Bones breaking. Muffled shouts.
The sounds blended into one rhythm—rough cracks, strained gasps, the desperate shuffle of feet against the floor. Then silence.
Levi stared blankly at the aftermath.
Mr. Keg's body was folded unnaturally inside a suitcase, like a puppet forced into a box too small for its frame.
One arm bent the wrong way, the bone jutting sharply beneath the skin. His neck was twisted at an impossible angle, his mouth frozen half-open in a soundless scream. One of his eyes bulged grotesquely, nearly slipping from its socket, as though even death couldn't rid him of the fear that had taken hold.
Levi blinked once.
He didn't have time to waste cleaning the rug or scrubbing the floor, though he did his best to minimize the splatter. Blood pooled near the table leg, dark and sticky, seeping into the fibers of the carpet. He stared at it for a moment, expression flat.
If only Mr. Keg had stopped pestering him, Levi wouldn't have had to resort to this. He didn't like wasting his time and the manager kept doing that by making him redo his work every chance he got.
A shame. He would have made a fine first prey once he became a vampire.
The small, low-end subdivision was perfect for this kind of work. Most of the CCTV cameras were broken, and the area was rarely monitored by the authorities. Sneaking out with a suitcase at midnight wasn't difficult, especially when everyone else was either asleep or pretending not to notice.
Murder wasn't new anyway. People died all the time and most of it never even made the news.
Humans liked to believe they lived in peace, but vampires had ruled in the shadows for years. The country of Graye only pretended to uphold balance between humans and vampires, but Levi knew the truth: vampires controlled everything. How could they not? They were stronger, smarter, eternal.
That's why he deserved to be one of them.
Levi dragged the suitcase to a nearby cemetery, shovel in hand. The place was old, some gravestones tilted from age, their engravings faded and cracked. It wasn't close to any residential area, which made it even better.
Mr. Keg hadn't been a pleasant man, but Levi believed everyone deserved a proper resting place.
Half the moon was hidden behind clouds, spilling only faint silver light over the ground. From somewhere in the nearby forest, an owl hooted. The sound echoed softly as Levi began to dig, the shovel slicing into the earth.
He found the perfect spot beside a lonely grave, one belonging to a man who'd died years ago with no flowers, no offerings.
"This way, you won't be too lonely, Mr. Keg," Levi murmured, glancing at the distorted body inside the open suitcase. "Look, you have company here."
He'd unzipped the case earlier because he found it oddly pleasant to see his handiwork while he worked. The sight kept him entertained.
Then, midway through his digging, he felt something.
He paused.
Someone was watching him.
Levi turned slowly, shovel still in hand.
About five meters away, two children stood by the gravestones, a boy and a girl, twins, no older than six. Their clothes were pristine and formal, starkly out of place against the wild grass and broken headstones.
Kids?
Were they attending a burial here? When he'd arrived, the cemetery had been empty.
The clouds shifted. Moonlight spilled down again, washing over their faces.
Two pairs of dark red eyes glimmered in the light.
Vampires.
Levi turned fully toward them, one hand resting on the shovel's handle, the blade pressed into the soil like a cane. His expression remained blank, no surprise, no fear.
He'd encountered vampires before, hostile and not. They mingled among humans seamlessly, indistinguishable until they bared their fangs, revealed their red eyes and abilities, or lost control of their hunger. It wasn't a new sight.
"Are you here for someone's burial?" he asked, his gaze sweeping over the wide expanse of the cemetery. No other people in sight.
Then his eyes drifted to their clothes. The girl wore a frilly yellow dress patterned with flowers, and the boy, black trousers with a brown shirt neatly tucked in. They looked far too clean, too proper, for a place like this.
"I don't think that's something you should wear to a burial," he remarked dryly.
"Why not?" the girl replied, tilting her head. Her lips curved into a smile, but the slant of her crimson eyes made it seem anything but innocent. "Sending someone to their resting place isn't necessarily a sad occasion."
The boy suddenly moved. The motion was quick, it took him barely a second to close the distance. He stood beside the open suitcase, looking at the broken corpse inside.
His eyes gleamed with interest even though his voice was devoid of it. "Isn't this a work of art."
"You have good taste," Levi remarked.
He looked between the two children. "Are you here because you smelled his blood? Do you want him? If you want his blood, you can take it but I need to bury his body."
The girl's smirked, her expression twisting with disdain.
"Us? Feeding on a corpse?" She sounded genuinely offended, as if he'd just insulted her entire lineage. "Bloodborns like my brother and I don't lower ourselves to that. We prefer our prey alive and screaming. The blood tastes better when the heart's still beating."
Levi remained relaxed. "So you're here for me, then?"
He doubted it. No vampire ever found him appealing.
Every vampire could see and smell the sin essence that clung to a human's blood. The higher a human's sin essence, the richer and more irresistible their blood became. Feeding on it not only sated a vampire's thirst but also strengthened them.
What raised a human's sin essence to the point of corruption? Their anger, their pride, their lusts, and every festering emotion and buried desire that twisted the soul darker with time.
But Levi didn't have sin essence. One vampire had once told him that he exuded no sin essence at all. To vampires, especially Bloodborns, he offered nothing.
"For someone like you," the vampire had said, "your blood's like that of a pig. Barely edible."
What could they possibly gain from someone like him? His blood couldn't quench their thirst, nor could it make them stronger.
He wondered if the lack of sin essence in his blood was the reason he couldn't be turned. He wasn't a moral man by society's standards. He'd taken lives, broken laws, defied morals, so why did his blood remain untainted?
"Yes," the little girl said. "We came here for you!"
Then the boy lifted his gaze from the corpse, his red eyes locking onto Levi's.
"Nice to meet you," he said.
A pause.
"Daddy."