Prologue
A sound rang out into the night like an electrically charged whip. As the echo reverberated throughout the many corridors, it took on the form of a scream. Solemnly, in the darkness of a room, a figure sat bolt upright. She breathed heavily as a single bead of sweat slithered down the left side of her jaw line. She wiped it away with the tip of a slender finger as she slid silently out of bed. She floated effortlessly over to the bureau and tenderly fingered the silver handled hand mirror that lay upon it. With a small shudder, she grasped it firmly in her right, drawing it so that it was at eye level.
At first all she saw was her reflection in the dim light; dark violet hair cupping her pale and taut angular face, her eyes shining like liquid coal. She stared at herself for a moment, realizing how ghostlike she appeared. The edges of her gown furrowed around her bare legs as a gust of wind blew in through the open window.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she growled at the mirror.
"You can never escape Raven," a voice answered her, sending a shiver up and down her spine.
"What do you want from me?" she cried quietly, only half surprised that she had gotten a verbal response.
"You know," the disembodied voice called cruelly and omnisciently.
Suddenly a face replaced the girl's reflection in the mirror. It was a grotesque shape with a blood-red complexion. Two sets of glowing slit-like eyes stared up at her with a deranged sort of glee. A grim line turned up at the corners to form a tormented grin. The head elicited a demonic cackle as Raven shivered in disgust.
The young woman squeezed her dark orbs shut against a sudden pounding in her temple. She knew what was happening but was powerless to stop it. Slowly, the pain intensified, causing her grip on the mirror to slacken. As the speckled haze of unconsciousness spiraled towards like an 18-wheeler, she cried out in one last attempt to be heard. Before she even finished screaming, her slender form lay stiff as a stone on the unforgiving floor.