"What the hell?" I took a step closer to the mirror, staring at my reflection in disbelief. The person looking back was still me, but at the same time it wasn't. I had the same thick, dark, curly hair. The same hazel eyes. The same olive skin with a light dusting of freckles (ugh) scattered across the bridge of my nose. But my curls were now streaked with highlights. And not the subtle, golden-brown ones that sometimes appeared during the summer. No, these were an aggressive, dazzling blond that went from the roots of my hair all the way to the tips. It looked like I had spent a full day getting my hair done in some upscale salon. Never mind that I had never set foot in such a place since the day I was born. My eyes appeared somehow wider and more luminous. The colour brighter, my eyelashes darker up against them. And, when I looked closely, my pupils seemed to be slitted almost like a cat. I looked down at my body. My skinny arms-which had always refused to gain any definition no matter how hard I exercised-were lined with flat, wiry muscles. My bony shoulders were now curved and smooth. My scrawny legs were toned like a dancer. I reached down and lifted my shirt, revealing two subtle lines running vertically down my perfectly flat stomach, hinting at the rock-hard abs underneath. My whole body was rippling with strength. Like liquid steel.

The story of Avalon continues.... Cover by the awesome MayTijssen

Now, I've been hungover before. I've experienced the entire earthly spectrum of emotion that comes with the joys of drinking until you can't stand. I've seen, felt, smelt and heard things that upon reflection a sober human being wouldn't necessarily do. There was very little I couldn't chalk up to the consequences of my own actions whilst recovering from a particularly heavy night of partying. But as the stranger in front of me demanded me to stop, his entire appearance morphed into something vile. And I can honestly say that was a first for me. His eyes turned black like ink, his teeth extending to sharp points as dark veins began forming up his neck, crawling to join in a tangled web of visible webbing beneath his skin. The man I'd only a few minutes earlier considered attractive, had now become one of the vilest creatures I'd ever seen. Definitely not a crackhead. "Holy f*cking crap!" --- Danielle Perkins knows more than most about how truly unfair the world can be. After years of training and serving in the military, she is ultimately discharged from duty and settles down for civilian life in the bustling city of New York. A far cry from her terror filled past, it takes some time but she finally begins to get her life back together. That is until she's faced with a world that at no point was she ever trained for, and faced with a man that she was in no way ready for.