Billy Jean carefully took apart a ballpoint pen, chucked the ink cartridge and the cap, leaving just the empty tube.

  Voila, a makeshift straw.

  “Aah…”

  Brian let out a blood-curdling scream as the wound was jabbed.

  Watching Billy Jean's handiwork, his eyes nearly popped out of his head in horror.

  With the hollow pen tube between her lips, a steady stream of energy seeped into her body, and changes started kicking in.

  The rotting patches grew fresh flesh, and the wounds shrank bit by bit.

  Her sunken cheeks plumped up again, like a deflated balloon getting filled with air, and the bluish-gray tint faded away gradually.

  But it wasn't enough.

  She was still hungry for more.

  Billy Jean gripped the blood-soaked pen tube and rammed it into Brian's heart artery.

  Blood spurted out like a geyser.

  “Mm…”

  Brian's pupils dilated to the size of saucers, his face contorted in sheer agony, looking like something out of a nightmare.

  The light in his eyes flickered out, and he was gone.

  …

  Donna hadn't gone far.

  She was in the shop next door.

  Even though all the vampires had been taken care of, she was still too spooked to wander off.

  She was picking through clothes while keeping an ear out for any noise from next door.

  Apart from a couple of loud thumps at the start, there'd been just faint murmurs after that, and now it was dead silent.

  Probably, the coast was clear.

  Donna curled her lip in a sneer.

  So, he was still a two-pump chump.

  She put down the clothes, ready to go check on him, when all of a sudden her body jolted.

  She stared in disbelief at the person coming her way.

  It was him.

  A tidal wave of shock crashed over her, and Donna dashed forward.

  Michael Joke had been tracking Billy Jean by her scent and was searching high and low for her when out of nowhere a woman sprang up and blocked his path.

  He scrunched up his brow a bit and barked coldly,

  “Move it.”

  Donna's face twitched slightly, and then she blurted out anxiously,

  “Michael Joke, don't you recognize me? We were college classmates. We even teamed up on a research project back in school. I'm Donna. Ring any bells? Why'd you up and vanish? I heard from the gang that you hightailed it back to Sea-city. I tried reaching out umpteen times, but you never picked up. Later, you changed your number. What in the world happened to you? It's so great to see you again…”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Michael Joke stared at this chatty woman yapping away.

  Impatience flashed in his eyes.

  He still had to track down that finicky Billy Jean and didn't have time for her gibberish.

  Ignoring her still-flapping gums, Michael Joke simply sidestepped her.

  He caught a whiff of blood in the air, his dark eyes narrowing, and he picked up his pace in that direction.

  When Donna saw Michael Joke walking away, she clammed up fast.

  Seeing him making a beeline for where Brian was, her complexion changed.

  If Michael Joke caught that sleazebag Brian messing with a woman, he'd surely peg her as an accomplice.

  No way.

  She'd been secretly crushing on this guy for years.

  Now that fate had thrown them together again, she wasn't about to let this chance slip through her fingers.

  Donna chased after him.

  She reached out to grab Michael Joke but got dodged.

  She didn't care.

  “Michael Joke, let's scram. Don't go over there. There was an ice-attribute superpower just now. I saw him haul a woman into the fitting room. If we barge in and spoil his fun, we'll be in hot water. Let's vamoose.”

  Donna dropped the superpower's identity like a bomb, hoping Michael Joke would back off.

  Usually, folks were scared stiff of superpowers.

  After all, they were no match for them.

  But Michael Joke was no ordinary Joe.

  When he heard an ice-attribute superpower had dragged a woman into the fitting room, his dark eyes turned to ice, and his brow clouded over.

  He shoved aside the pesky Donna and hustled in that direction.

  The second he stepped into the shop, a thick, coppery smell of blood hit him.

  His dark eyes swept the place, and his gaze landed on a fitting room.

  Bright red blood was oozing out from under the door.

  Donna caught up and saw the river of blood flowing from under the door.

  Her eyes filled with disgust.

  She didn't expect that lowlife Brian to go this far this time.

  It was just a mute.

  She didn't even squeak once.

  What a pitiful way to go.

  Seeing Michael Joke about to barrel over, Donna panicked and snatched at his sleeve, begging,

  “Michael Joke, let's split. The other side's an ice-attribute superpower. We can't take him. I'm freaking out. Let's get out of here, okay?”

  She had to bolt before Brian came out.

  Otherwise, Michael Joke might be in a world of hurt.

  Sure, Brian was a dirt-bag, but his strength was no joke.

  He could wipe out vampires and handle mutants like a pro.

  “Beat it.”

  Michael Joke roughly shook off Donna's hand, so hard she tumbled to the ground.

  He didn't spare her a second glance and marched forward to shove open the fitting room door.

  Seeing it was too late to stop him, Donna's mind went into overdrive, scrambling to come up with a plan to deal with that scumbag Brian next.

  The fitting room door creaked open slowly and stopped halfway, like something was jamming it.

  Half the door gap was enough to see the carnage inside.

  Donna locked eyes with Brian's wide-open, ghastly peepers, and she let out a scream that could wake the dead:

  “Aah…”

  She thrashed and backed away.

  Brian was toast.

  The ice-attribute superpower Brian had been taken down by a woman.

  Billy Jean was ticked off and looked up with a scowl, shooting a frosty glare at Donna.

  Donna, meeting Billy Jean's cloudy eyes, immediately widened her own in terror and shrieked,

  “She's a vampire! That woman's a vampire!”

  Seeing that Michael Joke didn't bat an eyelid, she scrambled up and tried to yank him back.

  “Michael Joke, it's a death trap! That woman's a vampire. Let's book it!”

  Suddenly, her body went rigid.

  Her pupils quivered as she saw Michael Joke squat down in front of the female vampire and reach out to brush a stray hair from the corner of her mouth.

  She heard him murmur to her,

  “Okay, quit glaring. I'll get rid of her.”

  Michael Joke backed out, and the fitting room door closed again, hiding the gory scene within.

  Donna gaped in shock at the horror show in front of her.

  A chill shot up from her toes to the top of her head, making her shiver all over.

  Michael Joke was being all cozy with a female vampire and even giving her a free pass.

  Was he nuts?

  That was a heartless walking corpse!

  Michael Joke's cold eyes skewered Donna, full of loathing.

  “Still here?”

  Donna's face was as white as a sheet, and her lips quivered.

  It took her forever to find her voice.

  “It's a vampire. It offed that ice-attribute superpower.”

  “So?”

  Michael Joke said nonchalantly, like he couldn't care less.

  “It's a monster. It ought to be killed. Otherwise, it'll turn on us.”

  Donna hollered.

  “This kind of freak should bite the dust. It has no place in this world.”

  Michael Joke's dark eyes narrowed to slits.

  He was about to deal with this annoying broad when all of a sudden, from behind, came that familiar yet strange voice, raspy and dry from being mute for ages.

  “Give… you… a chance. Come… kill me.”

  Michael Joke's back went ramrod straight.

  He whipped around.

  Billy Jean had emerged from the fitting room and was standing right behind him.

  He wasn't sure if he was hearing things.

  How on earth could Billy Jean talk?

  Billy Jean stared daggers at Donna and rasped again:

  “Kill… me.”