Chapter 63 The Choice of Blood
Stella's POV
I wake up screaming.
The vampire hunger is eating me from the inside. Every cell in my body burns with the need to feed, to kill, to hunt.
"Stella!" Lyra's voice cuts through the haze. "Stella, look at me!"
I open my eyes. Red. Everything's red.
And I can smell blood. Lyra's blood. Kaelen's blood. The stranger's blood—wait, who's that man who looks like Dad?
"Don't," Kaelen's hand grips my shoulder, firm but gentle. "Fight it. I know it hurts, but you're stronger than the hunger."
"I'm not!" My voice comes out wrong. Too deep. Too hungry. "I want to—I need to—"
"You need to listen." Another voice. Female. Powerful. I turn to see a woman who looks like Kaelen—silver hair, mercury eyes, but female.
"Who—"
"I'm Aurora. Kaelen's sister. The real one." She kneels in front of me. "And I can help you fight the transformation. But you need to trust me."
"Why should I?" Even through the hunger, I know better than to trust strangers. Especially vampire strangers.
"Because in fifty-three minutes, the convergence happens. And if you're fully vampire by then, the First wins. You become his soldier. His weapon. Everything your sister fought to prevent."
I look at Lyra. She's crying, holding my hand like she'll never let go.
"You promised," I whisper to her. "You promised we'd fix this."
"We will." But her voice shakes.
"Liar." The word hurts to say. "You can't fix this. Nobody can."
Then I see her.
Behind Aurora, chained to a huge stone altar. A woman with dark hair and silver eyes, her body covered in scars.
"Seraphine," Kaelen breathes.
"Help me!" The woman screams. "Kaelen, please! He's been torturing me for four hundred years!"
"It's a trap," the man who looks like Dad says. "The First is using her to manipulate you."
"Or you're lying!" Kaelen's voice is raw. "How do I know who to trust? Everyone keeps lying!"
Through the red haze of my hunger, I see something nobody else does.
Seraphine's shadow is wrong. It's moving independently, reaching toward us like dark fingers.
"Lyra," I grab my sister's hand. "Look at her shadow."
Lyra turns. Her eyes widen. "That's not—"
The shadow lunges.
It wraps around Aurora, pulling her backward toward the altar. She fights, her golden light exploding outward, but the shadow is stronger.
"It's not Seraphine!" I scream. "It's the First! He's possessing her body!"
Kaelen moves faster than sight, trying to reach Aurora. But more shadows erupt from the ground, blocking him.
The woman on the altar sits up. Her eyes aren't silver anymore.
They're black. Empty. Void.
When she speaks, it's with the First's voice.
"Very clever, little moonblood child. Yes, Seraphine is my puppet now. Has been for four hundred years. A perfect trap for my grandson."
"Let Aurora go!" Kaelen roars.
"Why would I? She's the fourth bridge. The one you didn't know about. With her, I don't need you to die. I can complete the convergence and survive. Win-win." The First's smile is terrible. "Well, win for me. Loss for everyone else."
The shadows drag Aurora to the altar, chaining her beside Seraphine's body.
"One hour," the First says through Seraphine's mouth. "One hour until the blood moon rises and the gate opens. You can try to stop it. You can try to save her. But you'll fail. Because I've been planning this for three thousand years."
He looks at me.
"And you, little vampire child. You'll be fully turned in thirty minutes. Just in time to help me kill everyone you love."
The hunger surges. I double over, fighting it, but it's too strong.
"Stella, no!" Lyra tries to hold me, but I'm too dangerous.
I feel my fangs extending. Feel the monster taking over.
This is it. This is how I lose myself.
Then Dad—if that's really Dad—touches my forehead again.
"Sleep," he commands.
But instead of sleeping, my mind opens.
And I see everything.
Every lie. Every manipulation. Every piece of the puzzle.
I see Mom making a deal with the First three years ago—immortality in exchange for delivering me to the convergence.
I see the First killing Seraphine and preserving her body as a puppet.
I see Aurora being hidden for four hundred years, waiting for this moment.
I see Kaelen's father—the angel—planning all of this from the beginning.
And I see the truth about what I am.
Not just moonblood. Not just half-angel.
I'm the key. The real key.
Because my illness isn't natural. It was designed. Created by the First to ensure I'd be desperate enough, weak enough, scared enough to accept any solution.
Including becoming vampire.
"No," I whisper, even as the transformation completes.
My eyes go full red. My fangs extend completely.
I'm vampire now. Fully turned.
But I'm also still me.
Because the First made one mistake.
He assumed I'd be easy to control.
He forgot that I spent three years watching Lyra fight impossible odds.
He forgot that I'm stubborn.
He forgot that being thirteen doesn't mean being weak.
I stand up, facing the altar where Aurora is chained.
"You want the convergence?" My new vampire voice echoes with power. "Fine. Let's do it. Right now. Let's open that gate and see what happens when you don't control all the bridges."
I look at Kaelen.
"I'm the fourth bridge. But I choose who I bond with. And I choose you and Lyra. Not the First."
I reach out, touching Kaelen's mark. Touching Lyra's mark.
The three bonds flare to life—gold, gold, silver—merging into something new.
White light explodes from my chest.
A fourth mark appears. Not on me.
On Aurora.
She screams as the chains shatter, as power floods through her.
And the convergence begins.
Sixty minutes early.
Completely out of the First's control.
The gate opens.
And what comes through makes even the First step back in fear.