Get UNDERNEATH Your SKIN

The room was deathly quiet.

The lights flickered as the emergency backup power hummed softly. General Kiyora’s soldiers were stationed at the exits, weapons aimed in every direction.

Victor sat hunched on the makeshift medical bed, blood still drying on the bandages around his ribs. The fight with Zero had left him mangled, but not broken. Around him, Emily, Keller, Dr. Leland, and General Kiyora stared—each frozen with their own storm of emotions.

Victor exhaled slowly, his eyes dimming slightly, though still unnaturally golden. He knew this would happen the moment he decided to confront Zero. And even during the fight, he tried to control himself from going all out but it wasn’t possible.

He woke up, wincing from the pain and sat in a reinforced chair, the monitors hummed quietly. Around him, Emily, Keller, Leland, General Kiyora and Cassie were seated, all watching him with a mix of suspicion and unease.

“I never intended to deceive anyone,” he began, voice hoarse. “But I didn’t know how to explain what I am.”

Emily crossed her arms, her voice barely above a whisper. “Then just tell us. All of it.”

He lifted his gaze. “My real name is Salvatore. I came here from a world far beyond yours. My kind….the Sanguinarians, live off the essence of other creatures. More specifically their blood. But after a while, our food supplies ran out, we were starving. And the hunger drove us mad. Our cities crumbled and the people devolved into husks.”

Cassie, lingering in the doorway, tilted her head. “Lemme get this straight,” she said with her Texan drawl, “Y’all are some kinda vampires or somethin’?”

Victor didn’t answer. He looked instead at Dr. Leland, then Emily.

“In my world, I was a scientist—a specialist in blood genetics and cross-species viability. Think of me as your equivalent of a hematologist, but one focused on biomolecular adaptation and evolution. I researched ways to sustain our species long term. That’s when I learned about the Cycle. A way to travel between worlds. It was a last ditch effort but it worked. It opens once every twelve moons…”

“Hold up.” Emily pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re saying you’re some kind of alien?! And you travelled through some portal to …eat us?”

Victor looked down at his hands, now a shade of gray, his fingers full of dark red veins.

“She asked you a question, Mister,” Cassie snapped, stepping closer.

“Okay, everyone let’s all calm down,” Leland interjected, removing his glasses. He opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a notebook.

“Dr. Vic…I mean Salvatore. You said you came from another world, right? Does it have a name?.”

Victor reached for the notebook Leland offered, scribbling one word in sharp strokes: NOCTURNIS.

“That’s my world. I don’t know where it is located, only that it lies beyond your solar system.”

“What about the virus?” Keller asked leaning forward.

Victor's jaw tightened. “That... wasn’t supposed to happen.”

He stood slowly, wincing with each breath. “As I already told you, I crossed through the cycle…just me. When I arrived, I was overwhelmed, the sun was too bright, brighter than my world. I intended to observe your kind, find out if coexistence was possible. To study if your blood was a viable substitute food source, quietly and selectively.”

Emily’s voice cracked. “But how did you even survive here? How did you pass as human?”

As she asked it, a memory resurfaced—books on anatomy, linguistics, and the study guides on slang phrases—lined across Victor’s apartment. She had asked him about it but he played it off seemingly embarrassed.

“It was the books, wasn’t it?” she whispered, almost to herself. “I should’ve known.”

Victor nodded slightly. “I suppose the books were instrumental in understanding the nuances of your culture. But it was a human who taught me how to blend in. Someone you’re familiar with. His name was Dr. Joey Reynolds.”

Leland’s face changed instantly. “Reynolds?”

Victor nodded. “He was the first person I met here. I discovered something strange when I arrived—a side effect of this world. I could compel humans to obey me. a power none of my kind could do back home. It took time to understand…but with his help I was able to control it.”

“You used him,” Emily said, ice creeping into her tone.

“I did. I compelled Reynolds to help me forge a new identity and eventually find a job.”

“How does this lead to... the virus?” Keller asked.

“We started slow at first, forging some degrees, credentials and identifications. Reynolds was surprisingly knowledgeable about this stuff, something about entering a club in his early years. Then we began experimenting with blood samples we got from hospitals, clinics, anywhere we could. I was replicating our feeding process using your biology. I thought…if I could create a synthesis, something sustainable, we could take only what was needed but then….”

Victor stopped wincing at the pain in his ribs. “It was a small droplet of my blood that I used but it was aggressive than anticipated, the blood slide tipped over and spilled onto Reynolds. He was under my compulsion, so he didn’t even feel it. But the change began almost immediately, mutating him.”

Emily’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Where did he go? Did you kill him?”

“No,” Victor said, shaking his head. “I swear I didn’t. He disappeared that day and I don’t know where he went.”

Leland stepped forward. “He didn’t vanish,” he said, guilt weighing his words. “He was captured…as one of the first infected. But by then, he’d already spread it to other scientists.”

A silence fell over the room.

“But if that’s true,” Keller said slowly, “then how did Zero’s mother get infected?”

Leland slipped his glasses back on. “That… is what bothers me. Because if what he’s saying is true, there’s still something missing.”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“This is merely a theory but I don’t think Salvatore here is telling us everything,” Leland said, turning towards him. “For starters you claimed you didn’t know where Reynolds went. But the same day you arrived at the lab asking for job…is the same day Reynolds was taken. That wasn’t a coincidence.”

Victor didn’t respond. He simply stared back.

“And second,” Leland continued, “you said your compulsion took time to master. So you must’ve used it on other humans. And I believe they were also exposed to your blood.”

Emily’s voice cut in, low and firm. “Is that true, Victor? Or Salvatore. Whatever your name is. Did you infect anyone else?”

Victor looked down. “Try to understand, Emily. It wasn’t by choice…but yes Leland is right to some extent. To be clear I didn’t know where Reynolds had gone but I could sense him and so I followed. When I arrived at the lab, I saw an opportunity to investigate the virus and how your kind handled it. It was essential incase...”

“Incase you needed to conquer us.” Emily remarked her tone more angry. “you still didn’t answer the question. Who else did you infect?” Emily asked crossing her arms.

“Please believe that I tried to contain it. The virus wasn’t only affecting humans but animals too, rats, cats and even livestock, with each infection the virus evolved. It was a few days after I was hired at the facility, I was walking when a speeding car stumbled into a group of pedestrians. One of them was a woman but I didn’t realize it at the time but she was pregnant.”

Emily took a shaky breath—and suddenly, a memory surfaced

She remembered watching that news. It was the second incident that had been made public since Leon Mitchell. An out of control bus driver later determined to have the virus run through thirteen people, one of them being a pregnant woman.

The woman was taken into ER but she escaped a few days later.

Victor continued with his story. 

“The woman stopped breathing the moment I got there. Thanks to... my intervention and the medical team, she was able to survive."

“You created them,” Cassie said in disbelief, taking Emily out of her thoughts. “Mr. Everett, the monsters out there, they’re your fault.”

Victor nodded, looking at her briefly. “I know.”

Victor didn’t look away. “Yes.”

Her eyes searched his face. “From the start, I knew something was off. I kept you at a distance. But then... we started working together more closely. Outside the lab. Interviewing witnesses. And somewhere along the line…” her voice broke. “…I pushed those thoughts aside. It sounds a bit cliché but I really thought you were different.”

“I am sorry,” Victor said softly. “Everything I told you about wanting to save your kind—it was true. I just… didn’t know how to stop what I’d started.”

Overwhelmed, Emily turned and stormed toward the door.

“Dr. Hayes!” Leland called after her.

“Don’t go out there!” Keller added.

But she didn’t stop. Victor tried to rise but his knees buckled.

“Take it easy,” Keller said, holding him down. “You’re still recovering.”

“I need to—”

“She needs space,” Leland said softly. “Let her process everything.”

Kiyora stepped forward, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. “I’ll go after her. I can’t let her walk out there alone—not in good conscience.”

The door slammed shut behind him.