. I lowered my mental shields, leaving my very essence exposed before the altar.

It’s the most fragile a vampire can be, a moment reserved only for the partner they will spend eternity with.

Caius finally appeared, fashionably late.

But before I could even see his face, a violent wave of energy ripped from him, tearing through the entire church.

A tremor ripped through my exposed core. My vision blurred.

“Damn it! Evangeline’s sire-bond… it’s shattered!” Caius hadn’t even taken a step toward the altar.

He stood frozen at the door, staring in horror at the communing stone in his hand.

“Larissa, I have to go. She needs me! She’ll fall apart if I don’t go!”

“Caius!” I tried to scream his name, but the silver poison’s backlash had stolen my voice.

“We’ll reschedule! I promise!”

He dissolved into a black mist and vanished.

But there would be no next time.

The backlash of the failed ritual crashed into the silver poison already burning in my veins. The agony shattered my mind.

“Ngh—!”

I collapsed to my knees, a spray of blood staining my white wedding dress.

My illusions bled into reality, twisting into nightmares.

The empty church was suddenly crowded with writhing shadows.

I saw Evangeline. Thousands of her.

She was naked, wrapped around Caius. She was plunging a silver dagger into my heart. Her innocent face wore a vicious smile.

“Die, you old relic. I’m the only one he truly deserves.”

“Get away! Get away from me!” I flailed, lost in the madness.

“My lady! It’s just an illusion! Drink this, now!”

Ignoring the danger of my thrashing magic, Heidi forced a vial of purest-grade antidote into my mouth.

The cold liquid slid down my throat, and the monstrous visions finally faded.

I sat slumped on the floor, gasping for air.

Just then, the communing stone glowed again.

It was Caius.

“Darling, are you okay? I had to leave in a hurry.” His voice was back to that sickeningly sweet tone. “Don’t be angry. You know I sired her. She’s like a daughter to me.”

The same excuse.

I’d been hearing it for a century. I was done.

When I didn’t answer, he assumed I was sulking, like always.

“Alright, to make it up to you, I’ll find a ‘Crimson Heart’ for you, even if I have to scour the black market. For our next ceremony, I’ll put it on you myself.”

The air was dead silent for three seconds.

A wave of nausea, a hundred times worse than the silver poison, churned in my stomach.

A Crimson Heart?

That cheap, alchemized trinket that reeked of crude blood?

The glorified blood-pop used to soothe low-tier fledglings who couldn’t control their hunger?

In his eyes, was I on the same level as that weeping, grasping girl?

I remembered a time before Evangeline.

He spent ten years in the frozen north, searching for a single ‘Star-Tear’—a crystal formed from a tear dropped on the night of the twin stars—just to help me stabilize my illusions.

He had knelt before me then, holding the radiant gem, the love in his eyes purer than the starlight itself.

“Larissa, only the purest thing in this world is worthy of your soul.”

Now, he was trying to shut me up with a chew toy.

“Larissa? Are you listening? You’ll love it. The flavor is very rich,” he droned on.

“Don’t bother, Caius,” I cut him off, my voice barely a whisper.

I ended the call and used the altar to pull myself to my feet.

Moonlight streamed through the stained glass, illuminating the crystal chalice that had been in my family for five hundred years.

The bonding blood inside had turned black from waiting too long.

This ridiculous chalice had witnessed my foolishness thirty-three times.

“My lady?” Heidi watched me with worry.

I didn’t answer.

The hard crystal shattered in my hand. Blood dripped from my palm, staining the floor red.

I knew this century-long bond had to be shattered with it.

I drew out another artifact—an older, blood-sealed communing stone—and found the one contact I hadn’t touched in a century.

“The night after tomorrow. Come take me home.”

The reply from my family’s Grand Elder was shockingly fast:

“Your Highness, you have finally come to your senses. That half-blood mongrel isn’t worthy of breathing your name. The entire clan awaits your return.”

A bitter, self-mocking smile touched my lips.

For a man they called a “half-blood mongrel,” I’d hidden my identity as the firstborn of the Progenitor, Princess Devereux, playing the part of a nobody in this second-rate city for a century.

My reward? A thirty-third public humiliation.

When I returned to the gothic mansion, Heidi rushed to meet me, her face etched with worry. “My lady, you look so pale…”

“It’s nothing.” I walked straight to the study. “Go sort through my papers. I’m resigning from all my council duties.”

In the study, the Coven’s scrying pool pulsed with a blinding light.

It was Evangeline again.

She seemed determined to make sure I saw her victory.

In the reflection, she was preening, running her fingers through her messy hair. Glistening beads of sweat clung to her neck, and her face was flushed with triumph.

“Tonight was just perfect,” she purred at the mirror, her eyes flirty. “Caius ditched that old woman for me again. Did you see the look on that hag’s face? A clown left at the altar.”

The scene shifted to a moonlit hunting ground.

Caius and Evangeline flew side-by-side, her arms wrapped tightly around his.

“Caius says I’m a once-in-a-century talent,” she cooed. “He said he’s going to teach me everything himself, until I can stand on my own.”

Then, the private blood bank.

Caius was selecting a vial of priceless “Artist’s Blood” for her—a delicacy even the council elders rarely indulged in.

“Here, drink this,” he said, his voice so gentle it made me sick. “It will help stabilize your power.”

I cut the magical feed with a thought.

Enough.

I was tired of this show.

The next night, at the Chicago Vampire Council.

The moment I pushed the doors open, the noisy hall fell silent. Several elders exchanged knowing glances.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Larissa,” Elder Eldred said, swirling his glass with a smirk. “I hear last night… you failed again? It’s been a century, and you still can’t hold onto that man’s heart.”

“Maybe the problem is her,” another female elder added sharply. “Her bloodline is nothing special, after all. How can she compare to the girl Caius sired? I hear Evangeline is a true prodigy. They say she has a rare blood-harmony with Caius.”

“Yes, and that kind of harmony is much stronger than some silly blood-bond ritual.”

I stood silently in the center of the hall, listening to their taunts.

Bloodline too plain?

If I released even a sliver of my true power, these chattering fools would be on their knees, shaking and begging for my forgiveness.

But I just tossed my sigil onto the table.

“I’m resigning my seat on the council.”

“Leaving so soon?” Elder Eldred raised an eyebrow. “Not going to wait around? Maybe Caius will change his mind.”

“I won’t.”

I didn’t give them another glance and turned for the door.

But fate, it seemed, wanted more drama.

The doors swung open and Caius strode in, looking rushed.

Our eyes met. The air crackled.

“Larissa?” He frowned, his gaze falling to the resignation papers in my hand. His voice sharpened. “What is this? You’re resigning? Are you insane?”

Behind me, Elder Eldred snickered. “I suppose she’s too ashamed to stay.”

Caius’s face darkened. He marched over and grabbed my wrist.

“Is this about last night? Can you stop being so childish? I already explained, Evangeline is a fledgling, she needed help—”

“Help?”

I cut him off, my eyes locked on his neck.

There, just above his collar, was a fresh, red bite mark.

The most intimate mark between two vampires.

“That wound on your neck, was that to ‘help’ her, too?”

Caius instinctively covered his neck. Panic flashed in his eyes, but it quickly hardened into righteous anger.

“That was an accident! I was teaching her to control her fangs, she was nervous and bit too hard. Why is your mind always so filthy?”

“Was she nervous?” I shot back. “Or just couldn't help herself?”

“You’re being irrational!” Caius sighed, as if he’d found an angle to win. “I knew you’d overthink this. Evangeline is just a child, she needs my guidance—”

“Caius!”

A syrupy voice cut through his excuse.

“I’m not feeling well again…” Evangeline ran up from the end of the hall, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. “My power… I think I’m losing control. Only your presence calms me.”

She buried her face in his chest, but her eyes met mine over his shoulder.

In that instant, the weakness in her eyes vanished, replaced by raw, triumphant defiance.

She deliberately pulled down the collar of her dress, revealing a bite mark on her neck identical to Caius’s.

They had exchanged blood.

The highest act of intimacy, reserved only for soulmates.

Even though I already knew, the sight still burned.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Caius’s voice instantly softened. He stroked her hair gently. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll take you to the vault to ground your power.”

He didn’t even look at me again. He just turned and walked away, his arm around Evangeline.

Just before the vault door closed, Evangeline looked back at me and smiled. A victor’s smile.

As the door clicked shut, I felt a cold sensation on my neck.

I looked down. The blood-crystal necklace Caius had given me for our centennial—a symbol of “Eternal Binding”—was sliding from my neck.

It shattered in mid-air, dissolving into a fine, glittering dust that drifted to the floor.

I knelt, letting the dust settle in my palm.

It was as cold as the void where my heart used to be.

Back at the mansion, I walked straight to the fireplace in the living room. Without a hint of sentiment, I tossed the crystal dust into the flames.

They were ash, just like us.

“Here are the finalized illusion-wards for the Western Coven. I’m done. They’re yours now.”

The next day, I finished my last task for the council and tossed the scroll to Orion.

He was the Captain of the Council Guard and the only one I’d call a friend over the last hundred years.

Orion caught it, his brow furrowed. “Are you serious? That position was your…”

He trailed off as a commotion started on the other side of the hall.

Caius was standing there, holding a black velvet box.

He opened it. Inside lay a “Shadow Amulet,” glowing with a faint purple light.

It was an incredibly rare defensive artifact, allowing the wearer to instantly melt into the shadows when in danger.

Even senior elders didn't all have one.

And now, he was fastening it around Evangeline’s neck.

“Oh, Caius!” Evangeline gasped dramatically, her fingertips tracing the amulet. “This is too much… I don’t deserve it.”

“Anything for your safety is worth it,” Caius said, his voice thick with affection.

Evangeline turned her head, her eyes finding me through the crowd.

She deliberately puffed out her chest, making the amulet flash under the lights.

“Larissa!” she called out, loud enough for everyone to turn. “Look! Caius said this will protect me from harm. You think it’s beautiful, don’t you?”

I stared coldly at the amulet.

I was the one who had journeyed into the Abyss fifty years ago, barely surviving, to bring back the raw materials for it.

I had given it to Caius to save his life.

“It is beautiful,” I said, walking toward them. My voice was flat. “But that kind of amulet is for newborns who still can't control their own fangs. It suits you perfectly.”

Evangeline’s smile froze. Her eyes instantly welled with tears.

“Larissa!” Caius pulled Evangeline behind him, glaring at me. “Can you stop being so cruel? It was just a gift! You never used to be this petty.”

I looked at the man I had loved for a century and felt only a cold, alien distance.

“You’re right,” I nodded. “I’m being childish.”

Caius seemed surprised by my quick apology. He relaxed a little. “Good, you see. I’ve booked a table at the ‘Red Velvet Crypt’ tonight. We'll have a nice dinner, clear the air. Consider it my apology.”

I gave a noncommittal shrug.

As I turned to leave, Orion whispered behind me, “Are you really going to put up with this?”

“Put up with it?” I glanced out the window at the black sky. “No. I’m going to take out the trash.”

That night, at the Red Velvet Crypt.

It was Chicago’s most exclusive vampire club.

The moment we sat down, Caius’s eyes fixed on my neck.

“Where’s the necklace?” he frowned. “My centennial gift to you. Why aren’t you wearing it?”

The ashes were probably still in the mansion’s fireplace.

“It’s too precious. I put it away for safekeeping,” I lied easily.

“Right. Too many prying eyes here,” he nodded, not pressing the issue.

Just then, the curtains to our booth were pulled aside.

Evangeline swept in, wearing a revealing red lace dress. She slid into the seat on Caius’s other side as if it were her own.

“You’re here, too?” I raised an eyebrow.

“She was scared to be alone,” Caius explained, then snapped his fingers. “Bring us the best you have.”

A server brought a crystal decanter.

Inside swirled a golden-red liquid—“Artist’s Blood.”

Harvested from mortals with sublime creative inspiration, it induced a powerful psychic euphoria in vampires.

“This is for you two.” Caius poured most of it into Evangeline’s glass, leaving me with just a swallow at the bottom. “Evangeline’s been on edge lately. She needs this.”

Evangeline lifted her glass, her eyes hazy as she stared at Caius. She licked the rim of her cup.

“Thank you, darling,” she purred, her voice low but loud enough for me to hear. “It’s just like the other night… when you hunted this for me. That Blood Rush was absolutely divine. I never knew losing control could feel so… exquisite.”

Blood Rush.

A state where a vampire, high on prime blood, not only has their power surge, but their libido hits its peak.

So while I was fasting and praying for our wedding, they were out in the wild, indulging in this filthy ecstasy.

A violent wave of nausea rose in my throat.

“Larissa, why aren’t you drinking?” Caius prompted.

I stared at the golden-red liquid in my glass. All I could see were their tangled bodies.

“It’s dirty,” I said, pushing the glass away.

“What did you say?” Caius’s face darkened. “This is the finest vintage!”

“I said, this blood has a foul stench I don’t like.” I stood up, looking down on them. “I don’t drink leftovers.”

“You—”

Evangeline suddenly clutched her chest.

Her glass slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.

“Ah… Caius, I can’t… The power is too strong, I can’t take it…” She collapsed into his arms, shaking.

Caius panicked, scooping her up.

“She can’t handle it! I have to get her back and help her ride it out!”

He turned to me, his eyes annoyed. “Larissa, get home on your own. You can see this is an emergency.”

With that, he rushed out of the booth, carrying that pathetic actress.

He didn’t spare a single glance for the fiancée he was leaving behind.

The booth fell silent.

My body dissolved into a black mist and vanished.

I reappeared on a private airstrip on the outskirts of the city.

“Your Highness.”

My family’s royal guard knelt as one.

I walked up the red-carpeted ramp onto the jet.

Just then, my communicator vibrated.

It was Caius.

“I’m not coming home tonight. Evangeline is in bad shape. I have to stay with her all night. Don’t overthink it. Get some sleep. I promise, we'll schedule a new ceremony.”

My eyes went cold. My fingers flew across the screen.

“Don’t bother. Our betrothal is over.”

The moment the message sent, I closed my eyes and dove deep into my soul.

There, the faint, glowing claim Caius had burned into me a century ago when he proposed pulsed.

It was once my most treasured promise, the symbol of his claim on me.

In the next second, I summoned the ancient power I had kept dormant for a century. With a silent scream that ripped through my very essence, I shattered it.

Agony was a firestorm, but the claim—the mark of my century of shame—dissolved into nothing.

From this moment on, Caius and I were nothing.

“Take off,” I ordered. “We’re going home.”