-Normally, a rotting body doesn’t begin to give off an odor until about three days, at least, that is according to the dull sense of smell found in humans. Even as the body slowly breaks down from disease, a vampire can hone in on the aroma and track it down as a potential meal. A very useful adaptation.

With that being said, I can smell the faint stench of a rotting corpse about 2 blocks away from me. It has probably only been dead for a few minutes and it’s huge (comparatively to the usual rats). Probably some bum suffered a heart attack in some alleyway. I better get to it before someone else does.

With an overcoat, I set off into the nippy, dark night, headed straight for the enticing aroma. By now, it is snowing full blast in London and the night was a bit on the chilly side, even for me. So far during my stay here, I haven’t really enjoyed London weather with all the dreariness and the bone chilling muck at any given time. Not only that, but the city was disgusting as ever. A thousand years can go by and not a single thing may change in a European city such as this. I think once my lease is up, I’ll most definitely move somewhere warmer until winter is over. Strictly comfort purposes.

The longer I shuffle with my hands tucked in my pockets towards my next meal, I begin to differentiate between 2 different smells emanating from the exact same place. It’s not one.. But 2 different bodies? Was it some kind of double homicide or scuicide? Whatever it is, it means that today is my lucky day.

When I reach the alley, I take one last scope around the area to make sure no one is spying on me before I slip away into the darkness. Who would pay attention to a black rat like me anyway?

My eyes immediately adjust to the darkness of the musty alleyway and I let the shadow consume me like second nature as I continue down the straight, narrow path. By now, the scent nearly pushes me into a deranged state from how powerful it is, and yet I remain cool as my legs carry me to my meal.

As soon as the figure comes into view, my footsteps cease. Not only is there a lump of dead flesh left on the slick, cobblestone ground, but there is also another animated body standing directly above it, and yet, they both reek the same. They both have the same strangely arousing aroma that a corpse has.

-This isn’t right.-

-What do I even do in this situation!?-

-He’s just standing there.. Staring at the body. Should I play it off like I’m an innocent bystander that just happened to stumble on the scene?-

“What are you doing here?”

The man doesn’t acknowledge me until I address him, his head of wild, black hair whirling around until he faces me, looking much like a deer in the headlights. It may be partially due to the extreme darkness, but his eyes seem to be unnaturally pitch as the rest of his face was nearly stark white. He is shorter than me by about a head or more and has a shorter frame than most. In a way, it could be seen as amusing to have this guy stare at me so startled. It could even be funny if not for the death stench emitting from the man.

“I could ask you the same question, mate.” he replies, now turning his whole body so that he can face me entirely. “I’m a detective investigating a crime scene, here. Why are you coming down this pathway at this hour?”

-He can sense me, too. It’s the way he’s looking at me, like a cowardly dog encountering a wolf.-

“If you’re a detective, why do you smell just like that corpse?”

The man’s eyes widen in the most subtle way and his body seems to still. Not even his chest rises for a moment as he stares me down before shakily resuming a heaving cycle. “Sir, I have no idea what you’re going on about.” he quickly dismisses, “Maybe I’ll need to run a background check on you to see if you’re in the right state of mind. What’s your full name?”

I advance towards the man, my towering height compared to his short stature becoming even more prevalent with each step. His body is most definitely dead, and yet, it shows no signs of decay. Even his white skin is plush as a pillow. However, he doesn’t smell appetizing like the corpse just behind him on the ground as I take in a large whiff from not even a few inches away from his strange, bodily shell. The only thing appetizing about him is the intimidated, crazed look in his demonic, dark eyes.

“Sir, I’m going to need you to take a step back-”

“-You know you’re different. You’re a walking corpse. I think you know I’m different, too.”

The shorter male’s adam’s apple bobs as his otherwise impressively stoic face remained still.

My eyes dart down as the man begins to fiddle in his coat pocket, fully expecting to get shanked or have a gun pulled out on me, but it’s like a pop in my head occurs and the next thing I know, the man that had previously been directly in front of me has now vanished into thin air without any kind of warning. The strange, hollow death smell that rose from the man has now disappeared completely without a trace. I search all of my surroundings, but it’s like no one was ever here in the first place.

Well, it means I get to keep the body for myself, but.. It really doesn’t resolve anything. Who was he? Why was he by this body? Why did he smell like death and yet didn’t smell dead enough to devour?-

-This is very interesting… Perhaps I will extend my lease.-

I decided to give u a lil visual representation of the new boi 🤭😏 ~Ren