Chapter 45 The Blood Witch's Return
ARIA'S POV
"You're dead." Sebastian's voice cracked like I'd never heard before. "I held you while you died. I felt your last breath."
The white-haired woman—Celeste, his twin sister—stepped into the throne room. Power radiated from her in waves that made even Morgana step back.
"You held a body while it died," Celeste corrected gently. "A blood puppet I created to fool the rebels. I couldn't let them know I survived, Sebastian. They would have hunted me forever."
"Eight hundred years," Sebastian whispered. He released me, stumbling backward. "I mourned you for eight hundred years."
"I know." Tears filled Celeste's ancient eyes. "And I'm sorry. But I had to stay hidden until the right moment. Until you found her."
She looked at me, and I felt the weight of centuries in her gaze.
"The Sanguine healer who could break your curse," Celeste continued. "I've been watching, waiting. When Aria was chosen for the Winter Feast, I knew it was time."
My mind raced. "You're the blood witch. You cast the curse on Sebastian."
"Yes." Celeste's admission sent shockwaves through the court. "The rebel leader was going to kill him. The only way to save his life was to bind him to a curse that would keep him powerful, keep him alive, until he found true love again. Until he found his Sanguine match."
"You call that saving him?" I couldn't help my anger. "You forced him to kill innocent women for centuries!"
"I forced him to survive," Celeste said sharply. "And I gave him a way out—find a Sanguine healer who loved him freely, or die when the curse finally consumed him. He chose survival. He chose to keep searching."
Sebastian sank to his knees. "All this time, you were alive. Watching me become a monster."
"Watching you endure," Celeste corrected. She moved toward him, but Morgana blocked her path.
"Guards!" Morgana shouted. "Seize the blood witch! She admits to cursing our lord!"
But Celeste raised one hand, and every vampire in the room froze solid. Not dead—just completely unable to move. Only Sebastian, my sisters, and I remained free.
"I'm not here to fight," Celeste said calmly. "I'm here to fulfill my promise. Sebastian, the curse can end tonight. But only if you complete the ritual with Aria."
"No!" Elena screamed from where the guards still held her. "Don't trust her!"
But something in Celeste's expression made me pause. This wasn't cruelty. It was desperation.
"Explain," Sebastian demanded, rising to his feet. "Now."
Celeste's shoulders sagged. "The curse has two parts. The first binds you to kill during the Winter Feast. The second binds you to life—you can't die by normal means while cursed. When I break the curse, both parts end. You become mortal again, Sebastian. Fully mortal. Aging, vulnerable, everything."
My heart stopped. "He'll die?"
"Eventually, yes. Like any human." Celeste looked at her brother with infinite sadness. "I gave you immortality through suffering. Now I'm offering you mortality through love. But the transition requires one final ritual—Aria's blood given willingly, consumed completely, creating a true Sanguine bond that will anchor your humanity."
"You're asking him to drain her dry," Kieran said, horror in his voice.
"I'm asking him to trust me," Celeste replied. "A Sanguine bond doesn't kill—it transforms. Aria will survive, but changed. Connected to Sebastian forever, sharing one life force between two bodies. She'll age as he ages, die when he dies. They'll be truly bonded."
Sebastian looked at me, and I saw the question in his eyes.
This was the choice we'd been racing toward all along. Complete the ritual and bind ourselves together forever, or refuse and watch the curse destroy him while Morgana killed my sisters.
"What about them?" I pointed to Elena and the others. "What happens to my sisters?"
"If Sebastian completes the ritual, the curse breaks, and I can use my power to protect them," Celeste said. "If he refuses, the curse will consume him by dawn, and Morgana will drain all six of you to fuel her own ambitions."
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" I demanded.
Celeste smiled sadly. "You don't. You have to trust me. Just like Sebastian had to trust that I hadn't truly abandoned him eight hundred years ago."
Sebastian's hands were shaking. Through our partial bond, I felt his turmoil. He'd spent centuries hating himself for failing to save his sister. Now she was here, alive, offering him freedom at a terrible price.
"Aria," he said quietly. "I can't ask this of you. Binding your life to mine, giving up your humanity—"
"I'm already giving it up," I interrupted. "Morgana will kill me anyway. At least this way, I choose what my death means."
"It's not death," Celeste said firmly. "It's transformation. Aria will become the first true Sanguine bride in three centuries. Neither human nor vampire, but something new. Something powerful."
The frozen vampires began to stir. Celeste's spell was weakening.
"Decide now," she urged. "Once they break free, even I can't hold off the entire court."
Sebastian took my hands, and I felt his decision before he spoke it.
"I love you," he said simply. "I didn't think I could anymore. But you made me human again, Aria. You gave me hope. If this is the only way to save you and your sisters, then I'll do it."
He pulled me close, his hands gentle as he tilted my head, exposing my throat.
"Together?" I whispered.
"Always," he promised.
Then his fangs pierced my skin.
The world exploded.
Golden light erupted from my body like a supernova, filling the entire throne room. Vampires cried out, shielding their eyes from the brilliance. The crimson thread that should have connected me to Sebastian burned pure gold instead, pulsing with power I'd never imagined.
Through the bond, I felt everything—Sebastian's shock, his eight hundred years of loneliness flooding through me, his desperate hope, his absolute love. And beneath it all, the curse screaming as it began to crack and shatter.
But something was wrong.
The light wasn't just gold anymore. Darkness swirled through it, black veins spreading like poison through the brilliance.
Celeste's scream cut through the chaos. "No! That's impossible!"
I tried to ask what was happening, but Sebastian's grip on me tightened. He was drinking deeper now, faster, and I could feel my life force pouring into him—but instead of creating a bond, it was tearing something open.
A rift.
Between dimensions.
And something on the other side was waking up.
"Sebastian, stop!" Celeste lunged forward. "The ritual is corrupted! Someone tampered with it!"
But Sebastian couldn't stop. The curse had him fully now, driving him to complete what he'd started.
I was dying. Actually dying. Not transforming—being drained completely.
Through the golden-black light, I saw Morgana's frozen form beginning to smile.
She'd planned this. Somehow, she'd known exactly what would happen.
As darkness closed in around me, I heard Celeste's anguished cry:
"The rift is opening! The Void Realm is breaking through!"
My last thought before everything went black was that we'd been played from the very beginning.
And now, something ancient and terrible was coming to destroy us all.