John was six years old when his dad explained to him how he was different from everyone else. He thought his difference would have made it impossible for him to find friends, but it didn't.

Rose was ten years old when she found a book on the occult. It had fallen off the shelf at the library and she'd pored over all the pages, regardless of how little she could understand. She was hooked, and was determined to read more.

Dave was…man, who remembers how old he was when Dirk started training him? It seemed like his whole life he'd been raised to hunt the supernatural creatures that plagued their world. It never bothered him that he didn't get a normal upbringing. He was glad he was protecting people.

Jade was seven years old when she first saw a werewolf. She had been exploring the woods with Bec one night, ignoring her grandfather's warnings. Bec had started growling and she had stopped and moved closer to him. The werewolf leapt out of the bushes. It was built like a man but covered in thick fur and with a wolf-like head. Jade had screamed and ran, though she wouldn't have been able to outrun it. Luckily her grandfather had gone after her and shot the werewolf. Since then she hadn't ventured into the forest ever again. Her grandfather trained her to kill werewolves and other monsters. She and her friends eventually formed their own team of Hunters.

Now Jade was venturing into the forest for the first time in eight years. She held her gun, loaded with silver bullets, tightly in her hands. Bec walked beside her, ears twitching at the smallest sounds. She took deep breaths to calm her nerves. Her grandfather always told her how the forest was crawling with werewolves, but for her that was all the more of a reason to go there. She had to kill them. She didn't know why she wasn't raised by her parents, but she had a guess, and she was willing to risk her hide on that guess of avenging them.

Bec growled and Jade froze. She held her gun up and scanned the forest around her. It looked perfectly quiet, the only sounds were a few crickets. Then she heard a low howl off in the distance. She took a deep breath and walked in the direction of the howl. She heard more howls in the distance and shivered. Bec seemed nervous too but she kept going.

Eventually she found the howling werewolf. He was perched on a rock and howling loudly with his head tilted back. She pointed her gun at him and fired. He dropped down dead. She sighed with relief and smiled. That hadn't been too hard!

Bec cried out and Jade turned around. Two more werewolves stood behind her. She fired at them and they fell to the ground, but more crashed out of the bushes and she soon became surrounded. She fired around her and desperately looked for a way to escape, but they had completely surrounded her.

"Grandpa!" she called. "Help!" A werewolf leapt at her and she screamed.

"Are you okay Jade?" John asked. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Jade said. "I'm just tired. I didn't get enough sleep." She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "I had a bad dream."

"Maybe you should hold off hunting tonight then," Rose said. "We can't have you yawning while trying to fire a shot."

"No, I'll be okay," Jade said. "Really."

"You sure?" John asked. "I know it's a full moon tonight and you really like to patrol in case any werewolves leave the forest, but if you're tired you should really take a break." Jade hesitated and sighed.

"Fine," she said. "I'll stay home."

"Don't worry, there'll be plenty left for you to kill," Dave said.

"I know." Jade yawned again and rested her head on her desk. "I think I'll take a nap. Let me know when the teacher gets here." She started snoring after a few seconds.

"Do you think her narcolepsy is back?" John said. "I thought that stopped eight years ago."

"Yes, it did," Rose said. She frowned at Jade.

"She said she had a bad dream, right?" Dave said. "She probably didn't get any sleep."

The teacher walked into the classroom and John reached to shake Jade awake, but Dave grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"Let's just let her sleep." John looked at Jade and nodded.

"What was your dream about Jade?" Rose asked. Jade tore her gaze away from the window and looked at her.

"What? Why are you asking?"

"Talking about it might help."

"We're on a school bus full of kids Rose. Is this really the right environment?"

"Relax, they won't be able to hear you over all the noise," Dave said. John nodded. Jade rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine. I dreamed I'd gone into the forest, you know, the one behind my house that I've only been in once eight years ago."

"Interesting," Rose said. "What happened?"

"I found a werewolf howling and I shot it. But then a whole bunch showed up and surrounded me and I was screaming to my grandpa to help me but he didn't hear me. And…" Rose reached over and patted Jade's head.

"It's just a dream Jade. It can't hurt you."

"I know." Jade smiled. "Thanks Rose."

"Try thinking of something other than hunting when you go to sleep," John suggested. "That should lessen the chance of having a nightmare like that."

"Okay, I'll do that." The bus pulled to a stop and Jade stood up. "Bye guys. Good luck hunting."

"Thanks," John said. "See you." Jade waved to them and stepped off of the bus. She sighed and glanced up at the sky. She could faintly see the full moon. She shivered and walked down the street to her house.

"Do you think there's something different about Jade?" Rose asked.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"Something about her seemed different."

"I didn't notice anything," Dave said.

"You're probably imagining it," John said. "I think you're just worried about her." Rose shrugged.

"Perhaps."

Jade shivered uncontrollably. She couldn't figure out why she was so cold. And Bec was keeping his distance from her. She'd tried to pet him but he'd backed away from her.

"Are you okay Jade?" her grandpa asked.

"Yeah," Jade said. "I think I'll get some fresh air. I'll be right back."

"Don't go into the forest."

"I know." Jade grabbed her coat and stepped outside, while Bec stayed in the house and watched her from a window. She frowned at him and walked behind the house. As she walked she shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself. She took another step and collapsed. She gasped as heat spread through her entire body, pressing down on her like a thick blanket. The heat was soon replaced with pain and she screamed. She didn't realize how much the scream sounded like a wolf's howl.

Dave heard the werewolf's howl easily. They all did. They picked up their weapons and made their way down the street. They could hear it getting closer. It sounded young and inexperienced, that meant it would be easy to kill, but it also meant the werewolves were becoming a problem if they managed to bite someone. That or someone was just really unlucky.

The werewolf ran into sight. Her fur was a dark black and she stood barely taller than John. She spotted them and let out a loud howl. Dave ran up to her and held his gun up. One shot is all it would take. The werewolf charged at him and he took a deep breath. He looked her in the eyes. One shot…