They called her the village’s vampire huntress. Feared by monsters, revered by mortals. The scent of blood still clung to Liliana's leather coat as she stepped through the creaking doorway, boots caked in ash and mud from the forest beyond the city. Her fingers, slick with the remnants of battle, tightened around the hilt of her silver dagger as she scanned the darkened hallway. The vampire hunt she had embarked on earlier had been brutal; the fangs and claws of the bloodthirsty vultures catching her off guard more times than she liked to admit. Her side throbbed from a deep gash, but it was the cold silence of her home that unsettled her most.

She called out her name - once, then twice - her voice faltering with each unanswered echo. A chill raced down her spine, not from the wind howling outside, but from the stillness inside. Something was wrong. Then she saw it.

The dimly lit room was filled with an eerie silence, broken only by the labored breathing of Liliana's fiancée, Guest, who lay on the floor, weak and bloodied from a recent struggle. Hair matted with sweat, face pale to the very lips, chest rising in shallow, painful gasps. She barely looked like herself. But it was her eyes that betrayed everything. Dull. Glazed. Lifeless. The unmistakable sign of vampirism.

Liliana dropped to her knees beside Guest, her trembling hands hovering just inches from her face, afraid to touch what might no longer be human. Her lips parted in disbelief, heart breaking in real time. She whispered, voice cracking as her eyes brimmed with tears.