PART ONE

It Begins

Waking Up

Is it over? Where am I? I thought as the silence continued to wrap its cold talons around my mind. I was lost, couldn't see. Was it just dark or were my eyes locked shut? Did it even matter? Below me I could feel stone, probably concrete. I sat up as best as I could in the darkness and stared into the nothingness. There was no sound, nothing to suggest that I was still alive. My mouth tasted dry, and I immediately licked my lips out of habit. All I could hear- or comprehend at the least- was my own breathing. Slowly I began to grow used to the rising and falling of my chest. I jumped, scared, as the silence was broken, but I felt stupid when I realized that it was just my stomach. My legs and neck were stiff. I must have been lying there most if not all night.

Little by little my brain awoke and I instinctually found myself taking in my surroundings. My eyes were adjusting so the darkness wasn't just me. At least I knew I wasn't dead. Or was this what death was really like? I didn't recognize where I was, which scared me. How did I get here? All I remembered was ... ugh ... nothing, I remembered nothing! I think I was attacked ... on my way home ... from work maybe? Wasn't there a fist, or a weapon? As I thought about this, another idea crossed my mind. Why am I still alive? Against my better judgment, I found I couldn't stop my mouth from moving. I spoke.

"Hello?" I barely whispered.

Suddenly light engulfed the room and I was blinded. My arm whipped up to shield my eyes from the brightness, but the sudden contrast still required me to squint. My eyes rapidly trying to adjust, I first noted how small the room was. A fireplace, unlit and sooty, was the only splash of color. The reds and oranges of the bricks prominently stood out against the whites and grays of the walls and stone floor. The hard floor I had felt, as I had guessed, was indeed concrete. Everything was bare from the walls with empty spaces where portraits might have hung long ago, to the floor littered with shards of concrete and a thin layer of dust. The building, if I had to guess, hadn't been touched in years. My eyes continued darting until, naturally, they came to the only other important thing in the room, a small electric lamp with a plain white top; the source of the light. Casually sitting next to it in a beaten down chair was a lone figure. Their head was propped up on their right hand which was closed in a relaxed fist; their left arm was laid out on one of the rests. It was a man, and, as scared as I was, a handsome one. Immediately I realized what kind of a situation I was in, and it wasn't good. I was terrified, I had heard of men like this. They looked decent, but all they really wanted was to get under your clothes. Unfortunately for me, I would probably make a delicious meal. He sat only a few feet away from me; but he didn't move. Instead of looking at me, he was staring out of a window I hadn't noticed before. My heart was racing and it took me a moment to steady my breathing.

"You're awake. Good! There's a lot we have to talk about."

This took me off guard. Wasn't he going to hurt me? Rape me even?! Instead he chose to speak calmly to me, and tell me we had things to talk about.

"You're scared and you're confused, I get it," he finally turned to me and I got my first glimpse of his ... gorgeous face. His eyes were bright green and his brown hair was shaggy as if he'd just gotten out of a fight. Around his neck he wore a chain with a metal cross, and on his finger, a small golden ring. I found it all odd; he didn't look much like a church boy. He wore a black jacket with a white tank top on underneath, and his tan cargo jeans had a hole in both of his knees. His tennis shoes were a little worn out as well. Overall, it was difficult for me to figure out what kind of guy he was.

"My name's Daniel, don't worry, I'm a friend. You've," he paused for a split second, "had an accident."

I looked down at my hands for the first time and realized that they were throbbing, like I had tried punching something hard. I looked back up at him and gave him the biggest look of resentment I could. He had done this to me; whatever was going on was his fault. I had to get out of here. I had to get away from him.

"Look, you're lucky to be alive. I'm lucky to be alive!"

I didn't speak to him; he didn't deserve any respect from me. As my eyes scanned the room for an escape route, I thought I noticed something strange about Daniel's face. Maybe I was crazy, but I swore his eyes were changing color. For a small moment neither one of us spoke. He didn't smile. He didn't lunge at me. He simply leaned down and produced a small hand mirror from off the surface of the end table that the lamp sat on. He looked at me, and then, with a slight hesitation, slowly leaned over and held it out for me. Did he really expect me to grab it?

"Take it, you should know now so you don't freak out too much later and accidentally kill somebody."

"What?"

His statement had sparked something inside of me I hadn't known before, and my hands shot forward before I could even think about it. I held the mirror to my face and immediately screamed. The mirror shattered to the floor, but in the one large piece left in the frame I could still see it all. It wasn't me, that wasn't me. My eyes were the worst; they stared back at me with a bright red color instead of my usual blue. On top of that, my neck now had picked up a new scar, two little holes that sank into my skin a ways. I slowly connected the dots and staggeringly opened my mouth.

My heart stopped completely. I looked up to see Daniel with his head rested against the back of his chair staring at me. I looked back and ran my finger over both of my fangs that jutted like knives from my gums.

"Vampire?"

"You should let me explain before you jump to conclusions."

"Who are you, what the hell is going on?" Suddenly I found myself surging backwards, stumbling as I clambered back. I found myself stuck in a corner. I felt a tear escape my eye and I realized I was going to cry. I buried my face in my hands and I bawled while memories of last week slammed into me like a freight train.

I had just arrived home from work. I had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some food, so my arms were a little full. It was dark out, the time on my watch read ten fifteen. I knew Jason would still be awake; he never went to bed without making sure I was home. Jason was my ten-year-old brother, but to him, I'm probably more of a mother. As painful as it is to admit, our mom died ten years ago. Jason doesn't remember her, but I do.

She was the kind of woman who you could brag about. She cared, she volunteered, she never quit. It was just an accident. I hadn't even seen it coming. It all just happened so fast. All I remember was her driving me to dance practice- I had begged her to take me even though she was sick. We didn't have the radio on, but the cool air was. Our car had also had something wrong with it that morning, so we were already late. From there it's kind of fuzzy: a red traffic light ... a streak of lightning ... her lunging over me at the last second. I was old enough to realize what had happened, but by no means was I prepared. I had woken up in the hospital two days later more scared than I'd ever been in my life.

As I silently opened the door and stepped into the darkness of my home, I took a quick look around. Through the doorway leading into our living room I could see that my dad was fast asleep on the couch. A blanket was draped over him and he was snoring. I smiled and then stealthily crept into the kitchen around the corner. I flipped the light on and placed the bags on the counter. Immediately I began taking the groceries out and placing them where they needed to go. It was quiet, but I could still hear Jason's TV on directly above me. The eggs, along with other cold items, I put in the fridge, the cereal, amongst other things, in the pantry, and finally the new dishwasher soap under the sink. I carefully wadded up the plastic bags and then shoved them in our grocery sack bag. We found, like most people, that the bags could be reused for garbage and stuff. I looked around me once more and then turned towards our cupboards where we kept our cups. I opened one and took a clear glass out from it. I filled it up with water and leaned up against the counter as I drank it silently to myself. It had been a busy day at work, and I had only made ten dollars in tips. It wasn't bad, but it was slower than most days. I waitressed at a diner down town. I was still wearing my uniform: white shirt, black skirt, and bright red apron with my name pin.

I sighed as I finished my water and then sat my cup down by the sink. I walked out the door, shutting the lights off as I went, and found my way over to our stair case that led upstairs. My feet made no sound as I walked up the carpeted steps, around a corner, and up to my brother's room. I listened through the door for a moment, realizing that he was watching a movie. I couldn't tell from the sounds which movie though. My hand rose to knock, but suddenly the door swung open to reveal my little brother Jason standing in front of me.

"Hey Rebecca!"

"Sup Jason. How was school?" I asked as I stepped inside.

"Ok. How was work?"

"A woman came in today and ate an entire pie to herself. That interesting enough?"

"Maybe she just likes to eat."

"Well she had to have been eighty," I smiled.

"That's weird."

"Yeah," I whispered, almost to myself. "It's past ten, you should be in bed."

"I'm ten years old; I don't need a bed time."

"That's what I always said. Still wish I had gone to bed at nine instead."

"You take the fun out of everything."

"I do it 'cuz I know you need your sleep."

"Yeah, yeah," he yawned. "Alright, goodnight."

"Here, let me tuck you in."

"Ok," he mumbled as he shut the TV off and climbed into bed.

I gave him a quick hug and then tucked him in, not that he needed it.

"Night Jason."

"Night Rebecca, see you in the morning."

Daniel stood up with a worried expression plastered on his face. He took a step towards me and for a moment the only sound was the scrape of his shoe on the floor echoing around us. He continued walking towards me and I began to freak out.

"You ... you stay away from me!" I cried. "Just go away!"

I hated him. He had something to do with all of this, and if I didn't know who to blame, I could at least blame him. For whatever reason though, he didn't listen to my demands and continued to walk right up to me. I huddled up even closer to the corner hoping everything would just stop, that I would die, or I'd wake up in my bed at home.

He stopped about two feet from me, squatted down behind the broken mirror, and took the largest piece he could, placing it in one of his pockets. Without getting up he spoke to me at eye level.

"What's your name?"

"That's none of your business!"

"You need help."

"What do you care?"

"I just saved your life. I care a lot."

I laughed to myself. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I must have been an idiot to think that any of this was real. "You just care? Well what happened then?" I found myself asking sarcastically. He had mentioned before I was in an accident, but I knew deep inside me that he was right. I was still sore from all sorts of bruises on my sides, arms, and legs.

"Are you sure you really want to know what's going on?"

Did I? Maybe if he told me what was going on, it would fill in some of the blanks in my head, or at least the parts about the accident.

I sat there thinking when I finally decided I did want to know, no matter how terrible it sounded.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Ok, I'll start from the beginning," began Daniel. "But just know that you're safe as long as you're with me."

"What's going on?" I asked him, emphasizing every word.

"Well, you and I aren't exactly ... human anymore."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked angrily.

"It means that neither one of us is mortal. You see, where I'm from, I belong to a small elite group of beings known in my world as Solace. We're a different type of group, we all have our own quirks, but we're strong, loyal to each other, family even. Each one of us earned our place in Solace; we all went through similar struggles, struggles that began where you are now."

"So you're all vampires too?" I asked suddenly scared of him again.

"No, in fact you're the only vampire I've seen for almost the better part of a year now. We're all different types of creatures, but we're all on the same side," he trailed off as he peered out the window.

"So what are you?"

"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?"

"I'm sorry?"

"It's alright. Questions are good, they tell a lot about people."

This was certainly getting weirder by the minute, but for some odd reason I was getting the feeling that I wasn't in the kind of trouble that I, at first, thought I was in. Daniel picked up another shard of the glass. Watching him made me wonder who he really was, what his past had been like.

"I'm sorry, about your mirror," I apologized.

He looked up at me and smiled for a split second before looking back down at the piece he was twirling in his fingers.

"This mirror is over nine hundred years old, and it's the only reflective surface on earth a vampire can see themselves in."

"Sorry," I said embarrassed.

"It's ok," he grinned. "Here," he held out the piece that was in his hand, "take it, in case you ever want to see yourself."

I took it and held it to my face. I looked at my reflection once more and once again flinched at what I saw. I put the shard down and began to try and filter as much information as I could in order to try and keep myself from going completely insane.

"So, what kinds of creatures are there then?" I asked suddenly finding myself feeling braver.

"Well, all sorts: demons, centaurs, satyrs, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, mermaids, pegasi, giants, you name it."

"Wait! Those creatures, they don't actually exist."

"I know it's a lot to take in at one time, but if you just listen to the rest I promise you it'll make a little bit more sense."

"You can promise me that?"

"Hope to die."

I wasn't happy with him, but it wasn't exactly like he could be tricking me that much. I was a living example now of a creature that, up until yesterday, I thought was just a fairy tale. I looked the same as I did before, that was except for the teeth and eyes, but if I passed someone like me on the street and their mouth was closed, I' d probably never know they were different. I' d just think that they were weird, and that scared me the most.

"Solace is kind of the magical community's police," he continued. "I take it you're a part of that now."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Well that remains to be seen Miss ..." he paused. I sighed before looking him in the eyes on purpose for the first time that night.

"Beldt," I said coldly.

Immediately I saw something flash in his eyes, and his eyebrows twitch as soon as I said 'Beldt'. I couldn't be sure; it was gone just as fast as it had come.

"Does Miss Beldt have a first name?" he said evenly, almost hesitantly.

"Rebecca."

"Do you ... is it alright if I just call you Becca?" he stumbled.

"Why, is my name too hard to say?"

"No! It's just ... I don't know ... just a nickname I guess."

"You've known me for about five minutes and you're trying to give me a nickname?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I suppose not," I mumbled. It was kind of cute, but different, the way he treated me. Growing up, it was hard sometimes to find guys like Daniel. He actually seemed like a nice guy, but he still hadn't answered my original question.

"So what's going on?"

"Well Becca, we still haven't figured out what or why, but someone is hunting you, someone who obviously wants you dead or alive. There are a few suspects who could be behind it all. Unfortunately, they're all demons and would probably rather have you dead than alive. They'd probably make it slow and painful too, stripping your flesh or attacking your mind and killing everyone you're closest to first."

"And that's supposed to make me feel any better how?"

"It ... shouldn't, but it's the reality of the matter. When I found you I was with another member of my team returning from a long night of patrolling. He and I were racing by when I saw someone hovering over you in an alleyway. My partner managed to distract your attacker and lead him far away before I brought you to the closest safe house I could think of, here. My partner still hasn't contacted me with his whereabouts, or to ask me where I am. It's possible that your attacker was too much for him, or he's still in pursuit. Usually his hunts last a few hours, sometimes days. Either way, my number one priority right now is keeping you safe."

He took a step towards me and hesitantly placed both of his hands on my shoulders. I was too shocked to fight him as he helped me to my feet. My heart was now racing at the speed of light, my mind whizzing just as fast if not faster. Was he serious? Did anything he just say make sense? My hands found a cool spot on the wall and they propped me up as I tried to steady my The one thing that kept replaying in my head was, 'Someone is hunting you,' something not many normal people heard on a daily basis.