Prologue
It was late afternoon as Elena Bellisario sat at her computer finishing a long essay on ancient river valley cultures. Elena was a third year Anthropology major at UMD. Her head ached;
she leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table and massage her temples. She sighed and closed her laptop, pushing back from her desk; she was burnt out, she wasn't getting
any more work done tonight. She looked at the clock, 9:00; it was Friday night and she and the girls were hitting the clubs.
She moved to stand before the full length mirror and examined her reflection. She stood around 5'5'' barefoot; her build was athletic but curvy and she had exotic olive hued skin. Her
hair cascaded in dark shining curls halfway down her back and a few shorter strands formed unruly bangs that framed her face. Her brows arched elegantly over large almond eyes the
color of dark melted chocolate that always seemed to sparkle with some secret mirth. The corners of her mouth turned upward, lending to the impression of secret mirth, and her
bottom lip formed an enticing pout. She was beautiful, and she knew it; but she didn't base her existence on it.
She stretched luxuriously and went over to open her closet. She rifled through her clothes looking for something suitable to wear; she wanted something sexy but understated. She
chose dark skinny jeans and a loose red off-the-shoulder top with tight bands around the hips and wrists. She left her hair loose and put on a gold choker, gold bangles, and large gold
hoops. She finished off the outfit with 2 ½ inch heeled black mock cowboy boots. She threw a few necessities into a small gold handbag and headed out the door to meet her friends in D.C.
Her head was spinning as she left the club, good lord those tequila shots really were deadly. Despite her low heels, she stumbled slightly as she stepped to the curb to hail a taxi. The
first few were full and then one screeched to a halt, on the other side of the street. She stepped out into the road digging through her bag for chap-stick, almost there, she cursed as
she heard her phone hit the ground and she stooped down to pick it up without thinking. She saw light, heard screeching, time seemed to slow as she straightened and then she was
flying backwards; she hit the ground, dazed, someone was screaming, lights, noise, then nothing, sweet nothingness as she faded from consciousness, then…