New York, beneath the ruins.

Shino's eyes fluttered open, a cold droplet of water landing on his forehead. The thick, pungent stench of rot and blood overwhelmed his senses as he blinked into the darkness. His surroundings were grim, like a sewer, damp and filthy.

Sitting up, he noticed shards of broken glass embedded in his body. Strangely, there was no blood—none at all. The glass had pierced his flesh, yet the wounds had already closed, healed with no sign of injury.

"My body?" His voice wavered, trying to grasp the impossible. "The wounds… they're gone?"

Looking around in a daze, Shino's confusion deepened. It was definitely a sewer, the grimy walls and foul smell giving it away. But nearby, a bus lay upright, rammed into the sewer's center, its passengers—corpses now—piled up grotesquely. Their bodies had long decayed, the stench unbearable.

Shino stood shakily, his mind racing. **Dead. They're all dead.**

He remembered. The ground had collapsed, swallowing them into a gaping hole. The bus, the people—they all fell. But why?

"Why am I… alive?"

As the question escaped his lips, a faint voice answered from behind.

"Cough… because I saved you."

Shino spun around, spotting a pale, frail figure—a small, white-haired girl, huddled in the corner, clutching her stomach. Her blood-red eyes and sharp, protruding fangs left no doubt. She was a vampire.

Stepping forward cautiously, Shino's voice was unsteady. "Did you… turn me into a vampire?"

The vampire girl tilted her head up, a bitter smile twisting her lips. "You should be thanking me for pulling you out of that pile of corpses."

Shino squatted down beside her. "Thank you for saving me. But… why only me? Where are the others? Are they all…"

"They were already dead when I found you," she interrupted, her voice faint. "I'm no necromancer—I can't raise the dead. I saved you only because I needed fresh blood. I despise the taste of the dead."

Her frail body trembled as she spoke. Shino noticed how unnaturally thin she was, her lips devoid of any color, her skin deathly pale.

He instinctively touched his neck. "You drank my blood, yet you're still so weak. I thought vampires recovered immediately after feeding?"

The girl chuckled, though it was devoid of warmth. "Ah? Blood's just food for us. Turning it into energy takes time. It's no different than you eating a meal—if your body's broken, can you heal right after eating?"

"Obviously not," she sighed. "My Blood Energy is spent. That Faerûn bastard shattered my heart's core, cut off my limbs… I haven't had any food for days. Under these circumstances, my regeneration is practically crawling."

"To fully recover," she added, "it'll take at least six hours."

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Shino, taking in her pitiful state, exposed his neck once more. "Then why not drink more? Take what you need."

The vampire's red eyes widened in surprise, her sharp fangs flashing. "Do you have a death wish?"

"For a royal like me, even draining you completely wouldn't be enough to fill my stomach," she muttered. "I only kept you alive so you could carry me out of this sewer and buy me time to recover. You're just a pawn to keep Faerûn off my trail."

Shino glanced at her frail limbs, puzzled. "But… your body doesn't seem injured anymore."

The vampire gritted her teeth, frustration bubbling beneath her calm facade. "I compressed my body to this form because my regeneration is so slow. It was the only way I could regrow my limbs, but now… I can't move."

She met Shino's eyes, her expression dark. "Do you understand now?"

Shino nodded slowly. "I get it—conservation of energy. To regrow your limbs, you had to sacrifice flesh from other parts of your body."

He hesitated, scratching his head. "But… I'm still confused. Can't vampires heal instantly? Why does it take so long to recover from a damaged heart?"

The girl sighed again, as though tired of explaining. "Normally, yes. But that's only when we have plenty of Blood Energy. It's what fuels our regeneration, allowing our cells to split and heal at a speed hundreds of times faster than yours."

She pointed to her chest. "The heart is the core, where our Blood Energy is stored. When it's damaged—when our reserves are empty—our cells can only heal at a human pace."

Her gaze softened, her exhaustion evident. "And right now, I have nothing left."

"So that's how it is," Shino muttered, piecing it together. "But even at normal speed, it's still thousands of times faster than a human's healing, right?"

"Yes," Lilith replied, her voice strained.

"Then how do you replenish Blood Energy?"

"Bloodsucking."

"But didn't you just say—"

"The one thing vampires can't regenerate is blood itself," she cut in. "Blood Energy is produced from blood, but it's drained when we heal. If I push myself too far, using up all my blood, I'd have no choice but to drain you completely."

She frowned. "Even then, it wouldn't do much. The more advanced a vampire, the more Blood Energy it takes to heal. And I'm royalty."

Shino's eyes lit up with realization. "I get it. You're a royal—your body is far more complex than a regular vampire's. The more intricate the organism, the more resources needed to repair it."

Lilith's lips twitched into a slight smile. "For a newborn, you've got quite the head on your shoulders. Now stop talking and get me out of here. Faerûn will find us soon, and we can't afford to linger."

Shino considered her words. "This Faerûn you mentioned… is he also a royal?"

"Yes," Lilith confirmed with a nod, her voice darkening. "Like me. He caught me off guard and ambushed me."

The word *royal* hung in Shino's mind. If he remembered correctly, royals were second-generation vampires, some of the strongest aside from the true ancestor himself.

Wait. That means…

"Am I… am I a duke now?"

Lilith's sharp eyes locked onto him. "Yes. After the accident, you didn't just survive—you became an Elder Vampire. Are you feeling both thrilled and horrified?"

Before Shino could respond, the sound of footsteps echoed from the darkness.

Lilith's expression twisted, panic flashing across her face. "Not good. He's coming. We need to leave—now!"

A voice, smooth and chilling, sliced through the air. "Where are you going, my dear Lilith?"

A figure emerged from the shadows—a man with blood-red eyes, wearing a long coat that billowed as he stepped closer.

Shino spun around, his heart pounding. *Is this Faerûn?*

He locked eyes with the man, and his entire body tensed, an overwhelming dread taking root in his chest.

Fufu… fufu…

The suffocating pressure radiating from Faerûn's presence almost brought Shino to his knees. His legs wobbled under the weight of it.

"Ah?" Faerûn's cold, mocking voice sent shivers down Shino's spine. "A mere duke dares to meet a royal's gaze? You must have a death wish."

The air grew heavy, filled with an unnatural force that felt nothing like Lilith's presence. This was on an entirely different level.

Shino turned to Lilith, desperation in his voice. "Do you think I can beat him?"

Lilith shook her head grimly. "No. You stand no chance. I…"

But Shino didn't wait for her to finish. He scooped Lilith into his arms, ignoring the pain in his muscles as he turned and sprinted into the shadows.

Run!