Gwendoline

Prologue

A sharp-nailed hand swiftly plunged into the woman's neck, removing both her life and her fear. What was once a skinned neck was now a large bloody hole begging to be healed.

She held the lifeless body by the shoulders and started to lick the oozing blood, then dived deep in the wound to satiate her hunger. She removed a piece of muscle and chewed on it like steak, staining her lips and teeth with red. Before she knew it, she managed to reach the bone.

She grabbed the bone and snapped it, making the woman's head fall to the ground. She looked at the snapped piece resting in the palm of her hand, opened her mouth, and ate it. In the castle that permanently basked in the darkness, the crunching sound of bones was what disturbed the silence now. She grabbed another piece and kept eating it, prolonging the sound. Her lips were curved in a smile, she truly found fun in eating anything of her liking.

Time passed and all that was left of the woman were her clothes and hair-infested scalp. While staring at both remains, the woman stood up and snapped her fingers, immediately making a bat fly and perch upside down on her index. She shifted her focus onto the animal and flattered its wings with her fingers, feeling its skin against hers. She then brought it to her face and smiled at it.

"My dear friend, take this to the city of London," she instructed with a soft-spoken tone. "Show them that I've found her delicious."

She watched as the bat squealed and flew to grab the scalp while another had a hold of the clothes. The two started to fly towards their destination and she did nothing more but to wave goodbye at them and watch the blood drip on their way out, creating a pathway.

━━━━━━ ♱ ━━━━━━

"MADDY! SHE ATE MADDY!"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!"

"OH MY GOD, MADDY!"

Cries from all kinds of voices were heard the second the bats dropped the remains. No one cared to watch them fly back to the castle. The people took their time and watched the horrified sight of dried scalp and a bloodied dress.

A man and a child ran to see what the bats have dropped. Both their faces turned pale after recognizing each item and tears flooded their faces without warning.

"MADDY! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER! MADDY!"

The little girl heard her father cry and couldn't do anything else but cry with him.

"Mommy..."

Her father rushed to side and immediately pulled her into an embrace, trying his best to whisper words of reassurance. However, his voice was overtaken by sadness, not something that a little girl should hear in times of grief. Instead, they both cried in each other's arms while not bothering to look at the people who gave them glances of pity.