They led her through winding corridors, and she forced herself to pay attention. She tried to remember every turn and every detail into her memory. If she ever got another chance to escape, she would need this.
They stopped at two large doors, and Dante opened them without a word, showing a library so vast it took Lilian's breath away.
The shelves towered from the floor to the ceiling, filled with thousands of books. But it wasn't the books that made her freeze in place.
It was the wall.
One entire wall was covered in hundreds of framed photographs. Old photos of people from different eras, all with names and dates written beneath the frames.
"There are the ones who ran, who refused our help," Dante said quietly, his voice tired, his hand pointing into a section of the photographs.
Lilian approached the pointed section he pointed to slowly, feeling heavy as she moved closer to read the names.
Sydney White. 1923. Found with no blood left in Chicago.
James Bennet. 1956. Refused help. Dead two weeks later.
Dustin Morrison. 1867. Turned by a rogue. Killed six people before we stopped him.
The list went on and on, frame after frame, like a wall of the dead.
"This is what happens when marked humans try to face our world alone," Dante said. "We've been tracking vampire attacks for over two centuries, and these photos show our failures."
Her throat tightened. "You're just trying to scare me so I won't run," she said, still clinging to denial.
"No. I'm trying to make you understand what is at stake," Dante replied firmly. "This isn't a game."
"Some of them were turned," Lucien added, stepping closer and pointing to a row of photos near the bottom. "Newborns with no control. So they killed their families, their friends. After that, we had no choice but to destroy them. Is that what you want to become, Lilian? A killer?"
"No…" Lilian whispered.
The image of hurting her mother flashed in her mind. The thought made her legs weakened, and she had to reach out to a nearby table to keep herself upright.
"Then let us help you through the transformation, to control your hunger afterward. Give yourself a chance to survive and stay human on the inside," Dante said firmly, but sounded more like a pleading.
Lilian looked back at the wall of dead faces, her earlier determination crumbling apart. She felt trapped by the very blood now flowing through her veins.
Maybe they were right. Maybe running away would just get her killed or, even worse, turn her into a newborn without control.
But staying meant accepting a truth she didn't want to face. In less than a week, she would become something that needed to drink blood just to keep existing.
"I want to talk to my family and friends," Liliana said suddenly, forcing strength into her voice. "They will be worried. I can't just disappear."
"We can arrange that," Dante replied, nodding as if he had expected the request. "We'll get you a new phone today. You can contact anyone you want. But there's one condition."
"What condition?"
"You can't tell them about vampires or what's happening to you," Dante said. "Secrecy keeps our world from collapsing. If it's broken, the consequences are fatal for everyone involved."
"So I have to lie to everyone I care about?"
"Yes. To keep them safe. If your family and friends start investigating your disappearance, rogues could notice. They would use them as bait to get to you," Dante said seriously.
The thought of her mom or her best friend Nancy being used as bait made Lilian's chest ache.
"Okay," she said at last, feeling defeated. "I'll stay. But I want answers. I want to know exactly what's happening to me."
"You'll have them, starting today," Dante promised.
Lucien turned toward the door, looking relaxed now after everything was settled. "I'll have the phone ready within an hour. It'll be the newest model with your old number on it."
After he left, Dante motioned to the velvet chairs scattered across the library. "Sit. I'll tell you what I can. You deserve to know what's coming."
Lilian chose a chair farthest from him and sat, her thoughts still reeling. She took a deep breath, trying to find the words to start.
"Why me? Why did that vampire attack me? Was it just random, or what?" she asked immediately, needing to know if there was a reason her life had been destroyed.
"It was likely random," Dante said, taking a seat across from her with graceful movement. "Rogues hunt in areas where humans walk alone at night. You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although…"
He hesitated, making her heart skip a beat. "What? Although what?"
"We've been tracking that rogue for weeks. He'd already killed two other humans before you. We were hunting him that night and followed his track to your neighborhood. We just didn't reach him fast enough to stop the bite."
"So if you had been faster, this wouldn't have happened to me," Lilian said. Her entire life had been changed by a matter of seconds.
"Yes," Dante admitted quietly. "I am truly sorry for that. Your transformation is my failure."
The guilt in his voice sounded real, and it unsettled her. She didn't want to feel bad for him, but seeing him like that made him feel more human.
Lilian looked away, focusing on the lines of books instead of his eyes. "Tell me about the transformation. What will it feel like?" she asked, needing to understand what was coming.
Dante's expression grew somber. "Painful. Worse than anything you've ever felt. Your body basically dies and builds itself back up at the cellular level, and will take three to five days from start to finish."
He stopped, watching her carefully to make sure she was listening. "You'll have high fever, muscle spasms, hallucinations. Your senses will sharpen until every sound hurts and every light is too bright."
He paused again, then continued. "But you'll survive it. When you wake up, you'll be stronger and faster than you can imagine. Your senses will be sharper than humans, heal from almost any injury, you'll live for centuries, maybe forever."
"And I'll need blood," Lilian said flatly, the one part of her becoming the vampire she couldn't even dare to imagine.
"Yes. Human blood is best. But we don't take it by force. We have agreements with blood banks and willing donnorrs who consent and are compensated. You won't have to kill anyone to survive if you stay with us."
"... But I could if I wanted to."
"Yes," Dante admitted. "Which is why training and control are so important. That's why we don't let newborns go out into the world alone. They're a danger to themselves and everyone around them."
Lilian absorbed everything in silence, trying to imagine being one of them, as an immortal, powerful, but needing blood to survive.
It felt impossibly, like trying to imagine being a completely different species. And deep down, she feared that her human self was already slipping away.