A burst of black and white stars and searing pain lanced through Ye Bao's skull, sending him sprawling awkwardly across the ground. Disoriented and in immense pain, he found solace in the restorative properties of vitriolic cursing. "Mmph. Mother... Fucker..." he groaned, face-down in the snow. His regenerative abilities quickly kicked in, realigning his nose and dispelling the hazy fog of disorientation, but he was growing exhausted.

He’d been knocked around more tonight than he could remember. Even with his considerable resilience, he needed a moment to muster the strength in his aching muscles to prop himself up on his forearms. Huffing steaming breath, he spat out a mouthful of blood and snow, drew his legs beneath himself, and settled back on his heels, causing a small cascade of powdery snow to sluice off his body and settle into the folds of his clothing and armor.

That's when he heard the sound of a car door popping open.

Ye Bao's pupils constricted as all semblance of fatigue vanished. Swearing loudly, he scrambled to his feet and rushed to the driver's side, slamming the door shut with a resounding bang!

But he was too late. In that fleeting moment before the door closed, a muffled, feminine yelp pierced the air, accompanied by the potent scent of pheromones, both escaping the cabin before being swiftly carried away by the biting cold wind and snow.

Reacting on pure reflex, Ye Bao spun around and braced himself just as the vampire crashed into him in a snarling, flailing mess of claws and limbs.

Ye Bao shouted and furiously swore as he was thrown bodily backward into the driver’s door. The impact left a dent in the shape of his upper back, crumpling the vehicle's frame. His right elbow bashed through the driver's window in a cascade of shattered glass, and his added weight caused the car to teeter precariously on its suspensions.

The shrill screams of the driver and the potent scent of her fear filled the air, igniting an even greater frenzy within the vampire. With renewed ferocity, it relentlessly pummeled Ye Bao, slamming him against the side of the car in its desperate attempt to break free and reach its prey.

Ye Bao gritted his teeth, bracing himself against the brutal impacts as he held on even tighter and pushed. But the fucker wouldn't give, not even an inch. And each collision sent waves of pain through Ye Bao's body as he fought to regain his footing, trying his best to counter the wild assault. The world whirled and blurred in Ye Bao's vision as he struggled, relaying nothing but a chaotic mixture of shapes and fleeting colors when, suddenly, an elbow cracked against his ear so hard he went deaf on that side. With a roar of pain and rage, Ye Bao firmly planting his boots and digging in his heels. Snarling with effort, he roughly clenched a handful of the vampire's tattered shirt, anchored it down, and delivered a powerhouse hook into its jaw. The force of the punch sent the vampire stumbling backward, tearing away from the piece of shirt he'd managed to grab, freeing it from his grip.

Before Ye Bao could utter even a single curse, the vampire launched itself at him again. Its typically calm and impassive face contorted with an unsettling mix of euphoric desperation and hysteria. It snarled, eyes wide and wild, as it relentlessly tried to push through Ye Bao to gain access to the vehicle. Its hands flailed in wild, unpredictable motions, claws slashing through the car's frame perilously close to Ye Bao's head, producing an eerie, grating sound like nails scraping against a chalkboard.

Ye Bao strained to hold it at arm's length, his muscles fiercely burning with the effort and his once unblemished body turning into a gruesome display of shredded skin and visible bone. Long, bloody gouges marred his arms, and the tattered remnants of his black turtleneck clung to blood-slicked skin or lay scattered on the ground around his feet.

Then, one of his arms gave out just enough for the vampire to draw merely an inch closer. It was enough.

Ye Bao let out a pained cry as an errant claw raked down the side of his face, leaving behind searing lines of agony that coursed down through his cheek and forehead. His skin was torn away, and hot blood trickled down his face, blurring his vision and forcing him to blink and fight harder. At that moment, a switch seemed to flip in his mind. The pain triggered a profound transformation as red hues crept into the corners of his vision, and his eyes turned bloodshot, the sclera suffused with crimson. The boiling heat in his chest surged like a raging furnace, and his blood roared within him, louder than ever before.

Letting out a thunderous bellow, Ye Bao threw up his forearms, tossing aside the vampire's flailing arms in one fluid motion. Then, he grabbed the vampire's shoulders with both hands, his voice reverberating through the chaotic snowstorm as he delivered a resounding headbutt, unleashing a fierce shout: “You!...” Thud-crack! “Fucking!...” Thud-crack! “Fuck!”

Then, with bloodied teeth, a lopsided grin, and a deranged gleam in his eyes, Ye Bao ferociously clamped his hand around the vampire's throat, applying an unyielding grip that crushed its windpipe like a soda can. The vampire staggered, gasping for air, as Ye Bao drew back his fist and unleashed a series of devastating punches to its face. The sickening crunch of the vampire's nose breaking against his knuckles brought him a dark and twisted sense of satisfaction.

With their noses almost touching, Ye Bao let out a primal roar directly into the vampire's bloodied and swollen face. His hands then interlocked behind its head, and he viciously yanked it down, delivering a blurring barrage of knee strikes to its abdomen. Each blow carried the weight of his fury, and he shouted himself hoarse as he mercilessly pummeled the bastard, not stopping until he felt the satisfying snap of its ribs breaking beneath his relentless assault.

Releasing his grip, Ye Bao watched as the vampire staggered back a step, off-balance. In one swift motion, he swept its feet out from under it and slammed a palm to its chest as it went down, throwing it to the ground hard enough to crater the snow. Determined not to let it regain its footing, Ye Bao swiftly straddled its battered chest, using his body weight to keep it pinned down, and unleashed a barrage of punches to its face and throat, ensuring it had no chance to retaliate. Each strike landed with brutal force, fueled by his pent-up anger and determination to subdue the creature.

The cumulative force behind each rage-fueled blow was enough to crack the asphalt beneath the vampire's head. Ye Bao's relentless assault seemed unending, his strikes raining down so fast that there were practically after-images cutting through the falling snow. The air was filled with the sickening sound of breaking bones and the splatter of blood across the snow as his blows landed with bone-crushing force. The pavement around them soon bore the scars of their ferocious struggle.

The police cruiser's headlights cast an eerie glow on the scene, illuminating the figures of Ye Bao and the vampire locked in their brutal, one-sided struggle. It wasn't long before dark blood began to stain the pristine snow, creating macabre patterns that glistened under the cold light. The contrast between the crimson blood and the pure white snow depicted a surreal scene, like a twisted tableau frozen in time.

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The woman's piercing screams had long since merged and faded into the symphony of the howling wind, becoming nothing more than a distant memory in the chaos of the moment. Ye Bao's own shouts were similarly muted and joined with the gusts, forming an indistinguishable blend of rage, pain, and a primal fury.

Ye Bao's relentless assault continued unabated; the fact that the bones in his hand had neatly shattered was unable to impede his fervor. The pain was inconsequential in the face of the euphoria coursing through his veins. Switching hands without hesitation, he unleashed another torrent of hammer blows. A deranged smile etched across his blood-streaked face, mirroring the madness that consumed him. And in that fleeting moment, he found liberation, a purpose that surpassed all reason. His blood sang, echoing his subconscious sentiments, declaring that this was life in its rawest form— a relentless pursuit of the fight, where pain and pleasure melded into a singular sensation of absolute freedom.

As the wind whipped around him, tearing at his clothes, a new chilling sensation that had nothing to do with the weather crawled up the back of Ye Bao's neck.

The distinct sound of a gun being cocked filled the air, jolting him from his blood-soaked trance. "Release him right now!" an unfamiliar woman's voice rang out, firm and commanding, shouted above the storm.

Ye Bao heaved deep breaths atop the vampire, one hand holding onto its torn shirt collar, while the other was a trembling fist- poised overhead to deliver another blow, dark blood dripping from its busted knuckles. He kept the policewoman in his senses but never once lifted his eyes off the downed vampire, not even for a moment.

“I’m warning you. Last chance- right now!” the woman shouted with growing conviction as she drew closer.

The vampire’s hand twitched.

Ye Bao’s pupils constricted as he reflexively tensed and-

BANG!

A sledgehammer pounded into the middle of Ye Bao’s back, jerking him forward over the vampire’s body as he rolled with impact and disappeared into the dense cover of snowfall.

Crouching, he heard the policewoman swear and watched with narrowed eyes as she slowly backed away to her car and grabbed the corner of the crumpled driver’s side door, completely swinging it out and causing a small shower of shattered glass fragments to fall. Then got behind it for cover as she kept her sidearm trained in the direction he’d disappeared.

Ye Bao was furious. It had taken more restraint than he was willing to admit to not simply kill that interfering stupid fucking- he squeezed his eyes shut and softly exhaled as he forcefully reeled in his emotions as best he knew how.

His blood fought back. Demanding respect. Demanding fear! It would not be cowed and subdued as easily as its host by empathy and compassion! It- Ye Bao gritted his teeth and punched a fist into the snow.

The fire burning a hole through his chest slightly abated, and the adrenaline coursing through his veins stuttered as he fought perhaps the most challenging battle yet: himself. Veins stood out against his neck, and his eyes darkened even further as his whole body shook like he was going through withdrawals. His blood demanded that he rip and tear! Crush anything that stands between you and victory!

Phantom images of himself ripping the policewoman limb from limb played out in his mind- causing him to flinch and focus harder as he felt his heart rate steadily growing, pounding against his chest and igniting the flames to new heights!

‘I can’t do it,’ he thought. He’d lost. He was too tired. He had to win.

He gave in to his blood, and let loose a roar that exploded from his chest into the night sky.

His smoldering eyes lowered back down to the earth- searching.

The vampire found him first; two glowing crimson halos locked onto his position as its instincts responded to the roar of another predator.

They soundlessly charged at one another- the collision of two blurred shadows sounding like the crack of thunder at street level.

The policewoman was startled and accidentally pulled the trigger. A harmless tuft of snow rose into the air beside the pair of shadows rolling and tumbling through the snow.

“Stop it, stop it right now!” she angrily shouted.

The two dark figures continued their mad brawl, heedless of the mortal in their midst.

Now, it was a battle of dominance. Of superiority. Of bloodlines. A lost, desperate man’s struggle against his Id vying for victory over something else… something new.

It was the reason he was doomed to fail.

Ye Bao moved like a man possessed, absent of conscious thought, as his arms and legs blurred with the sheer speed of his movements.

The vampire was faster still.

Ye Bao could only catch the movements of a shimmering shadow before claws raked across his chest, tearing through the Kevlar like tissue paper and spraying his blood across the snow. He staggered away under the onslaught, barely keeping his footing.

'How...' he thought.

He landed blows that could have shattered bricks.

The vampire landed blows that broke his bones.

Ye Bao’s head snapped back as he felt his left eye socket fracture. The world went fuzzy, then wholly dark- he could only see out of his right eye. The pain was both excruciating and dull- as though his mind hadn't caught up to the damage sustained.

'It wasn't enough...'

He growled and shouted and profusely bled faster than his regeneration could match as his movements grew weaker- sluggish.

The vampire remained silent, the stench of blood on its clothes old and dry, its movements growing faster and more potent.

Ye Bao couldn’t see the next strike. Or the next. But he felt the pain exploding across every part of his body as blow after blow broke through his flimsy guard.

The policewoman’s warning shouts grew distant and distorted.

Then he was weightless- flying. The back of his head hit something cold and soft. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. His entire body felt like a giant bruise- everything hurt. And it only grew worse as his bones and muscles slowly shifted and cracked, sliding into place and reconnecting with ligaments and tendons.

'I... Must...'

Somewhere, deep down within his collapsing mental state, Ye Bao realized that it was all or nothing. This mission had come down to what he’d both anticipated and feared the most, a life-or-death struggle on a knife’s edge. He couldn’t hold back any longer. He still desperately held onto that last shred of humanity with everything he had left. It was weakening him.

He could feel it. His blood could feel it.

The boiling heat in his chest reached a point where he thought he was breathing pure flames.

His one good eye locked onto the approaching vampire’s gray eyes.

And then?

He… Let… Go…

Ye Bao's eye went utterly bloodshot and then something more, transforming into a shining orb of black onyx that seemingly sucked in all surrounding light.

He called upon his other half without discipline or restraint, utterly opening himself to that which he'd dedicated his life to controlling and one day destroying.

Thin black veins popped out against his neck and around the skin of his eyes like corrupted, leafless tree branches. His mending body shuddered and jerked beneath the strain of rushed regeneration. The world ground to an agonizing crawl. The snowstorm's harsh, chaotic movements entered an odd state of stasis that blended into a single, colorless amalgam, and the howling, cutting wind slowed to a single, soft note.

Ye Bao moved. Everything around him warping into an unrecognizable oblivion as his enhanced human perception struggled to process visuals at such a speed. He was suddenly too afraid even to think errant thoughts; such was his instinctual focus. He'd never pushed himself this hard. The sensation was entirely alien. Frightening in its intensity and seductive in its promise of power.

He may have been screaming. He couldn't tell. He couldn't hear. But he knew what he wanted, what his blood wanted. His body simply responded.

The vampire didn’t have time to register the disappearance of its prey before something crashed across its jaw and sent it headlong to the ground. It barely raised its head before the weight of a planet struck down on the back of its head.

Then another!

And another!

It tried moving- something grabbed it by the back of the head and repeatedly slammed its head into the ground until it couldn’t see.

It tried escaping- something grabbed it by the ankle and dragged it back, only to break and snap its bones apart.

It tried fighting back- something broke its arms and legs and caved in its chest.

For the first time in its existence, the vampire felt weak.

Insignificant.

It feared.

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

A raven, black as midnight, was perched atop the police precinct's highest corner, silently observing the life-or-death struggle in the street below.