Chapter 3

"Am I dead?"

Adrian's eyes suddenly opened. His body, stiff for two hours, suddenly came back to life. Adrian felt a sensation of warmth in his body. In addition, he also felt thirsty and hungry.

"What happened? Where are the two men?"

Adrian got up and looked at his entire body; nothing was injured. The only thing left as evidence of the strange thing was the bloodstains on his white shirt.

"I have to leave before they come back!"

Adrian ran towards his car and left the forest. Thousands of questions played in his mind. All of them were difficult, even impossible, for Adrian's common sense to accept. Adrian turned up the radio's volume overcoming the noise in his head. His only goal was to go home quickly and hope that what had happened was a dream.

"Wealth, immortality. Bastards! What have they done to me?" Adrian said while hitting the steering wheel of his car.

The empty road made Adrian drive fast. A waving hand from a man whose car had broken down on the right side of the road was ignored by Adrian. However, something with an intense and great aroma entered Adrian's nose.

The man lost his concentration, and suddenly, his brown eyes turned red. Adrian stopped his car and grinned while muttering, "Blood."

Adrian was like being controlled by something. He turned his car back to meet the man who had asked for his help. When Adrian blinked before leaving the car, his eyes returned to their normal color. He took the jacket that he had placed on the right-hand seat and used it to cover the bloodstains.

"Hey, what can I help you with?" Adrian got out of the car and approached the man who was actually with his girlfriend.

"My car tire is punctured; I need your help. Can I ride with you to the convenience store in front?" the man asked.

Adrian grinned and nodded. "Sure, get in my car."

"Thank you! You saved us. I will take our things."

The happy couple looked without realizing the bad thing that would happen to them. Adrian waited at the back door of his car. The aroma from the couple's bodies stimulated his hunger and thirst even more.

The unlucky man came carrying a backpack. Adrian greeted him and opened the back door. Just as his body entered the car, Adrian grabbed his neck tightly. Black claws appeared, as well as the terrifying fangs in his teeth.

"Hey, Dude! What are you doing? AKH!"

There was no time for the man to ask for help and resist. Adrian quickly plunged his teeth into the man's neck and began to suck his blood, tearing his neck apart brutally.

"Honey, this bag—KYAAA!"

The man's girlfriend, who arrived later, screamed upon seeing his lover lying motionless with blood and a large wound on the neck. Adrian's numb leg allowed him to easily drag the woman's body and make it his second meal.

Adrian's mouth was filled with blood. His hunger and thirst disappeared as he grinned and muttered while looking at the couple's corpses. "This is what I need. Perfect fresh blood."

Adrian felt the heat that had consumed his body disappear. His claws, fangs, and red eyes returned to normal. Adrian was momentarily startled and panicked when he saw the bodies and blood that had already filled the back seat of his car.

"What the fuck?! What have I done?" Adrian looked at his hands, which still had traces of blood. "I killed them!"

Panicking, Adrian immediately got into the car and left the scene. He had to hide the two bodies and clean himself before returning to his apartment. Luckily, there was a lake in the forest area that Adrian had visited before. The secluded location was perfect for disposing of the couple.

At half past five in the morning, Adrian finished his task. He wrapped all his bloodstained clothes in black plastic. He tied the bodies with large stones and sank them in the lake.

"This is crazy, but I must appear calm whatever happens. I have to go back to the club and find that scumbag!"

**

Adrian woke up at exactly 10:00 a.m. He immediately left bed and opened the black plastic bag in his wardrobe.

"Shit! What happened last night was true! Fuck!"

Adrian tied the plastic bag back up and threw it into the corner of the room. The bag contained his shirt, covered in bloodstains, clear evidence of the terrible event.

"Okay, calm down. You have to calm down, Adrian. You need to go to work and live your life as usual. All of this happened because of them. I must have been given some drug." Adrian appeared to be talking to himself in front of the mirror, convincing himself.

The 29-year-old man quickly got ready and changed into a neat black suit. He was in the elevator heading to the parking lot in less than fifteen minutes. One strange thing Adrian noticed was that he could still smell the scent of human bodies.

Some of the people he met had a very strong aroma that was even more enticing than the couples. But Adrian tried to stay focused and ignore the smell.

The sun was already high and shining brightly. Adrian's car started to drive out of the parking lot. However, suddenly he screamed as the sunlight pierced through the car window and hit his skin.

"AKH! I'm burning!"

Adrian's skin looked eroded like burnt paper. Luckily, not far from his position, there is a large tree. Adrian immediately parked his car and took cover under the tree.

Smoke came out of the burn marks on his skin. The stinging sensation is still felt. Adrian looked at himself in the rearview mirror, realizing his skin was much paler than before.

"This is not possible. I can't turn into something like a creature last night…."

Adrian swallowed his saliva. The bright streets made Adrian decide to return to his apartment and shut himself up until nightfall.