A knock on the door interrupts whatever he was about to say.Prophet’s voice comes through, calm and measured.“May I come in?”
Vex looks at me, waiting for permission.I nod, and he stands, moving to open the door.
Prophet steps inside, and the first thing I notice is his aura.
Not metaphorically.Actually.There’s a faint golden light surrounding him that wasn’t there before or maybe it was, and I couldn’t see it.It pulses gently, warm and soothing, and just being near it makes some of the chaos in my head quiet down.
“How are you feeling?”Prophet asks, moving to sit in the chair near the bed.His eyes scan me, assessing, and I get the sense he’s seeing far more than just my physical state.
“Like my brain is on fire and every sense I have is cranked to eleven.”I try to smile, but it comes out more like a grimace.“Vex says it’s the bond.”
“It is.”Prophet leans forward, elbows on his knees.“When a vampire feeds from a willing donor, especially one whose blood carries power like yours does, it creates a connection.Not a full bond, not yet.But a tether.You’re sharing pieces of each other now.”
“Why didn’t anyone warn me?”The question comes out sharper than I intend.“Before I shoved my wrist in his face, maybe someone could have mentioned ‘hey, by the way, this is going to fundamentally change you’?”
“Would you have done it differently?”Prophet’s voice is gentle but pointed.“If you’d known, would you have let Vex die instead?”
No.The answer is immediate and certain.Even if I’d known what would happen, I would have made the same choice.Because the alternative, watching Vex freeze from the inside out, watching ancient frost kill him, was unthinkable.
“That’s what I thought.”Prophet’s smile is sad.“Love makes us do foolish things.Brave things.Sometimes both at once.”
“I don’t—” I start to protest, but Prophet holds up a hand.
“Don’t lie to me, Tessa.I’m an angel.I can literally see the truth.”His eyes flick to Vex, who’s standing rigid by the window.“Both of you are broadcasting your feelings loud enough that even the humans downstairs can probably sense it.”
Silence stretches between us, uncomfortable and charged.
Then Vex speaks, his voice low.“What does the bond mean for her?Long term?”
Prophet’s expression turns serious.“It depends on several factors.How often Vex feeds from you.How strong their emotional connection becomes.How much of her warden bloodline power gets tied up in the bond.”He pauses, choosing his words carefully.“In the best case scenario, Tessa lives a normal human lifespan with slightly enhanced senses and an emotional tether to Vex.In the worst case...”
“She dies,” Vex finishes, his voice flat.“Like Catherine.The bond drains her slowly until there’s nothing left.”
Catherine.The name hits me like a slap.I don’t know who she is or was, but I can feel Vex’s grief through the bond.Old grief.Deep grief.The kind that shapes a person.
“Who’s Catherine?”I ask quietly.
Vex’s hands clench into fists.“Someone I killed by loving her.”
The words land heavy in the room.Prophet stands, moving toward the door.“I’ll give you two some privacy.But Tessa, one more thing, your warden bloodline isn’t just about sealing the Khorvath.Your ancestors made a covenant with heaven centuries ago.Your blood carries angelic protection, which is why it was powerful enough to heal Vex and forge a bond in the first place.That power is both a gift and a burden.”
“What kind of burden?”
“The kind that means your choices have consequences beyond just yourself.”He pauses at the door.“The club is divided about you.Some see you as our best chance at winning this war.Others think you’re a ticking bomb that’s going to detonate and take us all with you.Disobeying Blade and following us, isn’t sitting well with the bomb squad.What you do next matters.”
Then he’s gone, leaving me alone with Vex and a thousand questions I’m not sure I want answers to.
For a long moment, neither of us speaks.
Then Vex turns from the window, and the look on his face is devastated.“You shouldn’t have done it.”
“Followed you?”
“Yes and offered me your blood.Created this bond.Tied yourself to me.”His voice is raw.“You had no idea what you were risking, and now—”
“Now I’m connected to you.”I push off the bed, my legs shaky but holding.“And you’re connected to me.And according to Prophet, it might actually help us survive whatever’s coming.”
“Or it might kill you.”He crosses the room in three strides, grabbing my shoulders.Not hard, but firm enough that I can feel the barely leashed strength in his hands.“Don’t you understand?Every time I feed from you, the bond gets stronger.Every time we touch, it deepens.Eventually, I won’t be able to stop myself from taking too much, and you’ll—”
