Prologue
April 16, 1872
London, England
A loud knock disturbed the silence of London's Institute in the middle of the night. The person to answer the door was none other than Thomas Tanner. He peeped his head out of the doorway and stared out into the stormy night, to his surprise, no one was there. He stepped out onto the stairs.
"Hello?" he called out into the darkness.
The only sound he had heard after that was the roar of thunder. He scanned the road one final time before shrugging and turning to go inside.
Suddenly, he heard a small cry coming from below him. Thomas looked to the ground to see a small baby swaddled in a soaked, ragged cloth. Letting out a cry of surprise, he quickly picked the child up and brought it inside.
"Charlotte! Charlotte, come quickly!"
He hurried to the drawing room, where Charlotte was working on paperwork of some sort. She looked to him with question written on her face.
"Hm? Thomas what is-" She noticed the child and quickly stood, "Is that a baby?!"
he nodded, "Someone left it at our door!"
Charlotte quickly and carefully scooped up the baby into her arms, rocking the child.
"Thomas, Agatha should still be awake... tell her to warm some milk... i'm sure we have a bottle somewhere..."
He nodded and left the room. As Charlotte was rocking the infant, she found a piece of parchment tucked in the blanket. She carefully removed it and examined it. On the back of it read:
"Alice Trushwood, Nephilim.
Please take of her."
She smiled and threw the parchment into the fire.
"Welcome to the Institute, Alice..."