Prologue of Devil Woman

The leaves disintegrated under the heel of black snake skin boots, leaving a trail of burning footprints in their wake. The prints only went back so far as if the boots that made them, and the woman who wore them, came from thin air. The sweet smell of wet decaying leaves contrasted sharply with the smell of char she left behind without a second thought.

Stopping just above the heel of the boots were black leather pants stitched with fine red detailing closely resembling the elegant curves and wisps of dancing flame. With each fall of her foot the stitches seemed to crawl up her leg as though they were made from real fire. The perfect straight cut of her pants accentuated the length of her own tall figure, making her appear well past six feet in height. She wore a black leather jacket with the same flames at the cuff. She stalked through the forest, engulfed in the fire that lived within her clothes.

From her sleeves hung a long fringe accentuating the length of her own sleek, black hair that fell from a dark flat-brim hat that looked like it was fashioned from the dead of night itself. Her hair almost seemed to shimmer as the wind from her long strides pushed past it. The wide brim of her hat sat low on her face, obscuring her face, but the blood red color of her smirking lips was in full view, peeking out from below.

With every step she took, you’d have half expected to hear the soft clink of a shining silver spur. That is, if anyone were there to hear it. She was utterly alone in those autumn woods. As she moved through the trees, gliding like an ephemeral spirit amongst them, not even a breeze was present. It was as if the entire forest held its breath, fully aware of the intentions of the hungry beast prowling through its roots. If you were to gaze upon her hidden face you would have immediately understood that the forest was empty because she willed it to be. The only noise was the sizzling of the wet leaves beneath her sole. Whatever leaves remained on the dormant trees overhead stood still, and if there was a creature with strong enough willpower to stay in her path, they knew better than to draw her attention.

She had her hands tucked lazily within her pockets as she walked, unbothered by any risk of being seen. As she stopped at the cliff’s edge in front of her, the smell of char became overwhelming. She had her sights set on the small college town of Deer Valley that sat near the cliff below.

Pulling her hands from her pockets, she shrugged the jacket off her shoulders, letting it slide down her arms revealing a dark red halter top that shined and loved like fresh blood. On one arm she had markings that cracked and glimmered like hot coals. Wild red and black flames consumed her back and melted into her hair to where you could no longer see where the fine strands ended and the fire began. She stood still, glaring at the town below, barely aware of the fire as if it was part of her. She caught her jacket in one hand as the collar reached her wrists and the flames grew quickly down into a massive trail on the forest floor behind her. They morphed and molded themselves into what looked like wings, each easily as long as the trees were tall, lying across the ground.

A large black snake that shimmered like the sky on the darkest night crawled up her back, seemingly born from the fire, and moved itself over her shoulder, wrapping around her arm all the way down to her hand. She caressed its head softly, bringing it up to meet her gaze. Her painted nails closely resembled the scales of her pet. She ran her thumb down the side of its face and it pushed back against her affectionately. It turned its head to meet her gaze, its bright gold eye flashing in the warm glow of her fire. What now?

Curling her deep red lips into a devilish grin, she lifted the fiery wings from the ground with a gust of wind that blew out the flames leaving behind two sets of prodigious black wings which had the soft living pulse of embers and whose feathers shined and shimmered like freshly charred wood. Wrapping her snake around her neck, she stretched out her wings and with one strong pulse, and a flurry of smoke and burning leaves, she was gone.