Wounded Animal (Jessamine and Karl)

Jessamine had been much changed since she had been living here in the Hive with Karl, it was something she had never wished her life to be, being lived out in a place like this, all she had wanted was to find someone, marry them and achieve her dream of being a teacher of english, it was the only thing she had thought of since she was little. When she was called into Priesthood...her heart had been broken but she had formed a new dream, and her life had moved on.

Now, now what was left for her now she was like this?

Sighing softly she sat down on her little makeshift room in the hive, she had gathered a few human odds and ends and placed them around the rock so that she could live happily in here, otherwise she felt too much like an animal, too inhuman. Gently she poked her fangs and sighed softly, she had become a creature that she had been taught to hate and fear...how was she supposed to deal with that?

It seemed that Karl, had become more revengeful than herself, every time she tried to calm him, to tell him that they should just leave the cities and try and start their lives anew, he shut her down and pushed her away. So now, now she had stopped trying, he could do what he wished but she would not be a part of it any more.

He was beginning to change from that beautiful caring man she had grown to love during her time as a Priestess and she didn't know what to do, should she allow herself to change with him? Or once more attempt to stop him becoming so dark.

Karl had never wanted to be a Priest. He had only ever wanted to help his family out being a farmer. He wanted to help them tend the fields and hopefully help the humans take back the lands that had been broken during the vampire wars. It was a romantic view of the harsh life, he knew, but it was a view he had always cherished. When the abilities that marked him as a Priest candidate began to manifest he had been devastated and tried to hide his abilities.

He had only become a Priest when a vampire horde had killed his family and whole village, his abilities the only things keeping him alive.

Since then he had dedicated himself to the singular goal of winning the war against the vampires, to keeping people safe. He had gained acceptance and friends within the order. Including Robert and Jessamine. Robert had always been his best male friend, even though he constantly teased him by referring to him as Bob. Jessamine had always been his best friend overall though, as well as his own forbidden fruit.

As a Priest he had been forbidden to love but he had nurtured the feeling for her.

But it was all different now. The Priests, Robert, had turned their backs on them and left them for dead. Instead he and Jessamine had been turned into human vampires... the very enemy of the Priesthood. And he liked it that way. They had forgotten him, they had forgotten her, in just a few short weeks. But they kept on going, beating back the Vampires and penning them into reservations. It was monsterous that they were to be treated like animals.

Knocking on Jessamine's door, he slowly opened it and poked his head round to see her little accomodation within the hive,

"Jessmine." he whispered to her, "May I come in?"

Jessamine blinked a little bit, she could hear Karl coming along the corridor although he was quite far down it, although her abilities were nowhere near as good as they should have been, she being captured only a few months after she had begun her training. Sometimes she missed not being able to hear all of the little annoying sounds around her, because she found them so very irritating when she was trying to relax and calm down.

She wondered why he was coming to speak to her, they had a row a few days ago and since then she had been trying to stay out of his way until he calmed down and had gotten something to eat. As of yet, Jessamine had only fed twice, and she hated to do so, so most of the time she wasn't very strong, or in a position to fight if it did indeed come to that.

"Of course." she smiled softly, although they fought, she was lonely, and she liked to spend time with Karl, he was one of her closest friends and she was just glad she wasn't down in this place all on her own, she had him beside her, and that made it not so bad in her eyes "You don't really have to ask you know, I can hear you coming down the corridor."

Sitting down in the little matress filled well in the rock she used as her bed, she patted the space beside her for Karl to sit in;

"Is everything alright?" she asked softly.

Karl could tell that Jessamine had once again refused the food that had been offered to her by one of the many weak willed humans who had become vampire familiars over the years. He himself found no problem in drinking their blood to feed himself. They were weak willed and weak minded, unfit to live with the strong vampires. But Jessamine had always had a much higher opinion of such weak willed people. Thought that they were worth something despite the fact that they gave nothing to society. At least as familiars they were able to provide sustainence. He smiled a little bit and tipped his hat to her as he entered,

"Thank you my friend." he said as he stepped inside. He wanted, needed, to talk to her. The vampires were all well and good but they couldn't speak back even though they understood his words and followed them as commands. He chuckled a little bit and cocked his head to the side, "Just the corridor? Tut tut, you've been slacking in your exercises to control your Priest powers haven't you?"

He was just having a little bit of a tease an they both knew it. Seeing she wanted him to sit down beside her, he did so with a small smile,

"As alright as it can be considering we're in a vampire hive you mean?" he teased her lightly with a sly wink before smiling faintly, "I just want to talk with you, be with you. I think I'm going to try and teach some vampires english... just so we're not constantly deafened by their shrieking."

Jessamine knew that Karl spent a lot of time with the vampires, where as she didn't, she didn't like being around them to be quite honest even though they would do what she asked them to, there wasn't anything much she wanted to ask them to do, she didn't want food and they couldn't go out in the day to get her the items that she wanted for her little room. The only people she did talk to were the familiars, to ask them to do things for her occassionally.

"I'm not a priest any more." she grinned lightly "And so I feel as if I have no need to train my powers, it's not like I'm going to be fighting anything any more...."

Of course she did enjoy teasing Karl, and perhaps, she realised that she was going to have to fight humans someday, just to survive, however, that day was not today, and it wasn't going to be any time soon either, and so, she wasn't worrying about that just yet, she was more interested in catching up on her reading, finally, books that weren't something to do with the Bible or the scriptures.

"Yes as alright as it can be living in almost constant darkness surrounded by scary shrieking vampires." she echoed with a small smile "Sometimes I wonder why we don't leave here Karl, sunlight doesn't harm us in small doses, we could move somewhere else, a house, somewhere with windows."

Sighing lightly she moved so that she was laying with her head in Karl's lap, it was times like these she needed a hug, and to be honest, she'd not recieved many of them since this happened.

Karl chuckled a little bit when she reasoned that she wasn't going to need to fight anymore. To be honest he hoped that what she was saying was true but at the same time he doubted it very much. Likely, they would in fact have to fight again. Probably multiple times and against people that they had once known. If their existence became public knowledge then they would be hunted down by the other Priests,

"No you're not but you still have the abilities. I'm still using mine from time to time." he told her honestly before chuckling a little bit and nodding his head slightly, "That's right for now, at least. I hope it continues this way for a long time."

But the simple fact was that they were going to be attacked for what they were and it was probably going to be very messy. Until then though he was willing to act as she suggested. Although he doubted he would ever be able to have a little house in the badlands like she was suggesting. Much too like being a farmer and since his family's deaths he had no desire for such a life,

"We live here because, despite the noise and the poor company, it's safer than living out there. People would attack us Jessamine." he reasoned before chuckling a little bit, "I was thinking something a little more mobile but still with room to make our own. A train perhaps?"

When she rested her head in his lap he was momentarily unable to think of what to do. He then relaxed and instinctively began to stroke her hair to try and comfort her.

Jessamine was glad that Karl wasn't thinking about going off to fight someone right now, if he was he would most likely get her to train up as well to help him with what he was trying to do. In all fairness she probably would help him, regardless of what it was he was trying to do, however, it wasn't because she would agree with it, it would be because she simply wanted to be able to help him, to make sure that he was safe.

"I hope so too." she sighed softly "It's kind of nice...isn't it? Not to wake up and think that you might be dead by the end of today, to think you don't have to fight any more, especially for people who don't really appreciate what you're doing for them."

Of course she was referring to the higher ups of the church who comissioned them in the first place, they hardly ever said thank you, only some of them did, and now, she was glad that she didn't have to help them any more. Even though, she secretly was still looking for a solution to the problem with the vampires and humans, in a different more peaceful way.

Pouting softly, Jessamine attempted to cover up her upset with a fake representation of it, oh how she hated it here, she would have given anything to leave.

"But we haven't done anything wrong..." she whispered softly, tracing idle patterns on the fabric of Karls trouser leg "I suppose we could get a train, but then people will attempt to stop it and when they do they'll find us and we'll be worse off than we are now..."

When he began to stroke her hair, she purred happily, and felt herself beginning to feel slightly better.

Karl was training himself still because he knew that a fight was going to break out some time soon and it would be easier to simply step up existing training. He smiled a little bit when she remarked that it was nice to be at peace for the first time in ages. He simply nodded with a small smile,

"Yeah it's different to be sure." he admitted with a little chuckle, "To be honest I never thought that I would live this long. It's strange but I only ever thought about the war and my friends. Never the future. Probably because, like I said, I didn't think I'd live through the war at all."

When she mentioned the higher ups in the Church he growled a little bit. Even from inside the Hive they could hear what was going on through the familiars. Apparently the ruling clergy was ruling against the remaining Priests. Causing them a heck of a lot of pain in the process of fazing them back into a society that had always seen them as a necessary evil. He sighed a little bit when she tried to hide her upsetness from him. She should have realised by now that she couldn't hide her emotions from him,

"Since when has that mattered in rulings of the Church Jessamine?" he asked with a bitter chuckle, "They don't care about what's right. They care about themselves."

He chuckled a little bit as he played with her hair gently,

"I like trains." he pouted childishly before giving an exaggerated sigh, "Fine, no trains."

Jessamine was more than a little upset to hear that Karl hadn't thought that he was going to live past the war, although if the Queen hadn't appeared when she did both of them would be dead now...so in a way his thinking had been completely correct. Depressing...but realistic, she supposed.

"I have to admit, when I was summoned to be a Priest I thought my life was over, everything I'd planned and wanted was...null and void. It still is now I guess but, I can think what I want, wear what I want...it's better in a way." she hummed.

The growl that Karl gave made Jessamine shiver a little bit, half out of attraction and half out of fear for what he might do if someone from the church crossed his path in the future. It would not be a pleasant meeting that much would be for sure.

Part of her however wanted to see her fellow Priests again, she missed them, but if they did meet once more, it would surely end in her destruction.

"I know they do but...surely the people should know what they're doing is wrong? What they're teaching is wrong. That's why I found it so hard to accept priesthood, I basically had to abandon all of my thoughts on life, and adopt this new set which...which most of it was total bullshit!" she sighed aggrivatedly

Grinning she gently poked Karls knee;

"Well...you learn something new everyday. It is strange seeing you pout, your fangs make your lips stick out." Jessamine teased, gently poking his fangs through his lips.

Karl understood what that was like. He hadn't been called by the Priests because he had hid his abilitiy with his family's help. But by the time he had become a Priest his entire life had been rendered back to null. There was nothing left for him outside of being a Priest except maybe becoming a bandit of some description and he had chosen to honour the memories of the fallen instead,

"All I ever wanted was to be a farmer. A dirt farmer as people like to call them." he told her ruefully before shaking his head with a sad little smile, "Well aside from heading back to the Priesthood I suppose you're free to do anything right about now. You can go your own way... if, you know... you want..."

Honestly he didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay with him, to be with him now that there was no creed or Church standing in their way. Smirking a little bit, he noticed how she shivered in response to his little growl. Seemed that his little Jessamine was a little bit attracted to the rough sound. That was information to file away for another time perhaps. He smirked a little bit at her little outburst,

"The people follow the Church because the Church has protected them for hundreds of years." he told her with a little shrug, "And they have entrenched themselves well. We would be painted as demons so even reasonable arguments would be considered the work of satan. The people... cannot be reached with words Jessamine."

He stuck his tongue out at her quickly before resuming his half-stoic stance again with a small smirk as he listened to her. When she poked his fangs through his lips he bared them at her with a wink,

"All the better to bite you with my dear..." he joked as he closed his mouth again, "Don't get too used to seeing me pout. It likely won't ever happen again!"

Jessamine was happy to hear things about Karl's old life, she wanted to know more about him after all and they both didn't really talk about their lives before the preisthood claimed them, but maybe this would be the chance for them to do so. They weren't priests any more, and so, perhaps they could reach for the dreams they had wanted before they were summoned.

"A dirt farmer?" she asked with a small smile "I think you would have been good at that. I wanted to teach classical English, I've been asking the familiars to try and gather all of my books from my house, it's taking a while but...some of my favourites are here."

Although they were hardly first editions, Jessamine was just glad that she would be able to read those works again, even the ones she didn't like before, were now quite invaluable to her. When he said that she could go her own way she blinked and shook her head, why would she want to leave? Did Karl want her to go...? Surely that wouldn't be so?

"No...I want to stay with you, I think it would be a good idea if we stuck together, don't you?" she asked quietly.

Realising she had gone on a little bit of a rant, she had the decency to look more than a little embarrassed. Of course she knew that all of these points were true, and that even though her hopes for getting her normal life back were growing again, they were probably never going to come true, much to her dissappointment whenever she thought on them too long.

"So we are condemned to a life living in the darkness." she whispered quietly, for someone who...for most of her life had loved wide open spaces, and the light of the sun, this was almost like hell for Jessamine "Do you think that the other Priests will come looking for us, to see if we are still alive?"

Grinning happily when Karl seemed to be letting his rather stoic appearance slip for a few moments, Jessamine thought that he looked even more handsome when he smiled at her, but, he quickly returned to his normal expression, which, she didn't mind at all.

"As if you would." she grinned, referring of course to him biting her, she didn't know what would happen if they did that!

There had been lots of dreams and hopes before the Priesthood but Karl had found that being a Priest left no room in your life for anything else. He honestly pittied Robert, a man who had left behind a woman who loved him and a daughter. And even when he was sent back into society he had no doubt that Robert would be unable to go back to them. Even now, fully removed from the Priesthood, Karl wasn't sure he would ever be as good at anything as he was at killing vampires,

"Yup, singularly boring and unappealing to a lot of people but when I was younger it was my dream. Specifically to be the first one to actually grow something out there." he said with a hollow chuckle, "An english teacher you say? Well your certainly have the patience for children, something the 'good lord' never blessed me with an abundance of."

When she said that she wanted to stay with her he let out a very audible and noticable sigh of relief before smiling a little bit wider. He grinned a little bit, happier now that he knew she wanted to stay with him,

"Yes I think we should stay together." he told her quietly as he reached down and took her hand in his own, "I don't know what kind of monster I'd be if I was going through this without you Jessamine..."

She was looking embarassed now and it made her look rather cute he had to say. Smirking a little bit, he winked at her to let her know that it was okay. He hoped that they were able to have some kind of life now that they had changed and it was nice to know that he wasn't the only one who hoped for such a thing,

"Oh I don't know about that. I spent a few hours up top, on the outside, as the sun was coming up. It tickled but nothing harmful." he told her with a smile before his face fell into a scowl, "They're not interested in saving us. All signs, evidence and past experiences say that we're dead. Not even Robert came back for us... he lost his grip... but he never came back after me or you."

When she teased him about biting her he opened his mouth and licked his new fangs,

"Oh? You don't believe I would?" he purred to her huskily with a raised eyebrow, "But you look so tasty... good enough to eat even!"

Jessamine smiled softly, she would have liked to have seen Karl working with the land, out in the hot sun perhaps with his shirt unbuttoned. Of course she wanted to be able to imagine these things all day long, however, she knew it was inappropriate. She wondered...if it was even possible for her to feel aroused, technically was she dead? Was she still even able to have relations like that? Could she still get pregnant? All these questions had been circling her mind for a while now.

"Oh I wasn't wanting to teach children, I wanted to teach teenagers, young adults, about classical English from long ago." she stated with a small smile "Although I did want children of my own, since I was little I thought I would be a good mother, I guess now I'll never know."

Hearing his little sigh of relief, Jessamine smiled lightly, it was nice to know she wasn't the only one that was happy to have company here, even if Karl seemed a lot happier to be around the familiars and vampires. It wasn't the same, or, she liked to think it wasn't the same as being in her company, but she didn't really think it was something she needed to ask.

"Don't say that." she whispered earnestly, gently gripping Karl's hand "I have faith that you wouldn't allow this to change you into something youre not, and you are most definately not a monster."

When he spoke so harshly about the other Priests she hung her head, she liked to think that they still cared about them, still spared them a thought now and again, but it was obvious that they probably had their own problems what with what was going on now, the Priests were going to be rounded up and removed from service, but what would happen to them then?

"I...I should have known I suppose." she whispered softly, upset at having to confront this reality "But it was just nice to think that they were sparing us a few thoughts, and might have come back to see this place."

Laughing softly she moved so that she was looking up at Karl with her head still in his lap, instead of facing out across the room, it was times like this she had so sorely wanted when she was a priest, but, there was none to be found back then, she guessed this was one of the good sides to what happened.

"Sorry Urban, you're going to have to find your food somewhere else." she teased.

Karl had always had dreams like that though. Where most people dreamt of amazing, fantastic, things happening to them, Karl dreamt of having a normal, average, life. Maybe it was because he longed to go back to when that had been his life? He noticed that she was looking at him rather intently and was a little bit surprised when he noticed just how intently she was looking at him. And exactly where she was looking at him,

"Ah teenagers... yes I think you'd need even more patience given the number of young admirers you would likely receive." he teased her lightly before nodding in agreement, "I'm not entirely sure about having children now... we are still alive after all. The vampires live and we're just half bloods... who knows? We might make a mother out of you yet."

He could tell that his little sigh of relief had actually helped with some of her tension too. It made him smile happily. Honestly, he wanted her to be more relaxed around him seeing as they were closer than anyone else in this hive. When she gripped his hand he smiled faintly,

"I'm glad that you have faith in me, even if I don't." he told her quietly, "I shall try... try to stay away from the darkness that would turn me into a monster."

Karl had no illusions that the other Priests still cared about them. Knowing Robert's trademark nightmares, his last sight of his friend was probably what kept him up at night. But what stung him the most was that they thought about them but had chosen their duty over their friendships,

"I'm sure they do think about us but is that enough?" he asked her quietly, shaking his head, "Our friendships were not enough for them to go against their duty were they? They were told not to go back for us most likely... so even though they think about us they willingly choose not to find us. Not to seek us."

Playing with her hair still as she turned so that she was looking up at him he grinned a little bit. He smirked down at her before closing his mouth to cover his fangs,

"Awwww but I just wanted a little nibble..." he pouted again, "Sure I can't have a little nibble on your earlobe or something?"

- The thread ends with Karl and Jessamine's conversation concluding on a happy note, with both of them feeling better about having discussed some of their issues and feelings. Karl is called away to do some jobs for the vampires, and Jessamine retires to bed to do some reading and then to fall asleep.