Page 3

The scrape of footsteps echoed off the brick walls. Slow. Measured. Deliberate.

I curled tighter into myself, trying to become invisible in the shadows between the dumpster and the wall. But the footsteps kept coming, and with them came a presence that made the air itself feel wrong.

A figure emerged from the darkness, impossibly tall, its edges blurring like smoke in the wind. It moved with a fluid grace that no human could match, its form constantly shifting and reforming. When it spoke, its voice curled around me like a serpent, soft and terrible.

“Such a shame,” it murmured, head tilting at an angle that made my stomach turn. “All alone. So small. Your parents fought well, little one. Better than most. But in the end...” It made a sound that might have been a laugh, might have been something worse.

I wanted to run. Every instinct screamed at me to move, to fight, to do something. But my body wouldn't respond. Fear had turned my muscles to lead, leaving me trapped as the thing drew closer.

“P-please,” I whispered, though I didn't know what I was begging for. Mercy? A quick death? For this all to be a nightmare I could wake up from?

The creature reached for me with fingers that were too long, too sharp. I could smell copper and rot on its breath as it leaned down, could see my own terrified reflection in its glassy eyes.

Then everything... stopped.

The air grew heavy, like the moment before a thunderstorm, crackling with invisible energy. The temperature plummeted until even the creature pulled back, its head snapping up to look at something I couldn't see.

A new voice filled the alley. It came from nowhere and everywhere, speaking with the weight of mountains and the patience of centuries.

“You have a choice, little one.”

The words weren't English, weren't any language I knew, but I understood them perfectly. They bypassed my ears entirely, appearing directly in my mind like they'd always been there.

“Die here, forgotten, your parents' sacrifice wasted. Or live, bound to me.”

The creature that had been about to kill me backed away, its form wavering like a mirage. Was it... afraid? The thought that something could scare these monsters should have terrified me more, but I was beyond normal fear now.

“I-I don't know what that means,” I managed to say. My voice sounded tiny in the vast silence that had fallen. “I just want my mom. My dad. I want to go home.”

Something shifted in the darkness. I couldn't see it clearly, my eyes refused to focus on it directly, like trying to stare at a shadow cast by nothing. But I felt it move closer, felt its attention settle on me like a physical weight.

“They are gone,” the voice said, not unkindly. “Nothing can bring them back. But you can live. You can become something more than prey.”

A touch on my cheek, not quite a hand, not quite anything I could name. It was both burning hot and freezing cold, solid and insubstantial at the same time. The contact sent images flashing through my mind: power, protection, a chance to fight back against the darkness that had taken everything from me.

“Say yes,” it urged, “and you will live.”

I thought of my parents. How they'd died protecting me. How they'd want me to survive, to keep going, no matter what. The choice didn't feel like a choice at all, it was live or die, andsome fundamental part of me wasn't ready to die. Not when their last act had been to ensure I survived.

My lips parted, the word falling out before I could really think about what it meant. “Yes.”

The world exploded in pain.

It started in my chest, right over my heart. A burning sensation that quickly became agony. It felt like someone had pressed a white-hot brand against my skin, but the pain went deeper than that. It sank into my muscles, my bones, my very soul.

I screamed, my back arching off the dirty alley floor. The thing that wasn't quite a hand pressed harder against my chest, and I felt something ancient and wrong seep into me. It was like ice in my veins, like fire in my mind, like a thousand voices whispering in languages that had died before humans learned to speak.

My vision blurred, dark spots dancing at the edges. Through the haze of pain, I saw snow falling again but where it touched my skin, it turned to steam. My whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out.

The presence loomed closer, its vastness blocking out what little light remained in the alley. “You are mine now, little one. My mark will protect you, will give you the power to survive in this world of monsters. But remember, everything has a price.”

I wanted to ask what price, wanted to understand what was happening to me, but the pain was too much. Darkness crept in from all sides, promising an escape from the agony.

The last thing I heard before consciousness slipped away was that ancient voice, speaking words that would echo through my dreams for years to come: “We will meet again, when you are ready. Until then, live. Grow stronger. And remember who owns your soul.”

Then the darkness took me completely, and I knew no more.

When I woke up hours later in the hospital, they told me I'd been found in the snow by a passing police officer. They said I was lucky to be alive after the car accident that killed my parents. They didn't mention the creatures, or the voice, or the mark that now sat like a brand over my heart.