The Buck Stops Here

A reformed vampire stands at his mirror with a single modest goal for the evening — to borrow a cup of milk from the neighbor across the hall — and runs headlong into the one obstacle his centuries never prepared him for: in 2026, nobody owns anything. The old law that a threshold must be crossed by invitation still holds, but there is no longer a single human soul whose word the doorway will obey, only a chain of apps, LLCs, and a faceless firm in a glass tower where the buck finally stops. A short, darkly comic piece about permission, ownership, and the long con of self-regard.