My Vampire,My Guardian

My Vampire My Guardian 3

— Lucien’s POV*

She doesn’t trust me.

I can see it in the way she holds herself, like if I move too fast she’ll bolt. Can’t blame her. I would’ve done the same.

The mirror catches the light off her skin now. It shouldn’t. Human skin doesn’t shimmer like that unless something’s changed in the blood. Mine changed 312 years ago. Hers changed on the way down.

I should say something. Reassure her.

Elias already ruined that by being Elias.

I let my eyes drift away from her and fall on the cracked frame of the mirror. It reminds me of the first time I saw her.

---

_Seven years ago. Rain. Cold that cut through stone._

I’d been tracking a rogue nest near the ridge. They’d been careless, feeding too close to town. I found them first. I always do.

Then I heard it—screeching metal, a car flipping end over end down the embankment. The smell hit me before the sound did: copper and smoke and something else. Something old. Something familiar.

I got to the wreck before the fire did.

Two bodies in the front. Dead instantly. Parents.

And in the back seat, a child. Eleven years old. Breath catching in her throat, eyes wide with shock, clutching a torn stuffed rabbit like it was the only thing keeping her anchored.

Becca Bloom.

Her blood called to me the second I opened the door. Sweet, metallic, wrong in a way that made my fangs ache. Red BAT blood. I hadn’t smelled it in two centuries. I thought my line was dead.

I should’ve taken it.

One bite and I could have ended her pain instantly. Turned her before the shock killed her.

But she looked at me and whispered, “Mommy?”

And I couldn’t.

I pulled her out. Carried her far enough that the explosion wouldn’t reach us. Left her in the woods where humans would find her at dawn. I told myself it was mercy. Told myself it was restraint.

It wasn’t. It was fear.

Fear of what making her like me would do to a child. Fear of what I’d do to her if I lost control around someone so young.

So I watched instead.

---

I watched from a distance as foster care pulled her in and out of homes.

I watched her go quiet after the first year, like she’d decided the world wasn’t worth talking to.

I watched her stop eating on the nights the nightmares got bad.

I watched her sit on that apartment floor at 3 AM, hugging her knees, whispering her parents’ names like it was a prayer.

Every time the weight got too heavy, I wanted to break my own rule.

To go in, to take her pain and make it mine. To make her immortal so she’d never feel that helpless again.

Elias said I was obsessed.

He’s not wrong.

But it’s not obsession. It’s guilt.

Because I know what her blood means. I know what they’ll do to her if they find out she’s alive. And I know I’m the only one who can keep her from becoming a weapon.

When she stood on that cliff tonight, I almost let her choose.

But the second her foot slipped, something in me snapped.

I caught her before she hit the rocks.

Her blood was in the air, and for the first time in 300 years, I felt like I had a purpose again.

Now she’s here. Alive. Changed.

And she thinks I’m the danger.

She’s not wrong.

But I’d burn the world before I let anyone else hurt her again.

---

Elias is still talking behind me, trying to make her laugh.

Good. Let him.

I need her to trust him first.

Because if she trusts me, it’ll be too late to walk away.

---

Becca’s POV*

I didn’t know how long I stood there staring at them.

Lucien, all calm and unreadable like he’d been practicing not blinking for centuries.

Elias, still leaning on the bed frame, watching me like I was a puzzle he was about to solve by poking it.

My skin still felt wrong. Too smooth. Too alive.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I said. My voice came out hoarse, smaller than I wanted it to.

Elias raised his hands. “Who, me? I’m not looking. I’m admiring. There’s a difference.”

“You’re staring.”

“Staring is an art form.”

Lucien cut in before I could snap back. “Becca, we need to talk about what happened on the cliff.”

“No,” I said immediately. “You need to talk. I need to decide if I’m going to listen or run.”

I took a step back, putting more distance between me and both of them. Big mistake. My legs weren’t shaky anymore, but my head was spinning. Nothing about this made sense.

I was eleven when my parents died. Eleven when the world decided I was on my own.

Now I’m here, in some too-clean room, with two vampires acting like they’ve known me my whole life.

And I look eighteen again. Or at least, not eleven. Not the kid I’ve been for seven years.

“Why me?” I asked. “Why were you there? Why did you save me?”

Lucien’s violet eyes flicked to Elias, then back to me. “Because you’re important, Becca.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I can give you right now without you hating me more.”

Elias sighed, dramatic as always. “Okay, okay. Look, I’ll make it simple. You’ve got rare blood. Like, ‘ancient vampire clans will start a war over it’ rare. Lucien’s been playing bodyguard from the shadows because if the wrong people find out you’re alive, you’re toast.”

“Elias,” Lucien warned.

“What? She asked!”

I stared at him. “Bodyguard? You’ve been watching me since I was eleven?”

“From a distance!” Elias said quickly. “No creepy window-staring. Well, maybe a little. But only when you looked like you were about to do something stupid.”

I laughed, but it came out bitter. “So you let me suffer for seven years. Let me get dragged through foster homes, let me starve, let me think I was alone.”

Lucien flinched. It was small, but I saw it.

“If I interfered, I’d put a target on your back,” he said quietly. “The people who want your blood would have found you sooner.”

“So what changed? Why save me now?”

“Because you jumped,” Lucien said. “And I couldn’t watch you die again.”

The room went quiet.

I didn’t know what to say to that.

Elias shifted, trying to break the tension like he always did. “Look, I get it. Trust issues. Totally fair. But for what it’s worth, Lucien’s never stayed up all night for anyone except you. He’s terrible at it, by the way. He makes terrible tea and stares at the door too much.”

“Elias.”

“What? I’m building trust!”

I didn’t trust them. Not yet.

But for the first time since I hit the ground, I wasn’t alone in the dark.

And that scared me more than anything else.

“Fine,” I said. “Talk. But if you lie to me, I’m walking out that door and you can’t stop me.”

Lucien nodded once.

Elias grinned. “Oh good. Lore dump time. Try not to faint. I fainted during mine.”

Lucien shot him a look.

Elias just winked at me. “He’s lying. I didn’t faint. I was meditating.”

*Becca’s POV*

Lucien didn’t sit. He never sat. Like sitting meant he was comfortable, and he never was when I was in the room.

“Red BAT blood,” he said, like he was naming a disease. “It’s rare. Older than most vampire lines. It’s why you survived the fall.”

I crossed my arms. “Cool word salad. Try English.”

Elias clapped. “Ooh, she’s feisty. I missed feisty.”

Lucien shot him a look. “Elias, let me finish.”

“Fine. I’ll just interpret for the audience.”

I ignored him and kept my eyes on Lucien. “Go on.”

“Your blood carries an old genetic marker,” he said. “To vampires, it smells different. Tastes different. It can heal us faster than anything else. It can also make us stronger, faster, if we drink it.”

“So I’m basically a walking energy drink,” I muttered.

“More like a walking war,” Elias cut in, grinning. “That’s why Lucien’s been lurking like a sad gargoyle for seven years. If the wrong clan finds out you’re alive, they’ll hunt you to turn you, control you, or drain you dry.”

Lucien didn’t deny it.

“Why didn’t you turn me back then?” I asked. “You said it yourself. One bite and it’s over.”

His jaw tightened. “Because you were a child. And because I didn’t want to decide for you.”

“That’s convenient,” I said. “So you just watched instead.”

“I protected you,” he said quietly. “From a distance.”

“By doing nothing,” I shot back.

Elias winced. “Okay, ouch. But also, he’s right. If he’d stepped in, other vampires would’ve smelled you on him. It’s like leaving breadcrumbs for a pack of wolves. He was trying to keep you off the radar.”

“Did it work?” I asked.

Lucien shook his head. “No. Something changed tonight. Your blood activated when you fell. I felt it the moment you hit the air. It’s why you’re different now. Why you healed.”

I looked down at my hands again. The faint shimmer was still there, like moonlight under my skin.

“So what now?” I said. “You keep me locked up here forever?”

“No,” Lucien said. “You decide. But you need to understand what you are before you walk back out there.”

“And if I don’t want to be anything?” I asked. “If I just want to go home?”

Elias’s grin faded a little. “Home isn’t safe anymore, Becca. Not with your blood singing like that.”

I hated that he was probably right.

I hated that part of me felt safer here, with two monsters, than I had in seven years of human ‘safety.’

Lucien stepped closer, careful, like I might shatter. “I won’t force you. I won’t turn you unless you ask. But I will keep you alive. That’s a promise I made seven years ago, and I don’t break promises.”

“Even if it kills you?” I asked.

His eyes didn’t waver. “Especially then.”

Elias let out a low whistle. “Okay, wow. Dramatic. Ten out of ten. Now can we get her some food? She looks like she’s about to pass out from all the feelings.”

I shot him a glare. “I’m not passing out.”

“You’re swaying, Becca.”

“I’m not—”

I swayed.

Lucien caught my elbow before I could hit the floor. His hand was cold, but steady.

“Stubborn,” he muttered.

“Not dying,” I mumbled back.

Elias grinned. “See? Teamwork. I make jokes, Lucien catches you, and you stay alive. We’re good at this.”

I didn’t answer. I was too busy trying to figure out if I wanted to punch them both or just stop pretending I wasn’t scared.

“Fine,” I said finally. “Tell me everything. But if you leave anything out, I’ll know.”

Lucien nodded.

Elias rubbed his hands together. “Alright."