To be honest, when we started this trip Zhan told me to be prepared that it will take time to find real clues. I then said that I had already adjusted to that and that I was aware that we would not find something so quickly. But by now we've reached day 64 since we left and I'm getting more and more impatient.

From one place to the next. One story after the other. One book after another and just nothing. Until 8 days ago! Finally we arrived in an old village that gave us the feeling of having traveled back in time at least 200 years.

A village like you might only see among the Amish. No electricity, no heating or any other modern things. One moment in Wallachia and the next moment in a hidden little village in the middle of nowhere, somewhere at the apparent end of the world. We entered this village and were transported back to a time in which time stood still.

A time when alchemy was practiced. A time when there were herb witches. And a time when people feared nothing more than the undead bloodsuckers and those people who turn into beasts at full moon. A time when we do not speak of stories that happened at some time ago, but are still quite real. We experience the story ourselves. At least that's how it feels as soon as you enter this village.

We were invited to a house of an old man with a long gray beard, who showed us his "modern" alchemy kitchen and showed us hundreds of books that he and his ancestors wrote. Books about alchemy, about witches, about vampires and werewolves and their legends.

One book about legends stood out the most. And not just because the cover was made of human skin or the texts were often written with blood. It caught our eye because on the cover was a drawing of a wolf and a vampire. It was an heirloom from his great-great-great-grandfather, who found this book and saved it from being burned, the old man told us.

While Zhan eagerly took pictures of all the pages of the book and Lee read some passages from it, I glanced at a second book that caught my attention. A book about the supposed first vampire. And it was not about Count Dracula. But rather a creature that had been portrayed naked on the drawing. With a deformed face, claws instead of fingers, fangs and wings that consisted of skin.

In this book it was written, which Lee kindly translated for me, that this was one of Satan's higher demons and which had been sent to earth to seduce people. He promised people eternal life, eternal youth and immortality in exchange for their souls. In order to make the pact with this demon, the human had to allow the demon to bite him, drink from his blood and then drink the demon's blood. Shortly after that, the human died and came back to life. But he was no longer a human, but a creature of the night and hungry for blood. And because this newly created creature, the vampire, did not want to stay alone and the demon promised him that if he bit other humans, drank from them and did not kill them in the process, he could create new creatures that were like him, he did so. And so, little by little, more and more vampires are said to have been created.

While I found this book really super interesting and listened to Lee read it to me, in the other book about the legends, Zhan finally found a clue we've been looking for for a long time. Namely about the whereabouts of the white wolf and the vampire. And much to our amazement, the book said that this mismatched couple left Romania at some point to live somewhere else in peace.

And this somewhere else is Finland! Finland which consists to 70% of forests!

Lee then found another book in which there was also a clue. It said: "The white wolf and her vampiric companion left the country when a war broke out. They feared their existence would become known and so they preferred to hide in the forests of Finland."

So what did we do with this clue? That's right, we took it seriously. Zhan and I immediately booked a flight to Finland. More specifically, to Helsinki. We also searched online for private guides who knew their way around the forests there. And then we made the long drive to the nearest city with an airport.

Lee did not accompany us. She called her oldest son and his wife and promised to follow the tracks in Romania. Then it was time to say goodbye.

We arrived in Helsinki 4 days ago and were picked up by our guide. But we didn't set off on the same day, we were first dropped off at a hotel where we then discussed with our guide. Where we want to go, what destination we have and of course we also asked him about any legends he knows about vampires and werewolves.

Unfortunately, our guide is not at all knowledgeable about whether there are legends and if so, which ones. So we asked him to take us first to the nearest library, where there are also books written in English. But again we failed because of the inability of our guide. Because he could not find a suitable library.

Zhan and I had then decided in the evening in the hotel room to do without his help and to try it instead with online information around Finland. We canceled the guide and got a rental car, which like our rental car in Romania is suitable for all kinds of roads and terrain.

The next morning we set off for a village we had read about on the internet. When we got there, we were greeted kindly by a couple of elderly villagers and as we used a translation app to tell them what we were looking for, the old folks immediately started telling us.

They told us the name of a small place where a white wolf accompanied by a man had been seen several times nearby. And because this wolf was much bigger than the normal wolves, everyone knew immediately that this could only be a werewolf.

Zhan and I were quite excited and after spending a whole day in this village, we then headed to this small place. We spent the night in our car in the middle of the wilderness. From a distance, we could hear the howling of a pack of wolves, which made Zhan smile. Of course, being a nerd, Zhan already learned all sorts of things about Finland on the flight to Finland. So also that there should be about 138 wolf packs there.

In addition Zhan had begun to translate the legends book and found a sentence there, which made us think. It said: "In vampire legends, the human mutated into a werewolf turns into a vampire, a walking corpse, after his death." Not that we believe that. But it is the first time for both of us that we heard, or in our case, read about such a legend.

After about two days we reached this small place yesterday in the late evening. Here and there were scattered a few small houses and all around was forest. Since there was nowhere where rooms were rented, we decided to spend also this night in our car. Right at the edge of the forest, next to the road to the small village.

Around us everything was quiet. So apart from the normal noises that can be heard in a forest at night, there was nothing. Nevertheless, Zhan and I had the feeling of being watched. And although our senses were sharpened to the point of tearing, we couldn't perceive whether there really was someone there or not.

It was difficult for both of us to fall asleep because we felt far too nervous. Nervous from the feeling that someone was in the dense forest next to us, watching us. And at some point, despite our tiredness, we gave up trying to sleep.

Instead, we got out of the car and walked a few steps. And the feeling that someone is there followed us. "ZhanZhan, I think there really is someone." I murmured as quietly as I could.

"Mn, you're right." Replied Zhan. He took my hand, pulled me close to him and shouted into the forest, "Why are you just watching us? Come out!"

I lightly poked Zhan in the side in shock. For his shouting had been so loud and unpredictable to me that I could not help but be frightened. "Are you crazy?" I therefore asked him angrily.

"I..." Started Zhan and kept silent. He sniffed into the forest and pushed me behind him.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Shouted someone from the forest.

"We are seekers." Shouted back Zhan.

"That's right! We're not looking for trouble. We're looking for answers." I shouted in response.

"What kind of answers are a werewolf and a vampire looking for?" Asked the voice.

"We are looking for answers about the white she-wolf and the vampire she mated with." I shouted.

Something rustled in the forest and footsteps could be heard. We concentrated on the sounds until we noticed two silhouettes. That of a wolf and that of a man. My heart suddenly beat like crazy. And when the two stood directly in front of us, I had the feeling my heart jumped out of my chest. It was them! The white she-wolf and the vampire! They were standing right in front of us!

"What do you want from us?" Asked the vampire.

Zhan began to undress. He handed me his clothes and turned into a wolf. The vampire opened his eyes wide when he saw Zhan. His white fur shone in the moonlight and the white she-wolf slowly walked towards him. She sniffed Zhan intensely and it seemed as if the two were communicating.

Shortly after, the white she-wolf walked back into the forest. The vampire stayed by her side and we followed the two. We followed them for over half an hour until we reached a cabin in the forest. Then the vampire asked us to wait outside for a moment and called us inside a few minutes later. Zhan, meanwhile, had changed back and got dressed.

When we went into the hut, an old woman with very long gray hair was sitting on a wooden bed. She looked tired and weak, yet she smiled. She asked us to sit on a sofa while the vampire sat down next to her. Only now in the candlelight we could see that the vampire was also very old and looked tired and weak.

"We have been expecting you for a long time." Began the she-wolf Mira.

"That's true." Replied the vampire Oleg.

"We haven't known about you for long." Zhan said and I nodded. I was speechless that we really found the two from the legend. After searching in Romania and barely finding anything about the legend, we haven't instead of more information, found the two from the legend.

"You must be here because you want to find out more about yourselves, don't you? You want to know why you were destined to find each other. Why you fell in love with each other and what lies ahead for you." Said Mira.

"And how we can make it so that death can't separate us." Said I.

Mira smiled and replied, "I will tell you all about that."

I think I had never been so excited and nervous in my life as I was at that moment. And I also had the feeling that we had to meet them. That we had to be with them at that exact moment. And I knew that whatever we would learn, it would be important for us. That's why I couldn't wait until she finally started to speak and told us what our destiny was.