A few drops of red exploded against the skin of Della's face. A slight smile curved her lips as she scribbled on the paper, signing her name with a dramatic flourish. Licking the end of her quill, a slightly crazed giggle slipped through her lips and she pressed them together quickly.

Della leaned down to dip the quill. Red liquid pooled around it, dribbling out of the hole in a woman's chest. Her green silk dress was stained an odd purple color around the wound, brown curls flopping over it clumsily.

Taking a candle from her vanity, Della dripped wax onto the folded letter and pressed her signet ring into it lightly. She addressed the letter "My Dearest Renny."

"My dearest Renny," she said mockingly to herself, dipping a delicate cat's-hair brush into a pot of rouge and smoothing it across her lips before giving the letter a hard kiss. It left the imprint of her lips like a scar on the white paper.

"Love always," Della singsonged softly, folding the dead woman's fingers around the paper. Sweeping a deep purple coat around herself, Della hummed as she deserted the room.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. It really began several months before this...

A/N: Other chapters will be longer, I promise. Reviews? Too confusing? Let me know. :)