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CHAPTER ONE

Illinois, USA

Chicago O'Hare International Airport

2020

.

Adrianna is absent mindedly looking at a far distance, as she rapidly taps her fingers on her thighs. She would cross her legs in a second but would uncross them in a split second. Repeating this action for a couple of times.

She is fidgeting on her seat as she impatiently waits for her flight to Germany. Her flight is delayed and this set back is fraying her already worn out nerves.

She just woke up at the wrong side of the bed today. Which is bizarre. Waking up in an agitated state is not her....nature.

For some reason, she just feels irritated and upset.

And this wait and idleness is making her all the more uneasy. Like she is being contained. Its suffocating her.

She shouldn't have given in to Steffie's pleas to take an early flight!

Steffie is her best friend ever since she first went to school. When she ran away from home, it was Steffie who took care of her parents.

Now she is a nurse in Germany and is getting married in that country. But, she wants her to be there and be her maid of honor. That's how she came to her current predicament.

If not for Steffie's altruistic concern for her parents, she would not have tolerated this excruciating wait. Which is killing her.

To make things worse, a rowdy and loud group of teenagers sat close to her as they talked about some Korean series.

This group would chatter incessantly and would burst out into such boisterous laughter from time to time. She barely controlled herself from asking them to leave and wreak havoc somewhere else!

Since she was young, her hearing is one of her most sensitive senses. The voice volume of this group of teenagers is already loud enough for normal people. But to her, their voices are magnified to a very high intensity. It is not just simply earsplitting but a full blast!

With their cacophony of very high decibels, these teenagers would render her ears out of commission forever!

But instead of complaining and criticizing them, like what she desperately wants to do, she opted to leave in peace.

"Its going to be aired on the first quarter of next year. I'm going to try that one out. Sweet Blood."

She was about to stand and leave when she heard a teenager ask.

"Do vampires think our blood taste sweet or it just smells sweet?"

"Dracula wouldn't mind either way! He is undead, but he is not unreasonable!"

Then another round of boisterous laughter started.

Adrianna's hair stood on ends. She doesn't know what exactly caught her interest but her impatience and her taut nerves were forgotten! It was gone just like that!

But in return, her hands and feet were getting cold. Her ears are buzzing and there is a sudden roar in her head.

Strangely, something on the teenagers conversation resonated with her. It hit her on an emotional level as if she can relate to it. But she just can't pinpoint what exactly it is.

These teenagers maybe talking nonsense to some, but to her, it struck a chord in her heart.

Then a word came unbidden to her head. Romania.

With no second thoughts, she impulsively changed her itinerary right there and then and went to Romania instead of going to Germany.

She has always dreamt of impenetrable forests, alpine peaks and endless meadows. So she asked for any places in Romania with alpine peaks and dense forests.

Someone said Transylvanian Alps or the Southern Carpathian Mountains.

When she heard Carpathian Mountains, her ears were ringing. An inexplicable electric current traveled from her foot right up to her body. She doesn't know why. But her heart was pounding and doing somersaults.

First, she followed her instincts and impulsively got a ticket to Romania. Why not follow her heart and go all the way and visit Carpathian Mountains too?

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NINETEEN HOURS LATER

SINAIA TOWN, PRAHOVA COUNTY

ROMANIA

2020

The moment Adrianna arrived in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, she seems to have turned on her internal compass.

She took a two hour drive and reached Sinaia from Bucharest.

She doesn't really understand what led her to this place but her blood is singing. Something was reaching out to her. The calling is so irresistible and the pull is very strong. She can almost grasp the answers on why she feels so....broken.

So she decided to let go and let both her heart and instincts be her guide. And before she can get a grip of herself, she was led to this destination.

Sinaia, Prahova County.

That's where she is now. And for the first time in so many years, she can feel a bubbling excitement within her.

After booking a room with a full suite, she ordered a brief lunch and went to catch up on some much needed sleep. She is exhaustingly depleted.

The moment her head hit the pillows, she was dead to the world. But she has a peaceful smile on her lips.

How strange.

She feels like....

She is finally back home.