Chapter one:-Marked by shadows
The school bell echoed through Crestwood Academy, sharp and clean, like nothing had ever happened here. No battles. No blood. No betrayals. Just students, hallways, lockers. Normal.
But Mint was far from normal now.
She stood in front of the mirror in her dorm room, rubbing the strange silver mark that had bloomed overnight across her left shoulder. It glowed faintly, shifting like it was alive.
“Still hurts?” Smith’s voice came from the door, his eyes already narrowed. He had seen battle wounds. This wasn’t one.
Mint turned. “It’s not just pain. It’s a message. Or a warning.”
He walked over, gently tracing the edge of the mark. “Your skin is burning like sunlight. That’s not vampire magic. That’s… divine.”
Mint flinched. She didn’t want to hear it. But she knew. She’d felt it growing stronger ever since her powers awakened last spring — the goddess side. The one her mother never spoke about. The one her father tried to control.
Suddenly, a knock. Kristie barged in without waiting.
“You’re gonna want to hear this,” she said, tossing a blood-red file on the bed. “New transfer student. Goes by ‘Lyra’. Beautiful. Cold. Half-vampire, half… goddess.”
Smith tensed. “Goddess?”
Kristie nodded. “She’s in your homeroom, Mint. She’s pretending to be just a normal student — but I followed her last night. Her power’s not subtle.”
Mint’s heart dropped. “She’s spying.”
Kristie added, “And there’s more. Nicolas reached out. He’s been researching old vampire covens. He thinks… your father is alive.”
Silence.
Mint’s mark pulsed again, glowing brighter now — a searing white beneath her skin.
“That mark,” Kristie whispered. “It’s not just from your power. It’s a connection. He branded you.”
Smith stepped in. “Then we burn the brand off. We don’t let him control you.”
Mint shook her head. “No. We let him come. We let them all come. And this time… I won’t run.”
From the distance, thunder cracked through the sky — a sign of war, or something worse.
