Haze Of Shadows

PROLOGUE

She was running in the woods, but she didn't know what she was running from, neither did she know where she was running to. But all she knew was she had to keep running, because stopping wasn't an option.
She ran into a copse of trees and nearly tripped on a stray branch. The air smelled of salt and rain and ash, the wind sang in her ears and she almost lost herself in its song when she heard the snap of a twig and she started. The cold wind turned hot and started howling with the trees, like they knew that danger was lurking by, that was when she knew, that the "thing" that had been chasing her was close and if she didn't run, she would die.
  She didn't think, she buckled and started running, but she tripped on the hem of her cloak, falling hard on the sodden ground, "when did the ground get so wet?" She wondered.
There was a feeling of warm wetness going down her neckline from her jaw, she reached up to touch her jaw at the trickling line of wetness, as her fingers came away, through the stray rays of moonlight, she could make out the dark substance to be her blood, she was surprised because she felt no pain.
  Then it came.
The thumping steps she heard earlier were louder and closer this time around, like a predator that was triumphant that it had caught it's prey.
She risked turning her head to get a glimpse of what was now blowing hot, rancid air in her face and the scream got stuck in her throat__
Standing in front of her was a beast on four legs, body as black as night that it seemed to radiate shadows, it's breath stank of rotten meat and rancid food and was very acrid, the beast eyes were a glossy black with flecks of amber and gold, like the crackling of embers of fire in a very dark tunnel.
The growl that came from the beast jerked her back to her own body, that was when she realized that she was paralyzed__with fear.
The beast reared back on its hind legs and roared as it brought down its snarling jaw on her shoulder.
Before the darkness overcame her, she saw the flicker of the fire in its black eyes. She didn't feel pain, but she felt terror and___
   She jerked awake, clutching the sheets so tightly they were bloody where her nails had dug in through them to pierce the skin of her palm.
She was drenched in cold sweat and her teeth were chattering.
Her heart was pounding in her chest that she could hear it in the quietness of the room.
She tried to recall the horror that had chased her through her dreams and drew a blank.
   She released the sheets and folded in on herself, her hands against her ears, trying to block out the sound of the silence of her mind.
Her lips were muttering against the sheets, she realized with great alarm that her teeth in fact were not chattering, they were repeatedly muttering one word: FIRE.