Chapter One: The Starnge Beginning
Dakota walked down a narrow street in the small town, sunlight slipping between the old buildings and casting faint shadows on the ground. A sudden gust of wind brushed past her, making her hair move in an unusual way. A few passers-by began to stare, their eyes lingering on her as if trying to understand something they couldn’t explain. She tried to ignore them, but her heart beat faster under their strange attention.
She watched the neighborhood children laughing and playing, until one of them turned to her and gave her a mocking smile because of the way she walked. Dakota smiled back calmly, pretending she didn’t care—though uneasiness tightened inside her. Everything looked normal… yet something inside her felt different.
Earlier that day, Dakota had tried to help a little boy who fell off his bike. She reached for him quickly, catching him before he hit the ground. But suddenly a group of older kids showed up, yelling and laughing at her. Embarrassment flushed through her as one of them shoved random objects into her path to humiliate her.
And just when she tried to defend herself, one of them collided with her face—leaving the strange mark on her cheek.
The pain wasn’t just physical. It felt like betrayal… a reminder that humans fear anything they don’t understand.
When she returned home, her magical family noticed the mark immediately and rushed toward her. They tried to calm her, telling her that the mark was not the end of anything… but the beginning of something new.
Dakota trembled with fear for what was coming, yet deep inside her… something stirred. Something wild. Something powerful. She began to realize her strength was unlike anyone else’s—something the human world would only see as dangerous.
The next day at school, everything felt different. Students stared at her with confusion and curiosity, their eyes glued to the mark on her cheek. Her friends tried to support her quietly, but even they seemed unsure of what she had become.
Dakota felt like a stranger among them—separate from the world she was supposed to belong to. She sat by the classroom window, staring at the sky, replaying everything that had happened. Deep down, she sensed something waiting for her… something not from this world. Maybe a place she had never seen before. Maybe an adventure that would change everything.
At that moment, she had no idea how close that new world truly was.
A world of castles and vampires.
A world where her mark would become the key to an unexpected power.
A world where facing Alex and his army would push her beyond anything she imagined—and where a mysterious ally from the human realm would be the only one capable of helping her face the rising threat.
Fear and excitement twisted together inside her chest.
She took a deep breath.
She wasn’t going to run away from destiny.
This strange beginning… was only her first step toward something far greater.
