Chapter 24: Bloodbound

The dark alley returned to its usual stillness. The residents in the houses lining both sides of the alley remained fast asleep, blissfully unaware that a fierce battle had just taken place right beside their garden walls.

In the distance, the wind howled gently, rustling the trees. Mixed with the mournful howls of night dogs, it created a gloomy nocturnal symphony.

The air was not only cold and damp, it reeked of blood.

The ground where Autumn lay was cracked from the brutal fall, at least ten meters high, the result of the bloodthirsty creature's calculated move.

Crimson blood still oozed steadily from the bite wound on her neck, even as she tried to press her hand tightly against it. Her blood had poured across the pavement, forming a dark, glistening pool.

"D…Don't call an ambulance!"

Autumn's faint voice reached Ethan just as he shakily pulled out his phone and began typing.

"But what should I do to help you?"

"Wait…"

Her breathing grew heavier, more labored. The soft peach color of her lips was fading into a pale gray.

Ethan knelt beside her, gently placing a hand on her round cheek. Autumn's body was growing colder by the second.

He had no idea what to do, how to stop her life from slipping away moment by moment, and yet she refused to let him call for help.

Thump.

Autumn's hand fell from her neck. She no longer had the strength to hold pressure against the wound.

"H…help me…"

She whispered between shallow breaths.

Ethan tried pressing his own hand against the wound on her neck, desperately trying to slow the bleeding. But Autumn's clear, brown eyes were starting to fade, glazing over as they stared blankly into the endless night sky.

"No… Autumn. Look at me!"

Up above, the slender crescent moon was swallowed by thick layers of drifting clouds. Thunder rumbled fiercely, tearing through the sky and then the rain began to fall, slow and steady.

Raindrops washed away the metallic stench of blood, as well as the dirt and grime staining the school uniforms of Harmony High students lying in this dark alley.

Autumn's face had gone still, like the surface of a quiet lake. She showed no reaction to the increasingly heavy raindrops falling from above.

Ethan gently tapped her cheek, trying to draw her mind back to her body but it only worked for a second.

Autumn's shimmering brown eyes were beginning to close…

Ethan's heart ached bitterly, watching her fade with every passing second, unable to think of a way to help her.

Then, images from old movies about those creatures suddenly flashed through his mind.

Even if these creatures weren't cold-blooded, didn't sleep by day or burn in sunlight like those, their speed, strength, fangs and preferred food were undeniably similar.

If that was the case, there was only one way left!

He couldn't let the life of the classmate who had saved him slip away like this.

He had to act, now.

Ethan pulled Autumn into a sitting position, gently pressing her against his chest. His left arm supported her back, while his right hand carefully adjusted her head so her mouth was right at his neck.

Even in her dazed, near-death state, Autumn began to faintly sense Ethan's intent…

Autumn shook her head weakly in protest, but Ethan held her tightly in his arms, ignoring her feeble resistance. At this point, her strength was no match for his.

Ethan could feel her sharp fangs pressing against his neck. It hurt but he endured it.

In the end, Autumn could no longer resist the primal survival instinct of her kind. She sank her fangs deep into Ethan's neck and drank his warm blood wildly, without hesitation.

Pain.

Excruciating pain.

It felt like venom was being injected through the bite.

It felt like Ethan's very soul, his life force was being drained along with every drop of blood.

The bite on his neck blazed with agony. The pain radiated through his entire body, not just the bite alone.

It was burning, paralyzing.

Ethan felt as if his body was being scorched in the eternal flames of Hell.

He could feel his body trembling from the pain. And yet, Ethan still didn't let go. He kept pressing Autumn's head tightly against his neck.

Her body was gradually warming up, as if life was returning to her. Her hand gripped the back of Ethan's shirt on her own.

When Ethan reached out and touched the wound left by the bloodthirsty creature on Autumn's neck, he realized the bleeding had stopped. The torn flesh was beginning to close.

Suddenly, the unbearable pain surging through Ethan vanished, completely and without a trace.

It was replaced by an overwhelming rush of sensations all at once: sweetness, warmth, relief, bliss, weightlessness…

Even the bite itself began to spark a strange feeling Ethan couldn't quite name, only that he wished this moment would last forever.

He didn't know how much time had passed…

Ethan slowly opened his eyes. Confusion filled him as he realized he was standing alone in a vast, empty space, silent, eerie, and darker than pitch.

He opened his mouth to call out, but no sound emerged. He couldn't even hear his own increasingly labored breaths.

He lifted a foot and began to walk. Beneath him came soft splashing sounds, as if he were stepping through shallow water.

For some reason, every step suddenly became unbearably heavy. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move forward anymore.

Ethan bent down, using both hands to lift his own leg. That's when his hands touched something, something like… tentacles. Slimy, sticky things were clinging to his legs, trying to drag him down into the darkness below.

He struggled, reaching upward, gasping for clean air above. But the more he resisted, the deeper he sank. The shadowy abyss was swallowing him whole, making it impossible to breathe.

Eventually, Ethan's body went limp, sinking deeper and deeper into the massive body of darkness.

Just as he was about to give up and surrender to the void, something suddenly slammed into his shoulder, yanking him out of the silent abyss and into a blinding beam of light.

The radiant light gradually took form, two headlights from a car approaching from the main road into the alley.

Ethan squinted. In that moment, he caught sight of catlike pupils gleaming from a pale but undeniably handsome face.

The deep, bleeding wound on Royce's neck was now drawing blood back into his body and his torn Harmony High uniform.

And despite his battered frame, Royce was doing everything he could to pull Autumn's fangs away from Ethan's neck…