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PROLOGUE

THE MORNING OF HER eighteenth birthday, Annabelle Miller woke fro as if her eyes had been ripped out, dipped in acid and shoved back into their sockets She becaed from sleep When full awareness finally struck, her entire body tensed and bowed, a screa free of her throat

She pried her swollen eyelids apart, but…there was no dawning light Only darkness greeted her

The pain spread, riding the too-swift tides in her veins and threatening to burst through her skin She rubbed at her face, even clawed, hoping to re out of the ordinary No bu A warm liquid now coated her hands

Blood?

Another scream left her, followed by another and another, each like a serrated piece of glass scraping her throat raw In seconds, panic chewed her up and spit her out She was blind, bleeding--and dying?

The whine of hinges, the clack of high heels against the hardwood floor "Annabelle? Are you all right?" A pause, then a hiss of breath "Oh, baby, your eyes What happened to your eyes? Rick! Rick! Hurry!"

A curse was followed by the pound of hard, fast footsteps A second later, a horrified gasp filled her bedroom "What happened to her face?" her father bellowed

"I don’t know, I don’t know She was like this when I came in"

"Annabelle, sweetheart" Her dad, now so tender and concerned "Can you hear me? Can you tell me what happened to you?"

Annabelle tried to speak--Daddy, help me, please, help ed to s And oh, dear heaven, the burnevery ti arms slid under her, one at her shoulders, the other at her knees, and lifted her Thethe pain and she ot you, sweetheart," her dad assured her "We’ll get you to the hospital and everything will be okay I proes of her panic ebbed How could she not believe hiht everything would be okay, everything would be okay

Her dad carried her to the SUV in the garage and laid her across the backseat as her mother’s sobs echoed Her dad didn’t bother with a buckle, just shut the door and sealed Annabelle inside She expected his door to open next, then her mom’s She expected her parents to climb inside and drive her to the hospital, as pro

Annabelle waited…and waited…seconds ticking by with excruciating slowness, the raggedness of her inhalations becos, fetid and sharp enough to nip at her nostrils She cringed, confused and frightened by the change in the air

"Daddy?" she said Her ears twitched as she listened intently for his reply, but all she heard was…

Muffled voices through the glass

The shrill grind of ony

"Go inside, Saki," her father shouted in a terrified tone Annabelle had never before heard hi through the pain, Annabelleposition Miraculously, the unbearable blaze in her eyes at last faded As she wiped away the blood, tiny rays of light pierced her line of vision One second passed, two, then the light spread, colors appearing, blue here, yellow there, until she was taking in the full scope of the garage

"I’m not blind!" she cried, but her relief was short-lived

She spotted her father, shielding herthis way and that but never landing on anything specific Grisly cutsfro an unstoppable avalanche tuh every inch of her What had happened to him? There was no one else in the small enclosure and--

A man materialized in front of her parents

No, not a man, but a…a… What was that?

Annabelle scra the other side of the car The newcomer wasn’t a ht in her desiccated throat Suddenly she couldn’t breathe, could only stare in revulsion

The…thing was freakishly tall, the top of its head brushing against a ceiling she couldn’t reach with a stepladder It possessed a barbarian’s oversize bones and fangs she’d only ever read about in vampire novels, with skin the darkest shade of criers dripped with blood Gnarled wings of pitted black stretched froth of its spine A long, thin tail curled froed against the concrete floor as it swished back and forth, back and forth

Whatever it was, she suspected it had caused her father’s injuries--and it would only cause more