Night in the village felt different from the nights Adrian remembered.
It wasn't simply dark.
It was watching.
The moon hung thin and pale above the rooftops, casting long skeletal shadows across the dirt paths. Most homes had already gone quiet. Windows were dark. Doors barred. Fires reduced to faint orange embers that glowed like dying eyes in the hearths.
The village slept early.
Too early.
Adrian stepped outside the small shed he had been given to stay in and inhaled the cold air deeply. The night breeze brushed against his skin like a whisper.
He should've felt tired after weeks of relentless work.
But sleep had become… optional.
Unnecessary.
Unwanted.
His gaze drifted toward the distant tree line.
Those woods.
Even now, standing beneath the open sky, he felt them pressing in. Like the forest itself leaned closer when the sun disappeared.
He exhaled slowly.
"Home…" he murmured to himself.
What would he be doing right now if he were still there?
Lights. Cars. Phones. Noise. Endless noise.
Civilization never truly slept.
Here, silence ruled everything.
And silence let the mind wander.
A faint sound snapped him out of his thoughts.
A voice.
Adrian frowned.
It was faint… muffled… distant.
Coming from the barns.
He turned his head slightly, listening harder.
There it was again.
Not words. Not clearly. Just a low murmur — like someone speaking through clenched teeth.
No lanterns burned near the barns. No workers would be out this late.
The village feared the night.
So why was someone whispering inside a barn?
Adrian started walking.
Not fast. Not slow.
Curious.
Calm.
The dirt crunched beneath his boots with each step, the sound unnaturally loud in the quiet night. The closer he got, the stronger something else became.
A smell.
Rotten.
Metallic.
Heavy.
His nose wrinkled.
Blood.
A lot of it.
The barn door stood slightly ajar, rocking gently in the breeze with a soft creak.
Adrian grabbed a nearby torch planted in the ground and lifted it free. The flame flickered violently as if protesting what lay ahead.
The moment he pushed the door open, the smell hit him fully.
Thick. Wet. Suffocating.
The torchlight stretched into the darkness, revealing scattered hay, wooden beams… and a shape on the floor.
Adrian stepped closer.
Slowly.
The body lay twisted unnaturally, neck bent at a sickening angle. Skin pale. Lips blue. Eyes open wide in frozen terror.
And the throat…
Ruined.
Two deep puncture wounds sat where life used to pulse.
Completely drained.
Exactly like the corpse he had seen weeks ago in the forest.
For a moment, the world went still.
Then—
Adrian moved.
He spun around instantly, body reacting before his mind even caught up.
A presence.
Behind him.
A voice spoke from the darkness.
"So perceptive."
The words slithered through the air like smoke.
"How fortunate… another meal walks into my arms."
The thing moved.
No footsteps.
No warning.
One moment nothing was there — the next a figure blurred forward from the shadows.
A hand clamped around Adrian's throat.
Cold.
Inhumanly strong.
The creature leaned close, breath reeking of copper and decay.
"I think I'll pull your head off first."
Adrian's feet left the ground.
His back slammed against a wooden pillar with a heavy crack.
The creature tightened its grip.
Then paused.
Because Adrian's hand wrapped around its wrist.
And slowly…
Slowly…
He began pulling it away.
The creature's red eyes widened.
"…How?"
Adrian tilted his head slightly, voice calm despite the iron grip crushing his throat.
"I'm just like that."
The creature hissed and lunged again, claws flashing toward his chest.
Adrian moved.
Too fast.
The claws sliced empty air as he slipped aside.
The creature snarled and rushed him fully this time, abandoning caution.
It rammed straight into him—
And froze.
Its expression twisted in confusion.
"…What… is this?"
Its body trembled as if something invisible had sunk fangs into it.
Energy.
Life.
Something was being pulled from its very core.
The creature staggered back, clutching its chest.
"You… what are you—"
It stopped mid-sentence.
Because Adrian's hand had changed.
Claws.
Dark. Curved. Terrifying.
The creature stared at them in disbelief.
"…Claws? What kind of dog are you?"
Adrian stepped forward slowly.
"You'll find out soon."
He lunged.
The claws sank deep into the creature's abdomen — deeper than flesh should allow.
The vampire screamed, a sound filled with something new.
Fear.
Adrian blinked in surprise.
"Wow… I don't know what happened… but I feel a little stronger."
He stepped closer.
"Now let's go o—"
The creature exploded backward, crashing through the barn door in a blur of movement.
"I will come back!" its voice echoed from the darkness of the forest.
"And next time… I will savor you!"
Silence returned.
The torch flickered.
Adrian stood alone in the barn beside the corpse.
Morning came with screams.
Villagers gathered. A family shattered. Fear spread like wildfire through every home.
And later, beneath the warm sunlight, Adrian stood alone outside the village… staring at the distant woods.
Thinking.
The night had finally spoken.
And it knew his name.