It was late afternoon, around 5 o' clock on a late October day. Selene was lying on her bed reading a book. The sun was beginning to set, turning the room a gold/reddish color. Selene's father, John, was out in the fields tending to the horses. Selene's mother, Marie, was in the kitchen downstairs cooking dinner.

Selene lived with her mother and father on a horse farm. Selene was a very beautiful young woman, only 22, and not yet married. Selene's older sister, Ana, was married and had 2 young twin daughters, Grace and Beth, who had just celebrated their sixth birthday last week. Selene's sister and nieces were staying with them this week because Selene's sisters husband, Jack, was out of town on business and did not like to leave his family all alone. Selene was always happy when her sister and nieces stayed with her, she loved them so much.

Selene was just turning the page of her book when her mother called upstairs that dinner was ready. Selene walked down the hall to her nieces room to get them washed up for dinner. They all went to the bathroom and washed their hands and went downstairs and into the dining room where Marie and Ana were bringing the food from the kitchen into the dinning room.

Selene sat down at the table. Her father came in a minute later and sat down at the head of the table. When Selene's mother and sister had come back and sat down they all said grace and began to eat.

When they had finished most of their dinner Jack said, "Something has been killing the horses during the night. Five had already been killed."

Selene looked up at her father and saw he had a worried expression on his face.

"What do you think is killing them?" asked Marie.

"I don't know." Selene's father had replied quickly. TOO quickly. He always did that when he was lying, and Selene picked up on it and stopped eating to stare at her father. It seemed that everyone else at the table, (except Selene's nieces,) had picked up on it too and everyone stopped eating to look at him also.

Selene's father just looked back at them with a frown on his face and said, "don't you be worrying about it now. I'm sure its nothing. Probably just some wild dogs."

Selene knew he was lying but just sat in her seat quietly and didn't talk for the rest of dinner. She was a little frightened. Her father never kept secrets from her. That meant that this secret must be really big, and really scary for him not to tell her. She was wondering why he even brought it up in the first place. Maybe he just wanted everyone else to say, "oh yeah it's probably nothing," too and reassure him. But nobody did.

After dinner Selene helped her mother and sister wash the dishes then she played hide and seek throughout the house with her nieces. They always won because they were so small they could squish in anywhere to hide. It always took Selene a long time to find them.

When they were finished playing it was time to go to bed, (they get up really early!) Selene kissed her mother, father, sister, and nieces and then went up to her room, changed into her nightgown, and crawled into her bed. Down the hall she could hear her Ana reading her nieces a bedtime story. They were all laughing and having a good time. That's what Selene always wanted. She wanted to have her own children and have them all laugh and have a good time together. That's what she always dreamed of.

Selene turned off her light and closed her eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

-

Selene was awoken suddenly by the sounds of frightened screams. She recognized them immediately - they were her mothers and sisters. There were a couple of more loud screams and gun shots and then after that everything went quiet. Very quiet.. Selene never liked it when it was too quiet, it was creepy.

Selene sat up in bed and listened. What she wanted to hear was her mother laughing and saying that it was only a mouse, that's why they screamed, or something like that. But there was no sound.

That's when Selene suddenly remembered what her father had said at dinner. What if this had something to do with the things that were killing their horses?

Selene crept quietly out of bed and walked over to the window. She pulled aside the curtain and looked out. The door of the barn was open! Her father never left the door open. She looked closer and saw a dark figure lying in a heap on the ground. Selene had to put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming out loud. It was her father on the ground. It seemed like he was lying in a puddle of dark fluid. Blood? Where were her mother and sister? Did they have Grace and Beth with them?

Selene walked to the door and was about to open it when she heard footsteps. They were so light Selene wondered how she could even hear them. Selene froze in fright with her hand still around the door knob. She knew they didn't belong to anyone in her family. She stayed there for a few seconds before pulling open the door and sprinting down the stairs. She thought if she could get to her mother and sister she would be able to save them. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs when she tripped over something and fell flat on her face.

She turned around to see what had happened and noticed she was lying in a pool of blood. She saw her mother and sister lying on the floor. It was their blood! They were dead!

Selene let out a small cry and then she suddenly realized. HER NIECES! Grace and Beth were not there. That must mean they were still upstairs…..

Selene bolted up the stairs and down the hall to her nieces room. But when she got there she had seen she was too late. Her nieces were lying on their beds covered in blood, dead. She hadn't even heard them cry or scream. "Maybe they were killed before they could even get a chance to scream"….Selene thought.

Selene fell to her knees and stared sobbing. This was all her fault. If she wasn't so worried about her mother and sister- if she had gone to her nieces room instead of trying to find her mother and sister- they may have lived.

She continued to cry when she felt a cold presence about her. She turned around and saw in the doorway a man. He was tall and strong and had a sense of power about him. His face was neither old nor young but still looked like it had seen many days. His eyes were a fantastic color blue and his lips were red. He had blonde hair and was wearing a black robe with a giant sword hanging at his side. She had never seen anything like him before. He opened his mouth and said gently, "do not cry my child."

Selene just stared back at him in a daze. After a minute or two she seemed to find her voice and said, "what, what happened?"

"Lycans." He answered quietly. "But its okay now. Your safe. I scared them all away."

Selene looked up frightened. She knew what lycans were .Werewolves. Her father had always told her stories about kids getting snatched up and

eaten by lycans when they wandered away from home. Selene never believed him. She just thought he was trying to scare her so she wouldn't wander too far from home.

She looked at him carefully. He spoke kindly. He seemed nice. He seemed trustworthy.

She said quietly in between little sobs, "What am I going to do? My family, there all dead."

He walked over to her and put his arms around her and hugged her tight. Even though he was a stranger Selene felt an odd amount of comfort in his arms.

"I'm Viktor." He said.

"I'm Selene."

They sat in silence in the pool of blood for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes until Viktor said, "what is it that you are going to do now?"

"I don't know," answered Selene, "I have no other family, there all, there all…." She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She thought If she said it, it might make it real. "But it was real. It all really happened," Selene thought to herself.

"I hate the lycans. I HATE THEM! They killed my family!" Selene suddenly burst out pushing Viktor slightly away from her, them began sobbing violently.

"I can give you the power to avenge your family if that will please you." Viktor said quietly.

Selene felt a white hot surge of hatred and anger towards the lycans for what they did to her family. She wanted them all dead. But what did Viktor mean when he said, "I can give you the power to avenge your family." What kind of power? What if it was bad? But Selene soon realized she didn't care. All she cared about was killing every lycan off the face of this earth.

"Yes. I want to avenge my family."

A sad smile crept across Viktor's face. He then arched Selene's neck back and lowered his mouth toward her throat. Selene wondered what he was going to do but didn't say a word. Just then Viktor opened his mouth and plunged his deep fangs into Selene's throat. She let out a small whimper but quickly lost her voice. Everything started spinning. Everything was going hazy. She knew she was dying. She said to herself determinedly,"I'm going to avenge my family," before slowly closing her eyes and blacking out.