Page 31 of Bloodween

I claim the power given to me.

From Bound to Bloodborn, I rise.

Crimson. Eternal. True.”

the reflection

"THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR."

Ialmost didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.

I looked the same, but I felt different—like I’d been rewritten.

I guess that’s what transcendence does.

It had only been twelve hours since I said my oath, joining the Crimson Circle and leaving my blood on the pages of the Bloodborn Book. But it felt like days.

Physically, I was fine.

Mentally, I was still somewhere between the taste of his blood on my tongue and being strapped down to a bed fighting for my life.

Master Vale said recovery could take days. That the thirst scratching at the back of my throat would fade—but at this moment it was irritating.

After all that vomiting I’d done, I would think his taste would’ve dissolved by now.

It hadn’t.

It lingered, stubborn as memory, leaving me wanting more.

As Bloodborn, Dorian’s wolf blood had fed my dormant vampire gene—heightening my magic, my longevity, and my vampiric resonance.

I wasn’t a vampire. Not exactly. But my bloodline had been. And the blood that gave us power—the blood that made us—was werewolf blood.

That’s why centuries later, werewolves were still sacrificing themselves for us.

Albeit, sometimes against their will.

But that sacrifice couldn’t be taken lightly. We couldn’t just kill werewolves for our own thirst, it had to be a sanctioned ritual.

Or now that I was part of the Crimson Circle, the yearly small feedings we would do on Halloween.

So the thirst resting in my bones needed to chill.

I’d been given enough.

Hell, it had almost taken me out.

At the thought, my eyes drifted to the urn resting on my dresser. Gold. Just like his eyes. His ashes were inside to keep me company and remind me what he’d done.

How he’d died for me.

I traced a finger across the lid, feeling the faint chill of the metal.

“Thank you,” I mumbled as five sharp knocks echoed through my apartment.

My attention went from him to my phone. The camera feed popped up.

Renna.