Chapter 1

I’m a newly turned vampire, still a total rookie. My fangs haven't even fully sharpened yet.

To me, human blood is the most lethal temptation in the world.

Whenever that sweet, warm scent drifts into my nose, it triggers an itch deep in my soul. I want nothing more than to take a sweet, juicy bite.

But modern supernatural laws are incredibly strict. Drinking human blood without a permit is a massive crime. If I get caught, I'll be locked away for eternity.

The century-old vampires around me constantly warn me:

"Behave yourself. Don't take stupid risks. We don't mess with the human authorities."

I always nod obediently. "Got it. No unauthorized biting."

But the burning thirst inside me? Impossible to suppress.

After racking my brain, I finally came up with a flawless, foolproof plan.

Halloween night. The whole city goes wild, everyone is in costume, and it's the perfect cover. No one would suspect a thing.

I bought a cute, crisp white nurse outfit, got dressed up, and rented a mobile blood drive van.

Passersby looked at my adorable nurse getup, and a few curious teenagers poked their heads in.

"Hey, nurse! Are you guys doing a charity blood drive tonight?"

I offered them a warm, sweet smile, my fingers gently tracing the syringe I had prepared. My voice was pure innocence:

"We sure are! Free blood donation, and you get candy. Want to give it a try?"

"Cruising down the street in my sweet little ride~"

I slapped some red cross stickers on the side along with a "DONATE BLOOD HERE" sign. Looking at my van, it looked exactly like an official hospital blood drive vehicle. Perfect disguise.

Just thinking about tasting real human blood tonight made my undead heart flutter with excitement.

Yes, I'm a vampire.

Ever since my transition, humans looked less like people and more like various flavors of juice boxes.

Some smelled like cool mint, others like sweet lychee. Each had their own unique flavor profile.

Too bad drinking from humans is illegal now. In my three years of being a vampire, I hadn't tasted a single drop of real blood.

"Honestly, it's nothing special. It tastes just like those synthetic meal prep packs," Jasper said, taking a massive gulp of his plant-based blood bag. Lately, he was obsessed with the chocolate-flavored ones.

"Easy for you to say, you've actually had the real thing!" I grumbled, staring at my slightly extended fangs in the mirror. On Halloween, all kinds of monsters showed their true forms, but fortunately, nobody cared.

Last Halloween, someone actually complimented me on how realistic my "special effects makeup" was!

"Kiddo, trust me. Aside from not having an active superpower, you're not missing out on much."

Ugh, he just had to bring that up.

Before a vampire tastes their first drop of fresh, warm human blood, they can't awaken their unique supernatural gift.

"Jasper, what's your power again?"

"GPS tracking. If I've met you once or even just seen your picture, I can find exactly where you are."

"That is literally the most useless superpower ever! You can't use it to fight, you can't use it to escape... Why is real life nothing like the movies?"

"Movies are fiction, kid. Welcome to the real world."

"So that's why your day job is a private investigator?"

"Exactly. Perfect fit, right? Let's see... we're only ten months into the year, and I've already closed 563 cases," Jasper boasted.

"Isn't that basically cheating? It's so unfair to the human PIs." I pouted. "I don't have a power yet, so I have to work a regular, exhausting day job. Life is so unfair."

"Oh, please. I'm working hard too, kiddo."

"But what if I awaken something incredibly cool? Like turning things into gold, or teleportation? We could be filthy rich! Or, at the very least, predicting the winning lottery numbers!"

"Even if you could, you'd probably only win five bucks at a time," Jasper retorted dryly.

"Hey! Easy for you to say when you already have yours!"

I was constantly dying of curiosity: what would my gift be?

Driven by my desperate thirst and burning curiosity, I finally hatched this win-win plan for Halloween.

I had even taken a phlebotomy course and spent three months practicing drawing blood on Jasper's arms.

"Well, at least you won't accidentally kill anyone now," he had approved.

Armed with my mentor's blessing, I looked in the mirror. In my crisp white nurse outfit, I looked a bit young, but I definitely nailed the "angel of mercy" vibe.

I decorated my sweet little van with some spooky Halloween banners, and headed straight for the city festival—

Let's go!