Please bare with me for the first few chapters, they’re just introduction really but please r/r, I promise it’ll be worth the wait!

Chapter 1

It was a chilly evening and a figure walked alone through the dimly lit streets. She kept her hands deep in her pockets to escape the biting cold and wore a scarf wound round her neck. Her hair was unbrushed and flopped loosely over her face. Apart from the gentle flickering of the street lamps and the echo of a distant siren, only the tapping of her own shoes on the pavement resounded through the empty streets.

Snap! The young woman tumbled on to the cold stone ground.

‘Damn.’ she muttered as she picked up the broken heel of her shoe. She looked up and down the road. . . . . . nothing; she couldn’t possibly walk home in bare feet, just about everything lay on those streets from chewing gum to smashed bottles. The woman sat down on a low wall and put her head in her hand. She had a mobile but who could she call? She had no relatives and no friends. She looked up at hearing the tap of approaching shoes-- a middle aged woman was hurrying along the street,

‘Excuse me,’ began the girl, being as polite as she was able, ‘could you help me?’ but the woman pretended not to hear her, you couldn’t trust anyone in Scarlet City. ‘FINE!’ shouted the girl after her, ‘Piss off!’ She sat down and removed her shoes, walking around in one heel and one, um, non-heel was by no means an easy task.

It was an hour before anyone else passed, a white van rolled down the road, the girl frantically waved her arms to get its attention and let out a sigh of relief as it stopped infront of her; she ran to the window-- the driver was a large middle-aged man, ‘I’m so sorry but--’ started the girl, but the driver interrupted,

‘How much?’ normally the woman would have given him a hefty punch in the face at this point but she gritted her teeth and said,

‘I’m not selling anything but I need a lift--’ the van had already driven away. She would have cried but she didn’t cry she told herself, instead she curled up in a corner in an attempt to sleep. This was, of course, a last resort; these were dangerous streets, you never knew who might find you.

It was nearing midnight, neither sleep nor a helping hand had come to the young woman when she looked up to see a man’s face staring down on her, she immediately rose and said,

‘Touch me and you’ll find my fist embedded in your face.’ The man took a step back and laughed,

‘Woah! Down Girl! I was just wondering what a young lady such as yourself is doing on the streets this time of night’ he spoke very politely with an English accent. The girl swept the strands of hair away from her face and the man stepped back,

‘Wow.’ he said unconsciously,

‘What?’ growled the young woman,

‘I’m sorry,’ laughed the man, ‘It’s just that you’re very, um. . . pretty,’ but this was an understatement.

‘Yeah, well. . .’ the girl shifted her feet awkwardly, ‘DAMN!’ she yelped suddenly,

‘What’s the matter?’

‘It’s nothing, just my foot.’ the young man looked at her bare feet, one was bleeding. The culprit was obvious, crystals of broken glass lay scattered across the pavement,

‘Come here.’ said the man as he reached under her legs to lift her up, he was met with a kick to the head, ‘What was that for?!’ he shouted,

‘I told you not to touch me.’

‘Fine.’ he growled pulling his shoes off, ‘Put these on.’

‘But you’ll cut your feet.’

‘How else am I supposed to get you inside?’ he said indicating a nearby door. The woman didn’t want to follow a strange man into his apartment but she didn’t have much of a choice, plus she felt strangely at ease with him, there was something kind and gentle about him. So she handed back his shoes and allowed him to carry her inside.