To pippapear, for having always been there for me through Static, and accepting to Beta on this one.

And so it begins…

Prologue

Please know that I regret nothing.

That was my last thought, the words that would be left unsaid. The very last coherent thing to go through my mind before being thrown, with crushing force, from the rooftop of the tall building and onto the street below, completely defenseless against a creature so much more powerful than myself.

Any scream I might have uttered died in my throat, as the burn of hope died in my heart.

It would have been beautiful to have lived such a moment as one often reads about in books, during which time stands still and you review your life, or see the soft colors of the sky like never before, or notices the proverbial speck of glittering dust just before sinking into oblivion whilst the hair swivels around the face like a halo, a promise that there's more to come.

None of those things happened to me.

The movement was much too fast, and what my sight allowed could barely even be qualified as a blur.

Before I could react, before my body could prepare itself, could accept, I connected with the ground, a sickeningly loud sound piercing the air, and I blessed everything for shutting down in that same second.

My senses lasted a little bit longer than my reason, and, even though I couldn't process it, one last thing registered before the air left my lungs.

That pungent smell, that horrid truth.

Blood.