diff --git a/entity-store/entity-store-substitute.js b/entity-store/entity-store-substitute.js
index c6c555d..a0341fe 100644
--- a/entity-store/entity-store-substitute.js
+++ b/entity-store/entity-store-substitute.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ exports.createEntityStoreSubstitute = ({ entity: EntityClass }) => {
   }
 
   const fetchRecord = async (id) => {
-    const record = records[id] || { entity: new EntityClass(), metadata: {} }
+    const record = records[id] || { entity: new EntityClass(), metadata: { version: -1 } }
 
     return [record.entity, record.metadata]
   }
diff --git a/entity-store/entity-store.js b/entity-store/entity-store.js
index c373889..3dde9e2 100644
--- a/entity-store/entity-store.js
+++ b/entity-store/entity-store.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ exports.createEntityStore = (options) => {
   const fetchRecord = async (id) => {
     const entity = new EntityClass()
     const streamName = StreamName.create(category, id)
-    const recordMetadata = {}
+    const recordMetadata = { version: -1 }
     for await (const messageData of messageStore.read(streamName)) {
       const { handler, messageClass } = registry.get(messageData.type)
 
diff --git a/entity-store/test/entity-store-substitute.test.js b/entity-store/test/entity-store-substitute.test.js
index 5842d64..35c8bd0 100644
--- a/entity-store/test/entity-store-substitute.test.js
+++ b/entity-store/test/entity-store-substitute.test.js
@@ -65,11 +65,11 @@ describe('entity-store-substitute', () => {
         expect(entity.someMessagesApplied).toBe(false)
       })
 
-      it('returns no other record metadata', async () => {
+      it('record version is -1, stream not initialized', async () => {
         const [entity, record] = await setup().entityStore.fetchRecord('unknown-id')
 
         expect(entity).toBeDefined()
-        expect(record.version).toBeUndefined()
+        expect(record.version).toBe(-1)
       })
     })
   })
diff --git a/entity-store/test/fetch-test-suite.js b/entity-store/test/fetch-test-suite.js
index 35e752d..24446cf 100644
--- a/entity-store/test/fetch-test-suite.js
+++ b/entity-store/test/fetch-test-suite.js
@@ -125,16 +125,38 @@ module.exports.generateEntityStoreSuite = ({
       })
 
       describe('fetchRecord', () => {
-        it('returns entity with version', async () => {
-          const message = exampleMessage(MessageClassA)
-          const streamName = exampleStreamName(A_CATEGORY)
-          const id = StreamName.getId(streamName)
-          const position = await write(message, streamName)
+        describe('stream exists in store', () => {
+          it('returns entity with version', async () => {
+            const message = exampleMessage(MessageClassA)
+            const streamName = exampleStreamName(A_CATEGORY)
+            const id = StreamName.getId(streamName)
+            const position = await write(message, streamName)
+
+            const [entity, { version }] = await entityStore.fetchRecord(id)
+
+            expect(entity.applied).toHaveLength(1)
+            expect(version).toEqual(position)
+          })
+        })
 
-          const [entity, { version }] = await entityStore.fetchRecord(id)
+        describe('stream does not exist in store', () => {
+          it('returns entity with no messages applied', async () => {
+            const streamName = exampleStreamName(A_CATEGORY)
+            const id = StreamName.getId(streamName)
 
-          expect(entity.applied).toHaveLength(1)
-          expect(version).toEqual(position)
+            const [entity] = await entityStore.fetchRecord(id)
+
+            expect(entity.applied).toHaveLength(0)
+          })
+
+          it('record version is -1, stream not initialized', async () => {
+            const streamName = exampleStreamName(A_CATEGORY)
+            const id = StreamName.getId(streamName)
+
+            const [_, { version }] = await entityStore.fetchRecord(id) // eslint-disable-line no-unused-vars
+
+            expect(version).toBe(-1)
+          })
         })
       })