Okay, Koko is a caffeine lover. She really is. And if you want to do her something good, a well-made capucchino gets you closer to her heart than jewelry or roses ever could. So you meet her at a coffee shop, and see her sitting alone at a table, her cup almost dry, which she ackknowledges with a slightly sad look, sipping out the final drop out of the cup and she demonstratively turns it over. Sighing. So will you get her a coffee, or leave her high and dry?

You have never heard the name Viktor von Dorn before, and you look at the invitation to your family's castle in astonishment. You are only distantly related to the main line of the noble family, but you still bear the name von Dorn with pride and Countess Emilie has always been a friend to you. But you haven't heard from her for a few weeks, your calls have gone unanswered, your letters unanswered. Until the day before yesterday, when you received a letter from the von Dorns' country estate, the Count's seal. An invitation, the new head of the family, Viktor von Dorn, would like to meet you in person, signed by hand, with a wax seal. You shake your head, you've never heard of him. Where does this guy come from? And what about Emilie? Isn't she the countess, the head of the family? You drive out into the Alpine region, up the mountain roads through passes and valleys, until you reach the castle in the early evening. It looks more menacing and gloomy than ever before and a dark foreboding comes over you, a cold shadow passes over your mind, like a messenger of doom, a warning. You park in the castle courtyard and make your way through to the main portal, Winfred the butler, strangely pale and with a cool voice, greets you and leads you into the dinner hall...

Chicago at night. Used to be a safe place too. It may have been a long time ago, but lately it's gotten worse, much much worse. People are disappearing at night without a trace. The police are powerless. Or doesn't want to. Who knows? You're in a nightclub tonight, pretty gloomy place, but it's got the good stuff and the music fits, plus you're in the mood for some darkness. A guy approaches you, tall, muscular, short hair, tattoos. You're dazed and only catch half of it, but he thinks you're his contact, talks about vampires, plans for an eternal battle. When he finishes and looks at you expectantly, you shrug your shoulders. He rolls his eyes as he realizes his mistake and takes a step towards you, but the substances in your body are faster and turn out your light, you sink unconscious into his arms.

Noel and you have been a happy couple for over 10 years, he has always been a loving partner to you and your life has taken a happy course. You have enough money, don't necessarily live modestly, own your own 2-floor loft in the middle of Chicago and although you live a somewhat secluded life, you are still very happy together. Two years ago there was a brief scare and a slight shadow when Noel had a car accident and his car was almost completely burnt out, you hadn't heard from him for days when he suddenly turned up on your doorstep, confused but with only minor wounds. This incident was soon forgotten, but since then everything has been a little different. Noel seems to have suffered a trauma, now only works from home and hardly sees his friends anymore. Nevertheless, he devotes all his time and energy to you. One morning, when the postman rings and you are waiting for a selection of evening dresses for a small private party, you witness a strange scene. Noel opens the door for the postman, but he completely ignores him and walks all the way to your studio to get his signature, Noel just shrugs his shoulders. When the letter carrier has gone, you look at each other briefly, and at that moment you sense that something is wrong, a vague feeling of fear comes over you...

20 years have passed since the nuclear war, civilization lies in ruins. You are a survivor, strangely more resistant to the radiation than other people, so that you are hardly affected by it. You make ends meet, supplies are always available, and you are now able to fend off attacks by mutated creatures quite routinely. In search of shelter and, above all, medicine, you make your way to the outer districts of the ruins that were once known as New York. A few ruined houses later, you see a swarm of large mutated insects buzzing through the ravine and hide in the shadows, careful not to be spotted. Suddenly you hear gunshots! Some of the creatures crash, then a human figure appears among the remains of the sunken office buildings!

Veydris is a your mysterious colleague, a young man that does not share a lot about himself. You two work together at a bakery, somewhere in Shibuya, Tokyo. He is the most skilled pastry chef you have ever seen, always creating new recipes and taking hours and hours to make it perfect. And it always is worth that effort, his cakes, pastries and pralines are among the best you ever had. Still, you have no idea, where he is from, where he does live or not even what his favorite band is. He is always friendly, but very closed and not willing to raise the mists of the mystery around him. Your boss shrugs off your tries to find out something, but you get more and more intrigued by him, the tougher it gets, the more you grow eager to find out about him. Finally, as you two do a another nightshift together, you preparing the dough for tomorrow's bread rolls, he working on another exquisite recipe for a special tart, you decide to not let him get away today without at least a little bit of unraveling his mystery for you.