CHAPTER ONE

They Come At Night

They come at night. The Collectors of Curses always stalk in pairs. No matter where I go, they follow. My Blight has it's advantages, but when it comes to the Collectors, it's nothing but a disadvantage.

What they want the most is to see a Curse. When they look at me, that's exactly what they see. I run down the alley, through the squashed together brick buildings to the back street. If I could sprout wings and fly like them, I might have a chance — but now, here, uncovered and exposed, I'm doomed.

The sad part is, I only have a month left. One more month to live before my Curse expires — and my body with it. I thought I could avoid them until the end.

I thought wrong.

Monstrous wings slice through the air, sending a burst toward me. Goosebumps form on my exposed back. Don't look back. Don't look back. That's how they get you. Those white eyes will be the end of me.

I kick my red heels off, like I should've a block back. The gritty gravel digs into my skin, glass cuts the sole of my feet.

No, no, no — not yet. Not yet. I would take death, the natural Curse way, to have my time expire, my body wither, and turn to dust the dawn of my last day. The Collectors won't allow that. They'll make me into one of their immortal, soulless, dolls.

Something shoots through the air from behind me. And I know, I know from the whooshing the string makes as it comes toward me — I know they're going to get me.

Black thread loops around my neck. I'm jerked off the ground, sent flying backwards. I reach my hands out in front of me as I fall to my back, trying to grab on to something — anything — that will save me. My skin breaks against the broken bottles. Warm blood seeps into my green dress.

I gasp in for air, but the threads crushing my throat. I can't breathe. This is it — this is really it. My blood's smeared on the pavement as they drag me back toward them. I hear the click of the Collector's claws as they land on the ground. The thud of their heavy bodies.

My eyes shoot to the sky. It's still as black and empty as ever. There's no hope. The sun won't rise in time to banish them from this world.

Three long, curled fingers wrap around my throat. It pulls me to my feet and against its cold, bare chest. The Collector's gray, dried skin soaks in my blood, wearing it like war paint.

"Got'cha," it wheezes in my ear.

Silver flashes in the corner of my eyes. A Collector shrieks, white goo splashes against the pavement as it falls into two pieces.

That's a first.

White sprays out from behind me. The thread loosens, I suck in air as I fall to my knees. Grabbing my neck, I turn to see the Collector's head roll on the ground. I have never — in all my life — seen a Collector die. I've never even heard it was possible to kill one. But here I am, staring at two of them dead.

Silver glows again. I look up from the head to see someone standing there with a massive sword. This is not good. Someone who can kill a Collector is not someone I want to be around.

Let my Curse work on them. Let them be looking for something good, not just another thing they'd want to kill.

Then I see his golden eyes.

Oh no. No. No. No. Not him.

"Leave me alone!" I say. My voice cracks. I slide back, pushing through the pain of all my cuts and stand. My eyes search for anything to defend myself. There's a wooden plank beside a trash can. I lunge for it, grab it, and hold it out between me and the Beast. "Stay away!"

A cocky smile slips up his lips as his eyes take in the plank. He lifts his sword just a little, just enough to let the light from the window's gleam off it again. Saying your plank against a sword? Really without words. My stomach lurches. Shit, shit, shit — first the Collectors now this. The Beast.

The one who killed my family. A slayer of Curses.

"Run, Kagome, run!" I can hear my mom say, screaming until her voice broke. But, I know, it wasn't her voice that broke. It was her neck, as the Beast sliced through it. I had looked back just in time to see her blood fly through the air and head drop against the street.

Dad was next … then Souta, my precious brother. So little and perfect, a human not a Curse. Why didn't I grab him before I ran? Why? I should've — how could I have been so thoughtless?

And now he's here. The Beast. He found me.

One month, why couldn't I have had just one more month?

I wonder what I look like to this monster. Am I beautiful? Repugnant? Tall, short? White, tan, black? Do I have skin or scales?

"I can see you," he says.

"Stay. Away." I repeat as I hold out the blank a little farther, pointed at his chest. I'm not a weakling. I'm not going out without a fight.

"Can you?" he asks.

He takes a step closer. I take one away. My back presses against the trash can.

"You have a Changeling Blight, don't you? That's a rare curse. Have you ever seen yourself?"

"Stop talking to me, you monster!" I say and throw the plank at him with all my strength. I know it'll do nothing, but I want him to hurt — hurt like I do, just seeing him. Remembering that night. Dad knew what he was when he came to the door. He tried to save us, to keep him out, but … but ….

He doesn't move. He lets the plank bounce off him. His golden eyes are hard. So intense that I think — just for an impossible moment — that he can really see me. But that's not possible. No one can ever see me. I can't even see me.

"What are you doing to that girl?!" Someone says from behind me.

He looks to the voice, I take the chance to run. There's a group of men at the end of the street. They see my blood and take their weapons to arms.

"Did that beast do this to you, beautiful?" One of them asks.

I'm thankful — so thankful — that these guys are looking to be heroes. That they're looking for a beautiful damsel in distress, and not something to hunt. I nod vigorously as I slide behind them. They're just humans, they can't fight the golden eyed, silver haired devil but they can distract him long enough for me to get away.

Like my family did….

They charge at the Beast.

I run the other way.