Mateo’s Chapter 1

I didn’t mean to leave the house that first night.
One minute I was pacing my room, the next I was outside, breathing cold air like it was the only thing keeping me upright.

I walked without thinking — through the Spice Market, the Arts Quarter — until I saw her.

Lilith.

Sitting alone at a picnic table like she’d been waiting for someone.
Maybe me.

I don’t know why I sat down.
I just did.

We talked for hours.
She didn’t eat.
She didn’t drink.
She didn’t get cold.

I didn’t understand what she was.
Not then.
But something in her felt older than her face.

The next night, I went looking for her.
The night after that, we met on purpose.
Soon it became a rhythm — the nights pulling me toward her like a tide.

She moved like she belonged to the dark.
She watched people like she could hear their thoughts.
She never stepped into the streetlights.

Little things.
Things I didn’t want to question.

And then one night she said, “Cities change. People don’t.”

That was when it clicked.

She wasn’t human.
And somehow, that felt like an answer.

After that, she didn’t hide it.
Not really.

She talked about the night like it was home.
About hunger like it was memory.
About forever like it was familiar.

And she looked at me like she already knew who I was going to become.

During the day, I pretended everything was normal — school, chores, helping my sisters — but I kept ending up in front of the mirror.

I told Mom I was practicing speeches.
But really, I was memorizing my face.

Because once I became a vampire, I wouldn’t have a reflection anymore.

Mom keeps potions in the cabinet — energy, focus, clarity.
I drank them every morning after a night with Lilith just to stay awake.
I told myself I’d replace them someday.

The night before my progress report came out, Lilith said:

“When you age up, come to Forgotten Hollow. I’ll be waiting.”

I already knew I would.

The next day, I got my A.
Mom said I qualified for an early birthday.
She told me I didn’t have to rush.

But I did.

I needed to move forward.
I needed to stop being stuck between who I was and who I was becoming.

Mom and Dad tried to convince me to wait.
But I was already halfway gone.

All I knew was this:

I was tired of being temporary.
Tired of being left behind.
Tired of wanting things that didn’t stay.

If growing up meant losing people,
then I’d choose something that didn’t let go.

I blew out the candles,
and everything changed.

---

Forgotten Hollow was darker than I expected — not gloomy, just… quiet.
Like the whole world was holding its breath.

Lilith had moved back a few days before, returning to the house she shared with her brother, Caleb. When I walked up the path after my birthday, they were already waiting in the living room.

The second I stepped inside, something in me settled.
It felt like the house exhaled around me, and I exhaled with it.

Caleb was different from Lilith — lighter somehow, easier, like sunlight filtered through fog.
This was the first time I’d ever met him and I didn’t know what I was expecting.

He told me he was a day walker, which sounded impossible and perfect all at once. All the strength, none of the sun sickness. Lilith wasn’t a day walker. Not yet. Maybe never. She said it like a fact, not a flaw.

Every vampire has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Then it was time.

They told me what to expect, made sure I understood what I was asking.

“Will one of you turn me?” I asked.

Caleb opened his mouth, but Lilith stepped forward first.

“I will,” she said.

There was something in her voice — not possessive, not jealous, just certain.
Like she understood something I didn’t yet.

Later, I realized why.

I’d thought turning was just a ritual. It wasn’t.
There’s a pull to it — a closeness that hits fast and deep, sharper than anything I’d expected.

When she leaned in, when her breath brushed my skin, when the world narrowed to the space between us — the intensity hit me like a wave.

A rush of heat and hunger and connection that made my thoughts scatter.

I understood, instantly, why she didn’t want Caleb to be the one to do it.
Some bonds shouldn’t be shared.

The air between us shifted — heavier, charged, inevitable.

Lilith didn’t step back right away.
I had to take from her to complete the process — she took from my neck, I took from her wrist.

“Come on,” she said softly. “You’ll need a place to rest while it takes hold.”

Her voice was different now — lower, warmer, threaded with something I didn’t have a name for yet.

She led me down the hallway, her fingers brushing mine once, twice, like she was testing whether I’d pull away.

I didn’t.

---

The room she showed me was small but quiet, the curtains heavy, the air cool.
She stepped inside with me, close enough that I could feel the echo of the bond humming between us.

For a moment — a long, suspended moment — we just stood there, the air between us charged and unsteady.

Then she drew a slow breath, steadying herself.

“There’s a bond that can form,” she said. “Permanent. It only happens if both people want it.

It can happen between two vampires at any time, but if it is done now, while your body is changing, it becomes unbreakable. Not just permanent — unbreakable.”

My heartbeat — or whatever was replacing it — stuttered.

“A bond,” I repeated.

She nodded. “It’s… more than closeness. More than instinct. It’s choosing someone. Permanently.”

The word hit harder than the turning.

Lilith stepped close enough that I could feel the bond pulse between us again.

“I’m not telling you this to pressure you,” she said. “You deserve to know your choices. You deserve to choose your own permanence.”

My voice came out low. “And what do you want?”

Her breath caught — just slightly — and that was answer enough.

I lifted my hand slowly, giving her every chance to step back.

My fingers brushed her cheek — light, careful — and the bond surged, warm and bright, like it recognized her before I did.

Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment, and when she opened them again, there was no hesitation left.

“Mateo,” she whispered, “are you sure?”

“I want this,” I said. “With you.”

She lifted her hand and rested it over my heart, feeling the new rhythm there.

“Then we choose it together,” she said.

Her forehead touched mine.
Her breath mingled with mine.
The world narrowed to the space between us.

And then the bond opened.

Her hands slid to my shoulders, steadying me as the bond sealed, and I felt her presence settle into me like a second pulse.

It felt like choosing permanence — quietly, completely.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

I nodded, though the word didn’t feel big enough.

“I feel…”
I searched for the right word.
“…anchored.”

“That’s the bond settling.”

I could feel her too — not her thoughts, not her memories, just her presence.

“Caleb left,” she said softly. “He didn’t want to intrude.”

“He’ll be gone until your transformation finishes,” she added. “To give us privacy.”

I lay back against the pillows, the bond humming under my skin like a quiet promise.

Lilith brushed her thumb along my jaw — a touch so gentle it made the intensity of the moment feel even stronger.

“Rest,” she whispered. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

She didn’t leave the doorway.
Not until I closed my eyes.

I wasn’t a vampire yet — not fully.
The change takes time.

---

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