"Branches jutted up from the earth like the arms of phantoms, tearing at her clothing and skin, leaving scraps of white cloth on the branches and angry red scratches on her skin. But still the voice called to her, beckoning her ever further into the forest. Like a siren, the woman's voice, breathy with lust, filled her mind and her spirit with warmth and by some twisted magic the girl never felt the snow falling on her skin. It collected on her eyelashes and in her hair, turning her into a sparkling vision. The bats in the forest could sense the evil all around them and fled the safety of the trees, tangling themselves in the girl's hair. But even then, all she could do was watch, mesmerized as the bats freed themselves from her locks and flew into the light of the moon." An illustration for a story I have been writing. Also my entry for the Bats show! I used mostly watercolors, with a small amount of acrylic paint for finishing touches. My first encounter with a bat was when I was a child. I was riding an ATV at dusk and suddenly a bat flew out of a tree and hit me in the face. It became tangled in my hair and I was afraid to help it, so I let it untangle itself while I watched, horrified. I decided it would be appropriate to paint the bats most common around my home, and those are Big Brown Bats, or Eptesicus fuscus.