The light was shining through the window and lit up the dark apartment.

A young woman could be seen in the corner of the room, peacefully sleeping and dreaming on a soft bed. Short black hair spread over the pillow. No sound could be heard except for her shifting sleeping position. It was still early in the morning, and loud noises came from the outside, but they could not awaken her from her deep sleep.

As cars passed her house, hours went by, and the sun's rays finally left the room as the sun rotated over the roof.

"yaaaaawn"

A loud yawn finally broke the silence in the room, and Luna's eyes opened for the first time, but she didn't feel like getting up. It was the weekend, and Luna did sleep quite a long time, but it's not surprising after the injuries she sustained yesterday.

Her eyes looked straight up into the ceiling, trying to identify new patterns in the wallpaper. After 10 minutes, she finally got out of her bed. A sharp pain went through her right thigh, which made her flinch when she stood up.

"What did I even expect; yesterday was rough indeed. I should bring my next hunt forward a week, and I don't want to risk a breakout of my desire," she said softly.

She took clothes out of the wardrobe and went into the bathroom. She undressed the Pjamas and once again inspected her injuries.

'Mhhh, you can still see the bruises from my fall, but compared to yesterday, it looks a lot better.'

She quickly washed at the sink, dressed, and prepared breakfast.

'Let's quickly check the media; they might have found out about me.'

Once again, cereal was on her table, which she ate while watching the latest news.

There was nothing, nothing that indicated that the young man was found or a new vampire attack. It went well, too well. Luna continued her search through the web, but no matter how long she looked, there was nothing to find.

"It just went too well. Someone should have found him on the way. I didn't even hide him properly, and many people go for a walk there at night. I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. I should be careful in the upcoming weeks and do it outside Mainz next time."

Luna positioned the bowl in the sink and started cleaning as she was still pondering this. There was no need for a dishwasher because she lived alone in an apartment and didn't even have room for one.

It was Saturday, and she decided to go for a walk and look around the crime scene she had caused yesterday.

"Maybe after having a closer look to confirm or disprove my suspicion, I can take a seat and relax."

She left the house with a backpack on her back because she wanted to restock her groceries after her short trip. Slowly, she moved towards the Rhein. The walk took about half an hour and was crowded, with crowds as always.

She went down the stairs she used yesterday and turned right where the bush was, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Ten meters ahead was a bench, which she used to sit down. One last time she glanced to the right, before closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin.

It was a beautiful day; birds were chirping, boats swam by, and no clouds could be seen in the sky.

It was perfect.

Luna was enjoying the rest and did not even notice when a woman took the seat on her left side. An intense lily scent emanated from her. While this flower smells lovely, it's unfortunate that its scent is always so extreme. A rustle came from the left side and ruined the beautiful moment.

'It was so beautiful just a moment ago, and now this rustle has to ruin it.'

Luna noticed a glance at her, but she did nothing. Minutes passed, and the glance was still on her.

'Why is she looking at me? You know, you can speak up. I am not biting; well, at least not in the daytime. What is wrong with her; why is she staring at me like a hawk preying on his prey?'

The woman cleared her throat, presumably to draw attention to herself.

'Does she want to start a conversation with me? I can't hear you, well, as long as you don't decide to ask me directly. Maybe if I keep ignoring her, she will take her to leave. Dreamy, I know.'

"Excuse me?" She said finally.

'Shit, she talked, and now I have to answer, but how should I? I can't talk to her like I would at work; she clearly isn't a customer, and isn't my chef, either. So how should I respond?'

The woman was not aware of the inner tumult going on in Luna's head and became annoyed at Luna's ignoring behavior. The woman cleared her throat again, hoping to achieve a different result, but like before, Luna showed no reaction.

'Most importantly, don't draw attention to your teeth; nothing a little charm can't achieve.'

"Yes?" Luna finally decided to answer the woman and slowly turned her head to the left side, opening her eyes in the process.

The woman wore a brown jacket with a withe shirt. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

As always, Luna maintained eye contact for a few seconds; before she decided to ask again.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

The woman, torn out of her trance, seemed surprised at Luna's question but quickly regained her composure and asked the question lying on her lips.

"I just arrived here and wanted to know if you could tell me where Ludwigsstreet is?"

"Ludwigstreet, mhhh. Up the stairs and then follow the road to the north. It should be on the left side, but you should ask another passerby for directions." She knew the city like the contents of her wallet due to her occasional hunting sessions once a month.

"Thanks, I'll try that." The woman stood up but looked into Luna's eyes one last time; she seemed frozen again before she pulled herself together and headed north.

Luna had already closed her eyes and did not see the woman frozen in front of her. But she knew the woman was still there. It took each victim a few seconds before breaking free of the spell.

She waited for the woman to leave before she got up and went to the supermarket. Lunchtime was already over, but Luna got up quite late and had to go shopping before she could go home to make something to eat.

'Nothing noticeable in the area, but I still can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. I should continue to be careful.'

Luna was on her way to the bridge to cross the river and headed to the supermarket. Crowds of people came toward her, and she made a face at the overpowering stench.

'Sometimes I really hate my pronounced nose. Lily flowers smell nice, but the scent of sweat is really disgusting.'

And so the day passed. Luna was still on her guard. Something was wrong, but she couldn't tell what it was.

 

***

 

In Ludwigsstreet, a group of five people was waiting.

It had been two days since Jone sent the message to meet up in Mainz and hunt down the vampire.

"I can't believe we are locating a real vampire," said an excited young woman.

She wore a blue blazer with a withe shirt and black rock. She was currently looking around the buildings with her brown eyes and threw her blond hair around.

"It's a wonder you even came here on time, Amber," said a tall man with black hair and a white strand on the left side.

He was covered in black, and the sunglasses made it impossible to look him in the eyes and note his facial expression."

"What is that supposed to mean, Klaus?" Asked Amber in fury.

"You always lose track of time when you draw," replied Klaus while shrugging his shoulders innocently.

"I think I cannot trust my ears; you were the last one to arrive today. And it's not like my drawing helped solve cases," Amber responded angrily.

"It's enough for both of you. We should take this seriously today. It's not every day you get to track down a vampire," the argument was ended by a man in a plaid shirt, jeans, and Kingsman shoes. His name was Finn.

The other two people in the group were standing a couple of meters away. One of them was Elina, who unknowingly met Luna on the last day.

She was chatting with a young man called Almar. But all of them stopped talking when a man wearing a black suit approached the group. It was Jone, their leader.

"Glad you all made it here. We will first go to our quarters, and each of you gets their task to work on." With that said, Jone turned around and went forward toward the quarter. He hated it if things didn't go the way they should.

The direction looked pretty random, but in the end, their group reached a small isolated apartment. After entering, they noticed that everything was already ready to use. A whiteboard was standing in the back, and maps lay on the table.

"First of all, Amber. You're investigating every camera we have or can get access to; try to reconstruct the path the vampire utilized or uncover the identity if possible.

"Finn, your job is to mark the territory. Compare the case with previous ones and try to narrow down the habitat. For this, you work together with Amber." He then took out a picture of his pocket and presented it to Elina and Almar before he continued.

"Since we don't know if the vampire has weaknesses like in movies or books, we won't concentrate on it. Your job is to ask around. Also, try to find the seller of the mask in this picture, and secure the address of each customer in Mainz or the surrounding area."

Lastly, he turned to Klaus, their equipment master.

"Klaus, we have the mission to catch the vampire alive, so it's your job to get the missing equipment. I also want you to prepare something in case we can lure it into a trap."

Now that everyone got his workload assigned, Jone went toward his private room.

"Well then, get to work; a vampire doesn't catch itself after all."

Inside his room, two people were already waiting in an online call he joined shortly after. One of them was Grimm, a genetics professor, and the other was Jones' superior.

"Is that video you sent us real," asked Grimm excitedly. You could hear the joy in his voice, and Jone bet if the cameras were on, he would see the biggest smile in the world.

"Yes, I was present at the crime scene and could confirm it with my own eyes." He responded.

"Then I hope you will capture and bring me this vampire as fast as possible," said Grimm with a mischievous grin.

"The order has already been changed. Our team only has to track down and capture the vampire," said Jones superior.

"Then I hope for good news," replied Grimm with a joyful voice and left the call. He had better things to do.

Jone was relieved that Grimm had left the call. He simply couldn't stand him because Grimm always thought he was superior, and his ego was gigantic.

"I will give you a further report if we get new information," only his superior was left in the online call. He was tired of having conversations that didn't lead to anything anyway. This conversation today wasn't even that long. It was just repeating orders or information.

"Then good luck with your investigations, and let me know if you find out anything or need reinforcement." With those last words, his superior also left the call.

Jone was the only one left. Cursing himself, he also left the call.

That was such a time waste. I could deliver results much faster if you let me do my job properly!

 

***

 

While Luna went to work unknowingly, clues about her continued to be sought.

"First, let's gather everything we have," said Jone. They've been investigating the vampire case for a week now.

"All the incidents so far had taken place by the river," said Finn. But the recorded cases in Mainz were few, and realistically, the vampire could have already left the city and claimed new territory, in which case their investigation would be for nothing.

"In theory, she could come from any corner of Mainz. But she could also live outside and only enter the city to hunt."

"In other words, we have no clue where she could be," asked Jone. His face told the group everything. He was not pleased with the result.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't find out the origin of the mask either." Jone was in a bad mood. No approach provided any result or indication of the vampire's whereabouts.

"Okay, I know this will be a useless question, but did someone notice something strange we could continue investigating? Our other option would be to wait for another victim, which won't happen until the end of the month, and even then, it's not guaranteed that we even notice it attacked someone."

No one said something for a while.

"I would like a helping hand in analyzing the camera material. There's a lot to go through, and if you're stuck at the moment, you might as well help me out," said Amber.

"Elina and Almar continue investigating the city. The rest helps Amber analyze the video footage."

With that last order, they split into two groups.