BLOOD ON WHITE SHEETS
CHAPTER ONE
“Celeste Elara, welcome to the white palace. Try not to get blood on the sheets.”
The nurse scoffed, snapping her gum as Celeste stepped through the gates of Virelia Institute, the most elite nursing school this side of the country.
The nurse's words bit harder than the heat in Celeste's cheeks. She pulled her second-hand duffel bag tighter over her shoulder, the strap fraying, the zipper struggling. Around her, students with name-brand backpacks and high-definition skin glided past like they belonged here. Celeste felt like a typo on a glossy brochure.
Her mother’s voice rang in her ears from this morning’s call:
"Just keep your head down, mi hija. No one needs to know what you are."
But Celeste couldn’t help but feel like the walls already knew. They were white—blindingly so. Clean, bleached. Everything here was sterile, polished, unwelcoming.
She caught sight of herself in the reflection of a glass door: curly dark hair tied back too tight, eyes too wide, skin just a little too pale under the fluorescent light. She smoothed her thrifted blouse and stepped inside the orientation hall.
Rows of students sat in fancy uniforms. Celeste's uniform was late to arrive—she was in plain white scrubs, wrong tone. wrong cut. She stood awkwardly until a boy in thick glasses and spiked hair waved her over.
“Hey! You can sit here,” he said with a shy smile.
“Thanks,” Celeste murmured, sliding into the empty seat.
“I’m Levi John,” he whispered. “You're the girl from the waitlist, right?" The one whose exam got cut off ‘cause of the storm?”
Celeste stiffened and laughed nervously. “Yeah. Poor network.” She didn’t add that she’d begged the admission office in person and was only accepted after they reviewed her hand-written essays.
“Still,” Levi said. “You must be good. No one gets in here by accident.”
Celeste didn’t reply. Because sometimes, accidents were exactly how things happened. Like being born to a vampire father and a human mother. Like losing control once, only once, when she was twelve—and never being allowed outside after dark again.
A shift in the room’s energy snapped her attention forward.
He had entered.
Adrian Quest.
Even sitting down, he commanded attention—tall, perfectly postured, his uniform tailored like it was sewn directly on his skin. His hair was soft waves of brown-gold, and his eyes… ice blue with flecks of silver.
Celeste didn’t believe in soulmates. She didn’t believe in much, honestly. But something about him made her blood ache. And that scared her more than anything.
Levi leaned in again. “That’s Adrian. He’s a second-gen vampire. His family owns the Vale Blood Donation Center. Rumor is he’s already been offered a spot at the Royal Bloodline Council’s medical corps.”
Adrian turned slightly, catching her gaze for a brief, electric moment. Then he looked away.
Celeste exhaled sharply, her chest fluttering with something dangerously close to hope.
That evening, after unpacking her single suitcase in a shared dorm that smelled of concentrated antiseptic and lavender-scented air freshener, she sat by the window and called her mother.
“Are you settling in?” Mara’s voice was lined with worry and concern.
Celeste rested her head against the glass. “Trying to. I met some people. There’s a guy, actually…”
Mara was quiet. Then, carefully:
“Does he… smell like snow and ash?”
Celeste blinked. “What? No, I—I don’t know.”
“Stay away from him.”
“You don’t even know who he is.”
“I don’t have to. Just… please. You promised me you’d keep to yourself.”
Celeste’s jaw tightened. “I’m not a child!”
“No,” her mother said softly. “But you’re not… normal either. You know what your blood can do.”
Celeste hung up without replying. Infuriated, she quickly took a shower and retired to bed.
That night, the dreams returned.
A woman—tall, raven-haired, wearing torn robes—stood in a circle of fire. Her face was older, regal, but something in her eyes mirrored Celeste’s. She held out her hands.
“You were not born,” she whispered. “You were chosen… Hidden. But the blood remembers.”
The fire rose higher, and Celeste awoke in a cold sweat, the sheets tangled around her legs.
In the mirror, her eyes were still faintly glowing red.
