Prologue

 "Matt! No! Please, Matt, don't! This isn't you... this isn't who you are!" Her voice, raw with terror, cracked on the last words, which echoed loudly through the forest. She remembered the Matt she knew: the man who held her hand gently, who laughed softly at her jokes, whose eyes held nothing but warmth and affection. This creature before her, eyes blazing with a hellish light, fangs bared in a snarl, was a grotesque parody of that man. The transformation was complete, a horrifying metamorphosis from the man she loved to a savage beast. Ella slowly walks toward Matt. Everyone around is alert. Everyone is in position. One wrong step from her and one wrong move from Matt, all their hard work will vanish like smoke in the air. 

"She knew her words were pointless, but she was losing her mind. She felt sorry for Matt's fate, pitying him. She regretted their possible beautiful and happy future. Because of her, Matt was turning into a monster just to protect her. If only she could turn back time. If only they hadn't met at the bar that night." 

Matt raises his face, stops what he is about to do, and looks at Ella with burning eyes. With anger in his eyes, he growls in disgust and grinds his lavishing teeth. In a howling voice, he speaks.

 

"No, Ella. This is me. This... this is what I am. My fate. I can't outrun it." Even as he spoke the words, a part of him recoiled in horror. He remembered the feel of Ella's hand in his, the soft curve of her smile. He remembered quiet evenings shared, whispered promises under a starlit sky. Those memories, once so vivid, were now fading, swallowed by the consuming darkness that threatened to obliterate everything he once was. But the rage, the burning need to protect her, overrode everything else. He was a monster, yes, but a monster driven by love, a twisted, horrific parody of his former self.

 

"So, move away Ella, Leave this place while you still can. Run before I slash their throat with my bare hand," Matt said with blazing eyes. He was angry at that moment. He was so mad and cursed the world and the people.His anger was a reflection of his own self-loathing. He was furious at his weakness, at the way they had manipulated him, at the part of himself that had allowed it to happen. The world was a mirror of his brokenness, and he hated it for showing him the truth.

 

But the woman in front of him was loved by his whole being.

 

"No..! Let's run... let's get away while we still can..." Her voice was choked with tears, a desperate plea barely audible above the sounds of the fight. The contrast was unbearable: the gentle giant who once swept her off her feet was now a creature of violence and rage. She saw flashes of the man she loved—a flicker of recognition in his eyes, a momentary hesitation in his movements—but those glimpses were quickly swallowed by the monstrous transformation that had consumed him. The heartbreak was almost more than she could bear.