"Another word about Rhenvar, and we will banish you. You will never see him again," Aucteros demanded.
(No, nononono!)
(Not my love!)
(Not my King Crow!)
(No!)
Corvessa turned to the crow perched on her shoulder.
(Yes, yesyesyes!)
(Listen, oh beautiful.)
(So beautiful.)
(Yes!)
"Fine," she said sweetly. "I will only think about him."
(Oh, King Crow… so beautiful.)
(Your broken soul screamed for me.)
(Your kiss, never we had someone kissed me like that!)
(But your flesh I swallowed, tasted special.)
(I cannot wait for you to turn him into one of us.
He will be so beautiful.)
(The greatest of us all!)
(Yes, my crow. He will.)
"This next world," Aucteros muttered, flipping through his stupid little book, "we're searching for a… super villain."
"Super villain! Oh sweet, this quest is gonna be a blast, nya~" chirped that glitching cat-brat.
"Hmph. Why this villain? Who are they?" Charles asked as if he was important.
(Ugly idiot.)
(Always thinks he's worth more than he is.)
(I wouldn't even waste a rat spell on him.)
(He's a smudge on the floor.)
"The world we're going to is populated by what they call supershumans. They have Godlike abilities. Some… not like our own."
(Did you hear that, my lovely crow?)
(Yes, yesyesyes I heard. Super!)
"New crows!" Corvessa lunged forward, vibrating with glee.
Aucteros stepped back. "Yes… just try to keep a handle on your obsession, Corvessa."
"I will, I promise! Give me more crows and I'll follow you until the end of time!"
"…Okay."
Corvessa started rubbing her arms, then her legs, trembling with delight. The idea of new crows thrilled her to her marrow.
"Let me continue about this 'comic book world'. We'll likely encounter 'super heroes,' as they're called. Charles, there's a man I absolutely need you to control."
"Hmm?" Charles's smug face begged to be slapped.
"His name is Ultimateman," he read on. "His powers include flight, super strength, super speed, enhanced hearing, impenetrability and… super cooking?" Aucteros sighed. "Anyway. That's your target."
(What about me?)
(What about my new crows?!)
Corvessa glided toward the bookworm.
Aucteros caught her with a sharp glance.
"Corvessa. You're going to infiltrate the super villain's base. We need him on our side. He's… different. They have Veronica, but this man, this villain, he's something else entirely."
(Oh? This new teammate sounds perfect.)
(My beauty.)
(My death.)
(My crow?)
"Yesyesyes! I'll do it, Bookman! I'll do it!" She clapped her hands like a happy little maggot. "I can't wait!"
"I'll open the portal. Remember, we need to be careful. The super humans here are basically God powered."
"I understand. But this better be worth it… we currently have wild dogs," Charles said, tempting Corvessa to turn him into a rat just for fun.
"Nya~ I think we're fine! We do need a healer though!" Meowfunction chimed in.
(She could make a lovely crow one day.)
(But only men should be crows!)
(We can make an exception!)
The portal opened.
"Let's go," Aucteros said, stepping through.
And they all followed.
****
Super City.
Steel towers scraped the sky. The air shimmered with energy and light. Corvessa stared upward, awestruck.
Something stirred inside her. Something ancient. Something hungry. Something that almost reminded her she was human.
"Amazing…" Charles whispered, as if he deserved to look at such beauty.
"Looks like every other city," said the pink rat.
(She's wrong. This place has bones.)
A metal box zoomed by.
(What was that?! I want… to explore!)
"Corvessa, the super villain's location is at the southern side of the city. You are the fastest, so you get the job. It's an old manor. Red bricks. White picket fence. Hard to miss," Aucteros said.
(My feeder.)
(My crow finder!)
"Ok now-"
Corvessa exploded into a murder of crows.
(I'll fly! Seek! And-)
(Oh? What's this?)
She reappeared in front of a strange little store.
(Oh… dresses!)
(Beautiful. Black. Stitched in sorrow.)
(Much better than the rags I peeled from that baroness while her husband screamed as I turned him into love.)
(Beautiful thing.)
(He became such a lovely crow.)
(These?)
(These were perfect!)
(So proper.)
(So elegant.)
(So… dead.)
She pushed open the door with a little hum.
****
The Store.
"Oh! Uh, welcome," said some woman behind the table, her blazer and blouse as drab and needing a touch of death. "Are you… even alive? Or… undead?"
Corvessa twirled. The bells on the door jingled like laughter with her own.
"Oh, these clothes, they're beautiful! I want to wear them every day!"
"Ma'am," she said slowly, "this is a store for… funeral attire."
(Perfect!)
She skipped toward a rack of veils and black lace.
"I should get a suit for my King Crow. He'll die so handsomely for me."
"W-We have a wide selection to-" the clerk went on.
(This one.)
She snatched a long coat with silver buttons and a slashed collar. "Oh, he'll look like a devil! Maybe I'll tear a few holes in it. Make it breathe a little."
She went to the next.
"And this one-" she held up an elegant black dress. "A little blood on the sleeves and a scream stitched into the hem. Gorgeous!"
She hugged the whole rack and walked right toward the exit, arms full.
"Ma'am! You have to pay for those!"
She stopped. Turned. Tilted her head.
(Oh my! She thinks I'm not worth it.)
(But we are, aren't we?)
(My crow of crows will see me in this and just-)
(Die.)
"Yes, yesyesyes. You'll look beautiful, my king," she whispered to herself.
"I know. And my King Crow will take me the moment he sees me in it. And the blood will be so sweet!"
****
Outside the store.
Something blue zipped into view.
"Excuse me, miss!" The blur solidified into a man with goggles, skin tight blue clothes, and far too much confidence. "Stealing is illegal in Super City. I will need to confiscate those, and take you in."
(Excuse me?)
"Are you trying to get between me and my King Crow?" Her head tilted.
"You dare? You! A petty man in a blue skin? You think this is about clothes?"
(I don't need this.)
(He insulted us.)
She dropped the dresses on the sidewalk like spilled intestines.
He hesitated. "I, uh, what? Miss, do you even know who I am?"
(No.)
(But I know what you'll become.)
"A crow."
He blinked. "What… crow? No, I'm the Blue Zipper. Super speed. Part of the Super Squad. I helped save the world last year from Calamity."
(Liar.)
(Bragging liar.)
(False feathers.)
(But beneath his bravado…)
(Ah. There it is. The soul.)
(It's trembling. It's shiny. So shiny.)
She smiled.
"Oh, my crow."
She walked up and kissed him.
He gagged and staggered back. "Hey! I know I'm a ladies' man but, ugh! That was nasty, way too much!"
(Too much?)
(He will be a delightful bone.)
"Oh? Now you're mine." She smiled wider. Her teeth jagged with joy. Her beautiful turquoise eyes shimmered in the streetlight.
(You need it too, crow?)
(Yes. Yesyesyes.)
(Let's.)
The blue idiot staggered.
"Oh, I'll take care of you my love, don't worry."
She grabbed him.
(He is mine. Oh, this place is dark!)
(We will make love there.)
****
The Alley.
Dark. Damp. A lovely little tomb for what's about to hatch.
"Shhh, my love," she cooed, dragging his twitching body deeper into the shadows. His legs scraped the ground. The scent of decay clung to him, her kiss always did that. He reeked of purpose.
The Blue idiot whimpered as she gently placed him on the ground.
(Oh. That sound.)
(Adorable.)
"My kiss won't even let you scream properly," She giggled, as she started tilting his head back to look into his eyes. "Don't worry. That terror in your eyes? That's the real you. The honest you."
(Here I'll lay him down.)
(My altar, this ground, it's perfect.)
She pried open his mouth and slipped two fingers in, until they caught the back of his throat. His body convulsed, retching on her like a child.
"You'll choke on beauty soon enough."
Then came the ritual.