Revisiting Days Long Past

[Daemon Sadi]

Golden eyes gazed at the familiar streets that they despised so much. This had once been home, or rather it had been where he'd been forced to return again and again to satisfy the whims of the High Priestess of Hayll, and even now, even with that bitch Dorothea gone, he could still call up the same dislike and he felt it with every fiber of his being, for this place was proof that despite the taint having been wiped from existence several years ago... some things never changed, and the existence of male dominating bitch queens was one of those things. In all truth, behind the bored expression he wore upon his face, there lay his true reaction, a disturbance within that he couldn't' quite quell, and a deep seated anger as he recalled past events.

Tap, tap tap, his black boots were made known as he crossed the pavement, but little attention was paid to them as passersby fixed their attention on his face instead, admiring him, longing for him....disgusting him. There was only one for whom he lived, and only one whom he would bed now, and no one was going to change that, ever. And those were his exact thoughts as he caught sight of it at long last, the palace, the center of all that was Hayllian.

The sight of it brought back memories he'd tried to do away with, tried to replace these past few years, and the more of them that found their way into the surface of his mind and drew his attention, the colder the air around him became.

[Jaenelle Angelline]

The air was cold, too cold, was the first thought that crossed Jaenelle’s mind as she appeared in Hayll. She had sensed Daemon’s presence in Terreille, near Hayll, and she wasn’t going to stay home and wait for him to return from whatever trouble he was going to inadvertently cause. No amount of snarling on his part would keep her away. She knew what terrible memories this place held for him, just as she knew what terrible memories Pruul held for Lucivar. Both the half-brothers had a place they despised, a place where they were treated as nothing more than slaves and breeding material. She could think of no reasonable excuse daemon could make for coming to this place that had caused him so many scars.

A quick glance around the area told her exactly what she needed to know. Several women were giggling together, gazing longingly in the direction of the palace. They were lucky they were still alive, and if the air got any colder, they might not be. That was exactly why she was here, exactly why she knew she should follow him when he took just a little longer than expected.

Starting down the cobbled street and ignoring all the wares for sale, although her fingers itched to pick up and examine something, she headed in the direction of the still-standing Hayllian palace that had probably been inhabited by yet another Queen. She didn’t pay much attention to Terreille these days, she realized with a twinge of regret. Someone had to make sure no one brought back the taint that had polluted so many. But then again, she no longer ruled a court, so she didn’t have any power over anyone. It was just the way she liked it. Normal was good. Normal was great.

Finally she caught site of the oh-so-familiar form of Daemon, the nearby shops and homes already becoming caked with a thin layer of frost. She slowed her pace slightly, knowing that he’d know she was there, and walked up behind him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Daemon.” she said to him, her voice soft, coaxing, relaxing, warm enough to melt a little of the frost gathering around him.

[Daemon Sadi]

The closer to the palace Daemon moved, the colder it became, until thin layers of frost began to form and cake against the windows of the various homes and shops he passed. People instinctively veered out of his path and watched him with wary eyes, some women nearby shivered and pulled shawls tight about their bodies in attempt to keep the chill from seeping into their bones, but of course that was impossible, the fierce cold, steadily growing as it was, permeated everything, Daemon Sadi was riding the killing edge.

And one thing, anything, the smallest of anythings could have set him off, could have leveled an entire block at the very least, though considering the memories he had of this place, if he lost control, more than a block of the city would be lost, likely the entire capital of Draega..and that was if he managed to reign back in time..not a likely occurrence all things considered. He'd faced so much, tried to reign himself in far too many times and without her, without Jaenelle, he was simply a ticking time bomb, a liability, a danger to the city, and yet still he moved onward, somehow hanging onto the smallest shreds of control.

And then it happened, a women boldly moved into his path, foolishly deciding that his looks were more than enough reason to approach him, despite the chill that continued to worsen, that obviously came from this sleepy eyed man. And he would have gladly killed her and taken this entire damnable city with her if it hadn't been for the sudden flickering presence he knew all to well, a comforting presence, the wearer of the Twilight's Dawn, Jaenelle Angelline, the only woman that could have spared the life of the worthless excuse for a person before him.

He was hers as surely as she was his, more so even, they complemented each other in a way that few would have thought possible before they had met one another, they had been born for each other, and it was her familiar psychic scent that gave him pause, that caused him to reign in on his anger though much of it still slipped through even that tight control. "Get out of my sight," he hissed at the woman who'd boldly crossed his path and now stood before him, blocking him from moving further..and no, he would not step around her.

A hand settled on his shoulder and her psychic scent became stronger still with that small bit of contact, offering the measure of comfort she had likely intended, that sorely needed measure of control to step away from the killing edge, something for which he silently thanked her. “Daemon,” she said softly and the tense set to his shoulders lessened slightly, though his eyes remained glazed and sleepy...dangerous. "Jaenelle?" he questioned mildly, trying to make it seem as though he had more control over himself then he did and yet knowing she could see right through him...she knew him to well not to.

[Jaenelle Angelline]

Daemon hissed at some woman in front of him, and with a single glance at her Jaenelle knew why she had bothered Daemon so much. Her chin was held high, her lips slightly open, and her eyes staring intently, admiringly, at Daemon’s face. When he hissed at her, however, her gazed changed to slightly wary, and flickered to the hand on his shoulder. Her lips turned down in a bit of a pouting frown, and she sulked off, unconsciously pulling her shawl tighter around herself.

Only then did Daemon speak, and he replied just as simply as she had started the conversation. His voice was mild; too light to match up to the frost and the glazed look in his eyes. He was riding the line of the killing edge, if not already on the edge because of this place, these people, and those memories she had once helped put back together. She knew him too well to believe that he was really as calm as he tried to make it seem.

Stepping forward twice she pivoted lightly on her heels until she stood in front of him, her intense blue eyes just simply watching him. Oh, he was close to the killing edge all right. The look in his eyes proved it all too well, and the people here were in trouble if they aggravated him any more, even by the smallest amount. “Why are you here?” she asked him just as softly as before, her tone neither accusing nor demanding. She didn’t talk to people that, unlike many Queens. At the moment, her Twilight’s Dawn jewel that was always set in the necklace at the base of her neck shifted colors until it was practically ebon gray, most likely reacting to the mood in the area.

[Daemon Sadi]

Two soft footsteps, eating up the ground and then she stood before him, his Jaenelle stood before him, and when their eyes met something shifted within him. Even now, even without her rank, her title, her court, she was still his Queen and he her consort, something those close to them were well aware of, for that was simply how he thought of them, how they had to be, had always been, and would always be as far as he was concerned. And of course he would do everything in his power to be with her and to protect her, something he'd proven to the highest extent when he'd seemingly given the sadist free reign against all they held dear, to protect them all, to buy Jaenelle time.

Even now he was still wary around them and they around him, he could feel it, though most had come to accept him as one of their own once again, but time did not completely heal all wounds..some things could not be healed at all, and a brush with the sadist, the mere thought of having such to deal with, for the sadist was something all its own, was something that few ever truly adjusted to completely. However the few that had tried, the fewer still that had succeeded, he held in the highest of regard, and this they new...even if he had never come right out and said it in such plain and direct words..such telling words...One could only ever give away so much of themselves and still stay intact in the ways that truly mattered most..and he had already strained those boundaries, already given more than any would have thought possible.

His thoughts strayed to those memories, to what he'd done for Jaenelle, for what she'd tried to do without telling him, and to the reactions they'd both received later on, that shift, how she drew away in those first few months, and how the others still looked at him as though he were an outcast from time to time..when they thought he wasn't looking. His fingers twitched almost imperceptibly and then suddenly the spell of his thoughts was broken as Jaenelle's soft, comforting voice reached his ears.

“Why are you here?” she asked him, and only she could have sounded so unassuming while saying such a thing, only she could have infused such meaning, no so many meanings, so many questions in those few simply words, that oh so simple phrase, and made it sound so casual, so natural and easy a thing to ask and to answer. It was of course neither, and his answer was, in and of itself, cryptic...but that was to be expected in a way, for this place was still the only thing kept to bars, the only thing that could draw him away from her emotionally if only for a time. She needed no to worry about..though likely his being here worried her enough as it was, even if she refused to let it show. "I've come to let go, if such a thing is possible," he replied, tone still mild and far too light for all the meaning it held. He could not let go now and likely never would be able to, not entirely, and this they both knew.

[Jaenelle Angelline]

Daemon’s reply was still too mild and carefree for the moment, and Jaenelle wasn’t sure what to make of his reaction. He was usually snarly and stubborn, but this… it seemed she was finally getting a taste of the dangerously calm Sadist. It was about time. The place, however, wasn’t too good. Hayll was free of the taint, but its problems still existed. The fledgling new Queen was young and not a good ruler as of yet. Hayll was still too vulnerable and easily broken to have any more scars in the near future. The Sadist returning, if anyone still living recognized him, would just only reopen a scar that took too long to heal.

“Some scars are too deep to heal.” she murmured to herself, thoughtfully, cocking her head to the side just a bit. Once, back when she went to school with Sylvia’s boys, one of them had once asked her why she always tilted her head as if listening to things far away that no one could hear. She had just smiled and laughed, shaking her head as she fluffed her blonde hair innocently. She had never known what she heard, exactly. It was always a whisper, sometimes in the common language, other times in the Old Tongue, and most of the time she had never heard the words clearly enough to understand a meaning. But the sounds were always there, floating on the winds. She had really just gotten used to them, learned to heed them when she could understand, and ignore them when she couldn’t.

“But,” she continued after a silent moment when the people around them had either scurried away or crept closer to hear the conversation, “letting go can only benefit and help.” She knew he really couldn’t, but it never hurt to give a person just a tiny nudge in the right direction… especially when a city was on the verge of being consumed in a ball of witchfire is tempers got out of hand.

She took a half step away from Daemon and held out her hand, palm up. “Will you try?” she asked, her midnight eyes watching him so closely, with her undivided attention focused completely on him. Saetan had often found her undivided attention rather unnerving, although he had never told her. She had sensed it, and had tried to compensate somehow for several months. Eventually realizing that there was nothing to do about it, she had stopped trying to change that small fact of who she was. For a moment, she wondered if Daemon had ever had the same feelings as Saetan.

[Daemon Sadi]

Jaenelle spoke her soft voice coaxing him to agree, but he was not yet ready to let go. Try...he could try, but it would be a half-hearted attempt, if even that was possible. He sighed inwardly, sometimes his little witch asked far too much of him, but he was used to it for, in her own way, she always had, even as a child. Then it had just been in the form of questions that no man would have answered when a child was asking them, or anyone else for that matter, and with age, what she asked of him became more and more difficult. He wondered if she noticed this or if it was all done unconsciously as so much else was for her.

And then those midnight eyes were fixed on him, Jaenelle and Witch stared at him, one and the same, her palm extended toward him. That gaze, that undivided attention, it should have unnerved him as it did to all others who encountered it, but it didn't. No, he'd accepted her long ago, and come to terms with what he had accepted when he'd first met her. He knew what she was and what she was capable and still he loved her, still he embraced all of her wholeheartedly, and he wasn't about to change and back down now.

Her palm was still stretched out to him face up. “Will you try?" she had asked. Would he?..perhaps, he couldn't say for sure...not in all honest, and they of all people needed to be honest with one another, and so he opted for silence as he reached out and placed his own hand in hers. The thaw had arrived and the chill was starting to lessen, though it would likely be too much to ask for it to vanish from being completely, but in a way, that was answer enough.

[Jaenelle Angelline]

Jaenelle watched Daemon think things through, and although his hesitation was only for a second or two, to her it seemed like eons. She could almost tell exactly what he was thinking, too. Whether he could really let things go or not. He wouldn’t lie to her, just like she wouldn’t lie to him. True, they would constantly snarl at each other and pick harmless fights, but the fights wouldn’t last longer than a few hours. If they did, then someone would push them to make up before nightfall.

As Daemon placed his hand in hers without saying a word, she completely understood his silence. He wasn’t sure, and for that she couldn’t blame him either. It had taken her far too long to let go of her past and childhood scars, but she eventually had. She wouldn’t have been where she was today if she hadn’t. It would take Daemon much longer, she knew, to get over his past scars since they lasted 1,700 years. Hers were just twelve years.

Lacing his fingers through hers, she allowed a small smile to cross her face. Just letting go of his anger was the first step to healing, and if anyone needed to heal it was him. Noticing for the first time that the chill had lessened and people had almost stopped staring at them, she allowed herself to smile just a little bit more. Eyeing the stores and other places that lined the block with not very well hid interest, she turned back to Daemon. “Now, anything interesting here?” she asked him, the feral gleam that always came into her eyes at the prospect of shopping appearing swiftly. “I must admit that I’m a little short on books. That one you gave me based on Khary was excellent.”

[Daemon Sadi]

Daemon groaned inwardly at the swift change of subject, and would have been glad for it had it not involved shopping, for one had never truly shopped until they'd done so with Jaenelle. Was she serious? He glanced from her to the various shops lining the way, and when his gaze returned to her he relented, they would end up in a store sooner or later and he supposed now was as good a time as any.

"You're always short on books," he commented, "And while I'm glad you enjoyed the last book I bought you, I do wonder where the ones that came before that ended up." He knew quite well she'd read them...now he was simply stalling, though eventually they'd be looking at books and he'd be all but invisible unless she decided to consult him for his opinion on any particular book.

Actually in all truthfulness he knew exactly where most of her reading materials had disappeared to when she'd finished as from time to time he'd walk into Saetan's study and find the High Lord absorbed in reading them, though when noticed the man would quickly put them away and cough, or do something else to show his embarrassment. Amazingly Jaenelle still hadn't made good on trying to get Saetan to announce to the coven what he spent his time reading.

[Jaenelle Angelline]

Jaenelle’s eyes sparkled in silent amusement as Daemon voiced his thoughts on where her books might end up. “You know very well where they go.” she replied, unable to keep a small smirk from crossing her lips. “The romance ones, at least. Though,” she added after a moment with a soft sigh, “those did get boring after a few years.”

Deciding that she actually did need more books, and that she had successfully brought Daemon away from the killing edge, she took a few steps down the street away from the palace that was in full view in front of them. Turning back when she realized that Daemon wasn’t following, she gave him a few seconds of silence, deciding that he needed it. Then she took another step and pulled him after her by their still joined hands, unable to stop herself from laughing softly at the action.

“By the way,” she asked after a moment, something she had to buy suddenly coming to mind. “Do you have any idea what we should get Morghann for the baby? We do have about seven months to decide, but I don’t want to wait too long.”