Opening my eyes, I found myself in the middle of the forest with no one else around. There was no evidence of the car I was in or any of my family around me. There was only the empty forest that did not even make a sound.

  Looking around, I analyzed the situation that I found myself in.

  The trees around me were lodgepole pines with a few firs and oaks mixed in. The forest was also not as dense as the ones I was used to. It was almost like those pictures of what forests looked like before humans started trying to ‘protect’ them.

  The decrease in density meant that there was a greater amount of prairie grass and shrubs on the ground.

  I was also now sitting on a rock in the middle of this forest. Getting up off the rock, I started walking in the direction I was facing when I opened my eyes. I did not encounter anything for a little while, but the sounds of the forest gradually started showing themselves until the forest sounded like one should.

  Half an hour ter, I came across an animal trail leading through a small break in the trees. Because of the fttened patches of grass and, thanks to the blessing or rather curse of enhanced senses, the lingering smell of deer in the area, I was able to assume that this was a deer trail. Following it may not lead me out of the forest, but it would lead me to some ‘food’, so I chose to walk down the trail.

  Half an hour ter, I noticed that the sky was starting to grow dark, and the world seemed to lose some of its life once more. I was unsure as to why this happened, but it did not concern me much as I ready myself for a fight and continued walking forward.

  Eventually the sky lost the light of the sun as the moon rose high, and another of my vampiric traits showed itself in my ability to see in the dark. In fact, this trait was unlike normal natural night vision which still needed some residual light to see as I was abil to see in a space with the complete absence of such a thing. This also meant that the world did not change for me as the sun went down, and I still continued forward.

  After a while, I saw a faint flickering of orange on the trees ahead as the distant crackling of wood in a campfire sounded in my ears. This was unexpected for me, but it was definitely not unwelcome. After all, a fire meant people, and people meant a way back to civilization.

  With that in mind, I adjusted my course slightly and started sprinting at a pace that was normal for a human towards the firelight.

  This did not take very long, and soon, I was near the fire with only a small amount of shrubbery blocking my path. Slowing down at this point, I tried to listen to see if I could hear anything, but it seemed as if all sound that was not coming from the campfire was blocked out.

  This made me concerned again, and I started getting ready to pull out my weapon as I walked forward through the shrubbery.

  On the other side was an older man sitting by a campfire, looking towards me as I exited the bushes. Next to him was a Chinese sword that I think was called a tang dao which was something I did not expect. The old man himself was wearing a white robe like the ones from those cultivation stories I have read a few times while I was bored. He even had the beard to go with it.

  I did not let that distract me however, and quickly announced my presence by saying, “I am sorry for intruding, but I am currently lost and would like to know if you could point me towards the nearest town?”

  The old man looked at me for a little longer, scanning me up and down, before saying while stroking his beard, “I could do that, but could you first tell me where you are from as I have never seen clothes like yours before.”

  That made me slightly confused, but since I found myself in a different pce because of some strange phenomenon, I could be anywhere in the world. However, since we were both speaking English and he did not seem to suspect where I was from, I was not sure what was going on.

  Still, I spoke up and answered him, “I am from the United States of America, more specifically, the West Coast.”

  This did not seem to help him as he looked at me confused before saying, “I am not sure where that is, but I can tell you that you are currently within the Bright Star Empire near the Sky Enlightenment sect. I can also take you to the nearest town in the morning if you would like.”

  I was thankful for the offer as I did not know where I was, but with the mention of an unknown empire and sect combined with the sword and the old man's current state of dress, I could assume that something supernatural in origin was going on with that light. Still, the man offered for me to sit by the fire with a gesture of his hand. Taking him up on that offer, I sat down on the opposite side of the fire from him and started to wait for the end of the night.

  The man watched what I was doing and seemed confused be the fact that I was just sitting there waiting for the night to pass.

  This only sted for about another hour before he lost interest and got up, only to sit cross-legged on the ground a little farther away and close his eyes.

  I was somewhat intrigued by why he did that, but I did not care enough at the moment and started to think about the rest of my family. They were not here with me, but whatever happened would not be able to kill them. Not even my little sister would be able to be harmed by that, regardless of how she acts or how awakened her blood is.

  One of the benefits of being a vampire, I guess.

  I should not have been the only one in this situation either, as my entire family was thrown toward that light as well.

  I should try to find them at some point, but they would also be for civilization, so I could at least hold off until then before I start looking for them.

  After pnning all of that, I was about to close my eyes to get some rest when I heard a sound from the bush behind me.

  I did not even wait for what it could have been and made a small cut on my wrist with my nail, drawing out some of my blood with my abilities and forming that blood into a short, serrated knife that I used to ssh behind me.

  The entire process, from creating the knife to using it, took less than a second, and my body was already spinning around to strike at my ambusher.

  The first thing I saw when I spun around was a rge cat-like beast about to tackle me to the ground.

  Tapping into my innate speed, I twisted my wrist and adjusted my aim to ssh across the beast's neck while rolling to the side.

  My movement worked like I intended it to, and I was now crouched on the ground next to a beast that was now colpsed on the ground and had blood pouring from its neck.

  Getting up and walking over to it, I stabbed it in the head to end its suffering before looking over to the man, who now had his sword in his hand and was looking at me. The sword did not concern me much as I asked him while pointing at the best, “Do you mind if I take this thing away from camp a little way to butcher it? I don’t think we want it attracting anything else that could be lurking in the dark.”

  The man only looked at me for a few seconds before he responded, “I do not mind.”

  He then sat back down and closed his eyes.

  I was honestly gd that he agreed, as I was already getting thirsty after seeing the beast's blood on the ground.