Trees spiralled and twisted upwards at odd angles, the faint light of the sun illuminating sections of the leaves as they hung both proud and vulnerable from the branches, some parts sparkling, other parts staying locked away in the darkness that consumed them.
Brown arteries buried themselves deep into the ground, and veins tangled themselves at the base, controlling its body, the jagged ends jutting out at odd angles to reach the water that they so desperately craved.
Light flickered through the thick canopy of leaves, leaving a broken, honey-like texture to the forest floor as the light grew stronger.
Bird-song fluttered its way around the surroundings, the beautifully pitched noise sinking its way over her body, washing out that pain... all that anguish...
But the memories stayed locked inside.
Bitterly, she inhaled the scent of the early morning, identifying honeysuckle and evergreen (and then the lingering smell of hatred and despair).
Swinging her legs over the edge of the highest turret of the castle, she saw the wind pick up ever so slightly, the leaves rippling and fluttering gently as the gentle breeze struggled to tear them from their vulnerable stance. She felt a foreign warmth rush up and over her, a faint trace of cold air brushing its way stubbornly through her.
A single vine of ivy wound its way around the bark of an ancient tree, as if strangling it where it stood, the tip of the vine striking upwards, almost like in a journey to clasp its next victim and squeeze the life out of it.
Exactly the feeling she fought to repress.
She hissed as the prevailing sunlight washed over her, herself frantically retreating from the edge, back into cover of the shadows. She rubbed the scorch mark on her shoulder harshly.
It was almost as if warmth trickled and ghosted over a thin barrier that coated her body. A faint trace of heat seemingly burned a hole, and a sense of longing coursed through her in a series of sharp stabs.
She cowered in the shadows, groaning at the familiar ache that thrummed through her veins. She couldn't even sleep it off anymore.
***
The ache continued to persist until shed sunk her throbbing fangs in the neck of a golden fawn, the desire becoming far too strong for her to resist as the shadows began to grow.
The moon had risen high in the sky, hidden behind banks of fog and cloud that seemingly retreated, but the light still tore violently through, although the colour was muted.
Moonlight hit the forest floor like a silver beam, illuminating the innocent life that lay mapped out before the looming castle.
Trees shot out of the ground like spires, the jagged tops cutting through the pulsing silver beam like a knife, tearing it apart into sectors which to all appeared as volute, meshing with each strand as it painted life over the darkness surrounding the castle.
Her eyes flashed a dangerous red, simultaneously she fled into the shadows, becoming one with the figures that endlessly danced and morphed together. The sweltering coldness kept the black figures moving, never staying in one form for longer than a few seconds. They grew taller and taller... the movements becoming more panicked.
Until they diminished completely, leaving an odd stillness in the eerie darkness.
***
The castle turrets manipulated the moonlight like how a knife would shred and slash anything in its path.
No lights inside.
No windows open.
No movement.
Just a black mass in the consuming darkness.
Echoing screams ricochet in the surroundings, the noise somewhat flattened by the howls that tore through the stillness. Every night, a pair of red eyes floated from the top of the highest tower as soon as darkness fell.
