Alice staggers into daylight, shielding her eyes with stolen sunglasses, and acknowledges that ordinary food and drink cannot satisfy the gnawing emptiness; she needs blood. She refuses to endanger people on campus and heads off toward the river, debating dark places to hide and recalling a TV killer who targeted bad people. After construction workers catcall her, she tests her presence by staring them down and, emboldened, decides to lure a single predatory man instead of facing a group.

She loosens her guard to attract attention and spots a middle-aged man in a suit staring at her. Playing into his assumptions of control, Alice asks for a ride, senses arrogance and appetite like burnt sugar, and gets into his car. As they drive into a high-rise garage, he begins to touch her and assert dominance; Alice dissociates into a childhood memory even as she braces for what she plans to do.

The narrative slips to Alice at eleven chasing her fourteen-year-old sister Catty, who has fled after Alice called their stepmother Eloise “Mum” upon learning she is pregnant. Alice follows Catty out of town as Catty rages and then collapses, screaming her grief and fear. They share a stolen cigarette; Catty insists they already have a mum and fears being replaced, while Alice, who lacks real memories of their mother, tries to soothe her by asking Catty to retell a story.

The memory snaps back to the car as the man squeezes Alice’s knee and comments on her accent. In the garage, he escalates, guiding her hand and trying to undress. Alice climbs onto his lap to position herself, then triggers the seat recline and bites his throat. Blood floods her mouth without any blackout; his struggle and terror register, but her strength overmatches him.

Alice drinks until his pulse falters and stops. For a few moments, his heartbeat thunders in her chest before fading, leaving her in profound stillness but free of hunger and pain. She waits for guilt, but feels only relief and the certainty that her condition is permanent.

She moves to the passenger seat as her facial scratches heal. She watches the man’s ravaged throat begin to knit shut, leaving only stray blood drops on his collar. Practically, she removes cash from his wallet without leaving prints and exits the car. Catching her reflection in the tinted window, Alice sees no glamor but recognizes that she is undeniably changed.