Sammi sighed lightly as she rolled over in her warm, comfortable bed. Morning had come just a little to early for her today. With a yawn, she rose, dressed and made her way down the stairs for breakfast. The sun itself hadn't even started pouring across the horizon yet and already she dreaded the coming day. She aboslutely hated her job but at least she was paid and had work. Being a delievery person in the city as it was, was a hard thing to come by. Though she had easily gained seniority over the others before her due to her speed and determination.<br/><br/>She reached for the brush she had sitting on a tabletop somewhere and began to pull it through unruly black waves, in turn pleating her hair tightly and topping it off with a band at the ends. Glancing at the clock she cursed and realized she was going to be late. Looked as if breakfast would have to come between stops on her route again today.<br/><br/>She moved quickly to the door, shoved the boots onto her feet and sped out, slamming the door quickly behind her. She started out at a normal jog, wishing she could stay at that pace. Afterall it was the way she prefered to run, but she knew it wouldn't get her to work on time. She dipped and dodged the people already up and about, crowding the sideway until she snapped to a halt infront of the post office.<br/><br/>Smoothing her leather jerkin and pulling the tight spandex clothing she wore beneath it into place, she nodded easily as she slipped inside and punched the clock. Idly she scratched her left wrist and tossed her messenger bag over her shoulder, moving her hand to push the door open so she could start her rounds. That's when she spotted the mark.<br/><br/>Everything around her seemed to melt together, like water splashed onto wet paint. Her heart began to race, thumping hard in her chest as she started to run. Faster and faster she moved. The fear pumping within her veins. What was happening? She cried out but there was no sound. Her vision blurred and tears stung her eyes, she couldn't breath now and something no, someone was chasing her. She had to get away, the inside of her left wrist burned now and she tried to cry out for help again but there was still no sound.<br/><br/>She tripped and fell, scraping her right knee across something. She could feel the blood sliding down her leg and into the cuff of her boot but she couldn't stop. She'd get caught it she did, for the first time in her life she was truely afraid and so she ran. Harder and faster than ever before. Her heart pounded in her throat and suddenly she came upon a steep ledge with nothing but mist and darkness swirling below. She came to a halt and looked over her shoulder. There was nothing there! She couldn't see anything, oh but she knew they were coming, she had to escape! She turned and leapt from the cliff, plumeting into the unknown.<br/><br/>Startled, Sammi jolted up in her makeshift bed. Sweat beading over her brow. Her breathing was ragged but easier than in her dream. She looked around and saw the others sleeping soundly. She attempted to swallow the lump in her throat, but it was no use. Every night it was the same dream. Only to be woken the same way. She felt literally sick to her stomach, but pushed herself to her feet anyway. She was up now. Might as well go stand watch.<br/><br/>She left the darkness of the cave and stepped out into the moonlight. The special spot they had chosen for their den, until they would be forced to move again, was secluded for the most part. There was a small pond which glistened and reflected the evenings clear skies and the millions of stars strown far and wide. There were a few bushes here and there, placed neatly all around the entrance to the cave and trees so clumped together, their branches and trunks twisted and grew together.<br/><br/>There was a firepit off to the side of the cave, large rocks set around the makeshift cooking area, to use as seats. She moved to one, drawing one leg up, propping her foot close to her body and rested her chin on her knee. Her doe brown eyes stared at the ground as she thought about the previous five years and what she had been through since she first escaped Krov's clutches. As she did, just about every night while she waited alone, for the rest of them to stir.<br/><br/>She held gently onto her left wrist, rubbing the spot where her mark was hidden. Falling into a trance, as the memories flooded her brain.<br/><br/>She had just turned twenty three, woke up to a normal day and was headed to work when it seemed like everything in the world went wrong. The very details that lead up to her capture were fuzzy, but she remembered her escape vividly~<br/><br/>Krov stood over her kneeling body, large beastly looking men holding her so she couldn't move. Tears stung her eyes and she tried to cry out but there was a collar around her neck, so tight she could scarcely breathe. He was calling her an abomination, evil incarnate. She deserved to die, and so she would. He had said that come midnight, the town's folk would be saved from the wrath of the gods! He could not allow one such as her to roam free in his City!<br/>Tears pooled in her eyes, falling soundlessly onto the marbled floor beneath her. It was then that Krov had come upon her.<br/><br/>The room was empty, her eyes were closed but she felt the presence of the men that were surrounding her, holding her in place only moments before, leave. He stood there above her, breathing down her neck, making her skin crawl. Still she cried and tried to pull away when his hand moved under her chin and forced her to look up at him. She had growled from deep within, almost hissing at him but he didn't care.<br/><br/>His eyes were cold, full of nothing as his breathing labored. She locked eyes with him and there, inside the depths she saw his desire welling up within him. He seemed destracted by it and she took her move. From her position on her knees on the floor, she pushed up with all her might, throwing her head hard into Krov's chin, knocking him back into the wall unconscious and at that moment, the chain attached to the collar around her neck snapped. Weak links were a definite god-send.<br/><br/>She gathered herself and what little bit of belongings she could and ran. If the town's folk got wind that her mark made her evil, she knew they'd come after her if they found out she had gotten away, so into the night she stole. Leaving her life behind. Though is was a solitary life, she was going to miss it.<br/><br/>It wasn't until she made it past the city gates that she realized, the scene she had come accustom to for the past twenty three years was infact a lie. Not to mention the sudden pain that crept up and through her head. Falling to her knees she crawled, wishing the thunderous pain inside her skull would ease but it only got worse.<br/><br/>The wasteland that immediantly surrounded the city was barren, dry, unused. It seemed unreal, that she was imagining the entire thing, all the while the pain grew worse and worse until she felt her ears erupt in a massive spray of blood, folding in on themselves, growing longer, heavier. She cried out, as loud as she could with the collar still tightly around her throat and brought her hands up, trying to stop what was happening, wishing at that moment she could die in the night.<br/><br/>It wasn't until some months later she decided she needed to see exactly what changes had occured. She wasn't happy with the cat ears and tail that had seeminly sprouted over night but over the months she had gotten used to the way it swayed behind her. Her hearing had also improved as well as her speed.<br/><br/>She had grown used to the solitude when the coming New Year approached and the mark upon her wrist began to burn. Suddenly, the pit of her stomach churned and something deep inside of her told her to head towards the city she had avoided since her escape. That's when she met Sam. The somewhat gentle Vampire. And then it seemed, though odd-Sammi had the strange sensation every year after that, to head back towards the city. The third year she brought home Keyan the kitsune, the fourth and fifth year, Ali and Cairo. And a family they had created, a bond of unguided misfits, daring the wilds together to survive and the sixth year was upon them. Sammi's mark was burning again.