Feel-Good Story Vampire 短篇故事與 Karma 小說

My sister and I slept for a thousand years. Tonight, we would Awaken. We would become true High-Bloods. Our Sire, Countess Lylandra, brought us two men. We had to choose a Blood Thrall. A cold, celibate priest. A young, harmless noble prince. In my past life, Lilith grabbed the prince by the neck and vanished into the shadows. She left me with the cold-hearted priest. The prince's blood was sweet, his soul pure. He was supposed to be the perfect sacrifice for the Awakening ritual. Lilith should have become a High-Blood without any trouble. But she fell for the prince's sweet words and gentle lies. She poured her ancient power into him. She forged a false blood bond to help him seize the throne. On his coronation day, he plunged a dagger dipped in blessed silver into her heart. With his own hands, he carved out her new Blood Core. He offered it to his werewolf allies. Lilith nearly turned to dust. And me? The priest helped me purify my blood. I broke the vampire curse. I no longer feared the sun or blessed silver. I became the legendary Daywalker Queen. Jealousy drove her mad. She used her last drop of power to unleash a kin-curse. It killed us both. Then I opened my eyes. I was back. Back to the night we chose our Blood Thralls. This time, Lilith chose differently. She wrapped herself around the priest, a vision of seduction. Her blood-red wings spread, ready to carry him away. My fangs slid from my gums. A choice? Why should I have to choose? The priest and the prince... Both are mine for the taking.

The blood-infused elixir I crafted won the top honor at the Nocturne's Gala, but my adopted sister stole it and claimed the credit. She thought she'd won glory, not realizing it was a vampire betrothal contract to the Prince Kaelan—rumored to be impotent, barbaric, and monstrous. When the proposal arrived, my archmage fiancé, to "protect" her, hastily bound himself to her with a blood-mark and took her to his bed. She returned, the fresh mark on her neck a badge of triumph. "Sister, your man is mine now. You turn twenty-five in three days. If no one claims you, the Matchmaking Registry will toss you to some aging, wife-beating rogue mercenary..." She was wrong. I always had a choice. I walked to my parents, who were scrambling to clean up her mess, and declared calmly. "If she refuses to marry Kaelan Nocturne, then I will."

After leaving the ancient Vampire Academy, I spent a year hiding in the neutral zone with my mentor, an alchemist obsessed with sunlight resistance. No Senate laws. No secret family protection. My father is one of the Five Original Progenitors. Terrified I'd let some rogue sweet-talk me into a reckless blood pact, he forced a marriage on me. The groom? Julian Vance, Lord of the Crimson Clan in Nightfall City. I had no choice. I went to pick out a sunlight cloak fit for a Lord's wife. A cloak immediately caught my eye—woven with gold thread and night-spider silk, glowing in the dim light. Just as my fingers brushed the fabric, a gratingly sweet voice cut in. "I want that one. Wrap it up." Before I could look up, the manager snatched the display box right out from under my nose. I stood up slowly. "Ever heard of first come, first served?" I asked coldly. "Put it back." The female vampire turned around, looking me up and down with pure disgust. "This cloak is half a million dollars. Can you even afford it, you potion-stinking half-breed?" She smirked. "Julian Vance and I grew up together. We are blood-bonded. In Nightfall City, my word is law." Her almighty Julian was my fiancé. We hadn't even met yet. I pulled out my phone and dialed his number. "Good evening, Julian. Your pretty little childhood sweetheart just stole my cloak for our bonding ceremony. Tell me, how should we settle this?"

On the third night after Seraphina Vale—the academy's most envied beauty—took her own life, a blood ledger appeared out of nowhere in the abandoned chapel of St. Ophelia's Academy. Rumor had it that if you left a blood print on it, the ledger would grant your deepest wish. At first, nobody bought such a ridiculous story. Until Vivian Cross—all two hundred and twenty pounds of her—shakily made her choice: beauty. She dropped the weight overnight. Her features turned so delicate people couldn't look away. Just like that, she became the academy's new obsession. After that, no one called the blood ledger bad luck anymore. Dorian Blackwood chose his future, and the Black Council's recommendation came through immediately. Someone else chose wealth, and their family's debts were wiped clean overnight. Everyone's dreams came true. My best friend Nora Ellsworth started to waver too. She wanted to sign the blood ledger, to bring her brother back from bloodwither. But I stopped her. I wouldn't let her leave a blood print—not for anything. The people around us closed in right away. "You don't have anyone sick and dying, so of course you can stand there and act like you're above it all!" "If Nora's brother dies, you're the murderer!" Even Nora looked at me with red-rimmed eyes, demanding to know why I was so cruel—why I'd cut off her brother's only chance. But I wasn't being cruel. The blood ledger was Seraphina's. I couldn't believe that Seraphina's grudge, even in death, would turn into free mercy. In her death, no one was innocent.