I opened my eyes to find myself in a cold, stone room. The only light came in from a small opening no bigger than a storm drain that had thick metal bars to stop any chance of escape.

Shit, where the hell am I?

Looking around the room was large, but empty. The only way in or out was through a thick wooden door that was firmly locked from the outside. No matter how hard I pulled at the handle, it wouldn't budge.

Crap...

Exhausted and beaten I slumped down to the floor, leaning against the cold stone wall for support.

No way out.

Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching and then the door was flung open, light shined in and I put my hands up to cover my eyes. Shadows swam in front of me and I saw someone enter the room, well, they were thrown in as whoever it was landed hard on the floor in front of me before the door shut again.

As my eyes adjusted back to the gloom of the room I took in the boy laying on the hard stone floor. His ragged clothes were mostly just threads and his long blonde hair was wet and matted. He looked no older than ten, and as he looked up at me with his pale blue eyes he wiped away the trail of blood from his nose where he had hit the floor.

"What you in for?" the boy asked as he sat himself up.

"Uh, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I am," I admitted.

"Been on the drink then, eh?"

Was this a fucking prison cell?

"No." I said, "What is this place?"

"The Nick." the boy replied "They got me for picking pockets."

Picking pockets?

"Were you picking pockets?" I asked.

"Maybe." the boy replied "What's it to you then?"

"Just... making conversation."

Jesus, this kid was really starting to wind me up... I just needed to get out of here and figure out what the hell was going on.

"What's your name?" the boy asked then, breaking my inner thoughts.

"I'm Alec." I replied, "Now, just be quiet while I figure out how to get the hell out of here."

I got up and walked over to the door, running a hand over the thick wood. Damn it! Getting out of this was going to be easier said than done.

"You're not going to get out of here that way." the boy said as he joined me by the door "Place is a bloody fortress."

"You've got a big mouth, kid." I smiled at him "Well, you seem to know more about this than I do, so, how do we get out of here?"

Without saying a word the boy left me at the door and wandered over to the small barred window. He jumped up and pulled the bars down.

Huh. I wonder how many times he's been in here and managed to escape? No. Stop it, this kid is not your problem... so why the fuck does it feel like he is?

The boy turned back to face me, a massive goofy grin on his face.

"Well, are you coming, or what?"

Despite myself, I smiled back at him. Maybe, just maybe, I could get back to Kian and figure out what the hell had gone wrong. Firstly though, I had to find out where exactly I now was.

Easier said than bloody done...

The boy crawled through the gap easily enough, so, I reached up and grabbed hold of the ledge.

Shit. I hope that I don't get stuck... that would be too bloody embarrassing!

"Come on!"

The boy's voice floated through the gap. It's now or never I suppose... I pulled myself up level with the gap, I could see the boy kneeling down and looking back at me. Our escape route led out into an alleyway, everything outside looked covered in dirt and grime. As I squeezed through the gap I felt my clothes rip slightly on the rough stone edges. I managed to get out.

Thank fuck for that!

Not gonna lie, I'd had a feeling that the gap was going to be too small for me to get through. That would not have been a good look for me.

"We need to move." the boy said looking up and down the alleyway "It won't take 'em long to realise that we're gone."

I scrambled to get up and follow him as he took off running through the various alleyways, each one as dank and disgusting as the next. We passed a group of kids in clothes that looked like they were straight out of a museum playing a game with sticks.

Well, that's odd...

The boy stopped at an abandoned looking building and slipped in through a crack in the wall. I had to duck down to be able to follow him.

Inside the building, which was a large abandoned factory of some kind, with long hanging metal chains and pulleys heading across the ceiling.

I saw the boy head straight for a small desk where a mound of hay had been gathered underneath it. He settled himself into the hay, pulling the excess over his thin ragged body.

Jesus, the poor kid probably hadn't eaten in ages...

"You live in here?" I asked him as I sat down on the dirt strewn floor in front of the desk.

The boy nodded sadly "I'm not going to let them get me. I can survive well enough on my own..."

"I'm sure you can." I replied, "But if you go to the authorities..."

"I ain't going back to that workhouse!" the boy shouted angrily "I won't!"

Workhouse? What the fuck was going on here?

"Okay, no workhouse." I said as calmly as I could "Just humour me here, what year is it?"

The boy looked up at me confused, his bright blue eyes carefully studying me. He probably thinks I'm bloody mad... to be fair, I'm starting to think the same thing.

"What game are you playing?" he asked.

"Just, answer the question. Please."

"Well, it's the same year it's been all year." the boy said "1878."

1878...

Holy crap, I was glad that I was already sitting down. The boy raised an eyebrow at me.

Well, something must have gone wrong with the spell...

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." I assured him, there was no need to freak the kid out as well as myself "What's your name? I don't think I asked you that before."

"I'm Kian." the boy said with a smile as he flicked some of his blonde hair out of his eyes "Kian Richards."

Oh shit... so the spell did work? The scrawny ten-year-old kid sitting in front of me was Kian. My Kian.

"But this is..." I was lost for words "How can you..."

"Mister, you have got to sort your words out." Kian said, "'Cos you're not making any sense."

"Well, um, yeah I guess I'm not. This has been a weird day for me."

"There's more hay in the boxes around here, feel free to make yourself comfortable." Kian said, "I think we're going to be good friends."

Oh, you have no idea...

"So, where are we exactly?" I asked him after rooting around in the various boxes for hay to make myself comfortable on the floor "Which city is this?"

"God, how much did you drink?"

Clearly, not enough for me to be having this conversation...

"Yeah, less judgment please." I replied, "Where are we?"

"London" Kian said "You really are a strange one, aren't ya?"

"That's not really the point." I sniped back "The point is... the point is that... oh just shut up!"

"Hey, you're the one who's asking weird questions."

Yeah, this whole situation was trippy as fuck. I have no bloody idea what's going on. Is this really a memory? It was seeming pretty damn real to me...

"Look, Kian, let's just get some rest in. I've got a lot to figure out."

Kian nodded and curled up under the desk and then covered himself in the hay. I couldn't help but wonder how this young kid had ended up possessed by a demon, let alone turned into a bloody vampire.

This was only the start of his story...

As I lay in the hay, listening to Kian's snores an odd purple light began to shine from underneath the desk where Kian had set himself up.

I sat up and saw nothing underneath the desk but the purple light.

What the fuck was going on now?

The light shined brighter and brighter before it raced out to envelop me in its blinding embrace.