Not even a split second passed for the Hunter to react. The demon's large eye blinking open and ravenously like an echo vibrating against the walls of her hatred. Its many arms spreading like wings, as one grasped around the dripping raven hair. In that single instance, the Hunter rose her crossbow arm and shot on sight at the bane of her existence that is Evelynn. ''Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?!''
The shot came fast and sudden. Evelynn spun to the side, bending her body in a way a human body should not be able to bend. The bolt rushed past her, the silver encased in seething hot fire, powered by bloodthirst and hatred. It crashed into a line of trees, searing aspen wood and making the grass smoke. Evelynn's yellow eyes flashed in recognition, and a giddy excitement rushed through her body.
My, my... Someone's pain has been marinating for quite a while.
The Demon of Agony stalked out of the dark. As she left the protection of the undergrowth, her shadowy body adjusted and shifted. Evelynn turned into a slender yet voluptuous woman with pale purple skin. Her head was adorned with a tuft of snow-white hair, in which nestled a restless, bright magenta fire. Her hands and even her feet were adorned with claws; however, the ones on her hands were more elaborate, longer and sharper, designed to rip, slash and tear flesh from bones. The ones on her feet, which were strangely raised like she was moving on her toes as opposed to a flat foot, were short and pointy, a bit more sturdy to allow her traction on the ground and the ability to climb on trees. One of her preferred feeding spots. Her lashers swayed behind her like a pair of dual serpents with sharp-bladed edges. They were raised high, and dark pink glowing magic licked at their tips.
She was not coated in the blood of Shauna Vayne's parents, yet her body plan and posture were exactly like she had been that fateful night so many years ago. Even her smile was the exact same: Sweet, gentle, almost empathetic, yet in horrifying contrast to the satiated glimmer in her eyes and the bliss on her face. Evelynn briefly inspected the lesser demon towering behind Shauna, their clawed hand deep in her jet-black hair. Her yellow eyes narrowed, and a low, silent hiss escaped her mouth. That girl was her meal. Not something to be stolen by some lesser brute.
Yet Evelynn refused to engage the other one. That nameless demon would quickly learn that even with Shauna's weapons at its disposal, the Demon of Agony was not so easy to kill. In fact, Evelynn would take great pleasure in disembowelling it for its insolence. However, she had to wonder: Did Shauna know that a monster was sitting in her back and feasting on all that pain? How would she react if she ever found out? Something worth investigating for later, no doubt. For now, it would be best to remind the seasoned hunter how much she was still nothing but a little girl.
"You want me to guess?", Evelynn crooned with a sanguine tone in her voice. "Ever since Mama and Papa bled out on the marble floors of the dining room? How long ago was that? Ten years? Maybe more?" She chuckled and stepped closer. Evelynn placed a clawed hand right on top of that wrist-mounted crossbow. Her talons could feel the rapid beating of Shauna's pulse. The demon leaned forward and whispered: "Are you aware of how easy I went on your parents? Sure, there was a lot of blood and viscera, but those flesh wounds and that flailed chest or disembowelled gut were nothing."
"But you know that already, don't you, little girl?" Her clawed hand caressed Shauna's jawline and tipped her head upward, making their eyes meet. One of her claws pricked against the soft skin, denting it. "You've been chasing me for quite a while now, haven't you? How many dead did you pull from the trees? Spikes through their chests, necks and mouths? How many did you find with incisions in their shoulders, the ground and leaves thrown up in a desperate sign of struggle? How many times did you find bigger prey than a mere man and woman?"
Evelynn grabbed Shauna by her throat, pressed her whole body against her and sunk her teeth into her earlobe. Licking across the wound, she taunted: "And you think you will be the one to put an end to my terrors. How pitifully underprepared are you, my little girl?"
@dark-reckoning cont. from here.