The next morning, Arav woke up tangled with Kayen in one of the estate's guest rooms, both of them still slightly damp from their late-night pool session.
His phone was buzzing insistently.
"Ignore it," Kayen mumbled, pulling him closer.
"Can't," Arav said, reaching for it. "Might be important—OH MY GOD."
He sat bolt upright.
"What?" Kayen asked, instantly alert.
"Priya," Arav said, staring at his phone in panic. "My sister. She's... she's at the Bangkok airport. RIGHT NOW. She says she's taking a taxi to the address I sent her last week!"
"The address you—wait, you gave her THIS address?" Kayen asked.
"I gave her the safehouse address!" Arav said frantically. "But Mae Siri forwarded my mail here because we're training! Priya's going to show up HERE. In like, an hour!"
They stared at each other in mutual horror.
"I'm meeting your sister," Kayen said slowly. "Your human sister. Who your mother told you're a monster. In an hour. While we're at a vampire training facility."
"Yes," Arav confirmed, already panicking. "Oh god. Oh god. I'm not ready. We're not ready. What do I wear? How do I explain—do I explain? Should I hide the supernatural stuff or just—"
"Arav," Kayen caught his face, forcing eye contact. "Breathe. It'll be fine."
"FINE?" Arav's voice cracked. "Kayen, this is my baby sister. The only family member who still talks to me. If she hates you, if she's scared of me, if she thinks I made a mistake—"
"Then we'll deal with it," Kayen said firmly. "Together. Now get dressed. Something normal. Human-normal."
Forty-five minutes of chaos later, they'd managed to:
- Hide all obvious supernatural equipment
- Brief everyone to "act human" around Priya
- Convince Jin to wear a shirt (he'd been practicing shirtless combat)
- Get Arav into clothes that said "normal college student" not "supernatural hybrid"
- Fail to calm Arav's nerves
"She's here," Preeda called from the window. "Taxi just pulled up."
Arav looked at Kayen one more time. "Ready?"
"No," Kayen admitted. "But let's do this anyway."
They walked outside just as Priya stepped out of the taxi.
Arav's baby sister had grown up. At eighteen, she looked so much like their mother it hurt—same sharp eyes, same determined expression. But where their mother's face had been cold during that last phone call, Priya's lit up when she saw him.
"BHAIYA!" she screamed, dropping her bag and running.
Arav caught her, and it took everything in him not to cry. Blood tears would definitely blow his cover.
"Priya," he breathed, hugging her tight. "You're here. You're really here."
"Of course I'm here," she said, pulling back to look at him. Then her eyes narrowed. "You look different. Your skin is—are you wearing makeup? You're like, glowing."
"It's... expensive skincare," Arav lied terribly. "Thai products. Very good."
"Uh-huh," Priya said skeptically. Then her eyes landed on Kayen, and her jaw literally dropped. "Holy shit."
"Priya!" Arav hissed. "Language!"
"Sorry, but BHAIYA," she whispered urgently in Hindi, "you didn't tell me he looked like THAT. I was expecting normal handsome. This is like... illegal levels of handsome. This should require a permit."
Kayen, who apparently understood Hindi, tried not to smile.
"Priya, this is Kayen," Arav said, switching to English. "Kayen, my sister Priya."
Kayen extended his hand politely. "It's wonderful to finally meet you. Arav talks about you constantly."
Priya shook his hand, then immediately turned to Arav with wide eyes. "His hand is FREEZING. Why is his hand freezing? Does he have circulation problems? Should we be concerned?"
"I... he runs cold," Arav said weakly.
"In Bangkok? In this heat?" Priya looked between them. "Okay, what's actually going on? And don't lie to me—I flew eight hours to be here. I deserve the truth."
Arav and Kayen exchanged glances.
"Inside," Arav decided. "Let's talk inside."
They settled in the main sitting room. Jin, Preeda, and Som had made themselves scarce, but Mae Siri insisted on staying—"For mediation purposes," she said.
"Priya," Arav started, "what I'm about to tell you is going to sound insane—"
"You're a vampire," Priya interrupted. "Or something supernatural. That's why Mom freaked out. That's why the hunters came to our house."
Arav blinked. "You... you already knew?"
"I'm eighteen, not stupid," Priya said. "I did research after those men showed us photos. Vampires are real. So are like a dozen other things, apparently. There's a whole supernatural world hidden from humans." She looked at Kayen. "You're a vampire too. That's why you're cold. And why you're both awake during the day but look slightly uncomfortable—vampires can handle sunlight but don't love it, right?"
"That's... surprisingly accurate," Kayen admitted.
"I watched a lot of YouTube videos on the plane," Priya said. "Conspiracy theories, mostly, but some of them were clearly from people who actually know things." She turned to Arav. "So what are you? Just vampire, or something else?"
"Something else," Arav admitted. "I'm... it's complicated. I have multiple supernatural bloodlines. Vampire, witch, shape-shifter, and divine ancestry. They call it convergence bloodline."
Priya processed this. Then: "That's so cool."
"Cool?" Arav repeated, stunned.
"COOL?!" Mae Siri echoed, equally surprised.
"Yeah, cool," Priya said. "My brother is like, a supernatural hybrid. That's badass. Can you do magic? Can you turn into animals? Show me!"
"I—what?" Arav looked at Kayen helplessly.
"She's taking this well," Kayen observed.
"Too well," Arav said suspiciously. "Priya, are you in shock? Do we need to—"
"I'm not in shock," Priya rolled her eyes. "I'm relieved. Bhaiya, when those hunters came, when Mom told me you'd become a monster—I thought you'd been brainwashed or tortured or something horrible. But you're clearly fine. Happy, even. You look better than you did before."
"I do?" Arav asked.
"Yeah," Priya said. "In Mumbai, in those last months before you left for Thailand, you seemed... lost. Like you were just existing, not living. Now you look alive. Well, undead. Whatever." She grinned. "I'm glad you found whatever—whoever—makes you happy."
She looked at Kayen meaningfully.
Kayen cleared his throat. "Priya, I need you to know—I care about your brother deeply. I would never hurt him. Never force him into anything. Despite what you might have heard—"
"Did you turn him into a vampire?" Priya asked bluntly.
"Yes," Kayen admitted. "But only after he asked me to. Only after he understood all the risks and consequences. I would have let him go if he'd chosen mortality."
"But you didn't want to let him go," Priya observed. "You wanted him to stay. To become this."
"Yes," Kayen said honestly. "I'm selfish enough to want him forever. But I love him enough to have accepted whatever he chose."
Priya studied him for a long moment. Then nodded. "Okay."
"Okay?" Kayen repeated.
"Okay," Priya confirmed. "You're honest. That's good. If you'd tried to lie, pretend you didn't influence him at all, I'd have called bullshit. But you admit you're possessive. That you wanted him to choose you. That's... weirdly more trustworthy than claiming to be perfectly noble."
"She's perceptive," Mae Siri observed.
"Runs in the family," Arav muttered.
"So!" Priya clapped her hands together. "Show me the vampire stuff. Do you sleep in coffins? Can you fly? Do you sparkle?"
"No coffins, working on flying, absolutely no sparkling," Arav said. "That last one is offensive to vampires, apparently."
"What about the blood thing?" Priya asked. "Do you... you know... bite people?"
Awkward silence.
"We drink blood, yes," Kayen said carefully. "But ethically. Blood banks, willing donors, never killing."
"Can I see your fangs?" Priya asked Arav. "Please? I flew really far for this."
Arav sighed, letting his fangs extend. Priya leaned forward, fascinated.
"They're longer than I expected," she observed. "And your eyes—they're doing a thing. Multiple colors?"
"Convergence bloodline trait," Arav explained, letting her see the red, gold, violet, and white swirl.
"That's AMAZING," Priya breathed. "Oh my god. Mom said you were a monster but you're like, a magical hybrid superhero! This is the coolest thing ever!"
"It's not always cool," Arav said quietly. "I can't go home. I can't see Mom. I'll never have kids or grow old normally—"
"But you'll be with Kayen forever," Priya interrupted. "You'll have centuries to experience things. And bhaiya? Mom was wrong. You're not a monster. You're just... different. Better, even."
Arav's eyes filled with blood tears. "You really think so?"
"I know so," Priya said firmly. "And eventually, Mom will realize it too. She's stubborn, but she's not stupid. She'll come around."
"And if she doesn't?" Arav asked.
Priya hugged him. "Then she's missing out on knowing the most interesting person in our family."
---
Later, Priya's tour of the estate led to the most awkward moment yet.
They were showing her the training facilities when Jin, apparently having forgotten the "act human" rule, walked past shirtless, covered in what was definitely blood.
"Is that BLOOD?" Priya asked, pointing.
"Paint!" Jin said immediately. "Red paint. For... art class. Vampire art class. That's a thing."
"You're a terrible liar," Priya observed.
"He was training," Arav admitted. "Combat training. That's... someone else's blood. Donated. For practice."
"You FIGHT with blood?" Priya's eyes widened. "That's metal as hell."
"Please stop calling everything cool," Arav begged. "You're supposed to be at least a little horrified."
"Why?" Priya asked. "This is way more interesting than college applications and Mom's lectures about finding a nice Indian boy to marry." She paused. "Speaking of which—Kayen, what are your intentions toward my brother?"
Kayen choked on air he didn't need to breathe.
"Excuse me?" he managed.
"Your intentions," Priya repeated calmly. "You're bonded, which I understand is like supernatural marriage. But what are your long-term plans? Where will you live? What about his education? His future?"
"I—" Kayen looked at Arav helplessly.
"We haven't discussed all that yet," Arav said. "It's been a chaotic few weeks—"
"Chaotic is not an excuse for not planning," Priya said, sounding exactly like their mother. "Bhaiya, you're immortal now. You need to think long-term. Careers, finances, living situations—"
"Oh my god," Arav groaned. "You sound like Mom."
"Someone has to," Priya said. "Since she's being stubborn about this. So I'm stepping up. Kayen—answer the question."
Kayen looked at Priya with new respect. "My intentions are to love your brother for as long as we both exist. To protect him, support his choices, and build a life together that makes him happy. Financially, I'm stable—a thousand years of investments accumulate. We'll live wherever Arav wants. And his education—if he wants to continue university, we'll figure it out. If he wants to try something else, that's fine too. His happiness is my priority."
Priya considered this. Then nodded. "Acceptable. But I'm watching you. If you hurt him, vampire or not, I will find a way to end you."
"She's terrifying," Kayen said to Arav. "I like her."
"Runs in the family," Arav said again, but he was smiling.
That night, after Priya was settled in a guest room, she cornered Arav alone.
"Bhaiya," she said seriously. "Are you really happy? Not just okay—actually happy?"
Arav thought about it. Despite everything—the complications, the danger, the losses—was he happy?
"Yes," he said honestly. "For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. With exactly who I'm supposed to be with."
Priya hugged him tight. "Then that's all that matters. Screw what Mom thinks. Screw what society expects. You found your person. That's rare. That's special."
"Even if my person is a thousand-year-old vampire?" Arav teased.
"ESPECIALLY if your person is a thousand-year-old vampire," Priya corrected. "That's way more interesting than the boring guy Mom wanted you to marry."
As she headed to bed, she paused. "Oh, and bhaiya? That video of you drunk in the bar? I've watched it like a hundred times. You're adorable when you're vampired."
"I hate you," Arav called after her.
"Love you too!" she sang back.
Kayen found him in the hallway, looking dazed.
"How'd it go?" Kayen asked.
"She threatened to kill you if I'm unhappy, called me adorable, and basically gave us her blessing," Arav summarized. "I think that's a win?"
"Definitely a win," Kayen agreed, pulling him close. "Your sister is remarkable."
"She is," Arav said. "And Kayen? About what she asked—the intentions thing?"
"Yes?"
"Did you mean it?" Arav asked. "About building a life together? About my happiness being your priority?"
"Every word," Kayen said seriously. "You're not just my bonded mate, Arav. You're my partner. My equal. My future. Whatever that looks like—wherever it leads—I want it to be us. Together."
"Together," Arav agreed, kissing him.
From her room, Priya called out: "I CAN HEAR YOU BEING GROSS. VAMPIRE HEARING IS A THING, REMEMBER?"
They jumped apart, embarrassed.
"Walls!" Arav shouted back. "Respect the walls!"
"Respect the VOLUME!" Priya countered.
Mae Siri's voice drifted from downstairs: "If you children are quite finished, some of us are trying to plan a Vatican heist!"
Arav and Kayen looked at each other and burst out laughing.
This. This chaotic, supernatural, complicated life.
Arav wouldn't trade it for anything.
**To be continued...**