title: An Altered Existence: Fictitious Stories About Faces from the Past
author:  Melody M. Nunez 
description: Melody M. Nuez is an artist, a writer, and a blogger. Her favorite artistic mediums include collage, art journaling, assemblage, and photography. She also teaches art journaling to at-risk public school students through her Bits &amp; Pieces Art Program. Melody lives in Southern California with her husband, Jos, and their pet rabbits, Cypress and Pinto. You may visit her website at www.melodynunez.com.
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  AwakenMeDarkly
  
  
  I WAS A WOMAN IN A MAN’S PROFESSION, AND JUST BECAUSE I CARRIED A PYRE-GUN DID
  NOT MEAN I WAS TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
  
  
  Dallas Gutierrez, my right-hand man, strode to my side. He looked every inch a
  hunter in his black leather jacket and black combat boots. At times, I thought
  he was too handsome to be real. His hair was dark and thick, and the inky
  locks hung in sexy disarray over the wide, muscled length of his shoulders.
  
  
  Perfect eyebrows arched over perfectly shaped eyes. Perfect cheekbones framed
  a perfect nose.
  
  
  For some reason, he was smiling—revealing perfect white teeth—yet even as the
  brown depths of his eyes glinted with mischief, he still possessed the razor-
  sharp edge of a hunter.
  
  
  “What do you think, Mia? Alien?”
  
  
  “Absolutely.”
  
  
  A little of the sparkle left his eyes. “You sure?”
  
  
  I tossed him an are-you-kidding-me frown. “Can a woman lose one hundred and
  seventy-five pounds o