⚠︎ This chapter has mentions of sexual assault, drug usage, blackmail, dead body mutilation and blood consumption.

♬ Prey - The Neighborhood ♬

‘’Divine smell that fill my nostrils, divine taste that rolls in my tongue, the blood of novices who yet don’t understand how the world works truly tastes divine.’’

There are things one will never imagine waking up to, and waking up with no recollection of who you are or where you are is definitely one of them. 

Dirty streets where the smell of smoke and piss fills the air, the sound of cars and bustling night life surround those who walk past them. And in one of the back alleys with the company of trash bags and sewer rats, a boy slowly wakes up. His body is too thin, malnourished, his skin tone is pale enough for his veins to be the only color in it, he's wearing torn clothes of what was a tuxedo. 

The boy has distinct features, his eyes are sharp and long with bright orange irises, his nose is small and sharp and his thin lips are red like blood. But besides his eye color, the boy's hair is also a pop of color, a blood red tone that matches his lips perfectly. Regardless of his appearance the boy finds himself taken with an immeasurable headache, and a thirst that one would imagine he is beyond dehydrated. “I'm hungry” the boy mumbles to himself, attempting to get up, but failing, his legs too weak for him to be able to withstand his own weight.

So instead, the boy looks around, trying to find something to hold himself onto that aren't trash bags, and that is where he sees a fresh dead body. And the benefit of not having memories means that he doesn't think twice before crawling towards the body, attracted by the sweet smell. Driven by instinct the boy touches the still warm body, his hands trembling with hunger, too engrossed to notice the gunshot wound on the body's head. He pulls the arm of the dead man closer to his mouth, the sweet smell becoming stronger so he opens his mouth, the two perfectly white and sharp fangs popping out before he sinks them onto the flesh of the dead body’s wrist.

And the taste is even better than the smell, the blood flowing from his lips to his throat is warm and velvety, tasting sweet and at some moments a bit sour, insatiable, the boy drinks and drinks until the body is completely depleted of blood. He drops the arm on the ground with a thud, feeling much better than before, his skin more lively and his malnourished appearance almost gone, his eyes even shining with life. After such a meal the boy manages to get up, the weakness on his legs gone after eating well. But now what? He doesn't know what to do, he ate but doesn't know where he is, who he is or even what he is.

Just as if by cue, a transparent-like message appears in front of him, the message window is of the same color of his eyes and the light it emanates doesn't seem to be reflecting on anything, being for his eyes only.

Congratulations! You managed to survive your doomed fate!

Rebirth isn't for the weak-minded, become the best version of yourself and defeat the heroine of this world!

Check your status window for more information.

(Tip: to check your status window just think about it)

The boy stares at the message for a moment, wondering what every word means. Rebirth? Heroine? Status window? They don't sound exactly unfamiliar, but considering he doesn't exactly remember anything before waking up in the dark alley, he can't pinpoint what every word means even if he feels that he knows at the back of his mind. Maybe if he does as the message says he'll find out more, so he does exactly that.

Status window

Name: Eryx Algeo

Age: 19

Species: Newborn Vampire

Affiliation: Algeo Family

Title: Bastard of the Algeo Family

Thirst: 60%

Chosen target: Not yet chosen

Progress: 0%

Heroine chosen target: Not yet chosen

Heroine progress: 0%

Active Missions: 

Defeat the heroine! (In Progress)

Feed for the first time (Complete)

Attend the entrance ceremony of Link Academy (In Progress)

Skills:

Thirst - As a vampire you're able to consume blood to satiate your hunger, when your thirst is low you will have an increase of 30% efficiency in tasks given by the system, but when your thirst is high you'll be penalized. (Current active penalty: Amnesia, Weak bones)

Heartbeat - When active you'll be able to identify heartbeats in a radius of 100m from your location. (Inactive)

Algeo’s Soul - As a descendant from one of the primordial vampires you were born to restore their honor. Every time you consume blood you'll be able to see a glimpse of the future. (Available for use)

Newborn - (This skill will be deactivated once you consume enough blood) Even coming from a long line of vampires you were born a human, but suddenly you became a vampire? Deal with the tribulations of being a newborn and consume enough blood to avoid death. (Current active effect: Dehydration)

Phoenix - Being reborn isn't easy, especially when this world is familiar yet unfamiliar, this skill is tailor made for you, tap onto the powers of the Phoenix, your comrade in arms, and control fire to your will. This skill also allows you to come back from the dead four times, except in the case of death by thirst. (4/4)

“This isn't exactly helpful” the boy says out loud with frustration, his voice is raspy and it hurts to speak, his throat dry from the dehydration effect. According to that information his name is Eryx and he has a family which considers him a bastard for apparently being born a human. But it doesn't help to have new information when he doesn't know what all that means. So he decided to check his missions, maybe they'll give him more information.

Mission Accomplished!

Congratulations for completing your first mission (Feed for the first time).

Would you like to receive your rewards?

Y/N

He doesn't think twice before selecting Y. He awaits for another window to pop up but nothing does, instead his head is bombarded with information. Not information on who Eryx is, but who he was. Besides his name, the information his brain is filled with is quite helpful, helpful enough for him to understand his own situation.

Before waking up there, he was a 19 year-old boy fresh out of high school and working part-time jobs to pay for college, he worked everyday and all day. His parents passed away when he was six and his older sister raised him. She was ten years older than him so they weren't put up for adoption, instead she dropped out of school to raise him, and after they became more stable even within poverty, she got a big break and became a big game developer for a big company.

He remembers looking up to her a lot, but never wanting to depend on her, and he might not remember her face or name, but he can't help but feel sad for not being able to see her anymore. And that is because he remembers his death clearly, from all of his memories that was the fresher one.

“What a stupid death”, Eryx mumbles with a short laugh. He died in a gas explosion in his recently rented studio, all because he accidentally left the burner on, not used to using that brand of stove. At least it wasn't painful as he just exploded. I just hope I didn't kill anyone but myself with such a stupid mistake, he thinks to himself with deep regret.

Another clear memory from his past is one of the games his sister developed, he remembers playing because she begged him to. It was a mobile relationship simulator focused on a female audience, meaning that all of the ‘capture targets’ were men, he didn't exactly enjoy romancing men, but the game was interesting enough for him to see it through to the end. The game was set in Link Academy, a place where vampires go for further education, it's a three year course with electives and when you graduate you're immediately offered a job within the vampire community. In this game you're set as the heroine, a human girl that enters the Academy by accident and needs to survive not being eaten alive by her peers while solving mysteries and falling in love.

The mini-games were interesting and the targets were diverse enough to grant the game a distinct atmosphere and gather the attention of many. He remembers his sister mentioning that the game gathered more than four million downloads in its launch week. And not only that but the game even had a dedicated website for the Link Academy, to expand the world building.

It went more or less like this:

After humans found out about the existence of vampires their coexistence was critical for both of their survival, vampires began consuming blood only from donors and humans started accepting vampire-only cities and communities. The biggest being Iris City where the Link Academy is located, a vampire-only city ruled by the same mayor since its foundation. 

One of the mysteries you had to solve in the game was the mayor's identity, as his son was one of the targets and you had to meddle in their relationship to progress with the story. But Eryx never played this game story, so he doesn't know its details deeply. Based on my surroundings I must be in Daisy City, a human city next to Iris City, since I just consumed human blood.

He expected the realization that he just consumed human blood to make him feel disgusted or angry, but all he feels is thirst. But dwelling long around a dead human body won't be good for him, so he decides to do another stupid thing and strip the body to use its clothes since his own were torn. The hoodie was too big and the pants were loose before he put the belt on, sadly the shoes were two sizes too big so he stayed barefoot.

And so he gets out of the alley to the bustling street with his head down and the hoodie on, analyzing his surroundings he doesn't see any vampires, and his eyes are a giveaway since most vampires had surreal eye colors. Luckily he manages to leave the city and reach the tunnel that separated the two cities.

The tunnel was filled with druggies and homeless people, he passed them hurriedly, but he noticed that half of them were human while the other half were vampires. It seems that vampires also like getting high, he thinks, turning his gaze away, fearful of the reactions of the druggies that stared at him with deadly intent.

On the other side Iris City was calm and silent, uniquely in the universe of the game the vampires aren't sensitive to sunlight, so they were just active like humans in that sense, the only downside was that their eyes were sensitive, so most of them used sunglasses when out during the day. The calm streets were due to the curfew, in the beginning of the story there was a wave of vampire murders, so the curfew was applied to avoid them. That was also how the heroine managed to enter the Academy without being caught so easily. That and plot armor, since I could smell the blood on all the humans I passed through. There was a poor explanation on how her blood was scentless, but to the newborn vampire that sounds like a poorly made excuse on why the heroine was so special.

Before continuing his journey through the silent streets, Eryx decides to use his skill, seeing the future so that he can at least see where he should go. Luckily enough, the skill shows him exactly that, the path towards the Algeo Family’s mansion, it was a bit far since the rich part of the Iris City was on the outskirts, but not too far. So it takes him half an hour of walking to arrive at the gates.

He's not sure of what to say or how to react, but he doesn't have much choice, it's still the middle of the night and he's wearing a dead man's clothes, barefoot and with an unquenchable thirst. So he settles by ringing the bell next to the gate.

A sweet melodical voice answers the intercom. “May I help you?”

“Hm…” his voice is raspy and he needs to cough a few times before being able to speak in a proper tone. “It's Eryx”.