I was in serious trouble. *Big* trouble.

Just an average high school student with nothing special about me. That Saturday evening, after dinner and tossing the trash, I decided to take a casual stroll down the street.

But the farther I walked, the weirder things felt. The streets were nearly empty. It was late. The dim yellow streetlights flickered erratically, like faulty wiring.

Then I saw someone—a figure slumped against the wall, half-lying. Looked like a woman. Great figure.

I edged a little closer but didn’t dare approach further. Softly, I asked, “Hello? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

These days, stuff like this on the street? Half the time it’s a scam, forty percent a trap… but that last ten percent? Might be real.

And I smelled blood.

The woman lifted her head slightly. Long bangs hid half her face. The visible eye glowed with eerie crimson light. I instinctively stepped back.

“Blood bag?”

She whispered those two words—then vanished. I saw nothing. Next instant, I was pinned.

“Aah!”

Her nails dug deep into my collarbone like butcher hooks. Worse: she pressed against my neck, sharp teeth sinking into my throat.

In that moment, it hit me. This wasn’t real. *Shouldn’t* be real. A creature from legend. A vampire.

A stunningly beautiful female vampire, currently feeding on my neck.

Sure, maybe just a mentally ill person with a twisted fetish—legends say vampire bites bring… *pleasure*.

I felt none of that. Only the hollow, endless pull—like that school physical when the nurse wouldn’t stop drawing blood.

Ugh… urk…

Teeth still embedded, I couldn’t speak. But the pain and draining warmth screamed one thing:

I was dying.

They say your life flashes before your eyes at the end. But my life? Too boring. Nothing to replay. All I could think:

*Why did I take this walk?! Why me?!*

*Is anyone out there—HELP!*

Riiip!

Fabric tore. Warm liquid splattered my neck. The sucking stopped—though her teeth remained lodged.

Blood loss fogged my mind.

“So late… why is someone passing through here?”

A lovely voice. Cold. As she lifted the vampire’s head from my neck, the streetlight brightened just enough for me to see her.

Most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Ink-black hair. Delicate features. Way prettier than our school beauty queen.

Casual shorts, impossibly short, revealing long, smooth thighs. A goddess—*if* you ignored the bloodied longsword and severed head in her hands.

She’d crept up while the vampire fed. One clean stroke. Beheaded.

(Vampire head. Whatever.)

I clutched my neck wound, gritting through the pain. “Th-thanks… f-for… ugh…!”

Too severe. Couldn’t form words. Every breath gurgled with blood bubbles.

But I was saved, right? She’d take me to a hospital. She had to.

“You can’t be saved.”

*What?!*

She stared coldly into my eyes. “Even without this wound, the vampire virus would turn you into a low-grade dark creature. So I’ll end it now.”

Wait—no! I still had a chance!

I stumbled back. Legs gave way. Collapsed with a thud.

“Rest in peace. And if you don’t… remember this.”

She stepped closer, drew a massive-barreled revolver from her thigh holster.

“My name is An Li.”

Consciousness faded with those words. Darkness swallowed me.

After the boy passed out, An Li pressed the revolver to his forehead.

In this world, death didn’t guarantee peace. Rarely, the dead transformed—into something else. Something undead. If he somehow changed, giving her name made revenge convenient.

She always did this. But as she prepared to grant “release,” she froze.

His body was changing. Rapidly.

An Li’s eyes narrowed. She holstered the gun, pulled a keychain from his pocket.

“He lives nearby.”

Then she hoisted the rapidly shrinking boy onto her shoulder and walked toward his home.