Welcome to my entry for the Open Novella Contest 2020, a contest on Wattpad where you try to complete a novella in 13 weeks. I used prompt #60 ("The next words out of your mouth better be 'I'm sorry' and 'Here's the antidote'.") and to a lesser extent #15 (the quote by Plato: "How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?").
It's been five years (back when I was 14) since I have written anything longer than 10,000 words, and university and my mental health go first, so I didn't reach 20,000 words before the deadline (I made it through the second round, though), but I finished November 2020.

I did a lot of research about HIV/Aids, blood, the human immune system and ageing, but it mostly comprised Wikipedia pages and YouTube videos, so I'd have a feel for the basics. I have zero medical background and I have interpreted some things creatively, but the purpose is to make the existence of vampires scientifically possible, not to get every detail right. I will likely post the links to the most interesting sources (especially those about HIV) in a separate chapter when the story is done.

Lastly, there will be references to and talk about Ancient Greek and Latin, literature, history, and the like and while I might study Linguistics and Literature with a major in Ancient Greek and Latin, I'm only in my second year and I am in no way an expert, so my knowledge is limited to what I have personally read and studied and again, I might get some details wrong, though I'll try to stick to what I know. If something is not clear or you want to know more, I'm happy to answer questions ;).

If you want to connect with me or talk about this novella or my other books, you can find me in the Literary Lounge: https://discord.gg/UD7t7pN There are also lots of amazing other authors there!

That being said, enjoy and let me know what you think through votes or comments! I am always open to constructive feedback.