A/N: 23.09.2013 The chapters has been re-edited (again), some new stuff was added, so, if you are interested or want to brush up the previous events in the story - go ahead and give it another shot. As always, reviews/comments/recommendations are mostly welcomed!

Enjoy!

Prologue

Some say that our greatest fears are but projections of our own troubled childhood. They also say that the best way is to bury the past and move on. However, as it is, when you desire nothing more than to follow that golden rule, the past comes to haunt you down, unbidden…

Lincoln Park, 1:30 a.m.

A young woman was swaying slightly, keeping closer to the lamplights. The cold November wind was blowing her tangled black hair into her face. She still was carrying a leftover bottle of beer that her co-worker Peter insisted she took, her worn way-out-of-fashion high-hills visibly slowing her down, making her pace even more unsteady than it has already been. Yes, that party was awesome… just what I needed... She thought she still could make out the sounds of the music, or was that the creeping out hangover headache? Anyway, it did help her to forget, didn't it? Oh, she was so brave now! She was so...what was that word again?

The woman seemed completely oblivious to her gloomy surroundings; instead she was humming some soft tune that's been stuck in her head the whole evening. Such a silly stupid song…Just like me…Silly and stupid… It wasn't until she caught a slight movement in the corner of her eye that her heart skipped a beat. Turning around, shakily, all she could see was darkness. Nothingness… Just like her whole existence…No, it's just a...bird...or...something, right? Somewhere deep down she knew that wasn't true.

Here she was, alone, in the deserted old park in the middle of the night and she had this nagging feeling that someone was stalking her. The woman gripped the bottle tightly as some sort of weapon, her breathing hitching. Now she could hear it…Some faint rustling…a cloth flapping in the wind… Whirling towards the direction of the park exit she almost considered sprinting away from here, towards the lights of the city, towards people with their meager little troubles. But There Was Nothing There!…Darkness and silence…She, of course, knew better than that…

"Hello? Who's there?" Her voice shook, her throat constricted in the desperate beg for alcohol just to sooth her already fried nerves. Silence was the only answer…

Somehow she felt some presence, it was that strange unexplainable feeling of cold dread that washed over her every once something wasn't right. Within time she has learned to trust that feeling. "Hey, it's not funny!" The woman almost jumped as some dark outline seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was a tall dark figure, his face hidden by the shadows of the thick trees. The woman gulped visibly but made no attempt to run or call for help.

"It's time…" the figure wheezed, sending another wave of chills down her spine; his rasping voice flat and inhumanly emotionless. "It's time for you to step into the game…"

"How do you know? I didn't get any sign," the woman's brown furrowed in attempt to think straight, despite her mind begging for a rest. She was too drunk, too scared, too disoriented to do this now. "Who's sent you?"

"He did…I am the sign…it's time for the B plan," she felt the shadow smirk and it scared her more than anything before. That inhuman, dead grin… Still she held her head high, arrogance boarding on recklessness.

"What about the sacrifice?"

"Don't worry, it's already taken care of," the shadow made several footsteps toward her, the woman didn't even flinch. Her pale face seemed to glow unnaturally with pride in the moonlight. "Ok, let's do this." Her voice shook just a little as the bottle of beer slipped out of her shaking hand, breaking into hundreds of small pieces with a loud crack. The figure rattled with silent laughter and in the blink of an eye he lunged at her. She didn't have a chance to jump away or dodge, as in less than a second his hand lifted her off the ground as a ragged doll, his other one going for her chest. The air around sparkled bloody red...her lonely startled scream pierced the darkness above. There was a thud and a rush of cold freezing air... In a minute everything went silent…