Chemical Madness (v1) These Streets

[Ann]

Prologue

They evolved along with humanity. They have lived among people for all of recorded human history. To humans, they were human. That is not to say that they were undetected; they have been persecuted for centuries as practitioners of witchcraft. But until recent genetic testing detected an abnormality in the internal structures of their brains, it was never suspected that they were, in reality, a separate subspecies- freaks of nature, homo lusus naturae. They were blessed by this abnormality with unnatural, monstrously powerful abilities, known only to themselves and to the scientists who first discovered the abnormality. They bribed, blackmailed, and threatened the scientists to remain silent about their discovery, but such tactics could only preserve their secret for so long.
The secret became public. Research institutions sprang up everywhere. The four strongholds of the species- New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and San Francisco- came under siege. Public reaction could be summarized in two words: mass hysteria. It was a twenty-first century witch hunt, and their choices were to fight it or hide.
Under orders from Wade Ellis, their chief, they chose to go into hiding. His wife had been the first victim of the public's mania, taken from her coffee shop in San Francisco and killed under accusations of practicing necromancy. (Ironically, necromancy was not actually one of her abilities.) Ellis took his infant daughter to Manhattan, where the hysteria was less prominent, and established new headquarters there. They hid for fifteen years as the panic subsided.
Then, in an unexpected riot, Ellis was killed and the hysteria revived.

(v1) These Streets

It is August 2014. The scene opens on nationwide riots. Nadine Ellis has inherited her father's position of chief, but there is doubt among the lusus naturae whether, at fifteen, she is ready to assume that station. That is, however, the least of their concerns. Humans are sparing no expense in trying to exterminate them, and they are tired of hiding.