Genesis followed the swish of the lady's crimson train deeper into the mansion's labyrinthine halls.<
/em>
Her mocking laughter echoed all around, seeming to come from every shadow-cloaked recess. A taunting trail of breadcrumbs luring him onward into parts unknown.<
/em>
After several disorienting minutes of this exquisite game of cat-and-mouse, she finally paused before an arched wooden door. A single crimson-tipped finger called Genesis forward with a lurid curl.<
/em>
He hesitated only a moment before pushing through into the chamber beyond.<
/em>
The air inside struck his lungs like a fetid, noxious poison- heavy with the reek of sweat and smoke and something sweet that triggered a faint dizziness.<
/em>
As his vision adjusted to the dim light, Genesis' breath hitched.<
/em>
Four figures surrounded a crackling fireplace, each clothed head-to-toe in black suits that seemed to leach the light from the room. Their pale, corpselike complexion rendered their features obscenely sharp - almost monstrous in their severity.<
/em>
Yet it was their eyes that ensnared him most unnervingly. Bottomless black pools, entirely devoid of iris or sclera. Soulless and baleful.<
/em>
Demons? Dark citizens of infernal realms?<
/em>
The sound that finally shattered Genesis' dream was a serpentine chuckle from across the chamber.<
/em>
The fallen seraph stood from beside the fireplace's glow, the same mocking smirk twisting her exquisite features.<
/em>
Novel Bin 