​The rooftop wind bit into my open wounds, but the cold was nothing compared to the coldness in Xena's eyes. I slumped against the concrete, my lungs rattling with every breath.​"Sign the property transfer agreement," Arsh said, his voice rumbled with a mocking pity. "Do it now, and I'll make sure your death is quick. Think of it as a final mercy for a decade of service you did for my baby, Xena."​I looked past him, my vision blurring as a thick glob of blood slid down my chin. "Ten years, Xena," I wheezed, my voice cracking. "Did they mean... nothing to you?"​Before she could speak, Arsh backhanded me. The crack of skin on skin echoed off the stairwell door.​"Shut the hell up!" Arsh roared, his face reddening. "Every time you try to guilt her with your 'ten years,' my blood boils. I should choke the life out of you right here with my bare hands."​Xena didn't even flinch. She just stood there, draped in the blue gown I had bought her for her last birthday, looking at me like I wa

There was no time for a moral debate. The clock was a ticking guillotine, and I needed blood to keep my soul from being snuffed out like a candle. I looked at the jogger whose pocket had been my sanctuary. No, I thought, a flicker of my old humanity sparking. I can't drink from him. He saved my life, even if he didn't know it.​I took flight, leaving the warmth of the jacket for the cool night air. A few hundred yards away, near a secluded cluster of oaks, the sound of raised voices cut through the cricket chirps. A heat argument between a couple. One tall and jagged, the other one smaller and trembling glowed through my compound eyes.​I drifted closer, landing on a low-hanging leaf to eavesdrop.​"Victor, how could you?" the girl sobbed. Her name was Katty, and her eyes were thick with tears. "With Sara? She's my best friend, Victor! My freaking best friend!"​Victor didn't look remorseful. He looked bored. He checked his watch, his expression flat. "Since you already found out,

"Baby, if you don't give your blood, won't she be angry at you?"​The woman's voice was like honey dripping over broken glass. She lounged on the hospital sofa, twirling a lock of hair around her finger as she looked at Roy. Her eyes were bright with the predatory gleam of someone watching an obstacle being removed.​Roy let out a jagged, ugly laugh. "Angry at me,pfft? Teresha is obsessed with me. Even if she wakes up... which she won't. She'll probably thank me for not ruining my health with a needle. She's a pain, honestly. Always has been."​"Baby, look at Dr. Andre," she whispered with a sharp smirk, pointing toward the door. "He's still standing there. Hoping you would donate your blood."​Roy turned his gaze toward the doctor. The air in the room seemed to thicken with the stench of his arrogance.​"Dr. Andre, I believe you value your career, don't you?" Roy's voice was a low, vibrating threat.​The doctor's face went from pale to a deep, insulted red. "What exactly are you i

The night air was heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and the electric hum of an approaching storm. I was hovering aimlessly over a stagnant pond, my wings beating in a restless rhythm. To anyone else, I am just a nuisance in the dark (that's actually true though). Anyway, I was an anxious mosquito counting the seconds until midnight.​In the hollow space where my stomach used to be, I felt the weight of the prize: the Crimson Tax. The blood of that monster Roy was still warm within me, a pulsing, rare energy that felt like liquid fire. It was Rh-Null. The Red Blood. The kind of rare essence that was supposed to bridge the gap between my bug life and my human soul.​"System," I buzzed, my tone sounded sharp and impatient. "Midnight is breathing down my neck. Where are you?"​Silence.​Usually, that cold, robotic voice used to snapped back before I could even finish a thought. But now? No answer came. Just the distant croak of a bullfrog and the rustle of leaves. A cold knot

​I pressed my back against the damp plaster, clutching the two-foot chef's knife. My human heart was a frantic bird trapped in a cage of ribs, hammering out a rhythm of pure terror.​"If you die here, your existence will be erased in all timelines."​The System's words looped in my mind like a funeral dirge. I've faced a twenty-seven-story drop. I've lived as a parasite in the dirt. But this? A world where the dead refuse to stay down? This was a different kind of nightmare. I was a man who used to close his eyes during horror movies, and now, I was the lead actor in one. Should I say holy zombie!​"Better than dying in Xena's hands," I whispered, a hysterical laugh bubbling up in my throat. "At least these monsters don't pretend to love you before they bite off your flesh."​Snap out of it, Zilu, I scolded myself. I had twenty-four hours to survive. Energy was my most precious currency. I needed to find a hole, crawl into it, and wait for the clock to run out. ​I began to move, d