Present Day

2014...

Skin as delicate and as soft to touch as it looked, Evangeline Amour wrapped her skeletal fingers around the mans throat, gripping hold of his skin as she pushed his broad physique against the cold bark behind him. The forest enclosing them in, trapping any sound they made from reaching the town’s ears. 

A hiss escaped her. The man groans under his breath from both pleasure and a growing ache in his throat where her fingers dug too deep. A warm sensation tickled his skin and when he looked up to meet her icy glare he noted blood on her lips, her smile looked more enticing as she neared him. He watched in awe as her tongue carefully brushed across her bottom lip, lapping up the blood as her gaze fixed on him; scarcely aware of her fingers brushing along his chest; her nails digging in. 

Taking hold of his hand she pulled him quickly into the enclosure ahead, a blackened cave that seemed to swallow them whole, enveloping them in a darkness so cold the man found himself shivering. 

“You truly are beautiful,” the mans voice echoed, a flutter of wings coming from deeper within. Evangeline glanced momentarily over her shoulder, the side of her mouth lifting as she pulled him further in. He followed willingly, allowing her to push him forcefully against the hard stone wall, patches of damp seeping through his thin shirt. Evangeline pressed herself against his chest, reaching up and biting his lip as she kissed him. 

Carefully she traced the line of blood along his neck, moving it to her mouth where she sucked it pleasurably, relishing within the taste. The mans eyebrows frowned momentarily as he watched her, half with fear, revolt and a mixture of satisfaction. 

Her eyes snapped up at him, the piercing green seemingly bright against the surrounding darkness. One eyebrow rose and the man felt himself dropping his hands to his side, swallowing back excess saliva as he watched her. Her hands carefully took hold of his and pulled him away from the caverns wall. Slowly she turned him around, all the while keeping him facing her. 

“What are you d-” the man started to say; Evangeline’s finger pressing down on his mouth. She released his hand and smiled before a surge of wind thrashed her hair around her face.

“Fatiscit,” she spat in Latin and she pushed the man, watching as he stumbled backward, the ground crumbling beneath him. As he lost his footing he glanced at her, noting the slight movement of her eyes: her pupil sharpening to a slit, slicing the green in two. And then a deep scream erupted from his throat as he fell, the ground disappearing completely into a deep cavernous hole. 

Evangeline stepped to the edge and looked down; the man’s body lay unmoving, his back arched in a unnatural position, his leg coming up behind his head, a pool of blood forming around his broken form. She crouched and jumped, allowing herself to be swallowed by the cave, falling with ease through the cold air before landing silently by the man’s side. She straightened up and pressed her foot against the man’s chest: no movement. No breathe. No sound. 

She crouched over him and traced her fingers in his blood, brushing smears of it across her skin and clothes. Taking hold of the nearest rock and gripping it tightly she dragged the sharpened edge across her chest, watching as a line of blood seeped through the open wound. She hissed, biting back the dull ache as she tossed the rock aside, looking ahead of herself as she did so. 

What she saw did not surprise her, in fact, it was what she had been looking for all along. A burning torch lit up a crumbling corridor and she stepped toward it. The cavern grew colder as she moved further in, the torch behind her now, sending flickering shadows around her, causing the rock face to look all the more menacing as she carefully took each step. All around her there was complete silence, the whisper’s of the wind above slowly moving through the cave. And then she saw it. 

Directly ahead the air seemed to coil in on itself, swallowing itself before pushing back and pulling it in again once more. Fragments of rock and dirt pulled away from the cavern’s wall as the air moved slowly; a swirl of silver light flickering from within. A faint, distant sound of voices sounded from within and Evangeline smiled: she had found the portal. 

Not knowing where it would take her directly, she knew that she would have to more cautious about it. She knew no human would be able to cross the portal without obtaining some injuries - she looked down at her arm and winced. ‘Fractum,” she whispered in Latin, watching as the centre of her arm jutted out sharply toward her, the bone piercing the skin, her hand falling limp. She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. She would scream later. 

Taking a step forward the watched as the silver light seemed to slither out from the portal and wrap itself around her leg, moving up over her entire body like snakes. She smiled and stepped forward, falling into the light as she screamed.