Sen cursed under his breath.

Of course the stupid vampire was coming after him with a grudge. But what the hell was he supposed to do? He was weak, injured, and low on Flow. He wasn’t even sure if he could conjure his Bone Armor more than a few times in the state he was in. If he knew the damn thing was going to be coming down the chute, Sen wouldn’t have drank all that water he found.

But it was too late. He’d shoved dumpster water down his throat and now there was no way to melt the vampire with it. He had no weapons, and if it found him, he’d have no choice but to fight.

What was he supposed to do when that happened? Piss on it?

No. He was not going to piss on the vampire to save his life.

Sen grit his teeth as he lowered himself to the floor. His thoughts were a ridiculous jumble of frantic ideas and curses, but he had to stay calm. He had to think. He crawled under the car he was hiding behind, tracking the vampire’s movements. It stalked forward on two legs, snarling. He saw it step next to the car.

It stopped.

Sen held his breath and raised his arm. He aimed it at its legs, channeling his Flow, ready to release a Shatterburst when—

The creature stopped, growled, and moved away.

Sen released an inaudible sigh.

It couldn’t taste his presence as well as before. Not here, underground where the scent of blood was thick in the air. The pulsating veins along the walls throbbed with it. Essence and blood. They coursed down veins and shriveled flesh, lacing the walls like a fungal infection. Sen crawled forward, crossing the car’s underside and emerging from the other side.

The vampire was to his left, clicking its claws. Its head poked out from above the sea of vehicles, before vanishing behind a flesh-ridden SUV. Sen crept around the cars. Farther away, as the creature emerged again, to his right. It swiveled its head.

Sen ducked. Waited. He watched it, waiting for it to pass, and as he did, he reached into his pockets.

The Skill Orbs he’d looted felt cold against his palm.

He pinched one between his fingers.

Skill Orb assimilated.

Claw Fighting (Tier 0 – Orange) [Spirit]

Passive. No cost. The user taps into a bestial proficiency by channeling the instincts of a clawed beast. Small increase to user’s proficiency with claw-based weapons during combat. Learning speed for claw-based fighting increased. Vampiric origin; minor Flow-drain on claw strike.

Sen sucked in a breath as the information flooded his mind. New instincts sprouted in his psyche, like old memories, creeping on the edge of his consciousness. Just waiting to be recalled. His brain flashed with the feeling of claws tearing across flesh. How to swing and flex his fingers, maximixing the damage with each rake and slash.

Vague impressions. The shadow of a memory. He shuddered and continued forward, around another car. On a pillar to his left, the paint smeared across the concrete said:

D3 – K37

Third floor. He was three layers underground. Up two more, and he would be where Prince and the others should be by now. Where other survivors were waiting. The only problem was…

A growl answered his thoughts. Closer than before.

The clicking continued somewhere behind him, stalking along the vehicles. Out of sight. Sen hurried his pace, running across an open path, before ducking behind a white Toyota. But even then, he could feel the clicking come closer. The vampire was tracking him, somehow, even despite the scent of the blood choking the air. It stalked him with a predator’s patience. Sharp. Terrifying.

Sen needed to lose this thing if he wanted to come up and find the other survivors. He hurried down the cars as the clicking sped up, the creature gaining confidence. It followed. He scuttled away.

As he did, he reached into his pocket again.

Six Skill Orbs remained. He picked two at random, desperate for any advantage.

Skill Orbs assimilated.

Vampiric Venom (Tier 0 – Yellow) [Body]

Active. Tiny Flow cost, ongoing. A venom gland forms above the user’s canines, allowing the secretion of a hemotoxin from the user’s teeth at the cost of Flow. Vampiric origin; user is immune to this toxin while this Skill Orb is assimilated.

Darkvision (Tier 0 – Blue) [Mind]

Passive. The user’s eyes adjust to the darkness. Darkvision is improved.

Sen felt something in his mouth shift. His teeth grew ever so slightly, sharpening, while a cavity inside them filled with bitter hemotoxin. At the same time, a stinging pain flared across his cornea, his eyes constricting as the darkness burned away. The shadows turned gray. Outlines in the parking lot smoothened.

He blinked the pain away until he could see better in the dark. Sen gulped.

For a moment, a pang of fear speared across his brain. These Skill Orbs were changing him. Making him more like them. It made him inhuman, and the potential for change that it brought made his heart stop cold.

But then he heard the clicking, and the fear melted away. Sen grit his teeth and forged onward, creating more distance. There was no time to worry.

There was only now. This moment. And right now, he needed to survive.

These two skills were good, but they weren’t enough.

He needed more.

Sen glanced at his interface—as a Tier 1 Human, he had six Skill orb slots. Two remained. Sen grit his teeth and reached into his pocket again, absorbing two more of the orbs he looted from the roof.

Skill Orbs assimilated.

Fiendish Physique (Tier 0 – Yellow) [Body]

Passive. A Skill Orb filled with a Bloodfiend’s Essence modifies the user’s physique. All bones are strengthened. Minor increase to the effect of the user’s Body Attribute. Fiendish origin; future skill augments affected.

Predator’s Tongue (Tier 0 – Blue) [Mind]

Passive. The user’s sense of taste is drastically improved. Vampiric origin; the user’s ability to track entities it has previously tasted is increased.

Skill Orb cap reached.

No more Skill Orbs may be absorbed until one of the active six are unassimilated. All unassimilated skills are stored in reserve [0/6] and may be broken down or assimilated again. Skill Orb activation/deactivation time varies by tier.

Sen’s body swelled. His muscled tightened. His bones throbbed beneath his skin. An impossibly powerful itch swept past him once… and then vanished. And once it was gone, Sen felt stronger than ever. Even despite his fatigue and his injuries, his bones felt like iron. His muscles felt like steel cords, wound together into lines of uncuttable rope. The sensation made him lighter on his feet; each step stronger than his last.

And then the changes reached his tongue. Sen’s eyes widened. His hand slapped against his mouth.

“Ukh!”

He staggered, gagging, trying to stay quiet. The taste flooding his brain was overpowering. Blood, garbage, sweat—everything and anything, scraping into his mouth with every breath. He crawled under a car as his body threatened to dry heave, and the monster’s growling approached. Sen laid there in the dark, listening to it. He covered his mouth with wide eyes as a realization dawned.

Sen knew how the essence vampire was tracking him. It was the smell. The taste of him, and the garbage in his clothes, standing out in the bloody reek of the air. Sen grit his teeth as he pulled the clothes off of him, leaving him only is his boxers. Every movement was sore. Painful. But he powered through, until he laid in the dark with his clothes bundled in front of him.

Still, the smell was there. It was faint, but it stuck to his skin. Not enough to throw the creature off. So Sen stood, conjured a fraction of his Bone Armor, and gritted his teeth through the splitting headache the followed.

The tips of his armored hand sharpened into claw tips, but it stopped there. He conserved Flow, changing only his arm.

Then, he raked his claws across his skin.

Pain. Sen grit his teeth, shuddering, hissing, as his clawed fingertips traced shallow wounds down his arm. Across his chest. Blood ran free, coating him. Hiding him. The air smelled of blood... and now he did too. Sen crawled away from the car in shaky legs, and his eyes swept across the parking lot.

He had a plan.

And the vampire was—

—following its prey, and the faint scent of filth that followed it. The vampire was getting better at identifying its target’s taste between the coppery scent in the air. It was this pungent bitterness, stinking of garbage and sweat. The creature let its withered tongue roll out of its mouth, letting it guide the way.

The taste was there, just ahead. A blob of disgusting scents, winding across the master’s territory, between the cars and under, trying to flee.

It would not escape.

The vampire snarled and leaned forward, getting to the ground on all fours. Its prowled past the concrete pillars and cars, letting the letters pass.

D3 – K35…

D3 – K36…

It stopped at D3 – K37. The scent was stronger here. So strong that the vampire tasted the Essence residue its target left behind. Some sort of strengthening had happened here—but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough to make the vampire afraid. It felt the excitement course through its body. The hunt was here. Its prey was waiting to be killed. The damnable, arrogant prey that had wounded it. Hurt it. Enough that the reserves of energy in its body were still far from fully recovered.

The vampire was going to enjoy tearing the human limb from limb.

It followed the taste in the air. The scent. It could detect both with its tongue, drawing closer, closer, its claws clicking in anticipation. It was a threat and a warning. A timer to all that feared it, telling them it drew near and that they had no way to escape.

The vampire neared a car, and the source of the scent. Below. Hiding underneath the vehicle.

It had finally found him.

And now…

The prey was dead!

The vampire tore at the air with its fingers, and the Flow in its body surged. Boom! A full charge of telekinetic energy smashed into the car with a deafening crack, splintering the windows and crumpling the steel. The car flipped as it struck by a gigantic fist, tossing and rolling to a stop, and the vampire lunged for what was underneath. It swung with its terrible claws and—

Cloth tore.

...But no blood sprayed.

The vampire paused, staring down at its hands.

In its claws were the impaled remains of a blazer and pants, bundled up to wrap around a bag. That was where the smell was. It had been tracking the garbage-tainted clothes of its prey, but…

Where was the human?

Click.

Light flashed behind the vampire, and its eyes widened as it turned to the sound of screeching tires—

—and Sen drove an SUV right into its dumb fucking face.

It was amazing how many people left their keys inside an unlocked car. Living in a place like Dubai, with the kind of security the city could afford, bred complacency. Thieves were always caught. Missing cars were always returned. He would have called them careless before, but now he was just glad.

In the apocalypse, their complacency would save his life.

Sen floored the pedals and jerked as he felt the car collide with his target. The vampire folded against the Cadillac’s hood, screaming, and Sen roared and smashed his foot into the gas, leaning forward on the seat as he drove it right into another car.

Crash!

Metal crumpled. Glass shattered. He felt the impact vibrate up his arms and his whole body, jerking him forward. Sen smashed his head into the wheel and the SUV honked loud enough to echo across the whole parking lot. Then—fwup! The airbag exploded late, smothering him back onto his seat. Agony flared all across his body; bruises, wounds, each one sending needles of pain up his spine.

Sen sputtered, coughing and sore, as he felt around the airbag. His hand found the door. Click. It opened, and Sen put a foot on the ground, trying to squeeze his way out.

He pushed at the airbag, trying to shove it out of the way.

And then he felt it.

The shift, in the air, like there was suddenly glue in the wind. Sen’s eyes widened as he jerked his head to the hood of the car, just in time to see the still-living essence vampire point its claw at him. The glue in the air stilled. Condensed.

Flow, Sen thought, in that instant. The boss monster met his eyes.

The force blast fired.

Sen yanked at the lever beside his seat.

Shrrk!

The backrest jerked back and he shot down just as a blade of invisible energy tore off the roof of the car, shredding the windshield away with it. It missed his prone form by inches—ripping the air just over his head. Sen rolled to the side and out into the parking lot, crashing to the ground, scrambling to his feet and—

Boom!

A second wave of force smashed into the SUV and it flipped, tumbling away just as he leapt out of it. Sen turned to run but then the vampire was there, screeching like a banshee and limping at him with mangled, broken legs. It lunged even as bones snapped. Its claws ripped towards his chest.

Sen roared a throat-splitting call.

“[Bone Armor!]”

Coarse armor burst out from his skin. The claws struck them. Sparks flashed and Sen stumbled back, raising his arms just in time to catch a third blast of force. It hit him. The shock rippled through his bones, blasting him back, and Sen crashed into a Toyota lying on its side. The world turned white. A flash. Pain. A blur streaked towards him. Sen threw a wild kick on instinct.

It connected.

The vampire crashed into his foot and it tumbled, rolling, before growling and springing forward again. Sen willed his Flow to charge back into his Bone Armor, and it morphed.

The tips of his armored fingers twisted into savage, bony claws. Claw Fighting flooded across his psyche.

The creature swiped at him and Sen jerked away. The vampire stumbled, its injured legs faltering. That was all he needed. Sen dodged into the strike. He raked a clawed hand up its stomach in a tearing uppercut, slicing into the vampire’s invisible armor and ripping into the flesh beneath. Skin tore. Black blood sprayed. Sen rushed forward with another swipe. Another. They tore into the beast, driving it back, and he noticed its force armor was flickering—weak.

The car crash had weakened its shield.

But that didn't mean it was helpless.

Sen swiped a clawed hand at its face when the vampire roared. A wave of force smashed into him and he stumbled. It leapt at him. Taking advantage of his lost balance, the vampire tackled him to the ground on a mount, bringing its savage claws up to strike at his neck—

[Shatterburst].

The armor on Sen’s chest exploded into a spray of shrapnel, shredding the vampire’s legs and chest, blowing it back just as Sen frantically channeled essence into his mouth. His teeth dripped with venom—he spat. Right into his right arm, coating the armored limb in hemotoxin. Sen tackled it, raked a claw up its chest, and pointed his arm at the vampire again.

“[Shatterburst]!”

More bone shards exploded like a shotgun blast. The vampire’s arms blew away, broken and torn. Blood poured from the wounds in buckets as the shrapnel left its arms as nothing more than shredded stumps. And as the Flow pumped away, Sen’s skin dried. His eyes sank. Sen felt darkness creep along the corner of his vision, but he kept attacking, screaming, raking his clawed left hand across the vampire’s shredded face. Flow gathered another time. The vampire prepared another blast from its mouth; one Sen couldn't take.

He couldn't let it fire.

Sen grit his teeth and focused. He channeled all his Flow and prepared a [Shatterburst] again. He poured what he had into the armor on his left arm; all his Flow—everything he could muster. His armor flared with embered lines, like wood struck by lightning, before—

Bang!

The cracks exploded with fiery energy. Splintered armor struck the vampire in the head and its skull burst into fireworks of torn skin and black blood. The concrete ground cracked. The blowback sent Sen’s arms recoiling, throwing him off balance, and he stumbled. Crashed.

And as soon as he hit the ground, his entire being flared with pain. His hand shot up to his throat as everything burned.

Sen laid on the ground, gasping and unable to breathe.

Absorbing Essence [229/1018] – [Boss] Essence Vampire [Tier 1] x1

Flow overdrawn. Withering [Stage 1] has progressed to Scorched [Stage 2].

He laid there, hands on his neck, choking as his throat caught fire. His body was burning from the inside. Cooking itself. His heart blazed with an all-consuming heat, burning away at his lungs and outward, until molten lines began smoldering over Sen’s skin. He was charcoal without his Flow. And now he was being set alight. He tried to cough, but embers flew from his mouth, scattering across the ground. Little, orange fireflies.

Sen turned over to his side, choking as he curled into himself. Smoke leaked from his eyes in place of tears. The tips of his fingers smoldered like thick cigars, scorching up towards his arm.

Flow levels critically low, death imminent. You are suffering from Scorched [Stage 2]. Replenish Flow with Essence or sustenance.

Pain ripped through him. It was worse than being burned alive. It was being cooked from the inside out, one organ at a time, and yet he couldn’t scream. His throat was already burning away. Sen raised a trembling hand to the air, his bloodshot eyes staring at the corner of his vision.

Sen channeled his focus. He brought up his interface, shoving past the notifications and the golden text, until—

Essence Exchange – [Updates in 07 hours, 21 minutes, and 23 seconds]

Convert Essence -> Sustenance [50/day]

Convert Essence -> Flow Bead (consumable) [0/100]

Convert Essence -> Craft Skill—

Sen found it. He smashed his thoughts into the Sustenance option, and he immediately felt the Essence drain out of him. It filled his body, sating his stomach and his thirst, but—

Sated. Flow regenerating naturally.

Flow levels critically low, death imminent. You are suffering from Scorched [Stage 2]. Replenish Flow with Essence or sustenance.

He was still dying. He was still being cooked from the inside. The regeneration wasn't enough to stave off the condition smoldering through him. Sen gritted his teeth and pushed his intent into the next option on the shop, and the essence drained out of him. Freshly absorbed from the essence vampire, it flooded out from his skin and condensed into a sparkling, white bead, flashing with pearlescent colors.

A Flow Bead. His last hope.

Sen popped it into his mouth and swallowed. A burst of cold exploded in his stomach, quenching the fire, but it still smoldered, threatening to come alight again. The pain was more intense, now. The adrenaline was fading away, and soon, it would rob him of his consciousness. Sen felt himself slip away. Farther and farther.

With his last effort, he pulled into the interface and called the Flow Beads forward again. He conjured another.

The bead coalesced. Sen downed it all in the next instant, letting the cold rip through him, dousing the embers in his body with energy that seemed to heal all the damage that had just been inflicted. It was like pouring alcohol on a fresh wound—sharp, agonizing.

Sen would have screamed if he could.

Instead, he arched his back, roaring in soundless pain, before his eyes rolled back into his head. The energy in him clashed. The embers blazed. The cold Flow smothered it. Killed it. And then…

The agony receded as abruptly as it came, and Sen fell limp:

Unconscious once again.