It had been a little over a week since the Reapers and their animal lackeys had brutally murdered Curtis. There was still a dark stain on the cobblestones of Mother's Way that marked where Curis' life had been ended. But life went on and Reaper killings were commonplace. My family had been commissioned by 'His Illustriousness' to create an elaborate cake for his party to celebrate, well I didn't know what and I didn't care to know either. My parents and I stood next to the towering monstrosity of frosting and cake, ready to serve it when ordered.

The cake was alternating tiers of vanilla and chocolate. Passion fruit marmalade and soft coffee flavored cream took turns alternating between the layers. Piped buttercream roses and flowers decorated the smooth buttercream exterior of the tiered cake. Together the thing was huge, towering over four feet into the air. Not to mention it was ridiculously heavy. My back had given protest when my father and I had carried the thing in. My family and I had worked nonstop for nearly a week to bring the thing together. My family's creation was far too beautiful for the ugliness of the people here at this party.

Trumpets blared and the glorious bastard appeared at the head of a great golden banister. He was not alone. The dictator of my country stood slightly in front of two men and a woman. All three people were veiled, hiding their faces from public view, but there was no mistaking what gleamed at each of their throats: collars.

The Collars.

I felt my eyes go wide and my heart quickened its beating double time. I had never imagined that the Triad of Hell--Death, Damnation, and Spy--were Changers.

Changers were people born with the gift of another form. They were rare and powerful. In the days of old, Changers had been warriors and kings. But those were the old tales crones would tell across a fire to anyone who would listen. There had been no account of Changers in over a hundred years. Most nowadays considered them old wives tales, fit only for children. I couldn't remember the last time I heard anything about Changers. Some claimed they'd never existed, others that they had gone extinct.

Clearly not! I thought gawking at the group of three who had so much blood on their hands. Paws, claws, whatever!

The bastard began to descend the ostentatious staircase, the three Changers behind him matching his move. The woman and the man with brown skin, who I took to be Death, the lion, from the amber studded collar around this throat, walked with lethal grace. The man who had to be Spy, the raven, was no less graceful though some part of me knew that he truly belonged in the sky, soaring on the winds.

I wished I could see the faces of the Changers, to look into the eyes of the people who caused so much terror and pain and death. Warmth trickled down my hands, I had curled my fist into such tight balls that my nails had bit into my palms causing blood to bubble to the surface.

It was going to be a long fucking night.