I never once imagined that my life would play out the way that it did. To be fair, I guess I could say that life never really unfolds the way we expect it to.

I know my father's didn't, but I doubt there's a teenager in the world who could expect her life to play out like mine.

I'd just turned seventeen when my life changed completely and irreversibly. It was only one night before that I was thinking of the future, of my dreams and aspirations. I wanted to become a social worker or even a lawyer in hopes of helping others like me who were abandoned by their families. It was my birthday, and at my age, it felt like I had my whole life ahead of me. Granted, I wasn't so sure that it would be much of a great life, but at least I was certain that I was going to have a life.

That following evening, I wasn't so sure any more. How could I have been when, within the span of twenty four hours, I'd gone from high school senior and certified wallflower to captive of the prince of the largest and most powerful coven of our time?

When I was nine years old, my mother, Camilla, was sent to a lunatic's asylum. I'd always known that there was something strange about my mother, but I never expected her to completely lose her mind. What happened to her really left its mark on me.

After this, my main goal in life was to survive without losing my mind and turning out like my mother.

Then, after it happened, on the evening of my seventeenth birthday, my only goal was to survive. Period. Never mind my fear of going insane. I was convinced that I'd already gone crazy anyway.

There was no way to predict what would happen to me after that night.

During her better days, my mother already warned me about this. She said that I should expect life to dish out my own fair share of surprises.

But Derek Novak was a surprise that was far from fair…