Chapter 3: Blood Worm Moon

She cast a final glance over her shoulder toward the gate where Pauly still stood, waving frantically with both hands like an overexcited schoolgirl. His rainbow jacket practically radiated under the airport lights, drawing stares from confused travelers.

She already told him to stay behind and just let her travel alone, but he worried too much knowing it was her first time leaving home.

The fact that he sold off his salon just to buy her a plane ticket was already breaking her heart, and the creeping guilt was enough to give her a headache as it was. But he still used the remainder of his money for the train ticket to see her off instead of just letting her use a cheaper bus ride that would take her half a day through the usual route.

'That small salon is your life. Yet, you're acting as if it was nothing. How much more will you give up for me?'

Her gaze softened and her thin lips curled into a faint, melancholic smile.

Her real father didn't raise her. He didn't put food on the table or clean her wounds when she scraped her knees. He didn't stay up with her when she had nightmares or carry her home after bullies shoved her into the mud.

That was all Pauly.

Pauly, who always came home with bruises and cuts because people couldn't leave him alone. Pauly, whose bright, flamboyant clothes and unapologetic personality made him a walking target for those who couldn't accept his colorful gender orientation.

It was her Daddy, Pauly, who hugged her too tight and called her embarrassing pet names in public. He annoyed her to no end—but his love was undeniable.

Velvetiana clenched her fist tightly.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry for lying..."

But her Daddy deserved better.

All he knew was that she applied for a scholarship in a low-level university in the Central and got in. But truthfully, she struck a deal with the Corvinus Family after they reached out to her on the very day she turned eighteen.

They didn't specifically demand anything aside from returning. It was vague and suspicious. But if using her so-called inheritance from her so-called father was the price to get Pauly out of the slums—to give him a life where he wouldn't have to suffer for simply being himself—then so be it.

Velvetiana is more than willing to sell her soul to the devil to give him the life he deserves.

Hansel's dark eyes studied her carefully.

Waiting. Measuring.

Noticing his watchful gaze, Velvetiana calmed herself and she smiled thinly.

"Is that so? Then I can't wait to see him also."

To that man who abandoned her pregnant mother to death… Well, she can't wait to see what kind of bastard he is.

"Shall we go?"

Oblivious to her thoughts, Hansel's smile widened just a fraction. He extended his gloved hand and took away her cheap old backpack and hand-carry paper bag. 

"As you wish, my lady. This way please..."

Velvetiana didn't take his hand. Instead, she stepped past him, planning to board the plane with her head held high.

It was all set in her mind.

If she couldn't get money directly from that man, then she would have to use their resources to crawl out of poverty. She would complete her education, land a high-paying job, and secure her future. Then, she'd take her Pops out of that lawless place and build a life where he'd never have to suffer again.

They needed her more than she needed them. And Velvetiana Red was going to make sure they remembered that.

«⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘»

It began with the moon.

On a particularly scorching night in late autumn of 2025, just before the winter chill should've slowly settled across the streets, the moon rose higher leaning towards the earth like a malevolent shadow creeping in.

It was the first time the so-called gift of Blood Worm Moon manifested to the chosen, and a curse to the depraved.

No one remembers exactly when it started inching closer, only that it was subtle at first—a faint red tint across its surface that deepened with each passing year. The tides grew restless, and the night air thickened with a strange, electric weight.

Animals became erratic and soon humans began to change.

Fevers swept through towns, leaving bodies writhing beneath the moonlight. Resembling the wolves that once howled beneath the moon's light grew bolder, their eyes glowing unnaturally bright beneath the swelling crimson sky.

Some recovered. Some died. But when they woke up, those who had survived were no longer humans.

Bones twisted and snapped beneath their skin as limbs reshaped and claws tore through fingertips. Eyes that once held fear sharpened with a feral glint as howls tore from their throats.

While others rose cold and still, their hearts no longer beating but their senses sharpened, and the scent of blood became impossible to resist.

All hell broke loose, and although the moon reverted back to its original place, the destruction it left in its wake was evident. The land, the people.

Everyone knew from that moment on, the Earth is no longer the same. No one is safe.

The creatures of the night were the first to change.

Wolves and vampires, these nightmarish creatures were no longer just myths—they had been born from the very flesh of humanity.

Packs spilled into human towns beneath the blood moon's gaze, their claws and fangs dripping with the remnants of their feasts. Wolves no longer stalked the forests—they hunted in the open. Vampires, once calculated predators who fed in moderation, abandoned restraint. They became feral, empty-eyed husks driven by hunger alone.

It was said that the moon awakened something in them, unraveling the thin barrier between instinct and reason.

Over the century, bloodshed followed.

The human population dwindled, and cities collapsed under the weight of unchecked violence. Entire towns were reduced to silent graveyards where the only sound was the scraping of bone beneath clawed feet.

Wolves and vampires ruled the night, but their own numbers began to fade. The moon no longer calls for them. Perhaps, it was the Lunar Goddess' form of punishment for their insatiable thirst and greed, causing humanity to almost perish.

Vampires discovered the curse of their blood—they could not reproduce among themselves. Their bloodlines weakened and they could no longer convert humans into vampires with their rationality intact, merely mindless monsters who knew nothing but kill and devour.

Worse of all, aside from ancient families of blood cardinals with pure, noble blood, vampires in the lower rung were reduced to scattered ghosts, fearing the ray of sunlight creeping on their bare skin and bones.

The wolves fared a little better against daylight. However, the number of she-wolves that are necessary to carry on the bloodlines became dangerously scarce.

To assert dominance, frequent battles ensued. The fight between rival clans of Bloodfang and Stormclaw, to claim the remaining territorial lands on the earth was written off in the Dark Ages of humanity.

In the center of that endless conflict, few surviving females were caught and met their inevitable end.

It was a slow death spiral that quickly turned gruesome and uncontained.

Predators kill prey, and in their desperation, turn on each other. Entire towns vanished overnight, leaving behind nothing but silence and the stench of death. With a hollow birth rate during wartime, the endless bloodshed inevitably pushed the human population to the brink of extinction.

With humanity teetering on the edge of collapse, the wolves and vampires were forced to face an uncomfortable truth.

Without humans, they too would die out.