The Broken One

It took some doing but I had finally calmed Cindra enough to allow her to speak. The guards had taken the alleged attacker into the dungeons as I carried a distraught changeling upstairs with my wife hot on my heels. We sat on our bed and she shivered in fear and rage for several minutes before I laid a hand on her hoof.

“Cindra, what happened”, I asked.

“I’m sorry”, she whispered. “I got into the mead and got pretty drunk. I was stumbling around the castle and I guess he thought I was an easy lay. He tried to touch me but I said no. he tried to… force himself on me.”

The shame and sorrow in that last sentence broke my heart and I could tell from Shadow’s sniffle that she felt the same way. I stood from the bed and began pacing the room. I could smell the fear in the air as my wings flinched repeatedly. I stopped pacing when Shadow hopped from the bed.

“What are you thinking”, she asked slowly but gasped. “Jackson, your eyes!”

I cocked my head and turned to the mirror. I got close and looked at my eyes. They were no longer golden; they were blood red slits of death. I turned from the mirror and looked into Shadow’s eyes. Her yellow eyes stared into mine and she shook her head slightly. She stared at me until I cocked my head to the side. She motioned for me to follow and told Cindra we would be right back.

“Don’t do it”, she hissed when the door closed behind me.

“Do what”, I asked in confusion.

“That’s bloodlust”, she said quietly. “You were going to drain him dry, weren’t you?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Jackson, you haven’t fed since you were changed”, she said nervously.

“I ate breakfast this morning”, I countered.

“Eating and feeding are two different things”, she sighed. “I thought you knew that.”

“How could I have known?”

“I told you all about it literally the night I changed you”, she sighed.

“I may or may not have been paying attention”, I muttered.

“Jackson, you need to feed soon or you’re going to lose yourself”, she whispered.

“Feed off of me”, Cindra said quietly from right behind me, startling me.

“What the fuck”, I shouted. “How did I not hear you come in?”

“I dunno”, she replied with a small smile.

“You do that again I’m putting a bell on you”, I growled.

“Okay”, she quipped as she exposed her throat to me.

“He’s not going to bite your neck”, Shadow sighed and rolled her eyes. “He could kill you like that.”

“Fruit bat”, Cindra muttered.

“Parasite”, Shadow shot back.

“Pot or kettle”, Cindra smiled sweetly.

“What”, Shadow asked.

“Wanna be the pot or the kettle?”

“Enough”, I sighed. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but show me how to drink blood.”

Shadow used her hoof to turn Cindra’s head to the side a little bit. She explained it was easier to do if you leapt on a pony’s back from above, but that struck me as quite creepy yet oddly sexy. She pointed out the safest spot to bite then showed me what not to bite.

“I kinda figured that out when I ripped the Grim Reaper’s throat out”, I laughed.

The two mares shared a look before they went back to Vamponism 101. I listened intently but was still a little nervous as I drew closer to Cindra’s shoulder. She shivered then flinched as my fangs pierced her skin. She moaned lightly as I sucked on the wound to start the blood flowing.

The moment Cindra’s blood touched my tongue I knew I had to have more. I could taste the mead she drank earlier as well as a slight hint of foalflower. The most noticeable thing about her blood was the pure arousal it caused in me. I pulled thirstily at her shoulder as I gripped her tightly in my arms.

“Jackson, that’s enough”, Shadow said as she rubbed my back.

I pulled away from her and growled as I clutched the warm source of life in my arms.

“Jackson, stop”, she shouted as she forcefully pulled my head back.

I saw the worry in her eyes and turned to the changeling in my arms. Blood trickled from her shoulder as she panted weakly. I freaked out asking over and over what to do before a leathery wing slapped some sense back into me.

“Lick the wound to seal it”, she said quickly. “The tip of the tongue has the most enzymes!”

I did as she told me and to my relief the wound stopped bleeding. I gently pulled Cindra against me and turned my eyes to Shadow. I voiced my fears of hurting her but Shadow told me to put her in bed. I did just that and for good measure I sent a small wave of healing energy into her before we left the room again. I grabbed my head with my hands and pressed my forehead against a wall, jumping when her hooves encircled my chest from behind.

“Are you okay”, she asked softly.

“I almost killed her”, I muttered quietly.

“No you didn’t”, she replied before her voice turned hollow. “Draining somepony is entirely different.”

“What?”

“Nothing”, she smiled as I turned to face her. “You actually did well considering you didn’t feed for a couple weeks.”

“I lost control”, I argued.

“It could have been worse”, she said quietly.

“I can’t do that again”, I said as I covered my face with my trembling hands.

“We’ll figure something out”, she sighed and hugged me. “Right now you need to clean your face up and deal with that guard while I deal with Cindra.”

I nodded, summoned a wet rag to wash up with and kissed her forehead before turning and leaving the safety of our chambers. After wiping my face clean I sent the rag back to our bathroom and stepped purposefully through the halls. Before long I was opening the door to the dungeons and staring at the disgraced guard.

He sat still as a statue on the bed in his cell staring at the wall across from him. I opened the door to the cell to enter but the others objected, warning me about magic. A single glare from me silenced them. I summoned a chair directly in the guard’s line of sight and sat down. Neither of us said a word for the longest time.

“Would you care to explain yourself”, I asked calmly.

“Nothing I say is gonna matter”, he muttered.

“Why is that”, I sighed.

“You’re royalty”, he huffed. “I’m just a unicorn.”

“A unicorn that could have blasted his way out of here at any time”, I countered. “Why are you still here? Why are you still in my dungeon?”

“What?”

“Magic is power”, I snarled as I grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. “Just like the power it made you feel when you tried to have you way with my Cindra.”

He began to beg but fell silent as I got nose to nose with him.

“You tried to rape her”, I hissed darkly. You tried to take another’s mare and make her your little whore. Tried to get a quick nut you could brag about in the barracks later.”

I got right beside his ear and continued in a whisper.

“You dishonored her. You dishonored yourself. You dishonored me.”

I turned my glare to the watching guards and they all tripped over each other to get out of the room. When the door slammed behind the last guard I turned my eyes back to the trembling pony in my grasp.

“What are you”, he choked out.

“I am what I am.”

I lifted him into the air and flung him across the room. He cried out in pain when his shoulder connected with the stone wall. Before he could fall I lifted him by his mane and punched him repeatedly in the face as bones cracked and flesh split. His blood splashed across my face and I lifted him above my head through pure rage. I heaved a grunt and slammed him to the floor.

“P-please”, he gasped.

I silenced him with a boot to the mouth and kicked him again for good measure. I pulled him up by his mane and began raining punches into his stomach and ribs. I felt a few crack as I punched him and grinned. I was glad he was hurting. I wanted him to suffer for what he tried to do. I dropped him to the floor and kicked him again and again in the stomach, ribs and back.

“Do you feel powerful now”, I shouted as I yanked his head up off the floor and punched him twice.

I slammed his face to the floor and grabbed his back hooves. I spread his legs and stomped his crotch as hard as I could. He let out a high pitched whine which I silenced with another stomp. I threw his legs to the side before picking him up and slamming him onto his bed, breaking it.

“I should kill you”, I gasped out. “But that would be too easy. I’ll heal you tomorrow, but tonight I want you to suffer.”

I called for the guards and to my surprise and anger it took a minute before Shining Armor entered the dungeon. He saw my face and rushed to the cell using his magic to unlock it. He looked past me at the barely conscious prisoner as I walked by and glanced at me.

“What happened”, he asked.

“He tried to rape Cindra”, I said simply as I wiped the fresh blood from my body.

I glanced down at my bloody clothes and sighed heavily. I summoned an identical set and changed in front of a blushing Shining Armor. I handed him the bloody garments and asked him to take care of it as I made my way back to our chambers. As I walked in the door a pair of tufted ears perked up and I could hear her sniffing.

Shit, I thought as I smelled the blood on my skin.

“I didn’t drain him”, I said preemptively.

“Then why do I smell strange blood”, she asked quietly as she propped herself up and crossed her front hooves.

“I beat him into a bloody pulp”, I replied.

“Jackson”, she groaned.

“I’ll heal him tomorrow”, I said nonchalantly.

“That isn’t the point”, she huffed. “Nopony is going to want to work for somepony that might possibly beat them half to death!”

“Maybe I was a little harsh”, I begrudgingly replied.

“Please tell me you left his genitals out of this”, she sighed but dropped her head when she saw my guilty expression. “You can sleep on the other side of Cindra tonight.”

“Well, fuck.”