A Beast of Nine Horns by Bartholomew Lander

Author:Bartholomew Lander
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789198733501
Publisher: Lunarium Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

“You’re so lucky I caught ya slippin’ out,” Tamara said as she craned over Coral, gently brushing on the last of her eyeliner. “Not to brag, but I think I’ve got a better eye for this than you do.”

Coral was still blinking blearily at her own reflection in the mirror. “Yeah, ya sure do.”

That sparkle of amazement in her gaze warmed Tamara’s heart. Grinning to herself, she set about putting the finishing touches on her magnum opus.

Coral’s original plan had been to hit up a Punkkzone and costume shop in the next town over. And given her objective, it wasn’t a bad plan, per se. But once she’d divulged its entirety to Tamara, she could see where it was lacking the theatrics the Sons of Gavin were all but certain to be expecting from their vermilion messiah.

And so the scope of their shopping spree quickly grew to include some extras sourced from Sephora, Pincushion’s, and Belts or Bust. They’d gotten their haul back to the Instatel room around noon, and Tamara set immediately about her mischief. And now, after a day of alterations and poking at leather, they had their look.

And what a look it was.

Coral wore a gothic black strap dress with a V neck and an asymmetrical, layered skirt. It was an aggressively punk design, heavily accented with layers of mesh and spiderweb stitching and lace arabesques against semi-translucent fabric. A leather belt sashed her waist at an attractively acute angle. At her hip she wore the scabbard Tamara stitched together from two overlarge snakeskin belts, Crux Caedis’s imposing silver crossguard on prominent display. Beneath, she wore fishnet stockings and thigh-high combat boots, which were fastened with an almost comical amount of buckles.

Streaks of red dye shot her hair though. Her face and neck were paled with powder, her eyes ringed with bruise-dark shadows Tamara had artfully applied. Her complexion was that of the dead, an illusion assisted by the vast spiral of scar tissue above her left breast, only halfway hidden by her neckline, bespeaking an injury no mortal could suffer and survive. The pièce de résistance: cosmetic contact lenses which turned Coral’s warm, brown irises the shocking color of arterial blood.

She looked for all the world like a daemoness. Tamara had even surprised herself; she hadn’t really expected it all to come together this well.

“How are you so good at this?” Coral asked as Tamara continued to apply the final layer of makeup.

“I watched a fifteen-minute zombie makeup tutorial online. Sooo that basically makes me an expert.” Though her tongue was firmly in her cheek, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling a surge of pride at her creation. This was an image worthy of the title Scourge Maiden.

Coral laughed and made to shake her head, but Tamara tutted her to sit still. Instead, she closed her eyes, mouth curling up in a smile. “I know I’m the type to forget to say things that’re important. So I wanna make sure I say this right. Thank you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.