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"What the hell was that thing?"
"No idea. But there's no way it was human. No one runs that fast."
"Could it be… a vampire?"
As soon as Nissen said the word "vampire," one of the guards smacked him.
"Give it a rest, man! You're obsessed. It's probably just a camera glitch."
The other guard nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, a lot of our company's security cameras are getting old. They've been acting up for a while now, so it's probably just another glitch."
The guard who was assigned to check it out just grumbled and flopped back into his seat, stretching and getting ready to catch some more sleep.
But Niesen still felt like something was off.
"But…"
"Alright, enough with the 'buts,' Niesen. Seriously, instead of wasting your time arguing about vampires again, maybe go see a therapist or something. I'm starting to think you've got real mental issues. Why don't you just take a few days off?"
One of the guards snapped, clearly fed up with Niesen's constant vampire talk.
Seeing the annoyed looks on their faces, Niesen shut his mouth and quietly sat back down in his seat.
The duty room went quiet again, except for one of the guards snoring away.
Knock, knock, knock~!
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
"Niesen, what now? What the hell's wrong with you this time?!"
One of the guards finally lost it and stood up, yelling at Niesen.
But this time, Niesen looked genuinely innocent.
"Hey man, that wasn't me."
Knock, knock, knock!
The knocking came again.
The three of them looked at each other. While there were a few people working night shifts in the building, no one ever came knocking on the security room door.
One of the guards, not buying into the paranoia, grabbed his stun baton and walked to the door.
"Who is it?"
Creak~!
The door opened… and standing there was a girl.
A blonde girl, looking nervous, stood at the entrance staring at the guard.
"Sorry to bother you, but I really need to print a document ASAP. The printer in our office is broken, so I came to see if anyone here knows how to fix it."
Only then did all three of them breathe a sigh of relief.
So it was just an overworked office girl. Gave them all a scare for nothing. People really can scare each other to death.
One of the guards looked at the pretty girl at the door and couldn't help but swallow hard.
"I'll help you check it out."
Another guard gave him a skeptical look.
"Wait, you know how to fix printers?"
"Pfft, who do you think I am? Before I became a security guard, I used to fix home appliances. A little printer's nothing for me."
With that, he walked over to the girl.
The girl looked up at the tall guard, then shyly looked down.
"Thanks."
The guard thought she was just shy, and waved it off with a laugh.
"Haha, no problem. Let's go see what's up with that printer."
The girl nodded and led the guard toward her office. As she turned around, she subtly licked her lips.
"Tch, lucky bastard."
Watching the guy walk away with the girl, another guard clicked his tongue in envy.
Niesen scratched his head.
"You think he'll be okay?"
"Pfft, please. If anything's gonna happen, it'll be the girl who regrets it. Stop overthinking."
He went back to his seat, pulled his hat over his face, and settled down for another nap.
The guard and the girl entered the elevator. The guard politely asked,"So, which floor's your office on?"
She replied softly,"Basement… level 18."
"What?"
The guard stared at her in shock. Then, the girl grinned—revealing two sharp fangs.
"Ahhh—!"
The elevator doors closed slowly, trapping the guard's screams inside.
In the darkness, Erik's ears twitched. He picked up on the faint noise instantly.
Ding~!
The elevator reached the 9th floor. The doors opened, and there she was—a female vampire holding the guard's corpse, greedily drinking his blood. The scent of blood immediately attracted the other vampires on the floor.
At first, she didn't mind sharing her prey. But as more and more vampires gathered, her mood quickly turned sour.
"Back off! This one's mine. Go hunt your own!"
"Hey, come on, you can't be like that. We got strict orders to keep it low for now. You hunting on your own already broke the rules. At least share some."
"Yeah, seriously."
"Piss off! You want blood? Go find it yourself. It's not like there aren't any more humans left in this building!"
The female vampire kept threatening them, and in the end, the others had no choice but to leave.
They'd been ordered not to hunt lately, and they'd been holding back. But now that the scent of fresh blood was in the air, they couldn't take it anymore.
They all rushed off toward the areas with human scent, desperate not to miss out.
The only humans left in the building… were the poor night shift security guards.
Back in the duty room, Niesen was starting to doze off.
Suddenly, another guard stood up.
"Huh? What's up?" Niesen asked groggily, rubbing his eyes.
The guard put on his hat and said, "Nothing, just gotta take a leak. Drank a bit too much earlier."
"Oh, alright."
Niesen didn't think much of it. He glanced at the quiet security feed, then laid his head down again.
The guard headed to the bathroom, completely unaware of the eyes watching him from the darkness.
In the restroom, he started whistling as he peed, feeling like a river bursting through a dam—unstoppable. For a brief moment, he felt like the king of the world.
Then he noticed something in the mirror—someone standing behind him.
Thank god he'd already finished peeing, or else he might've wet himself from the shock.
"What the hell, man?! You nuts?! What're you doing sneaking up behind people in the middle of the night?!"
The guard cursed in anger. But just as he turned around, the figure lunged and bit right into his throat—he didn't even get a chance to scream.
Who knows how much time passed. Niesen finally woke up, still groggy.
"Mike? Martin?"
He realized the two guys who left hadn't come back. A wave of unease hit him hard.
After a short hesitation, he grabbed his stun baton and flashlight and went out to look for them.
"Mike?!"
He headed toward the restroom, calling Mike's name. His voice echoed through the empty building, but there was no reply—just the sound of his own voice bouncing back.
Suddenly, someone appeared around the corner.
"Who are you? What're you doing here?"
"Ahhh—!"
The person suddenly bared fangs and charged at him.
Niesen was so terrified he collapsed on the floor.
"MOM!! IT REALLY IS A VAMPIRE!!!"
"....."