The Return of the Assassins
PREFACE

It all started a long time ago when I was happily married to a human, when I was still human and oblivious to the danger lurking in the dark.

I am Scarlet Rosewood, and this is my story.

I was married for 15 years to a man who I thought was the only one for me. We loved each other, as there was no one else in the world. He was my King, and I was his Queen and together we had our little princess. We had enough, even though we weren’t rich.

We lived in a tiny house by the river. It was beautiful; it was peaceful.

Till that fateful day when great sadness hit us, it turned our world three hundred and sixty degrees around. It left me without a husband and my daughter without a father.

I was only 35 years old and my daughter was 10 and here we stand in front of an open grave looking as they place the casket down. Our faces are stained with past and present tears.

It all happened so quickly. He was going on a hunting trip with his friend and will be back in two days’ as it will be his daughter’s birthday, but…. he never came home.

It didn’t help that they were in the woods, where there was little to no cell reception. I called the Ranger that worked in that part of the woods were they usually go hunting to ask if he has seen them and he confirmed he saw them two days ago as they were heading to their usual camping spot.

I was out of my mind with worry. I asked my best friend to look after my child while I go and see if I can replace them. When I came to the woods, I went to the Rangers’ office to ask him to take me to the camping spot.

As we got there, the scene that unfolded in front of us was my worst nightmare. It felt like my heart stop beating. My whole body went ice cold, my stomach pulled into a knot and I remember hoping that this was just a dream, that this is not real, that I would wake up any minute.

The camp was trashed; the tent was torn, and there was a lot of blood everywhere. As we saw this brutal scene, the Ranger was quick to call over his radio for help. I thought to myself, what help? Who are they going to help? There is nothing left, there is nobody, as I fell to my knees crying.

When I looked up at a pathway leading into the woods, I saw a little blood trail, standing up immediately wanting to follow it, hoping maybe they got away, maybe they are hiding somewhere waiting for us to come and save them, maybe just maybe.

As I follow the trail into the wood, I hear the Ranger calling for me, but I ignored him. I needed to know where they were. I needed to know what happened. As I went deeper into the woods, I saw them just lying there in blood. I did not cry as I was in too much of a shock as my heart does not want to believe what my eyes were seeing.

There they were faces as grey as ash and their body’s full of claw marks, their eyes open in horror, the horror they must have seen before death took them away.

As I stood there, I could not move. I could not breathe as something was holding onto me, holding me in place pressing on my chest. I just stood there looking at the nightmare that will haunt me for the rest of my life.