Part 1

The rain pounded harshly against Lita's car windshield as she attempted to navigate the puddle-littered highway. The headlights shinning in front of her scarcely managed to illuminate several feet before being engulfed by the oppressive black of night.

"Stupid fan conference," the redhead was muttering to herself, eyes glued to the pavement in front of her, "In the middle of nowhere, have to get there by car..." Nature deemed it fit to, at that moment, grace the darkness with a blinding bolt of electricity.

Lita jumped half a foot into the air at the thunder that soon followed. The redhead's eyes were wide and her breathing slightly laboured as she tried to control the fact that every last one of her nerves seemed to be on end.

"And none of my friends could be assigned to it either, could they?" the woman's slightly panicked voice continued, "No, I have to be all alone, driving in the middle of a storm."

Lita was not only scared of the tempest raging around her, she was angry. I suppose you could say both of them were directly linked together, fear and anger. After all, she was only angry because she was scared. Above all, the tough diva hated being scared.

It had been bad enough after her surgery, scared that every movement would cause more damage, perhaps end her career for good. But, she had slowly worked through that. And now, she was achingly close to being back, doing what she loved to do.

Her fear of storms, however, was not so easily conquered. It was one of those childish fears, the ones we all keep deep inside. In our rational minds, we now that these things we are afraid of can't hurt us, but that doesn't stop us from being afraid.

It wasn't the same kind of fear adults had. It was the paralysing fear you used to get, when you'd wake up at night, covers pulled over you head. You were afraid to move, because if you moved it would get you.

That was the kind of fear Lita was facing right now. She was fighting it, but it kept creeping up on her, slowly, until it had seeped into every fibre of her being. The fact that she was driving wasn't really helping matters.

"I can do this." Lita had resorted to encouraging herself to keep going. "Nothing out there can hurt me. I'll be absolutely, positively fine." The redhead was beginning to calm down a bit, pushing her fear deep inside, where she didn't have to deal with it.

"Nothing's going to happen to me." She continued, oblivious to the childhood theory. Because, according to the laws of nature what goes up must come down. Therefore, it only makes sense that the man who screams, 'Nothing can stop me now', must ultimately be crushed by a herd of migrating platypus. That's just the way it works.

So, even as Lita continued to calm down as she drove through the inky rain-slicked darkness, the Forces of Nature were conspiring to put her in her place. They can be really spiteful at times.

So, just as Lita had managed to convince herself of her safety, it would make sense that she is just about to be put in danger.

It was at that very moment, that the injured wrestlers dark blue Sedan rental, slipped on the isolated highway. It lost control and slid off the highway, rocking precariously back and forth.

To give the redhead a sporting chance, and to make things interesting for the bets, the only damage done was a flat tire and a shot engine. I wouldn't have much of a story otherwise, would I?

A flustered redhead looked up from the driver's seat, her seatbelt having kept her safe. "What worse could happen?"

Not a good thing to say.

Part 2

The door to the comfortable wooden shack was ungracefully thrown open as a rain-clogged and decidedly unhappy redhead stormed in. The few people milling about looked in shock at the tall woman as she angrily stalked to the front desk.

The receptionist gave a second�s pause as she unabashedly stared at the woman in front of her. With foot tapping, Lita looked at her expectantly. Seeming to realize that she was staring the woman gave a slight jump. Her eyes locked with hazel ones, this time with a polite look. �Can I help you?�

Lita�s glare was icy before she answered. �I�d like to rent one of your cottages for tonight. And do you know the number for a nearby car repairman?�

The receptionist busied herself with various papers spread out in front of her. Following her investigation, she turned back to the redhead. �I�m sorry ma�am, we don�t have any cottages available right now. Perhaps if you come back tomorrow. I do have a telephone book, if you�d like to go through it��

�What!?� the redhead�s voice was loud with anger and desperation, �I don�t think you understand right. I need a cottage. My car just broke down and I have nowhere else to go. There�s got to be something open. Anything.�

The receptionist regarded her with unemotional eyes, �I�m sorry, ma�am, our last cottage was just rented out. We might have one available for rent tomorrow��

�Arrgghh!� Lita let out a furious growl before swiftly turning on her heel and stalking towards one of the couches that filled the building. She plopped down, ignoring the wet �squish� that she created. Looking moodily towards the sky she muttered only two words, �Why me?�

Of course, the people responsible heard that question often enough. I could spin you a tale that explained to the smallest detail why this was happening to Lita in particular. But, if I did that, I would be lying through my teeth. I�m attempting a truthful tale, therefore that is ought of the question.

There was no real reasoning for the redhead�s involvement in the interest of those higher beings. The simplest way to put it would be that they were bored, and Lita was simply the first person to get in the way. Of course, that didn�t make what they were doing to her right. But, I suppose, right and wrong are trivial when you�re omnipotent.

So, as the young woman sat on the coach, bemoaning her fate and the things that were coming to pass in her life, the people responsible felt no remorse. In fact, they were planning their next twist. Thickening the plot to make life more bearable was a hobby of theirs, such as meddling.

Thus, explaining the pure luck that brought a certain man through the cabin door at that instant. For, it had to be luck, what were the chances that he, of all people, would be there? Same time, same place.

Blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, lying casually across a large muscled back. The man exuded confidence as he walked towards the desk, unaware that he had become a pawn in a meddling scheme that was larger than life. He simply had forgotten the key to his cabin. Funny how that works, huh?

So, when the receptionist pulled him into a conversation, he drifted, letting his mind wander. It was only when the woman brought up a crazy redheaded slob that his eyes finally drifted to the familiar face seated across the room.

A smirk crossed the mans face as he took in her waterlogged form, as well as her story. An idea filtered into his brain, which he believed to be entirely his own. For, who else would put that plan there?

As he took on a smug look, the man cockily swaggered over to our heroine, an upturn of his lips giving him the look of the dashing villain that he was. He stopped in front of the unaware woman.

�Hey, Lita,� the words were spoken with a false good-nature, �I hear you could use a place to stay tonight.�

The woman looked up in surprise, which quickly turned to shock as she took in who was standing in front of her. Lita�s lip curled back as she uttered one name as though it was poison, �Hunter."