Page 176 of Shhh…It’s A Killer Story

She looked like something whispered around campfires.

Her skin was impossibly pale, almost luminous beneath the morning light, making the intricate tattoos climbing across her body seem even darker by contrast. Tiny violet flowers blossomed over her hands, curled around her wrists, climbed gracefully along her arms, and disappeared beneath the high neckline of her black dress before blooming again along the elegant curve of her throat. Between the flowers rested hundreds of tiny stars, delicate enough to resemble freckles until you looked closer.

It was as though someone had planted an entire midnight garden beneath her skin.

Her hair cascaded down her back in impossible waves of midnight blue so dark it almost appeared black, until sunlight caught it and revealed deep sapphire beneath the surface. The final few inches melted into crimson, the colour of drying blood where the strands brushed against her waist and then there were her eyes, not blue, not grey, not quite purple.

They were violet. The kind of impossible shade painters spend lifetimes trying to recreate. They reminded me of pressed flowers forgotten inside old books.

Beautiful.

Ancient.

Dangerous.

She looked like Snow White had wandered into a cemetery and decided she preferred the company there.

Eerie.

Regal.

Completely unafraid.

The ravens didn't fear her. Which, in my experience, was usually an excellent character reference.

She smiled, warmly.

Too warm.

The sort of smile that somehow made you feel simultaneously welcomed...and evaluated. As though she'd already counted every bone in your body and decided exactly where each one belonged.

"Seraphina?" she asked.

Her voice was smooth and melodic, carrying through the fountain's rushing water like velvet pulled across broken glass.

"Persephone?"

She tilted her head, studying me openly before one corner of her mouth curved higher.

"You're considerably less homicidal than your forum post suggested."

I laughed.

"I left my bleach at home," I admitted. "Thought I'd try blending into civilized society for the afternoon."

"Excellent decision."

Her smile widened until even the ravens seemed amused.

"I brought enough raw meat for them."

She gestured between us.

"But not nearly enough bleach for two."

"I can always stop by a supermarket."

"See?" she said with complete sincerity.