Dakota looked up at the face above her. Gangrel looked back down at her. "My child, you have wandered to far tonight. Lucky for you Edge and his brother were out." "But sire, I was only doing as you told me. The eternal hunger was nauseating and you told me that when it gets like that to go out and get air." "My child, you are too young to understand. Do not go out that far without one of us or else you may get staked. Unless you want to be in pain, do not go out to feed without one of us." Dakota looked away from the prying eyes. "You take me away from my home and family only to stick me here with two sets of brothers which I don’t know. You took away all I had and now left me with no choice but to dwell in darkness. I may not know anything, but I will never learn unless you teach me. Edge and Christian were not around before when I went out and you told me not to disturb you. Besides, I felt like a weakling having to follow those two around to get my meals. On top of that, I could not find the other brothers to take me out either. I was left with no choice. He is my hunting partner. He’s the only one who offered to teach me. Yes maybe Edge and Christian offered, but the other brothers are closer to my age." Dakota was now crying. As Gangrel went to speak to her, she slipped out of his grip and ran up the stairs of the large house. She closed her door and silently fell in a heap on her bed. She curled into a ball not knowing what to expect. She had upset her sire, something she had never done. She didn’t think that he would hurt her, but she wasn’t sure. After ten minutes, she could hear arguing downstairs. She knew this was her fault and she rose. She walked to the window. She stood staring out the window for hours. She had a beautiful view of the lake, but she could not see much else. She heard a knock at her door. She quickly opened the window and sat out on the balcony, hugging her legs to her chest. When Edge rested his hand upon her shoulder Dakota was mildly surprised. Dakota ran her tongue over her teeth. Edge said nothing; he just stood behind her. Dakota began to cry again. As Edge went to speak, she rose and climbed up a small rope to the roof above. She crouched there on the roof. Edge left the balcony. After she was sure that he had gone, Dakota re-entered her room. There she grabbed a thick blanket and pillow. She pulled on a blue sweater and walked back outside. There were no lights on in the rest of the house and Lily went to sleep out on the balcony until the sun rose in the morning.

A few minutes after Dakota fell asleep, a young man walked into the room. He looked out onto the balcony at the one who had upset his sire. She looked so peaceful, yet dangerous at the same time. This is the one he was supposed to look after, the one he was supposed to teach to hunt. She was supposed to ride with him the previous night, but she had gone out by herself, only to discover that she could not do it on her own. She needed him as badly as he needed her. She had been his friend’s past love, but now she was in his world. The world that he shared with few people. This girl was the makers favorite, but that was because she was his only daughter. Dakota rolled over onto her side. She opened her eyes and looked around. She saw nobody. The boy she knew was there could not be seen. She rose from her spot on the balcony and walked into her room. She put the blanket and pillow on the bed. She walked back out to the balcony and leaned on the railing. She knew that someone was watching her but she was not sure where he was. She had not yet learned how to tell where people were. She could only sense them near by. The four brothers could do this, as could her sire, but she was still young. Dakota watched the sun come up over the woods. ‘She’s so mysterious,’ the male thought, ‘yet so powerful. I have to watch her, but I don’t know how.’ He walked over the roof and towards his room. He dropped onto his window sill and slid into his room. He pulled his long black coat off and let his hair out of a ponytail. He looked around for his brother. He was out in the garage working on Dakota’s bike. ‘Must be working with sire again,’ he thought. The male walked off into the woods. He had to talk to Dakota, but that would be later. A few minutes later, Dakota came walking down the stairs. Nobody was around. She shook her head and grabbed a long black cape off of the door and wrapped it around her. She walked out to the garage looking for somebody. Nobody had heard her talk, except her sire. As far as they knew, she was a mute. Gangrel saw her and called her over. The dark-haired brother was kneeling next to a black bike. He had no shirt on and Dakota noticed that he had a nice build. The boy stood up and looked at her. Gangrel smiled and started laughing. She had momentarily forgotten that he could read her thoughts. He had heard what she said about Matt. Matt looked at her. She handed him his shirt off the seat of the bike and he pulled it on over his head. She thought to herself that she wanted to go walking in the woods. Gangrel heard her and spoke. "Matt, if you want to finish up on the bike then go ahead. If not, you are free to do whatever. Try not to get staked." Matt smiled at this comment and started walking towards the house. Gangrel started walking towards the pond. Dakota pulled the hood tighter around her head. She followed her sire silently into the woods. Gangrel talked to her about their argument the night before. He told her that he was not mad at her, he was the ignorant one that night. She had feelings and he had ignored them. She had every right to go out by herself, but he did not advise it. For some reason, hunters and slayers could follow young better than the elders. She would have a hard time hunting as well, especially because she did not know how to hunt. She remarked against this. Gangrel asked her how she thought she would make her first kill. She told him that she would come up behind whoever it was and pull them into a dark alley. She wrapped her hand around Gangrel’s mouth and said she would do that to her prey too. She then said that she would rip their neck open and feed. Gangrel bit her hand. She jumped back and cried out. "What if they do that? Then you’ll be staked." She gave up trying to convince him and decided that sire knew best. The two turned and walked back towards the house. About halfway home, Dakota spun around and looked around. She felt somebody following them. Gangrel felt it too, but he knew that it was only Christian. "What are you going to do if a slayer surprises you?" "I would sense it," Dakota remarked. "What, like this?" Dakota looked up to see Christian waving at her from a tree branch nearby. "I don’t think she’ll have to worry about her own kind to attack her." Dakota got upset at this and ran off into towards their house. The house where they lived was large. There were two floors and many rooms. Dakota ran past the garage and into her room. Matt looked up when she passed by his room. She lay down on her bed and started crying. Matt knocked on the door. Dakota did not answer.

Matt went in anyway. She looked up at him. He sat down on her bed. "Are you okay?" he asked her. She shook her head no. "What’s wrong?" "Does he hate me?" Dakota asked. This was the first time that one of the boys had heard her talk. She still did not make eye contact with him. None of the boys had seen her eyes or hair color either. "Does who hate you? Me, Edge, Christian, or my brother?" "Any of you. I just feel like I am intruding on something I have no right to." "My brother is the one that brought you into this, with Gangrel’s permission. Permission, now that’s something you don’t get from him too much. You’re not intruding if he permitted Jeff to take you. He obviously saw some promise in you. Perhaps he just wanted a beautiful, innocent girl to be with us. Trust me, my brother and I felt that way when we first came here." "But I have no freedom here. Sire will not let me hunt for myself. If nobody teaches me, I’ll be forced to follow my whole life. He’s worried about me getting staked." "Trust me, being staked is nothing fun. Ask Edge about that one. He will gladly show you the scars on him. It may not kill you, but it hurts." Dakota wrapped her arms around Matt. "Thank you so much Matt," she whispered. Matt hugged her back. "No problem." The ice had been broken between the two of them. Dakota and Matt went downstairs. Jeff was lying on the couch resting. Christian was still out with Gangrel, and Edge was nowhere to be seen. Dakota walked silently into the study so she would not disturb Jeff. Matt went into the kitchen to get a drink and then went up into his room. Dakota sat on the floor of the study and read for a few hours. During the time that she was reading, Edge had returned as well as Gangrel and Christian. Edge walked towards the study to read but saw Dakota sitting there. He just watched her with delight. He soon walked up into his room.