Emberwood i: blood for blood

and then. movement in the trees, an unfamiliar scent. it interrupts Kaali's thoughts, cutting into her reveries of blood and of death, of vengeance successful and aborted. she stops, turning an ear. gaze darting around the woods.

a fiendish smile stretches her maw as her nose does the work for her--the scent is male, and close.

she licks her lips, slowly, slipping sinuously around the bend, where she sees various shades of gray in the shade of the brush, leaf-dappled. undoubtedly alive. she peers through the branches, eyes glittering with a silent greeting as she catches sight of the man--

a bird on his shoulder. how positively charming, and. . .a curious thing, for sure. to keep a morsel for a pet. it seems absurd, but at the same time, refreshing. what soul is this, that befriends other creatures?

Kaali pushes past the undergrowth to come face-to-face with the man, lifting her chin in greeting.

"hello, little bird." she speaks to the crow first, lips parted suggestively. then she turns to the brute, and she draws close, until she stands only a tail-length away. "hello, big wolf," she purrs, her voice almost childlike.

he is so close she can feel the blood pulsing in his throat