Chapter 18 Blood and Water
ARIA'S POV
I woke up gasping, back in the starlight bedroom. Sebastian was shaking me, his face terrified.
"Aria! What did she do to you?"
My head throbbed like someone had cracked it open. The memory Celeste showed me kept replaying—her human healer lover who looked just like Sebastian. But that made no sense. Unless...
"Sebastian," I croaked. "Your sister's lover. The healer she fell for three hundred years ago. Was he—"
"My great-grandfather," Sebastian finished quietly. "On my mother's side. Human blood mixed into our family line generations before I was born." His jaw clenched. "Celeste always said we were more alike than anyone knew. I thought she meant our personalities."
"She meant your bloodline," I whispered. "You have human ancestry. That's why the curse affected you differently. Why my blood could break it."
The First Curse's laughter echoed around us. "Clever girl! The vampire court would execute Sebastian instantly if they knew. Their perfect, powerful lord—part human. Delicious irony, isn't it?"
The starlight walls dissolved, and suddenly we were back in the Crimson Vale. But something was wrong. We weren't in Sebastian's chambers or the throne room.
We were in the Sanctuary. With the other brides.
"No," I breathed.
Five girls sat in white robes, looking terrified. Elena jumped up when she saw me. "Aria! Thank God. They said you were dead. That Sebastian killed you and—"
She stopped because I was holding Sebastian's hand. Because I'd arrived with him.
The other brides scrambled backward, screaming.
"She's with them!" one girl shrieked. "The vampires turned her!"
"I'm not turned," I said quickly. "I'm still human. I'm still—"
"Then why are you holding his hand?" Elena asked quietly. Her eyes were hurt, confused. "Aria, what happened?"
Before I could explain, vampire servants swept into the room. Their faces were blank, emotionless. The old matron who'd explained the ritual stepped forward.
"The First Preparation begins now," she announced. "All brides will undergo purification."
"I thought we had twelve days!" Elena protested.
"The timeline has changed," the matron said flatly. "Lord Sebastian broke the ritual. New rules apply."
Sebastian's grip on my hand tightened. Through our bond, I felt his panic. Something was very wrong.
The servants herded us toward a door I'd never noticed before. It led down spiral stairs into a chamber filled with steam. In the center sat a massive pool carved from black stone.
The water inside was dark red.
"Blood," whispered one of the brides, and promptly fainted.
"Vampire blood mixed with sacred water," the matron explained. "It will strengthen your bond with your assigned lords. Purify your human weakness. Prepare you for transformation."
"We're not supposed to transform until Christmas!" I said.
The matron's eyes met mine, and for just a second, I saw fear there. "The First Curse has accelerated the schedule. You have three days now, not seven. The preparation must begin immediately."
They pulled Elena forward first. She fought, but three vampire servants were too strong. They dragged her to the pool's edge and pushed her in.
Her scream echoed off the stone walls.
Elena thrashed in the blood-water, her skin turning red like she was burning. "It hurts! God, it hurts!"
They pulled her out after thirty seconds. Her skin was covered in strange marks—silver symbols that glowed against her flesh.
"Next," the matron commanded.
One by one, the other brides were forced into the pool. Each one screamed. Each one came out marked with silver symbols, sobbing and shaking.
Then it was my turn.
"No," Sebastian said, stepping in front of me. "She doesn't need purification. We're already bonded."
"The First Curse's orders," the matron said. "Every bride must be prepared. Including yours."
Four servants grabbed Sebastian. Even weak from the curse, he fought like a demon, but there were too many. They forced him to his knees, making him watch.
"Aria, don't!" he shouted.
But the servants were already pulling me forward. I didn't fight. Something in me knew—this was important. This was a test.
They shoved me toward the pool's edge.
I looked down at the blood-red water. My reflection stared back, and behind it, I saw something else. A golden glow, deep beneath the surface.
I took a breath and jumped in before they could push me.
The water closed over my head.
It didn't burn.
Instead, warmth flooded through me—the same warmth I'd felt when Sebastian first bit me. The same golden light that had exploded between us during the binding ceremony.
I opened my eyes underwater and gasped.
The blood was glowing. Not red anymore, but pure gold. And the light was coming from me.
My hands blazed like small suns. The marks on my collarbone—the crimson rose that marked me as a bride—was burning so bright I could see it through my wet gown.
Power surged through my veins. Not vampire power. Something older. Something that remembered when humans and vampires lived in peace, when Sanguine bonds were sacred, when love was stronger than death.
I surfaced, and the entire chamber fell silent.
The pool had turned completely gold. The blood was gone, transformed by my touch into pure light that rippled across the water's surface.
The servants stared, mouths open. Even the matron looked shocked.
"Impossible," she breathed.
I climbed out of the pool, dripping golden water. My skin wasn't marked with silver symbols like the other brides. Instead, golden lines traced up my arms—ancient words in a language I somehow understood.
Sanguine. Healer. Bridge between worlds.
Sebastian broke free from the servants and caught me. "Your eyes," he whispered.
I caught my reflection in the pool. My normal brown eyes were now ringed with gold.
"What's happening to me?" I asked.
The matron stepped forward, and for the first time, she bowed. Actually bowed to me, a human.
"The blood recognized you," she said quietly. "Not as a bride to be sacrificed. As something the vampire world hasn't seen in three centuries." She looked terrified. "You're not just Sanguine-blessed anymore. The purification ritual awakened your full power."
"What does that mean?" Elena demanded.
The matron's voice shook. "It means she can do what only the First Curse and Celeste can do. She can transfer life force. Switch natures. Transform vampires into humans and humans into vampires."
The room spun. "No. That's not possible. I'm just a healer, I—"
"You were just a healer," the matron corrected. "But the First Curse knew this would happen. That's why she brought you here. That's why she showed you Celeste's memories." Her face was pale. "She's been preparing you. Shaping you. And in three days, when the transformation begins, she won't just use Celeste's power."
She pointed at the golden pool, at my glowing hands, at the ancient words written on my skin.
"She's going to use yours too. And there's nothing anyone can do to stop her."
The golden water suddenly turned black.
Every candle in the chamber went out.
And in the darkness, the First Curse's voice whispered: "Ready or not, little healer. Your real purpose begins now."
The servants collapsed, unconscious.
Sebastian grabbed my hand as the floor beneath us started cracking, golden light bleeding through the stone.
"Aria, what's happening?"
I looked down at my hands, at the power I couldn't control blazing brighter and brighter.
"I think," I whispered, "I'm about to find out why they really wanted me dead."
The floor shattered, and we fell into light.