--Kanna POV--

"Kanna, I'm going to head out for the night. It's your turn tonight to stay and close up."

I look over at Himari, "Psh, fine whatever. I'll close. See you tomorrow."

"See ya!" Himari leaves through the front door.

**Sigh**

I don't hate Himari or anything; I just hate working here. The hours are long, and I'm tired of dealing with the customers. I've thought about finding a job somewhere else, but I doubt it will be much different than here.

Finishing my closing duties, I lock the door and begin walking home. I usually just walk the side streets home; it would be a little safer to take the main streets, but it's a lot quicker this way, and this area's crime rate is very low anyway.

For a while, I walk enjoying the silence, although for some reason tonight feels especially eerie. From the corner of my vision, I notice a streetlight flickering, which catches my attention for a moment. I glance up at the flickering light and quickly turn my attention back down toward the street. When I find a woman standing beneath the flickering light, I almost jump backward in shock.

She has dark black hair and eyes that are so dark they almost look like two little pieces of coal. She is wearing your standard business casual women's attire, and most prominent of all is the blue-white surgical mask. The woman stares at the ground silently as the streetlight continues to flicker.

I stand quietly, almost not breathing, I notice the night is extremely silent; I can't even hear the sounds of cars. For some reason, my instincts are telling me this situation is wrong, and I should get away from here. The woman slowly lifts her head and turns her head toward me. She peers into my eyes so strongly I feel like she's trying to see straight through my skull.

The woman slowly approaches me, **Tap. Tap. Tap.** her steps echo through the cold night. I take a step back, and the woman stops a few footsteps away.

For a moment, she stands there before a charming voice sounds out, "Do you think I am pretty?" {1}

I am confused by her abrupt and odd question my mind starts to race. I don't really understand why, but a cold sweat starts to form on the back of my neck. I decide just to give her a quick and honest answer.

"I...it's hard to say with the surgical mask, but I'd say you seem to be very beautiful." I take a second step back.

Seemingly pleased with my answer, she reaches back behind her ear to begin removing the surgical mask. Slowly she pulls back the mask revealing her face. What is revealed are two massive cuts leading from the corners of her mouth to her ears.

Not willing to stay any longer, I turn to run, but the woman grabs me and spins me around. I find myself inches from her face.

"How about now? Am I pretty?" she asks.

As she speaks, her cuts split and once again make contact as words flow from her face. I haven't noticed any blood, meaning she's had these injuries for a while.

"Ah! What's wrong with you! Let me go!"

Seemingly processing my response, her brows frown, and I assume what she makes is an angry grimace. She begins hysterically screaming, exposing the back of her throat, gums, and all thirty-two of her teeth. I can smell the rot from her breath.

She pushes me to the ground and reaches behind her back; she pulls out a stupidly long and rusty pair of scissors and charges toward me. Instinctively I raise my hands to block. The scissors pierce my hand, passing through to the other side.

'What...what is this? Is it in my hand?'

I try to push the insane woman away, but it feels like I'm trying to push away a building. The woman yanks her scissors out of my hand and raises her arm high in the air. I scream, and just before the scissor comes down on me again, I hear someone yell.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Come on!"

Suddenly I feel myself being dragged along the pavement away from the crazed woman.

The mysterious childish voice yells, "Quick get up! Follow me!"

"O..okay!"

I quickly stand and feel a cold hand, grab mine. I look forward and find a short girl in a familiar dress and long coat pulling my hand.

'Wait, is that the girl from earlier?'

Putting that thought behind me, for now, I put pressure on my wounded hand. I glance behind me, looking for the insane woman, but all I see is a thin gray mist.

The girl pulls me into a back alley and kicks open a storage room, "Quick in here!"

"W..wait. I think she's gone."

The girl ignores me and pulls me into the storage room. With strength someone, her size shouldn't have, she shoves me, causing me to fall onto bags of rice. She closes the door, removes her sunglasses, and pulls back her hood.

What is revealed is an incredibly beautiful little girl, but she has abnormally white skin, long sharp ears, and blazing red eyes.

The girl wipes away saliva from her mouth, "Sorry, the blood from your hand just smells really good."

I glance at my bloody hand and back at the girl, "Are you a demon?" I involuntarily mutter.

She smiles, showing two sharp fangs, "No. I'm not one of those. If I were this would be a much worse experience for you."

The girl takes a step forward, and I push myself further against the wall.

"Were you with that woman? The crazy one from earlier?"

"Something like that, I guess. Anyways, I'm sorry, Kanna, but don't be afraid; it will be painless, and the darkness isn't so scary. Trust me."

"What are you going to do?"

Not showing any reaction to my question, she slowly approaches me. Seizing me, she moves her small mouth to my neck; I feel a hot breath followed by a little pain. Almost immediately, I lose all control and feeling from my body.

'Is she biting me? Why can't I move? What exactly is going on?'

Slowly my consciousness fads as I drift away into the darkness.

----------------------------------------

--Return to Eira POV--

'So good! So warm!'

Feeling the warm red liquid flow down my throat and into my belly, I've never felt so satisfied before. I knew from my inheritance that sucking blood was enjoyable, but I didn't realize it would be this good! It's like every cell in my body is screaming out in comfort.

[5 Essence acquired]

'Only five? Is this how it is for all humans? Is it because they are all only level one?'

A realization hits me, and my face shows a complicated expression, so now that I have her essence, she must be dead, right? So that makes her officially the first person I have ever killed.

'If I'm to be honest...I kind of...don't hate it? Is this how a predator feels hunting prey?'

...There's no point dwelling on it too much; this is the kind of thing I'll need to do now and in the future. In the world soon to return, the strong will once again walk on the weak. Something like me shouldn't even exist in the current world yet; I'm just here early thanks to the system.

'I have no intention of running around acting all morbid like I'm attending my own funeral. I need to use this time to get ahead and set myself up for when the other creatures return.'

Feeling the blood running out, I remove my fangs. Looking at Kanna's body, I lick the blood from the corner of my mouth.

'I don't have a good way to dispose of her body at the moment it's best to just leave her here. Someone will find her in the morning.'

I pat my stomach, open the door to the storage room, and leave through the alley. Police shouldn't be able to connect me to Kanna's death, but even if they do, I'll deal with it then.

I start licking my fangs to get any excess blood out of them. Many humans think that vampires bite their victims and let the blood spray out like a faucet, all the while allowing their faces to be covered in blood; this, however, is false and offensive!

In actuality, a vampire's fangs are hollow, and the blood is pulled through a special organ in the roof of a vampire's mouth. The only time blood may spill out is when the vampire removes their fangs, the blood left in the hollow fangs may leak out.

Making my way back home, I start considering future plans. What I need to consider is if I want to stay in Japan after the Earth has reconnected with the cosmic mana stream. Being on an island has its advantages, but in my opinion, it has more disadvantages, and with the sea monsters and such in the future, it will be challenging to leave later.

But that begs the question, where is the best place for me to reestablish myself?

I think my best option would be to return to the United States. I am more familiar with it geographically than any other country. That brings me to my next problem. I have no passport, ID, or even proof I was born. Obviously, I can't use my old identification; besides, I can't hide my appearance at the airport. Stowing away on a plane would be quite tricky, and hijacking comes with numerous problems and challenges, so that's out of the question.

The only other way is to get there by boat. Getting there that way also comes with its own challenges, but it's more doable than by plane. Plus, I've never traveled by ship before, and as I mentioned earlier, the opportunities to do so will be limited in the future!

It is decided I will leave Japan and set up a base in the United States. I need to store everything from my home I plan to take with me as well as make any other preparations.

Suddenly a familiar ethereal voice rings out.

[Ding!]

[Main Task: The First Subordinate

Task Objective:

1) Recruit a direct follower.

Task Reward: The "Followers" Option of the System.

Failure: N/A]