**Halia's POV**
The walk to the library was longer than I expected and quiet. The farther we went, the fewer people we saw. The air itself felt… still. Like, even the world was holding its breath.
Then we saw it. The library.
I slowed down and breathed in relief.
"…Maggie."
It didn't look like a place people visited. It looked abandoned and deserted at the same time. It was half-burnt too.
Dark stains crawled up the walls like ghosts of a fire long gone. Some parts of the roof looked damaged, like they had collapsed and been left that way.
Dust coated the entrance, and the whole place felt wrong.
"I didn't even know there was a fire here," I said quietly, my eyes scanning the building.
Maggie frowned.
"Me neither… but maybe it's still in use?" she said, though she didn't sound convinced. "Let's just check."
Before I could respond, she pushed the door open.
*Creaaaak.*
The sound echoed too loudly.
I flinched slightly.
We stepped inside.
The whole library was dark.
Maggie immediately turned on her phone flashlight, the beam cutting through the shadows.
The place was worse on the inside.
Dust floated in the air, making me cough a bit.
Shelves were broken, some completely collapsed. Burnt wood and ashes littered parts of the floor. Books were scattered everywhere—some half-burnt, others eaten away by time.
It smelled old and… rotten.
I swallowed.
"How did this even happen…?" I murmured, stepping carefully around a fallen shelf.
I had never heard of any fire here.
Not once.
"Might as well check if anyone's here," Maggie said.
She cupped her hands around her mouth.
"Hello?!"
Her voice echoed.
No response.
"Hello! Anyone here?" she called again.
Nothing, just a loud silence
I kept walking, my eyes moving across the shelves. Some books were so damaged that they crumbled just from being touched. Others were covered in thick dust. I even spotted rats gnawing at a pile of pages, making me grimace.
"This place is definitely abandoned," Maggie muttered, stepping beside me.
Then suddenly—
"Look at this!"
I turned.
Maggie was holding a book, her face lighting up.
"It's about Hydra," she said, flipping through the pages excitedly.
I raised a brow.
"…And what exactly is a hydra?"
She froze.
Then slowly looked at me.
"Are you serious?"
I shrugged.
She sighed dramatically.
"A hydra is this ancient Greek monster. A snake with multiple heads—and when you cut one off, it grows back."
I blinked.
"…Okay, that's disturbing."
"Exactly!" she said, already flipping through more pages.
I shook my head slightly and walked away.
That wasn't why I was here.
I needed answers.
Real ones.
My eyes scanned the shelves—
Then something caught my attention.
A book.
Unlike the others… it wasn't damaged or burnt.
It looked… new.
I stepped closer.
*MYSTICAL CREATURES.*
My fingers hovered over the cover. It was full of vampires, witches, and werewolves.
Creatures I had always believed were nothing more than stories, just fantasy and movies.
But after last night…
I picked it up slowly.
For a second—
I felt it again.
That strange feeling.
Like I wasn't alone.
I glanced up sharply.
A shadow flickered behind one of the shelves.
My breath hitched.
"…Hello?"
Nothing.Just silence.
I exhaled slowly.
"Just my imagination…"
I pulled a chair closer to a table, wiping the dust off before sitting down.
Maggie was still across the room, completely absorbed in her book. I allowed myself a small smile.
Then I opened mine.
Page after page. Information flooded my eyes about these creatures.
But nothing felt… right.
Nothing matched what happened to me.
Frustration built slowly.
Then I turned to a section on vampires. Biting and blood.Marks on the neck.
My fingers tightened slightly on the page. This was close. I kept reading.
And reading.
But still.Nothing exact.
I leaned back slightly, exhaling.
"Ugh… this is useless…"
Then—Pain. It was sharp and unbearable.
"Aah—!"
I gasped, my hand flying to my neck.
It burned.
I pulled my hand away—there was fresh blood
"What the hell…?"
My heart started racing. I flipped through the pages faster now, panic rising.
"I need answers… I need answers…"
Then—I saw it.
A chapter title.
MARKED / CLAIMED
My breath caught.
I leaned forward, reading quickly. Each word made my chest tighten.
The mark on the neck…It wasn't random. It was a claim made by a male.
A mate. It was something like a bond, a connection to be precise
Not just physical—But something deeper.
My fingers trembled slightly as I kept reading.
It could be done by different creatures…
But the most common—Vampires and werewolves.
I swallowed hard. Some could turn humans. And then—werewolves, only a powerful one, an alpha or a lycan could turn a human into one of their kind.
My mind spun.
"…So what does that make him…?"
The man from my dream.
"Was he a vampire… or a werewolf…?"My thoughts raced.
He turned into smoke. That wasn't normal or human either.
"Could he really be my mate…?"
The word felt strange in my head.
Unreal.
And yet
Everything happening to me wasn't normal either. I flipped more pages desperately.
"There has to be something… something that tells me which one he is…"
Then—
Something slipped out from between the pages.
I froze.
A paper.
Old.
Yellowed with age.
I picked it up slowly.
It was a newspaper. My eyes dropped to the date.
Seventeen years ago.
My heart skipped.
"Maggie…" I called, my voice tight.
"You need to see this."
She walked over, curious.
Then she looked at the paper.
And her expression changed completely.
Horror.