Chapter 1 Strange Guy

The cloudy morning of 23rd July seems like its going to be a bad weather, that's how it has been since Cian's existence. The 23rd of July was the day his foster parents found him and they made that day his birthday. It has become a family tradition to go the place where he was found, a car recycling center. He started visiting there alone because his foster parents were too for long trip.

'Mom, I'm off' Can said as he sat on the porch to wear his shoe

'Don't stay out late' Jade, his foster mom said walking towards where he sat. When he was done with his shoes, he stood up and turned to her Jade

'Don't worry too much, you are getting old' he said softly patting her back before letting go.

'Daniel, won't you bid him goodbye?' Jade said to the man who sat on the cushion reading an old newspaper. He lifted his head from the papers

'He became a man today stop pampering him' Daniel said turning back to his papers and Cian smiled and thought

"how much he had aged".

'Dad, bye, I'll be back soon' Cian said before leaving the house.

'I miss the small him' Jade said in a nostalgic tone.

'Me too' Daniel said, Cian heard it and stopped on his track, he fought back the urge to turn back and hug them, after much struggling he brought himself to continue moving.

He continued his journey, he lived in a small town which was mostly occupied by old people as he moved he was called by few old people who were outside enjoying the cloudy morning he nodded to them in respect and continued his journey until he left the town. He bought a train ticket and boarded a train at the Subway, his charisma made people give way for him to pass, he stood facing a window and held onto a bar for support. It was a thirty minutes ride, he highlighted at another Subway that was located in a less populated area than his hometown, it was hard to know if people live in that town because it was silent as grave.

He soon left the town and headed for the woods he followed trails his foster parents made the day they found him. He followed the trail that led him to the now abandoned car recycling center. He walked towards a old dusty red car which was covered in climbers. He cleared the way to the backseat door, opened it and sat inside and breathed in the scent of the old car which now smells like plant. He leaned into the chair then close this eyes and tried to remember what happened before he was five, he tried this on every birthday but no avail.

Today seems different, as he tried to remember, he saw himself back in his five years old body standing in front of a burning house, the background seemed noisy but he couldn't hear anything. He wanted to move forward but his body felt paralyzed, he couldn't move a limb even though he wanted to help. He was intensively staring at the burning house and soon the rain began, he started hearing the sound of the rain and stuffed mumbling. He jerked awake, his face was covered in old sweat,

"What was that?" he thought to himself with his chest heaving and he was also trembling.

He turned to the window and saw it had started raining which was strange, usually it rained at night on the 23rd not in the afternoon. He took a breather to calm himself also waiting for the rain to stop, when he was calmed the rain stopped without releasing any drop of rain as if there was a sudden control.

Cian came out of the car and prepared to go home, he always know he has a sharp hearing, so he heard some cold footsteps and some kind of mouth movement sound. He followed the sound he heard which led him to something that he thought was a myth, a figure that seemed human was biting someone else neck, from afar it looks like they were kissing but with a closer look it looks like the figure was sucking out blood from the other person's neck. He was shocked almost paralyzed like in was in a trance, his head screamed danger but his body had another intention. His hand silently moved to his pocket pulling out his phone, he turned his phone camera luckily the flashlight was off so he clicked and a click sound echoed in the silence,

"Oh shit" he cursed in his head.

He had forgotten to put his phone on silence. He quickly tucked in the phone back to his pocket as the figure which was sucking blood out of the person turned to look at him, he looked like a guy that's around 20 year old.

Cian immediately made for the run into the woods, he ran without trails but was running for his life. The strange guy smiled with blood stained all over his lips and trickling down from the side of his lips as his fangs went back into his gum. He licked off the blood on his lips and tasted the metallic taste which felt like he couldn't get enough, he used the back of his hand to clean up the blood trickling down to his jaw then vamp out of the car recycling center. His speed was no joke, he definitely seem not human, in no time he caught up with Cian pinning him to a tree.

"Am I going to die like this?" Cian cursed at himself in his head for not running away. The hunger in the strange guy's eyes seemed to calm down at the sight of his face, he gentle leaned down into his neck, Cian was expecting a bite on his neck but he heard the guy sniffing him instead before he leaned out and stared at Cian again. Cian pressed his lip together showing his perfect dimples there was a slight confusion written on his face.

'Strange' the strange guy muttered and Cian heard it.

"Strange? You are more strange than me" Cian screamed in his head with fear, his uptight charisma had melted but beneath all those fear he felt there was warmth which were somehow familiar but he didn't know.

There was a rustle a sound in the bush, "Seems, I have to hunt for a new meal" the strange guy thought leaving Cian and vamping out to chase after the animal that had made the rustling.

Cian used the opportunity to run far away from that spot hoping to get to a safer place but the safer place was an unknown spot in the woods with every possible direction. Cian forgot to leave trail as he ran making him get lost. He roamed the woods getting more lost and the forest was slightly getting foggy. His stomach grumbled that's when he realized that he only had breakfast and skipped lunch and it seemed like dinner time now. He heard rustling in a nearby bush so he turned the direction and saw a familiar face, he felt less nervous seeing someone that would suffer with him. when the girl saw him both amusement and nervousness popped up her face she disgusted it with a smile.

'Cli...' her voice trailed off almost made a mistake.

'Cian' she called walking towards Cian,

'What are you doing here?' she asked,

'I'm supposed to be the one asking that question, Where are you coming from?' Cian asked point his head towards the direction of the fog.

Immediately she thought she had been found out and racked her brain to come up with a believable lie.

'This is my home town nothing is there I just got curious and wanted to check it out, you?' she lied happy that Cian didn't see any loophole in her lie.

'Today is my birthday so I occasionally visit here on my birthday and I got lost in the woods' Cian said skipping the part about the strange blood sucking guy.

'I know my way around here let's get out of the woods' she said, her name was Karin she visited Cian hometown occasionally and they met a few times.

'You said your birthday is today?' Karin asked as she led Cian out of the woods.

'Yes' Cian said with his usual charisma.

'How strange' she muttered without knowing that Cian heard her.

'Why is everyone saying "strange" today' he said striding forward as he sighted the empty town.

"Their birthday are the same too, something is strange about this, they don't only have the same face but the same date of birth obviously the same age, the only thing off is that he's human, can't say anything for sure" Karin thought as she jogged to meet up with Cian.