The storm hadn't moved on.It pressed against the windows like a living thing, whispering across the glass while thunder rolled far above the campus. The generator lights flickered weakly, throwing the lab in and out of shadow.
Hana crouched beside the pale girl on the floor. Her stethoscope trembled in her hands.Every medical instinct screamed check vitals, but logic faltered at the sight before her: no wound where the blood should have come from, no pulse, yet warmth still beneath the skin.
The girl's lips parted. "Where… am I?"
Her voice was barely human — soft, melodic, as if the air itself hesitated to disturb it."You're in the university hospital wing," Hana said, her tone clinical out of habit. "You were bleeding. I need to make sure you're stable."
She reached for the nearest drawer, pulling out gauze. When she turned back, the girl was already sitting upright, eyes fixed on her with unsettling calm.
"I'm fine," the girl said.There was no defiance in it — only certainty.
Lightning struck outside, lighting the corridor through the glass door. For an instant, Hana saw their reflections side by side on the polished tiles.Only hers moved.
She swallowed hard. "You've lost a lot of blood—"
"I didn't," the girl interrupted gently. "It wasn't mine."
Hana froze. The words hung between them, steady as the rain.Her brain tried to categorize them, to find sense in the impossible: trauma victim? delusional? No — the readings, the blood sample, the silver shimmer under the microscope — everything pointed toward something that shouldn't exist.
"I think you need to rest," Hana said carefully. "What's your name?"
A small, almost shy smile. "Lilith."
The name fit the way thunder fit the sky — inevitable."Lilith what?" Hana asked.
"Noir." She tilted her head slightly, the faintest glint of crimson flashing across her eyes. "But names aren't important tonight. What matters is that you didn't scream."
"I…" Hana tried to steady her breathing. "I should have."
Lilith's smile widened, sadness hiding somewhere behind it. "Most people do."
They sat in silence for a moment — the doctor and the impossible patient.Rain slid down the windows like veins of silver light.Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed through the city, then faded, leaving only the pulse of thunder.
Hana exhaled. "If you're not going to the emergency ward, at least tell me where you came from."
Lilith's gaze drifted toward the window. "From the rain. From hunger. From a promise I shouldn't have kept."
Before Hana could respond, the lights flickered again, and when they steadied, the floor beneath them was dotted with drops of silver instead of red — like moonlight crystallized into blood.
Lilith stood, steady now, her shadow stretching long and thin. "You shouldn't stay here when the storm breaks," she said softly. "Things come with it."
"What things?" Hana asked.
Lilith turned toward the corridor. Her outline blurred as another flash of lightning lit the hall.When it faded, she was gone.
Hana stepped forward, heart pounding, staring at the empty doorway.The only sound left was the rain — louder now, like applause for a truth she wasn't ready to believe.