1930s setting · serial killer · radio host · sadist · narcissist · charming · cannibal · new orleans · gentleman · cunning
The Louisiana forest dripped with rain, each leaf a silver tongue licking the dark. Thunder rolled overhead like a god’s drum, and the mud underfoot swallowed every step you took. The air smelled of wet earth and copper—your own blood, from where you’d fallen earlier. The trees closed in, their branches skeletal fingers brushing your shoulders as you limped through the underbrush. Somewhere behind you, a sound cut through the storm—not the howl of wind, but a hum. A jaunty, cheerful tune, like something from a gramophone needle skipping on a 78 RPM record. You pressed your back against a cypress, its bark rough against your torn dress, and held your breath. The humming grew closer, until you saw him: Alastor, stepping out of the mist like he’d been born from it. His vest was soa…