Setting Moon

She was raised and lived on a ranch in Minnesota. She grew up there taking care of the horses and tending to the farm. Once she was done with her chores she would always go for a ride on her favorite horse, Alley. She would ride until the sun went down and her mom called for dinner. She always talked about her dreams about going to college in some big city. And once she graduated high school she did. She moved to the city and started going to college. Now she always talked about finding a man and falling in love. After two years she fell in love with a strong, sweet, hardworking man named Jerry. And after she graduated they had a child, a beautiful baby boy named Aiden. But on Aiden's first birthday police showed up at her door. They told her that Jerry had been in a horrible accident and died. The next day she would take Aiden home to Minnesota.

Late that night she woke to a loud crash and the sound of Aiden crying. She ran to his room but he wasn't there. She ran searching through the entire house but could not find him. Then she heard a car start and she ran outside. She saw a large man wearing a mask put Aiden into the back of a van. She ran towards him jumping onto his back she tried to get her arms around his neck but he over powered her throwing her to the ground. She scrambled to her feet and tried to tackle him as he headed towards the van. But he only stumbled, she grabbed at his clothes trying to pull him down but instead he grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her off, and once again threw her to the ground. He headed towards the van again as she got back up and went to hit him. He turned and shot, hitting her in the stomach. She fell from the impact and pain. He stood over her now, "He had a debt to pay and now we have come to collect. Goodbye Katherine." He got in the van and drove away all she could hear was Aiden crying as her world went dark.

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She sat out front the gas station waiting for the one she hunted. Cigarette butts formed a pile outside the driver's side door of her jeep. It was the only thing she had left from her former life known as someone else, well that and the smoking habit she just couldn't shake. She had to change her name and appearance, so he wouldn't find her before she found him.

She used to have short dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, tan skin, and looked happy in her everyday life wearing light colored clothing but that had all changed a little over a year ago. Now she still has brown eyes but her hair is long and dark red, her skin is pale from not seeing the sun too often because of her late night stake outs and she was thin but it was a healthy size for her being five foot six. She now wore black jeans with a brown belt that matched her brown knee high boots, a black low cut short sleeved shirt that just barely showed the swell of her breast. Since it was still February she wore a black jacket over top of her clothes. She wears her hair down around her face with a small braid in here and there. She also wears a necklace with an old key on it around her neck. She would never admit that it symbolized anything, but it had been passed down from generation to generation until now it hung around her neck.

She sat there waiting, she knew he had to buy smokes at some point and this was her third day waiting. She munched on some chips and sipped on her hazelnut coffee, until one in the morning when she noticed something was off. She looked around and saw an officer walking towards her car and realized that someone must have gotten scared by her sitting here for so many nights in a row. When he came to the passenger side door he looked in through the window before walking around to the driver's side.

"There have been reports of this jeep being seen here for the last couple nights.", he paused for a moment looking down at the pile of cigarettes, before beginning, "People are worried that you're going to do something stupid, like try to rob this store."

She shook her head no but then realized that probably wasn't enough to get him off of her case, "No officer I'm just trying to meet up with a friend of mine, she said she would be here a couple of nights ago but something keeps coming up before she can actually get here."

"Miss, I'm going to need to see your license and registration." he said while grinning obviously at her cleavage falling out of her shirt as she leaned over to grab her information.

After handing him her papers, she got a good look at him, he was tall with broad shoulders, and by the look of him he worked out a lot, to the point where she thought that it might be all he does with his spare time. She was jerked out of her thoughts as he started to talk again.

"Well Miss Lilly." She cringed slightly, she hated when people called her that, it may not be her true name but all the same she hated when people shorted Lilliana to Lilly. "You're going to have to move along; I can't have you sitting night after night scaring the employee's, no matter what your true intentions might be."

"Thank you officer, I would hate to be a bother to you again, you have a nice night." Lilliana said in her sweetest voice possible, she didn't want to provoke him into following her.

She started the car and slowly moved out of the parking lot. Lighting a cigarette, she slowly circled the block twice, making sure he was gone before parking in the driveway of a house three doors down from the gas station. She turned off her engine and waited till the light in her van went off before taking another look around to make sure no one noticed what she had done.

She looked again at the gas station, but still nothing. She turned her head towards the house frustrated that she had to wait so long for the one she hunted, to leave the safety of his home. "Damn it." she said out loud to her own frustration. This time she had a gun and he wouldn't get away unscathed.

She took a drag from her cigarette and tried to stop thinking about it. She then turned her eyes to focus over the house in front of her. She had picked this house because there were no lights on and no car that she could find. But now noticed that no one must have been there for a while, there was dirt caked on the siding and under the garage door. She was happy she chose this house. It was a nice two story with a two car garage and looked as if someone had put a lot of time into it at one point. But now it stood almost as if abandoned.

She took another hit off her cigarette and looked back towards the gas station, waiting was the hardest part. She just wanted to hold what she had lost and never let go again, and he was keeping it from her. She took one more drag off her cigarette and threw it out the window.

Twenty minutes later a car pulled up behind her, 'Oh shit that fucking cop is back, maybe I'll just tell him this is my friends place, maybe....' She was thrust out of thought, as someone grabbed her arm and jerked her out of the car. She immediately knew this wasn't the cop and that he smelled like wet dog. But she wasn't even able to look at the man before she was forced to look away from him. He had twisted her left arm behind her back forcing her to look away. She instantly knew he was going to hurt her if she didn't do something. She swung with her right elbow connecting with his nose, and felt hot liquid splash onto her back. But he didn't let go of her left arm, if anything he twisted it more. A twinge of pain shot up her arm. She went to throw another elbow when someone else caught it; she grimaced as he squeezed her wrist painfully. But she would not show it, she was too proud after what she had already been through, to give into another man.

She was able to see the second man that was squeezing her wrist painfully; he was tall with blue eyes and brown flowing hair that stopped just below his jaw. He was handsome in that I'm going to kill you sort of way, but had a sort of grace to him. Like he would only let you know he was there if he wanted to. She tried to fight the two obviously strong men off but to no avail. The second man now stood in front of her barely inches away, close enough to feel her hardened nipples scrap across his chest. She tried to move away from him, she didn't want him touching any part of her, but was unable to move.

"You need let me go before I bloody your nose too." She spat at him.

But he only moved closer, whispering in her ear. "You shouldn't fight child, it will only make it worse for you in the end." Then she felt a sharp pain in her neck and before she could scream, everything went black.

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She awoke to the sound of a man laughing as her hands were being strapped above her head. She was then pulled upwards until her feet no longer touched the ground and her wrists throbbed in pain. She cringed as a man came up behind her and grabbed her neck almost chocking her. "I told you it would only make it worse." He said in her ear, when he let go of her throat she threw her head back, hitting him in the face. "Bitch, I was going to take it easy on you but now you'll take my entire wrath." He said walking away "Fuck You." was all she said.

Then she felt the slap of a whip on her back and realized she was naked as she screamed out in pain. She clenched her teeth and as a second one hit, she grunted trying not to scream. Not to give them the satisfaction. They hit her again and again; in the end they got what they wanted as she screamed with each new slash. Eventually she passed out from the pain.

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The next time she awoke, she was in a dark room, unable to see anything. She couldn't remember what had happened to her, until almost like a dream it came flooding back to her, the house, what she thought at first was to be a cop but turned out to be men trying to hurt her, and the whipping. Shit, why did this happen, did this have to do with that house or just because she was a girl alone at night or were these the people her husband owed, is that why they thought they could do this to her. She then noticed she was cold, and remembered she had been naked, but now wore a set of silk bra and panties. What were they planning on doing to her; tears welled in her eyes, were they going to rape and kill her. 'Fuck, why did this happen, I'm supposed to be the hunter not them. Fuck.' She heard a loud scream from what seemed just a couple of rooms away. She sat up noticing that she wasn't in any pain. She prepared herself for the worse, for when they came for her.

While she sat her thoughts drifted to the past year and her dead husband. It had turned out that he had a gambling problem and when he had no more money he bet his family. She couldn't believe she fell for a man like that but he hid it pretty well, the only time she ever saw him betting was during football season but that was only with his friends and she didn't mind. She touched her stomach where she had been shot and felt the scar there. After she had recovered from it she went home to find that he had also lost them the house and now someone new lived there. She hadn't known what to do or where to go. She found out that her jeep that thankfully her parents had bought her, was at the impound but she didn't have any money to get it out. So she went and sold their wedding rings and when talking to the man behind the counter she found out that her husband and some big guy used to hang out there all the time talking about money and what to bet on next. It peaked her interest and she asked where this man usually hung out. He said he was always at that strip club off Hampton Blvd. So she paid for her jeep to get out of impound and followed him until she sat in front of that gas station waiting for him to buy cigarettes. Somewhere in between she met a woman, Ericka Stone. Ericka had taught her how to fight and gave her the strength she had needed to kill this man. Ericka had taught her about things that she only read in books that were actually real. Now she was part of those things and where does she end up, locked in some prison awaiting torture and probably death.

It was hours before she found she couldn't keep herself awake a second longer. She laid down on the bed and tried to dream of a happy place far from here with the ones she loved.

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She awoke to yet another scream, she wondered how long she had been here, and she was weak from not having eaten anything in what seemed like days. She felt woozy, and remembered she had been drugged and probably lost a lot of blood from when they whipped her. Had they drugged her again while she slept, she felt like she should have awakened if they opened the door but, then again if she had been drugged maybe she wouldn't. She felt her back and found no wounds, if she had been here long enough for them to heal than she had been here for months. She wondered if she would ever see her son again.

She heard a loud noise right outside of the door and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, she waited for what was to come next bracing herself for the worst. Then the door swung open.

A deep evil voice came from the other side, "Finally you're awake. Now the fun can begin." He walked into the room as she jumped off the bed, from the light in the hallway she could tell he was a large man but from the glare couldn't see his face. He carried something with him, the shape made her think of some kind of S and M sex toy, but she couldn't see enough of it to place exactly what it was. She noticed that he smelled horrible but not just bad but like something else she just couldn't place.

Suddenly his hands were on her dragging her back to the bed and slamming her down, then his hands were on her touching her breasts, then her mound and ripping the delicate silk underwear and bra from her body, she tried to fight him off. But found he was too strong and with barely a motion pinned her onto the bed. He smacked her across the face and then moved his hand down to finger her dry bruised folds, shoving his fingers into her roughly. She squirmed underneath him and spat in his face. He slapped her again and turned to grab the object he had brought with him letting her go for just a second. But that second was just enough time for her to scramble off the bed, she went running for the door but just before she got there she felt a hand in her hair ripping her backwards. Suddenly the light came on in the room that was her prison and he hit her in the side, hard with his S and M toy that now looked like a small mace she grimaced and he laughed. While he was distracted, she was able to turn around just enough to punch him square in the face, he stumbled backwards letting go of her hair and giving her just enough time to run out the door, locking it behind her trapping him inside.

She then looked around, there was no semblance of an exit and she knew they would be coming for her soon. She ran down the hall and found a stairway, there was only one way to go, so she went up, trying to find a window or something that told her how to get out. She went up five flights of stairs before hearing men shouting from below. She doubled her pace, taking the stairs three at a time, lucky for her they hadn't seen the need to bind her hands or feet. But she was still naked and felt scared at what they might do if they caught her. So she ran up three more flights of steps, before finding a door to what looked like a factory. She slipped in looking around to make sure no one would see her, but no one was in sight, so she took off running again trying to find a door to the outside but she couldn't find one.

Instead she passed what looked like a locker room; she went inside and found that this was the women's locker room and quickly she went to work trying to find some clothing. She found some jeans and a regular tee shirt and a pair of sneakers close to her size. Then went back to the door and peeked out, there were six men at the far end coming out of the stairway. She then set to finding another way out of the locker room, after a couple of minutes she found another door leading into what looked like the manufacturing part of the factory but again there was no one. Not waiting another second she ran for a door that looked like it might lead to the outside, but before opening it she stood and listened. She couldn't hear anything, so she took the chance and quietly opened the door.

'Shit.' she swore to herself. There were five men waiting for her and she noticed the security monitors along the back wall of the room. She also smelled dog again but why would she... her face widened....werewolves. She quickly turned and ran as fast as she could, but it wasn't enough, one of them was on her in an instant, tackling her to the ground, pinning her to the floor with a loud growl. He flipped her over onto her back letting one of her hands go, wrong move, she swung hard hitting the man in the face with her right arm, and then kneeing him in the groin. She pushed him off of her but by then the rest of them had caught up, she tried to get up but found two of them held her down by her shoulders, she kicked wildly at anyone who came near but it was useless.

Then she heard the first man who had attacked her get up and say in a nasally voice "I think that bitch broke my nose." Then looked directly at Lilliana "You're going to pay for that bitch." and started in, claws extended, to beating and tearing her apart, soon the others joined in but only with their night sticks, 'Did I just go through all that shit to get beaten to death just as I was getting close to my freedom.' Just then she felt something deep inside of her awaken, it could just be her organs bursting, but she didn't have much time to think about it because then she felt feet kicking her in her sides and chest, she couldn't breathe, she felt like she was dying. She sent a mental thought to no one who could hear. 'I'm sorry.'

Then, something deep inside nagging at her to fight back, suddenly her whole body was jarred upward, and without a thought, she opened her eyes and found that the men who had been beating her were dead, burns covered their bodies and fire licked at their clothes, 'did that come from me?', she couldn't give it second thought as she heard men behind her yelling. She mustered all of the strength she had left in her body and got up and ran. There was a door ahead of her; the sign above it said "EXIT.". When she saw it she tried to run faster but found that she couldn't, her leg was badly injured and she could barely put any weight on it. When she reached the door, she turned to see where the men were, to her advantage they were still gawking in awe at the dead men on the floor. She guessed they were wondering where the fire had come from; she wondered too, but had no time to think about it as she thrust through the door.

She found herself on a normal city street, what city and what street she didn't know. All she did know was that those men were probably right behind her, so she moved as fast as she could down the street and around the corner and kept going until her body just wouldn't move another inch, she found herself sitting in front of a bakery. She was so tired, but then she heard someone come up to her, asking "Are you ok?" just before she blacked out completely.

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She awoke to what looked like a hospital room but she couldn't tell completely because for some reason she couldn't open her eyes all the way. She turned her head lazily towards the door and saw a nurse rush in, saying "It's going to be ok, now can you tell me your name or if you are allergic to any drugs." She managed to mumble out "Lilliana Hope, and no but I have.... sensitivity...to...latex....." She trailed off and back into sleep. She had terrifying dreams about being raped and tortured and locked in a dark, cold room.