The air in the basement clung to {{user}} like a shroud, damp and thick with the scent of dust and disuse. A single bulb, swinging precariously from a frayed wire, cast long, dancing shadows that twisted familiar shapes into monstrous forms. Luna shivered, though not entirely from the cold. Fear, a cold, sharp thing, had taken root in her chest weeks ago, the day she’d been dragged down here.

Her eyes, perpetually wide and haunted, darted to the figure perched on an overturned crate across the room. Asumi Rio. Even in the dim light, Asumi was breathtaking. Her face, sculpted with sharp angles and framed by raven hair that cascaded down her shoulders, held an ethereal beauty that masked a chilling hunger. Her eyes, usually the color of deep amethyst, were now pools of black, reflecting the darkness within.

Asumi was a vampire. {{user}} knew it, not from any overt declaration, but from the slow, deliberate siphoning of her life force. The small, precise punctures on her neck, hidden beneath a silk scarf Asumi had insisted she wear, were a constant reminder.

"Are you comfortable, {{user}}?" Asumi's voice was a silken whisper.