Karen Grey was a young woman, age 25. She had long blonde hair, and was quite tall and willowy, standing six feet tall, but weighing only 125 pounds. The majority of her life had been pleasant and rather unremarkable. She'd been an above average student, but not outstanding. She'd been a cheerleader, but never captain of the squad,nor the most popular with either the students or her fellow cheerleaders. She'd gotten an economic degree in college, but never really seemed to capitalize on it, settling into a rather average life as an accountant for a small firm in her hometown of Metrovale, California. (Which, by all accounts, was also rather unremarkable, despite having a population of nearly 400,000 people.)
Karen had few close friends, choosing to keep business associates and coworkers out of her personal life, and she seldom dated, though it wasn't due to a closet homosexuality. Her anonymity was by design, as she led a double life.
Unbeknownst to her family or her friends, Karen had acquired an interest in the occult when she was in college, going so far as to join a coven. During a simple ritual out in the woods, however, whilst her coven was celebrating Ostara, they were attacked by a werewolf.
Only Karen and two others had survived, though she'd lost track of them, as they had moved out of state shortly after the attack. But before they'd left, the three survivors had done one final ritual, one designed to reign in their new bestial sides and give them control, lest something disastrous occur.
That was three years previous to our narrative, and in the time since the attack, Karen had practiced her control over her werewolf side. She could transform any time after sunset, and revert at will as well. The hungers for flesh were well within her control, most of the time. She was only a danger to those who she WISHED to endanger.
She'd patrol the inner city a few nights a week, trying to make Metrovale a better place. She knew she'd made a difference, as bloody as her methods were. Only one other person knew her secret, her old college professor, Kane Radisson, who also held an interest in the occult. From time to time, he'd call her up, giving her information on problems in the city, names of people she should eliminate or contact.
She hadn't heard from him in awhile; things had been unusually quiet.
From Karen's experience, that was never good.
She walked to the window, staring out at the sky. It was slightly overcast, and the moon was barely a sliver in the sky. Something didn't feel right, she could tell. Something sinister was in the air, though to an untrained person, nothing would seem amiss. She tried to sense what it was, but all she could feel was a building darkness.
Then her phone rang.