Beneath the pines

The bobcat’s remnants clung to her fur, thick and metallic, seeping into her very skin as though binding her to the scene. She drifted closer to Sephiran, irresistibly pulled to his presence, a force neither warm nor paternal, but something far darker and dangerously magnetic. A kinship, perhaps—though she felt no tenderness in it, nothing that tasted of sweetness.

Her eyes flashed at the recognition in his gaze, knowing she had earned his approval, maybe even surpassed his expectations. A tremor of exhilaration surged through her as she felt his predatory eyes roam over the carnage, lingering on each blood-slicked detail with a hunger that reflected her own. She stayed still, every nerve alert, as his tongue swept across her gore-streaked face, leaving a faint trail that felt more like a mark of triumph than anything repulsive. She took it as a reward, an acknowledgment of her worth.

Her lilac eyes glistened wide and feverish, burning with the sinister thrill of her dark baptism beneath his intense, serpentine gaze. “Thank you, Sultan,” she murmured, her voice slipping into a sickly-sweet lilt. “For showing me how to push beyond my limits… to see something far more…. worthwhile.” The excitement crackled through her words, raw and unhinged, as she savored every flicker of his delight. A twisted hunger clawed at her insides, craving his approval, desperate to see him bask in the glory of her savagery, to see him revel in the monster he had helped unleash.

He was like her. No... No. She was like him.

Ravana felt a creeping awareness settle within her, sharper than ever, marking the stark line between her and her siblings—not in the way of blood or the violence they all shared but in the twisted nature of her mind. The thoughts that thrilled her, the things she craved—these were hers alone. Her heart still hammered, not from the fight but from the pure, consuming satisfaction that lay in the ruin at her feet. She stared down at the mangled remains, and a quiet, unsettling truth surfaced: this was fun. Not just thrilling, but deeply, achingly satisfying, in a way that felt... natural. Yes. This was her.

"Ravana Seraphim Saxe"