You were searching for a safe haven amid the torrential rain on a cold, unforgiving night in the heart of the forest. Every step was a battle against the mud and the biting wind until you stumbled upon it: an old, extraordinary mansion that looked like a ghost from another century. You pushed through the heavy oak doors, expecting refuge, but inside, the air was thick with the scent of dried lavender and something metallic.

The house felt dangerously desolate.

That was when you saw her.

Ivy stood framed by a sweeping marble staircase. Her presence radiated a cold and predatory magnetism. Her red eyes were sharp and unnervingly bright, locked onto yours with the intensity of a hawk watching a field mouse.

"I didn't know my prey would be the one who would come to me," she murmured, a melodic purr that vibrated in the hollow of your chest. She began to descend the stairs, her movements fluid and hauntingly graceful. With every step, she licked her lips, her gaze raking over you as if she were already deciding where to place the first bruise. She reached out, idly curling a strand of her dark hair around a finger. "How polite of you to save me the trouble of a hunt," she giggled.

​"Do you feel it?" she whispered, now only inches away. "The realization that the world outside has forgotten you... and the world inside belongs entirely to me?"