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Chapter 6:
The Voice Of An Angel
{*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^} *-Izzy-*-Izzy-*-Izzy-*-Izzy-*-Izzy-* {*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^} Five Years EarlierUhh...w-wha...
Ugh...
W-what...what the hell?
Ugh...good god...what the hell happened? She feels atrocious. Her head feels muffled like it's filled with cotton and her breathing is shallow and shaky. She tries to take a deeper breath but it hurts and it feels far too hard. There's a sharp pain and it almost feels like there's something sitting on her chest. It kind of reminds her of the times she had a broken rib. She didn't think she broke anything recently but...well...hell...she can't always keep up with that kind of thing, happens often enough it just kind of blurs anymore.
Whatever...They break, they'll heal, she's worked through worse.
It's not just her breathing that's off though, seems like near everything feels off, weird. Her head feels foggy and slow to react as if she has to force herself to focus or even think and her senses feel bizarre, dull and muffled. It's as if everything's being filtered through a tunnel, sounds seem jumbled and echo-y and just aren't really registering and she smells and tastes a weird metallic type tinge that she can't quite place.
She tries to shift, to move but doesn't even manage so much as a twitch. Her limbs feel like they each weigh a couple hundred pounds and somehow like her entire body fell asleep. She has that itchy, twitchy, pins and needles feeling like when your foot's asleep but it's everywhere...everywhere, everywhere. She swears she even feels it in her hair.
Oh good lord...
What the hell did she drink last night?
She must have overdone it...like several, several times over. She feels fuzzy and muddled and shaky and more than a little queasy and like even something as simple and fundamental as breathing takes a huge, near insurmountable amount of effort.
Ugh...crap...what happened?
Bad patrol? Drinking away a bad patrol?
That's not really her style. Usually she just toughs it out not wanting to risk being caught unawares or being anything less than fighting fit if there's something she needs to deal with in a hurry but everyone has their limits. Feels like last night she hit hers. Actually it feels like it hit her full force and 'it' was a freaking truck.
Ugh...
She took a slightly deeper breath, trying to shift at least a bit, a faint little whimper slipping out, gasping at the bizarre pins and needles feeling intensifying, immediately trying to back track, to stifle the gasp as it made her lungs burn and her head throb, something suddenly clicking in her foggy, confusion addled, muddled brain.
Oh...Oh crap...
O-ohhh...okayy...uh...y-yeah...that's...that's not a hangover feeling. That is a drugged feeling. That is the feeling when you're coming out from under sedation. Very powerful sedation.
W-why was she sedated?
Who sedated her?
Where is she?
She takes a deep breath, pushing through the sharp pain in her lungs and the weight on her chest, trying to take in some kind of information through her shoddy, disjointed senses. Something, anything.
She's not in her room. She's not in the med bay- she hears no equipment beeping and that is most definitely NOT the antiseptic Hospital-ly type smell. She's not getting any kind of medical feel or indicators...but she is getting other ones. Kind of a lot of them...they just make no sense.
It smells odd; earthy, musty, almost wild...it reminds her of a zoo or an animal den. She hears movement, shuffling, murmurs and muffled voices along with scratching and echoing footsteps. They sound close but muffled...like she's hearing them through a door or the walls.
W-well...if the sounds are coming through a door that means she has a door between her and whatever else...t-that's...almost something...she thinks.
She doesn't hear anything nearby so she's fairly sure wherever she is she's alone. Which is very good cause she sure as hell isn't in any shape to face any kind of threat right now.
S-so she's been drugged and it's not by the institute medics...
She's been drugged, she's totally out of it and her senses are completely shot. She has no idea where she is or how she got here or who put her here o-or anything else. S-she thinks she's alone...at least it sounds like she is but again her senses are shot so...umm...y-yeah...
Oooh crap...
Oh this is bad...this is really, really bad.
O-okay...j-just take stock...All you can do right now...
She took another shallow, shaky breath, trying to turn away from the panic she can feel welling up, trying to approach it logically. She knows that's the only way she stands any chance here. Wherever the hell 'here' is...
Kay here goes nothing...
She's fairly sure she's alone- she doesn't hear anything to indicate anyone nearby and...well...honestly she's just gonna have to hope she is right cause if she's not and there's a threat nearby there is not one damn thing she can do about it right now. If there is she's dead, that's it. So she's going with she's alone and hoping like hell she's right.
Moving on...
It's cold and damp and stale feeling, she's on the ground. It feels gritty, rough and dirty. It's cold and hard. It feels like stone, through the haze of the odd pins and needles feeling she can feel the scratchy texture of the stone catching on the back of her arms and on the little band of her lower back where her shirt's rucked up.
W-wait...where's her jacket? She always has her jacket...where-o-okay you know what fashion can wait for a minute here...Even if there was ever a moment she needed her signature lucky leather jacket it'd be now...
Drugged and incapacitated, sprawled out on a hard stone floor, without her jacket or any other form of protection, hoping like hell she's alone. Wild, earthy smells and echoing, jarring, disjointed sounds.
Oh crap...
S-she has to get more information...no matter what.
She gasps sharply, pushing through the pain and nausea, trying to force herself to move, opening her eyes. She shifts herself onto her side, immediately spasming, instinctively curling into a ball in a vain, hopeless attempt to protect herself against the sudden onslaught of pain and sensory overload. Everything suddenly ratchets up to one hundred. She snaps her eyes closed at the assault of blindingly bright light that feels like knives piercing her skull, sounds are blaring and pounding into her head, the wild, zoo type smell intensifies to a near nauseating level.
She cries out at the sudden spike of the feel of the pins and needles type sensation, it shifts from tingly to sharp and stabbing, lungs feel like they're on fire, she feels near overcome with a wave of nausea and her head is throbbing and spinning like she's on a tilt-O-whirl. She's dizzy and ice cold and shaking with a tremor that goes clear to the bone, making her teeth chatter and her muscles clench so much it's nearly unbearable.
O-oh god...what the hell w-
"Shh...Easy there, easy..." A voice murmurs seemingly from nowhere.
She feels a shift in the air beside her, someone moving close, settling next to her. Oh god...she was wrong, she's not alone. Someone's here. She knows she should move away, try to face them, try to fight or at the very least look them in the eye but she can't. She can't do anything but huddle into a ball and hope the death is relatively quick.
Oh god this is it, she's gonna d-
There's a gentle touch to her shoulder. She flinches away from it before near instantaneously relaxing into it. It's warm and soft and seems to cut through her overloaded senses and the raw nerves, soothe them, quiet the pain and bone deep terror. It trails from her shoulder over to her back, movement slow and soothing.
"Shh...Okay...you're okay. You're alright. Just breathe...just breathe through it...it'll pass... You're gonna be alright...you are...just breathe...You got this..." The voice whispers, trailing off into a soft, soothing, musical hum, almost like a lullaby.
It's soft and gentle and yet there's a depth and strength to it that she can feel deep down to her very core. It reminds her of windchimes and sunshine. It feels like it's seeping into her, soothing the raw nerves like a salve. Her muscles begin to relax, the tension easing, tremor slowly dissipating. Little by little her breathing becoming easier, slowing and evening out from shallow gulps to a slow, deep, measured rhythm.
She relaxes more, kind of unclenching, moving out of her protective ball, shifting again onto her back, stretching out. She feels shifting again, the person with the soothing voice turning more towards her, lightly lifting her head off the hard, cold, dirty floor, shifting something underneath her head before settling it back down. It's soft and warm and much more comfortable.
She feels a delicate touch along her forehead, fingers brushing her curls away from her face, carding gently through her hair. It's comforting and tender. She feels the gentle warmth enveloping her, shifting over her, making her feel almost like she's stretched out under the warm spring sun. She swears she can smell rain and flowers and freshly cut grass.
She hums softly, leaning into the touch, letting her tension ease, focusing on nothing but her breathing, the pleasantly inviting warmth under her cheek, slow ministrations of the gentle fingers carding through her hair and the soft, beautiful sound of the voice's gentle, melodic tune.
It was surprisingly easy to do...
The voice isn't one she's ever heard- unlike anything she's ever heard. The sound is soft and soothing. A lyrical warmth and gentleness in it that managed to cut straight through the pain, through the fear and panic and sensory overload and all of the darkness. It didn't just cut through the relentless bombardment...it seems to completely drown it out, drive it back into the darkness, push it away from her and keep it at bay. It seems like so much more than just a sound...it's like a physical thing...but even more so. Like something she can feel deep down in her very soul.
It wraps around her, envelopes her, making her feel safe and warm and protected. She has no idea how a mere 'sound' and a soft light brush of fingers could do that but she is so very grateful that it does.
She gives a soft, faint sigh, shifting more comfortably onto her back, pleasantly surprised not to receive any protests from her previously aching muscles. Groaning faintly she stretches, hands coming up, rubbing at her face, feeling suddenly relaxed and oddly at peace.
"You know if you could figure out how to sell that you'd make a freaking killing..." she mumbled.
Just above her there's a soft warm little laugh. It's pretty and sweet and musical and Izzy finds herself unable to stifle the soft smile the pretty sound elicits, nor the faint breath of her own laugh that slips out as if in answer.
"Eh thought about putting out an album but I'm not exactly the pop princess type."
Izzy chuckles, shrugging, shifting faintly on her comfy headrest.
"Yeah well just saying th-...umm..."She trailed off as her eyes flutter open.
She totally blanks on whatever playfully snarky comment she was saying, the words totally escaping her...right along with the rest of the English language (And all five other languages she speaks). Every last thing in her head just screeches to a halt...all of it replaced with one single word.
"Woah..."
Oh...woah...
O-okay...so, umm...woah.
D-did...did she die?
It kinda really felt like she was dying there for a minute and though she's never really gave much serious thought to the afterlife that seems to be the only explanation she can come up with...it must be.
How else would you explain her coming face to face with a freaking Angel?
The woman is leaning over her, a bright, blazing prismatic light dancing around her, fading everything else into nothing...Not that she'd even bother to waste even so much of an ounce of her focus on anything but the stunning vision above her.
The woman is an absolute knockout.
Soft, dizzyingly beautiful features, an adorable little faintly upturned nose, light strawberry colored lips, and without a doubt the most mesmerizing spring green eyes Izzy has ever seen in her entire life. It's as if someone somehow conjured up a perfect angelic embodiment of springtime and sunshine.
A delightfully chaotic cascade of flame red hair beautifully frames the stunningly angelic face, silky, glimmering strands falling down, spilling over her shoulder a few brushing lightly against Izzy's cheek, tickling her nose. It seems rather odd till Izzy registers the odd angle and her comfy perch, realizing her head is lying practically in the woman's lap, settled comfortably on her leg.
Umm...O-okay...
So...just a quick rundown; S-she went from excruciating pain, confusion, fear and terror to no pain, feeling relaxed and warm and content and she is waking up with her head resting in the lap of the single most breathtakingly beautiful girl she has ever seen in her entire life...
Uh...y-yeah...she must have died.
She died and is now in heaven... And hey what do you know? Heaven's totally good with the gay thing...
Good to know.
Also if this is her heaven it's pretty clear she was an even better person than she originally thought.
Oh wow...
Izzy gulps, not even daring to blink, fearing the vision will disappear. She reaches up, catching the woman's free hand, squeezing lightly. The woman's head tilts curiously, those shimmering green eyes shifting over Izzy half in concern, half amusement. She again gives that sunshine like laugh, warm and light, a soft little hint of a smile tugging cutely at the corner of her pretty strawberry pink lips, long graceful fingers lightly brushing Izzy's hair back, brow quirking gently.
"Hey...back with us Belladonna?"
Izzy swallows, squeezing her hand, blinking, giving a slight shrug, idly playing with her fingers.
"Back? How can I be back? I've never been to heaven..."
The woman gives a surprised breath of a laugh, head shaking faintly, gaze shifting around before turning back to Izzy, an apologetic sadness in those pretty spring green eyes.
"This is most definitely not heaven."
Izzy didn't like seeing the sadness in those pretty eyes...the personification of springtime and sunlight shouldn't be sad. She settled more comfortably, gaze shifting over the woman's beautiful features, again squeezing her hand, a slight smile tugging at her lips.
"Then how am I looking at an angel?"
The vision blinked in surprise, a pretty, distracting rosy blush blooming on her cheeks, soft musical laugh slipping out, glancing away, looking near shy.
"I-I'm not an Angel."
Izzy smirked, brow quirking,
"Yeah? Good to know..." she hums, gaze shifting over her slow and pointedly, lingering on her lips before moving back up, meeting her eyes, smirk tugging up a bit more.
"VERY good to know."
The pretty vision started, kind of flailing, shaking her head.
"Oh! I-I didn't mean it like tha-um...that's not...uh..." She trailed off on an adorably flustered little giggle, the pretty blush intensifying, glancing away, nervously pushing her hair back, tucking the shimmering flame like locks behind her ear that is now adorably pink from the enticing blush creeping clear up to the cute little points...
The points...
W-wait...
Izzy froze, everything suddenly slotting into place.
Faintly pointed ears, ethereally beautiful, the odd kaleidoscopic type aura blocking everything else out, the mesmerizing voice. The voice that seemed so much more than a voice...
Because it WAS so much more than just a voice...
It was Magic.
The woman was a Magic...going by the hypnotic song some kind of siren. She's a supernatural...a Monster.
She has no idea why a monster would help her. Maybe she thought she could gain her trust, trying to ingratiate herself to her. Hell maybe she just thought she was hot and she'd get lucky.
Not like she's never caught that look before in a fight (she knows what she looks like and she's not gonna pretend she doesn't). Hell she's used that to her advantage a few times. Most definitely not the first time she got that look...one of the first times she was actually looking back b-
Umm...b-but that was irrelevant.
The woman was a supernatural...a Siren...a Monster. A mind numbingly beautiful monster...with the voice of an angel and the face to match but she is a monster none the less.
She was a monster...
A monster who's lap Izzy is currently lying on, holding their hand, idly playing with their fingers.
Uh...c-crap...
Izzy swallowed, slowly releasing the woman's hand, arm shifting back down to her side, totally freezing, tensing, readying for the shift...the attack. The woman seems to sense the change in her, shimmering spring green eyes shifting back to Izzy, head tilting curiously. Those hypnotic eyes seem to take in everything, something flickering in the shimmering green depths something apparently clicking. A little flash of disappointment flickers in those pretty eyes, she shifts back faintly, other hand slipping away from Izzy, giving the slightest bit of a sigh, head shaking lightly.
"I'm not going to hurt you Belladonna."
"W-why do you keep calling me that? It's not my name. I'm-"
"Isabelle Lightwood; one of the twin eldest Lightwood children. One of the most admired alumni the Institute has ever produced and to most every Supernatural just about the very last Angelus they ever want to go toe to toe with...I know...trust me I know...Everybody knows. But that's kind of a lot to shout in an emergency and 'Isabelle' isn't all that uncommon of a name so we needed a short hand.
That's our codename for you..."
Izzy blinked.
"I have a supernatural Codename?"
"Yeah..."
Izzy huffed faintly, brow quirking unimpressed.
"Well it's a stupid codename."
The redheaded siren snorted, shrugging unconcerned, giving a flippant little wave.
"Hey I didn't come up with it. And besides it may be kinda hokey but it does at least fit and there are worse ones. Hell of a lot better than 'Golden Girl' in any case. Least ours is somewhat creative."
Izzy again freezes at the snide nickname.
No one calls her that...no one but...Dar-
She shifts to cover a shiver, a faint familiar blip of cold blue eyes and snide smirks with all the warmth and depth of a shark dancing at the back of her mind...
She takes a deep breath, going for confused, shrugging.
"Golden G-no one calls me that..."
Again the siren gave a faintly disbelieving snort, shrugging.
"Well that's what the haughty, obnoxious little priss who had you tossed in here was cackling."
"Wha-Tossed me in w-" Izzy begin blinking, shifting, finally pulling her gaze away from the sirens mesmerizingly angelic face, taking in her surroundings before again freezing.
W-wha-
What...
She gulped, feeling her mouth go dry, clumsily pushing herself up to a sitting position. Behind her she distantly registers a soft gasp, feels shifting and a soft, gently steadying hand on her shoulder. She knows she should pull away, push it away but in that one moment it just doesn't even begin to register to her...not with everything else that is suddenly registering.
She's lying on the ground of some kind of cell; the walls and floor are cold stone. It's nearly completely bare. Only things in the cell besides her and the Siren woman are two fold out cot type beds built into either wall, each with a ratty, worn, dirty looking bit of cloth that she supposed was to resemble a blanket. Scattered across the floor and piled in the corners she can see a smattering of straw and wood shavings like you'd see on the bottom of a barn or an animal enclosure- the zoo like smell suddenly clicks. It's hay and various kinds of animal bedding...the zoo feeling kind of seems to be a theme.
The entire front of the cell is like a Plexiglas window, a few holes along the very top for ventilation and a one foot by six inch wide metal insert flap about three feet off the ground, likely for passing through food and water. Outside the enclosure door she can see identical cells littering the wall facing her. They seem to be arranged around a circular bay type area with a burnished metal floor. In the other cells she sees creatures staring back at her. The kind of creatures she's been fighting against her entire adult life...
Monsters, demons, fae, werecrea-
Her mind stumbles, seemingly shifting back into drive- or overdrive- everything coming back in a sudden bombarding tidal wave of information.
Waking up almost like just now...confused, concussed and foggy. Pain and fear realizing she was locked in a freezer...then the memory of the fight...the new terror. The bite and the toxin flying through her system, the fear and heat and pain. Feeling like her body was burning from the inside and out. Trying to convince herself it was all in her head but knowing in her heart of hearts it wasn't.
The hopelessness and desperation at the thought of leaving her siblings, feeling like she was abandoning them. Knowing the kind of pain she was going to cause them and not being able to do a damn thing about it...thinking it could not ever possibly get worse than that...
And then it immediately getting worse...
Looking at her reflection, seeing those damnedable devil eyes staring back at her, mocking her from her own face...
Darcy FREAKING Reinier- the simpering, smarmy, repulsive wretch. The taunting...The smirks. Calling her a creature, taunting her, saying she brought this on herself. Gloating about going to 'comfort' Alec.
The flash of anger and bloodlust. Seeing red, throwing herself bodily at the door, clawing at it, rending the metal, trying everything she could to get to the vicious little snake. To rip the repulsive traitor apart with those goddamned vicious claws the repulsive wretch and her evil, mad scientist supernatural cohorts cursed her with.
The yellow cloud of mist that burned her throat and made her head spin. Gasping and struggling as she crumpled to the floor...
O-oh...
Oh god...
"Oh god...oh...no...nononononono..." she whispered, sobbing, swallowing dryly, feeling the nausea kicking back up, shivering, shaking her head, pulling her legs up in front of her, burying her face in her hands.
"Oh god...why couldn't they of just let me die? Why did th-"
"Shh...you're ok-"
Izzy jerked away from her, whirling to face her, glaring, fists clenched.
"The hell I am! Don't do that! Don't you dare do that. Don't touch me, don't spell me. Don't you dare come anywhere near me."
The Siren started, eyes going wide, freezing, holding her hands up placatingly, looking her over fearfully, like she's facing a caged, cornered animal.
Of course she is...that's exactly what she's facing...that's all she is n-
No. No it's not...s-she's not...
She never will be...
She feels a rolling sickness in her stomach at the thought. The siren shifts, bright eyes shimmering soft and deep, head tilting in what looks like genuine concern, one hand cautiously shifting forward.
"I-I wasn't-I was just help-"
"I don't need help from a god damned monster. Stay the hell away from me."
She swallowed, blinking, giving a slight, barely there nod.
"O-okay...sorry..." she whispered, pulling her hand back, shifting back a bit further, glancing away, tugging her legs up, kind of curling in on herself much like Izzy had just moments ago, idly picking at a thread on her pant leg.
Izzy feels a twinge of guilt at the hurt she catches in those soft spring eyes, at the near palpable wave of sadness she feels from the woman before quickly waving it off, dismissing it, pushing past it.
It's not real. She knows damn good and well it's not real. Just an act...a way to try to garner trust or gain an upper hand. It's nothing more than an act, a manipulation, just a cheap trick to confuse a person, get them on their side. A way to get them to allow the monster to get whatever it was they wanted.
It's not real...nothing more than a ploy, a means to an end.
She's seen it a million times.
She doesn't know what the monster hoped to get from her. Doesn't know what she hoped to achieve with her 'help'. She wants something...she has to want something. No monster helps an angelus...they don't help anyone...not unless they're getting something in return.
She doesn't know if the siren was trying to enthrall her, ingratiate herself to her or if she was just bored and Izzy was the only thing she had to play with in the cell and would be more entertaining conscious and coherent rather than miserably curled up in a fetal position on the floor.
She doesn't know why the siren's in here WITH her. Maybe it's a trick to gain her trust. Maybe she actually IS a captive and figures Izzy could be useful. She knows about her- to the point she has a cute little 'codename' for her. Clearly if she is actually being held captive she could see cozying up to Izzy as useful.
She doesn't know...she also doesn't care.
Whatever it was there had to be some ulterior motive.
Monsters don't feel...they don't help 'just to help'. They are predators, walking nightmares. They don't have compassion or empathy. At least not for anyone but their own...
And she is NOT one of their own.
No matter how much it might seem like she is.
Whatever the pretty siren's plan was it wasn't going to work. Whatever that repulsive, traitorous wretch Darcy's plan was it wasn't gonna work. None of their plans were gonna work. Whatever they've done to her...whatever they're trying to do to her she is not one of them.
She never will be.
She won't...
She would die before she let that happen.
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Aaand on that oh so cheery note...
The end?
Kidding we're just at the halfway point, lots more to come.
Sorry for the downer but it was kind of needed for the scene. Obviously Izzy doesn't end up dying as she is still very much alive five years later in the current story-Well...unless she like died and came back as like a Vampiric wereleopard...which...i-isn't really the worst idea. Or even a totally unused idea in my verses. In my Alien Verse (V5) I have an alien Vampiric werefox so really this isn't anywhere near as odd as that.
Belladonna- so in V7 I needed a pet name for Clary to use for Izzy- I liked belladonna because it literally means beautiful lady but it is a deadly poisonous plant. Beautiful but deadly? Totally sums up Izzy...Kinda like the idea that she's such a badass that the supernaturals literally have to have a codename for her and the idea that Clary just takes that and turns it into her pet name for her just seems to fit.
Okay so this one was a bit all over the place but I think I hit all the marks I needed for it. As always I'm hoping to be able to speed up on my updates (And as always annoying real life will likely throw a monkey wrench into those plans).
This is the last update for this round! Ready to start back at the beginning of the list again- meaning my all-time favorite V7 is up next (Yay!). Gotta admit it's getting harder and harder to figure out my favorites though, I really love how all of them are shaping up. V6 and this one (V3) started out as my least favorite simply because they have such a largely different tone from the others and fair a fair bit darker...and yet now that I've flushed out the verses and had my usual random brain spinning things I've gotten some ideas for them that have made me really excited about them.
Thinking at this point V1 is technically my least favorite- nothing against it, I've just already had a full round of stories in it and it's the one most firmly rooted in the real world. I love it but I feel like I have so much more freedom and creativity in the other verses. Even with that I really do love the story there this round and am really excited about it.
So here's the ever-present update list:
A Start Of Something New (Verse 7)
The Girl In The Mirror (Verse 4)
Nosey Neighbors (Verse 9)
Love Bug (Verse 2)
Picture Perfect (Verse 8)
You Can't Go Home Again (Verse 1)
A Study In Chaos (Verse 6)
Death Was Just The Beginning (Verse 3)
Were now to the halfway point or further on all the stories (or we are directly to it as I have five of them done through chapter 6 or more and the other four ready to start ch 6). All told we have 57 out of 108 chapters done for this round of stories. That's a lot to go but I really love how they're going so I think they're totally worth it.
I really do like this verse; even though it wasn't the happiest of first meetings I liked this one. So what do you guys think so far?
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