Chapter 1: The Forest's Secrets

Tension hung thick in the air, charged with fear and the forest's earthy scent. A pack of werewolves, their yellow eyes glowing in the moonlight, hunted a lone vampire whose pale skin was slick with sweat and blood. Desperately, he fought back, dispatching the wolves one by one, yet their numbers were dwindling but their determination was unyielding.

He realized he couldn't last much longer. In the woods, Bera, a curious twelve-year-old, ignored her parents' warnings and entered the forest, eager to explore now that her friend, lily was away.What once intrigued her now pulsed with danger. 

A deep growl reflected around her, sending chills down her spine. Not knowing the risks, her curiosity drove her deeper. The air grew heavy with the smell of blood, accompanied by alarming sounds. As she roam in the forest, she gasped at the sight of a man on the ground, his tattered clothes stained with blood, his face hauntingly beautiful. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice shaking. His eyes snapped open, revealing a chilling crimson hue that caught the moonlight. 

He stared at her with a predatory gaze mixed with surprise, then lunged, sinking his fangs into her neck. Pain surged through her as she screamed.

Just then, the man disappeared into the shadows, and the growls of approaching wolves intensified. Dazed and scared, Bera felt blood fill her mouth and her neck throb.The wolves were closing in.Panicking, she stumbled through the underbrush, the forest changed into a terrifying maze.

 Just as a wolf attacked, a tall, lean boy with wild hair emerged, pushing the wolf aside with surprising strength. He turned to Bera, concern on his face. "Are you alright?" he asked urgently. Confused and frightened Bera, bewildered, had no time to register his appearance. She turned and fled, the terrifying image of the wolves and the boy's unexpected intervention a blur in her mind.

Back at home, her parents found her distraught, her neck bearing two tiny puncture wounds. They scolded her for disobeying them, convinced she had been bitten by some wild animal. Bera tried to explain about the man, about the blood, about the wolves, about the eyes that burned with an infernal fire.

But her parents dismissed her words as the ramblings of a frightened child. "It was probably a stray dog, dear," her mother said, her voice soothing but firm. "There's no such thing as monsters in the woods."

Bera, however, knew the truth. Something had changed within her, something profound and terrifying. The bite, the pain, the fear—it all felt strangely connected, a puzzle with missing pieces.

As they tended to her wounds, Bera noticed something missing—her silver chain, a gift from her deceased grandmother, a family heirloom passed down through generations. She had been wearing it when she encountered the man, a small comfort in the face of the unknown.

Later, as she lay awake in bed, haunted by the events of the day, Bera wondered about the boy who had saved her. Who was he? What had been that strange light in his eyes? And what had that terrifying creature done to her?

The questions lingered, unanswered and unsettling. The bite, a silent predator lurking within her, pulsed with an unfamiliar energy, a constant reminder of the terrifying encounter in the woods. Bera knew, with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, she never knew that her life would never be the same.