The wallpaper faded gradually as he made his way down the dimly lit hallway, pitiful lamps casting a sickly orange glow over the corners where shadows hugged at the slightly crooked passage. Rising anxiety quickened his heart, pulling his stomach up into his throat, choking him on the most horrifying of all illogical sensations. he could faintly hear music from the thin walls and with every step up to her door his entire mind screamed at him to turn around, run away, leave this nonsense behind-but he knew that was no longer an option. Tentatively, he knocked on the greying door. He made out a hollow laugh as the door creaked open and smoke billowed out, so thick he could hardly see the crowd of people making racket, sprawled on the floor and couch with cigarettes in almost every mouth. She froze at the sight of him, but regained her composure before he could even take note.
She had eyeliner smeared everywhere, he could hardly make out the piercing green eyes, they seemed incredibly dark now-her hair was piled in a furious tangle, dark strands falling down. blue shadows were printed against the porcelain skin under layers of eyeshadow and mascara. as she pulled a drag of a cigarette deeply into her lungs and leaned against the doorway, any previous light vanished. The brightness that lit up the rooms she entered was gone, replaced with a dark shadow that clung to her like poisonous gas. as she stared him down with cold, judgemental eyes, there was not one shred of anything but the ice exterior.
misery, hollow freezing stress clenched his insides and did not release. she smirked and extended a naked leg, she was wearing nothing but a tattered tank top and underwear. he stopped the rushing noise in his ears from completely overwhelming him and took note of the irritation near her nostrils where she had been snorting god knows what, the redness of lips from dehydration due to prolonged drinking, shadows under her eyes indicating a lack of sleep for at least three days, weight loss from alcohol induced vomiting combined with severe food restriction-
"examining me?" the voice was cold and foreign, he hardly recognized it. a wicked smile tugged at her lips, it appeared she was eliciting some sick delight from the effect her sickly appearance had on him. "you really thought you knew me, didnt you? I told you so many times Sherlock Holmes, I am the harbinger of evil. I wish I could say I gave a fuck, but I dont."
It wasnt her, it wasnt her, it wasnt her-
"sera-I-I dont think you're well-"
a mirthless, cruel laugh made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. she pushed herself away from the door, walking languidly behind him, circling him. her face was impassive, mocking him with the simpering curvature of her lips. "oh, darling Sherlock Holmes, you are so very intelligent. yet you miss the glaring truth. run around calling yourself a 'sociopath', yet you care deeply for the people in your life, pretending to care for nothing but your work, putting up a theatrical charade just to entertain your whirring mind-yet it never occurred to you that I could-"at this she prodded a slender finger into his chest, leaning to whisper into his ear, but it wasn't the usual welcome warmth. He shivered and felt fear gather at the edge of his mind. "wreck you. Did it really never occur to you," she was speaking in a quiet hiss, her words slipping out like a poison laced needle that stung upon impact, "that you have been nothing more than a conquest? You were nothing more than a wall to break through, brick by brick, and now that I have done so," She leaned in and breathed in his ear, but it felt alien and made his shudder, her touch was clammy, this wasn't seraphina, but rather the demon trapped in her body, finally released to wreak havoc- "I am going to step over you and never look back."
he had known what was going to happen since she had disappeared, he made all the logical conclusion, but still when the words spilled out of her mouth and landed on his collarbone, there was a knife of absolute destruction that tore through the fortified walls of his mind, leaving a glaring hole that sucked up all the thoughts he had held at bay like a vacuum. he felt his knees weaken and nearly fell but grabbed onto the wall, biting his lip and refusing to look at the demon staring out through her eyes.
"this. isnt. you." he managed through gritted teeth. she sauntered back to the doorway, her hand on the knob.
"oh, but it is. please dont come back looking for the simpering maiden who took your virginity, you won't find her. She's been dead for five years, and I may have the devil on my side but I'm no necromancer." She gave a smile of conquest that did not reach the flint in her eyes.
"Seraphina-" he tried to keep the pain at bay, frantically patching up the wreckage she had blown into his mind and sewing his thoughts back together, but to little avail. she began to close the door and though he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, it couldn't stop the tears that fell onto his cold cheeks, tracing rivulets down the fair skin.
"Goodbye Sherlock Holmes."
the door slammed shut.