• Alexis Knight. That name was a name that bred fear, at least among the immortals. She was half human, half shapeshifter. Her father had been human – a hunter of immortals, but he had unwittingly fallen in love with a raven shapeshifter. Alexis had been the result.
    Alexis was every bit the raven beauty her mother had been. She had black, iridescent hair that fell in a straight line to her waist, and eyes black as midnight that had the eerie tendency to catch the light, making her look more animal than human. Her skin was ghostly pale with the barest hint of a pink tinge much like the color of a freshly plucked bird. She was tall and graceful, with reflexes faster than a serpents and legendary skills that had let to the death of more than one immortal.
    Presently, she was skulking in the shadowed branches of an ancient oak. Below her, her prey crouched, eyeing a young human girl of no more than sixteen years as she took a midnight stroll through the forest. Her wheat colored hair rippled behind her in the slight breeze, her long, slender artist’s hands trailing along the plants that lined the path she walked.
    As the two predator’s watched, the soft white linen nightdress she wore rippled, showing flashes of her bosom and a glimpse of her virginal thighs. Hunger glinted in the eyes of the immortal. Alexis saw his muscles tense, however, before he could pounce, Alexis had leapt from her perch. A carved dagger in each hand, she landed on his bowed back almost silently. The only sound was the soft thud as her boots connected with his back, and his hiss of pain as the daggers found purchase the space between his last rips, one on each side. Had he been human, he would have collapsed under the combined pressure of her blades and the momentum of her leap. As it was, he only tilted forward slightly, catching himself the tips of his fingers; the daggers in his sides were more an annoyance than a hindrance. Instinctively, he reached backward to rip her from her perch on his back.
    Meanwhile, just a few feet in front of them, the human girl had frozen, her weak hu8man eyes searching the darkness.
    Alexis, rather than be tossed from the immortal’s back, tightened her hold on her daggers causing them to roll. The roll ended with Alexis’ back pressed firmly against the hard ground, and the immortal’s back pressed to her chest. The daggers, still in place, were causing the immortal to bleed fiercely, especially since their tumble had caused them to pull forward, widening the gash.
    “Can’t throw me that easily, sweetheart.” Alexis murmured against his throat, planting a kiss there. With a snarl of rage, the immortal threw his head back, breaking her nose. In response to the blood now running down her front, she pushed the knives deeper. A howl of pain escaped him, twisting his voice into something feral.
    The human girl froze, her eyes finally finding the pair in the darkness. Abstract horror froze her in place as her eyes fell on the puddle of blood that was already forming beneath the pair.
    With a roll of her eyes, Alexis yanked the knives from the immortal’s rib cage and sliced through his neck, decapitating him in one fluid movement that blurred in its speed. Sheathing her blade, Alexis kicked out with her legs, sending the immortal corpse tumbling off of her. Alexis leapt to her feet, turning to face the girl.
    At that moment, the human girl let out a blood curdling scream. Quick as lightening, Alexis darter forward, clamping her hand around the girl’s mouth.
    “Sssh. This was all just a bad dream. You will wake up tomorrow with nothing more than the remnants of a nightmare on your mind.” Raven shadow wings rippled from Alexis’ back, folding around the human girl as she lost consciousness.