Ok first House of Night fic so please be merciful. So this is inspired by Elektra the movie so you know there's going to be an OC so be prepared. But please no flames, but do reveiw please. Enjoy

Disclaimer: PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I own nothing except Nina and her family.

Nina Court sighed. She glanced at the clock, it read 7:16 pm, one hour until she officially turned sixteen. Yeah, fun birthday, she thought sarcastically, as she got up from bed, shrugged her navy blue comforter from her shoulders and stretched like a cat. All the stretching did was make her feel worse, she had been sick all day, no surprise there. She always got sick, but she had learned to live with it, going to school even if she felt like crap, even on her birthday. Don't get her wrong, it hadn't been that bad, her two best friends had bought her a cupcake and they had shared it for lunch. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. But at the moment she still felt almost crappy, as if she was nearing a better mood but was stuck there, which was good since she had to go feed her favorite runt.

Sleepily walking into the small kitchen, which opened into their apartment's living room, she took stock of what they had in the way of food. Fortunately they had enough food for a few sandwiches, but they would need to get some more soon. Quickly putting together two cheese sandwiches she walked out into the living room and sat next to her blond little brother, who was watching Sponge Bob Squarepants. Nina handed him the plate, which he cleared in seconds as she picked at hers. "Thanks Nins," he said cheerily. "You okay?" he asked after a pause, giving his sister a worried glance.

Nina didn't look good. Not that she ever did, she always had pale skin that didn't combine well with her sickly nature and dark red hair with it's choppy layered cut made her look like an emo kid, which she wasn't. But that wasn't what little Jacob was worried about, his sister looked almost hollow, her eyes tired and dark, but she just brushed it off as usual, focusing more on her brother than herself, "I'm fine, wanna play some monopoly until Mom gets home?" she asked, giving him a smile of assurance.

"Okay," he said, shrugging, his seven year old attention span coming to an end, which his sister was thankful for. They played monopoly until Jake started to fall asleep, even though he protested Nina brought him to his room and tucked him in. As she left he whispered, "Happy Birthday Nina." At least someone in her family had remembered.

Nina walked into her room right when the clock turned to 8:26, she was officially sixteen. Pausing she stood and took a mental check of herself. Nothing, she thought, nothing had happened when she turned the big one-six, nada, ceiro, nothing, zippity do-da-day. What a rip off, was her mental exclamation as an ambulance passed by her apartment complex. As she turned to the door of her room, she noticed a big man standing in front of her. "What the-" she was cut short as he reached out and brushed her forehead.

She saw his lips moving but couldn't hear a thing as the blood pounded in her ears, a sharp pain pierced her stomach, as if someone had stabbed her. Doubling over she looked at him, mouthing 'help'. He just stood there staring with a stony expression. What is wrong wi-, her thoughts were stopped as another pain came from the right side of her chest. She stumbled backwards in pain, falling on her bed; she screamed out in terror as darkness started to surround her vision. The man had disappeared, but was replaced by the vision of Jacob, her brother, terrified. The vulnerability on his face brought memories crashing before her eyes.

Her dad, sick, lying in a hospital bed, limbs gone from war, alone with him, gasping for air, people rushing in, trying to help, Nina huddled in a corner, feeling useless, her pregnant mother cried,and his last words to her 'You are my greatest treasure, princess' before a flat beep sliced through the room.

The horrific memories flashed through her mind, mixed with the bitter-sweet memories from when she was younger, before he was shipped off to Iraq. Before he was almost killed in an explosion, and before his wounds got infected. Before she felt useless as she watched him die, before everything. When he could still walk and they would go to the park every Saturday, when everything seemed to be filled with wonder and light. Then her Mom didn't have to work, and Nina would smile as easily as the sun would shine and it wasn't forced. Things were perfect. But no, this was the here and now. And right now, her little brother was looking at her in terror. Looking vulnerable.

Biting her lip, she drew in a shaky breath and tried to ignore the pain. It felt like the life was slipping from her, but she was drifting into unconsciousness. She looked at him with wide eyes, he stared back with a blank stare, then he turned and mouthed something, as if he was talking to someone. He disappeared and a beautiful blond woman came into view, her mother, she smiled at her daughter and Nina could feel her take her hand, feeling safe the young girl fell into blissful unconsciousness. She would never know but when she had been marked a man had been stabbed down the street from her, he had died two hours later from blood loss, but the whole time he felt no pain. Nyx smiled down upon her gift, a Daughter of Nature in the purest form, she would be a great asset to Zoey in the coming war.

Once Nina came to it, she jumped up like a bullet, scanning the room quickly. All she saw was her mom sitting in a chair next to her bed, her dirty blond hair falling over her shoulder covering her work clothes: a tank top and tight jeans, after all she was a bartender at "The Pub", only strip bar, or bar of any sort, in town. No, she didn't do anything else there. Her mom just bar tended, even though she had been offered other... job opportunities, she had stuck with the bar. Nina stared at her mother in confusion as Regina Court smiled sadly at her, her young eyes filled with a sprinkle of tears. "Uh, Mom what's wrong?" Nina asked, fear starting to grasp her heart.

Regina shook her head with a smile, "Nothing at all, I'm just, well...you'll understand once you look in a mirror." Gesturing to the mirror on the back of the bedroom door.

"What, did I turn into One Eyed Joe?" she asked with a mock horrified face as she got up. Her mother chuckled, to Nina's relief. It was her goal in the first place, but didn't comment just nodded to the door. Giving her mother one final confused look, Nina turned to the mirror and gasped. The person in the mirror was not her, she looked more like a model than sickly Nina Court. The teenager in the mirror had translucent skin that seemed to glow like the moon, her blood red hair was more lustrous in it's choppy layered style, and her blue and emerald eyes seemed to have more of a light in them than usual. "Holy shit." was her only comment as she touched her cheek with awe. Nina was amazed that the person in the mirror did the same, that's when she noticed the crescent on her forehead.

It was a simple crescent moon, although not full, it seemed to glow with a hidden light. She was marked.