It is unwise to get on a Shink's bad side. "You want to pick on a girl?" Ambin hisses, leaping across the room and pinning Rodney to the floor. "Pick on me." Rodney whimpers and tries to shake her off, but she doesn't budge. Despite their small, child-like appearance, Shinkae possess strength equal to that of a fully-grown man. "You have no idea what I could do to you," Ambin growls. She bares her teeth. There is a moist, sucking sound as the teeth retract into her gums, revealing a row of small, razor-sharp fangs designed specifically for tearing flesh from bone. "Please!" Rodney begs. "Please don't hurt me!" Tears start streaming down his cheeks. An angel! he thinks. An angel has come to punish me. Ambin glances sidelong at Kaylee looking on from nearby. She releases Rodney from her grasp. The fangs disappear. "I'm not going to hurt you in front of your daughter," she says, a little disappointed. "I think she's seen enough violence already today." Rodney watches with wide, terrified eyes as Ambin crosses the room and kneels down beside his daughter. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" Ambin asks. Kaylee nods, never taking her eyes from Ambin's face. "Are you my angel?" Ambin thinks for a moment, then smiles. "Yes baby, tonight I am." She lifts Kaylee into her arms. "Is there somewhere else you can be, honey? Is there somebody who can look after you?" "Grandma!" Kaylee says excitedly. "Grandma!" Ambin repeats. "Can you show me how to get to Grandma's house?" "Yes," Kaylee says, beaming. "Good girl," Ambin says, and kisses her on the cheek. "Such a good and clever girl. Now hang on tight, we're going to go up, up into the sky." The pain and horror of the night forgotten, Kaylee giggles and wraps her arms and legs tight around Ambin's torso. Ambin smiles...and then she catches a glimpse of the little girl's palm. The smile fades. Kaylee's hand is a mess of hot red blisters and blackened, ugly flesh. Some of the scars have healed over and been re-opened many, many times. Her father has been burning her since she was a baby. Ambin's eyes fall upon Rodney. "You," she says. No more words come. Her blood turns cold. She trembles with fury. Rodney stares at the angel, who stands in his doorway with pure hatred in her eyes. Instantly he regrets everything he has ever done. He opens his mouth to apologise; to plead for forgiveness. Finally, gradually, Ambin regains her composure. Desperate not to explode in front of Kaylee, she turns on her heel and walks away. "I'll be back tomorrow," she calls back over her shoulder, trying to sound conversational in front of the little girl. And then, running her tongue over her inner row of fangs, she adds: "We'll do dinner." Credits: Celeste Clothes from DAZ Jake by ? Kaylee's clothes from DAZ Rodney's clothes from PoserWorld Kaylee's hair by Koz Notes: This was rendered in three separate passes and assembled in Paint Shop Pro. I rendered Rodney (Jake) separately so I could manually control the amount of DOF blur in PSP. The background could have been done in a single render, but after the 13 hour render was complete I remembered SVDL's tip of adding some glow to the hallway light. D'oh! So I added a glowing light re-rendered the top-left corner. Hooray for being able to render only part of an image! PS. The Shinkae are not what they seem.