[FIN] Shadows of the Past (Ignis x Jezabelle)

[Faithofthefallen]

This is a SRP Between Faithofthefallen's Ignis



and Jezabelle

Teepee  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis brought his wings down with a mighty whoosh, pulling himself even higher as he climbed closer to the flat narrow clouds. It was growing dark, between the roiling purple clouds he spotted the first constellations emerging to adorn the velvet sky. They gleamed cold and white, like bright shards of ice but they were beautiful, hypnotizing even. He wondered if he could reach them, they seemed so close... He was an angeni after all, he could fly higher and farther than any of the other races of soquili, if anyone could reach them, it would be him.

Ignis angled upwards, flexing his mighty pinions again, each subsequent flap carrying him closer and closer to the heavens, but as he gained in height the air seemed to grow thinner, his flapping became labored each frigid breath stabbed into his lungs painfully. Before long his vision grew spotty. Layers of frost formed at the tip of his wings, making it harder for him to maintain his previous pace and straining his already oxygen starved lungs. He glanced down, he was so high the things on the ground no longer seemed real. Even the clouds seemed tiny from here, they were so pretty; the dark grays, indigos and ghostly blues locked in an unfathomable dance across the sky. Black began to creep across the edges of his vision, he could no longer bend his wings, they were heavy with ice and it seemed as though his mind had been wrenched apart from his body and he merely observed what was happening to him from a few feet away.

With a quiet sigh Ignis closed his eyes and began plummeting back toward the earth headfirst, quicker than an arrow and gathering speed by the minute. His eyes snapped open as he punched through the clouds, misty droplets of water spraying him in the face and gathering on his eyelashes, with relief he gasped in a mouthful of precious lifegiving air. The trees below him were approaching fast, he imagined he could see every leaf down to the minutest detail, his wings would not catch the updrafts of air that pulled at his hair and clothes, the top two were frozen in a cruel parody of flight but they were slick and shiny with ice and below him they did nothing but drag him down. The bottom pair were still locked in place against his sides. Doubtless they would shatter into a thousand pieces upon impact so even if he should survive he would live out the rest of his days crippled and flightless. Terror gripped him then, and then rage, he would not give up so easily. He struggled to break free from his imprisonment but he was still weak and dizzy and he couldn't seem to locate, let alone move, the muscle groups that could save him.

Ignis opened his mouth in a soundless cry, he would feel his body breaking against the thick tree branches any moment. He only wished he could take back the harsh words he had last exchanged with his son and to see his daughter one last time. The thoughts of his children seemed to light a fire in his heart, with each frantic beat it pushed the fire through his arteries and muscles giving him the strength to, at the very last moment, throw open his wings and catch the air mere inches from what would have been a grisly death, or worse.

He managed a couple powerful flaps as his body tumbled through the air, but he was thrown off balance by the sudden jerk of wind that had saved his life. With a crash ignis broke though the tree cover and tumbled to the earth below, wincing as his body slammed against the branches with bruising force and then surrendering to sweet oblivion as his skull met the ground with a sickening crack

-----

Ignis awoke some time later, exactly how long he couldn't tell but the sun had now fully disappeared below the horizon and the silvery disk of the full moon bathed the forest in it's ghostly light. He sat up quickly, fighting the urge to vomit as his vision swam before him and a lightning bolt of pain writhed within his skull. He sat there for a few minutes with his eyes closed, breathing deeply, and fighting down a surge of panic. He was alone out here, no one knew where he had gone and it seemed likely that he was grievously injured. If he couldn't even sit up without pain, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to fly home any time soon.

Slowly, carefully this time he pulled himself to his feet. Feeling relief wash over him as he managed the feat. It seemed so long as he was careful to keep his head level, the sickness and pain remained manageable. Since he couldn't twist his head, he was unable to see the full extent of his injuries but he hurt all over and his nostrils flared as the scent of blood tickled them.

With a jolt of fear he remembered his wings, and with more than a little trepidation, unfurled them to their full span. His right side seemed fine, maybe a little bruised but nothing time and rest couldn't cure. His left side was another matter entirely. The top wing seemed whole enough, a few of the long feathers were bent and there was a long painful scratch across the base but he couldn't feel the bottom wing at all. Bracing himself for the nausea, he glanced over his shoulder to try and see what the problem was. He promptly was sick. The feathers were caked with blood and the wing hung at an odd angle to his body, it was definitely a terrible break. No, he would not be able to fly out of the forest. He didn't know if he would ever be able to fly again with as much ease and grace as he had possessed before foolishly attempting the impossible. He was a cripple now, it surprised him how much his confidence and sense of self had been tied to the condition of his body. He was overwhelmed with a crushing sense of loss. Throwing back his head, he screamed his rage and sorrow into the darkness, startling a few birds into flight.
 

[Faithofthefallen]

Belle's eyes fluttered open as the last rays of sunlight vanished behind the horizon and this side of the world was bathed in gentle darkness. She stretched and yawned, unwilling to venture forth from her comfortable bed beneath a jutting outcrop of rock despite the hunger pains gnawing at her stomach. She had carefully concealed herself in the underbrush before drifting off to sleep just before sunrise that morning. The thought of being attacked while she was so vulnerable terrified her not only because she would inevitably be taken by surprise but also because being forced to defend herself while fending off the gruesome and blinding headaches that always gripped her whenever she ventured into sunlight would not be an ideal situation in the least.

It was not her hunger that finally forced her to move but the fierce craving that unfurled itself and began to gradually exact its' toll. with a heavy sigh she pulled herself to all fours and ventured out from her haven into the filtered moonlight that played across her creamy back and softly illuminated her pale form. Her long ivory locks shimmered and glistened as they billowed in the slight breeze and bounced in time with each graceful stride. She moved silently and skillfully through the forest, her steps muffled by the soft bed of needles beneath her hooves. creatures scampered among the branches above her, chattering and rustling as they passed by. the tall dark trees that loomed over her seemed to be watching her as she wove her way between their thick trunks and over the twisted tangle of roots that buckled the moist earth at their bases.

Belle enjoyed the peaceful serenity surrounding her, she had to admit she enjoyed solitude but she fiercely regretted the new found necessity. She was different, burdened with a fierce craving for the sweet life force that pumped through the veins of her prey. A craving that eroded away at her self control and sanity if she ignored it overlong and that had driven away most if not all of the soquili who had discovered it. The memory made her grimace, why should she be forced to hide away who she was in order to fit in better with the rest of society? Kalona's ate flesh and they were accepted, albeit feared, but therein lied the problem. She may possess similar cravings, but she had no leathery wings, none of the fierce features that categorized that breed save for the fangs she had presumably inherited from the father she had never met and the unnerving crimson irises that stood out so clearly against her white coat.

What was she? In her adulthood, Belle was now aware of the bloody episodes that had plagued her mother throughout her life but Jessamine could recall none of her childhood. Whether they had any Kalona ancestry or were cursed with dark magic, or some other explanation entirely they could not be sure. Neither Jezabelle nor her mother had ever met any of her siblings so they also couldn't be sure if they were afflicted by similar cravings. Thoughts of her mother left Belle feeling guilty and sad, she would always regret having to run away from home but she refused to spend her life locked away from the world on her mother's whim. Hopefully one day she could return and make piece with Jessamine but that day was far into the future yet.

A loud crashing noise startled Jezabelle out of her musings and she paused, peering about her with wide eyes to try and identify the source of the racket. She stood still for a few moments but there was only silence, even the animals had quieted. Belle turned and made her way towards where she thought the sound had come from, perhaps it was only a tree falling but the creatures wouldn't have paid it any mind if that was the case. She hoped it wasn't a trap but she wouldn't feel easy hunting through the forest with a potential threat lurking around behind her. Twisting over her shoulder, she poked her nose into one of the bags resting against her foreleg and drew out the glimmering length of tempered steel that was her cleaver. her mouth molding perfectly around the teethmarks in the handle.

A wild cry erupted in the night sending a flock of birds fleeing for safety and making Jezabelle nearly jump out of her skin, the creature was just off to her left. She adjusted her path and emerged cautiously from between the tree trunks to the sight of an enormous stallion kneeling in a bloody crater rent into the forest floor. He jaw dropped open and the cleaver clattered to the forest floor as she stared in disbelief, because this stallion had wings, oh she had seen a few other winged soquili before in her travels, always at a distance but that had seemed impressive enough. No longer, for erupting from this stallion's back were four huge coppery confections of muscle and feather that seemed to put all others to shame. The creature was clearly one of the fabled angeni, and he was also clearly injured for sticky blood streamed and congealed down his flanks and matted the hair on one side of his head, making her mouth water. She noticed with sadness that one of his great wings was severely broken which seemed to be the reason for the stallion's anguished cry. She approached quietly, unsure of how to make her presence known without startling the much larger angeni into attacking, despite her care she stepped on one of the branches that had been ripped out of place by the angeni's fall and winced as it broke with an audible snap  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis' head snapped up as he directed the full force of his crimson gaze at the pale waif approaching him from the other side of the clearing. He was tired and the pain threading its' way through his skull made his eyes water and tear, making his vision swim. As the slender figure approached, her features became clearer. Long, silky ivory locks that tumbled across her shoulders in a waterfall of waves and curls securely tied one one side with a indigo ribbon, bright blood red eyes framed with long feminine eyelashes gazing into his own. He knew this mare, but what was she doing here? So far from where he'd last encountered her?
"Jessamine..." He mumbled feverishly, feeling those familiar tendrils of seduction unfurl and tickle his senses, they were familiar and yet.....Something was off, but he couldn't quite put a hoof on it.

Ignis swooned to one side and fell with an audible thump to the ground, coughing a little at the dirt that was kicked up by his fall and whimpering at the pain searing his head and his wing. The mare that wasandwasnot Jessamine circled until her two ebony hooves were centered in his line of sight. She knelt down and nudged him gently with her velvety nose, her spicy sweet scent overwhelming his senses as her long pale curls ticked his face. "How do you know of my mother?" she whispered urgently, but her words seemed fuzzy, disjointed. He couldn't quite string the whole mess together into a coherent meaning. "Wha...?" he groaned groggily, straining to peer up into those spellbinding eyes. Was this what death felt like?

A feminine voice 'tsk'ing him, he hadn't realized the last thought had been spoken out loud. She knelt down again and nudged his eyelids closed, allowing him to abandon his pain laced consciousness and float deep down into the dark depths within himself and embrace the painless solitude he found there.  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle stared at the hulking mass of Angeni collapsed on the ground before her with some dismay. She couldn't just leave him here, he was injured and in pain, his fall had alerted everything to the forest for miles around of his arrival and the scent of blood would soon draw some of the more unsavory characters. like me.. the thought bubbled to the surface of her mind and was dismissed with an angry shake of her head.

Belle circled the stallion a few times with a puzzled expression twisting her delicate features, experimentally she tried tugging at his necklace and cape but she succeeeded only in unraveling them enough to make a tangled mess. She thought about trying to wriggle under him to try and heft him up with brute strength but Jezabelle was not by any means a large mare, and this was a large stallion. She'd collapse from exhaustion within minutes and then they'd both be in a pickle.

Jezabelle retraced her steps back to where she had left her cleaver and clenched it firmly between her teeth. If she couldn't move the angeni, she would guard over him until he woke up. She refused to think about what would happen when the sun crested the horizon, but a small bead of sweat formed and trickled down her brow.  

[Faithofthefallen]

A filtered ray of sunlight played across Ignis' closed eyelids, slowly drawing him out of his deep stupor. He groaned as his consciousness reclaimed his battered and broken body and twisted a little to try and work the life back into his stiff limbs. His instincts prodded him to examine the wound and try to set the break but he couldn't quite bring himself to look at his mangled wing. The sun was bright and high in the sky, it had to be afternoon at the earliest, the forest around him was still and unusually silent. He felt a shiver tingle down his spine as he scanned his surroundings with narrowed eyes. There was nothing but trees on all sides and he couldn't quite get his bearings. He was used to finding identifying landmarks from the sky, it was disconcerting to find himself stranded and flightless in the middle of such a vast and treckless forest. If he chose the wrong direction he could wander for months without any hope of encountering civilization.

A small whimpering noise made him start, he swivelled his head around quickly and was surprised to see the small ivory mare huddled in the shade of a tree a few feet away, her face hidden beneath one slender foreleg and a mass of silky white locks. There was a large and rather gruesome looking cleaver stuck into the ground point first near her head.

The breath hissed out between his teeth as he dragged himself to his feet, stumbling a bit as his tangled white drape caught between his hooves. Slowly, and wincing with every step he approached the strange mare.

"Jessamine?" he murmured questioningly.
"Are you hurt?"  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle's breath whooshed in and out of her lungs in quick gasps and every once in a while a little whimper escaped her lips as a particularly painful seizure of pain wracked her miserable body.

The sun, its rays stabbed at her sensitive eyes and left her blind and delirious with pain. She had guarded her angeni well through the night, chasing off a few minor predators that thought to take advantage of the stallion's grievous injuries to satisfy their own hunger. The angeni had woken a couple of times throughout the night, mumbling her mothers' name and two others she didn't recognize 'sophia' and 'adrian' a few times he had lurched foreword towards her, his feverish eyes plaintive as he begged her to give him forgiveness. Belle had turned skittish after a few of these episodes and had fled to the opposite side of the crater where she was close enough to help him if he needed but was out of his line of vision.

The pain had begun as a dull aching behind her eyes the moment the skies began to brighten. It stabbed into skull like daggers through her eyes and left her almost writhing on the ground by the time the sun had fully risen above the horizon, forcing her to flee to the relative safety of the tree. Many of its branches had been stripped however when the stallion had fallen from the sky and it still allowed broken shafts of sunlight to filter down and add to her misery. Her craving prodded at her with a burning dryness in the back of her throat and scrambled her wits enough to have her feeling almost as delirious as her patient.

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, a massive form blocked out the sunlight and bathed her in blessed darkness. She peered up at him through tear streaked eyes and attempted a weak smile but even that was beyond her. jessamine? she shook her head without thinking and let out a low moan as the pain overwhelmed her senses. "My name is Belle," she whispered hoarsely, "Jessamine is my mother." She tucked her head under her leg again for a few moments before continuing, "no, I'm not injured, but I cannot abide sunlight."  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis' brow furrowed with concern, Jessamines daughter?, how curious. He peered down at the young mare critically, she was younger than his own children, although not by much. Curiosity about her origins fizzed at the tip of his tongue but another whimper of pain snapped him out of his reverie and forced him to consider the problems at hand.

He was still terribly weak, frightened, and in pain but the hopeless void that had opened up within him a few minutes ago was gone. He may not have raised Jezabelle, but she was kin of his kin...Or something like that. Regardless he felt his protective instincts kicking into overdrive and filling him with a sense of purpose. He needn't worry about his own future, whether he would ever fly again, how to find his way home, finding some way to be reunited with Adrian and Sophia. Those worries could be set aside while he dealt with the immediate issue, helping Belle.

Ignis reached down to unravel the twisted length of white cloth that wound around his limbs and back. Reaching down, he gently wrapped the blindfold around Jezabelle's head with his teeth and somewhat awkwardly tucked it's edge in to prevent it from falling off. Belle stayed unusually still throughout the process, her ears pricked up nervously, doubtless it would be unnerving to be blindfolded by a stranger under such circumstances but he could think of nothing else to help her. Her pain seemed to be stemming mostly from her eyes, after finishing the blindfold he stepped back cautiously and examined his work. Belle's head was turned towards him as though she were staring at him through the thick piece of cloth obscuring her vision, her breathing evened out and he muscles relaxed as the pain abated. "Who are you?" she whispered in her musical contralto.

"Ignis," he answered firmly, "A friend."  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle blinked a few times at that. A friend, she mused with wonder. The thick cloth bound around her head had provided immediate relief from the sun's harmful rays but it was more than a bit unnerving to lose her eyesight. This was a kind of vulnerability that she had never experienced before and she was more than a bit hesitant about trusting a complete stranger with her safety. Nevertheless there was something soothing about Ignis' countenance and he knew her mother. He spoke her name fondly so it was clear they were on good terms. If he cared for her mother, it seemed unlikely that he would mean her any harm.

....Not to mention the stallion was injured himself, he would have to take it easy while he healed and that wing would give him a lot of trouble until they found a way to set it. Perhaps they could find a Uni or Kirin who would be willing to assist him if they looked hard enough. It wasn't until she began planning out the best route to find a healer for Ignis that Belle realized she planned to stay with the big oaf. At least until he got the help he needed.

Jezabelle stood up shakily, feeling Ignis press against her side for support. her legs felt rubbery and weak from her earlier ordeal and it was difficult to get her bearings when she couldn't see. The iron tang of dried blood caressed her flaring nostrils and Belle felt her mouth beginning to water as her craving dug it's burning claws into her throat. "We should get you cleaned up," she said in a choked voice, trying to hold her breath. She wouldn't be able to hunt until dark, there was no way she would be able to catch anything with a blindfold and unless Ignis got the blood smell off of him she wasn't sure she would be able to hold back her natural response to it. Already her mind was beginning to fog and she found herself sniffing at his shoulder and flank. He smelled so appetizing, she wanted nothing more than to sink her fangs into him and satisfy her thirst.

NO! a small part of her screamed. Jezabelle threw herself away from Ignis, tripping over a tree root in the process and sprawling across the forest floor in an undignified pile.
"No, no" she begged into the air "I won't do it, I can't, I'm not a monster!" she pleaded.  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis felt a surge of affection as he helped the wobbly Jezabelle get to her feet. She was small and adorable, with a spicy sweet scent lingering about her that was incredibly endearing. The young mare had clearly been having troubles of late and he thought he had a good idea of what those troubles may be. Sophia Rose and Adrian had been born with a few peculiar tastes... Giving him a couple suspicions about Jessamine's behavior the night she left her baskets with him.Jezabelle was quite alone out here, it seemed likely that she was suffering from some of the same troubles his own children had experienced in their youth.

Nevertheless he was completely thrown off when Belle suddenly thrust herself away from him and began whimpering and muttering to herself. She seemed on the verge of hysterics. The large angeni gritted his teeth and hissed as the sudden movement had jarred his injured wing but his brow furrowed worriedly. He had grown more accustomed to the strange ways of mares after raising one himself but it still troubled him whenever evidence of their weaker constitutions showed itself. Jezabelle really shouldn't be wandering around on her own like this, she needed guidance and protection. Since she had no father or brothers here to care for her, Ignis would take on the responsibility himself.

Ignis limped purposefully over to where Jezabelle lay in a panic and firmly gripped the end of her long plait in his teeth and gave it a sharp tug. The mare yelled and scrambled away from him, her hysteria from the moment before forgotten in her rage. She rather awkwardly got to her feet and turned to face her assailant. Ignis was sure if her eyes were uncovered they would be burning a hole through him about now.
"Are you finished now?" he asked mildly, quirking a brow.

Belle snarled.

Ignis reared and stamped his two front feet on the ground before her, wincing at the impact, the small mare scrambled a couple of feet away but bared her fangs at him warningly.

Fangs.

Suspicions confirmed, he moved foreword carefully until he was once again standing just in front of her. "I've noticed hysterics seldom improve the situation and a good sharp slap or tug is usually just whats needed to put an end to all that foolishness." He spoke with all the authority and consternation of an annoyed father. This seemed to pull Jezabelle up short, the fierceness melted away and she hung her head, wet patches appearing on her blindfold as she hung her head and let out a shaky sigh.

"What is it Belle?" Ignis encouraged gently.  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle swayed back and forth, she was nearly limp with exhaustion, at least Ignis should have no trouble fighting her off. This was much more excitement than she was used to, he could no longer see where the angeni was but she could smell him, feel the vibrations of his hooves as they contacted the ground with each heavy step. She didn't want to be a monster, hot tears glistened down her face, she had seen how this curse had destroyed her mother. Had destroyed and separated her family, she hated it, why couldn't she just be normal?

Ignis stepped closer until she could fee the heat emanating from his body, he leaned down and gently nudged her face with his nose. She flinched away from him, not because she felt threatened, but because she could feel her control on her cravings slipping. "You should leave." she begged him through her tears, "Escape, you don't know what I am, what I'm capable of." She nodded towards his left, "The forest thins to the east," she explained hurriedly, "There's a path not to far in that direction, if you follow it, it will lead you out. There's a stream a few miles away you can wash up in. Now Go!"  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis' brow knit as he watched the tiny mare shudder and cringe away from him. She was practically family, a sibling to his own children, he couldn't leave her out here, alone and miserable as she clearly was. He didn't know where Jessamine was, Belle must have stayed with her for a while at least since she knew her mother's name. He had never been a patient stallion, he let her cry and carry on for a few moments before clearing his throat meaningfully. She trailed off as she was describing to him how to find a tribe of healers for his wing and seemed to stare up at him through the folded cloth. "You must go." she repeated again in that musical voice.

"Oh, must I?" he returned, in his most infuriating tone, he watched with amusement as she stiffened indignantly. He could see her trembling with the effort to contain... something. She seemed to brim with that same wild potential for violence that her mother did so many years before, on the night where she had left him her two baskets. Belle was clearly much younger than Adrian and Sophia, it wasn't so much her diminutive stature, although that certainly contributed to his impression, but a sense of childish vulnerability that he hadn't sensed in his own children in quite a long time. Jezabelle was barely out of adolescence, far too young to be plagued by so many demons. He would have to fix that.

She carried a cleaver, the same as his son and daughter, he wondered if she shared their other tastes as well. "Is it the blood?" he ventured in a more gentle tone, comforting, he would never have behaved so familiarly with someone he had just met before finding those baskets, but rearing the foals had softened some of his rougher edges... A little. Sophia had often joked that he was almost bearable to be around for small amounts of time now. "You're not a monster, you're not alone, tell me whats happening?"  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle bristled at the challenge implicit in his tone, he was bigger, yes, but she was quick and lithe, in peak condition after months of being forced to hunt to supplement her diet as opposed to having meals brought to her by her mother. Sure, her knife work was still clumsy, inexperienced, but if she truly wished it, she could be fast enough. She glared at him through the cloth and bared her teeth at him again, this time threateningly, her more savage nature taking over in response to his obstinate contrariness, a low growl rumbled deep within her throat, somewhat surprisingly. She had never let the cravings carry on for so long without reprieve, she had never growled at anything in earnest before, the sounds sent chills down her own spine. To add fuel to the already raging flames Ignis responded with a derisive chuckle. The blaze of her indignant rage burnt away the debilitating self hatred and despair that had nearly crippled her moments before and left her feeling more alert than she had felt in hours. "Yesss!" she hissed through clenched teeth, "Yes, Ignis, it is your blood I crave." with her tone, she dared him to judge her, as so many of her would be suitors and companions had dared to before. Strong young males who had responded eagerly to her pretty face and slender figure, the almost hypnotic quality to her voice and the way her hair and coat seemed to shimmer like moon booms once the sun went down. Mares who had had taken a liking to her for her sharp wit and penetrating intelligence. Brave soquili who had fled from her the moment they saw her for who she truly was. Hatred curdled in her gut as she thought back on each and every unkind word or action she had experienced in the mere months since she had fled her mother's clutches. No wonder her mother had went mad in the end, no wonder she had hidden Belle away from the cruel world, she was still wrong for doing it, but could Jezabelle truly blame her? Wouldn't she do the same now that she knew the truth for any of her future offspring?

There were too many questions, her head began to ache and her grip on sanity began to slide as Ignis stepped yet closer bringing with him a cloud of heady scent that ignited a primal need within her, losing control, she leaped forward, her mouth opening and fangs glistening as they lunged for flesh.  

[Faithofthefallen]

Ignis' injuries made his movements stiff and awkward, he was an inexperienced fighter, but his size made his lack of technique irrelevant in such close quarters. He saw a flicker as her muscled bunched and quickly turned, tucking his good wing close to his body as he ducked his head and knelt down, allowing Jezabelle's momentum to throw her over his back and behind him, bellowing in pain as her flailing hooves caught him in his wounded side and sent bright flashes of light dancing across his vision. nevertheless, he spun around, gasping, to face her unwilling to let her out of his eyesight. She was a quick little thing, he admitted grudgingly.

The mare seemed stunned, she lay on her side for a few moments, with the bandage across her eyes there was no way to tell whether she was conscious. When the heavy silence grew too much to bear, he trotted foreword and nudged her with a hoof, "Don't try that again." he advised mildly as she sat up and then regained her footing. Her head hung low and tears were once again winding trails through the dust coating her cheeks. "Oh, stop that!" he snapped irritably, "I can't abide that nonsense." The tears made him want to flee into the forest, he felt enormously guilty when he saw the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. "I'm fine, you lost control didn't you? That happens when you spend so much time trying to deny what you are. My daughter had a bout of it when she was younger. You two are one in the same, almost a spitting image as a matter of fact..." he trailed off not wanting to burden her with more information than necessary at the moment, she was still eerily silent. He sensed no threat from her but she seemed to have reverted back into that miserable lost child he had goaded into a fit moments earlier. He preferred the spitfire, she needed to learn control, yes, but more importantly she needed to learn to accept herself. That had been the essential key to handling Adrian and Sophia Rose's 'peculiarities' as they grew older; the more they tried to deny themselves and meld with dominant society, the more they lost control. Jessamine's children were never meant to live the life of the average regular, there was something dark inside them, beautiful but gruesome. not even He could accept and understand all of their strange cravings and urges, but he sure as hell accepted them. And he would accept Jezabelle as well, if she could lower her guard enough to let him. "Take the blood." he said firmly, baring his injuries to her, "I would only wash it off anyways, this way it'll do more good, you can't hunt until the sun goes down again anyways. Don't bite me, mind you, or I'll knock you flying again. But take what you need, "  

[Faithofthefallen]

Jezabelle laid there for what seemed like hours, waiting for the final strike, the killing blow that would free her from the madness of her existence. She had crossed the line, of that she was certain. She had never lost control like that before, never attacked another soquili, not like her mother. She still felt that darkness, crouching just out of reach in the corners of her mind, waiting for her to slip even a little so it could reassert control. Her ribs felt bruised, her chest tight and heavy, all of the breath had been forced out of her lungs on impact, and she tasted the salty tang of blood in her mouth. Strangely the taste and smell of her own blood didn't drive her into a frenzy.

Why wouldn't he get it over with? She was ready, her only regret was that her mother would never know what had happened to her, they would never have the chance to make amends. But she wouldn't fight back, she would accept Ignis' judgement, she had tried to take his life, it was only fair that he be allowed vengeance. She didn't want to turn into a monster, didn't want to live her life fleeing from the evil inside of her, or worse yet, give in to it the way her mother had. She wouldn't, she couldn't, death would be a release.

His silence was driving her mad, she could hear his harsh breathing, but he seemed to be standing still, she could feel the intensity of his gaze as she slowly rolled over, nodding in response to his question, and got to her feet, hanging her head in submission. She bristled at his command, he didn't sound like he meant to attack.

"No!" she gasped, "I can't, it would be wrong. I can stand it until tomorrow night," No, she couldn't, she would hunt blindly if that's what it took to relieve the pangs, but Ignis needed to get out of the area before she surrendered to that primal side of herself. But his words struck a chord in her, made her think, could her problems truly be stemming from her inability to accept herself for who she was? She never had issues controlling herself as a foal, that much she remembered, she assumed her problems began with the onset of puberty, but was that the case? In her adventures as a foal she had slowly been exposed to more and more of the hate and intolerance of the rest of her kind until eventually, she simply couldn't take it anymore. She tried to smother her gruesome appetite, perhaps it was simply doing the same in return? "Ignis... How do you know so much about...about this about me, why do you want to help me?"