Chapter 1: In the Beginning.
My story really begins several years ago. I was on a date with the first boy I really liked. I was too young then to realize how strong my feelings actually were. It was an exciting night. We went to a movie, got ice cream, and under the stars in the middle of the city park he kissed me. I remember it because it was the type of kiss that pulls the breath out of your lungs. It made my knees shake and my head swim at the same time. It was the type of kiss that blocks out the rest of the world, which is why neither of us noticed the strange figure approaching from behind the cover of trees.
My first boyfriend was stabbed through the heart and died only moments later. I was too shocked to do anything and I didn't react until I felt the same knife cut into my stomach. Later in the hospital several doctors explained to me that the stab wound was actually in my lower abdomen. In the same conversation I learned my attacker had effectively robbed me of my ability to bear children. Bastard. The attacker left me in the park, bleeding and in shock. I eventually retrieved my cell phone and dialed the police, but before anyone arrived I blacked out.
That was the first attack. Most people are fortunate enough to never experience being attacked or stabbed. For me, the incident in the park was the first of many unfortunate events. After several weeks in the hospital I was allowed to return home. The first week home was quiet enough. I spent time with my parents and sister, working to regain my strength and mobility. It wasn't until the second week home that the fire occurred. Officials are unsure about how the fire started, but in any case, my family was consumed with the house. A pipe exploded in the ceiling of my room, showering me with water and keeping the flames at bay until rescuers pulled me out of the room through my window.
After the fire, I went to live with extended family only to be greeted with accident after accident, death after death. Until finally, I found myself alone in the world, covered with the scars of misfortune and burdened by the weight of loneliness. All my family was gone and I was alone and broken. I felt marked by an omen of death, anyone important in my life died in unexplained accidents and freak attacks.
People like to say that when you hit rock bottom the only place to go is up. I don't think those people have ever really experienced tragedy. Things did settle in my life, at least for a couple years. I was young then and living on my own. I went to college on scholarships and I worked at a gun range to buy groceries and pay the rent. In my free time I learned how to defend myself and I persuaded the range owners to let me practice my shooting after close. Eventually, I became well known at the gun and archery range for my skills and accuracy.
Despite multiple coping mechanisms, I was alone and terrified of losing more loved ones, so I didn't open my heart again until my last year of college. The second boy I really liked brought me flowers from the ocean and he made me smile and laugh out loud. He never judged my scars or issues, and it wasn't until he kissed me that I saw his killer.
We were eating dinner in a restaurant and on the way out he pulled me into a hallway to kiss me, my second kiss. It wasn't until after the kiss that I saw it…a monster or ghost or something unnatural. We were terrified and stunned when it approached. The lights flickered, the air was cold, and it reached into my second boyfriend and squeezed the life out of him. When he stopped breathing the creature turned to me, but rather than kill me it pressed itself up against my body and engulfed me in a deathly cold. My doctor told me later that my internal organs had been damaged by the hyperthermia and my ovaries were destroyed. He assured me that "hallucinations" were common under conditions of severe emotional distress.
I finished college devastated and with nowhere to go. My doctors worried about my mental health and my "hallucinations" so I decided to leave and travel around the country. It was when I began to travel and explore more that I experienced more "hallucinations," as my doctors would label it. I learned that the first poltergeist I encountered had opened my eyes to a world of supernatural creatures I had never dreamed of.
Over the course of several months, I encountered angry spirits, werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, demons, and supernatural creatures I can't even begin to describe. I learned how to defend myself quickly against all different types of creatures. I began to carry around a bow and silver and iron-tipped arrows, which seemed to work effectively at eliminating many common "hallucinations." Eventually, I found an iron machete and silver knife that I would strap to my body and hide under a leather jacket. I decided to stop being a victim of circumstance and started to search for supernatural creatures, hunting them before they could hunt me.
It wasn't until after almost a year of traveling and defending and hunting that I encountered two unique individuals. Within minutes of meeting I sensed a new chapter in my life was beginning…