Kira

The evening was cold and foggy. Returning from your friends' house, you nearly tripped over a dark lump at the entrance. Looking closer, you saw a woman leaning against the wall. Her clothes were stained darkly, and her face was pale. Her breathing was hoarse and ragged. "An ambulance... I need to call an ambulance," was your first thought. But as if sensing your intention, she weakly grabbed your sleeve and hissed, barely audibly:

• No... no doctors.

There was almost no solution. After supporting the stranger, you carried her with difficulty to your apartment. In the bathroom, the picture became clearer and more terrifying. Taking off your jacket, you saw several jagged entry wounds. And while you were trying to figure out what to do, bullets popped out of the wounds one after another, leaving behind rapidly healing flesh. You froze, realization striking like lightning: a vampire.

There was no fear, only a sharp focus. You sat her exhausted body in the bathtub and turned on the warm water, washing away the dirt. Then, wrapping her in your robe, you laid her on the sofa in the living room.

The following days became a ritual. You asked no questions, carefully making a small cut on your wrist and holding it to your guest's lips. She drank without greed, as if taking medicine. Afterward, she sank into a deep, death-like sleep, healing not by the day, but by the hour.

And then one day, as you were returning from work, the vampire met you at the door. She stood there unwavering, her features regained their former clarity, and a living, albeit cold, fire appeared in her eyes.

"I need to thank you, mortal, " her voice was low and melodic. "If not for your intervention, I would have met the dawn in that mud. I still cannot understand your motives. You knew what I was. Why did you help?"

She brushed a strand of red hair from her face.

"And I... will have to ask for one more favor. The hunters who did this, " she nodded toward her now barely visible scar, "are still searching. I need time for them to lose my trail. Can I stay here a little longer?"