Thanks everyone who read and reviewed the preface! Here's chapter one for you. But on the subject of the prefacekinda, I realized a big mistake I made. Well, it wasn't exactly a mistake but I'm changing it for the sake of the story, though I hate changing what I already typed. Jenny did NOT know anyone from the books with the exception of Zach, kay? I intend this to be a rather short story but it will be at least ten-ish chapters. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Jenny sighed and did a quick spin in the dress she was wearing. It was perfect, of course, exactly what she had hoped for when Julian had promised her a dress. She just worried that it didn't look right on her. It was a bright blue—without being obnoxiously bright—and ended right above her knees. Her shoulders were bare as was her neck except for an old locket, from Before. She didn't remember Before and had stopped asking Julian about it. It scared her.

It sounded like a lot of quarrel and anger, with hate and rape and death. The world that Jenny knew now had none of that. Her world was perfect, the best of the real world and the world of the Shadow Men. Peace and war met in a perfect blend, creating a challenging life, often unfair, but one where there wasn't any real war or hate.

Jenny sighed again and gave herself another small twirl, examining her dress as she did. Julian always said that she looked perfect in her clothes and, though she had grown to feel the same about herself and her looks, she was still a bit wary of what he really thought when he saw her. Her eyes were drawn to her left hand, where the beautiful posy ring stayed. Julian had offered it to her three weeks before, on her seventeenth birthday. Of course, she had agreed and only took it off to admire the inside.

She took off the ring now and held it up to the bright sunlight streaming through the window. All I refuse & thee I chuse. She considered it an engagement ring of sorts, though of course they weren't planning on marrying. Marrying had never really occurred to Jenny too much. Pretty much all she remembered was Julian and they were close, closer than any real married couple, Jenny thought.

"Stop frowning," a voice chastised lightly from behind Jenny. Jenny whirled, a smile already on her face, to look at Julian. "Frowning makes your wrinkle." Julian stepped towards Jenny to press a light kiss on her forehead.

"Maybe I do it just to get those little kisses from you," Jenny laughed, her voice equally light and happy. Julian did that to her, made her happy when no one else could. It was Julian that understood Jenny's thoughts and moods and it was he that was there to either comfort her or suffer the abuse of her moods.

"I feel used," Julian murmured, tipping Jenny's face up with two fingers under her chin. He pressed his lips to Jenny's in a quick but passionate kiss.

"Mmm…no need." Jenny was nearly purring from Julian's touch, his dangerously sexy voice, his shocking blue eyes boring into her own green ones. "Where's Silva and Jarvs?" she asked him, forcing herself to pull away from the lure of Julian's lips nearly brushing hers.

Julian groaned so that Jenny could feel his sweet breath tickling and cooling her wet lips. "I hate it when you change the subject," he growled and swept Jenny into a quicker, more chaste kiss before answering. "Silva is in her room, looking for you. Jarvs is…preparing a new game." Julian's voice became slightly quieter with the last part of the sentence. Jenny knew that he hated discussing Shadow business with her, afraid it would scare her. Jenny also knew, from Silva, that Julian owed the Elders for something that had happened years ago, what she didn't know, as well as something to put a halt to his own hunger.

"Of course," Jenny sighed and rested her head on Julian's shoulder. "So I won't see you until Wednesday?" She glanced at the calendar without moving her head. It was Sunday evening. Though they were in the in-between world, between the real world and the shadow land, they had most of the benefits of the real world. Like definite times and dates, using the same names for the days.

Julian pressed his face against Jenny's hair so that Jenny could feel the rise of his cheeks, undoubtedly signaling a somewhat smug smile. "Nope. I'll be back tomorrow at dawn. The Game will occur tonight. Some stupid teenager 'stumbled' across the game at a flea market."

Jenny bit her lip and considered this. The Games didn't happen often, maybe four times at most a year, but even so Jenny was used to the routine. Some others days were reserved for discovering new, more exciting ways to play. "Let me come."

The words startled them both, especially since Jenny hadn't meant to say what she had been thinking since the last Game. Julian surprised her even more by agreeing in a low murmur. Jenny pulled away from him and looked him straight in the eye. "You're seriously going to let me come with you?"

"Of course I will," Julian answered with a slight smile. "Don't get me wrong, the idea scares the hell out of me, but you'll have both Jarvs and I to protect you."

"I don't need anyone to protect me," Jenny snapped, flushing angrily and yanking away from Julian. She knew Julian meant well but that didn't mean she liked to be thought of as a needy girl who couldn't take care of herself.

"Of course you don't," Julian responded quickly, not surprised by Jenny's outburst and his voice soothing. "Silly of me to ever think that you did." Julian moved once more to envelope Jenny in his arms. She didn't move but remained stiff, her arms over her chest. After a few moments, she relaxed against Julian.

"I have to go see Silva, I guess," Jenny said and pulled away from Julian again, this time reluctantly.

"Or you can stay here with me," Julian suggested, arching an eyebrow. He took a step towards Jenny when she took a step away.

"No, because you need to go see Jarvs," she reminded him, pressing her lips against his for one last brief kiss. Julian took over, deepening the kiss, and Jenny's hands when to his hair. It was Jenny who pulled away with a little taunting smile at Julian.

"Fine," he sighed. "Let me walk you to her room?" Julian held out his arm to Jenny who took it quickly, saying, "Why thank you, kind sir."

"What do you need?" Jenny asked upon entering Silva's room.

"Your opinion," Silva muttered. She was distracted, holding a long black dress up to the mirror. "What is wrong with it? It just doesn't…look right."

"It's too boring," Jenny said, falling into the routine automatically. Silva liked to make modifications to dresses and often asked Jenny for opinions; by now Jenny had learned Silva's style. "Maybe bunch it a little at the ends here," Jenny pointed with touched the end of the dress with her hands. "And get rid of the sleeves, it makes you look like a nun."

"You're right," Silva decided, laying the dress back down on the table. She moved to sit on the bed, shoved into the corner of the room and surrounded by perilously stacked boxes. Jenny went through around the boxes to join Silva on the bed.

"What's really up?" Jenny knew Silva well enough to know that Silva wouldn't have stopped working if the only thing Jenny was here for was an opinion.

"You're playing tonight?" Silva asked without any build-up, as usual.

"How did you know that? I didn't even know that until ten minutes ago."

Silva shrugged with a familiar mysterious glimmer in her eyes. "Does it matter? But I want you to be careful…" Silva bit her lip as if trying to figure how to word her sentence. "You will be meeting people…and…I mean, just don't let them touch you."

I snorted. "I'm not going to let random people touch me. I'm not that stupid."

"Debatable," Silva said, flashing a quick smile but still looking unsure. "Just remember that." Silva fell back onto the bed, looking up at her beautifully painted ceilings. Like Jenny, Silva was a human but unlike Jenny, no one had fallen in love with her. It was her ability to create art of every kind that Jarvs had fallen in love with. He had found her just a month after I came to be with Julian and Jenny knew she would eternally be grateful for Jarvs for that. Julian had always been everything Jenny needed: a playmate, a confidence, and a lover, but there were things that a girl just needed another girl for.

"I was thinking of painting the walls," Silva murmured, softly like she was talking to herself but Jenny knew she wasn't.

"Painting them with what?" Jenny glanced over at Silva to see that she was studying the walls, painted a pearly white already.

"Everything. On the wall where the door is I'd put a collage of anything and everything. Over the bed…a creature, maybe one that is sleeping. Or I maybe a mother and baby animal together…or two babies."

"That sounds…amazing," she breathed because it really did. Jenny knew that with Silva's hand for art every painting would be amazingly accurate and realistic looking. "Do you happen to know what kind of Game it will be tonight?" Jenny asked Silva tentatively. She fixed Jenny with her silver-blue eyes that always seemed to see into her soul.

"It will be fun," she said finally, "For you, anyways. Tell me, Jenny, do you like lions?"

"What? Lions? Yeah, I guess they're cool, why?" Jenny eyed Silva suspiciously.

"Oh nothing," she replied with a satisfied smile. "Come on, let's make you up. Julian will be able to put you in whatever clothes he wants but he can't do your makeup and hair. Come here." With a smooth, inhuman-like grace, she stood and went over to her dresser, piled with all sorts of makeup and mirrors, that was crammed in the corner of the room.

Jenny automatically followed her but her words stopped Jenny. "He can…choose my clothes?" Jenny automatically played nervously with the fabric of her sundress. Silva glanced back at Jenny with a smile and raised eyebrows that confirmed Jenny's wonders. Jenny sighed and sat down in the chair that Silva had pulled out; Silva immediately turned the chair away from the mirrors and got to work on Jenny's face.

An hour and a half later, Jenny was leaving Silva's room. She didn't wear makeup that often but when she did, Silva loved to do it for her. Sometimes she went overboard but tonight she had gotten it down perfect. Silva had created a mysterious smoky look by using various shades of purple eyeshadow to make Jenny's green eyes even greener and then a thin line of eyeliner. Jenny didn't care so much for the dark red lipstick—rogue fire, Silva said—but Silva had insisted that she keep it on. Jenny's hair was down in soft curls, falling over her shoulders.

"Well, don't you look alluring." Julian's voice surprised Jenny and she spun on a heel to see him waiting beside the door.

"You don't think Silva went crazy, do you?"

"Of course not. I think I might have to change your part in the Game though…maybe elephants or lions…" Julian musing trailed off. He came closer to Jenny, kissing her softly. "Can't ruin your lipstick," he murmured with his lips barely brushing hers.

"Screw the lipstick, I can fix it," Jenny whispered back and kissed him back. Julian quickly took over the kiss, keeping it soft but fierce. It was he that pulled away first.

"Are you ready?" he asked her. Jenny sucked in her breath and then nodded.

"Good. The players are ready." Julian flashed Jenny and quick, wolfish smile. "Now close your eyes." Jenny did as she was told and felt a slight crushing sensation before Julian pulled her closer to him. A moment later the sensation was gone and Jenny opened her eyes. "Where are we?" was her first question. They weren't in a room but an empty field. There was a single door at the edge of the field, with nothing surrounding it. Just a door coming from nowhere

"This is your first job." Julian swept his hand around the field. "The task for the players: what would they do to save themselves and the others? You can choose anything and I'll make it." Jenny didn't have to think long. There had already been something on top of her mind, something from a horrible book she had read not long ago. When she explained it the Julian he looked surprised but nodded, saying that it would be perfect.

"Close your eyes again. When you return here everything will be set up for you." Julian took Jenny's hands again and a few moments later they were in a huge room—a gothic ballroom, I thought. It was all arches and beautiful hanging chandeliers. The ground was marble, polished and sparkling in the candlelight.

Then I looked at myself. I was wearing a ball gown, burgundy in color. It was…floofy and brushed the ground, the skirt bunched and with sequins decorating the ends. It had a corset top, also covered with decorating sequins, and sleeveless.

"I've always wanted to see you in one of these," Julian said, smiling. He took one of my hands and gave me a spin.

"You can dream up amazing things," I laugh, showing off the dress for him.

"Not dreamt but lived. Well, I think we look fairly presentable for our guests, don't you?" I glanced at him. He wasn't dressed up as much as I was but not as casual as he had been before. I gave him a nod and a smile. "Here they come." With those words, I automatically took Julian's arms and he nodded at the door they would be entering.

In another minute, the door was opening and six figures stumbled into the ballroom. Julian, his expression cold, said, "welcome to the Game."

So here you go. Again, please review as I LOVE reviews, critics especially. Next chapter hopefully coming soon—I was planning on making this one longer so it ends at the next scene but I thought this was a pretty good place to stop. I'll try to make the next one longer ^^