*~1986~*
The night air had grown jagged and thin, a cold warning that Katria had ignored for hours. She remained huddled on the stone pavement, her resolve the only thing keeping her from retreating into the overwhelming silence of the mansion. She needed answers. She needed the familiar faces of her mother and her friends to ground her before this place swallowed her whole.
When the figure materialized from the shadows, her heart leaped. The mask, the height, the presence—she was sure her husband had finally returned.
"Good evening," she stuttered, dusting off her gown as she scrambled to her feet.
The man didn't move like her husband. He didn't speak like him, either. When he tilted his head, the movement was too fluid, too predatory.
"Why do you want to see me, sister-in-law?"
The voice was thicker, laced with an unsettling, smooth confidence. Katria's breath hitched. She backed away until the heavy oak of the mansion doors bit into her spine. "Who are you?"
