Prologue:

Clutching her prayer beads, 14-year-old Wynn ran through the rain and puddles. She was 5'3", had long, brunette locks, and deep green eyes. Determination to reach her destination, the police station, is what propelled her forward. As she was running, she whispered a prayer to God.

"Please God; please...let this all be a dream...please!"

Finally reaching the police station, Wynn burst in, breathless, and hurried to the officer on duty.

"Sir, help me, please. My parents are dead, those monsters killed them! They've killed them!"

This young girl had never been more terrified in her life. Other ends that her parents could have met played through her head hundreds of times. Yet, forgetting every previous thought, the blame was placed on one creature: the vampire.

"Miss, please. You are talking too fast. Slow down so I can understand what you are saying. Take a deep breath, and start over."

"My parents have been killed by vampires. They are dead; do you hear me?! They are dead!"

Since she was so young, her well-educated speech shocked the officer. Still, not believing in vampires, or any other supernatural creatures, the officer merely laughed and told her to go home and use her imagination there.

How could she go home? Her father's cold, dead, bloodless body was lying on the living room floor; her mother's severed head placed carefully in the freezer. A disaster is what her life had suddenly become and nobody would believe her story. Wasn't there anything else to do besides go home? No matter what she came up with, all solutions lead to going home. Apparently, that was the only thing she had left to do. So she went. As she was walking home, all she could think about was how stupid the officer had been.

'How could he not believe me,' she thought. 'Marks like that aren't from a murder weapon; they are most certainly bite marks! I'm sure they were vampires! I'm sure of it! Those evil, blood-lusting monsters should die!'

When she arrived home, Wynn wondered if she should turn the doorknob, if she should enter those cold, hollow halls. Wondering if she could take seeing her father's lifeless body on the living room floor surrounded by the blood spilled in the vampires' frantic rush to get out of the house before sunrise. Shaking, she stood at the door with her hand on the knob, trying to work up the courage to go inside.

The courage to enter finally rose within her, and Wynn turned the doorknob and stepped inside, shutting the door softly behind her. Her green eyes avoided the lifeless corpse that was lying in a heap on the floor. She quickly ran to her room to change into black pants, a black sweatshirt, and a navy blue baseball cap. A flashlight, extra batteries, an extra set of clothes, and every bit of cash she could find were all thrown into a backpack along with a knife that had an elaborately carved handle and a blood stained note that read:

"Their blood is our blood and soon your

blood as well will be with us. Don't

worry, young one; they went without

much suffering."

Biting back the anger at everything that had happened to her, she went downstairs. Again, her eyes remained glued to her feet and away from her father. Wynn quickly walked to the kitchen to get some food out of the pantry. As she gathered the food, she repeated a list of items she was going to need [over and over]. "Weapon, clothes, shelter...weapon, clothes, shelter..." True, it was a simple list, but she needed its contents to survive. Hopefully the mental note would stick in her head.

After she finished putting food into her backpack, she walked into the living room and took one last look at her father, blew him a sorrowful kiss and walked out the door.

She stood on the sidewalk and took one final look at her once-happy home, the only place she could have ever felt safe. Would she ever feel safe again? If so, where? She really didn't think it would ever happen again, and if it did, it wouldn't be for a long, long time.