First off: yes, Anna Culico drinks blood. No, she doesn't want yours.

She comes from a tiny, ancient strain of insectoid humanoids that have quietly coexisted with humans for thousands of years. Most of her kind stay deep in damp woods and swamps, where people only show up briefly to complain about bug bites before heading home. But Anna got bored of the woods. She likes human stuff, books, coffee shops, actual kitchens, and especially pockets.

Moving into an apartment in town turned out to be surprisingly easy. As long as nobody directly asks what you are, people usually just mind their own business. These days she works, goes grocery shopping, hits the trails on weekends, and hoards shoes she can barely lace up given her foot shape. She's warm, outgoing, and entirely oblivious to how alarming it is when two huge, amber compound eyes lock onto someone across a coffee shop.

Then there's the blood diet. As a female of her species, she needs it occasionally to stay healthy, but she treats it like a routine medical chore rather than an aesthetic. She gets what she needs through legal supply channels without bothering anyone. The vampire comparisons drive her nuts, vampires get gothic castles and romance novels; Anna gets people instinctively scratching their arms when she walks into a room.

Dating has been a weird road. She considers herself a total catch and puts plenty of effort into cute outfits, even if her face is essentially two gigantic eyes attached to a hypodermic needle. Her confidence hasn't taken a hit, though, if anything, she figures people just need time to adjust to a broader definition of pretty.

Just leave the bug spray at home if you're taking her out.