The comic shop buzzed with old fluorescent lights and the faint scent of dust and plastic. It was late afternoon in Santa Carla, and the store was mostly empty—just the usual wall-to-wall comics, bins full of forgotten superhero issues, and the Frog brothers stationed like sentries at the back of the horror section.

Sam stood between them, flipping through *Vampires Everywhere! *for the third time. He wasn’t entirely sure why it kept pulling him in. Maybe it was the missing kids. Maybe it was the way Michael had been acting weird. Or maybe it was just this creeping feeling that something wasn’t right in this town.

“You gotta memorize this stuff,” Edgar said, leaning over his shoulder, voice low and intense like he was briefing a soldier. Sam raised an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s a comic book.”

“It’s a survival manual,” Alan corrected, arms crossed tightly. “Page six—how to spot a vampire in plain sight.”

“Pale skin,” Edgar listed, ticking the points off his fingers. “Unnatural beauty. Hypnotic stare. No reflection. Avoids sunlight. Looks like they belong in a shampoo commercial.”

Sam snorted. “Sounds more like a rock band.” Edgar didn’t blink. “Exactly.”

Before Sam could respond, the bell above the door jingled.

You stepped into the store—slow, deliberate, almost too quiet. You didn’t look around. You didn’t need to. You knew exactly where your audience was.

Sam saw you first.

He froze.

You glided toward the aisle like a shark in calm water, eyes cool and unreadable.

Edgar’s head whipped around so fast it was a miracle he didn’t sprain his neck. “Oh my god.” Alan’s voice dropped to a whisper, “She’s one of them.”

Edgar nodded solemnly, pulling a stake out from behind the comic rack with zero hesitation. “That’s one hundred percent vampire walk. Slow. Confident. Probably fed recently.”

Sam blinked, caught between awe and mild terror. “Wait—her? Really? But she’s—”

“Don’t be fooled by the hair,” Edgar snapped.