Baby, have you seen, there is a snake in our paradise A serpent that's wriggling between us and freezing our feelings to ice And with each drop of blood we bleed because of this something so precious dies and it feels it really is
-Sentenced, Killing Me Killing You-
"You dirty, cowardly bastard! How dare you destroy that poor girl's life with your flaccid sex! You will pay for your crimes with your life!" Katrina screamed as she brought her fist down onto the man's face again, and again, and again. At the eighth punch she heard the distinct
crack
of the man's cranium. As the man, now a corpse, convulsed post-mortem, she climbed off of him and got up, straightening her black dress, hands seductively running down her corset. The poor young lady still sat huddled in the corner. Katrina looked at her through the black veil that was attached to her hat. The lass looked at her saviour with eyes as wide as saucers, her bottom lip trembling. Katrina took a step forward and sighed tiredly as the girl screamed a raspy screech that must have pained her lungs. Katrina was at the girl's side in the blink of an eye, clamped down on her neck with sharp teeth, rending the recently deflowered flesh apart. The godhead hit her palate, but she was not lost in reverie. She really did not want to kill the poor thing, but she could not stand screamers anymore.
The girl hung lifelessly in her arms, and Katrina dabbed at her mouth with her smock before throwing her onto the cobbled stones. She walked toward the street, where underneath one of those damnable new electric lights her auburn-haired companion waited for her. The light made his mane glow in the night, contrasting sharply with his smooth, pale face. He looked at Katrina blankly, shoulders hunched.
"Done and dealt with, then?" he asked glumly. Without waiting for an answer he thrust his hands in the pockets of his grey greatcoat and walked the long way home. Katrina shook her head, a look of designation in her eyes. She did not even bother to catch up with him, she walked a polite distance behind him. Too many nights had passed in this fashion. After the catastrophe in Messalina's lair Edmund had changed. He often wanted to hunt alone. They no longer talked for hours on end, like they had done before. Even their lovemaking had grown...formal. Katrina thought he was acting like a bawling child, yet could not quite place where his general
ennui
came from. Perhaps it was because she had killed Messalina. Which would be preposterous because he had known that there was a slim chance of resolving their conflict without violence. But how would she feel if somebody would kill Edmund?
They would be greeting the sunrise, hanging from a tree from their own entrails
.
Katrina fell behind further as they walked into more familiar territory. Their hunting grounds were further away from their home nowadays. Their hunting had grown sloppier. Well, hers anyway. But people angered her so much more. So many filthy creatures, living solely to prey upon others, to cause them harm wilfully. If she could do anything to alleviate London's constabulary, then she would do so as she deemed it right. People turned their heads to look at her, and all Katrina could do was smile.
Because they are afraid
. And the cowering people did part for her like the Red Sea. After Edmund had vanished through the door of their home up ahead, Katrina walked a bit faster and went inside as well.
Their house had been redecorated after Edmund's last fit of rage. New colonial furniture, with that lustrous dark gleam to its wood, was carefully placed in the drawing room, making it look as welcoming and exotic as ever. Some of Edmund's drawings were framed and hung on the deep-red walls. There were three pieces of the same place: the look from their front door. All three of them were drawn at different times; the second without Murray, the bum who always hung around on the pavement until he was scared off, years were between the three pieces. But the most beautiful of them all hung in the centre of the wall, above the ornate white sofa. It was a portrait of Katrina and her Edmund. It featured only their faces; alabaster, both framed by lustrous hair and with sparkling eyes. Katrina's playful eyes were glancing sideways to her lover; as if her portrait-self could come to life any moment now to plant a kiss upon his face. It felt as if Katrina's heart sank down to her feet. This man, this horrendously beautiful creature had saved her life and had brought her beyond it. Everything she now was,
not everything
, she owed to him, to Edmund. She only hoped she could still set things right. To be left alone, with no one there to talk to...she did not want to think about the consequences that might have. And that was exactly what she was going to tell him now.