Chapter two

Right from the time Lincoln was aware of his surroundings as a young boy, he knew he was different.

He couldn't tell how he knew about this strange feeling. There was something deep inside him that told him that he wasn't an ordinary man.

The only disappointing part of what he felt was the fact that so far, nothing supernatural had happened to him to make his claim solid.

At twenty three, he was a solid hulk of a man. He wasn't poor because he had inherited his uncle's wealth which came from the wine company that made him a billionaire today.

His uncle, now old, wasn't able to run the company as smoothly as he did before. He entrusted it to him, the responsibility of managing the wine company.

Lincoln wasn't a spoiled brat. His uncle had made sure that he had groomed the young man well as he was growing up.

He wasn't like your normal bossy CEOs that had no regard or respect for those that worked for them.

Lincoln was different. He had charisma, charm and he was down to earth humble but to top it all, he was stinkingly rich.

Even though he was wealthy, Lincoln never abused that privilege. He didn't spend his money extravagantly nor did he visit any whoring house.

Women flocked to him left, right and center and you would think from all the pressure they put on him, he would eventually give in but that was far from the case.

Aside from a few flings he had had back in high school and his college education, he hadn't been in another relationship.

It wasn't that Lincoln didn't like women or didn't want to be in a relationship. The problem was that he was scared.

The last relationship he had been in had left him broken and scarred. He had loved her so much. He was willing and ready to do anything for her, yet she had toyed with his feelings and had broken his heart.

He was skeptical of going into another relationship with another woman because once he loved someone, he could become very possessive and after what had happened the last time, he wasn't willing to throw his neck into another relationship.

Not all women were gold diggers but nowadays, you couldn't be sure anymore.

Currently, he was staring at a mirror readjusting his tie into position. He dressed in briefs and a tight fitting vest.

The day's work clothes were already laid out neatly on the bed.

Lincoln was a very meticulous man. Everything that he did was composed and arranged. He lived alone, after having recently moved out of his uncle's home. His house was always in such a condition that you would think that he was a woman.

Everything was neat, pristine and engulfed in a nice masculine fragrance.

After adjusting his tie, he wore the two piece matching suit that had cost him a thousand dollars. Lincoln might be down to earth and respectful but his hidden secret was that he liked to splurge especially in clothes.

He was a fashion addict.

Once he set his eyes on something that was beautiful, especially fashion inclined, he went for it immediately, no matter the price.

Once properly dressed, Lincoln rang a small bell that was atop the nightstand facing his room.

A scurry of feet followed and his well trained dog Alastor stepped in, wagging his tail and jumping on his master for joy.

"Hey, boy. How are you?"

Alastor barked once in reply and jumped for his master again. The dog couldn't reach but was bent on trying.

Alastor was a thoroughbred husky that had been very costly to obtain. The dog was his friend and his only source of companionship for this period that he lived alone.

Taking the dog to the kitchen, he dished his food into a bowl and went over to prepare his own meal.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Hello?" He said once it had connected.

There was silence at the other end.

"Hello?" He said again, a confused frown coming across his features.

Again, there was no response.

Concluding that it was a prank call, Lincoln was about to cut the call when he heard a muffle of sounds at the other end.

They started faintly at first, then as he strained his ear to hear what was being said in the background, he realized that someone was breathing into the phone.

He took the phone away from his ear and looked at it as though it was a foreign object. What the heck was going on...

He put the phone back into his ear and said again, "Hello?"

The person at the other end started screaming. It was a horrible sound, and in a way, it had even sounded unearthly.

Lincoln had almost dropped the phone in horror but was able to regain his composure within time.

He instantly cut the call and dropped the phone on the kitchen counter.

What kind of prank call was that?

It was strange because he was sure that that hadn't been a human voice he heard. It sounded like a feral cry. It could have been someone trying to reach out for help; Lincoln had no way to tell.

He turned to see Alasor staring at him with a confused expression on his features.

"It's alright, Alastor. Just some weirdo wanting to scare me by screaming weirdly on a fine Monday morning."

Alastor gave him one last look of confusion before digging back into his food.

Lincoln wasn't going to lie; he was still taken aback by what had just happened.

Nevertheless, he went about preparing his meal normally.

After fifteen minutes, he stepped out of the house. He had put Alastor in guard mode before driving towards the company.

He had a set time at which he always clocked into the company and it was usually by nine am on the dot.

On his way over to the company, he couldn't shake out the weird feeling that had been with him since the prank call had occurred.

It was a scream, alright but there was something about it that told him that that scream was more than just a scream. It still left goosebumps trickling all over his arm.

He rubbed his palm over his face and focused on his driving.

Then, another thought struck him.

The prank caller had called his personal number.

He had two numbers, the company's number which staff from the company used to reach out to him and his own personal number which he used to call his friends and acquaintances.

That number wasn't known by many people but yet, they had been able to get him through that particular one.

A loud screech of tyres came from behind him and the harsh hooting of a horn followed. Lincoln snapped out of his thoughts only to see that he had almost hit an oncoming car.

From his windshield, he could see the driver of the other car stare at him as though he was a mad man.

Lincoln gave a brisk wave of his hands in apology and reversed the car. Turning in the left direction, he drove away from what would have been the scene of his accident.

He pushed the call out of his mind; behind a steering wheel wasn't the right time or place to think about the prank call.

Twenty minutes later, he was back in the office. Seated on the plush swivel chair that stared outside the fixed window of his office at the Chicago skyline, a cup of coffee was in his hands.

He didn't have a rough time growing up as a child. Everything he wanted was always there for him.

Some people would say that because of that he wouldn't understand the pain and suffering of others but that was very wrong.

Lincoln knew how important placing one's self in others' shoes were.

Staring out window and at the Chicago skyline, he took in a deep breath and smiled.

He had a lot of plans for the company and he was willing and eager to see all of them come to fruition.

Lincoln wanted to make the wine company one of the biggest in Chicago and he was willing to work very hard to see that happen.

Swivelling his chair away from the office window, he returned to the paperwork on his table and began shuffling through them.

It was a wine company and compared to other firms, the amount of paperwork was relatively less. Most of his time wasn't even spent within the company, instead they were spent in the fields and on site grounds where the main production of wine happens.

Again, his mind slowly started returning to what had happened this morning. It wasn't the scream that perplexed him, instead it was the fact that they had been able to get a hold of his personal number which only few of his friends knew.

Even if they had randomly punched in the numbers, how were they able to get exactly the one?

It perplexed him.

The door of his office slid open and the head of his secretary popped in.

"Sir, the business partners are here. What time would you be ready to meet them?"

Lincoln glanced at the watch on his hands.

"I'll be with them in five."

"Alright, Sir. I will relay your message." She said, flashing him a girl-crush smile.

He returned the smile and turned his chair back to the window. He was well aware that Gwen had a thing or two for him in the matter of feelings but he wasn't interested.

Grabbing the coffee which he had kept on the table, he downed the last gulps and mentally prepared himself for a long and busy day.

At seven o'clock, Lincoln was done with work. He barely had the time to head to the wine grounds today and he had decided to head back home early without staying an extra hour to finish up paperwork.

His driver was leaning against the car and smoking heavily while waiting for him. With each exhalation, he added another layer to the cloud of smoke that was above his head.

When John had spotted him, he threw down the stub of the cigarette and stomped out the fire.

"Evening, Sir. It was a cold night…so I decided to have a little smoke." John spoke with guilt.

"That's alright, John. I'll be going home now. As long as you don't smoke inside the car, there is no problem.

John nodded and opened the passenger seat for Lincoln. He then stepped into the driver's seat.

On the way home, Lincoln decided to pay an old friend a visit. His friend's house was in the direction that they were headed.

His friend Blake had also been the manager of a big company but after a shady deal with a bunch of people, things had gone south. Blake was left bankrupt.

He was now living in a poor neighbourhood in Chicago city.

After twenty minutes of navigating through traffic, John brought the car to a stop in front of an alleyway.

"Stop me here, John, I'll be going in alone."

"Are you sure, sir. I hear rumours that this place isn't usually safe by this time of the night."

"It's fine, John. I'm only going to see a friend."

Lincoln got out of the car and headed into the alleyway. On the left hand side of the alley way was a long row of fire escapes.

He had to walk amidst discarded bottles and pieces of trash littered on the ground before reaching his friends house.

It was an old door with peeling red paint. He knocked several times and got no reply.

Just as Lincoln was about to leave for the car, he heard another nosie, a bit off, in the darkness of the alley.

He turned to look and right before his very eyes, he saw a man running towards him, his eyes wild with fear.

He was yelling something that Lincoln could'nt hear but as he got closer, he heard it, loud and clear.

"Run! Run! It's a vampire. Get away from here!"

Lincoln stayed rooted to the spot as the man shot past him and was out of the alley.

His brows furrowed.

Vampire? What the hell was the man talking about?

When he looked forward again, the first thing he saw was the pair of red glowing eyes right in front of him and what followed next was a pain unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Sudden darkness consumed him.