Prologue

Terror. A river of black smoke poured into the room from under the door. The wallpaper around Anna bubbled, like it had started to boil. The only escape was blocked and the room was filling with smoke. All Anna could see was the black haze that filled the house. The sounds of fire and destruction filled her with more fear than she had ever felt before.

        Anna didn’t know what to do. The door to her room was on fire, there weren’t any windows, and her parents were down the hall. She was scared and alone. The thought crossed her mind, was she really going to die at 5?

A sudden crack jolted her out of the trance as her door flew open, crashing into the wall in a burst of embers. Her mother stood in the doorway, holding her shirt over her mouth, coughing. Her blonde hair, covered in black soot, was singed and stuck to her he forehead.

“Anna!” She screamed. “Come here, quickly!”

        Anna leapt out of bed and ran to her mother. Her mother took her hand and quickly rushed her out of the room. As they ran down the hallway, the roof caved in, cutting off their only way out. The smoke started to fill the air around them, burning her eyes as she stared at her mother.  Without so much as a moment’s hesitation, her mother quickly pushed her into a bedroom. Anna couldn’t see much through the smoke, but she recognized the posters and toys on the ground as her brother’s room. The flames had already consumed most of the walls, but one corner seemed to be untouched. Jacob was huddled against the wall, his brown hair black with soot. Anna ran over to him and hugged him tight. Despite the being 3 years older than her, their tiny frames were nearly the same size, huddled in the small corner.

“Mom!” Jacob screamed, coughing as he started towards her. “What’s going on? What do we do?”

        Their mother grabbed their arms and moved the pair to the center of the room. Anna looked up at her mother, who had tears streaming from her eyes. She leaned down and kissed the pair on the head, before pulling a small stone necklace out from beneath her shirt. She pulled at it, snapping the chain clean off, which fell useless to the ground. With a look of intensity neither of the children had ever seen before, she threw the stone in between them. As soon as the stone made contact with the ground, it shattered in a burst of blue light, unlike anything either of them had ever seen before. The blue light started to circle the pair, creating a dome of blue, as if they were inside a large bubble.

“Stay right here.” She said, her voice wavering. “No matter what you hear or what you see, you stay right here. I love you both, from now to the end of ever.”

        A crash rocked the house again, as another section of ceiling caved in. She looked back at them one last time and, with tears in her eyes, charged head long into the inferno. Anna tried to call out for her, but the smoke once again filled her lungs, causing her to fall to the ground coughing. Another thundering crash rang through their ears, but this one was different. She could vaguely make out what sounded like her mother shouting, and someone responding back. As she listened, a deafening roar shook the house, causing her to fall to her knees. Around the children, the wall started to cave in, the room falling down around them.

“Anna!” Jacob screamed, grabbing her arm. “Anna!”

         But no matter how loud he screamed, she couldn’t move. Behind Jacob, Anna saw something emerging from the smoke. She watched in horror as an enormous being lumbered up behind him. The creature’s form looked like if a human had been made from magma. Its skin was black and red, like volcanic rock, but glowed at the joints where magma flowed through cracks in its skin. The creature was easily three times her height, with black claws that seemed to catch the light, almost like they were made of metal. The monster’s face was human like, but with eyes that looked like they were made of never ending flames.

“Anna!” Jacob screamed again, shaking her. “Anna!”

        The creature stared back at her, its eyes seeming to pierce her very soul. It opened its mouth and let out roar so powerful, it felt like the entire house would fall down by the sound alone. She stared back up at it as it raised its claws into the air and brought them down towards the children.

“ANNA!”

Chapter 1 – The Letter

“Anna, wake up.”

        Anna jolted awake, sending a whirlwind of papers and pencils cascading to the ground as she thrashed out wildly. She felt her hand connect as she spun around, towards where she had last seen the creature. With a resounding smack, the creature fell back onto the ground. As her eyes focus, Anna quickly realized that the “Monster”, was actually her brother, Jacob.

        Anna took a breath, looking around at her surroundings. She wasn’t at home, but instead in her apartment, if you could call it that. A more appropriate description might have been disaster zone. There were papers everywhere, clothes covering what had once been a couch, and food from who knows left on her desk. She knew it didn’t look great but, on the bright side, she wasn’t at hoarder level yet.

“Jesus Anna!” Jacob said, rubbing the considerable red mark on the side of his face. “No ‘Hi Jacob’? No ‘Thanks for bringing lunch Jacob’? No ‘Fair Warning, I’m about to back hand you into the next century Jacob’?”        

        Jacob stood up, setting down a paper bag down on her desk. Jacob had grown up quite a bit since the incident at their home had happened. He had gone from a tiny, almost feminine, child into a tall, fairly well built man. His brown hair was fairly long, tied back in a ponytail, and his blue eyes were now filled with concern.

“It was the nightmare again, wasn’t it?” he said, picking some of the papers up.

“I’m not sure I would call it a nightmare.” Anna said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Then what would you call it?”

“A memory.”

        Jacob angrily slammed down the papers on the desk. He looked over at her, and let out a deep sigh.

“We’ve talked about this Anna.” he said, exasperation peeking through in his voice. “We went to more therapists than I can count, and through all of that, you still can’t let that go. It’s been twenty two years. They are dead. And THERE IS NO CREATURE!!”

“SHUT UP!!” Anna screamed, taking Jacob off guard.

        The room fell silent, the tension palpable between the two of them. The pair wouldn’t even look at each other for what felt like centuries.

“Mommy?”

        Anna turned towards the bedroom door, suddenly aware of how loud they had been. Standing in the open door way was Amy, Anna’s 6 year old daughter. Her blonde hair was everywhere, and she was cuddling her stuffed, red dragon.

“Hey sweetie.” Anna said, walking over and picking her up. “Did you see who’s here?”

        Amy gripped onto her dragon a little harder as she rubbed her eyes. After a couple of blinks, her face lit up. She quickly jumped out of Anna’s arms, sprinting as fast as she could towards Jacob.

“UNCLE JACOB!!” she screamed, jumping into his open arms.

“Hey there little dragon.” he said, spinning her around. “I’ve got something for you, check the bag.”

        Amy’s eyes lit up as she looked between the bag and Jacob. She quickly hopped out of his arms and tore into the bag. With a squeal, she pulled out a smaller bag, with the label Isabelle’s Diner. Amy started jumping up and down, squealing the entire time.”

“Just how you like it.” Jacob smiled. “Breakfast Burrito, with bacon, extra salsa, and a Jalapeño, or, as Isabelle calls it, the Little Dragon. Why don’t you go eat that in the kitchen, there is some stuff I need to talk about with your mom.”

        Amy nodded her head, still grinning ear to ear, and ran into the kitchen. Jacob looked back up at Anna, the tension now dissipated. Anna motioned for him to follow her as she walked into her office. He grabbed the rest of the bag and followed her.

        Anna’s office was less messy that the rest of the apartment, but not by much. The only furniture in the room was a desk and a mostly destroyed chair. It wasn’t all that decorated, with the exception of a couple of pictures on either side of her computer. The real importance of the room was on the wall across from her desk. It was covered in news clippings, pictures, and documents, all on one topic; the Monster.

“Well,” Jacob said, setting the bag down on the desk, “I will admit, you were always good at doing research.”

“What did you expect? I am a reporter after all.”

“True enough.” he said, stepping up to the wall, taking a big sigh. “So, let’s pretend for a second that I believe that there was something in the house when it burned. Have you found any evidence about it?”

“More than you would think.” Anna said, stepping up next to him. “Turns out, there are a lot of weird occurrences like that, especially recently. Odd stories of people dying in unexplainable circumstances, disappearances, even stories of creatures that go bump in the night. I haven’t found anything on the Monster yet, but I did get into contact with someone who says they know someone who deals with this sort of thing.”

“Hold up.” Jacob said, raising his hand. “Did you really just do the ‘I know a guy who knows a guy’?”

“I know.” Anna sighed, running her fingers through her hair as she sat down. “The truth is, I’m out of options. These leads have gone nowhere, and this last source is the best shot I’ve got.”

        Anna sat there, in her messy room, surrounded by the epitome of her obsession. She just couldn’t take it anymore, the visions of that Monster. Those flaming eyes, staring into her soul, its raking claws outstretched towards her, haunting her dreams every night. She felt the tears start to stream down her face. Suddenly, Jacob kneeled down and hugged her. It had been a long time since he had hugged her, but it made her feel safe.

“Well then,” he said, resting his chin on her head, “how about I help you?”

“Really?!” Anna asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. “But what about work?”

“I’ve been accumulating time off for over a year.” Jacob smiled. “The hospital was actually about to revoke the days I hadn’t used yet, so I might as well use them to some good. So I’ll help you do this, then, no matter what the outcome, I will help you afterward. And if it doesn’t go well, I think you should move in with me and Jonathan. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Anna said, thinking back to the last time she had seen Johnathan.

        Jacob’s son Johnathan was a lot like his father in a lot of ways. He was tall and slender, with the same brown hair and blue eyes. His attitude, on the other hand, was a different story. While Jacob was very non-confrontational, Johnathan was always picking fights. While those fights never went well, he was always doing it for the right reasons, whether it be to protect someone, or right a wrong, Johnathan was always there, ready to throw down.

“Good.” Jacob said, walking over to the desk and picking up the bag. “So now that that’s been settled, how about we eat this before it gets cold.”

        Anna chuckled a little as she followed Jacob out the door. As Jacob left, he nearly fell on the ground laughing. Anna confused, peeked her head around the door frame, and promptly joined him. Out in the living room was Amy, running in circles with a dragon hat on her head.

“I AM A DRAGON!” she screamed. “WHERE IS THE MILK?!”

        After the laughing fit subsided, Anna managed to find her way over to the fridge and poured a glass of milk. Amy rushed over, nearly tripping over her backpack on her quest to quencher her Jalapeño pain. As all the laughter subsided and Jacob managed to stumble his way over to the kitchen, Amy pulled on her mom’s shirt.

“Look Mommy!” she exclaimed, pointing over towards the door. “That letter is flying!”

        Before Anna had a chance to question what she meant by that, she saw it. There really was a letter, flying through the air above the living room. As she saw it, it started to fall towards the TV, and then suddenly changed directions. It soared back up into the air, like it was a bird, weaving through the room as if it could see. The letter flew up one last time, then came to a stop in front Anna.

        For a moment, no one said anything. They all just stared at this letter that just flew through the air and set itself down in front of them. As Anna looked at it, she realized it had a name on it; Anna Elizabeth Darro. It was addressed to her, but it didn’t have any address lines on it. It seemed like an eternity before anyone said anything.

“Aren’t you going to open it Mommy?” Amy asked, taking another bite of her burrito.

        Anna looked back at Jacob, who could only shrug his shoulders in response. Anna took a deep breath, and tore open the letter. Inside was a single piece of cardstock, trimmed with gold. She picked the letter up and started to read aloud;

Your meeting has been set. You have been scheduled at the location and time enclosed. Do Not Be Late. There will be no second chances.

        Anna felt like she was in shock. She looked up at Jacob, who seemed just as shocked as she was. She quickly flipped the paper over and continued to read;

The Dragon’s Fang, on the Corner of Kilburn Priory and Greville Road, London, England
7:00 PM, One week from today. Ask for James Ignacious.

        It was happening. The lead was finally panning out, she was going to get some answers. She looked back at Jacob, who still seemed to be in shock. Amy, on the other hand, was once again running around screaming about milk.

“Well,” Anna said, smiling at Jacob, “you did always say that you wanted to go to Europe.”