The Demon House

Kitsune-Tsuki lead you down the hall, laughing between their pointed teeth, swaying their long raven black braids, their kimonos, and their tails. Their mischief makes one wary, the men holding their hands to their throats, glancing upward as you pass. Their fingers are stained red, their cheeks printed with lipstick. 

Kumiho mingle in the vestibule down the hall, lingering beneath bowers of cherry blossoms or orchids, stretching their cream-white legs. They wink at you, spangled lashes over slited pupils. 

You sate your hunger with a kiss, brushes of lips that taste of jasmine tea.

Their teeth skim your neck. They slide into skin with the ease of a knife into a crisp white pear.

Your veins fizzle like amber. Their eyes are bottomless. 

They are bait. Your soul is drawn in, like fish on a line. 

It is a far too high price to pay for beauty.

Art by Seb

Text by Lucie MacAulay