These are the creatures "acquainted with the night".
They are a few of my favorite heroes of literature, film, and television. The one thing all these heroes have in common is their aloneness. They are all despised by society in some way - rejects, outsiders. I have come to love this type of hero - the cursed and the outcast who is struggling to find his place in the world.

"He comes from a secret place,
far below the city streets,
hiding his face from danger,
safe from hate and harm. He
brought me there to save my life,
and now, wherever I go, he is with me,
in spirit. For we have a bond stronger
than friendship or love, and though
we cannot be together, we will never,
ever be apart." -From the opening
sequence of Beauty and the Beast.

"There's a moon over Bourbon Street tonight
I see faces as they pass beneath the pale moonlight
I have no choice but to follow that call.
the bright lights, the people and the moon and all.
I pray every day to be strong
for I know what I do must be wrong.
Oh you'll never see my shade or hear the sound of my feet
While there's a moon over Bourbon Street.
It was many years ago that I became what I am
I was trapped in this life like an innocent lamb
Now I can never show my face at noon
And you'll only see me walking by the light of the moon
The brim of my hat hides the eyes of a beast
I've the face of a sinner but the hands of a priest
How could I be this way when I pray to God above
I must love what I destroy and destroy the thing I love
Oh you'll never see my shade or hear the sound of my feet
While there's a moon over Bourbon Street.
-Sting, Moon Over Bourbon Street

A.k.a. Thomas A. Anderson, he is a program writer
for MetaCortex, one of the leading software companies
in the world. By night, he is a computer hacker who goes
by the alias Neo, and is searching for someone named
Morpheus. He has always known there is something not
quite right with the world, but can't tell what exactly.
He knows it centers around something called "The Matrix"
and is looking for the answers. Neo is "The One".
-The Matrix

Ichabod Crane - an eccentric and earnest constable
with an avant-garde approach to solving crime.
His contemporary investigative ways are put
to the test when his superiors send him to the small
village of Sleepy Hollow to probe a string of murders,
allegedly committed by a headless horseman.

People once believed that when someone dies a
crow carries that soul to the land of the dead.
But sometimes something so bad happens that
terrible sadness is carried with it. And the
soul can't rest. And sometimes the crow can
bring that soul back to put the wrong things
right...Shelly and Eric were in love. But no one
gets married on Halloween, not in Detroit.
Shelly is killed by city boss Top Dollar's thugs,
only to die 30 hours later in a hospital.
Eric is shot and pushed out a window. A year later
death is no longer what it was as Eric Draven,
accompanied by a Crow and gifted with new powers
and a world of grief and pain, is brought back to
life to avenge his love's death. After all,
love is forever. And some of us believe in angels.

"It was a helluva deal I made.
'Let me see my wife and you can
have my soul.' Sounded simple.
I never factored in that he'd strip
away everything I had. My face.
My skin. And he seems to be toying
with my memories. Giving me selective
recall. Well, your time will come, Devil..."
-Spawn, Issue #3 Questions

The scene is set--the French Revolution
has entered its stage of bloody terror.
Men, women and children fall under the
merciless blade of the guillotine. But one
foppish gentleman, alias the Scarlet Pimpernel,
bravely rescue aristocrats from the jaws of death.
In the midst of his rescue he meets and falls
passionately in love with Marguerite,
France's most celebrated actress.
Thus begins a twisted, suspenseful romance
played out in one of the bloodiest revolutions of all time.

"And...and...I...kissed her!...I!...I!...I!...
And she did not die!...Oh, how good it is,
daroga, to kiss somebody on the forehead!...
You can't tell!... But I! I!...My mother, daroga,
my poor, unhappy mother would never...
let me kiss her....She used to run away...and
throw me my mask!...Nor any other woman...
ever, ever!...Ah, you can understand, my happiness
was so great, I cried. And I fell at her feet, crying
...and I kissed her feet...her little feet...crying.
You're crying, too, daroga...and she cried also...
the angel cried!..."
-Erik, Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera

"So many times out there, I've watched a happy pair
Of lovers walking in the night
They had a kind of glow around them...
It almost looked like heaven's light

I knew I'd never know that warm and loving glow
Though I might wish with all my might
No face as hideous as my face
was ever meant for Heaven's light

But suddenly an angel has smiled at me
And kissed my cheek without a trace of fright
I dare to dream that she might even care for me
And as I ring these bells tonight
My cold dark tower seems so bright
I swear it must be Heaven's light!"