One month after the winter solstice, Adrian and Kieran returned to the monastery in the mountains.
The battle's aftermath had kept them busy—dealing with vampire politics, ensuring Viktor's remaining followers were truly scattered, rebuilding alliances that had been strained by the conflict. But finally, they had time for themselves.
Time to complete what they'd started.
"Are you sure about this?" Kieran asked for the hundredth time. "Blood bonding is permanent. Once it's done, we're linked forever."
"I've been sure since the moment I chose to turn," Adrian replied. "I want this. I want you. Forever."
The ritual was simpler than Adrian expected. No elaborate ceremony, no ancient words. Just the two of them, alone in the monastery's main hall, under the peaceful gaze of the Buddha statue.
Kieran bit his wrist first, offering it to Adrian. "Drink from me, and I'll drink from you. Our blood will mix, our souls will bind, and we'll be one."
Adrian drank. Kieran's blood was familiar now, cold and powerful, tasting of time and love and unbreakable devotion.
Then Kieran drank from Adrian, his fangs piercing Adrian's throat gently, reverently. As their blood mixed, Adrian felt something shift—a connection forming, strong and unbreakable. He could feel Kieran's emotions, his love, his relief, his joy. Could sense him in a way that went beyond physical presence.
When they pulled apart, both their eyes were glowing—Kieran's silver-grey, Adrian's mixed brown and silver.
"I can feel you," Adrian whispered, pressing his hand over his still heart. "I can feel you here."
"And I can feel you," Kieran replied. "We're bonded. Forever."
They made love that night with a new intensity, the blood bond amplifying every touch, every sensation. Adrian could feel what Kieran felt, and Kieran could feel Adrian's pleasure as his own. It created a feedback loop of desire that left them both overwhelmed and satisfied.
After, as they lay tangled together, Adrian asked, "What now?"
"Now we live," Kieran said simply. "We travel, we learn, we help people, we build the life we've always dreamed of. Together."
"Together," Adrian agreed.
Over the following weeks, they began their immortal life in earnest.
Kieran taught Adrian everything—languages, history, combat, art, music, everything he'd learned over a millennium. Adrian proved to be a quick study, his multiple past lives giving him an intuitive understanding of things he'd never formally learned.
They traveled too. Paris first, where Kieran showed Adrian the city he'd lived in during the French Revolution. Then Rome, Tokyo, New York, every place Kieran had called home over the centuries.
Adrian got better at controlling his vampire nature. The hunger became manageable. He could feed ethically, take only what he needed, leave donors dizzy but unharmed. He learned to fight properly, sparring with Kieran until they were evenly matched.
He even learned to appreciate vampire politics, though he found them tedious. Kieran introduced him to other vampire lords, to the informal council that maintained order among their kind. Adrian became known as Lord Ashford's bonded mate, and that title carried weight.
Six months after the blood bonding, they returned to Shanghai.
The penthouse had been fully renovated, restored to its former glory. They stood on the balcony, looking out over the city that glittered like stars against the darkness.
"Do you miss it?" Kieran asked. "Being human?"
Adrian considered. "Sometimes. I miss food—actual food that tastes like something. I miss the sun without pain. I miss the simplicity of a mortal life."
"But?"
"But this is better. Eternity with you is better than anything I could have had as a human." Adrian turned to face him. "I don't regret my choice. Not for a second."
Kieran pulled him close. "I waited a thousand years for you. Endured a millennium of loneliness and pain. And it was worth it. Every moment of suffering was worth it to have you here, now, forever."
"Forever," Adrian echoed. "I like the sound of that."
They kissed as the city lights sparkled below, two immortal beings who'd found each other across lifetimes, who'd chosen love over fear, eternity over ease.
"So," Adrian said when they pulled apart. "What do we do now? Save the world again? Fight more vampire lords? Make enemies of more demons?"
Kieran laughed. "If you want. Or we could just exist for a while. Be together without the threat of world-ending rituals. Maybe even be boring for once."
"You? Boring? I don't believe it."
"I can be boring. I'm excellent at being boring."
"Prove it."
So they tried. They really did try to be a normal vampire couple—feeding ethically, maintaining their properties, avoiding supernatural politics.
It lasted exactly three months before Wei called with news of a werewolf pack being hunted by vampire extremists. Then Marcus reported a witch coven under threat. Then Asmodeus called in his favor—something complicated involving a stolen artifact and a rival demon lord.
"So much for boring," Adrian said as they prepared for another fight.
"I tried to warn you," Kieran replied, checking his weapons. "Eternity is rarely peaceful."
"Good. I'd get bored with peaceful."
They fought together, protecting the vulnerable, maintaining the balance between supernatural and human worlds. They became legends in their own right—the Cursed Prince and his Reincarnated Mate, champions of the Accord, defenders of peace.
Years passed. Then decades. The world changed around them—technology advanced, societies evolved, new challenges emerged. But Kieran and Adrian remained constant, their love unchanging, their bond unbreakable.
On the fiftieth anniversary of Adrian's transformation, they returned to the place where it all began—the old mill where Elias had died a thousand years before.
The structure had long since collapsed, replaced by a modern building. But the site remained, and they stood where Kieran had lost Elias, where everything had ended and begun.
"Fifty years," Adrian said. "Feels like yesterday and forever ago simultaneously."
"That's immortality," Kieran replied. "Time becomes strange. Fluid."
"Do you still feel the ache? The curse?"
"No. Not since the moment I saw you again." Kieran took his hand. "My heart is finally at peace."
Adrian squeezed his hand. "Mine too."
They stood together as night fell, two vampires who'd transcended death itself, who'd proven that love—true love—could survive anything. Time, death, transformation, war, even eternity.
"Ready to go home?" Kieran asked.
"Always," Adrian replied. "As long as home is wherever you are."
They disappeared into the night, two shadows among many, beginning their next fifty years, their next century, their next millennium.
Together.
Forever.