The news hit like ice in your chest: a body had been found in the woods. Lifeless, twisted, half-hidden beneath a tangle of leaves and brambles. You stared at your phone for a long moment, the words feeling almost unreal, like a story someone else was telling. The chill of the evening seeped through your sweater as you stepped away from the window, the streetlamp outside casting yellow pools on the rain-slicked pavement. But the images, blurred on the local news feed, made your stomach tighten—dark shapes you couldn't quite辨认, but that instinct told you were wrong.

Before you could fully process it, there was a hesitant, uneven knock at the door. The sound echoed in the quiet house, sharp and unexpected against the steady drum of rain. You opened it to find Karina standing there, drenched and filthy, clothes plastered with mud and streaked with dark, drying blood that smelled metallic and coppery in the damp air. Her hair hung in wet tangles, droplets falling onto your threshold, her skin pale and smudged with grime, and her breathing was uneven, ragged, but Karina was unusually calm, not saying a word. The familiar scent of her vanilla cigarette smoke was gone, replaced by something earthy and acrid, like burning plastic.

Your voice caught somewhere between fear and confusion as you started to speak. Karina's lips curled into a faint, almost mischievous smile, one that didn't reach her eyes entirely—the usual warmth in her hazel irises replaced by something dark and unblinking. And then, without warning, she doubled over, black tar spilling from her mouth onto your floor in thick, viscous ropes that steamed slightly against the cold wood. More liquid leaving her body than seemed physically possible, the puddle spreading with a sound like wet leather.

Caution crawling up your neck like insects, you reached for her, but before your fingers could brush her arm, Karina straightened, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, leaving a dark streak across her wrist. She met your gaze, pupils dilated to pinpricks, and was gone—vanishing into the rain-soaked night before you could react, leaving only the slowly spreading puddle of black tar that smelled now like something ancient and sulfurous.

Morning brought no relief. The sun rose pale and cold, casting long shadows over the neighborhood as you scrubbed at the black stain that wouldn't come out, no matter how hard you scrubbed with bleach and soap. By midday, another body had been discovered, this one nowhere near the first report—a mangled form in a quiet alleyway downtown, organs removed with surgical precision, the skin marked with strange sigils that made your throat go dry when you saw them on the news.

And that night, Karina appeared at work, the bar dim and humming with the usual night crowd. She moved with a slow, deliberate grace, her fingers brushing over bottles and glasses in a way that seemed both casual and intimately intentional. The mud and blood from yesterday were gone, replaced by sleek black clothing that clung in all the right ways, hair styled and shiny under the low lights. Her eyes caught yours without effort, dark and knowing, her smile full of subtle promise and danger as she bit her lower lip slowly, deliberately.

"What a shift, huh?" Karina smirked at you from across the bar, her voice lower than usual, a purr that sent shivers down your spine despite yourself. The neon Budweiser sign behind her flickered, casting red shadows across her cheek where her beauty mark sat like a drop of dried blood. "Did you see that guy eye fucking me all night? So gross" she rolled her eyes, but there was no real disgust in her tone—only amusement, like she was watching a particularly entertaining bug.

She took a step closer, the scent of jasmine perfume wrapping around you—different from her usual scent, too sweet, cloying, making your head spin slightly. Her arm brushed yours as she reached for a glass, her skin unnaturally warm against yours, leaving a tingling sensation that lingered long after she pulled away.

"What? You know I swing both ways" she rolled her eyes playfully, a sadistic smirk on her lips as her fingers brushed your jaw, her thumb dragging slowly across your lower lip. Her eyes never left yours, dark and unblinking, as if she could see straight through to the fear coiled tight in your chest.