Note: I don't own anything but my own characters... On with the story! :)
Prologue
Pounding rain soaked a young teenage girl stumbling through back alleys, causing her oversized clothes to weigh down her emaciated body. She pushed a damp lock of pale blond hair off her forehead with a shaking hand and continued on before tripping over a pile of rags and tumbling to the ground, yelping painfully. Then the pile moved, revealing a scraggly homeless man with bloodshot eyes and a bad temper.
"What the hell is your problem?" he spat. "You blind or something?"
The girl struggled to her knees, her head hanging low between her slumped shoulders as the man got to his feet.
"You peice of trash," he snapped before giving her a solid kick to the gut. She whimpered pitifully and collapsed onto her side, curling into the fetal position as another blow landed on her ribs. But as the rain slacked off and the moon appeared from beneath a blanket of clouds, illuminating the alley with a bright light, the girl's eyes snapped open to reveal startling emerald irises, and an animalistic growl slid from between her clenched teeth. Then, before the man even had time to scream, a flurry of vicious claws, ebony fur, and ivory fangs scrambled up from the ground and leaped upon him, tearing out his throat within a matter of seconds. Blood pooled on the damp concrete, flowing in rivulets down the cracks and swirling into the streams of rainwater heading for the city of Bayville's sewers. The lean black panther watched for a few moments, and then turned to slink off into the shadows.