No matter how the wind howls

Making her way through the tangled vegetation, Lurid moved with silent paws across the mossy forest floor. The rare sunlight could barely peek through the thick forest canopy, but the slight rays that did filter through shifted and moved as if alive, dappling the ground and making a dazzling show of light. The reason for the show was a blustering wind that made the trees sway so strongly that their trunks creaked and groaned as if they spoke to each other. Every now and then a branch would crack up above her. The pale goddess kept an eye out for falling branches or limbs, but the wind even reached the floor of the thick forest so her focus was split. What she could see of the sky promised rain, though she was growing used to that here in the Soulless Forest. She rather liked it here, the misty environment allowed her to move nearly undetected, and the plentiful moss helped cushion her already silent paw falls. Her cough had cleared up with the bitter, earthy medicines that Requiem had given her, and there was a spring in her step that had not been there since her return. She felt good today!

She wasn't sure what to do with the energy she had found, and with Requiem out helping her look for her siblings, Lurid took the time to wander their new home. Little did she know she was being watched. Stalking the pale golden goddess was a massive brute, darkly pelted with bright, leaf-green eyes. His paws were silent on the mosses as well, and Lurid was none the wiser about her stalker. Taking in the vines between blinks of her eyes, the winds constantly shifted, causing small tornadoes of debris to pop up. Lurid's gold, silver, and quartz pelt didn't help her at all in the relative darkness of the forest. She stood out like a beacon in a storm, the male didn't have to work hard to stay hidden. Like a shadow he followed her, hunting her. The winds shifted once more and brought his smell to her delicate, sensitive nose. The devil paused in her walk, standing stock still as soon as the unfamiliar scent hit her. A growl escaped dual vocals, and she slowly turned so that she could peer behind her. Only wind greeted her face, carrying that delectable scent to her hungry nostrils. He smelled like fir trees and cinnamon, and her mouth watered. She bet he tasted like heaven.

Little did the male know he was hunting a hunter. Once Lurid got the scent of him it was over, the dark male continued to stalk her, unwilling to give up any victim. Lurid let him follow her until she got to a clearing, the wind sweeping up leaves and sticks as she walked through. Coming to a stop in the center of the clearing, Lurid looked around behind her, watching the trees through the wind. Squinting her holographic eyes against the debris that was kicked up by those blustering breezes, Lurid growled again. She was not afraid, she was angry. How dare someone follow her without making themselves known? That only meant one thing in her world. She was dealing with a predator, one in her own class of predators. A monster. One she could possibly recruit to her cause. He had no plans of that, his only thoughts were rape and murder, the Night Mother was an attractive victim for sure. The male shifted ever so slightly, but Lurid's keen eyes managed to catch the movement. Pinning her eyes on him the Blodreina snarled again, wind kicking up dirt into her face. Unbidden her paw came up to her face and that was the moment the dark brute chose to attack.

He came out of the underbrush as though he was on fire, leaving little time to react. Tackling her full force from the front, the dark male knocked the pale goddess off her paws and down onto the hard ground beneath them. The air left her lungs on a maddened growl and as he sought to grasp her neck in his powerful jaws, Lurid twisted herself beneath him and sunk her teeth into the side of his face. The male howled out with enraged pain, bringing a paw up to pry her off of his face, but Lurid refused to release him. The wind kicked up once again, this time enveloping the pair of struggling monsters in a miniature tornado. The brute wrestled himself out of Lurid's teeth, earning a nasty cut in the process, but he wasn't done just yet. Moving in again, the midnight black demon attacked the devil, this time aiming his fangs at her neck. His teeth found their purchase on the side of Lurid's neck where it met the shoulder, puncturing the skin and tearing it as he shook his head ferociously back and forth. The pain did nothing more than anger the devilish deity. Pushing the male off of her only encouraged him to try again. The wind blows harder, picking up dirt and bits of broken leaf litter and throwing it about. Inevitably, some ended up in her wounds, the wind and debris stinging and burning her cuts.

Lurid was beyond furious that the stranger had dared to attack her. Scrambling to her paws, Lurid heard one of the big branches above them crack loudly, the male hearing it too. With a wicked smirk, Lurid moved fast as lightning. She aimed to push him under the branch as it began to fall, the branch hitting the male and knocking him down with its weight. It crushed him, killing him slowly as it did so. He suffocated to death, but Lurid did not make it out unharmed. Limbs off the branch had cut her and scratched her up. The wind howled and pushed leaves and debris around, her now dirty cuts were going to make Requiem angry. She worried about the one on her neck the most, if it got infected she would never hear the end of it.