They’d come for her in the night, the village priests.

She was young. She was a virgin.

Surely she’d sake the beast’s appetite, they’d said.

Lori trembled and softly wept, crushed between heavy chains and stone. Any minute now, that giant monster would be here. The one called Moriarty, the one all the humans knew of and feared. He had a high rank among the supernatural beings of the land. He was different.

And she was, according to the priests, their way of ensuring Moriarty left their village alone.

Gods be with me, she thought, gasping through her tears. How many young girls would be sacrificed after her?

And then there was a loud, rattling thump, and a with a horrible suddenness, the monster was there. Lori looked up, up, up, jaw dropping…