**Day One: Wednesday**
Kayen sat in the underground chamber Mae Siri had prepared—a ritual room beneath her shop, warded against sunlight and prying eyes. Arav's body lay on a stone altar, covered in white silk.
Dead. Completely, utterly dead.
His skin was grey-white, lips blue, no heartbeat, no breathing. If Kayen didn't know better, he'd think he was looking at a corpse waiting for cremation.
But beneath the stillness, something was happening. The venom was working—crawling through dead veins, rewriting DNA, rebuilding cells one by one.
"You should rest," Mae Siri said gently, placing a hand on Kayen's shoulder. "The transformation takes three days. Watching won't make it faster."
"I'm not leaving him," Kayen said, his voice hollow. "I did this to him. I killed him. The least I can do is be here when he wakes up."
*If he wakes up,* a cruel voice whispered in his mind.
Mae Siri sighed. "Jin brought you blood. Fresh from the blood bank. You need to feed—you used enormous energy in that fight."
Kayen ignored her. He couldn't eat, couldn't think about anything except Arav's still face.
After Mae Siri left, Kayen took Arav's cold hand in his.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry. I took away your warmth, your humanity, your choice to live a normal life." His blood tears fell onto their joined hands. "But please... please come back to me. I can't lose you again. Not after a thousand years. Not after finally finding you."
No response. Just deathly silence.
Kayen's mind began to spiral.
*What if the convergence bloodline rejects vampire venom?*
*What if the transformation fails because of the divine ancestry?*
*What if I just murdered the person I love most?*
Hours passed. Kayen didn't move. Just sat there, holding Arav's dead hand, watching for any sign of life.
Around midnight, he thought he saw Arav's finger twitch.
He leaned forward desperately. "Arav?"
Nothing. Just his imagination, his desperate hope creating movement where there was none.
"I'm going insane," Kayen muttered, pressing Arav's cold hand to his forehead. "Just one day and I'm already losing my mind."
He started talking—to himself, to Arav's unhearing ears, to the universe.
"Do you remember the first time we met? In that jungle? You looked at me with such fear, but also... curiosity. Like you saw something in me worth knowing, despite the monster I appeared to be."
He laughed bitterly. "Arthit was the same way. A thousand years ago, when I was a newly-turned vampire, starving and feral, he looked at me and saw a person worth saving. You both saw me when I couldn't see myself."
The candles flickered. Shadows danced across Arav's still face.
"I've lived for a millennium, Arav. I've seen empires rise and fall. I've watched humans invent incredible things. But nothing—nothing—has ever mattered as much as you. In both lifetimes."
His voice cracked. "So please. Please survive this. Come back to me. I'll teach you everything about being a vampire. I'll help you control the bloodlust. I'll show you the world—every beautiful place I've discovered in a thousand years. Just... don't leave me alone again."
Silence answered him.
---
**Day Two: Thursday**
Kayen hadn't slept. Vampires didn't need sleep, but they could rest, could let their minds drift into something like dreaming.
But every time he closed his eyes, he saw Arav screaming as the venom burned through him. Saw his body convulsing. Saw the light leaving his eyes as his human heart stopped.
"I killed you," Kayen whispered to the corpse. "I bit down and I killed you. What kind of love does that?"
Jin visited in the morning.
"You look like hell," Jin said bluntly, taking in Kayen's appearance—blood-stained clothes from the fight, hair disheveled, eyes wild.
"I feel worse than hell," Kayen replied.
Jin set down a thermos of blood and a bag with fresh clothes. "Drink. Change. You need to maintain your strength."
"Why? If he doesn't wake up, what's the point?"
Jin grabbed Kayen's face, forcing him to look up. "Because if he DOES wake up—when he wakes up—he's going to need you. A newborn vampire is dangerous, Kayen. Feral. Hungry. You'll need all your strength to help him through it. So stop wallowing and prepare."
Jin was right. Kayen knew it.
He forced himself to drink the blood, to change into clean clothes. But his eyes kept returning to Arav's still form.
"Any changes?" Jin asked.
"I thought... yesterday I thought I saw movement. But nothing since." Kayen's voice was flat. "Mae Siri says the venom is working—she can sense the magical transformation happening. But there's no visible sign. No breath, no heartbeat, nothing."
"It's only day two," Jin reminded him. "Transformations vary. Some vampires wake up early, some take the full three days. And with Arav's convergence bloodline... who knows what's normal?"
After Jin left, Kayen pulled his chair closer to the altar.
"Arav, if you can hear me somehow, I need you to know something." He took a shaky breath. "When you wake up—if you wake up—you're going to be hungry. Desperately, painfully hungry. The bloodlust will be overwhelming. You might not recognize me at first. You might attack me."
He smiled sadly. "That's okay. I can handle it. I've survived a thousand years—I can survive my bonded mate trying to kill me in a blood frenzy. Just... please wake up. Even if you hate me. Even if you regret your choice. Just live."
The candles burned lower. Shadows grew longer.
Kayen began to see things.
A flicker of movement in the corner—but when he turned, nothing was there.
A whisper in his ear—Arav's voice saying his name—but when he looked, Arav's lips were still, silent.
"I'm hallucinating," Kayen muttered. "Two days without rest and I'm seeing ghosts."
But then he saw it clearly.
Arthit.
Standing in the corner of the room, wearing ancient silk robes, looking exactly as he had a thousand years ago.
"You're not real," Kayen said, his voice shaking. "You're dead. You're just... you're in Arav now."
Arthit smiled—sad and gentle. "Am I? Or am I a memory? A ghost? Or perhaps I'm what remains of me in Arav's soul, reaching out during the transformation?"
"Stop," Kayen closed his eyes. "You're not real. I'm just... I'm losing my mind."
When he opened his eyes, Arthit was closer, standing beside the altar, looking down at Arav's body.
"You did the right thing," Arthit said softly. "Turning him. It was the only way."
"I killed him!" Kayen shouted. "How is that right?"
"You gave him a chance at forever," Arthit replied. "With you. Isn't that what we both wanted? A thousand years ago, I died and left you alone. This time, we get to stay together."
"IF he survives," Kayen said bitterly. "If the transformation works. If the convergence bloodline doesn't reject the vampire venom. If, if, if."
Arthit's ghostly hand reached out, seemed to touch Kayen's face. Cold, like Arav's touch had become.
"Have faith," Arthit whispered. "Our souls are bound across lifetimes. Death couldn't separate us permanently. This transformation won't either. He'll come back. We'll come back."
Then Arthit faded, dissolving into shadow and candlelight.
Kayen sat alone again, wondering if he'd actually seen a ghost or if he was simply going insane.
---
**Day Two: Thursday Night**
Preeda visited, bringing more blood and news from the outside world.
"Theron's coven is in chaos," she reported. "His second-in-command is trying to claim leadership, but there's infighting. Some want revenge, some want to distance themselves from the whole mess."
"I don't care," Kayen said listlessly.
"You should care. If they unite under a new leader and decide to come after you—"
"Let them come," Kayen interrupted. "If Arav doesn't wake up, they can kill me for all I care."
Preeda's expression softened. "Kayen... he's going to wake up. Mae Siri checked the magical signatures. The transformation is progressing normally—"
"Normally?" Kayen laughed harshly. "There's nothing normal about this. He's a convergence bloodline with three different supernatural ancestries being turned into a vampire by ancient bonding magic. How can any of this be normal?"
Preeda had no answer.
After she left, Kayen returned to his vigil.
He noticed something.
Arav's lips—still blue, still lifeless—seemed slightly... pinker? Or was that just the candlelight playing tricks?
He leaned closer, studying every inch of Arav's face.
No. He wasn't imagining it. There was color slowly returning to Arav's skin. Not much, not human-pink, but no longer the grey-white of death.
"Mae Siri!" Kayen called out.
She hurried in. "What? What's wrong?"
"Look." Kayen pointed to Arav's face. "Is he... is the color changing?"
Mae Siri examined carefully, then smiled—the first genuine smile Kayen had seen in two days.
"Yes," she said. "The venom is rebuilding his circulatory system. It's working, Kayen. The transformation is taking hold."
For the first time in forty-eight hours, Kayen felt something other than despair.
Hope.
Fragile, terrifying hope.
"How much longer?" he asked.
"Hard to say. Could be hours. Could be until tomorrow night." Mae Siri squeezed his shoulder. "But he's coming back. I'm certain now."
After she left, Kayen took Arav's hand again—and gasped.
It was warmer. Not human-warm, but not corpse-cold either. The in-between temperature of vampire skin.
"You're coming back," Kayen whispered, tears streaming down his face. "You're really coming back to me."
He pressed Arav's hand to his lips, kissing each finger.
"Just a little longer, my love. Hold on just a little longer."
---
**Day Three: Friday Morning**
Kayen was dozing—not sleeping, just resting his eyes—when he felt it.
A tremor.
His eyes flew open.
Arav's hand had moved. Not imagination this time—actual movement. His fingers twitched, then curled slightly.
"Arav?" Kayen leaned over him. "Can you hear me?"
Another twitch. Arav's eyelids fluttered.
"Mae Siri!" Kayen shouted. "He's waking up! He's—"
Arav's eyes snapped open.
Not brown anymore.
Crimson. Glowing, feral, inhuman crimson.
He sat up with supernatural speed, the silk covering falling away. His mouth opened in a soundless snarl, revealing fully extended fangs—longer and sharper than normal vampire teeth.
Then he screamed.
Not a human scream. A sound of pure agony and rage and hunger mixed together.
Before Kayen could react, Arav lunged at him.
Vampire speed—faster than Kayen expected from a newborn. Arav's hands wrapped around Kayen's throat, crushing with supernatural strength. His fangs aimed for Kayen's neck—
Kayen caught his wrists, barely.
"Arav! It's me! It's Kayen!" he shouted, struggling to hold back the feral newborn.
But Arav's eyes showed no recognition. Only hunger. Only instinct.
He was awake.
But he was lost.
**To be continued...**