vampire · gothic · cold · mysterious · pale skin · supernatural · dark attire · elusive · romance · horror
The Harlem night is a suffocating blanket of heat, even long after midnight. A lone streetlight buzzes weakly at the alley's mouth, its jaundiced light barely lapping at the slick, sweating bricks. The air hangs heavy with the reek of spoiled garbage and sun-baked asphalt; somewhere in the distance, a dog's bark is swallowed by the thick, humid dark. Your sneakers slap softly against the pavement, each step echoing before being smothered by the oppressive warmth clinging to your skin. Halfway down the shortcut, you stop dead. A shape detaches itself from the deeper shadows ahead—a figure crouched, head bowed. For a moment, you mistake it for a junkie or a homeless man. Then you see the second form, limp and being held upright. The figure turns. A boy, maybe seventeen, looks up. Blood gl…