Prologue

Country Village

Athens Region

“Remember when I told you that one day we would play hide-and-seek any time?” my mom asked, and I nodded excitedly. “That time is now. Do you remember the rules?”

“I have to find the best hiding place; I have to be quiet, and, no matter what I hear, I don't come out until you tell me the code word,” I replied efficiently.

My mom smiled proudly, but there was something sad in her look. 

“You're a very sweet and smart girl, Nadine,” Mom said before giving me a kiss and drawing a picture on my forehead. “What's the key word?”

“Chocolate,” I said before biting into the little chocolate bar she had given me minutes before, and that made her laugh, making her gray eyes sparkle with joy.

“What's the other rule?” mom asked calmly.

“I must never reveal our secret,” I said very seriously.

Hide it our secret my biggest mission, so my tongue would never reveal it.

“Okay, go hide, and no matter what, don't come out,” Mom ordered, and I nodded. ”I love you, Nadine. Always remember that.”

I smiled and gave mom's pristine white hair one last caress before she began counting the numbers from 1 to 100 under her breath.

For as long as I could remember, my mom and I would play hide-and-seek. It was one of the most fun times of my life because I was excited to discover new places I could hide in each of the different houses we moved into.

And that's exactly why I ran excitedly to the new hiding place I had found days ago in the new house. It was a small space in the ventilation duct of the living room, a place that mom would not find easily, and I smiled because this time I was going to win.

I carefully opened the vent grille and slipped inside, then put the grille back so mom wouldn't notice I was there and waited patiently for her to say the code word. Suddenly, the door to the house opened, and I heard several people walking around.

“Nadia is here; I smell her scent,” one man said very confidently. “She's not going to escape this time, so make sure you hold her any way you can. The priority is the girl; the boss needs her intact.”

I frowned, not understanding anything that was going on.

It was the first time I had heard that voice, so I didn't know the man.

My mom didn't invite people to the houses we moved into; it was always her or me, so I followed the rules of the game while listening as the strangers checked every nook and cranny. The only thing I could think was that they were also playing hide-and-seek with us.

“The girl is nowhere to be found,” a woman said after a few minutes. “Do you think Nadia left her somewhere else?”

“Nadia would never be separated from her daughter,” the man said firmly.

That was true; mom and I never spent much time away from each other.

“Nadia would if she knew we were coming for the girl,” the woman replied immediately. “That she-wolf would rip her heart out just to save her daughter.”

“Let's see how true that sentence is,” the man said before climbing the stairs that led to the rooms of the house.

I didn't like that, so I hoped mom had a good hiding place too.

I waited patiently until I heard noises upstairs and then watched as the strangers began to search for me in every corner of the house. They rummaged through everything, broke furniture, and made a mess until they finally left.

That scared me, but I followed the rules.

The problem was that mom never called me, and my tummy was rumbling, a sign that it was time for dinner. I couldn't take it anymore and came out of hiding because I was so hungry.

I saw the damage the strangers had done to the house and immediately went upstairs to look for mom. However, when I approached her room, I had to stop when I saw blood coming out from under the door.

A shiver ran through my body, and my skin bristled in response.

I reached over and carefully opened the door.

I should never have done that.

My mom's body was lying on the floor with her throat slit. She was face-up with her eyes open and a lifeless look in her eyes.

My mind didn't process what was happening until a gasp of horror rose in my throat. 

“Mommy! Mommy!” I started screaming over and over as I sat next to her and shook her body.

I didn't know how long I stood crying next to the corpse, but I watched as Serena, Mom's friend, came into the room and gasped at the sight. She immediately came over to me and hugged me tenderly to comfort me.

“I'm so sorry, Nadine,” Serena said painfully, and she began to cry.

Seeing a woman like Serena, with a strong, warrior-like build and an indecipherable expression, cry felt like a horrible reality check. She loved my mom very much; that's why she always offered her help.

Serena tried to separate me from mom's body, and just at that moment, those who had broken into the house returned. That's how I saw the face of the man who had spoken in the living room. He was a tall, blond, strong middle-aged man. The most striking thing about his face was a long scar running across his face.

“I knew there was a possibility of someone coming, but I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to find the girl here,” the blond man said with a sinister smile.

“You're not taking the girl over my dead body,” said Serena, who got up at once and stood in front of me by way of a shield. “You're not going to take her.”

“I was able to kill Nadia in a couple of moves; killing you will be very easy,” the man said in a mocking tone of voice.

Serena saw me, and I noticed that her shorn hair had grown, her eyes had turned golden, and her nails had become sharp claws. 

She was going to transform into a she-wolf, so I was afraid.

“Run!” shouted Serena.

It took me a while to react, and I watched as Serena attacked the blond man without hesitation. She was aggressive, and the man growled, then his eyes turned red, and that only meant he was a vampire.

The blood drained from my face, and I stood up quickly.

I didn't hesitate to run; I ran down the stairs, and when I was about to go out the door, a man held me tightly. I started screaming in fear and was unaware that my screams made the light bulbs in the house flicker.

“Let go of me!” I screamed.

“The little beast has a temper,” said the woman I had heard earlier; she was a beautiful redhead, and they also had red eyes. “Get a tranquilizer or the little beast will be a nightmare to move.”

As one of the men approached with a syringe, I felt a current of power begin to form inside me, and as he prepared to inject me, I screamed in a different way than I had screamed before.

I released a power I did not know, a power that tried to consume me with force, and suddenly the house began to shake and people near me fell to the ground. I didn't know what had happened, but as I got closer, I saw that everyone was bleeding from their nose and ears.

“Run Nadine!” shouted Serena from the stairs, and I saw her bleeding from her nose before she fell hard.

I knew that what I had done had affected everyone equally.

I heeded Serena, took my advantage, and ran so fast I never looked back.