Twilight.
The sky has turned to scarlet, the full moon already having lifted into our sky. Clouds frame it like blood soaked cotton, stunning yet deadly all at once.
A witching hour.
A young male, not old or wise enough to be considered a man, but most certainly not a boy, stands in the middle of a country road, his dark hands clenched tightly to his sides. The wind whips his head so until a few curly strands escape from his black cloak. The billowing fabric seems to engulf him, like the sea at night.
"Katrik."
He walks foward, his eyes trained on the source of the voice. It is a girl, brunette and young, her life far too short. She smiles, dazzling him for a sharp second, his eyes caught up in the sight of her striking violet.
"Why have you called me here?" He questioned. The girl simply continued to smile wordlessly, and stepped foward.
"How would you like to have everything your heart desires...?"
The question hung in the air, as Katrik took it in. The girl moved forward, pushing back his hood and resting her flawless face beside his. He felt the soft warmth of her breath as she spoke. "The respect of the Rakhashana. Your life of your own choosing, to be who you want. To love who you want."
Katrik felt his breath catch in his throat as he forced out an unsteady laugh. He moved away, only then noticing the girl's fingernails were digging into his arm. "You should be dead."
"Should be dead?" Pippa's laugh came out cold, hard. "I've acheived something better than death," She moved forward once again, this time softly kissing his neck. Her words were only murmers, but Katrik felt her lips move and understood. "It could be yours as well..."
It took everything in him to push her away, the lust pulsing in his bones, the want stronger than anything he'd ever felt.
Pippa's lips curled into a mocking laugh. "You'd choose her over me?" She asked. Katrik simply nodded, still trying to catch his breath. The girl's eyes blazed, brighter and more feirce than ever.
"You could have me!" She roared. "You could have the glory of Circe, yet you choose that pathetic little..." Pippa trailed off, her voice tinged harshly with disbelief and something close to regret. "You're more worthless than her."
With that, she swept around, her cloak wrapping around her. She smiled again, more dazzling and dangerous.
"You've made your choice."
The girl's voice was not her own, another more ominous sound filled her from the other side. From the realms. He let out a slight shudder, only then realizing he was sweating. Before he could realize what was happening, the boy was pressed against a tree, a glinting hilt pointed daringly at his neck. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."
"Pippa!" The girl froze, nearly dropping the sword, and giving Katrik his one and only chance. In one swift move, he swept his foot back and hit the girl behind the knees. She crumpled, hand's spayed before her, and his split second chance was gone, as another woman, the source of the voice, had him pinned once again.
"Did you miss me, Katrik?"
Her voice was honey, the sweetest honey the boy had ever heard. His hand instantly reached out, landing on the smoothness of her exposed collarbone. A shock coursed through him, causing his body to shake violently, and realize that he'd been taken under a spell. He shook his head to clear it, whipping the hand from her chest and slapping her hard across the face.
A smirk pressed to her lips. "You've got a lot of spirit. That's what I like about you. That's why I want to reward you," She slowly dragged a fingernail down his cheek, and he let out a shudder. "Here's what you're going to do, Katrik. You're going to deliver a message."
"I am no servant of Circe," He whispered feircely. Sarah Reece-Toome, Miss Moore, Circe, every name she'd called herself but all one destructive soul, threw her head back and laughed.
"Tell Miss Doyle we're back. And we're watching," the woman said, pushing her dagger further into the base of her neck as his eyes blazed with fury. Anymore pressure and he'd be dead. "She is in grave danger, but do not try to save her. A weak boy not even worthy of the Rakashana's pathetic ranks..."
Katrik leaned forward and spat in her face at the same time as Pippa touched his head. The boy crumpled to the ground, he would awake once they were long gone, to give me a message deadly, frightening...
And expected.
The trouble with it all was, I was already watching.