As the prologue was so small, I thought I'd post chapter 1 this evening.

Are you ready to meet some of our Scooby Gang?

The young woman moaned a little in her sleep as she rolled over once more, tangling the sheets around her legs.

There was a moment of peace in the room, before she rolled back the other way and let out a soft cry of, "No! Please don't."

Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead as she twisted back again. The sheets were tangling up further around her legs, binding them together tightly.

Finally, with a louder cry of, "Please no," on her lips, she bolted awake.

As she waited for her heartrate to calm down once more, she reached over to flick on the light in the room.

The girl took a few huge gulps of water from the warm glass beside her bed, as she used the back of her arm to wipe her sweaty forehead.

She felt like she'd just run a marathon. Every inch of her body was screaming in protest, and her mind was still a jumble.

She couldn't remember what her dream was about.

All she remembered was an urge to fight.

A need to survive.

And one loan word, printed in the darkness.

Vampyr.

Emma groaned loudly as her phone blared from its position on her bedside table, alerting her to the fact that she needed to get up. Even thought she'd crashed before ten the night before, exhausted from helping her father clean and unpack their kitchen, she still felt like she hadn't slept at all.

The alarm was promptly followed by her father yelling, "Emma. It's almost time for school," up the stairs, which had her groaning a little more and burying her head under her pillow.

The first day at a new school was always a daunting experience.

Emma had been fairly popular in her old school, back in Boston. She'd had good friends; a handsome boyfriend that she enjoyed spending time with; and had been doing reasonably well in all of her classes.

But that had all changed the moment her father had been offered a new job, in a small town she'd never even heard of before. And now, Emma was having to pick up and start her life over again. She had no friends in Storybrooke. There would be no handsome boyfriend waiting for her after her classes. And she would be starting in the middle of the school year, already behind on the work her classmates were completing.

Her life really couldn't get much worse.

Emma had been expecting the usual welcoming speech from the principal that morning, when her father drove her to school. She'd prepared herself for it, so she allowed her mind to drift as he went over the school rules once more, and what was expected from her behavior. She nodded her head in all of the right places, and smiled sweetly throughout the morning, hoping that it would set her off on the right foot.

After giving her his welcoming lecture, the principal insisted on escorting Emma to her first class of the day. She wasn't particularly happy about the situation, but at least he wasn't making her wear one of those god-awful name badges her old school used to hand out, with the new student's name printed on it.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked a pretty brunette, as Principal Humbert told the class to make sure they gave Emma a warm welcome, before he left her to fend for herself.

The other girl shook her head enthusiastically, as she cleared some space for Emma on the other side of their shared desk. "Hi. I'm Regina," she whispered.

"Emma," the blonde replied, as she slid down into a seat, and pulled out her notebook and pencil case, ready to take some notes.

"You're new here, right?" Regina continued, not seeming to care that their teacher had already begun his lesson.

Emma nodded her head once, as she attempted to keep her focus on the board at the front of the class. She did not need a detention on her first day at a new school. There was no way her father wouldn't hear about that, and she'd end up grounded for the rest of the year.

"Where are you from?" Regina pressed.

"Boston," Emma whispered back, hoping her short and choppy answers would deter the brunette. Sadly, they didn't.

"I love the city," Regina continued. "My mother and I usually travel up to Boston once a month to do some shopping. But I'd kill to have grown up there. I bet it's far more interesting than sleepy old Storybrooke."

"I wouldn't know," Emma replied. "I've been busy at home since we moved."

"Then you absolutely have to join us tonight. At The Rabbit Hole."

"The Rabbit Hole?" Emma asked, before she could stop herself. She should not be encouraging this girl and her constant chatter. She should be keeping her head down, and focusing on getting the grades she needed to get out of 'sleepy Storybrooke.'

"It's an under-twenty-one's club," Regina explained. "A little lame, compared to what Boston would have to offer. But it's the only cool place in town. Anyone who's anyone will be there tonight. And now you will be too, Emma Swan."

Emma said a temporary goodbye to her new friend at lunch time, outside of the library. She needed a brand-new set of textbooks, for her brand-new school's curriculum. And apparently, the library was the place to collect them from.

"Hello," she called out, pushing her way through the heavy double-doors, and into the dark room.

The library was a gorgeous part of the building. Emma wasn't a nerd, in the stereotypical sense of the word, but she could understand the appeal of the room, with all of its subtle lighting and dark wood.

To her right was a long counter, which she assumed was used for checking books in and out, with a door to a small office hidden behind it. Directly in front of her was a large conference table, that could comfortably seat at least ten people. There were plenty of outlets on the table for laptops to be plugged into, and the occasional desk lamp dotted around it, to add some extra lighting to the room. The seats pushed up to it appeared to be comfortable leather chairs, made for long study sessions or quiet afternoons spent binging the latest must-read novel. The main bulk of the book collection was on a slightly elevated level, just behind the study area. Emma wasn't sure how far back they stretched, but she certainly couldn't see the wall on the other side of the room.

The library was unconventional in its design, but she imagined that for some of the students in school, it was utter paradise.

"Yes, can I help you?" The British accent to her right startled Emma out of her appraisal of the room, and she jumped a little in shock.

"Sorry," she chuckled, trying to control her heartrate. "I'm told that I need to speak with Mr. Gold, the librarian?"

The librarian in question straightened up from his crouched position behind the counter, looking a little out of place in his three-piece suit.

"I'm Mr. Gold," he told her. "And you are?"

"Emma," she replied quickly, making her way over to the counter. "Emma Swan. I'm new here and I need some books."

"I have just the thing you need," he assured her. His eyes were dancing with excitement as he reached back under the counter, to pull out what was quite possibly the largest and heaviest looking book Emma had ever seen before.

When he slammed it down on the counter, Emma's brow furrowed with confusion as she read the title.

Vampyr.

She had seen that book somewhere before.

"Um… I don't think that's what I'm looking for," she told him, backing away slowly.

"Really?" Mr. Gold asked, looking down at the book, almost as if to double check that he'd gotten the right one. "My mistake." He glanced back up again to ask just what it was that she needed, but all he saw was the swinging door that signaled her departure from the room.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," Emma apologized, as she bent down to help pick up the books of the girl she'd ran straight into, in her haste to leave the library.

"It's no worries," the other girl assured her. "I'm used to it."

Emma cocked a brow in concern at her easy dismissal, but continued helping to gather up everything she'd sent flying. "I was just a little spooked in the library. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going.

"You were spooked?" the girl asked softly. "In the library?"

"Yeah. The librarian's a little strange." Emma forced a chuckle, like that would somehow explain the uneasy feeling she'd had, ever since he'd slammed that book down on the counter.

"He's new," the other girl argued. "A lot of people think the library is a bit creepy, but I think it's cool. And Mr. Gold is like, super famous for this stuff. He worked at a big library in England before he came here. And he brought a ton of new books with him that I can't wait to read." As she spoke, the girl's eyes began to dance with her growing excitement, and Emma loved seeing that. When she'd first crashed into her, the other girl had seemed a little defeated by life. It was nice to see that she appeared to have at least one passion in her life.

It was just a shame that her new idol was such a huge creep.

"Emma, did you get your books sorted?" Regina called out, as the crowd of students around her appeared to part, making way for their high school queen. She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the sight of Emma, crouched down and handing over a pile of books to the girl she'd ran into.

"Is she bothering you?" Regina sneered.

"No," Emma replied, a little confused by the hostile tone in her new friend's voice. "I just ran into… I'm sorry, what's your name?" she asked the other girl.

"Zelena," she replied, pushing her long red hair out of her face, to offer Emma a warm smile. "And you're Emma Swan, right?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Small school," Zelena shrugged, as Emma handed her the last of her books, and then pushed herself up to stand.

"Well… it was nice to meet you, Zelena."

"You too, Emma."

The rest of Emma's day passed by pretty uneventfully. Regina made sure to join her for the remainder of their classes, and took great pleasure in introducing her to the right kind of people to be seen talking to. The two girls eventually parted ways after the final bell had rang, with Emma promising that she would find her way to The Rabbit Hole that evening, before she made the walk back home alone.

The house was empty when she pushed through the front door, but it wasn't really that much of a surprise. Her father was working twelve-hour shifts to settle in with his new team at the Sheriff's station, and wouldn't be home until later that evening. Which meant he wouldn't be around to question every minute of Emma's day.

While the idea of spending a night at the local under-twenty-one's club didn't fill Emma with excitement, she wanted to fit in, while she was in Storybrooke. And if that meant hanging out in a crappy club, drinking diet-soda all night, and gossiping with the most popular girls in school, then that's what she would do.

Before she left the house that evening, Emma sent her father a quick message to let him know where she was going, and what time she would be back. She didn't want him to worry if he returned home early, to an empty house.

He had been watching her from the moment the sun had gone down.

He had watched her through the windows as she danced around her bedroom, getting ready for what appeared to be a big night out.

He had watched as she ate in the kitchen, while tapping away at the screen of her phone.

He had watched as she left her house, locking the door securely behind her, before she set off in the direction of the club that he knew would be packed that evening.

He watched as she checked the screen of her phone whenever she came to a crossroad, just to make sure that she was heading in the right direction, before slipping the device back into her pocket.

He watched from his place in the shadows when she stopped suddenly, turning slowly to look back over her shoulder at the empty sidewalk behind her, before she started walking a little faster.

And he watched as she made one wrong turn, into a dark alleyway that ended with a solid brick wall.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be."

Emma turned suddenly at the sound of the voice behind her, bringing her arms up instinctively, in an attempt to protect herself.

"Who are you?" she asked. She craned her head to attempt to make out some of the features of the large figure she could just pick out of the darkness, but he seemed to prefer the shadows.

"Well you're not at all what they said you'd be," the voice drawled. "'Big and scary,' they said. You're nothin' but a sweet little girl."

For every step he took forward, Emma took two back.

"Who the hell are you?" she repeated, as she continued to back away slowly.

"I think the question you really should be asking yourself is, 'what am I?'" the man taunted, as he finally stepped forward enough to place himself directly under the only street light in the alley.

Emma's mouth opened on a scream before she had time to think about what she was doing.

His face was contorted into something that was distinctly not-human, as his bright yellow eyes flashed in her direction. At the horror on her face a smirk began pulling at his lips, revealing a distinctly sharp set of teeth, and… oh God, were those fangs?

Emma took another step back, into something solid, and felt her stomach drop as she realized she'd backed herself into the wall.

"You don't mind if I record this, do you?" the non-human asked, pulling out his own phone as he took another small step closer.

Toying with her.

"It's just, nobody's ever gonna believe I bagged myself a Slayer without some kind of proof."

"Slayer?" Emma asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Shame," the not-a-man sighed. "And now you never will."

He took another step forward to finally bring himself within touching distance of her, and reached out one lone finger, to run down the side of her face.

Emma reacted instinctually, bringing her hand up to punch him in the face.

Hard.

She'd never hit anyone before in her life, and yet, the punch made contact with a sickening crunch, and surprising accuracy.

"You bitch," he cried, reeling back in shock as his hand flew to his broken nose, assessing the damage she had caused.

Emma's survival instincts were roaring to life, and she was surprised to note that her whole body was screaming at her to stand her ground and fight. Instead of finding a way around her attacker to flee.

"They said you'd be untrained," he continued. The blood that was pouring from his nose made his appearance seem even more disturbing, in the amber light of the alleyway. "Which means… you can hit me as hard as you want, and for as long as you want… but I'm still gonna win tonight. You wanna know why?"

He took a step closer to Emma as he continued to taunt her, and she held her ground firmly. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how terrified she really was.

"Because… Little Girl… you don't know how to end me." His lips pulled back from his gums, baring his teeth in a horrifying show of dominance. For a brief moment Emma's gut instinct wavered, telling her that now was the time to run, and never look back.

But before she could make her move, a hand shot out of nowhere to grab a fistful of her attacker's hair, pulling his head up and away from where it was edging ever closer to her throat.

"Then it's a good thing I do."

Thanks for all of your wonderful feedback so far.