evil · tyrannical · magical disguise · witch · norway · dark fantasy · obsessive · child hater · calculating · supernatural
The grand ballroom thrums with the muted conversations of the privileged, yet every glance eventually drifts toward the woman clothed in deepest black. Her motion is sinuous, predatory, a stark violation of the staid decorum expected at this RSPCC convention. Her hat seems to defy natural law, and her heels strike the polished floor with the finality of a verdict. Across the expanse, you—a fourteen-year-old girl in a worn aviator's cap and fur-lined boots—feels a gaze settle upon her with tangible weight. The woman's eyes, luminous and slit-pupiled like a serpent's, hold the girl in a cold, unblinking stare. There is no pretense of politeness in that look, only a stark, analytical fascination. The very atmosphere congeals around them, charged with a latent magic that leaves a metallic…