The wound took longer to close now that the area wide regeneration buff had been disabled. And, with my changed physiology, it didn’t hurt. I staggered back anyway.

I didn’t want Amber or the other humans here to reject me. I didn’t want to live alone with just me and Russo.

“Amber, please, stop! I’m still — ” I cut myself off before I finished. I was going to say human. But that wasn’t right — I had just taken a bullet through my chest and was worried about making friends instead of the bullet wound. She fired again, a second round shooting through me.

With a frustrated, inhuman growl, I activated [Veil of Crimson,] shooting forward and wresting the gun upward. Every bullet she landed in me caused [Beyond Death] to drain another 5% blood.

Amber smelled like old blood and fresh perfume.

A gunshot went off, hitting the ceiling. Dust landed on my hair. I held Amber to me by her arm. She paled. I leaned down, making eye contact.

“Amber. It’s me. It’s Eli.” I said.

“Get the fuck away from me, monster!” She shouted. Then she headbutt me.

[Alert: Weakness targeted. You have been stunned for two seconds.]

I staggered backward.

Amber stared over the barrel at me. But she had doubt in her eyes now. I snarled, revealing my teeth, and the spark of doubt disappeared.

“Amber!” Russo said from behind me.

Amber’s grip was shaking now, her face going even paler. She almost looked like me.

“Not you too.” She said. “We’re fucked.”

“We’re fine.” Russo said, looking around at the pile of monster corpses in the flares. The wind howled, blowing the rain sideways as Russo crossed over the threshhold and into the doorway.

“Vampires, like, can’t enter without an invitation, right?” Bea asked, standing behind the counter. She was holding a shotgun. “So that means we’re okay, right?”

“I don’t know what the hell the rules are.” Amber said. Her gun wavered between me and Russo.

Steve walked in after, shivering and rubbing himself with his remaining arm. There was a tense silence as Steve walked to the corner. Then he sat down and stared at the ground.

“Is this it? Only you three come back?” Amber half shouted.

“We killed the vampire.” I said. Amber’s gun flicked to me.

Russo walked up, grabbing the gun and pointing it down with one hand. With the other he touched her shoulder. An expression of hurt came over her face.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“It’s going to be okay.” Russo said. “Eli has changed. I’ve changed. But the world has changed. We need to get stronger to survive. And that’s what Eli did. For all of us. We would all be dead if Eli was still human.”

Jason would be alive. I remembered the taste of his blood in my mouth. So rich, so sweet, so dark.

“So I’m supposed to say thanks to a fucking monster?” Amber asked.

“Yes!” I shouted, stepping forward, sudden and unexpected anger filling the motion. Amber flinched, stepping backward.

[Skill Shadow Step I has catalyzed from imbibed blood!]

I flinched, half at the notification and half at myself.

Amber sucked in air in the strange wrenching way half way to a sob.

“Thanks.” Bea said. “Eli. Jason. Russo. Steve.” She trailed off, looking over the rest of the group. “And you, too, Amber, for saving us. I… I would’ve still been in that backroom.”

Amber looked away, no longer making eye contact with us.

“The rules are different, now.” She said, paraphrasing her earlier statement. But this time she was talking to herself. She looked back at us. “The vampire is dead?” She asked.

“The inside of that castle is the safest place here.” I replied, putting my hands in my pocket. I wasn’t looking at Amber either. Even if I wasn’t actually in danger, she had just tried to kill me. Twice.

“We need to wait for the rain to die.” Amber said. “We’re going to be fucked if anyone gets pneumonia. And you… the grocery store’s food isn’t going to work for you, is it?” She asked, staring at me.

“No.” I grimaced. “But I can feed on the monster’s in the city. And the system mentioned something about a dungeon to the north of us.”

Amber nodded.

“There’s a blood bank north of here, too.” Amber turned to Bea. “Do you have a map?”

Bea dragged out maps, but all of them covered the entire surrounding region. Then she brought out paper. Amber started marking down notifications, and more people slowly started to get involved, listing out points of interest in the city.

“There’s a water tower right here. It’s on the way from my commute.”

“Here’s a car dealership…” Another person said.

Over the night, little details of the map began to fill in. People made makeshift beds from tarps and blankets, using backpacks and jackets as pillows, sleeping in shifts.

Bea worked with some others to bring out and assemble space heaters for the building, and Russo helped board up the rest of the windows, preventing a draft to keep people warm over night.

Neither I nor Russo tired.

I kept opening my system, watching the remaining threats over the course of the night. Eventually, as the rain started to die, I stared in alarm at the system.

[Internal threats: Hostile monsters within city walls. Eliminate all hostiles to enable city interface. Monsters remaining: 37]

The vampires were converting more humans, somewhere. Who knew how many vampires had been sucked into the sprawling underground domain beneath the castle, for one? We would have to clear that out as we raided the grocery store tomorrow. It would be perfect to occupy me through the night.

We roused the sleeping people as the rain died but before the sun rose. We ended up with wheelbarrows full of supplies from the hardware store — one notably strange addition being the tons of analog clocks and batteries we stockpiled.

I kept looking over at the one that had been removed from the wall as we walked. It showed that it should have been 3PM currently. But it was pitch black out. I cast my gaze up toward the sky.

The rain had fallen to a light drizzle, the cloud cover thinning to reveal a bright sky covered in stars. I wasn’t familiar enough with the stars to say whether or not they were the same night sky I had always known.

I heard that the sky was beautiful without the light pollution of cities choking out the light from the stars reaching us. It always shocked me to think that human cities could produce so much light as to drown out stars. The images of cities from above were beautiful, like a network of flame covering a planet.

There was something in our sky that was definitely new. As I stopped in the street to stare, others stopped and joined me, looking up in shock. A second moon trailed behind our own. Instead of the choked yellow gray, it shone in brilliant greens and blues.