Prologue

  The fog-covered ground obscured the area around Dawn. She ran, not stopping no matter what caught her eye. Her feet pounded on the damp ground. Panting, her heart was beating so hard in her chest that she could hear it. Behind, she could hear the heavy breathing of the creature as it followed her. Dawn looked back and saw the bright white eyes in the distance. An unseen headstone stood in her path and she tripped, her head hitting a grave marker. Warm, dark red blood dripped down her face onto the grass. Dawn grasped the top of a nearby headstone and struggled to pull herself up. Her vision became blurry and she stumbled, trying to run again. There was just enough light from the moon for her to be able to make out the shapes of the headstones as she maneuvered around them. The creature was catching up to her, she could sense that it was right behind her. Suddenly something feeling like claws scraped against her ankle. She ran faster and felt it again.

Slowly the crunching of fall leaves stopped, silence. She kept running, trying to distance herself from the creature chasing her.  Dawn eventually slowed her running and stopped to catch her breath, bending over to put her hands on her thighs. She looked around her for any sight of the monster. In the distance, she could make out a shape that looked like a person. She sighed in relief, maybe they will help her.

  "Hello?!" Dawn yelled loud enough that the shape was sure to hear her. The shape started to move closer to her. It seemed to be running. Dawn took a few steps back, starting to feel frightened again, as the figure approached. A teenage boy with dark black hair and bright white eyes stood in front of her.

"You're the one the monster was chasing? You're not hurt or anything, are you?" The boy asked, grabbing Dawn's wrist. Dawn looked at him and nodded. His eyes looked familiar, she had met him before, just didn't know where or when. Her smile of relief slowly started to fade as she realized where she knew the eyes. The boy's face grew rueful. His form began to shift in the bright moonlight. His hand slowly turned into a claw, reaching out to dig into Dawn's skin. The boy was the monster, he was a shapeshifter. Dawn screamed as the monster tore at her clothes and flesh. The last thing she saw and felt before she lost consciousness was the monster ripping her arm off below the elbow. The graveyard was empty of life now, but if anyone had been near, they would have just thought they were hearing someone snapping twigs. It tore off her limbs one by one, tossing them among the graves. Blood flooded the ground.

As the sun rose, the form of the boy returned. He took one last look at Dawn's mangled and decapitated body, sighed, wiped the small tears from his face, and sprinted from the scene.