Down the backroads that twist and turn like intertwining serpents, there is a holler.
Hidden deep in the valley, it is far removed from society.
And that's the way The Graves like it.
In their innocuous little farmhouse, lives Mama Graves, Pa Graves, and their children, Marlene and Josiah.
The smell of fire and smoked meat clings to the air here. Mama Graves is always cooking something up, bone broth, pulled meat sandwiches, tender roasts baked and basted to perfection.
Pa Graves loves to hunt anything he can catch, be it a beast on four legs or two. He must provide for the family.
There are warnings before you cross the threshold into their property. Body grips. Footholds. Snares. Some with still writhing prey.
Please, if you value your life, turn away. They cannot be helped.
And Pa really, really doesn't like when people touch his things.
Josiah, thirteen and full of what Ma calls " The Rage", is the deadliest member of the family.
His catlike reflexes and small frame allows him to move silently through his home territory undetected.
Upon him, he carries a blade.
Carved from bone, inlaid with steel and serrated with the canines of his forefathers, The Blade of Gnashing is a weapon imbued with mystical properties.
Sometimes it drips with an ichor that numbs it's host to fatigue. Sometimes it is tainted with a funnel-spinner's venom.
Mostly, it just lays carnage whenever unsheathed.
And Tobias is very wary of idle hands.
Ma taught him from a very young age that a man's hands must stay busy to keep the Unclean One at bay.
And that a good boy always listens to his mama.
Marlene, however, is the bleeding heart of the family.
She frequently bandages up the hunt, and if able, sets them free.
Mama understands, and doesn't give her too much hell. Pa isn't as forgiving. He sees it as one of, if not the highest transgressions.
She pays for it in blood.
She's tried to leave, but that damned place won't let her. It loops into itself like an infinite nightmare.
She's tried to burn it into embers, but the flames flicker out and die, like the many lost souls trapped there.
Including The Graves themselves.
