(feel free to jump on in)

A dark mood at night time. Natural enough, Solais supposed, gliding along on his wings over the trees. His dark mood was really quite a simple thing; he was hungry, and when he got hungry, he got grumpy. He looked up into the sky, strange stars glittering brightly above in a variety of shades, some red, some blue, some yellow, all of them distant, all twinkling joyously, raining down festive light from afar...and all of them seeming to mock him with their bright gaiety. Even the moon, round and full, hanging beautiful and free in the night sky, shining down it's benevolent light, seemed to be making jest of his mood, refusing to allow the same darkness on the outside as he felt within. Stupid stars. Stupid moon. And stupid clouds, for not being there at all, that night, apparently having decided that they liked it brighter as well.

Needless to say, it was indeed a beautiful night, whether or not Solais felt that way. His ire didn't affect the picturesque scene in the least, just as it'd always been. He sighed, folding his wings slightly and descending on the night air into a copse of trees, where he settled on the soft grass, which seemed to cushion his feet like a plush rug. He glared at the grass, still happily growing despite the chill turn in the weather, still lush and green, refusing to give in to melancholy thoughts of winter. Stupid grass. He gave it a kick, which really did nothing at all, considering he'd decided not to wear his boots out this time. He gave a half growl, half sigh, and looked around at where he'd landed. The shadows here were nice and thick, the trees close enough together to provide such shadows from the moonlight, but loose enough that shafts of light penetrated...making yet another picturesque scene, and drawing another snarl from the demon. Stupid trees. They should have blocked out ALL the light. One might have asked, if he was so eager for darkness, then why not simply sit in a cave? But the answer to that was obvious enough; he was a demon, an incubus, one who fed on sexual energy, and more often than not, he had to hunt for the providers of said energy. None of his prey was stupid enough to go wandering into the pitch blackness of a cave in the middle of the night on a monster infested island, so staying in a cave wouldn't have cured him of his hunger at all. Stupid caves, not being more appealing to the students.

And stupid forest as well, for the same reason, apparently. There seemed to be no one out there at all...stupid students, not taking the time to enjoy all this stupid beauty. He stopped his mental muttering, however, as he heard something...actually heard something...off in the light-pierced darkness, towards one of the paths he'd seen. Someone coming perhaps? A delectable little answer to his delimma? Perhaps one of the students HAD decided to come out and enjoy nature's bounties! It was almost enough to make him purr in delight as he stalked towards the sound he heard, quick and quiet, nigh-invisible in the shadows, despite his pale skin...and ran straight into the source of the noise, one of the various inhabitants of this island, and one that apparently couldn't distinguish between human and non-human, as tendrils reached out to claim him. "Sorry, buddy, NOT in the mood!" A quick lash of his sickle, and the tendrils streaming for him were suddenly severed from the body of the hulking creature, which looked like nothing so much as a caterpillar larva with tentacles. It squealed in rage and agony, it's segmented body jiggling as pain coursed through it....and then stopping stone cold as it found a dagger sticking out of what could arguably be considered its head. "Uppity son of a bitch." Was all he growled as he wrenched his dagger free, cleaned it, and put it and his sickle away.

He paused, however, hearing more noises in the forest, surrounding the path's general area, clustering towards it...nothing else came for him, but he had the feeling that the only reason he'd been attacked was that he'd startled the creature...not that it excused the damn thing in the least. It's punishment had been well-deserved. However...it appeared that it, as well as several other creatures, had been hunting something. Or someone. And considering that he heard no signs of ravaging, that meant that they were waiting in ambush...which meant someone must be coming down the trail. He grinned to himself, his mood suddenly much improved. The gentlemanly thing to do, of course, would be to warn said someone of their impending danger should they procede along their path...and then, she'd naturally reward him, whether or not she wanted to. And as for the creatures trying so hard to set up an ambush...well, they could eat demonic cock-block, for all he cared. After all, he was miserable, and misery loved company, as they said...

Solais opened a small rift and put his sickle into it, sealing it away. He wasn't worried about being able to find it later; it would appear in his hand again on command if he needed it to. With a bit of concentration, he cast the spell that hid his wings and his own tendrils, shaping his eyes once more like a human's...although with their violet irises and crimson pupils, they were a touch odd, he didn't worry too much though. Usually, anyone who noticed just chalked it up to contacts or a trick of the light. He checked himself over as best he could without a reflective surface; he was once again wearing his sleeveless black silk shirt and black pants, still barefoot, but then, who didn't like to wander the woods barefoot now and then? He made his way to the path, thinking to carry the corpse of the creature he'd slain as proof of his good intentions, should his prey think to ask, and waited for the first sign of whoever was walking down the path. Leaning up against a tree, listening for all he was worth, he felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine. Damn, it felt good to be lucky...though, after running into him, that would be a feeling his unknown and unknowing prey wouldn't be able to share in...

A dark mood at night time. Natural enough, Violett supposed, her trembling legs carrying her slowly down the forest path tentatively. Her dark mood was a simple thing, really... She was lost, desperate, and alone, ready to sink into the cold and despair that engulfed her, spurred on only by the fear that if she gave in to that sinking feeling, she might get pulled under and drown in her own desperation before she made it back to the surface. She could die out here...

The stars twinkled, mockingly distant and dim through the unnaturally green trees, proudly waving their tiny green pendants even though they should be shedding their leaves like arboreal lepers. Multicolored light lanced through the looming trees like shining needles, painting what little of these woods was visible in colors more ghastly and ethereal than any she'd ever seen. Even the moon seemed to have abandoned her, hiding its strangely unfamiliar face behing a thick, cluster of branches. Stupid stars... stupid moon. Stupid clouds too, for that matter... Maybe if they were there, they could help her orient herself... But the stars were too small and too distant to do anything but gaze down on her mockingly.

Needless to say, it was a cold and lonely night, It was a beautiful night, too, but Violett didn't notice. She certainly didn't feel that way... And her dread had a palpable effect on how she saw the scene. These serene woods, bathed in radiant colors, were not picturesque and serene to her, but chilling and unearthly quiet. In the field she'd just come through, the grass still grew, unnaturally green little tendrils of unyielding, unforgiving nature piercing the ground despite the growing chill in the weather. Stupid trees... They should have let more light through... Let a path shine through instead of leering like terrible monsters, looming over lost travelers. One might ask, if she was so desperate for light, why wasn't she back in her dorm room? The answer was surprisingly simple... She was trying to get there, but somewhere along the way, she got very, very lost. Caught up in the beauty of the nature around her, she had wandered in awe until the sun went down, and the beauty gave way to otherworldly eeriness.

Horrible forest... Why had it played such a cruel joke on her? Slowly, ever so slowly, she pushed her way forward, her tiny body shivering in the chill wind. She expected some horrible thing to jump out and grab her at any moment, and nearly died of fright when she felt a soft, sticky touch on her neck... Before raising a hand to brush it away and finding it was nothing but a tiny, fuzzy little caterpillar. "Hi, little guy," she cooed nervously before picking him off her shirt and setting him back on the ground gently, continuing on her way.

She paused, her blue eyes darting around for the source of another noise she thought she'd heard, but she saw nothing. Adjusting her glasses, she walked forward slowly, picking a fallen leaf from her shoulder-length blonde hair Her mood was much improved by the encounter with the caterpillar. Maybe her luck was turning around...

And maybe that man she hought she saw up ahead could leade her back to campus! "Hey! Sir.... E-xcuse me! I... I'm lost.... Can you help?"

Silently, he watched as a distant figure began to come into focus...and barely managed to keep himself from dancing with joy. It was indeed one of the students...and by the look of her a sweet one. She simply seemed to ooze innocence, and no small amount of apprehension besides...he would've wondered what she was doing out so late, in the middle of the forest, save for the fact that that was exactly where he wanted her to be. His eyes took in her presence well, despite the distance between them, and he saw...a small girl. Short and somewhat withdrawn looking, as though she hated to be seen. He grinned to himself. Those were the kind he liked best. Small, cute, and positively bursting with emotion...they were such fun.

At the moment, apparently having not noticed him yet, she seemed to be steeped in a melancholy mood similar to his own only moments before...which, of course, elated him. It was true, indeed, that misery loved company, and besides that, Solais was quite a sadist. He did his best not to laugh at the girl's fright as she brushed something away from the back of her neck, then spoke to it, apparently calming down once she felt danger had passed. How wrong she was...the danger hadn't even begun yet. A chill breeze sighed through the trees, almost sounding like an ethereal chuckle in the stillness of the night, as though the forest itself was rejoicing with him over his success. He felt the creatures behind him tensing, sensing that what they were looking for was coming their way...poor things, they'd never even get a taste. She was all his. He pretended to look over in surprise at her, straightening from his position against his tree as she called out to him.

"Lost, huh? Well, I'd say you're even more lost than you thought you were, if you're wandering around here after dark...especially this deep in the woods." He looked around at the surrounding area, both to get across the point of how sinister this place could seem at night and to make sure nothing was trying to sneak around and take her before he could get to her. "I mean...you DO know what kind of things lurk around here...right?" He asked, briefly considering kicking out the remains of the said 'thing' that had run afoul of him earlier. He discarded the idea for now, however; this girl looked delicate beyond measure, and too much fear now might just send her panicking blindly...he blinked. And what did humans do when they panicked, except to look for safety? With a grave expression, he rolled out the giant caterpillar-looking monster, completely unaware that the thing she'd just removed from her neck was, arguably, a relative of the beast. He gestured at the creature. "There's undoubtedly more than just this guy around here somewhere, and I doubt seriously that you wanna run into them." He tilted his head to the side, simply watching her, waiting for the right moment in which to offer his services in returning her to where she belonged...foiling one trap and baiting another in the process. Truly, the darkness favored him this night.

Blink.

Blink blink.

Yup, that was, in fact, a giant dead caterpillar. She was not imagining things. Cut down in the prime of its huge, wriggly life... Denying the world a glimpse of the beauty posessed by a giant butterfly rising from its cocoon like a phoenix.

And the whole thing was just.... so gross... whatever killed it must...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Nearly weeping, she turned and fled, her thin little legs carrying her back towards the heart of the woods.

"These things kill each other... Good to know... I just need to get 'em to fight and run away..."

Solais looked after her, a mix of feelings running through him as she fled. There was, naturally, disappointment...though he'd half-expected that particular reaction. There was also elation; nothing better than the thrill of the chase, after all...and there was another sort of joy as well, when she screamed...gods, what lungs the girl had! It'd almost been loud enough to hurt...he began to wonder how many other ways he could get her to scream, or if she was only so magnificently loud when terrified. Still, time for speculation was short as she fled across the field. He doubted if she'd exactly trust him at this point in time...but he still had to get to her before someone else did, and more, get her away from the plethora of creatures who were, undoubtedly, going to realize any moment now that their prey wasn't going their direction any more.

He set off, darting quickly through the trees, one shadow among many, easily managing to keep pace with the girl. It would have been a simple matter to overtake her and swoop her off somewhere, and probably fun in its own right...but he had another idea. He focused on the image of the creature he'd killed earlier, the giant caterpillar...and summoned up some of his magic, forming a spell in his mind, which he released some distance up the path. As soon as she went past that bend in the trees, where the shadows thickened noticeably in the chill air, she'd come face to face with a half-circle of the same creatures, clinging to trees, sliding along the ground...all pointed at her, tendrils waving. Since they were illusions, they couldn't touch her, obviously enough, but he doubted if she'd get close enough to figure that out. He loped along after her, making sure to keep out of sight, looking back every now and then to see if any of the other creatures had begun to move, seeing that the coast was clear for now.

Looking forward once more, he considered possibilities of how he would lead her further away from the throng of monsters, depending on how she reacted to his illusions. He knew this forest rather well, having made it his home since he'd first come to the strange little planet...and judging by how lost the girl had been when she'd come across him, and how panicked she was at the moment, he doubted if she'd get a good sense of direction any time soon. Especially considering she was heading back into the thick of the woods which had caused her so much trouble before. The further in they went, the less moonlight penetrated the dense trees, the stars became less merry, seeming to look more like baleful eyes burning from the depths of the darkness rather than the distant burning masses of elements that they were. This place simply oozed threat in the darkness...probably a reason he loved it so much. He grinned as they came to the bend in the path, following the sweet little thing easily...he could have done it with his eyes closed, really, loud as her heart was beating, her breathing fast and frightened. "Just wait, girly," He murmured softly enough that she couldn't hear him, "It only gets better."

With a yelp of surprise, she stopped in her tracks, mouth agape in shock.

Suddenly, these things weren't cute any more.

"U-um... Hi, guys? I... I don't suppose you'd like a salad?" she stammered nervously, backing away slowly, no sudden movements,

Normally, the girls stunned and frightened reaction would have made Solais sit back and grin, most impressed with himself. However, normally, there wasn't a horde of angry monsters coming after his prey besides him. And they were definitely on the move now...he could sense their irritation at having to come after the girl, which meant that there was no time for stopping. He set the next portion of his plan into action.

Off to the right, there was a gap in the semi-circle of mutant caterpillars, and from that direction, hidden well enough in the darkness as to be almost invisible, Solais called out in a soft voice, "This way...quickly..." He waited to see if she'd go for it, or find some other way out of her 'predicament', knowing that the most important thing was to get her off the path.

"Quickly, girl, we don't have all day..." He muttered to himself, once again toying with the idea of swooping out and snatching her up. He looked back. None of the other creatures was in sight yet, a good sign...but he wondered how long there was before the faster ones caught up. Not that he was concerned; he doubted if any of them, even as a group, could take him down, but he'd have to spend time dealing with them...which meant that someone else could take the girl or she could escape while he was preoccupied. And he didn't want that at all. He turned his gaze back on her, violet eyes gleaming in the darkness, and smiled as he remembered her scream. No, those screams were for him and him alone. "Through here...there's not much time left..." He beckoned again, already going through the plans for his next step. He'd guide her away from these creatures...and right into his clutches, once she was truly lost.

She gazed out on the mass of giant caterpilars in horror... Until a revelation struck her.

They weren't moving towards her.

Something was terribly fishy about all this.

Still, it was probably best to trust whoever it was calling her. These giant caerpillars were, after all, big enough to be dangerous if she startled one, and it's not exactly like she could go back the way she came, with that horrible man waiting for her.

But things were finally starting to look up, at least a little. Stepping slowly towards the voice, Violett began singing quietly to herself.

"Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight... Someone's thinking of me, and loving me tonight...."

She'd be safe in the arms of her roomates soon.

Solais let out a silent sigh of relief as she began to make her way towards the gap he'd indicated. That was good; she'd decided to trust in what she couldn't see, apparently being less frightened of it than those things that she could. He heard her singing to herself and couldn't help but grin. I'll love on you plenty, girly. Just keep on comin this way. he thought to himself. "Quickly...you're doing well...keep following me..." He began to lead her on a winding, meandering stroll through the forest, both as a means to get her even more lost and to keep any of the faster monsters that might have reached their earlier location from spotting her.

Soon, he judged they were far enough away as to be reasonably safe. He stopped and waited, cloaked in the shadows of a tree, and watched her as she hesitantly wandered into the same area, following where his voice had been. He smiled again. She was certainly cute, a little thing like her. She was obviously easily frightened, and seemed to be the timid type even without the influence of inhuman creatures lusting for her body. It seemed that tonight just wasn't her lucky night...she'd wandered out of an ambush of creatures with limited imaginations right into his grasp, so to speak. He shivered slightly remembering the way she'd screamed earlier...soon, she'd be safe in his arms, screaming just for him.

"Well done. I do believe we've escaped them. It was wise of you to follow me." He paused for a moment, listening to the enraged howls of cheated monsters off in the distance, clearly upset about having lost their prey. "Very wise, indeed, as you can hear, miss..." he left it hanging clearly wishing to hear her name. He didn't reveal himself to her yet, staying hidden as he mentally marked the ways she could escape and thought of ways to stop her. He forced himself to be patient as he watched her lovely, slender form in the chill light of the moon, a breeze ruffling the treetops, whispering through the grass and leaves on the ground, making the starlight seem to wink, looking even more like fiery eyes gleaming down, blinking rapidly. The place they'd come to a stop in was filled with trees, a few stubborn flowers that still clung to life, though the shift in weather had put most down, swayed in the breeze, their petals closed as they slept, dreaming of the morning to come, waiting for sun's first rays to grace them. Still not a cloud in the sky. This kind of night, in this sort of setting, was the sort of thing that would have made an artist cry in joy. This lovely place was about to witness a dark spectacle, however...

"I'm not sure how wise it was, sir..." she replied. She wasn't giving out her name until she saw his face. "I just didn't want to risk startling the caterpillars... You at least speak English, so that means we can talk."

She smoothed out her skirt, gazing around.

"I can't help but notice you've stopped moving.... Which raises a question. Why are you srill hiding from me? Is this a Phantom of the Opera thing, or a cheshire cat one?"

She adjusted her glasses, crossing her arms. She was far from tough, but damned if she'd let this mystery man peg her for a naive fool.

"I'm guessing you have me right where you want me... So, what d you want from me? I csn't see any reason you'd have picked me for anyhting... Maybe I can help you find who you're looking for."

"You're right...maybe not wise. But at least it was lucky. For me, anyway." She sounded tough, but he doubted she was quite as confident as she played herself out to be. He listened to her questions with a slight smirk...then used a touch of his magic to make a grinning set of teeth appear before her, a distance off, seeming to float in the air. Another illusion, but...she had asked. "Well, seeing as I'm not much of a thespian, I'd have to say that it's more of a Cheshire thing. You know he was evil at heart. And at least a little insane...yup, me and Cheshire, peas in a pod and all that crap." The mouth moved with each word, synching perfectly, before he made it disappear again.

"And as for your second question...since you asked two, after all, instead of one...you're right, I do have you right where i want you, but as to what I want from you, your name would be a nice start. There's other things I want from you as well, but those will come soon enough." He stepped out of the shadows slightly, enough that she could see his sillhouette, but not his features. His eyes glowed dimly in the darkness, violet points in the shadows. He crossed his own arms. "Think of it like this...you're a lone girl, trapped on an island filled with inhuman creatures, each one wanting to take you, in the biblical sense, for some reason or another. You've just been lured out deep in the woods in which you were already lost by a man you know nothing about and cannot see. Hmmm. I wonder, what could I possibly want with you after all that?" The shadows shifted again as he said that, the breeze picking up and pushing the treetops aside for a brief moment, before letting them settle back into place. That brief moment, however, let the girl identify him as the man she'd seen earlier...except that now, he had a pair of wings and four tendrils dancing behind him, and a malevolent darkness, more a feeling than a physical thing, that seemed to surround him. "Hey there. Remember me?" He asked mockingly.

Backing away, she whimpered quietly, trembling.

"H-how did you get here so fast?"

Looking around, she got ready to run again, hoping to not have to go back the way she came... She wasn't sure what he... it... was. For all she knew, there was more than one, and she might be running right back into the arms of the one without the wings.

A slight narrowing of the eyes as he smiled made the Nightmare seem more sinister. "It's simple. I have really long legs, you have really short ones." He didn't mention the fact that he saw the forest in much the same way as one sees their living room. He'd chased many a young pretty through the ancient trees in his time here, and the poor girl standing there, trying to look brave, was only the most recent link in the chain. Still, perhaps it was the forest itself, whispering a feral nature to him, or perhaps it was something buried deep within his blood...chasing girls through the trees, making them move as he wanted them to...these things spoke to him, made the blood run hot in his veins. The song of the hunt roared through his being. He'd chased her, his prey, this far...and now all that was left was the catch.

Then a whole new game would begin.

Solais eyed her as she tensed, clearly readying herself to run again. That was fine. There wasn't anywhere for her to run that he couldn't find her, and now that she was this close, there was no way she could pull off enough distance to lose him anyway. He laughed softly, the laugh deceptively warm, though no mirth reached his eyes. "Go ahead, babe. Pick a direction. I'll find you wherever you go." He meant it, too. He started forward, taking slow, deliberate steps towards the girl. "Of course, then again, what do you have to look forward to, even if somehow, by some miracle, you DO escape me?" He looked around, taking a step. "You were lost already when i found you..." Another step taken across the scant distance separating them. "And you have no way of knowing whether or not you'll encounter another creature...or a horde of them." Another step, and now his shadow, somehow just as sinister as he was in that dark forest, fell across her feet. He eyed this fact with a slight smile. "Of course...now escape for you is impossible anyway." With a slight focus of his will, his shadow twitched peculiarly, then raised its hands to her legs, wrapping their long, transparent fingers around her lovely, slender legs, locking around them with surprising strength, despite their unsolid appearance. He grinned sinisterly. "Well well, look at that...the cheshire cat catches a sweet little mouse."

She took a deep breath, struggling to gree her legs and trying to put on a brave front. This... thing... seemed to enjoy her fear, so she wouldn't give him any if she could help it.

"You must be pretty... What's the word?... Um... desperate if you're picking on a scrawny little thing like me... I'd think you'd chase after something... someone with a little more to offer. "

She sighed, knowing she was powerless. In a way, acknowledging that helped her focus, kept her from struggling any more. Maybe she couldn't prevent what was going to happen, but she could still make sure she came out of it feeling brave for once in her life.

"D... do what you want to do and-and-and get it over with."

No attempt was made to smother the amused look in his eyes as the girl struggled to free her legs. "Desperate? Hardly. You're just an enticing little creature, that's all, and looked like you'd be fun to spend time with. If I was desperate, I'd simply pull down your dorm room walls, picking up whichever girls happened to catch my eye at the time. Kinda like shopping." He pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment, looking her up and down in an appraising fashion. "And the word, in your case, is slender, rather than scrawny. You're thin, and, quite honestly, I can't imagine you with larger curves...don't think you were supposed to have 'em. Your frame fits your general attitude, little miss wallflower. Quite honestly, I think you were built just the way you were supposed to be.." Complements came easy enough to the demon. Even easier, considering that they were true, more often than not. While he certainly enjoyed busty girls, he found nothing wrong with the slim ones, either. And this one had a sort of fear of standing out in any fashion, of being noticed by others...it was, for lack of a better word, cute.

"Anyway, as I said earlier, I'm certainly not desperate at all...but he is, considering he hasn't had any in a few thousand years..." He grinned and watched as his shadow began to use the girl's legs to climb up off the ground, its hands sliding higher and higher up the smooth, pale columns of lovely flesh, the rest of its body rising behind it. Of course, the shadow was being controlled by Solais, who excelled at any form of magic to do with darkness of any variety...but she didn't need to know that. It might be fun to make her think she'd been trapped by more than one creature. His shadow had filled out somewhat, having risen to its waist by now, its face level with her chest, hands gripping her hips now as it pulled itself further. From the waist up, it had taken on a third dimension, and looked like a semi-solid, featureless version of him, still see-through, but not quite as much, giving only a general outline of the shapes beyond it, rather than full detail...as though one were looking at objects in a dark room. It made no sound and had no face with which to express its thoughts...which, in its own way, made it far more terrifying than if it HAD had one.

"My my, he's growing quickly, isn't he...it seems he REALLY likes you, wouldn't you say? Normally, it takes him about five minutes to come this far, but you must be special...wonder if that's a good thing or a bad one..." The owner of the shadow smirked. It was obvious that the girl was putting on a brave front. That was fine. Let her repress her fears until they broke. It was always more fun that way...and he was far from out of tricks to play yet.