Delicate Bones

 Zeya awoke to find herself completely alone in the house. It was already late in the afternoon with the warm sunlight spilling into the living room through the windows. It had been a while since she felt this refreshed, her mind and body feeling incredibly after who knows how long she's been out for. Nox must've followed after Varen just like she told it to, noticing that there were no signs of any shadow in the entire room.

 She noticed the note Varen left on the dinner table while she was absent-mindedly walking around the house. She had just picked it up to read it when there was a loud knock on the door. She waited a few seconds, hoping that it was Varen or even Nox that was behind the door, but it wasn't.

 "Madam Evelyn?" A familiar, nasally voice erupted from the door, taking Zeya by surprise.

=================

 "Wake up." A familiar, monotonous voice catch Varen's attention, bringing him back to the current predicament he was in.

 "... Ugh." He groaned in pain as soon as he came to his senses. His entire body felt weighed down, immobilizing him while a numb and tense buzzing persisted inside his head. Something red glowed everything he looked but his eyesight was too blurred to distinguish what it was.

 "The flowers are starting to take its effects on you." Nox stated the obvious, but Varen couldn't focus on the shadow's words.

 "Where are we?" He managed to ask, still having difficulty seeing.

 "Inside a storage room somewhere in the farm." It replied, watching Varen struggle to bring himself together. "We must get out, otherwise-"

 "No, I will be alright." He tried to sound stable, but it was clear that he was far from it. "The men... did you manage to figure out where they went?"

 "They went into another room inside the building, but you passed out before we could go in."

It was true that Varen was a healer renowned for his abilities, but magic always had a way to keep the almighty beings somewhat vulnerable. 

 "Can you do me a favor, Nox?" Varen asked, his gaze now focused on the large, blurry darkness that was the shadow creature. Nox remained quiet, waiting for Varen to continue speaking.

 "I need you to hurt me a little." He said with a groan, adjusting himself so that he was propped up against the wall so that he was in a seated position. "Just enough so that I'm almost on the brink of death-"

 Without a second left to finish his sentence, long and sharp spikes spurted from Nox's body before penetrating through Varen's entire body. Blood spurted everywhere as Nox retracted the spikes from him, watching blankly as the Kaxarene's limp body fell back to the ground.

=================

 ".... Mr. Phantom." Zeya blurted his name after she finally opened the door.

 "Madam, I hope you're having a spectacular day." The human smiled as he grabbed her hand to kiss it, much to Zeya's dismay however she decided to say nothing about it.

 'Great, another pesky human to entertain.'  She thought, trying her hardest not to frown.

 "May I ask what exactly brings you here?" Zeya cut straight to the chase, a grimace forming as she attempted to smile. "I must say, this visit was rather unexpected-"

 "Why yes, well Sir Gabriel asked me if I could "

 'Gabriel?' She thought before realizing that it was Varen's fake name that he was using in this operation. 

 "And why couldn't my... husband come get me himself?" She almost choked out the term 'husband', but somehow managed to finish her sentence.

 "Why, that I have no clue, madam." He admitted regrettably, his shoulders slumped down dramatically with his words. "He just left abruptly saying that something unexpected had come up and that he will be back in a few hours."

 "And he asked you to come find me in the process?" She questioned, clearly still suspicious but who was she to question it? 

 'I can just kill him if he tries anything funny.' She thought as she took a deep sigh, seemingly accepting her fate.

 "Please wait here while I get ready, Mr. Phantom." She said strictly, eyeing the human with distaste.

 "Would it be alright if I came inside, madam?" He asked politely, using his leg to prevent Zeya from closing the door at his face.

 "No." Zeya rejected before she stepped on his feet, violently slamming the door at his face.

=================

 "... Why are we here?" Zeya asked the human as Phantom said down at one of the tables in a diner, seemingly getting ready for a meal.

 "My apologies, but I haven't eaten anything the entire day and I'm starving." He held onto his stomach with a pitiful expression, but Zeya remained unmoved.

 "And how is that my problem?" She asked, starting to get annoyed by his behavior. 

 "Come on, madam." The human persuaded as he pointed to a vacant seat next to him. "This place serves wonderful food, I'm sure it'll be up to your expensive palate."

 It was the same diner Varen had dragged her into on the first day they got here, the entire restaurant was brimming with chatty customers enjoying their dinner with their loved ones after a long day of working. Unbeknownst to her however, this was going to go on for hours as the human would drag her to pointless places doing absolutely everything but intended business.

 "Enough with all this bullshit!" She burst in anger, finally having enough of the human's ceaseless talking and unnecessary trips to random places around the village. "We have been mindlessly walking around this entire goddamned village for hours!"

 "Where is my husband?" She questioned loudly, her anger starting to get the best of her patience. They were in a middle of a forest now because Phantom insisted that this was indeed the way to where Varen was, but she knew that he was lying. 

 "I know that bastard is not human!" He blurted out of the blue, his face turning red. "He's a fucking Kaxarene, isn't he?"

 'Shit.' She thought, but still managed to keep her cool.

 "I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Phantom." She tried to calm him down. "How in the world did you get to that conclusion?"

 "Don't lie to me." He shook his head in denial, stepping closer. "I've seen his eyes turn a demonic red, a human can't do that."

 "You're his human hostage, aren't you?" He took Zeya's hand in his before kissing them compassionately. "That bastard must've forced you to marry him because of how loaded he is, right? Hell, I would too if I saw a human as beautiful as you."

 "Don't worry Evelyn, I'll save you from him. Just follow me over to my place and I promise I'll show you a great time-"

 "How dare a filthy human like you lay your hands on me." She slapped the human across the face so hard that he started to bleed from his left ear. 

 Something similar to disgust stirred at the pit of her stomach, and it was starting to take control of her. She watched as Phantom's lustful gaze quickly turn to one of pure horror.

 "W-what?" He stammered as he fell to the ground. "What are you?"

 'Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.' 

 The voices in her head kept repeating the same orders to her. The metallic smell of his blood was so enticing especially when he seemed so helpless and alone right in front of her.

 'Devour him.'

 "You're lucky to have me end your fate instead of Varen." She said with a smile, her golden eyes glowing menacingly in the darkness of the forest. The poor human was terrified, the wet pool of mess that erupted from his pants being the clearest sign of that fact. "That Kaxarene would've tortured you alive until you died from the injuries inflicted to you."

 Something inside Zeya had shifted the moment she caught the scent of his blood. She was under a trance now, unable to stop whatever she was about to do until she was satisfied.

 "W-what are you going to do to me?" He stammered as he tried to drag himself away, but it was no use. He tried to stand up but would only fall back down as the fear engulfed him whole, making his feet tremble violently as a result. "Get-Get away from me!"

 "This won't hurt too much." She said as she grabbed him by his hair, lifting his face up to the sky. "But if you keep struggling like that... I might change my mind and make it hurt."

 "Please, please spare me, madam." He pleaded repeatedly, but his words were practically pointless at this stage. "Please, I'm sorry for doing all this. I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

 His pleading screams ended abruptly as she snapped his neck with one fluid motion, his body falling lifeless onto the ground.

 One thing that was the most notable about a Roseabelle's feeding habits were how little they wasted when they fed, a trait that differentiated the species from other primal creatures that called Stygia their home too.

 Only the wet sounds flesh being torn apart and eaten were heard throughout the woods as the other inhabitants remained silent, fearing that even a breath too loud would divert her attention to them instead of her meal.