Prologue

The rain fell steadily over decrepid streets and abandoned houses. No one cared. For some, it was obstacle to their rescue from this living hell, for others it was a playful delight. For everyone it was a brief respite from their survival battle. For two, it was the only time they had together.

"Did anyone see you?" A silver haired girl asked quietly as the door to her small room slid open to reveal a young man in a soaked navy blue hoodie. He shoved the hood down and shook his head to rid himself of the water.

"No, I jumped in several directions before coming here so even if they follow my scent they won't be led here. At least, not quickly." He growled back in answer. He blinked his startlingly glowing red eyes at the girl sitting on the corner of her mattress. A smile crossed his face and his eyes faded to brown. She smiled back at him, her eyes still yellow. They didn't change. She sat up further, claws to her sides, before collapsing back on the bed with a yelp when the Hunter pounced on her. She giggled, lifting a claw to gently brush his cheek. He grinned and dove at her throat, laying butterfly kisses on the soft pale skin. She laughed wildly, ticklish. She tried in vain to push him away, but he was much too strong and she didn't want to hurt him. The kisses stopped abruptly and the Witch's giggles subsided. She gasped when sharp, pointed teeth bit her neck lightly. Her back unconsciously arched up.

"Did you miss me?" Hunter asked her quietly. She could hear the uncertainty in his growling voice. She smiled, running her claws through his hair, soft despite the matted blood.

"Of course I missed you. I miss you everytime you leave." Her voice was unintentionally accusing, bitter. Her Hunter sat back on his haunches, wiping away the blood from his lips. His eyes were narrowed dangerously, but Witch knew he wouldn't hurt her. He loved her.

"I'm sorry that we can't be together in front of the other Infected, but you know they won't understand. They're mindless." He told her, eyes pleading with her to understand. Witch sighed sadly. She understood.

"I know that, it's just that sometimes I feel like your whore instead of your wife. We have to hide everything. I can't go outside without dumping water all over myself to remove your scent." She whispered, gazing forlornly at the ground in front of her. She wasn't ashamed of herself for saying what she really thought, not exactly, but she did feel regret. She didn't want to spend precious time fighting. Screeching filled the air suddenly, and Witch started before calming with a sad smile.

"Myracle is awake." She said, pushing herself up and walking into an adjacent room. In a crib in the corner of the small makeshift nursery, a little baby girl Infected cried. Hunter followed Witch into the room, creeping across the room in a doglike manner. It was uncomfortable to walk on his legs. He kicked the door shut behind him to mute the sounds to the outside world. He didn't know what he would do if a Common came in and attacked his daughter, but it wouldn't be pretty. Witch would probably be hysterical, and as is the nature of her kind, she would be absolutely unpredictable. He creeped over to the crib and looked inside, smiling. Myracle blinked her bright yellow eyes at him, smacking her lips and blowing bubbles of spittle. He chortled quietly and gently ran a clawed hand through her short, brown hair. It was still soft and fine, but he suspected it would probably be thick and messy like his own. He glanced at Witch and she nodded her encouragement. Almost reluctantly, Hunter carefully scooped Myracle up and held her. She looked a lot like her mother. He grinned. Myracle grinned back, and then spat up. Hunter started and Witch laughed. Hunter shot her a look that only made her laugh harder. She took the baby from her irate husband, who was trying to wipe the baby's vomit from his hoodie with a dirty washrag that had been laying on the floor. With a growl, he gave up and just took the hoodie off. Witch looked away with a blush, seeing all of the claw scars on his chest and stomach. When she had first been turned, she had been a bit, rough. It wasn't a fun memory. The worst part was that she had only come back to herself when Hunter was lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. She had been frantic. But that was two years ago. She thought of fonder memories to ease the pain of the rough ones. She remember almost nothing of her human life, couldn't even remember what her name had been, but she remembered some. She remembered, however vaguely, her wedding. She remembered when she became pregnant for the first time. She wished she didn't remember the heartbreak of losing that first baby. She remembered dreading becoming pregnant again. She remembered how her Hunter looked when he was human. She remembered his kind brown eyes, how they sparkled when he was happy or how they smoldered when he was angry. She remembered that they used to love running together in the park. She remembered the day they rescued their first pet, just two weeks after they lost their son. It was an old fat cat that they joking called Garfield for it's love of food. She remembered how they found out that Garfield was actually a female when she had a litter of kittens all over the house. Witch remembered walking in the house and almost stepping on a small tabby that lay on the floor mat, and then later finding twelve other little kittens of all different colors around the house. After that, they called Garfield 'Lucky' for having 13 kittens on Friday the 13th. She remembered most clearly the day that she and Hunter found an obviously pregnant injured homeless woman outside their home. She had been laying on their lawn, the ground around her sticky with blood. They had brought her into the house and laid her on the couch. The woman was awake at that point and told them how her ex husband had found her and beat her, how she crawled calling for help until her thraot was dry and scratchy and how she'd eventually found her way to their yard. They were tending to her wounds when she went into labor. It happened so quickly that they didnt have time to call an ambulance, so once again a baby was born on their couch. Lucky and her kittens were watching from behind a giagantic potted plant in the living room. The baby was a little girl, and Witch fell in love with her immediately and cleaned her off. She was reluctant to hand her over to her mother. The baby girl, who was named Tabitha, was healthy and strong. Tabitha and her mother, Victoria, stayed with them for almost a year before Victoria caught pneumonia and died. The funeral for her was short and sad, baby Tabitha cried the entire time. The most heartwrenching thing for Witch was when Tabitha was taken by the state. If Hunter hadn't have been there, she probably wouldn't have made it. She would have either killed herself or died of a broken heart. But Hunter had been there for her. That was when she decided that she wasn't afraid of losing another baby, and she wanted one badly. After that, she remembered nothing of her human life.

'It must have worked.' She thought to herself, looking lovingly down at Myracle. The baby squirmed happily, cooing. Then, she uttered her first word.

"Mada." She babbled. Hunter and Witch stared at the baby.

"Did she just...?" Hunter growled, amazed. He crept over quickly and stared at the baby in bewilderment.

"Her first word." Witch confirmed staring at Myracle. Myracle giggled and repeated 'mada' over and over again.

"What did she say?" Hunter asked.

"I think she didn't know whether to say 'mama' or 'dada', so she just combined both words." Witch answered proudly.

"My smart little girl. Already making up words." Hunter said, just as proudly, and took Myracle from Witch. He cradled her gently and kissed the soft spot on the top of her head. Myracle giggled and waved her pudgy arms around. Then, she just stopped. All of her movements stopped and her eyes widened. And she went for her father's throat. Hunter yelped in surprise, blood spurting from the new hole in his jugular, and held the baby out at arms length. She thrashed and snarled. She was surprisingly strong. Her eyes glowed bright red in the dim light. Witch quickly went to the closet, where she had a stockpile of dead human body parts stored. She grabbed a foot and ran over to where her husband sat bleeding, holding their animalistic child. Myracle was the sweetest baby, until she got hungry. Then, she turned into the devil's spawn. Made sense, considering what her parents were. To Witch's surprise, Hunter's eyes also glowed bright red. He was breathing heavily through his nose and flashing his teeth at Myracle. Witch gasped when Hunter snarled and looked like he was about to bite their daughter.

"Witch, take the child. Take her now. Before I do something I'll regret later." He snarled, trying to control himself. But the demon was rising in him, and it was coming strong. All it wanted to do was eat. And right now, it wanted Myracle. It wanted to fight, and it wanted to kill. Witch hurriedly took Myracle and sobbed when Hunter growled and jumped out of the window, into the storm outside. She ran to the crib, put Myracle inside and gave her the human foot. She turned away as her baby devoured it, flinching whenever Myracle's teeth would meet and break bones in the foot. She stared out the window as her feral husband leaped from building to building, screeching his fury loud enough to block out the storm and thunder.