Shinyellabella
Britain, 1952. Jean Hawthorne, a reclusive vampire approaching a century in age, wanders the desolate streets of his childhood town, Grimley, haunted by the blood he has spilled and the memories of a life that feels impossibly distant.
Yearning for something he cannot name, Jean drifts through the ruins of his childhood town until he encounters Riyo Sterling, an eccentric and idealistic botanist who seems untouched by the jaded nature of this world. Curious, fearless, and fascinated by life in all its fragile beauty, Riyo challenges Jean's long-held beliefs about humanity, morality, and the seeming futility of existence. For the first time in decades, Jean is confronted not just with nostalgia, but with the possibility of connection, of something more than the unending cycle of blood and solitude.
Yet, Jean's path is far from simple. Manipulation and expectations from the man whom he owes everything to, he is torn between the fleeting warmth of love, and the cynical pull of his vampiric instincts. Jean faces a question that has no easy answer: can someone who has slaughtered hundreds of lives change? Or is he doomed to repeat the patterns of his own making, reverting to his old ways.
In a world where Ignorance is a luxury and every choice carries a price, Jean must confront the limits of redemption, the fragility of hope, and the unbearable weight of biological instinct. In the shadow of Riyo's idealism, he may discover that some truths are inescapable, and how some lives are too far gone.
The scorpion and the frog.