TUNNEL

It had grown dark. The last glimmers of sunlight filtered through the trees. The clouds in the sky were a reddish-gray hue. The city was slowly emptying, people in their homes preparing for sleep. But not Them. Deep underground, in the thicket of sewers and subway tunnels, life was just beginning to awaken. Hundreds of rats and other dark creatures were setting out on their journeys in search of food.

He, too—Hector Need, one of the many vampires who had prowled the dark depths of forgotten tunnels for centuries, had also set out on his nightly search for his victims—humans who hadn't made it before dusk.

He, an innocent-looking youth, was actually nearly six hundred years old. He walked calmly through the empty streets, glancing in all directions. He felt weak. He hadn't tasted blood in days...

"Well," he thought, "if no one comes along, I'll have to hunt animals."

He wasn't fond of them, even though dogs and cats could provide relatively nutritious blood. However, Hector preferred the blood of young people. Such people were incredibly difficult to come by.

Suddenly, in a side alley, he spotted a pair of lovers embracing on a secluded bench. His heart skipped a beat. He sped toward them. He roughly grabbed the young man by the arm and pushed him away.

"Hey, what's wrong, dude? Are you crazy? Do you want to get hit?" The boy in the black leather jacket clenched his fists and swung.

He didn't have time to strike, because at that moment, clawed fingers closed around his neck, leaving him unable to move. The last thing he saw were long fangs, and a moment later, a paralyzing pain shot through him. Darkness enveloped him in its shroud.

When Hector finished his meal, he tossed the drained body onto the grass and walked away in a direction known only to him...

Meanwhile, the distraught girl on the bench, sobbing brokenly, was filing a police report about her boyfriend's murder at the police station. The fat cop listened to this as if it were a radio drama, laughing heartily. His colleagues were listening and thought the girl was crazy.

Their faces fell when they received a report from one of the patrols about the discovery of a young man's body with neck wounds in the park. They immediately got into a police car and went to the scene. One of them called the medical examiner on a walkie-talkie.

Right next to the bench where the couple had been sitting an hour earlier, a man lay covered in black plastic. Dark blood stains were visible on the sidewalk, gradually drying. A brown coroner's car pulled up alongside the two patrol cars.

"She's dead," the medical examiner said. "The probable cause of death was severing of the carotid arteries. Death occurred approximately forty minutes ago."

The workers took the body to the vehicle, and the investigators began securing any possible evidence...

Morning was approaching. A bright streak could be seen over the horizon to the east. In two hours, the city would awaken, the streets filling with people and cars... Hector had to quickly escape into the labyrinth of subway tunnels. He quickly jumped into a subway ventilation shaft.

From there, he calmly made his way to his permanent home, located in the eastern section, which had been unused for nearly forty years. Its only inhabitants were countless rats and a few vampire families, with whom Hector had a rather good relationship.

He had lived with them for about three hundred years, so he had had ample time to learn their customs and rules.

However, he was most fond of old William Hopkins, a vampire who looked like a man in his sixties, but was actually over eight hundred years old. He doesn't like Aurelia Clarens, the blonde vampire who constantly bores everyone with her tales of the old days...

The daily newspaper "Early News" had something to write about again. A big headline on the front page reported another victim of the unidentified killer, dubbed the "Vampire of Darkness." Along with black-and-white photos of a body and bloodstains, a lengthy article announced that Derek Scott was the bandit's 36th victim. It also included a statement from his girlfriend, Lidia Kosinsky, which was phrased in such a way that it sounded more like the words of a character from the film "Werewolf of London" than a true account of the incident.

All sorts of rumors were spreading on the streets. Only the police were still trying to figure out how to catch the perpetrator. They had no idea, however, that there were multiple perpetrators. People hurried back to their homes as soon as it got dark, and burglary protection companies were seeing their highest earnings in decades...

Evening was fast approaching. The tunnels were slowly coming to life – rats were squawking and vampires were chattering louder and louder. Hector, too, was awake.

Suddenly, in the distance, he heard a metallic sound. Like metal clanging against metal. He shifted uneasily. Someone was approaching the East Avenue Station, where the vampires' lair was located. The pale light of a handheld flashlight flickered intermittently in the dark depths of the tunnel.

"Workers," Hector thought. "Well, well, dinner without the hassle."

Silently, he and his companions climbed onto the rusty ceiling beams and silently watched the events unfold.

Imagine their surprise when two cops entered the station with MPK2 submachine guns. One of them was sweeping the nooks and crannies of the disused metro station with a flashlight. They weren't very observant, however, as they never once glanced at the ceiling. To mislead the officers, Hector threw a steel nut into the tunnel.

Just then, it landed with a soft thud on the grease-stained concrete, bounced off, and clattered against the rail.

Immediately, a hail of police bullets rained down, and the underground space filled with a deafening cannonade, followed by an eerie silence, broken only by the cops' gasps as they looked around, trying to see something.

Suddenly, one of them let out a piercing scream as his right foot hit empty space. Losing his balance, he squeezed the trigger of the MPK2 as if to grab it and fell limply several meters into the sewer. His companion fell to the concrete floor, struck by a ricochet. Holding his bleeding leg, he groaned and muttered something under his breath. Just then, he saw several people approaching him.

"Who are you?" he groaned.

"A tasty snack," Hector replied, leaning over him, revealing his gleaming vampire fangs.

With savage delight, he pulled the policeman to his feet and bit into his neck. He took a few sips of the thick gore, leaving the rest for his companions...

The following days, months, and years passed generally peacefully, and the individual adventures will be described when the next series is released.

When? That remains to be seen...