My name is Sheryl Ilene Newcomb. And yes, my initials are SIN, a little piece of whimsical humor my parents found amusing when I arrived.

Then it turned out to be true. Looking back with wiser eyes now, my family and I concluded that the events leading up to my transformation started during the summer I turned nine. But the day we realized there was a problem - and there was no turning back - was a week before I started my senior year at Junction City High. That was the day the fangs and claws appeared, and the monster inside me emerged.

When mutilated corpses appeared near a pile of brush down by Caney Creek, everything changed. Evil woke up and growled, and its ominous rumblings were heard by every living thing in Locasia County, Mississippi.