Prologue: This Is Just The Begining

Shattered glass sprung across the kitchen floor as sixteen year old Ashley Stephens ducked under the counter. How had they found her here? She had been thrown away into hiding by her older brother and step-father in some mansion out in the middle of some state of which she still did not know the name. Having lived in London, England most of her life, she paid little attention to the United States and therefore was left with little of where excatly she was. But no matter she had been found and now was forced to find away out of this mess seeing her brother and step-father were of no use to her while they were in town. The mansion was suppose to be safe enough to keep people far from finding her. But with a little determination and much thought about her step-father there was sure to be some way of finding her.
Jesus, please, deliever me from this. I don't know what to do. Show me Your way.
Taking a chance at running, Ashley jumped to her feet and out from under the counter to run into the office which was only a few more strides away from her. In the office was the panic room her brother had installed for her if ever she was scared and he wasn't around to protect her. She had never thought to use it before but in this case it seemed like the best place to hide for now. Her hand reached out and tried to grab the door handle when another loud crack came from the window. Glass went everyone and Ashley went back on the ground.
A stricking pain was coming from her shoulder. Had she been hit? She reached to grab at her right arm and then felt the flow of blood on her finger tips. Laying there in glass with a gun shot wound wasn't excatly what Ashley had in mind for the day. Seeing that she was going to be alone today in a huge house Ashley had decided on spending the day just enjoying the silence. She would then call her boyfriend, Toby, and catch up on things with him. She had missed him terribly and couldn't wait to see him again. He had been upset that she had to run and hide without even the slightest clue where she was going. But none the less he understood and told her he would be praying for her safety and wishing her back with him every day. It had been a few days since they last spoke and she was looking forward to another conversation with him.
The pain in her shoulder had almost been forgotten when she started thinking of Toby but when she attempted to crawl towards the door, anxious to reach a phone to hear Toby's voice, a sharp piece of glass cut into the spot where the bullet had hit and left her in even more pain.
Father, save me from this pain, I can't bear it any longer.
Her shoulder began to relax and the pain left her body. But she was still in danger. She shifted her body weight to her other side leaving the hurt arm with no weight and therefore being able to move.
A door slammed in the distance.
Her crawling speed up and she was at the door. When her hand reached up to grab the door knob again a familiar voice spoke behind her.
"If you want to live, Miss Stephens, I suggest you put your hand back down."
How many times had she heard that voice? Hear it and then tembled in fear. For goodness sake she was only sixteen. Why did this guy continue to hunt her? As if he would not be happy until she was dead. Well if he wanted her dead why waste time now?
Ashley slipped her hand down and used it instead to push herself over so she could see behind her. There he was. The same man who had been looking and hunting her for nearly a year now. Ever since her mother's death. She looked into the eyes that had haunted her dreams and saw the face who was the star of her nightmares. He had never looked more frightening before this moment when she knew that this could be the last breath she took.
Her thoughts flew to her family and Toby. How sad they would be and how anger as well. She knew the drill. If ever she felt even the slightest of danger she was to run, no sprint, to the panic room and wait for the problem to be dealt with. Why when she senced something was wrong earlier did she not run off to safety? She could at least help her family out a little bit by remembering what to do in a crisis. Now here she was about to die.
"You think I'm going to kill you, don't you Ashley?"
That was the first time he had addressed her as Ashley. He usually liked to tease her and use proper names such as Miss Stephens. How she strongly disliked this man. She simply nodded at his question and then flinched at the smile which appeared on his face.
"Oh, Miss Stephens, how you are terribly wrong. Joe, why don't you tell our dear friend Ashley what excatly we will be doing to her as we take her back to the truck. Alright, lets go boys."
And with that Joe threw a punch at Ashley's face leaving her swimming in darkness.


Alex sat in the car as he and his step-dad drove back to the mansion. They were on the dirt road driveway now and for some reason Alex was even more anxious to see Ashley then usually. She was probably tucked away in her room, either reading another book or talking aimlessly on the phone with her boyfriend, Toby. Alex didn't approve the relationship at all because for one thing Toby was nearly three years older than Ashley. Closer to his age then her own. And second because of the way Toby looked at his sister. As if he thought he was going to marry her. How could he even imagine such things when she was still in highschool? None the less their step-father did not help him at all. He enjoyed Toby's prensence and believed it to be the only thing keeping Ashley sane through all this chaos going on around her to keep her safe. Still though, Alex didn't like him one bit.
But he couldn't help and take in consideration that his step-father had a good point. Ah, so long had it been that Bill, Alex and Ashley's step-father, had entered their life. Alex had merely been four years old when Bill married his mother while she was eight months pregnant with Ashley. How sad it was to him, that Ashley never got to meet her birth father. Not that she missed much. The man didn't have much to say and Alex had long forgotten to even mention him as their father. Yet it did also seem odd that Bill would marry his mom even though she was already pregnant. Sure did look like the shot gun wedding people sometimes see.
Even so Bill had been a wonderful father to him and to his sister Ashley even after there mother had died nearly a year ago. He kept a watchful eye on Ashley, keeping her from trouble, until this hunt came to be about. Alex still remember that night. It had been one of the worst night of his life.
Alex and Ashley were extremely close. Even with their four year difference they were still tied together like a magnet. Or really Alex was tied to Ashley while she ran around looking for trouble then always leaning back on him to bail her out. He left the house at eighteen, deciding that his mother and Bill would be able to handle Ashley. It seemed like he had only left the house maybe for a few months when he got that call that changed his life. It was Bill and also three o'clock in the morning. He had woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and needing some fresh air. Not even turning to glance at his wife, afraid of waking her, he turning to their balcony and opened the french doors so the wind could blow through. On his way back to the bed is when he noticed she wasn't moving. At all. He reached for her shoulder but as he did he felt the warm sticky liquid on her neck. Someone had slit her throat. It killed Alex to see how this affected Ashley. She was only fourteen at the time.
A few months later, and two weeks after Ashley's birthday, is when the hunt began. Alex had moved back home to help Bill with raising Ashley who was now fifteen while he was nearly nineteen. It had been a warm day in London which was rare so all three of them decided it was best to visit the grave yard. While they stood in silence, Ashley standing closet, Alex noticed a red dot shine on the back of Ashley's head. He had felt an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomache, which ususally came whenever Ashley was in trouble. Acting on pure impulse he grabbed Ashley's waste and pulled her to the grown just in time that the shooter missed. They were under attack.
It had been over a year now since the first threat against Ashley and Alex was starting to feel that anxious feeling in his stomache again. Something was desperately wrong. Bill stopped the car right infront of the front door and Alex couldn't seem to move fast enough. He swung the door open not even bothering to close it and got a worried "What's going on?" from his step-father. He would have to explain later. Right now he needed to find Ashley and fast. The moment he opened the door to the mansion they were staying at he ran straight towards the stairs and too her room. Swinging this door opened at full force he found the room empty and ran back down the stairs. Maybe she was in the kitchen.
He reached the kitchen door but that was when he froze. Glass was everwhere and two of the windows in the room were completely gone. No, this could not be happening. Was some one in the house now? Maybe Ashley had made it to the panic room and was waiting for him to retrieve her to take her to a new location. He ran through the kitchen, stepping on a bullet casing and then realized that Ashley could be hurt. Thats when the blood finally became visible. Spilled on parts of the glass that was lying by the office door. So she must have made it to the panic room right?
Wrong. The door was still closed to the office and from the bloody hand print he saw on the door knob it did not seem she ever had opened the door.
He had lost his sister? She had been taken away from him? Ashley was now in trouble, probably hurting from being shot, and most likely confused more than ever. She could even be...But he would not let that thought complete. There was no way that she could be anything less than alive. Yes, Ashley was still alive. But no where to be found and no way of finding her again. No he wouldn't let himself think it was impossible. Anything was possible right? Besides he owed that to Ashley. He had always been her protector and now more than ever he was going to have to fufill that promise he had made to her, hoping he would never have to.
Yes, Ashley, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes him, if someone was ever to take Alex Stephen's little sister, he would find her again.