• Prologue:
    She was the most desirable person I had ever met. There was only one problem: She definitely wanted me dead. I mean, lots of people have wanted me dead in my life, given half of them were joking, but still. This was different. She was the killer that no one expected and the only reason I knew this was because I had seen her in the act. Of course she would have to kill me now. How can anyone let the one person with the knowledge of how to kill them live when they are a killer on the inside? Yeah, confusing, but its what has just happened to me...

    Chapter One:
    The night air was muggy and moist and breathing was becoming difficult. I was coming back from my friend Matt's house where we had just finished the biggest video game competition of our lives. Ugh. This was one of those times when I really wished I had a car. Oxygen was no longer circulating through my body. Instead it felt like water was filling my lungs and yet I also felt that there was no way that this could kill me. Somehow I thought for a brief moment that this was some sort of sixth sense for a dangerous event that was about to happen. Or maybe I had just been playing too many video games. Yep. That definitely had to be the case. Whatever. Breathing was not happening anymore, so I leaned against the nearest tree and sort of dosed off.....
    Am I dreaming? Huh... Ha. This is by far the strangest thing I have ever had happen to me in my-- WOAH!!! Is that me?! Oh my god. That is my body I see dosing next to that tree. There is something completely screwed up with this right now. I should not be looking at my own body on the ground-- Oh look. A girl... Oh, I like her. Ha. If only I had control of my body right now, I'd-- What is she doing? Is that another man? Dang it... I wasso looking forward to-- Huh? OH MY GOD!!! She just stabbed him. What the? What? Oh my god.... I need my body back right now! I have got to get out of here before she finds me. Oh god.... Wait. Did she just fall? How isshe is pain when he is the one that got stabbed-- Oh. She loved him... Wait. How can I tell this? I've never met this girl and yet somehow I just figured out that she has loved this man and yet killed him in cold murder. And that feeling of drowning without dying... Was that a sort of sixth sense telling me that this was going to happen? But that would have to mean that this was somehow important to me and that somehow it is going to impact--
    I woke up and gasped almost silently, but apparently not silently enough. The girl somehow heard me, and judging by the strange events I wouldn't put it past her to have super sonic hearing or something, and wandered over towards me. I tried so hard to disappear from sight, but if the strange occurrences lately had been special powers, they obviously didn't work that way. She was looking dead into my eyes as she walked to stand directly in front of me. I was still laying as I had awoken with my legs spread out and slumped against the tree. She looked me up and down and then, as she continued staring into my eyes, slowly bent down and sat right on my legs.
    "Well, what do we have here? Some sort of wanderer? No. I had special boundaries set up around this area so that no one could find me. Hm... You must be special," She said as she continued to sit there as elegantly as a dancer, staring into my eyes as if she could see my soul. I felt the need to run drain out my body and I relaxed and allowed her to sit there on my legs.
    She slowly lifted her hand to rest it upon my head and glanced me over one more time as she let her hand fall down my side to sit by her side again. I felt as if I should say something and when I opened my mouth to speak, it was as if someone else was controlling the words and yet I felt no need to panic about the consequences. Most guys would be completely freaked out by the circumstances of the moment, but somehow I was as calm as ever and actually felt like I wanted to hold her in a loving embrace.
    "I think that this is a very special moment," the voice that came from my mouth said. The girl looked rather surprised at these words and I suddenly began to repent letting this voice speak for me, until she turned a loving look on me and replied. "Yes, it is. You saw what just happened, and that means that, unfortunately, you can not live. Now, I don't kill anyone unless I love them enough to do so, and you, I do love."
    This probably should have confused and scared me, but again that feeling possessed me and I simply agreed and said, "But if I must die, then I want something in return first."
    At this the girl lifted her hand from her side again and ran her scarlet fingernail down my side as if a loving dagger waiting for the kill. I raised my hand and moved her dark brown, softly curled hair from her face and moved my hand down her perfectly poised arm as my eyes glanced over her body from moist red lips to perfectly teasing body until I was looking at my legs again. Slowly I turned my face to look into her eyes again and was surprised by a sudden and urgent kiss from those loving lips and from then on I lost conscientiousness.

    Chapter 2:
    I awoke from sleep with a pain deep down in my chest and the worst back ache in the world. Of course, the back problem was probably from sleeping on the ground for about 6 hours, but as hard as I tried I couldn't figure out why in the world my chest hurt. What had happened to make me fall into such a deep forgetting sleep under this tree of all places? And then suddenly I remembered, her.
    How could I have forgotten? The only problem was that I had no idea what had actually happened. The last thing I remembered was her staring deep into my eyes with that soul-reading stare and the feel of her fingernail running down my side and then... Wait. That was it. In that moment, she must have done something to him. He remembered her beautiful face and the feel of her arm under his hand and then the faint p***k of her nail as it slid down his chest. Down his chest to that one spot where the aching was so deep. What had she done to him? If that was the last thing he remembered, had she somehow made him sleep and erased all memory of his dreaming self? Somehow I felt as if there was something of grave importance that had been said to him while he was out... Oh, how greatly I wish I could remember.
    That sweet beauty and mystery within her must have put him out like a light at the thought of her there, with him, on him, loving him? Yes, she had said she loved him. Had a girl ever told him that in his life? Then I remembered that feeling I had had about her before she killed that other man. She had loved him, too. Then killed him. And it was killing her too, to do that to him. So, was he to be the next victim of this strange mysterious killer lady? She had told him that, hadn't he? Yes. She loved him, so he must die. And as I thought, I remembered more and more about what had happened before he had, what? Passed out? Who knew. All he knew was that he had finally remembered the important thing she had said before she left him in his sleep, she would be back.
    The first thought that went through my mind was that I had to stay where I was so that she could find me again. Then of course the obvious thing crossed my mind. No, I can not remain here. She is coming back, and she told me that she had to kill me. I must run. The most dreaded thing any man could ever think was that he had to run and hide from the only woman who had ever told him she loved him for one reason, she was going to kill him for it.
    Why had the feeling come over him to stop here? If he had just had the strength to keep going, go home, then he would not be in this terrible position. Oh well. It is too late for thoughts about the past, I kept telling myself. I have got to move, leave here. Get home. That is what I will do. If I can get to where other people are, she can't possibly find me and harm me in any way.
    As he was walking, he remembered that strange voice that had come over him, practically begging her to love him. Why had he allowed that to happen? All the problems that had started in the past 7 hours, could have been avoided if he had had more self control. The control to go home, to not stop, to stop talking, to ask her to leave. Everything. Oh well. The only thing I can do now, is keep moving. I just have to focus, the past is done. These are the things I must live and deal with.
    In my strange ranting within my own mind, I had wandered off the road to my house and ended up in a strange area of woods in which I had never been. My friend had told me about a place where a house sat in which no one lived and I hadn't believed him when he said that if you went in, you never came out. And yet here I was, in the woods, alone, lost and in front of a mysterious house fitting his exact description. As I stared, dumbfounded, up at the old dead house I began to feel tired and my breathing became more and more shallow. Suddenly, I fell to the ground and was out like a light.
    Oh god. Wait... I feel... Strange. Like-- Oh god. This again. No. This cannot be happening again. There is my body, sitting on the ground, and here I am, staring at it. Oh no..... No. No. No. No. No. Oh-- There she is again. Ahh. Such a beautiful girl... Wait. No. I have got to get back in my body and leave now. She is going to kill me. Here. Now. I know it. Oh god, No. Please don't. Wait... Can I hear myself out loud? Oh. Ha. My body is mumbling everything I'm thinking. Ha. That kind of cracks me up. Ha. Wait... No. That means she can hear me. Oh... She's already listening. Um.... Hi?
    I look down to see if she will reply to my mumbling body below, and she answers.
    "Well hello again. Ha. I didn't expect that you of all people would go wandering and find my house."
    Your house? What? I thought nobody lived here, at least that's what Mike said. I mean--
    "Ha. Stop your mindless, excuse the joke there, ranting and listen. I will not kill you now, I know that was what you were thinking before I mentioned the house. I love you, remember. I wouldn't want that to end without reason. Just know one thing. You will not tell anyone about me, this house's real meaning, or anything that has occured tonight. Got it? You will tell everyone that you were tired and accidentally fell asleep while in the park on your way home."
    I watched as she slowly lowered herself down in front of my body lying, yes lifeless, on the ground and sit on my chest this time.
    "Yes. I'm sorry for your pain last time, but you just wouldn't stop mumbling. It would tell people where you were."
    Again I continued to watch as she bent down and laid against my body to kiss my cheek.
    "Now you may come back to your body."
    I felt pulled and swirled around and suddenly I was inside my body again. Lying there. She sat up, but continued to sit on my chest. I stared into her eyes again, and her gaze sucked me in so that the voice began to take over my body again. I had no force to stop it at all.
    "Well, I believe that this is an excellent moment." She laughed and replied, "Oh yes. But none of that again. Stop your mindless adolescent mumbling. Be mature please." She laughed and softly placed her scarlet fingernail on my lips to stop them. "There." And then I felt a strange sensation of being dragged against gravity into the sky and dropped to fall into an endless pit into the dark, damp night.



    Chapter Three:
    My eyes slowly fluttered open and I stared into the sky and began to lose myself to its depth until... No. I stopped myself. I had come to recognize the feeling that begins to overtake my body briefly before my out-of-body experiences. I sat up and suddenly fell back again. Yeah, not my best idea. Again, I tried to sit up, but slowly this time so that dizziness would not overtake me again. Once fully upright and with my mind and vision straight, I stood up and stared at the mysterious house.
    Should I go into the house? No. That's not smart. I should just turn around, and go home. Now. That's what she told me to do right? She told me not to mention any of the happenings of tonight to anyone, and in a round-about way that means go home right? Well, it had better because that is what I am doing.
    I turned around only to gasp in surprise at her being behind me.
    She giggled slightly and said, "Hey. Glad to see you are awake and rested. You probably should go home. Would you like me to walk you there?"
    Well, now I was pleasantly surprised and curious. "I thought you said not to tell anyone about you, and yet you are going to walk me home. Wouldn't that bring about questions?"
    Again she giggled and replied, "I love your complete lack of understanding of my world. I can choose when I wish to be seen and not see. Except... you. I can not block you from seeing me. Which I do not fully understand, which is the main reason you have protection by me. I must understand this strange occurrence. Now shall we leave?"
    I was pretty confused by this, but you know I didn't understand anything that had happened tonight, so I went along with it. "Sure."
    At this we left, I figured out that she had another power. She could unveil paths in the woods which can not be seen by normal humans. It was kind of fun to be walking on an unseen pathway. Now, our walk was getting a slight bit awkward without conversation and either she sensed this need for talk in me or she had the same thought, but either way she began talking.
    "By the way, my name is Katelyn. I am from the race of creatures called Strzyga. We are commanders of all things living and dead, and some of us with royal descent have the powers to control all natural things also, such as water and wind. Now you are a human. One of the simplest creatures in the world who think they are studying our kind to learn us but in fact it is the opposite. What is your name, special human?"
    I was slightly surprised by her description of her kind and by the fact that I had heard of these creatures in mythology class last semester. Maybe I did know something about her, but if she was royal and could control everything then I might be out of luck. I figured I should answer her before we got in sight of others and I looked like I was talking to myself.
    "My name is Ryan and it seems like you know a lot about my kind." She giggled again, which made me kind of laugh, and we began laughing together for a little while about things which neither of us knew. Finally we stopped and by this time we were almost out of the woods and we had to calm down as to not give me away.
    We reached my back porch, and she turned to me and said, "Well, Ryan, it has been an interesting evening with you. Now remember, no one shall know about this." She reached out with her shining scarlet fingernail and traced the side of my body as she asked, "Do you promise me that you will not let this secret go?"
    At this sincere moment, I began to lose my courage with her again, questioning why I even deserved to be here. Slowly, my courage returned and I lifted my hand to place around her hip, "I promise, because of everything that has happened here tonight." I gently pulled her closer, and she leaned closer and whispered in my ear, "People are watching. Ha. I will have to erase the memory of you hugging air from their minds, but this is until we meet again." She softly kissed the side of my head and embraced me warmly. Reluctantly, I released and she said four soft words, "Here, Now, Forget, Leave," And with that I was walking into the house remembering everything that had happened while everyone around me forgot.

    Chapter Four:
    A week had passed since my dream about Katelyn. I'm pretty positive now that it was just a dream. How could any of that had really happened? I mean really. That was a little wild even for me.
    So, once I had convinced myself to stop letting my imagination run wild, my life was pretty normal: School, Home, Bed. That's how teenage life should be. Well, it was like that until she came back.
    "Oh look. Apparently my imagination is still trying to trick me. Hi Katelyn, what this time? Kidnapping, or horror movie marathon?" I joked at this creatively dressed version I'd dreamt up. Actually, this outfit was a bit much even compared to the things I've thought about. Huh, I must be getting pretty good at this.
    She was wearing a short lime green tube top and a black layered skirt which made her perfect body even more perfect, if that was possible. All of it being completed, of course, by her black high-heeled boots. Her soft brown hair curled lightly and pulled back into a loose ponytail with her bangs loose around her face made it seem as if she were a glowing angel in my presence.
    She giggled and shook her head and said, "Ryan. I thought we discussed that I was real and you would think I wasn't because no one else could know about me."
    I thought this was curious because I had never had her say anything to me, in the past visions I've had of her, about past meetings or frankly anything besides how amazing I was. "What do you mean? I know you are just part of my imagination."
    "Wow. You are firmly in the belief that you are," She sighed and stared at me with those searching eyes again. "Well, this might be a little bit of a sting, but it will fix your overactive imagination."
    I was quite confused by now because this was way too much information in such a short conversation, so when she reached out and touched the side of my head, I was not prepared for the burning and falling feeling that occured as my soul left my body again.
    What? Wait, this is familiar. Oh my god. This is that sensation again. The thing when I'm not actually in my body. Oh dear god. What now? She said a slight pain? Not this! Wait, I forgot she can hear me....
    "Hey. Ha. Glad to have you back, my love. Ok. I'm sorry for that, but if I had told you the consequences of remembering, you wouldn't have let me do it." She leaned down slightly to my lifeless body which was now lying on the ground and kissed my hand softly. "Now you remember and we can move on past the annoying discussions. Please come back to your body now."
    Ok... Well, there is definitely one problem with that. I don't know how. The past couple times, its just happened for me. What do I do?
    "Ha. Ok. All you have to do is think about one thing that is scaring your body at the moment and your soul responds to return to your body to help it."
    Hm... Useful to know. Now let's try this. Um... A mysteriously hot teenage mystical creature just zapped me out of my body and I need back, please.
    There was that terrible burning, swirling sensation again and suddenly I was back in my body. "Oh god! Ok... I'm back?" I mumbled.
    She giggled in her amazing way and said, "Yes, you are. Now let's go."
    Katelyn took my hand in her's and started walking off towards the woods again from where we had returned last time. I began to follow her, and as I did she twirled in a circle and somehow my arm ended up around her waist and like that we walked out into the evening woods.

    Chapter Five:
    We had been wandering for about an hour and I was beginning to get a little nervous as to where she was taking me. I was about to ask her when she quickly released me and put her fingers together and pointed at the trees in front of us. It kind of looked like she was going to shoot the trees with an imaginary gun like little kids do all the time, until she split her fingers slowly and, as she did, the trees seemed to disappear from sight before my eyes.
    Dumbfounded, I stood there, staring, as the trees kept disappearing. Katelyn looked at me when she was done and cracked up in laughter.
    "Oh. Ha. I completely forgot to tell you about that. Well, this is the special version of what you humans call a bar. One difference is that we don't get drunk and shout and kill people. It's more just talking and.... business deals."
    Still utterly confused, I followed her towards the building. Suddenly, a tall, muscular almost elf-like guy came up and said, "Katelyn. What is this thing doing here?"
    "Chill out, Baron. It's cool. You know exactly why he's here, so leave us alone. Go bark at someone else." At this, she barely touched his shoulder and a spark flew from her hand to his shoulder and he was just... gone. By now, I was helplessly lost in this world of magical beings and such, so I decided to just go with it and figure this out later. While I was thinking, she had already gone to the door and was about to go in when she realized I was not there.
    "Are you coming?" She said softly with the hint of laughter at my surprised expression.
    "Umm... Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming," i mumbled as we headed in the door, arms around each other.
    ----
    As I came through the door, a strange tingling sensation spread from my fingertips all the way through my body like a shiver on a cold night, and suddenly we were standing in the middle of a large group of strange looking people. If I weren't such a video game addict, I probably wouldn't have recognized most of them, but I was so I saw "people" such as elves, trolls (which were less ugly than videos made them seem), angels, centaurs, a few cyclops, and even a dragon in the corner. Pleasantly surprised by my knowledge, I was in a rather good mood and feeling this way, hugged Katelyn a little closer. At this change in attitude towards this place, she giggled and said, "Come on. Let's meet some of my friends."
    She led me over to a side of the large room and as we were walking I noticed that this place was a very dark place. Most of the creatures around me glared as we walked by and I couldn't help but realize that she was the only Strzyga here. "Ok. This is Tom. He is the only other Strzyga who bothers talking to me anymore since I have a strange way of liking humans as more than brief entertainment."
    Apparently, I hadn't noticed him in my examination of the room. "Hi. I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you, I think." Normally, I was not nervous at meeting new people, but this was definitely a strange circumstance. His black hair was long and slightly curled as it fell around him, giving him a dangerous look. Of course, the way he was super large and glared down at you didn't help either.
    He laughed in a deep, boisterous way and said, "Well, if it isn't Ryan. My, have I heard so much about you from Katelyn. You know, well maybe you don't, but you are really lucky. Just super lucky. She has never brought one of her human friends here before. You should feel really special." He reached out his hand which was about three times as big as my hand and cautiously I shook it. I thought he was about to throw me across the room with the force of his shaking until he finally stopped. "Well, I have to go. Catherine will want to see me." And at this he left, without going anywhere, just disappearing.
    "Katelyn? I'm very confused and what do we do now?" I asked nervously, hoping she would say we could leave.
    "Well, I can sense that you are not fond of this place, and the rest of the people here are not very fond of you, so we will leave. We can go to my favorite spot in the woods. And then she grabbed me up, swinging me into the air, and then we were gone.
    I felt as if I were floating through black soup. This was the worst feeling I had ever had in my life, and I could see something coming towards me from across the blackness in front of me. Somehow, it was darker than black, and at the sight of me, it began to swim abnormally quickly towards me. Something about this thing was not normal, and compared to what had just happened that was difficult to say, and it terrified me to death. It was only about 2 feet away now and it was reaching towards me. I felt ripped apart as if my soul were coming loose from the rest of my body, and then suddenly I was in the middle of the woods, lying there, with Katelyn standing over me almost crying trying so hard to get me to wake up.
    I sat up and she fell down next to me in relief. "Oh my god. I am so sorry. I should have known better. We can never transport again. That thing you just saw was Scar, Catherine's lover. He must have been the one to give you your powers to penetrate my field and lose your body at times. I'm so, so sorry. Are you better now?" She stared into my eyes with that soul-searching gaze.
    "Uh. Yeah. I believe so, I'm just tired." I stared back into her eyes and began to get lost there.
    She sighed in relief and said, "Good. Well, we are at my house. You can stay here, but Scar will not give up. You must tell your family that you are leaving and stay with me, or he will find you and kill you."
    I was still slightly messed up from what had just happened and this shocked me out of it. "What? But I can't. Well, I don't want to die either, and it's not like living with you would be bad, but... Ok. I will. Tomorrow."
    "Ok. Let's get you inside." She picked me up and glided into the house. All I could see was that it was full of the most luxurious Gothic furniture you would ever see. She carried me up the staircase and into the first bedroom on the right.
    "This is my bedroom. I would give you your own room, but I've never had a guest before so I have no where else for you. I shall sleep downstairs on the couch. You may stay here. Now sleep, and tomorrow you will speak with your parents."
    She set me down on the bed and I sat up, "But you can stay here too, you don't have to stay on the couch."
    She giggled, "No, it is ok. You stay here. It's fine. Good night, Ryan." At this, she left shutting the door and I was alone in a magical house inhabited by a Strzyga in her bedroom where I would be for the rest of my life.
    "Wow. My life just keeps getting stranger and stranger doesn't it," I whispered as I got undressed and under the covers.
    Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Katelyn open the door and come in the room. "From the day we met, to the day we die, I would rather die before you. Scar nor Catherine shall invade my life no more. They will parish before I or you." And then she left, and I lost myself to a dreamless sleep.

    Chapter Six:
    I awoke with a pain deep inside my skull pounding like it would burst. I couldn't remember anything about what had happened except for the "bar" Katelyn had taken me to and then I was here, asleep. I figured I might as well get up and find her and an explanation, so I got up, got dressed, and walked out of the room.
    I ended up in a long hallway that was completely empty and since I remembered nothing about the previous night, I had no idea where to find Katelyn. I wondered down the hall to my right and found a door that was partially cracked, so I opened it.
    Inside this room, were many old paintings of Katelyn. Some of them looked to be as old as the civil war. I walked inside and the biggest painting was on the far side of the room. It was her standing in what looked to be this very room with a mirror in the background reflecting a moderately handsome younger man painting something. I guess this must have been the painter's way of putting himself in the picture, but then I remembered that she had said that I was the first person to be allowed in this room. Somehow I got the feeling that the original painter hadn't added this aspect, but she had.
    I left that room because it felt somewhat personal and glanced through the other rooms on the hallway which had nothing more than simple furniture and storage. So I went down the spiraling stairs and ended up in a living room like area. It was filled with Gothic style couches, chairs, and even a beautiful stone fireplace. I stepped around the landing of the stairs and found myself in a kitchen with similar style decorating. I looked through a few of the first cabinets, and after finding no food, I left and went through the living room again to find a parlor-like area. There was a huge table sitting in the middle surrounded by glass china cabinets and sitting at the end of the table was Katelyn.
    "Hello. Nice to see that you are awake," She said as she saw me walk into the room. She stood up and came to stand beside me, "Shall we go get some food?"
    "Uh, sure. Food would be nice." I mumbled still a little messed up about the events of the night before.
    At my reply, she took my hand and led me outside and then left me to return to the house. She then came back out with a pop-tart and juice. "This isn't too normal for you, is it?" she laughed and handed me the food.
    "No." I replied and ate it quickly.
    "So, where shall we go today, Ryan? To tell your parents about your decision to move out?" she questioned. At this I awoke from my daze and felt a nervous feeling enter my body. What was I going to say to my mother? I mean my dad probably wouldn't care, he never did, but my mother was always there for me, how could I do this?
    At my hesitation, Katelyn glanced at me and said, "Don't worry, if you get stuck when talking to them, I'll help you." Somehow this made me feel better and we headed off towards my house.
    All the thoughts from the previous night flooded back to me and suddenly the weight of Scar's presence in my transportation moment fell on me. I really had to deal with this... thing trying to kill me now. How did my life become this lost and crazy in just a matter of about eight days? No matter now, I had to deal with it.
    By the time I was done with my mental arguing, we were at my house. "Go on. It won't be as hard as you think." she encouraged and she gently shoved me towards the house.
    When I went inside my mother came running towards me, begging me where I had been and never to do that again. I figured this would be the best of any moment to tell her so I said, "Mom, mom, it's ok. I won't stay out of my house again."
    At the phrasing of my house instead of our house or the house, she stopped her hugging and stared at me. "What do you mean?"
    "Well, I mean that I'm kinda moving out. I am going to stay at my friend's house. It's ok. They are fine people and I swear I will be respons--"
    "Well, fine then! Just leave my house! Never come to visit! Fine! Just go!" She screamed as she turned away from me and walked down the hall, probably to go tell my father.
    "Mom, I promise. I'll come visit you all the time." I said as a somewhat reassurance to her as I turned and left. Somehow I thought she would have been more demanding that I stay, not so lenient about it. I mean the most upsetting thing to her was my not coming to visit. Huh. Whatever. Sometimes I never understood my mom.
    "So, was it easy enough?" Katelyn asked as I came back to her.
    "Yeah, I guess. She just was kinda sad and then left." I said still thinking about how oddly she had reacted.
    "Good. Now come on we can go back to having fun now." she said in her cheerful way that also somehow made me cheerful too.
    "So, what are we going to do?" I asked as we walked into the woods where everything fun always happened.
    "I don't know, any ideas?" Katelyn wondered as we left the world I had always known as my safe haven for a world lost in the realms of magic and evil swirled together.

    To be continued...