Prologue

My hands were still shaking as I stared at him, the smug expression on his face never quite vanishing. It had been there since I first saw him; in his smile, in those eyes, even in the way he blinked and breathed.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

He just laughed, the sound echoing around us, causing my cold hands to shake even more. My skin crawled more and more the louder her laughed, until I stamped my foot to get his attention. He looked at me as if I were an impatient child. Screw him, I was just that.

"Who are you?" I asked again, trying to sound firmer, but my voice wavered even more.

He took a step forward, stopping short when I raised my hands up before me with a warning look. I took a slight step back, hoping it would go unnoticed. My prayers went unanswered as a stick cracked loudly beneath my heel, assaulting my ears with the sound. Someone seriously needed to tell nature to calm the hell down.

"Who are you?" Third time is the charm, correct?

Finally, he did open his mouth to respond, but the words that came out were not what I was expecting. "Who are you?" he asked me, his tone so airy it seemed to be caught up in the breeze that blew among the trees.

Who was I? He had the audacity not to answer my question, and then turn it back on me? What kind of person did that? Why could he not just answer me? He probably though I would give up. That was just it, he thought I would give up just because he repeated back to me three words. Oh, how silly mankind could be. If I wanted answer, I would have to set the example and give them first in order to receive them. So I answered him.

"I'm your worst Goddamn nightmare."

"Good. I was getting tired of dreams."