Prologue
Lightning flashed dangerously in the skies above, highlighting my leather-clad figure and the bare-chested man who stood across from me in my manor's courtyard. The cobblestone beneath us was wet and water was beginning to pool in the uneven dips in the ground. My hair hung in lank strands on either side of my face, turned from golden blonde to light brown. My eyes had not lost their crimson brilliance and I knew from the accuracy with which I saw, they were glowing.
My opponent's eyes were a darker red than mine, and while I could see his, it was because of the light reflected into them, not from some otherworldly shine. I could also see the flash of white fangs from behind his pale lips. "Well, cher? Is this little rainstorm the best you can do?" I called out.
"If you thought for one instant that it was," he replied, his voice gravelly and low, "then you're in for a big surprise."
Suddenly, tendrils of darkness slithered around my wrists and ankles. I looked down at them, and mentally commanded them to back off. To slink away, back into the shadows from whence they came.
They did not listen.
