Part Two
Part Three
Jedidah paced along the riverbank, trying to sort out her... well, trying to sort out herself. Her encounter with the vampire Angelus had been days ago, and yet it felt like only hours since she fled the confrontation.
He had threatened her mother. He despised her family. And yet all she wanted to do was to see him again, to have another taste of that little sweetness he had given her. God, what was wrong with her? She wanted so much to be like her father, to do good and right and just things. And yet she couldn't control herself.
No, it wasn't that she couldn't, it was that she didn't want to control her hunger. She wanted to revel in her abilities, didn't want to hold herself back. The cravings were getting worse as she got older. And her mother's bottled kind was beginning to sour in her mouth. Not literally, but once one has had the best there is to offer, it was difficult to go back to second-best.
Mirage lay on her furs, curled up and innocent like a new-born kitten in her sleep. It was the only time her features softened, when she was lost in a sleep without dreams. The dreams she had... no mortal should ever have to suffer through anything like that.
A bell chimed softly, causing the cat to slowly lift her head from her light slumber. She knew what that bell meant. A crossroads.
She flicked her long tail and one of her "mirrors" melted into an image. Of Jedidah Nightroad. She was the middle child of one of the Oasis' protectors. Evil blinked with a small frown as she waved her paw, intent on checking if this was a mistake.
No mistake, the image remained and it was then that she knew that the hunger the little female had inherited had finally driven her to the line between good and evil. Oh how wonderful this would make Mirage feel, if she could feel any longer. But that part of her had died not long ago, so all she felt was a numb satisfaction that she finally had the most powerful source of evil near her grasp.
In truth, Jedidah and her siblings weren't nearly as powerful physically as many of the others in the Oasis. But what mattered was who they were, and what would happen should they turn against their family's good ways. If Mirage could use Jedidah's growing addiction to bend her to the ways of evil, it would crush Nightroad. He would probably never have children again, which would sour his relationship with his mate. Just a little bit of charming, a tiny bit of coercion, and she could destroy the strongest agents of good He had.
Mirage appeared a few paces away from the young otter, out of sight so that she could walk up, making her presence knows so that she wouldn't startle the young female.
"What troubles you, little one?" she asked softly, motherly.
Jedidah looked up at the sound of another's approach, watching as a large bobcat walked out. She was much larger than the cat that helped her father, almost as large as a wolf. But then, she was strange for a bobcat. Her tail was long and her fur shorter. She seemed friendly, and yet there was something... odd about her. As if something were missing.
"Nothing, I was just thinking."
"About that male you met not long ago, I gather," Mirage replied slowly, sitting not far from the demonic female, a knowing look in her eye. She was never one for really beating around the bush when it came to something she wanted to achieve, and she needed to get the conversation on Angelus as soon as she could, in case He found out what she was doing and tried to stop her. She needed this, and it would take more than just a former lover to crush her goals.
Jedidah blinked a couple of times in surprise at the cat's words, startled that she knew exactly what she was thinking of and of her encounter with the evil Angelus for that matter.
"How did..." she began but realized that that answer didn't really matter to her. However the cat knew about the encounter or that she was thinking about it didn't matter, because there was know changing the fact that she held that knowledge. The best thing 'Di could do would be to use that to her advantage.
"I don't know what to do."
Mirage smiled softly, her lips turning up a bit as she tilted her head to one side.
"Well, I can't really give you advice if I don't know what troubles you about it, now can I?" she replied rather matter-of-factly. This was going well. The young Nightroad was foolish and trusting. No doubt one day it would kill her.
But for now, it would help Mirage's plans.
'Di sat a few paces from the cat and ran a paw through her hair.
"Oh, yeah I guess that would help..." she mumbled back before sighing as she looked off a bit.
"I donno. I don't want to fight my hunger like my father and yet I'm not powerful enough to take out the male I met. And worse, I know he's going to do something to my family, the first chance he gets and I want to protect them from him so badly... I just don't know what to do," she explained, sighing again as her bi-colored gaze returned to the cat before her.
