Two days before the Council hearing, Arav couldn't sleep. Vampires didn't technically need sleep, but his divine blood kept some human traits—including the need for rest.
But every time he closed his eyes, he saw his mother's face. Heard her voice: *You're not my son anymore.*
At 3 AM, he gave up and went to Karan's balcony. Bangkok sprawled below, a sea of lights that never truly slept.
"Can't rest either?" Karan's voice came from behind.
Arav turned. Karan stood in the doorway, holding two mugs of blood—warmed, the way Arav preferred.
"Thanks," Arav accepted one, sipping carefully. He still wasn't used to drinking blood, even medical-grade. The taste was metallic, rich, and his vampire instincts sang with satisfaction while his human mind recoiled.
Karan leaned against the railing beside him. "I've been thinking about what Hayes said. About evidence."
"Me too," Arav admitted.
"There's something I didn't tell you," Karan said quietly. "When I called the hunters that first time, before I realized what they truly were... I gave them everything. Your full name, your passport details, your family information in Mumbai. And..." he hesitated, "I gave them footage."
Arav's blood went cold. "What footage?"
"From that night. The camping trip in Chiang Mai." Karan wouldn't meet his eyes. "I had my phone recording when I went to your tent. When you... when you rejected me and ran. I was going to delete it, but after everything that happened, after you disappeared for days, I kept it. Then when I saw you'd become a vampire, I sent it to the hunters as proof that you'd been targeted, kidnapped."
"Karan..." Arav's voice was strained.
"The footage shows you running into the jungle," Karan continued. "And then... there's audio. Sounds. Your scream. And something else. Something inhuman responding. That's when I thought—when I believed—that you'd been attacked against your will."
"But I wasn't," Arav said. "I chose this. Eventually."
"But Hayes doesn't know that," Karan said urgently. "If he has that footage, he can twist it. Make it look like Kayen stalked you, attacked you, forced the transformation. He can paint you as a victim turned monster, someone who needs to be put down for mercy."
Arav's hands tightened on the railing, bending the metal. "He's going to use it at the hearing."
"Probably," Karan said. "And there's more. After you fell unconscious that night, I went back to look for you the next morning. I found blood on the grass. Your blood. I took a sample—I don't know why, maybe instinct, maybe evidence. But I gave that to the hunters too."
"My blood," Arav repeated. "From before I was turned."
"Human blood with convergence markers," Karan said. "Hayes can test it, compare it to what you are now. Prove the transformation. And Arav... there were trace amounts of vampire venom already in that blood. From when Kayen first encountered you, I think. He must have... sampled you. Even just a small bite, just a taste."
Through the bond, Arav felt Kayen's presence stir in the bedroom. He'd heard everything.
A moment later, Kayen appeared on the balcony, his face pale with guilt.
"It's true," Kayen admitted. "That night in the jungle, when you fell unconscious in front of me... the blood resonance was so strong. I couldn't help myself. I tasted you. Just a drop from one of your thorn scratches. It was..." he closed his eyes, "the most intoxicating blood I'd ever encountered. That's when I knew. You were mine, even if you didn't know it yet."
"So you marked me," Arav said slowly. "Even then."
"I'm sorry," Kayen whispered. "I should have told you. Should have—"
"Hayes can prove you targeted me before I even knew vampires existed," Arav interrupted, his mind racing. "He can prove you tasted my blood without consent. He can make it look like you've been grooming me, manipulating me from the start."
"It wasn't like that—" Kayen started.
"I know," Arav said firmly. "But the Council won't care about the truth. They'll care about the evidence. And Hayes has a compelling case: foreign student attacked by ancient vampire, slowly manipulated through blood resonance, eventually turned against his will."
"But you chose it," Karan said. "At the end. You chose to be turned."
"Did I?" Arav looked at them both. "Or was I already under Kayen's influence? The blood bond was forming even before the turning. My choices might not have been entirely my own."
The words hung in the air like poison.
Through their bond, Kayen felt Arav's doubt—not about his love, but about his agency. Had he truly chosen this life? Or had supernatural forces beyond his control pushed him toward it?
"No," Kayen said forcefully. "Don't let Hayes get in your head. Yes, the blood resonance existed. Yes, I tasted you that first night. But you still had free will. You chose to be with me. You chose the transformation even knowing the risks."
"But can we prove that?" Arav asked. "At the hearing, with the Council, with Hayes presenting his evidence—can we prove I wasn't manipulated?"
Silence.
Finally, Karan spoke. "There's one person who could testify to your state of mind. Someone who examined you, who knows about convergence bloodlines and bonding magic."
"Mae Siri," Arav realized.
"She can confirm that your will was your own," Karan said. "That convergence bloodlines are naturally resistant to vampire manipulation. That you made informed choices."
"If she'll testify," Kayen said doubtfully. "The Council and Mae Siri have... history. She refused to join their ranks centuries ago. They consider her a rogue element."
"She saved us from the hunters," Arav pointed out. "She completed our bonding ceremony. She'll help."
"We need more than her testimony," Kayen said. "We need to discredit Hayes. Show he's not the righteous hunter he claims to be."
"I can help with that," Karan said. Both vampires looked at him in surprise. "My great-grandfather's archives. He documented every hunt, every vampire killed. If Hayes is like most hunters, he's got blood on his hands. Innocents killed, evidence planted. I can find proof."
"Why?" Kayen asked suspiciously. "Why help us? You called the hunters on us in the first place."
"Because I was wrong," Karan said simply. "And because..." he looked at Arav, "because you're still my friend. Even if you don't love me the way I wanted. Even if you're with him. You're still the person who helped me study, who listened when I was struggling with my sexuality, who never judged me even when I was being pathetic and obsessed."
Arav felt tears—blood tears—forming. "Karan—"
"Don't," Karan held up a hand. "Don't thank me or apologize or whatever. Just... survive the hearing. Both of you. Then steal that stupid crown, pay off Seraphina, and figure out how to actually live your immortal life."
A phone rang. Kayen's—somehow repaired or replaced.
He answered. His face went pale.
"When?" A pause. "How many?" Another pause. "We'll be ready."
He hung up, looking at Arav with fear in his ancient eyes.
"That was Jin," Kayen said. "The bounty on you has been claimed. Not by one hunter—by dozens. There's a coordinated assault planned. Tomorrow night. Every major supernatural bounty hunter in Southeast Asia is converging on Bangkok."
"They know we're here?" Arav asked.
"They know you'll have to travel to Singapore for the hearing," Kayen said. "They're planning to ambush us en route. Jin says there are at least twenty confirmed hunters, plus whatever human backup they've hired."
"So we don't go," Karan suggested. "Skip the hearing. Run—"
"If we don't attend, the Council declares us rogue," Kayen said. "Then it's not just bounty hunters. It's every vampire, every supernatural being with any loyalty to the Council. We'd be hunted forever."
"Then we fight our way through," Arav said, feeling his convergence powers stirring. "Twenty hunters? I took on fifty human hunters two nights ago—"
"These aren't human," Kayen interrupted. "Supernatural bounty hunters. Werewolves, rogue vampires, dark witches. Beings with powers that match or exceed yours. And they'll be coordinated, professional."
Through their bond, Arav felt Kayen's calculation: their chances of survival were less than thirty percent.
"There's one option," Karan said slowly. "My family has a private jet. I could fly you to Singapore directly, bypassing the planned ambush routes. We'd leave at dawn, arrive by noon, give you time to prepare for the hearing."
"Your family's jet?" Kayen asked suspiciously. "The same family whose legacy is hunting vampires?"
"My jet," Karan corrected. "In my name. My father gave it to me when I turned twenty-one. He won't know we're using it."
"Can we trust this?" Kayen looked at Arav. Through their bond, they communicated silently.
*He could be leading us into a trap,* Kayen thought.
*Or he could be genuinely trying to help,* Arav countered. *We have to trust someone.*
"Alright," Arav said aloud. "We take the jet. Dawn departure."
"I'm coming too," Karan said. "As your human witness. If Hayes is painting you as a monster, having a human voluntarily defending you might help."
"Or get you killed," Kayen said bluntly.
"I'm already dead to my family if they find out I'm helping vampires," Karan said. "Might as well go all in."
Arav looked at him—really looked at him. Karan, who'd loved him obsessively, called hunters on him, then risked everything to save him.
"Thank you," Arav said simply.
Karan smiled sadly. "Don't thank me yet. We still have to survive tomorrow."
That night, as Arav lay beside Kayen, he whispered: "What if we lose? What if the Council finds us guilty?"
"Then we run," Kayen said. "To the ends of the earth if necessary. I didn't wait a thousand years for you just to lose you to bureaucratic vampires."
"And the Crown? Seraphina's debt?"
"We'll figure it out," Kayen promised. "One crisis at a time."
But neither of them slept.
Because dawn would bring the journey to Singapore.
And Hayes would be waiting.
With evidence that could destroy them.
**To be continued...**