Chapter 4

At lunch, the physician called Nora.

The second she picked up, his excited voice filled the whole classroom.

"Nora, your brother's awake!"

"His bloodline stopped withering. Every reading is normal!"

Nora froze in her seat, lips trembling, confirming it again and again.

When the call ended, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

The classroom went silent first—then exploded into deafening cheers.

"Blood Healing actually worked!"

"Long live Seraphina!"

"Thank God Nora didn't listen to Mira!"

My brows pulled tight. For the first time, I doubted myself.

Could the blood ledger Seraphina left behind really just be a blessing?

But I shoved the thought down fast.

A gift out of nowhere always comes with a price out of nowhere.

I walked up to Nora.

"I'm glad your brother's safe."

She wiped her tears, her expression softening a little.

I went on. "But we should still have a blood mentor examine it—figure out what this blood ledger really is."

The joy drained from Nora's face.

"Mira, do you want it to be a problem that badly?"

"I just want you to be careful."

"The physician already said my brother's out of danger. What more do you want?"

Her eyes were red as she looked at me.

"Why won't you admit that what Seraphina left us is a blessing?"

Dorian, leaning by the window, let out a soft scoff.

"Because the second she admits it, she can't keep playing the only sane one in the room."

Someone jumped in right away.

"Seraphina never hated us. All that bullying stuff was just something Mira made up."

"I'd bet anything the one who drove Seraphina to kill herself was Mira—her so-called friend!"

Vivian pulled out her phone and aimed it at my face.

"Mira, apologize to Nora. Then apologize to Seraphina."

I raised a hand to block the lens. "What exactly am I apologizing for?"

Vivian's smile went cold. "You almost killed Nora's brother, and you still think you're right?"

"I stopped her because I don't believe Seraphina would forgive you people!"

"The facts are right here—the blood ledger is Seraphina's blessing! Apologize. Now."

I looked at her face, reshaped by the blood ledger, and felt nothing but absurdity.

When Seraphina was alive, they called her lowblood, filthy, cheap.

Now that they'd profited off the ledger she left behind, they were falling over themselves to call her kind.

These vile vampires were more hypocritical than humans.

I gritted my teeth. "I will never apologize!"

Nora suddenly ripped the silver chain off her wrist and threw it at my feet.

It was my birthday gift to her—one I'd forged with my own hands.

"Then we don't need to be friends anymore."

I stared at her, stunned.

Nora turned her face away, her voice cold and unfamiliar.

"Someone who almost killed my brother and still thinks they did nothing wrong doesn't deserve to be my friend."

That afternoon, Vivian's edited footage spread across the network.

All that was left were clips of me blocking Nora, questioning Blood Healing, and refusing to apologize.

The headline read:

[The real killer who drove Seraphina to suicide nearly killed Nora's brother too.]

Thousands of hate comments hung underneath.

The next day, the moment I walked into the classroom, a bottle of rotting blood poured down over my head.

The stench soaked into my uniform, burning my skin in waves.

Laughter erupted all around me.

I grabbed the student who'd poured it, snatched the half-empty bottle, and dumped what was left right back on him.

He screamed and stumbled back—but Vivian already had her phone up.

"I got all of it! Mira attacked a classmate again!"

I lunged to knock the phone from her hand.

Dorian stepped in front of her and caught my wrist, cold and hard.

"Don't make me do this." He smirked. "We're just getting justice for Seraphina."

Nora stood behind Dorian, staring me down.

"Mira, you know exactly why you doubt the blood ledger."