Spirit animal

Melina was on autopilot after the untimely death of her hunter. This man didn't have to save her and he did many times over. She knew he attacked her out of obligation knowing the prejudices of what he was and what he was perceived. He knew no one would see him as anything else except Melina . She gave him the only comfort and made him embrace the biggest regrets at the same time. He spared her because he clung onto the memory of his daughter who would have been Melina's age when he got the mark. The cruel injustice of the mark being a child was a humiliation by the order to remind him that even his choices had constant reminders of what he gave up. Melina felt something fragile break inside of her. Like her safety net was cut open and she was falling between the gaps. Larue wasn't much but he was safe to Melina . His last act of betrayal wasn't to deceive her but to save her from mutiny .

The woods was full of hunters and although the witches and the hunters were both fighting Melina she still protected them all. Melina sat on the ground holding the blade stained with the blood of the man that protected her as she looked down at her hands smeared with the blood of a man who helped her. She knew this charade had to end eventually. She knew he couldn't be there for her forever. But she didn't want it to end like this. She didn't want it to be by her own hands as he begged her to be the one who slayed the mighty house of the Larue. But she knew why it had to be her as she felt the pain in her skin as it lit up her skin as burns formed and marks appeared on her . She remembered Larue tell her in your order you keep what you kill. If you want a rank and your strong enough you take it and inherit all the talents that position holds. She had to do it to inherit what he promised her. To seal the bond he swore to her. To keep the soul she took from him. This was his last act of kindness he gave her. Immunity from his kind. So she could be invisible to hunters. So she could help hunters who wanted another choice in life like him. Melina smiled through the pain as the other witches watched her might as she handled hunter after hunter as Larue and her kill over a dozen hunters that day. The pain reminded her she was still alive. That what he did for her was real. Every new mark transfered to her her eyes glew and the beast inside of her growled as she felt herself transforming as the world became cloudy and the voices ,smell,sounds became Sharper. Then she transformed into a mighty gold dragling . Raw and vicious as the witches back up seeing the power in this girl as she grew from her pain as the kneeled before her wishing mercy for their part in her pain. The thing about fighting to hold the beast inside you is the spirit trying to gain control of the magick inside, but once the spirit is broken. Once the pain and the fight has no more meaning . Once the anchor that held them at bay is gone. The beast takes over and natural raw magick courses through there veins and makes them almost inhuman . Melina felt her wings as they stretched and shook with the feeling of cold from being released from the warm confinements of her skin. She looked down to said the witch that challenged her as she huffed heated air in anger. The man shivering in fear before her gave her the power rush that she knew his fate was in her hands or in her jaws persay. " Forgive us our pardons." The man said as now he realized what was unleased and it was terrifying. The magnificent of the girl whom he thought was a pretentious child playing at being a queen like a school play but now he was sorely mistaken . Melina felt the burn in her throat and the over welming need to cough to release the heat that was choking her as she coughed as smoke came out and pooped like a smutted fire. " Oh the gods please don't." Begged the man as he moved out of the path of the ire. Then she felt it the energy was too much as she felt herself dull and the sounds fade and the smells dull and then she felt cold , bare, and naked on the floor of the woods. The power was too much to sustain as she shrank back to her form as she broke into a fevered sweat from the left over fire inside of her. The white witch ran as she covered her with her coat she wore as she tried to help Melina to her feet as she fell clumsy as she was weakened from the transformation. No one spoke . Melina watched them as they were trying to communicate through a link Melina wasn't invited into. She heard them soft whispers then she looked at the man as she went into his mind to hear their words . She was still weak but she had to know if they were friends or does because the man who always said he was her foe ended up being her only true friend and she killed him and he wasn't there to give her answers anymore. " We need to leave it isn't safe to be around her. Did you see what she did?" He whispered along the wind . " Yes leave! " Confirm Melina as she answered his words aloud as he froze then retracted backwards. The white witch followed and then the other companions. Soon she was alone with her thoughts. Melina managed to get up and grab the sound sword as she wiped off the blade and placed it in the tree trunk where she used to find Larue and leave him food. She knew she couldn't bring it inside there would be too many questions asked on where she got it or why she had it. She knew her mother wouldn't understand what had to happen. At this point her mother didn't even know Melina . Just the version she allowed her mother to see. The broken girl who was under the wims of her mother's clemency. You may ask why didn't she show her mother even her sisters her strength. Because in all the cruelty the misguided actions. They were her family. Not by choice but by blood. This was the only family she had and she felt hopeless and abandoned at the moment knowing she was fighting a war between two different worlds .