Sweet Fate

Chapter 4 - Soren

Lucien’s words kept ringing in my head. How could my cold blood pulse with heat whenever she was near? How could my heart beat faster at the mere mention of her name? And how could my soul feel as though it recognized her the moment our eyes met?

I knew what I was feeling.

Humans called it a soulmate. Shifters called it a Bondmate. Other races referred to it as a kindred. While we, vampires, called it a... Resonant.

But it was impossible if Regina was my Resonant, because she—

Regina is human.

Like a mantra repeated over and over, that single sentence crushed the hope I had buried deep inside for so long. Memories of my parents, so deeply in love, had once given me hope that I might feel the same way one day. The way they looked at each other, the way they touched, the way they loved.

Yet centuries had passed, until I finally gave up and buried that hope away.

And now, Regina had appeared.

My phone rang, breaking my train of thought. A faint smile touched my lips when Alaric’s name flashed across the screen, “Hello, Sunshine. How’s your vacation?” I greeted him.

A groaning sound came from the other end. “Ugh, Soren, you know I hate that nickname,” he replied. I chuckled softly.

“I’m on the beach right now. You have to come here next time, Soren. The water is so clear and the sand is as white as Old Man’s skin. Even the breeze—” I heard Alaric take a deep breath “—is so refreshing.”

I glanced at the wall clock. It was still around lunchtime. With an almost twenty-hour time difference between us, I realized Alaric was walking along the beach in the middle of the night.

“You’re at the beach at night?” I asked.

“Ugh, man. I severely underestimated the sun here. I can only last two hours under the sunlight!” he grumbled. “And I haven’t felt a single vampire essence here. So I’ve decided to come home tomorrow. I can’t stand it anymore!”

I laughed at his frustration. Lucien had already warned him that none of our kin lived in the tropics because of the sun. But Alaric being Alaric hadn't listened to our big brother's advice, shooting back with, 'How am I supposed to meet my one true love if I just stay cooped up at home like you, Old Man?'—which had earned him a pen thrown straight at his head.

My fingers toyed with my pen as my eyes drifted back to the contract I had just discussed with Regina. “Alaric, I need your help with something.”

The line went quiet for a moment, and Alaric’s tone turned serious the moment he sensed the urgency in my voice. “What do you need?”

“When you get back, go straight to Elder Virellian. Ask him about human Resonants. I’ll pay whatever you ask.”

“Just pay for my flight home, Soren. That’s all,” I heard a huff from the speaker. “But Virellian, Soren? Maaaan, you know how much

I hate dealing with that old vampire.”

That was what I liked about Alaric. He never asked questions I wasn't ready to answer. Lucien was the complete opposite. He believed he needed to know everything, especially if there was even the slightest chance of danger.

“Thank you, Alaric.”

“My pleasure, big bro.”

The line went dead.

---

Two days passed in a blur of work. Reading manuscripts, signing documents, and returning to manuscripts once more.

Tonight, I sat in the greenhouse, enjoying the chill of the evening with a hot cup of coffee. Regina’s manuscript, which I had read countless times, was still in my hands. I found myself reading it yet again. There was something about her writing that kept drawing me back. Whether it was her prose or the way she built her characters, I couldn't quite tell.

“Soren, we need to talk.”

I looked up as Lucien walked in, his brow furrowed, a phone still pressed to his ear. He sat down on the couch next to me, facing the fireplace.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked, concerned. It was rare for Lucien to look like that.

“I’ve been talking to Alaric on the phone.” Lucien held up his screen, displaying Alaric’s name. “Yesterday, he asked for my help regarding your request to look into a resonant connection between a vampire and a human.”

My body went rigid at his words. I had never expected Alaric to go to Lucien for help with my request, especially since I hadn't told Lucien anything about my research.

Alaric’s voice sounded guilty through Lucien’s speaker. “I’m sorry, Ren. I thought Lucien already knew what you were looking for. I needed his help to confirm what I found.”

I exhaled slowly and met Lucien’s eyes. “It’s fine, Alaric.”

“I... got somewhat ambiguous information while sneaking into Elder Virellian’s house.”

I dragged a hand over my face in frustration. “God, Alaric. You broke into Elder Virellian’s house? What if you get caught?”

“Hold on, Soren! I didn't have any other choice, you know!” I heard him huff. “Elder Virellian was stubbornly refusing to say anything when I asked nicely. So rather than making him suspicious, I decided to find the information another way.”

“We’ll decide your punishment later, Alaric. For now, focus on your discovery,” Lucien interrupted, clearly displeased. I guess he had just learned about Alaric’s illegal break-in.

“But, Luci—”

“Alaric,” Lucien cut him off again.

“Okay, okay.” He let out an annoyed huff. “Out of all the documents and books I skimmed, I only found one document that was heavily sealed. I tried as hard as I could to break the seal with my power, but I could only read a single sentence.”

My fingers, which had been playing with a pen, came to a sudden halt. “What sentence?”

"Cross-Race Soul Resonance has been documented throughout vampire history.”

I fell silent. For a moment, I even forgot to breathe.

So... a soul resonance pair across different races had happened before.

Alaric continued his explanation. “I found something, but the record didn't specify whether the cross-race Resonance involved a human. So I asked Lucien for help checking the records at House Sanguis. You know how they always track the family lineages of every vampire race, working directly under the Thrones of Blood.”

“And Alaric was right. I asked a friend to help look into the lineages that recorded a soul-bond with another race.” Lucien looked deep into my eyes.

“Soren, I found a lineage that might be a soul resonance between a vampire and a human.”

I sat frozen, trying to process Lucien’s words. For the first time, the hope I had considered impossible felt startlingly real.

So I wasn't wrong. What I had been feeling all this time might actually be real.

“Out of thousands of years of records examined, at least once every eight hundred years, one of our kin shares a soul resonance with a human,” Lucien continued.

My chest tightened. Two Great Houses. Two separate sources. And both recorded the exact same thing.

“Then what happened to them?” I asked.

Lucien went quiet. This time, it was Alaric’s voice answering over the line. “That’s the problem, Ren. Nothing.”

“Nothing?” I repeated.

Lucien sighed, “Their records just stop there.”

I looked down at Regina’s manuscript resting on my lap.

There were no records of what happened afterward. No answers whether the human paired with the vampire changed physically, whether their essence shifted, or if there were consequences of a soul-bond between vampire and human.

But one thing was certain...

A vampire can have a human Resonant.

---

My strides widened, my eyes scanning the crowd packing the festival grounds, searching for her jet-black hair. The moment the talk show ended, a small crowd had swarmed around me, causing me to lose her trail amidst the sea of people.

I had already made my way out of the auditorium, but the further I walked, the harder it became to spot her. Visitors filled almost every corner of the venue. Some paused at book booths, while others queued up to get signatures from authors.

No sign of Regina.

Damn it.

I had just gotten the chance to speak with her, and now I didn't even know where she had gone. I let out a sigh and was about to turn back when that familiar sensation brought me to a sudden halt.

Her Essence.

I followed the pull of her essence, a feeling I was growing more familiar with by the second. My steps guided me toward a booth filled with thriller novels.

And there she stood.

She was flipping through a book, occasionally reading the blurb on the back cover with a look of quiet focus. I couldn't help the small smile tugging at my lips. After searching for her so frantically, she was right there, just a few meters away.

I stepped closer. “Regina.”

Her grey eyes collided with my brown ones, “Hello, Soren. I really liked your talk show,” Regina greeted me.

A faint smile touched my face. “I’m glad you did.”

My gaze dropped to the book still in her hands. “Are you going to buy the book you're holding?”

“I’m still not sure. I think I’ll look at another booth first,” she answered, placing the book back onto the shelf.

“Do you mind... if we look around together?” I asked hesitantly.

Regina looked at me for a few seconds, “You want to look around with me?” she asked.

I gave a small nod. “If you don't mind.”

Her gaze remained on me, making me wonder what was running through her head. “Sure.”

A warm, broad smile broke across my face at her answer. “Then, shall we go, My Lady?”

As we walked around, small conversations filled the air, allowing me to get to know her better and notice the subtle details about her.

For instance, she used to work as a profiler. Perhaps that was why her way of describing book characters felt so vividly real. All this time, I had assumed Regina’s ability to understand human nature was simply an author's talent. It turned out there was actual experience behind it. She didn't just write about the human mind. She had spent years studying it.

Regina always read the back of a book before lingering over the front cover. She was far more drawn to complex, intriguing premises than stories promising a happy ending. A few times, she even picked up a book, read a few pages, and returned it without hesitation.

I didn't know why those little details made me want to keep watching her. And the longer I stayed by her side, the more I realized I wanted to know about her.

We eventually came to a stop at the edge of the festival area. The atmosphere had grown quieter compared to before. I glanced at my watch. It was getting late in the afternoon. We were supposed to part ways here. But for some reason, I didn't want this conversation to end just yet.

I looked at her for a few seconds before finally gathering the courage. “Regina?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

To be continued.