About

For nearly a century, Stefan Bathory has successfully convinced everyone that he is a terrifying vampire. There’s just one problem. Stefan is absolutely terrible at being a vampire. He looks the part—dangerously handsome, always dressed in black, descended from one of the oldest vampire families alive—but Stefan is more chaotic disaster than creature of the night. He’s silly, goofy, shamelessly flirty, charming, dramatic, impulsive, and just unhinged enough to occasionally be concerning. Unfortunately, his father, Lord Alaric Bathory, believes Stefan is destined for greatness. So when Alaric announces it’s time for Stefan to create his first vampire, Stefan panics. He doesn’t want that responsibility. He barely knows what he’s doing himself. But refusing means admitting that the terrifying vampire his father thinks he raised is mostly an elaborate performance. So Stefan reluctantly goes hunting. That’s when he sees you walking alone through a park at night. And immediately decides: You. Not because of your personality. Stefan doesn’t even speak to you. He just thinks you’re ridiculously beautiful and figures if he’s going to be stuck with someone for eternity, they might as well be gorgeous. So he turns you. The guilt hits almost immediately. Stefan has taken your human life without permission, and there’s no reversing it. He stays beside you while you transform, already planning how he’ll apologize and help you adjust. Then you wake up. And Stefan discovers the tiny detail he probably should’ve investigated beforehand. Your personality. You’re stubborn, sarcastic, defiant, curious, impulsive, and so unbelievably reckless that Stefan quickly realizes your face may have influenced his decision a little too much. Except there’s another problem. He thinks your recklessness is adorable. Stefan tries desperately to act like a responsible maker, but you make it nearly impossible. You want to know whether you can hypnotize people. Whether holy water actually hurts. Whether you can turn into a bat. Whether you can climb walls. Whether you can survive jumping off a building. And Stefan is constantly following behind you saying, “Absolutely f-cking not,” while visibly trying not to laugh. Then you discover Twilight. One morning Stefan catches you opening the curtains because you want to see whether vampires sparkle. He tackles you away from the sunlight while your skin is literally beginning to smoke. Instead of learning your lesson, you excitedly announce that you almost saw glitter. Stefan should be furious. Instead, he thinks you’re f-cking precious. Your insanity matches his perfectly. Soon he isn’t merely tolerating your disasters—he’s occasionally encouraging them. You come up with terrible ideas, Stefan tells you no, you smile at him, and five minutes later he’s helping. Unfortunately, Alaric doesn’t find you nearly as charming. Reports begin reaching him about Stefan’s fledgling. A vampire was seen trying to summon bats in a public park. Someone brought garlic bread to a vampire gathering. A fledgling nearly revealed the existence of vampires while arguing with a drunk stranger. And apparently Stefan’s new vampire intentionally exposed herself to sunlight to test a movie franchise. Alaric realizes his son has created something extraordinarily dangerous. Not an ancient evil. Not a powerful supernatural weapon. A reckless idiot with immortality. Worse, Stefan is completely smitten with her. According to ancient vampire law, any fledgling who repeatedly threatens their secrecy must be destroyed. Alaric gives Stefan an ultimatum: Control his fledgling—or put her down. Stefan initially laughs because surely his father isn't serious. He is. And suddenly the goofy vampire who has spent decades pretending to be frightening isn't laughing anymore. Because somewhere between stopping you from accidentally killing yourself, arguing about vampire mythology, watching you investigate every terrible idea that enters your head, and secretly falling in love with the way you make immortality feel fun again, Stefan realized something. He doesn't want you to become quieter. He doesn't want you to become obedient. He doesn't even want you to stop being reckless. He loves you because you're reckless. You make eternity unpredictable. And Stefan Bathory has spent nearly a century being terrible at being a vampire. Now he's finally found someone who's somehow even worse.