Purple skies and blood-red grass.

  Dragons and floating cities on the horizon.

  Pointy teeth and the fact that he was now a fucking vampire.

  As surreal as all of this was, Ace couldn’t lose himself in the dread. He had to focus. He had his mission, and he had made his deal with this strange floating girl.

  He shook his head. Never in his life could he have imagined he would be on another world, making bargains with hovering twelve-year-olds, watching dragons thunder through the sky.

  Ace stood in the shifting stalks as this world’s warming sun cast everything in a sickly violet glow that set his newly-heightened senses on edge. Each breath brought a cocktail of foreign scents—sweet rot, a musty tang that reminded him of carrots, and something altogether foreign that made his fangs itch beneath his gums.

  He absently wondered if he even needed to breathe anymore, but it was such a natural habit that he didn’t try to fight it.

  Thunder cracked overhead, but it wasn’t storm clouds rolling in. Two massive dragons soared through the clouds, casting long shadows across the ground as they wheeled through the purple expanse. One black. One bronze. He studied them as they snarled at each other, wondering if they even noticed him so far below their duel.

  The black dragon’s wings cut swaths of darkness through the air, while its bronze opponent’s scales caught the light like living metal. Their roars shook the earth beneath Ace’s feet, and their shadows blocked out the light momentarily as they soared overhead. The sleeker bronze dragon swooped low, heat like freshly stoked coals glowing along its massive spiked spine. The black dragon snarled and shadows dived at their opponent like a barrage of spears.

  Ace could’ve sworn the bronze dragon grinned, malicious fangs larger than Ace’s body glinting in the sunlight. In a flash of fire, the bronze dragon disappeared, only to reappear directly above the black dragon, claws extended for the kill.

  Seconds later, they vanished beyond the forest canopy, leaving him with only their roars to mark their route.

  “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.

  In this world of monsters and magic, he was starting at the bottom of a very, very tall food chain.

  His stats sheet still hovered in front of him, a thin layer of crackling blue energy between him and the forest beyond the meadow, and he studied it more intensely this time.

  “These stats,” he said with a quick glance toward the floating girl beside him. “Tell me more about them.”

  She tilted her head playfully. “What’s the magic word?”

  In answer, he sighed with impatience.

  “C’mon,” she said, nudging him with one elbow. “C’mon, Sergeant. You can do it.”

  “Please,” he growled.

  The System clapped happily and did a little twirl. Her dress shifted colors to a soft yellow hue, the same shade as buttercup petals, and her skirts spun through the air with her. “Since you asked nicely, then yes. I’ll tell you.”

  “How charitable,” he said dryly.

  “Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom,” she said, ignoring him. “Pretty straightforward, don’t you think? What do you think each one does?”

  In answer, he simply raised one eyebrow in challenge.

  “Tsk.” She huffed softly. “Fine, spoilsport.”

  He suppressed the impulse to thank her for not being difficult, mainly because he didn’t want to jinx it.

  “Strength,” she began. “Easy. Your physical power.”

  “You’ve mentioned magic several times now,” he commented. “What sort of magic are we talking about?”

  “You’ll see,” she said with a playful wink.

  In answer, he just sighed again.

  “Vitality,” she continued. “That’s your durability. It influences your Health and your resistance to damage. Dexterity, meanwhile, measures your speed and agility. It also enhances your reflexes and instincts.”

  Interesting.

  “Then there’s Intelligence, which does indeed make you smarter as you scale it.” The girl giggled wickedly. “That stat marks your knowledge retention, focus, and how much magic you can use. Wisdom, before you ask, influences your deductive thinking and how fast your magic regenerates. Easy peasy.”

  Ace studied the stats sheet before him and, after a moment of contemplation, closed his eyes.

  This was real.

  This was his life, now, and he knew exactly what he had to do—play her little game, learn her rules, get to Floor 7, and then get the hell out of here. This girl wanted a new toy, but she would soon find out just how big a mistake it was to give him fangs.

  “Ooh!” the System said with a happy squeal. “The others are ready to join us.”

  “What others—”

  “Hush now, pretty man.” She clamped one palm over his mouth and grinned as her delicate little face got closer to his. “I’ll explain everything in a bit, I promise, but you really must shut up for now.”

  As he glared at her over the blurry silhouette of her hand on his face, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

  The girl—or rather, the System—rose into the air with theatrical grace, her blonde hair whipping in a wind he couldn’t feel. The fabric of her poofy skirt rippled with flashes of green and blue as she ascended. Her skin started to glow from within, and her movements left brief afterimages in the air, as if reality itself struggled to keep up with her.

  “I am the System!” Her voice rang out with unnatural clarity as she raised her arms toward the violet sky. “I summon the dead, the dying, the doomed!”

  The air crackled with energy, and Ace’s new senses screamed in warning. Whatever she had just done, every instinct told him to get the hell out of there.

  He didn’t get the chance.

  Reality split open like badly sewn fabric being torn in half. Rips of brilliant light snaked across the clearing, each flash depositing another confused person onto the grass. They appeared in rapid succession—pop, pop, pop—in a twisted version of tactical insertion.

  Within seconds, eight strangers materialized.

  Confusion rippled through the newcomers. Some dropped into defensive stances, but most just lay on the ground, staring slack-jawed at the child floating above them. The System raised her hands in front of her, palms flat, and a flash of brilliant blue light encased six of the eight in glowing cocoons. The light was gone an instant later, and as it faded, the System’s grin deepened into something ancient and cruel.

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  “There,” she said with a nod. “Now they’ve been transformed. Don’t they look great, Sergeant?”

  The girl turned to him, and the others who had just joined them followed her gaze. Ace's fangs ached, a sharp reminder of his own lack of humanity. The burning thirst still clawed at his throat, but his Marine training had given him something to hold onto—a framework for processing trauma, for adapting to impossible situations.

  As far as he could tell, these were just civilians. Most likely, they had nothing. No training. No preparation. They were just regular people about to discover that their bodies weren't their own anymore. The System had just drafted them all into a war they knew nothing about, and that infuriating child was smiling about it.

  A muscle in his jaw twitched as he resisted the urge to yank her from the sky and demand she turn them back, but with his new instincts came a concrete awareness.

  She was a god, and he was an ant.

  A really, really, pissed off ant.

  Ace studied the newcomers’ faces, his enhanced vampire senses picking up details his human eyes would have missed. He had to take stock and assess any threats, though judging by the amount of crying going on, he wasn’t altogether worried.

  The first one he caught sight of was a stunning woman in a silk nightgown. Her hair fell in jet-black waves past her shoulders, catching the dawn light in ripples of midnight silk. Her deep brown eyes scanned his face, and her ruby-red lips curved into a smile that promised both pleasure and a hint of violence. Her pale skin all but glowed against the black silk dress that whispered around her curves.

  Another hunger rose within him, this one altogether unique from the savage pang he’d felt before.

  It slammed into him with the force of an explosion—instant, violent, and overwhelming. This wasn't him. He had always prided himself on his self-control. He had turned down plenty of willing women on deployment and stayed focused on the mission.

  His fangs ached with a need that had nothing to do with blood. This was something older. Darker. Every muscle in his body tensed with the effort of holding himself in place.

  He cleared his throat roughly and shifted his attention to the others in the crowd. Like breaking contact during a firefight, he had to physically wrench his gaze away. The primal urge slowly faded as he looked anywhere but at her, but the memory of that loss of control left him on edge.

  The blood-thirst he could rationalize as a tactical necessity. But this feral ache was a threat.

  It took a few moments to regain his composure, but he managed. He tried to figure out what he’d been doing, what he’d been thinking about before that need had hit him, and a few more seconds passed before it came to him.

  Threats.

  Right, he’d been scanning for threats.

  Intentionally, he avoided looking at the first woman as he continued to scan the others. A man stood near her, all sharp cheekbones and carefully styled dark hair. A pretty boy, sure, but there was something predatory behind those blue-green eyes that didn't match the polished exterior.

  Two down.

  Six to go.

  Third—a petite woman with a pixie cut hairstyle sobbed uncontrollably into the sleeves of her blood-stained suit. It fit her like a glove, tailored to perfection, and its silk fabric alone was probably more expensive than anything Ace had ever owned.

  Fourth—another man with wild blond hair and slouching posture nervously adjusted glasses that were no longer there. His tweed suit reminded Ace of a professor or teacher of some kind.

  Fifth—beyond him, a woman with light blonde hair knelt with her fingers in the meadowgrass, her eyes wide as she examined the world around her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her black uniform had a patch featuring the star of life.

  A paramedic.

  Thank God. In this world, they would definitely need a medic.

  And, sixth—at the edge of the group stood a man who radiated lethal competence. His military bearing matched his cold eyes, and he carried himself with the kind of violent aura that made everyone else unconsciously step away from him.

  The last two newcomers, however, made his new predator instincts shiver in warning.

  A man and a woman, judging by their silhouettes. They looked almost human at first glance, but there was something deeply wrong about them. Their skin had a subtle, scale-like texture that caught the light with all the gleam of polished metal. Their eyes held an ancient, reptilian intelligence that made his spine stiffen. Vertical pupils. Irises that gleamed with metallic colors no human eyes should have.

  Everything in him, right down to his bones, screamed that these were apex predators in human form—but damn, were they ugly.

  Thank God I didn’t end up looking like those scaly bastards.

  The thought struck Ace suddenly, and he couldn’t suppress a quiet sigh of relief.

  “Don’t worry, Sergeant,” the System whispered in his ear.

  He instinctively sidestepped her, his hands lifting into a defensive position as he found her hovering beside him. She giggled, that impossibly wide grin sending a shiver down his spine, and she draped one arm around his shoulders as she pointed toward their scaly visitors.

  “Those are dragon shifters,” she explained. “They’re locals, but I allow them to cultivate power like you vampires. It’s a fun little rivalry that has stoked some truly impressive wars over the centuries. These two were especially impressive at the try-outs, and they’re going to tag along with our merry little band of misfits for now. Try not to let them kill you super soon, ‘kay?”

  He glared at her through the corner of his eye. In answer, she patted him on the back, apparently taking his silence for agreement.

  The System twirled above them all, her laughter echoing across the clearing. “Oh, look at all my beautiful new toys! Welcome to your second life, my precious playthings! We’re going to have so much fun together!”

  “I really don’t think our definitions of ‘fun’ are the same,” Ace muttered under his breath.

  “What did you do to me?!” the preppy man shouted, his indignation and disgust blurring as he studied his pale arms.

  “You’re vampires!” the System shouted happily. “Isn’t it lovely?”

  Instead of answering, the man just stared at his hands in horror.

  “All six of you are, actually, and the Sergeant over here can answer your questions about that,” the System said with a gesture toward Ace. “But you dragons, oh my, you’re a fun batch for sure. As you Levelup in my little game, you’ll walk a razor’s edge between power and sanity. Killing humans makes you more sane, while killing vampires makes you succumb to your bloodlust. Monsters make you savage, and if you kill your own kind, you’ll become stronger than you could ever imagine. Won’t that be fun?”

  Well, now.

  That wasn’t good.

  The two dragon shifters studied her face in calm appreciation, apparently already prepared for the System’s chaos. Ace furrowed his brow as he thought through the implications of this strange world’s power system.

  This demented girl was truly obsessed with murder.

  Fucking fantastic.

  The two dragon shifters carried themselves with the barely contained strength of creatures who could tear through a sheet of metal as if it were paper. Their very presence heated the air around them, making the air shimmer with steam. Even in human form, everything about them radiated barely restrained power—from the way they moved with liquid grace to the faint smell of smoke that clung to their skin.

  The System spun in midair, her dress bleeding to pitch black. “Welcome to your new existence! I saved you vampires from certain death, as you might recall, so try not to die too quickly this time. I do so hate it when my toys break before I'm done playing with them. You merry few have been rescued for a glorious purpose!”

  “Is this… heaven?” the paramedic asked. “Or hell?”

  “Neither, sweetie,” the System replied with a sinister smirk. “And your new purpose is simple: kill, kill, kill! Do that, and you’ll become royalty with enough riches to corrupt even the most pious of you. But first, you’ve got to survive.”

  Huh.

  By the sound of it, she wasn’t going to offer the others the same bargain she had given him.

  Interesting.

  The clearing erupted into shrill voices and demands for an explanation as the panic set in among the newcomers. Their voices overlapped, and Ace could only catch snippets of the chaotic chatter.

  “—you can’t possibly—”

  “—who the hell do you think you are, you sack of—”

  “—send me home now or I’ll—”

  The voices grew louder as the others stood, one by one, and gathered at the floating girl’s feet. Ace, however, just watched the System hover above them all, her eyes glittering with barely contained glee.

  She was enjoying the chaos.

  No—she was loving it.

  This second life she had given them had nothing to do with salvation, and it certainly didn’t have anything to do with redemption, either. This was raw entertainment, and they were all just players in her fucked-up game.

  Before he could tell the others to calm down—panic never did anything, after all, except make life harder—another notification appeared:

  ———

  SYSTEM EVENT: TRY NOT TO DIE

  ALL NEWLY TURNED PLAYERS MUST MAKE THEIR FIRST KILL WITHIN 24 HOURS.

  FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION.

  GOOD LUCK.

  ———

  Apparently, the bloodletting the System so desperately craved had begun—and Ace was caught in the crosshairs.