Artemis' P.O.V.
Have you ever felt so invisible you were mistaken for a guy?
"Grilled chicken salad, and you for dessert perhaps, handsome?"
That flirty smile which sat prettily on beautiful pair of lips could get her any male she wanted.
Except that I wasn't a boy.
But I had stopped being offended at being mistaken for a male; thick bangs and washed grey hoodie didn't exactly scream that I was female.
It was in fact actually a surprise that I hadn't been seen as homeless charity yet; working different jobs to put myself through high school had made my skin pale, and my eyes sunken with dark circles.
But regardless of my problems, I forced a smile at the customer; my true emotions weren't going to get me any dime of tip.
And my empty account knew how much I needed them.
"Thanks but, I'm not on the menu."
She laughed in that high pitched squeaky voice, brushing her fingers over mine as I handed her order over to her.
Good thing she wasn't offended, so I put up with the physical contact although it's one of the things I feared.
I didn't flinch when she ran her fingers over my hand, her white teeth flashing brightly.
In return, she slipped twenty bucks into my rough palms along with a piece of paper on which was scribbled some numbers with terrible penmanship.
"Call me when you're on the menu, I'm always ready to order."
Then she was gone with her unique scent.
Wearing my cheap ugly clothes as I walked the streets of New York City after my night shift, I looked around in fear.
Fear of humans who walked with a pair of legs, and animals with four limbs.
And the greatest of all, humans who could shift into animals.
Werewolves.
The night air slammed hard into my face as I walked past trees, counting down as my old sneakers carried me into the old apartment building.
I ascended the long stairs, consoled by the mental image of my narrow bed where I could finally sleep and forget about my trauma.
But that comfort escaped my mind completely as soon as I got to the middle of the stairs and halted abruptly, my eyes shutting for the briefest duration of time.
They had visited; the cold-hearted creatures who had engraved the memory of fear into my heart,
And nightmares which had haunted me since that night they had torn my mother apart and left claws on her body.
Werewolves.
Their scent was potent, reminding me of the haunting image of my mother protecting me against a dozen beastly animals who had wanted to take me.
Her thick blood had drawn a map on my dress, her teary eyes filled with apologies for not protecting me enough even as her softly whispered words had been clear.
Run, survive. One day you will receive a pendant. When that happens, run, Artemis.
A gasp left my lips as those memories crawled into my head, inciting a building headache which usually accompanied the mental pain.
The ones who had murdered my mother had been here, and for some reason although my heartbeat and sharp sense organs had perked up, my feet resumed moving towards the stairs, my body removed from my brain.
The cheap lock was undone, the door and windows thrown open as I stepped in front of the studio apartment where I had slept for two years.
A burning smell of fear hit my nostrils as I took another step into my small home, a large lump of nervousness going down my throat.
For a moment, I savoured the lingering scent of beasts and fresh meat, my heartbeat so fast my ears picked it up.
My sharp blue eyes drove me to the old wooden desk.
Tonight, as the open window brought with it the aroma of the woods and trees, my carefully arranged books weren't the only things on the table.
In the middle sat an expensively packaged small box, so tiny it could fit into my palm.
It could have easily been mistaken for a simple box of Tiffany's dropped by some mysterious Prince charming who had somehow fallen in love with me.
Except that in my unfortunate life, fairytale didn't happen, and all I could see was fresh blood used to design a strange regal emblem on the box.
I opened it with shaky fingers, and my eyes took in the regal pendant designed with tiny diamond.
Beside it was a small paper in the same handwriting the woman at the diner had used to write her number,
And my name was engraved on it...
Artemis.
They had come again.
To abduct me.
My mother had died protecting me; she had given me one instruction, and I wasn't going to mock her death by not obeying it.
I would do that one thing she had asked me to...
Run.
I threw jeans and hoodie and papers into a bag, grabbing water and cheap bread which I laid beside the box of contact lenses.
Hiding my sapphire blue eyes with dark contacts and cutting my flaming red hair hadn't been enough to stop me from going unnoticed.
That bitch who had come to the diner had somehow taken note of me.
I should have found it strange that she had kept trying to flirt with me for a week without asking for my name.
Five minutes later I had sent a message to the only man my mother ever trusted, the one whose contact I had found stuffed into her purse after her death.
Dr. Cock.
Nothing about my tragic life had ever been normal, and now I was out in the heavy downpour, boarding a cab which would take me to Dr. Cock's house.
"Miss, we are here."
The chauffeur pulled me out my thoughts, making me realise that he had halted in front of a condominium a good distance away from the buzz of New York.
It wasn't where I had lived with him, but was even more sophisticated and elegant.
"Oh... Thanks." I muttered to the older man watching me intently through the rearview mirror.
I was always paranoid, but something about the way he was looking at me made me uncomfortable.
Slipping the bill to him, I gritted my teeth as soon as I opened the door, my soaked body meeting another gush of rain.
I ran into the spacious compound, my head lowered to keep the rain from beating me up too harshly, my hands holding my worn out bag which wasn't waterproof.
I was here in Dr. Cock's house, from where I hoped to travel out of the country again and lay low till my hunters probably died.
Except that bad enjoyed taunting me and I always managed to fall into its trap.
It was less than a minute after I ran into the compound that streetlights and security lights went off.
I stopped right there in the middle of the rain, my eyes and body taking in the unnaturally fast object that passed me by.
Followed by another, a third, and more numbers moving back and forth past me.
They didn't smell of furs, but of fresh human blood and...
Death.
My heart stopped, and before I could do as much as utter a word, a burning pain slammed into
And I blacked out.