Perhaps she had merely been desperate.
Arissa looped the pendant on its filigree silver chain over her finger; it swung gently, and the onyx set in the center of the finely-wrought tarnished silver flirted with the light of the overhead lamp.
She cocked her head quizzically at it. It had seemed more... mysterious back in that shop; the wicker lamp's light had touched it with its gleam- no, unfair. The gem had reached for the light, absorbed it, seemed to glow with swirling blacks and midnight-blues and teasing flashes of brilliant gold, like the lamplight had been refracted endlessly in an abyss of black crystal, before being allowed to emerge darkly transformed...
She blinked, and set the necklace back in its box. The piece had attracted her attention from the first, she who had always preferred soft, warm colors and gentle pastels. If, she smiled wryly, if she were any one of the giddy girls she tutored in the piano, she would have thought that it had been waiting just for her; the pull had been that strong. She imagined what Beth – one of the giddier girls who also possessed a hyperactive imagination - would have said(squealed) : But Miss Faith! Maybe it's a present from your past life's love! Maybe he gave it to you and rode off and died in a war and-
The box snapped crisply shut as Arissa tapped the lid sharply.
Surely she had merely been desperate for a gift.
Surely.
She left it on the table as it was; she could wrap it in the morning, she decided. Right now, she was all for a hot bath and a scented foot soak and a long night of peaceful sleep... She stifled a yawn as she shuffled out of the kitchen, one slender finger flicking the light switch.
Deep shadows fell about the kitchen.
A distant clock struck midnight.
Something infinitely darker stirred.
((I'm working on the rest, will have it up in a day. >_<))
