Jong Kook watched the light shine in through the window. Once upon a time, he'd been able to walk in the light. He'd been human once but no longer. As the sun rose in the sky, the light shifted, but still he sat, until the first tendrils of light reached his exposed hand.  The pain was immediate.  The sunlight burned him and he retreated deeper into the shadows, regretful at the world lost to him. Everyday, he longed to be able to feel the sun's warmth on his skin, see the world bathed in light, experience the natural cycle of life. What he'd once taken for granted was now cruelly beyond his grasp.

As soon as he'd entered the safety of the shadows, his hand began to heal. His skin regenerated, leaving no trace of the burn he'd sustained.  Regenerative powers. Inability to withstand direct sunlight.  The need to feed on blood.  Super human speed, strength and endurance.  Heightened senses.  Immortality. All came with the vampire curse.  And cursed he was.

700 years he'd lived in the dark, shunning the light of day.  For 700 years, he'd lived this tortured existence, living off the blood of others.  700 years of solitude, cursed with the loneliness of immortality.  

He'd had friends once.  A wife.  A child.  But that had been when he was human.  They had long since died and left him alone, cursed to outlive any companionship he could find.  There was nothing left for him in this world.  And yet he couldn't leave, beholden to the vampire's curse, tortured for eternity by the urge to feed.  

He felt the pressure in the back of his head as the urge grew stronger.  Blood.  He needed blood.  The virus that had turned him into a vampire needed to feed.  It was an insatiable hunger.  He could control it, sometimes.  But the longer he spent between feedings, the stronger the urge grew.  Eventually, he knew, he'd lose control and attack anything for a taste of blood.  Bloodlust, they called it.  Because he was a vampire.  He had to feed.

Clenching his fist, he fought to contain his hunger.  It was day.  Feeding would be near impossible.  But those rationalizations did little to sate his thirst.  Struggling, he leaned against the wall and tried to steel his mind against the instinct to feed.  In a few minutes, the urge would pass.  But it would not be held back much longer. He'd need blood tonight.  

Ji Hyo slipped her gun into the waistband of her pants and jumped around to make sure it was secure.  Satisfied that it would stay put, she considered the bulletproof vest on the counter before deciding against it.  It was too bulky to hide and would be a dead giveaway that she wasn't who she said she was. And after 3 years of chasing "The Black Dragon", she wasn't going to blow it by wearing the vest.  

Her partner, Gary, entered the van and gave her the once over.  Patting her down, he gave a knowing smile as he felt the telltale shape of a hidden gun.  "Alright Ji Hyo.  You got this.  We'll be right here if things get out of hand."  Though the words were reassuring, they both knew it was more of a lie than the truth.  There was a SWAT outside, ready to go, but because Ji Hyo was going in undercover, she couldn't wear a microphone.  Gary and the SWAT team would be effectively blind, unable to see or hear what was going on.  She was essentially alone.  

Walking to the meeting place, she was dismayed to see that "The Black Dragon" had not come alone.  In fact, he'd brought an entire entourage of body guards and gangsters.  Maybe it was just a show of force?  Whatever it was, their presence would make her mission a lot harder.  

Drifting from shadow to shadow, Jong Kook slowly weaved his way through abandoned alleys and run down streets, searching for an easy meal.  Though vampirism gave him incredible powers, he still took great care to chose his victims carefully, making sure there were no witnesses or cameras to record his meal.  It wouldn't do to be careless.  But even as his mind sought out the perfect opportunity, his cursed soul yearned for blood.  The air was thick with the scent of blood and it was taking all his discipline and self control not to lunge out and bite the nearest person on the neck.

Overwhelmed by scent, he leapt up to the rooftops, where the wind swirled and the air was clearer and more fresh.  His eyes slowly lost their red glow and returned to normal as the scent of blood faded into the background, still there but no longer occupying all his attention.  A few minutes in the fresh air slowed his heart rate and took the edge off his hunger.  He felt in control again.  Newly invigorated, he resumed the hunt.  

Suddenly, a new scent made his nostrils flare and his eyes turned red.  Weak in the knees, he fell to his hands and knees, struggling to stay in control of the relentless hunger.  Sweet.  The scent was faint but unmistakable.  He badly wanted to find the source and drink it dry.  At the same time, he was afraid of such a scent.  In his 700 years, he'd never experienced anything like this.  The thought of a total loss of control was frightening.  But even as he thought, he was losing control. Another second and he was overcome by vampiric instinct.  With total disregard to stealth and security, he chased single mindedly after the source of the smell.  

"**********" Ji Hyo screamed, in pain.  Clamping down on her arm, she tried her best to staunch wound and stay behind cover.  

From the start, she'd been screwed.  She hadn't been able to get close.  Unwilling to press too hard, she'd relented, but they insisted on taking her gun. Unwilling to part with her only defense, she'd refused.  She was in the middle of negotiating with the head of security when gunshots rang out.

That had immediately put all the gangsters on alert.  It also caused the SWAT team outside to charge in.  Caught in the middle, Ji Hyo had no choice but to blow her cover and draw her gun.  

That had been maybe 2 minutes ago, though it felt like an hour.  Adrenaline pumping, the pain in her arm faded to a dull ache after the initial shock wore off.  Using her uninjured arm, she fired at the gangsters, gratified to see them duck behind cover.  

Even with the SWAT team, things were not going well.  They had the advantage of training and equipment, but the gangsters had the advantage in numbers.  They filled the air with bullets.  Though their aim was suspect, the bullets were still lethal, even with body armor and Ji Hyo was very conscious of her lack of a bulletproof protection.  

But she couldn't stay behind cover.  The Black Dragon was certainly making his escape while his underlings held off the cops.  To catch him, she had no choice but to brave the hail of bullets.  

She took a deep breath and gathered her courage.  And then she ran, bracing for the bullet she was sure would come.  

She almost made it.  She was only steps from the stairway exit when the bullets came, two of them, catching her in her side and knocking her off her feet.  On the floor, lying in a growing pool of her own blood, sure she was dying, Ji Hyo closed her eyes and prepared for death.  She thought of her parents, who she would never see again.  She thought of her estranged brother, who she hadn't seen in years, and wished they'd made up before she died.  She thought of Gary, her partner who harbored a not so secret crush on her.  

But most of all, she thought about her life as a cop.  All the hours she'd spent working, chasing criminals.  All the overtime, the late nights, and the thousands of cups of coffee.  All the vacations she didn't take, all the milestones she'd missed, all in the name of making the world a safer place.  Suddenly, selfishly, it didn't seem worth it.  She'd sacrificed so much.  To die now was unfair.  Upset, a single tear dripped from the corner of her eye as she reflected on her life before her approaching death.

Jong Kook came too as the cut on his cheek rapidly healed over.  The bullet graze snapped him out of his bloodlust craze and he realized with a start that he was standing over the source of the smell.  At his feet lay a woman in a pool of her own blood.  Crouching down, the sweet smell nearly overwhelmed him, but he held on.  Curious, he dipped a finger in the blood and gave it a taste. 

It was wonderful.  Sweet but not cloying, light but rich and decadent.  He could feel the stress, anger, the bloodlust even, fade from his body, like a healing wave starting from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.  

Needing another taste, he kneeled down and only then, with his ears near her body, did he hear it.  Ba Bump.  Ba Bump.  Weak, but her heart still beat.  She was alive.

Without thinking, he immediately slashed his own wrist and held it to .  He waited, holding his breath with anticipation, as the blood slowly dripped from his wrist to .  Willing her to swallow, he watched, hoping it wasn't too late.  Vampire blood was miraculous, but even its panacean powers could not reverse death.  But if there was even a spark of life, its healing powers could do magic.

The light persisted.  No matter which way she turned, she couldn't escape.  Desperate, she tried to reach out, to block it, shading her face and eyes from the blinding light.  

Slowly, Ji Hyo realized that she was in fact, holding her arms over her face, blocking the sunlight streaming through the window.  Shocked by this realization, she sat up, and immediately regretted it as her injured side protested in pain.  In disbelief, she felt her side, fingers searching for the bullet holes she knew were there.  But all she found was two small scarred over bumps.  Immediately, she checked her arm and saw it too had healed over almost completely.  

As consciousness began to return more fully, Ji Hyo realized that she had no idea where she was.  Looking around, she was in what looked like a warehouse, but it was not the one she'd been shot in.  She was sure she'd been shot as her body still felt the wounds, even if they had miraculously healed.  The feelings and memory were too vivid to have been imagined.  But there was no way she could feel this good, be this alive after sustaining those injuries.  Her head began to hurt as confusion set in. 

High above, cloaked in shadows, Jong Kook watched as Ji Hyo slowly stood up and stumbled away towards the door.  There was something about her, not the least of which was her blood, that drew him to her.  There was so much he didn't know.  But he would learn.  For the first time in 700 years, he was actually looking forward to tomorrow.