Chapter 197: 197- (Bonus) A high-made turning
The first thing Evelyn noticed when she came through was the smell of blood.
It filled the room, thick and sweet, coating the back of her throat with a scent so vivid she could almost feel it sliding over her tongue.
Hunger twisted through her before she even opened her eyes, sharp enough to make her fingers clench against the sheets.
Then came the sounds of curtains rustling, birds calling beyond the window and the faint creak of wood settling in the walls.
Beneath it all, several heartbeats pulsed through the room: one slow and steady, another distant and muffled, and one belonging to the person beside her.
Her eyes flew open in a snap. She sat up so quickly she nearly struck the headboard.
The room lurched around her, every detail snapping into focus with painful clarity. Sunlight filtered through soft curtains, each thread glowing at the edges. Dust drifted through the air like tiny sparks. Lavender and fresh wood filled her nose, but beneath those scents lay the warm, intoxicating fragrance of living blood.
Her gaze locked on Maisa. Evelyn’s mouth flooded with saliva. She looked down at her hands.
They were unnaturally pale, the skin almost translucent beneath the sunlight. Blue veins traced her wrists, but no pulse moved beneath them. She pressed two fingers against the hollow of her throat, then her wrist, harder and harder until her nails dug into her skin.
There was nothing, no flutter, no reassuring throb and no proof that her body still belonged to the living.
Her breathing turned shallow, though she could not understand why. Her lungs moved out of habit, not necessity, and the realization made panic crawl up her spine.
"What is going on?"
Her voice sounded wrong. It was too clear, too strong, carrying across the room without effort. Her gaze landed on the person beside the bed.
Maisa rose so quickly that her chair scraped across the floor. "Aunt Evelyn," she called sweetly.
Evelyn heard the frantic acceleration of Maisa’s heartbeat. Each beat struck through the silence like a drum. The sound pulled at something inside her, something ravenous and instinctive. Her teeth ached. Her gums tingled.
"M-Maisa?"
"It’s me, aunt."
Evelyn reached for her. Maisa caught her hand, and the warmth of her skin and the steady beat of her heart made Evelyn’s fear sharpen into terror.
The heat traveled through their joined hands. Evelyn could feel the blood moving beneath Maisa’s skin, could sense the delicate rhythm of it. Her throat burned.
She nearly pulled away.
"What happened to me?" Evelyn asked. "I remember coming to Veris Academy and looking for you, but then..."
The missing memory returned in fragments: the waiting room, the princess, a terrible ache in her back, and the coldness of death spreading through her body.
She remembered the ground rushing toward her. The taste of iron in her mouth. The awful certainty that her limbs no longer belonged to her. She remembered trying to breathe and finding only winter inside her chest.
She grabbed Maisa’s arm as realization dawned on her. "I died."
Maisa went still. "Yes," she whispered. "You died," she admitted.
"And I’m..."
"You’re alive now."
"That’s not what I asked," Evelyn had a million questions running through her mind.
Evelyn’s voice shook. She could hear the tremor in it, could hear the tiny hitch in Maisa’s breathing. "I have no heartbeat. I can hear people through walls. I can smell your blood, and I’ve been fighting the urge to bite you since I woke. Tell me what happened."
Maisa drew a shaky breath. "You’re a vampire now, Aunt Evelyn."
Silence filled the room. The word seemed to settle over Evelyn’s skin like frost.
"A vampire?"
"I’m sorry," Maisa led with an apology. She knew how difficult a transition can be, she had been through it herself.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because you came looking for me, and now you’ve been dragged into the world you spent your life trying to keep me safe from."
Evelyn’s fear gave way to concern. She cupped Maisa’s cheek, though her fingers felt cold against the warmth of her niece’s skin.
"Don’t apologize for being alive, child. And I don’t regret coming for you, dear. You are worth all the risks in the world."
Maisa broke down, burying her face against Evelyn’s shoulder. Evelyn held her, confused but comforted by the familiar bond between them. She could hear every uneven breath, every muffled sob, and the rapid pounding of Maisa’s heart against her ribs.
The sound made Evelyn’s hunger flare again. She tightened her arms around Maisa, not to hurt her, but to keep herself from trembling. Her teeth pressed painfully against her lower lip.
"I thought I’d lost you," Maisa whispered.
"But you haven’t."
When Maisa finally pulled away, Evelyn brushed a strand of hair from her face. "Tell me how I came back."
Maisa hesitated before answering her honestly. "A woman brought you back. She had white hair and magic unlike anything I’ve seen. She controlled the flower of fate, restored my blood, and resurrected you."
"Why?" That was Evelyn’s first question. She had learnt long back that free meals don’t exist in the world.
"Because I asked her to."
Evelyn glanced at the glass container on the table. "And that?"
"I brought you blood for your first feed," Maisa let out.
The hunger surged as soon as Maisa named it. Evelyn’s throat contracted painfully. Her vision sharpened around the container, and she could hear the faint slosh of liquid inside it.
The scent reached her a moment later, rich and metallic, and her body reacted before her mind could object. Her fingers curled into the blanket.
"The woman gave you crimson blood," Maisa explained. "It made you a mixedblood but not a natural born but someone who was transformed through magic. You can drink redblood or human blood."
"Why do I need it?"
"Because a vampire gets very hungry after turning and as a vampire, you can never eat human food again."
"I’m not hung..."
Her stomach twisted painfully. A hollow ache opened beneath her ribs, so intense it bent her forward. Her gums throbbed. Heat gathered behind her eyes, and for one horrifying instant, she imagined sinking her teeth into Maisa’s throat.
Maisa raised an eyebrow. She had predicted right, it was exactly what had happened to her, expect she was lowborn, alone and with allergy to the sun, unlike Evelyn who from the moment she turned is highborn. A high-made turning.
Evelyn forced herself to look away from her niece’s pulse. "Fine," Evelyn muttered. "Give it to me."