The thirst was worse tonight.
Kazuki Hoshigawa stood barefoot at the edge of the rooftop, staring down at the darkened city below. The rain had softened, but the scent of it clung to everything—wet concrete, rusted metal, the sharp sting of electricity in the air. But beneath it all, there was something else.
Blood.
It whispered through the streets like a secret.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Thousands of heartbeats pulsed beneath his feet. A symphony of lives passing by, unaware of the boy watching from above. Their blood called to him, hot and rhythmic and full of memory. Hunger curled low in his stomach like a beast half-awake.
He hadn't fed in days.
The others in the clan called him weak. A traitor to his kind. They said his hesitation would get him killed. Maybe they were right. But Kazuki didn't care.
He remembered what it felt like—the first time he drank human blood. The warmth, the power. The guilt.
That was before he ran. Before he refused. Before they marked him.
Now he was hunted by his own kind.
And yet, despite everything, it was him he kept thinking about.
The boy at the gate.
The one with the silver eyes and the soaked uniform, who stared back at him like he wasn't afraid. Like he recognized something in him.
Ren.
Kazuki didn't know his name, not yet. But he remembered every detail. The way his fingers twitched slightly when he stood still. The faint bruises under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in years. The silence that clung to him like armor.
He reminded Kazuki of someone he used to be.
Someone who still believed he could be saved.
Lightning flashed across the sky. For a moment, the rooftop glowed silver, revealing the scars on Kazuki's neck—thin, pale reminders of where the clan had tried to brand him. His hand rose instinctively to cover them.
"You went to see him again, didn't you?"
Kazuki didn't turn. The voice belonged to Saya, one of the few vampires who hadn't yet turned on him. Her boots were quiet on the stone as she approached, her long coat trailing behind her like a shadow.
"I didn't speak to him," Kazuki said.
"But you were seen." She crossed her arms. "They'll send others now."
"Let them come."
Saya stepped beside him, following his gaze to the quiet street below. "You know who he is, right? He's not just some pretty human. He's a hunter's brother. If you get close to him, you're inviting death."
Kazuki's jaw tightened. "Then why does he feel familiar?"
"Because you're lonely." Her voice softened. "And loneliness makes fools of all of us."
He didn't answer.
Instead, he thought about the moment their eyes met. The stillness. The rain. The way his own pulse stuttered, even though his heart hadn't beaten in years.
Something about Ren felt... dangerous. But not in the way Saya meant.
Not a threat to his life.
A threat to his control.
"I won't hurt him," Kazuki said quietly. "I just want to know why he sees me like that. Like I'm still something human."
Saya looked at him for a long time. Then she turned, coat whipping behind her as she walked toward the stairwell.
"You've got a death wish," she muttered. "And he's going to grant it."
Kazuki stayed on the rooftop long after she left, eyes scanning the streets like they might bring him back.
The boy in the rain.
The one who didn't run.
The one who looked like salvation.