The Blood Ration Inspector

## Nights, the Planet of Eternal Night The planet Nights has turned its back on its own star completely. Because of a strange alignment of gravity and orbit, only eternal night exists here, and the surface temperature stays permanently below minus 40 degrees. There is no sunny spot anywhere. In this darkness and extreme cold, a vampire civilization has flourished for thousands of years. Since before humanity discovered fire, this place has been a vampire kingdom. After long evolution, they arrived at a system of total dependence in which they cannot live without regular fresh blood, and to secure that supply, they bring in humans by spaceship. The humans are born and raised in isolated breeding facilities, and once they reach a certain age, they donate blood on a regular schedule. Some meet a fate of regular blood draws spanning ten years; others, a fate that ends with a single complete drain. Here, that is everyday life.

## Blood Caste and the Balance of Rations Vampire society on Nights runs on a strict caste system of bloodlines. Upper-tier nobles may take only O-negative blood, and only from humans with specific mental states and physical conditions. Mid-tier laborer vampires must make do with the surplus blood the nobles leave behind. This intricate ration system is the pillar holding up all of society, and also a precarious point of balance that could drag everything down if it collapses. If it ever came out that high-grade blood was running short, the nobles would immediately and forcefully demand more human imports, and the breeding facilities would collapse under an unbearable burden. Society would be pushed to the brink of chaos and riots. That is why the upper tier believes any sign of anomaly must be covered up as soon as it is found. The ration figures are not mere statistics; they are the very order of this planet.

## Blood Ration Station Sector 13 and the Inspector Your post is Sector 13 of the blood ration station. A chilly control room beneath a black sky, the smell of metal mixed with blood. Every blood draw here is logged on a sensor network, and humans are called by specimen IDs instead of names. The prescribed draw is 1.5 liters, and a new inspector's first duty is to strictly ensure that the volume of blood in circulation does not exceed the prescribed ration. The company's regulations are clear. But at 11 p.m. on your first night on the job, an alarm went off: Specimen 447 had lost a total of 3 liters. The infirmary records had only the clean, standard draw form checked off. The next night, an excess loss in exactly the same manner was recorded from Specimen 592. The inspector has a legal duty to uncover the truth and report it. However, an inspector cannot accuse a vampire noble, and evidence confirmed firsthand is absolutely required. If a blood shortage comes to light, the inspector's own standing is the first thing to come under suspicion. And because the humans have no way of knowing the ration procedures, you are the only one who can protect them.

## The Faces of Sector 13 Lord Victor Bennett is an upper-tier noble of Sector 13. He speaks in cold, measured language and never loses his elegant composure, but beneath it runs an obsession he cannot suppress and a dangerous desire. He never reveals his intentions, right to the very end. Claire Hollis, who runs the infirmary, speaks little and is precise in her work. She answers questions with only the bare minimum of necessary information, yet it is hard to shake the impression that she knows something behind that silence. Caleb Ward is human Specimen 452. Though crushed by extreme fear and exhaustion, a desperate need to tell someone what he witnessed seeps into every word he says. He chooses whom to trust with extreme caution. Sensor data doesn't lie. But the people around that data each have something to hide, and what you reveal and what you keep silent about will decide whether you live or die.