Disclaimer: I do not own the Forbidden Game or Night World books or the characters in them. I do own Orchid, though. So there. Also, this story does not in any way establish a belief in vampires/witches, etc. or a justification of drinking blood in myself. It is simply a fantasy situation devised for entertainment.




One of the first things Julian realized after he was reborn was that Jenny Thorton was dead. It wasn't until later that he found out she'd been killed in a car crash just three days after her nineteenth birthday. When he first woke up from his long sleep all he knew was that he felt a great emptiness in his heart - in the part that had belonged to Jenny. He instantly tried to locate her mind, to use his powers to find her like he had in the past. It was hopeless. He knew she was gone.

He figured that was probably the main reason the other Shadow Men had carved his name back onto the runestave of life. So that they could see him suffer without Jenny. However, if they were gaining entertainment from his despair, they were doing it from afar. He had seen very little of his fellow Shadow Men since his rebirth. Perhaps they had captured some new soul - found a new toy to play with, and were too busy with it to make his torture complete. He didn't really care what they were doing. He spent his time alone, remembering Jenny. He had given up his existence for her. What was a life without Jenny?

You're being stupid, he told himself one day as he drifted through the cold shadows of his world. You're a powerful Shadow Man and you're wasting your existence crying over Jenny. She's gone and there's nothing you can do to bring her back. But he had loved Jenny so much. She had changed him. She had melted away some of the coldness in his heart. In the end, he had been willing to change everything to make her happy. He wished he were still dead.

He was considering trying to cut his own name back out of the runestave when suddenly he felt something. He wasn't sure what it was. Jenny.... It couldn't be. Jenny was dead. But it felt like her....or maybe just like a part of her. There it was again. Something was tugging at him. Calling to him....

He closed his eyes and let his mind sweep the worlds, searching for the source of the call. Millions of scenes from every different realm swept past his eyes. He paid them no heed. What could it be? He had to find it. And then, everything went still. A single picture danced in his mind. A girl, walking along a narrow, curving road. Something about her made Julian draw in his breath. She was very slender and pale, with short, reddish black hair. She wore grungy clothes and black lipstick. A raggedy backpack was slung over her shoulder.

She was walking very slowly, staring at the ground. It's a girl. So what? Julian thought in frustration. But then the girl stopped walking. She bent down on one knee and picked something up off of the ground. She held it up and Julian gasped. It was a small, golden band. There was absoloutley no way.... She squinted at the inside of the ring, as though there was something written there. Slowly she mouthed five words that send Julian's mind into a chaotic confusion. I am my only master.

She stared at the ring for a few more seconds and then slid it onto her middle finger and continued to walk up the road.