Luna was jumping from building to building, enveloped in the darkness of the night. No lights were high enough to reveal the shadow, jumping gracefully over the city roofs like the wind. No sound was coming from her, no figure seeable on the ceilings, and only the moon occasionally revealed her presence.

Her red eyes, now shining like a blood moon, looked into the distance to find her prey.

It felt almost like back then when Luna would roam through the wilderness for her hunting sessions. But instead of jumping from tree to tree; or sprinting across fields, she currently hopped from roof to roof.

Times had changed.

In front of her was the Rhein, a river flowing through Mainz and splitting it into two parts, only connected by two bridges.

While Luna looked at the pitch-black water in the night, she felt nostalgic. It had been an eternity since all her friends vanished the same way magic did. The majestic form of dragons has not been seen in this world for centuries. Sadly even the floating island crashed on the ground, and Excalibur was just a piece of metal.

'I'm sure they will return at some point, or the very least, I will follow them where ever they are.'

"Cough, cough, cough."

Luna was dropping to the ground; her throat was dry and burnt like a firecracker forgotten to throw away in time. Her eyes started to shine like the blood moon itself. A seductive voice flooded her thoughts. It was indescribably beautiful but radiated the aura of a monster.

'Shit, I thought I still had more time,' she thought. Her vision was blurring again, and she tumbled from left to right. Her red eyes pulsated like a mad monstrosity sent to extinguish all of humanity.

'I need to find someone fast. It doesn't matter where or who; I need someone now.' She shook her head to get the voice out of her head but failed to do so. 'W̸h̸y̷ ̵a̵r̷e̶ ̶y̵o̴u̷ ̵t̶r̴y̸i̵n̴g̶ ̵t̸o̴ ̸r̸e̶s̵i̵s̶t̵ ̶L̷u̴n̵a̴?̸ ̸I̸f̵ ̴y̴o̷u̴ ̷l̸e̷t̸ ̶m̸e̸ ̴o̶u̶t̷,̴ ̸a̸l̶l̸ ̴y̷o̷u̶r̶ ̸w̶o̶r̶r̶i̶e̶s̵ ̶w̶i̸l̸l̴ ̵g̶o̴ ̵a̸w̸a̷y̶.̶'

Luna looks to all sides before climbing to the bottom. She began to cough again on the last few meters, making her foot slip. She lost hold of her right hand, making her swing to the left side. With the added momentum, she lost her footing with her left hand and fell to the ground. Trying to cushion the impact, Luna used her hands.

The impact lightly cracked her bones and scratched her hands; gravel pressed into her wounds, making her groan in pain. She got up, ready to continue but hobbled the first few steps to the staircase leading to the river.

Now at the river, she was looking around for people. It was common for people to go for a walk every night; she just had to wait for someone to pass by and take advantage of it. After a couple of minutes, her waiting ended. She clearly saw it; a young man was walking in her direction. Luna immediately became silent like a cat. Under no circumstances would she let her prey escape.

She waited passionately; only her red pulsing eyes glowed in the night. The young man was still looking at his phone and did not see those dangerous red beaming eyes right in front of him.

Luna closed her eyes; so he would not see the glowing. She could hear his steps.

10 meters.

5 meters.

It didn't matter anymore; even if he tried to run away, Luna was just too fast for him. He came closer and closer. The moment he went past her, did she strike.

She jumped out of the bush; her hands covered his mouth, and her teeth dug into his neck. His eyes went wide as wrinkles formed on his forehead. His attempts to fight back were in vain as he was already paralyzed and dragged into the bush where Luna was hiding previously.

Blood flowed down her throat, and a comfortable feeling spread through her body. The voice in her head grew weaker. The sensation of a warm blanket wrapping around her body made her consciousness drift sleepy. It protected her from the desire that transformed her into a mindless beast.

The man lost consciousness a few seconds after the surprise attack. Luna was sitting on her knees while supporting the unconscious man with her arms. She stayed in this position for a while, captured by the enjoyment it brought her.

Suddenly her desire vanished, her thirst quenched, and she no longer felt that entrancing pleasure. Drinking blood still was her favorite food source, but much longer, and the man would die. She was finally freed of the seductive voice.

'In a few hours, he will regain consciousness and won't even remember what happened tonight.'

Luna put her mask on again, sniffed in the air, and made sure to hear no sound before she left. Her body vanished in the night. She made her way to the city's building, away from the river. In a darker place, Luna quickly climbed her way up the roofs. One last time, she looked down into the river before turning to head home.

'That was an exceptionally close call today. A couple more minutes, and a disaster might have struck the city. Lucky for me, this young man came at the right moment.'

By the time Luna got back, most lights had already been extinguished. Looking down from the roof, Luna saw that no one was there or could have seen her. She quickly and carefully climbed down, not wanting to strain her body. She slowly walked down the streets with her mask now hidden under the jacket. 

'That fall earlier did manage to damage some of my bones. And my clothes luckily protect my skin from dangerous abrasions. 

For the next couple of days, I should take it easy.'

Down on the streets, she walked around the corner towards the building's door and opened it. Closing the door, Luna made her way up the stairs. She just wanted to get to her apartment to take a shower, to wash away the stress and worries of the day from her body.

On the second floor, Luna turned left and walked down the hallway before reaching her room. She slipped inside, turned on the light, and quickly went to the bathroom.

She took off her clothes to inspect her right arm and shoulder. Her shoulder and upper arm had bruises. A pain pierced through her body by lightly touching it. Her Hands were next. Scratches covered both hands that were used to cushion her fall.

The bleeding had already stopped, but dirt and small pebbles were still partly in the wounds. To clean her wounds, Luna turned on the faucet. Her face twisted from the pain cleaning her wound. With narrowed eyes and held breath, she finally finished and turned off the faucet. Blood residue remained on the sink, and needed a couple of moments to be cleaned. Next, she looked at her thigh. Like the jacket protecting her arms and shoulders to some degree, the same happened with her trousers. Luckily she got away with bruises.

'That could have been worse. But it's still really annoying. With all the hustle and bustle, a few accidents happened to me. I also did not check for stationed cameras. I only hope nothing was filming me.'

With those thoughts in mind, she stepped under the warm shower.

 

***

 

Jone was walking towards his hotel.

It was already late, and he grumbled to himself, "The meeting was once again unnecessary. There is not even proof for its existence, and yet they still want me to investigate potential vampirism in Mainz. I have now traveled here by train for 5 hours, and after that, I also had to attend an hour-long meeting. Why am I even here? The leading figures only want to say; we are investigating the current situation and doing everything in our power."

He was cursing since, in his opinion, a vampire could only exist in stories, and this operation was a pure time waste.

'There are blood-sucking bats, but these known species don't live in Germany. So why is it so hard to believe that there are a blood-sucking bat species in Germany too?'

With those thoughts, Jone turned right and went parallel to the Rhein. Stars could not be seen tonight with all the clouds covering them.

"What is going on there?"

Jone was looking at blue lights; police and an ambulance were parked in front of him near the river.

"Hopefully, no one drowned tonight. I should take a quick look; maybe I can even help?"

Jone hastened his pace and went directly to the barriers. He saw a young man covered in a thermal blanket. He was shaking like a leaf. He only thought that some idiot jumped into the river, but since he was already there, he had no objection to helping the police.

"Excuse me, special agent Jone Barker from the secret service," he said while holding up his mark. "I would like to know what happened here at this hour."

A police officer, who was nearby, quickly began to narrate the event.

"A passer-by noticed someone lying in the bush and called the police after checking his condition. He was bitten in the neck; we estimate it happened two hours ago," the policeman reported quickly. Jone immediately realized what that meant. It was probably his only chance to see a vampire attack in person.

"Are there cameras nearby?" He asked excitingly.

"The camera material is currently being secured. It should be available every minute now," reported the policeman. Jone was cheering inside. His team would not even have to come here if he could solve the case early.

'Just a couple more minutes, and I will get my answer.' He just hoped the camera quality was good enough for identification. He just hoped it wasn't just a black video.

And at that moment, a policeman came to his small group and said, "The video is now ready."

"Excellent, let's find our so-called Vampire," said Jone in a sarcastic tone. They went to a small laptop where a video was ready to play and formed a small semicircle around it. One person started the video and began to fasten-forwarded. The video rushed by, and soon blue lights could be seen on the screen.

"Rewind a little bit," said the police chief.

The video began to rewind, first thirty, then sixty minutes. After 83 minutes, they finally saw something.

"Stop; could you go a couple of seconds forward again," asked Jone.

"Why, surely," said the man.

"Pause and zoom in," said Jone.

"It's still hard to see," said the chief.

"Is it possible to brighten the picture up," asked Jone. They saw something red, but it was still too dark to see properly.

"Yeah, that should be possible," responded the responsible policeman. He began typing on the Laptop, and after a short while, the picture became brighter and brighter.

"Now play it again."

The brightened video began to play again..."That is impossible."

Before their eyes, they saw the impossible. A person with glowing red eyes shoots out of the bush and attacks the passing man. It happened so quickly that the man did not have time to react to the event before he was dragged into the bush. The glowing eyes were still shining through the leaves. Everyone held their breath. Suddenly the red glow vanished, and the bush was barely seeable.

One minute later, they saw a black figure crawling out of the now-dark bush. It was barely recognizable. Black clothes hid it at night, and a mask obscured its face.

Everyone witnessed it, but no one dared to speak. They rewound the video, stopping it when the glowing eyes seemed to pierce directly through their soul.

They still couldn't believe their eyes, even after massaging their eyelids a dozen times. "Everything we have just seen remains top secret; nothing is made public. I was sent to investigate this city; As long as it doesn't know we discovered it, we'll have an advantage." He had to prevent as many leaks as possible to maximize their advantage. They had one key advantage; the vampire didn't know yet that it was discovered. 

"Vampire bites are super rare, so we should take every chance possible," Jone quietly said before he took out his business card and gave it to one police officer.

"Please send us a copy later to further analyze it," He bitterly smiled. There will be a tonne of work for him and his team. But this will also be the most engaging assignment he has ever received.

'I should call my team here, but they won't like that sudden request. At least we got something interesting,' he thought, took out his mobile phone, and began typing on it.

 

Jone: Hey, we have an investigation in Mainz; so-called vampirism is supposed to be here. I would appreciate it if you guys could come here as soon as possible.

...

...

...

Elina: I hope that was a joke right now.

Finn: Excuse me, I'm having a party in two days, and you want me to come down now?

Jone: Yeah, we are supposed to hunt down a vampire.

Klaus: So, in other words, we come down for a bat?

Jone: You guessed it right, a few hours ago, I thought it was nonsense too. But right now, I'm standing at a crime scene where a vampire bite has taken hold. However, we found a camera that filmed the crime scene pretty accurately. And I know you guys won't believe me, but it really is a vampire that is attacking the Citizens.

To make it more clearly, he also sent a picture. Red eyes were seen; pulsating in the darkness, and a person, dragging a young man into the bush.

...

...

Elina: That would explain the unique protein pretty well. Vampires are supposed to be immortal, so a protein that reinforces and constantly heals their body is not too far-fetched.

Almar: How many peoples know about this?

Amber: I am coming down tomorrow.

Jone: Only a couple of policemen and our little group. I classified the information as top secret. The public won't hear about it for now, either. This way, we will have the biggest advantage. Should we fail at identifying the vampire, or it eludes us, our advantage is gone anyway. We'll meet in two days at the Coffee Express on Ludwig street.

Jone put his phone away, it was late, and he had a lot to prepare tomorrow, so he said goodbye and went towards the hotel. He said goodbye to the cops, turned right, and went up the stairs. The young man has already been taken to a hospital for further examinations.

"I think he will be fine," Jone mutters.

Luna, who had just gotten out of the shower, had no idea that someone was on her tail.