Prologue – The Gifted Children

Unknown POV

I like to think of myself as an ordinary girl, although my family is NOT ordinary. And don’t get me started about their expectations.

I’m the daughter of the Greatest Hunter in the world. His words, not mine. He thinks I am just as extraordinary as he is. Please… I am an okay fighter on a good day, but I’m not a hunter. At least, not a hunter of creatures of the night, or creatures of the moonlight, or (God forbid!) creatures of the wind… I was taught that they’re all evil beings, who hunt humans and torture them just to give in to their sick pleasure.

Werewolves, vampires, dragons, and witches: the four most dangerous supernatural creations. All hunters are told the same story from childhood. We were given the honor to be able to hunt them, spy on them, and deal with them.

Oh, I almost forgot! My father has a delusion that there will be a hunter who will become, the biggest, the greatest, and the most powerful of all hunters, who can destroy all supernaturals. It sounds crazy, but even crazier is the fact that he believes I’m that hunter…

I shake my head every time he mentions this, or anytime I see that look on his face. that shows his expectations of me are not matching the reality.

The thing is I am just an ordinary girl. I am sixteen, I'm not ready for the hunter’s life. But my father always tells me:

"Destiny choose you, Beth!" - Yeah, I’m not buying it.

Although this destiny thing is just bullshit to me, I still love hearing the tale, my father calls legend. Every night until I was old enough to read for myself, my dad read it to me:

'During ancient times, there were only a few humans and many supernaturals.

At first, their interactions were peaceful: werewolves helped humans to develop and dragons let the humans travel on their backs if they needed to cross oceans. Vampires and witches were cruel if crossed, but they mostly kept to themselves. So, humans were at peace and enjoyed life.

But one day, a werewolf named Barnabas found his mate but she was a human. No ability to change into a giant wolf, or to run at an impossible speed, she didn't even have a good sense of smell. Still, he claimed her then and there. in the heat of the moment. They even mated, but he never marked her. After the haze was lifted, he told Amalie, that he could not be with her, but he wouldn’t reject her, either.

The truth was he wanted her to suffer. So, when he went back to his pack, he always found a she-wolf, who he can get intimate with. He was angry that the Moon Goddess paired him with a human because they were weak. And for months, she suffered from her mate’s unfaithfulness, but one night was too much and she died.

Before that, she brought two beautiful babies into the world. A boy and a girl. But their fate was already chosen for them. They were nameless because their village shunned them. They were ashamed and angry at the same time, and their emotions were misplaced towards the children. Clement and Clarisse (they called themselves this way) traveled through lands, oceans, and clouds. When they became of age, Clement shifted but Clarisse didn’t. That was the first time Clarisse felt enormous envy of her brother, but she didn’t say anything.

Clement was gushing about how great this felt and how perfect was being a werewolf. That night they had a big fight, and Clement left his sister alone in the woods. Clarisse cried day and night and waited for her brother to come back. But he never did. After weeks of absence, she left that dreaded woods and met a man who loved her unconditionally. Had 4 children, and had long forgotten her envy of her brother.

But his brother wasn’t that lucky. His happiness didn’t last long, because every werewolf he met laughed at him, being a half-breed. When he met his mate, he was beyond blissful, but it was also short-lived. The she-wolf rejected her, saying she wouldn’t want a weak mate like him. He was devastated, but soon, he became vengeful and swore he will become more powerful than any werewolf in the world.

After that, he found himself a mentor, who helped him train, taught him how to use arrows, and daggers, and even introduced him to some dark witches. He learned to make poison.

He wanted everyone to suffer, and after years of training and tracking animals, he finally found a method to kill werewolves. Wolfsbane at the end of an arrow, or a little bit in a drink and the result is a dead wolf. He killed his mate and everyone who was with her that night. And that was his undoing because after that he was never the same.

He was slowly becoming deranged. He had some followers, they feared him, so they did everything he asked for. They burnt villages to the ground and killed fellow werewolves and innocent humans.

Until they came across the village, Clarisse lived with her husband and children. He was beyond mad when he found out, she had a life without him and was… happy.

He wanted to kill her family first before her eyes, after that he would go after her. But what he didn’t know, Clarisse and his husband were secretly members of a small group of people, who swore to protect humans against werewolves, vampires, and witches. And by any chance, dragons became hostile towards humans, they would also fight them.

That night Clement died at the hands of her sister when he tried to choke one of her children to death. She saw red, she saved her child, but she couldn’t save her brother. After finishing off all the deranged wolves, a deity appeared in front of Clarisse.

She said, her name was Shea and wants to give her a gift. A gift of ever-growing strength and fast reflexes that would result in a powerful heir whose power overshadows all creatures and could destroy them if pushing them to the edge.

Clarisse was hesitant and stared at the beautiful woman in front of her. Dark hair, brown eyes with a little purple hue around the globe. Her cloth was a light brown robe around her tall figure.

Although she didn’t believe in deities she took a chance and accepted the gift.'

After every generation, their abilities grew, they weren’t immortals, or were a person who couldn’t die in battle if injured deadly. But with every generation came an equally great warrior whose nose to supernaturals was extraordinarily sharp.

Something was definitely missing from this story, but I didn’t have time to ponder over it.

My father stepped into my room and as always, he was worried:

"Beth… " - he started, but I raised my hand to stop him.

"Please, Dad. Don’t do this" – I said

"Do what, sweetheart?" – he asked, and raised his left eyebrow up.

"You know, I’m not supergirl material" – I mumbled helplessly. He just looked at me, as if I was insane, then took some steps toward me, and sit down on my bed, beside me, and looked at me.

"I know you are, sweetheart. You’re just denying your heritage." – I looked at him in disbelief. How can you deny something so great? My abilities just don’t exist. How can he not see this?

"Dad, please..." – I sigh, but he was determined to make me miserable.

"No, Beth, I’m sorry, but we need your abilities. So, after this mission, I will train you myself." – he said matter of factly. My eyes bulged out of their places.

Say what now? He’s trying to kill me, I swear…

"Dad, you know I can’t…" - but I couldn’t finish that sentence. He stood up and walked to the door, opening that he looked back at me.

"No excuses this time, Beth! Too much at stake now. We have to act. And if I have to break you to bring force your gift, then I will do it." – then a sharp and loud slap of the door was heard and I sat stunned on my bed.

Well, this would be interesting… I thought sarcastically, knowing so well, it would end up in a disaster…