Familial Bond Vampire Short Stories & Independence Novels

On the day my twin sister and I came of age, everyone gathered around Seraphina to plan her future. My brother, Adrian, handed her the transfer papers for a casino. "Budapest is where you belong, Seraphina. I have a hotel there, so I can help you get started." Julian smiled as he offered a different proposal. "Don't listen to him. Come to Tokaj and run the winery with me. Within two years, I'll make sure every vampire noble knows Vardi blood wine." The argument got heated. Mom and Dad only laughed. "Seraphina, with both of them looking after you, we have nothing to worry about. The future of the Vardi family is in your hands." And me? I was the eldest daughter of the Vardi family, yet I stood at the very edge of the crowd, almost invisible. No one seemed to remember that I had come of age, too. I was supposed to receive a share of the family business as well. Julian finally remembered I existed. He reached over and ruffled my hair. "Don't be impatient, Vivian. Once Seraphina settles in, you can come work for us." Adrian spared me a glance, as though doing so was a favor. "She doesn't even need to do that. She can find something to keep herself busy. The family business isn't her concern." My eyes burned. My nails dug into my palms. Again. It was always the same. Ever since we were children, the sweetest, freshest deer blood had gone to Seraphina first. Adrian carried it to her. Julian practically held the glass to her lips. I stood at the corner of the table, staring at the empty glasses they left behind. I never got so much as a drop. I should have stopped caring years ago. But after tonight, I had no patience left. If none of them cared about me, why should I keep playing my part in their picture-perfect family? I closed my hand around the enchanted daylight ring in my pocket. Then I booked a flight to the sunniest town at the southern end of Crete. Starting today, I was done being a Vardi.

In the fourth year of my secret crush on James, he sired me. It was only that night I realized the man I had been pining for wasn't just a regular gallery owner and businessman—he was a Vampire Prince. That was also the night I got pregnant with our son, Finn. But it's been six years since we forged our Blood Bond, and he has never publicly acknowledged our existence. He wouldn't even let Finn call him "Father." On Finn’s sixth birthday, he missed the party yet again, choosing to stay by his female assistant Elsa's side. He didn't return until the dead of night, offering a half-hearted, "Sorry, I'm late." This time, I didn't cry. I didn't argue. I calmly pulled out the bond dissolution papers and tricked him into signing them. Then, I took my son and fled back to the human world, vanishing from his life entirely. The usually cold, ruthless Prince lost his mind, turning the world upside down to find us. But this time, Finn and I are never looking back.

My best friend Seraphine had not one drop of blood left in her body when they found her. Her skin was translucent. There were two dried trails of blood from the corners of her mouth, like she had wept herself empty long before the end. She left one note. One sentence: "Vera saw his face." From that day forward, I became the Covenant's greatest sinner. Because I knew who did it. But I said nothing. For ten years, I said nothing. Then Lucian came back. He was the one who had turned us, raised us, given us the only home we had ever known. He set the Soul Prism in front of me. "Tonight," he said, "you give me the killer." His eyes hadn't changed. That was the worst part. After ten years of exile, of stones and fire and nights that never got warmer, I looked at him and he was still exactly who he had always been to me. "Or you disappear from this world along with him." He didn't know. The reason I had chosen exile and starvation and a Blood Oath that had been eating my soul core alive for a decade — was him. All of it, always, had been for him.