pened

is hand on me, sneering like the bastard he

tongue lolled grote

ushed by an i

d across his skin, a pair of finger-shaped im

his own throat. Blood streaked his

slaughterhouse, dangling fro

n't s

oul

ust

s down, lungs burning, knees buckling,

d water. I staggered forward, arms

I hea

eam

see a group of girls poin

ixth

ssroom

s had sh

ke a grotesque gargoyl

ass ad

awed at the jagged frame, like he was t

n't ma

on, his body tilted

fe

it the ground be

kenin

e splas

... brai

ified. Two girls f

t stood there, trembli

is. He ki

wed me. Pr

red f

d against my e

e you c

g up-and found my f

ispered, voice hoarse from shock. "You've taken a life

ian mask gleaming like a death omen under t

write them. And for the rec

tly covered my eyes with his palm

you what a ghost

swallowed my vision. Then he pulled his hand away, and

when I

ough the sunlight-elegant, wrong, ot

a mouth painted red like blood. A voice slither

r Crimson Lord has far m

and stumb

t was th

else could see, adjusting spectral chains wrap

a ghost. That was so

yself acros

wasn't

I'd seen... something. Som

, mouth painted a grotesque red. When he smiled, his blood-colored lips curled

r who took my first ti

... then why wasn't he afr

Redd

t souls-judge, enforcer,

il of the Dead, the unseen realm where the l

at that entity with

en a s

ure dares to stare

c, locked myself in my room

know-wh

**

ght s

mmoned by the chime

d. Still... brutal in e

is voice suddenly flat and dangerous. "If another man

through the sharp pain, and fina

d. "If you're going to destroy me

eartbeat. Then ca

nd death. And yet... they raised

I whispered, tears pricki

a lamb for slaughter. How would I know tha

ons

go

was

word, because

sn't ev

ises, and humiliation wra

stilled fo

from my cheek and said quietly, "You are my blood-bou

l de

ave immediat

on Sigil Ring at my neck, the one

er pretty watching this glow over your chest... But n

d. "Don't make m

en found the ni

top the bloodstained altar beneath our family's an

ring. A bridal token. Left by a creature wh

y strung it around my neck with a thin cord of red silk-a f

ng to place it on my finger. But after his w

as perfect. Too perfect. Once it slid past the j

I knew it came from him.

glow faintly-its luster warm, like wine catching candlelight. Veins of brighter red shimmered beneath the

faded when I l