Damian died centuries ago.
But his descendants never broke that promise.
Every generation protected Lucian.
Helped him hide.
Helped him control the thirst.
In this era, that role belonged to Sam.
Fat. Nervous. Constantly stressed.
Lucian's assistant.
The only human alive who could complain to a vampire without dying immediately.
"You have six hundred unread emails."
"Then delete six hundred emails."
"That's not how emails work."
Every night followed the same routine.
Lucian visited the same bar.
Same seat.
Same drink.
Same silence.
And every night, Lola, the bartender, pretended not to notice how strange he was.
"You're late."
"By whose standards?"
"Mine."
Lola liked talking.
Lucian liked listening.
That was enough.
Until the night everything changed.
A drunk customer started a fight inside the bar.
Shouting.
Breaking glasses.
Hurting one of the waitresses.
Everyone backed away.
Except Lucian.
He simply watched.
Calm.
Silent.
Predatory.
The man eventually stumbled outside into the rain.
Lucian followed him.
An empty alley.
No witnesses.
No cameras.
The drunk man turned—
And Lucian was already behind him.
Fast.
Impossible.
Inhuman.
"W-WHO ARE YOU?!"
Lucian smiled faintly.
"You shouldn't be here tonight."
Then the alley fell silent.
When it was over, Lucian noticed the ID card in the dead man's pocket.
CALIFORNIA RESEARCH CENTER
GRADE 5 ACCESS
Lucian had heard rumors about the facility for years.
Strange experiments.
Missing people.
Underground laboratories.
But the city loved them.
They cured diseases.
Created technology.
Made people richer.
So Lucian stayed away.
He threw the ID into the rain and walked away.
That should have been the end of it.
It wasn't.