“Jayden” the boy was in complete darkness until he heard a man's voice. He tried to find the person but was unable to locate anyone.

"Who's there?!" the boy shouted into the void. No response. The silence was almost oppressive.

“You know who,” a voice replied out of nowhere, he felt a presence right behind him. He was afraid to look at the voice. A voice that was becoming more and more like his own.

"Noo!!" Jayden stood up scared. He was shaking all over. "Nightmare..." he took a deep breath and lay down on the pillow. He looked at his phone to check the time. He sighed reluctantly when he saw that it was barely before seven. He couldn't sleep anymore so he got dressed and left the room. Clare was still sleeping in her room, so he quietly started looking around the apartment.

It turned out to be much larger than he expected. It certainly included three quite large rooms, along with a living room that flowed seamlessly into the kitchen. The living room itself was quite spacious, and it could easily be turned into two separate rooms. Even though there was plenty of space, the apartment didn't feel empty. Everything was neatly arranged and matched. The furniture and appliances were of the highest quality and the interior exuded elegance. Jayden, coming from a wealthy family, immediately realized that this apartment did not belong to someone poor. He moved into the kitchen, which exuded warmth, like the rest of the apartment, with light furniture and marble countertops. There was everything he needed: an oven, a coffee machine, a toaster, and other high-quality appliances. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the girl didn't spend much time cooking. He opened the fridge, which was almost empty. This surprised him a bit - it was strange to have a well-equipped kitchen and at the same time a practically empty fridge. He opened the cabinets and there were mainly various teas, each carefully labeled. He smiled, now understanding why Clare had offered him tea so many times. He opened the second cabinet and there were only containers of coffee. The whole thing seemed quite comical. He looked at the coffee machine and sighed. "So she lives alone..." he whispered, wondering about the mystery of her loneliness. He decided to make breakfast with what he had available to return the favor. Jayden always enjoyed cooking and did it well, even surpassing his mother and sister. He felt sad for a moment, but quickly recovered and focused on preparing the meal. He must disappear from their lives. Has to. Clare left the room and when she heard noises from the kitchen, she was speechless.

"What are you doing?" she said in surprise, smelling the scents wafting throughout the house.

"Breakfast" Jayden walked past her and placed the food on the table he had prepared earlier. Clare looked at him in amazement, everything looked very appetizing. She sat down at the table, still not believing what she was seeing.

"Did you do it all yourself?" she asked excitedly, helping herself to a sandwich and salad. Jayden smiled.

"Yes. Bon appetit" he smiled sincerely and started eating. "Unfortunately, I don't know what you like to eat, so I made what I like... If you tell me what you like and if you have any allergies, I will be better at cooking."

"Stop it," she laughed, "Usually Terry cooks for me. He's great. And I... I'll cook something, but it's supposed to be simple and quick," she added with a smile. Jayden looked at her and smiled back.

"I noticed," he whispered.

"I heard that" Once they were done, he started cleaning up. "Are you crazy?" she looked at him like he was some kind of alien, shaking her head in disbelief. He just laughed and cleaned everything up. Clare watched him, then looked down at her pajamas, a plain light T-shirt, and baggy shorts, and then back at him, appraising the boy. Jayden noticed this and felt just like he was with his sister. She always scolded him with her eyes when he did something better than her.

"Now that you're dressed, go downstairs to Terry and tell him to give you the plastic," she slowly moved towards her bedroom, "and don't worry about cleaning up. I have someone to clean up."

"Who? What?" Jayden had no idea what to do, he just stood there and looked at her.

"Go down to the bar, find the bartender there, and tell him to give you what I asked for." She entered the room and closed the door. The boy sighed angrily. He did what she asked him to do. When he went out into the corridor, he had time to look at everything. The corridor was high and looked historic. Light stucco on the ceiling and dark parquet on the floor. The stairs were also wooden, they looked old but solid. The blonde went downstairs to the pub. The entire room was finished in dark wood and burgundy wallpapers, mixed with gold accessories. It was still quite early, so the place was almost empty, only one table was occupied by a small group of older men who were sitting next to a piano. Jayden walked up to the counter where an older man, average height, stood. His light brown hair was mixed with gray. He wasn't fat, but he wasn't slim either, his shirt was tight around his stomach. He would have knocked the boy down with no problem. He noticed the young man and smiled at him.

"Morning, little boy. You finally decided to visit me" the bartender laughed loudly, cleaning the bar "Sit down, sit down" Jayden smiled awkwardly and sat down at the counter. "So? Any breakfast? Something to drink? By the way, I'm Terry, and you?" He poured some juice into a glass and handed it to him.

'So this is Terry' the boy thought. A man, about fifty, wearing a red, black plaid shirt and jeans. He had a short dark beard that made him look charming.

"Jayden...um, I already ate...I came because Clare wanted me to bring something, some plastic?" the boy said quietly, looking at the glass of drink. He was never a bold person, having a normal conversation was a big challenge for him.

"Ah! Well, follow me," the bartender moved towards the back room, which looked like a small office. A small desk with a computer, a small printer, and file cabinets. He sat down at the tablet and started doing something. Jayden looked around the room until Terry handed him the document.

"There you go" he smiled, and the blonde didn't know what to say. He looked at the document in disbelief.

"But this...proof..." Jayden looked at Terry in shock, the document was very well done, just like the original.

"You're observant," the man laughed, "That's what Clare asked for. From today on, you're Jayden Reed, 19, a citizen of the Gray District"

"Gray? But how?" the boy took a deep breath, he felt bad about it. Each city was divided into districts, from Green to Gold, with the latter belonging to the richest people. The system assigned citizens depending on the size of their wallets, and it had always been this way for security reasons. Brown belonged to the working class, while the Green district was for the poorest. It was a place particularly controlled by the police. The Silver District was a district of moderately wealthy people, it was the most populous district. Jayden's family belonged to Golden, his parents had always been wealthy. "Um, I think you were wrong... there is no Gray District," the boy replied quietly. Terry shook his head but said nothing.

"Let Clare make you a little tutorial, huh? If not, come see me and I'll tell you everything," he smiled sincerely. He had beautiful brown eyes. Tired but honest.

“I guess she'll have to.”

“You've never dealt with Night Creatures before, have you?” He pointed to the chair next to him for the boy to sit down.

“No...I don't even know what it is.”

“Night Creatures, i.e. vampires. Anyone who has any supernatural skills qualifies" he said, looking at Jayden all the time "Anticipating the question, I'm only human, so don't worry" he laughed at the end "Clare, as you probably guessed, she's also like you, but she's not a vampire"

“Yes…she told me she didn't know anything about vampires.”