Username: ImogenEquine
Show Name: Blood Runs Cold
Barn Name: Azazel
Gender: Stallion
Height: 17 hh
Halter: please do an intricate red & black design if possible c:
Azazel was an escapee of a pair of abusive owners. The two men tried to restrain him, to make him mad. "That's how you get a good rodeo horse", they claimed. They were wrong. Azazel decided that he'd had enough and kicked one of them in the ribs, causing three of them to completely shatter and two to break, one of which punctured his lung. After this, they abandoned Azazel completely, depriving him of basic necessities like food and water. Azazel only dealt with this torture for a few days, playing cruel tricks when he could, smashing the other man into the wall and electric fence a few times. In one of these tries, the man lost hold of the lead rope and Azazel became free. He took refuge in the woods, where he still played these cruel games, not knowing anything better. He was never one to know what love is like, so he never was anything but harsh and towards the other horses. They didn't know what he'd been through, but he refused to tell them anyways.
Your first encounter?:It was a hot, humid morning when it began. Weird things started happening and quite frankly, I didn't know what to do.
I started off my day as I usually do; I got up to the sound of my alarm, stumbled down my stairs groggily, poured and ate a bowl full of cereal, brushed my teeth, made myself semi-presentable (that really wasn't a concern though, I just planned on staying at my home with the horses), and got changed into my work clothes. I walked through the barn noting that all the horses looked perfectly fine, and then headed towards the paddock. I broke into a sprint at the sight I saw. One of the two horses, Flipside, had a terribly cut up leg, and blood was slowly dripping down it. He was standing and shaking, not even letting me touch him out of fear. Instantly, I whipped my phone out from my pocket and dialled the closest vet's number.
Within ten minutes, the veterinarian came to help with this emergency. The woman looked just as stunned as I was at the injury. "I-I just d-don't know! He w-was fine l-last night a-and...", I stuttered, tears beginning to stream down my face. "You can h-help him, right?", I managed to get out, as my words began to stop. When I stopped speaking, I took a second to calm myself down and dry my face, while the vet pulled certain supplies out of her box and began to investigate his leg. He had calmed down now too, allowing her to help him, but he still looked as terrified as ever. "I need you to go out and buy these things that you'll need to care for him with throughout the next little while", she said, handing me a short list, not even looking up from his leg, which she was in the process of gingerly stitching up and applying various medications to.
I had been going to the same vet for over a year, so I trusted the woman with my horse. I walked back to my driveway at a fast pace and I got into my car, driving off quickly. Within 5 stops over the course of forty-five minutes, I had picked up everything I needed. I returned to my property as soon as I could, and when I got there, I took my bags and began to jog back to the paddock. I had only taken a few steps before the vet came running in my general direction. "THERE'S SOMETHING NOT NORMAL IN THAT FOREST", she screamed as she sprinted right past me to her truck. I was admittedly scared, but I still went back to where the horses were to see that Flipside had been taken care of and moved to his stall. To take my mind off of the fear of what the lady had possible seen, I decided to go for a ride.
In the middle of my ride, I began to hear this bizarre noise. It was almost like a scratching, pawing sound, that was coming from the back area where the fields were. I didn't dare look, but I told myself it was coyotes, even though I knew better than that, as the sound wasn't one they made. This sound made my green horse, Levi, begin to go crazy, so I decided against staying on, so that I wouldn't fall off later. After I put him back and made sure that all my horses were in their stalls safely, I closed all the barn doors and locked them, making sure nothing was getting in or out. I kept emergency supplies and a few days' worth of rations in the barn, as a person that is very over prepared typically. I decided to stay there for the night, but first I called over one of my closest friends, Avalon. She came over quickly and was willing to stay with me throughout the night.
When she arrived, I let her in the barn and closed the doors again behind her. Together, we climbed up the stairs that went up to the hay loft above my barn. I flicked the light switch on, and the two of us began to set up our sleeping bags that I left up there from when we last went camping in the woods. I told Avalon about the events of the day and she was completely intrigued. "I wonder what's going on. Who knows, maybe we'll find out tonight.", she said, glancing back to the window behind her. What she had made me feel really creeped out... More so than earlier in the day at least.
Only an hour had passed when we heard the sound again. The familiar sound sent chills up my arms, but Avalon wasn't phased and ran to the loft's window. "IMOGEN GET OVER HERE", she yelled, and I got up and scrambled over to where she stood, a terrified expression on her face. I had missed whatever she saw, but I was sure it wasn't good. "Avalon, what was it?!", I whispered shakily. "It looked angry. This dark blur w-with white on it. T-Those eyes. Oh my god. The eyes." she blurted out, stuttering slightly. I'd never seen her like this. It must've been terrifying for her because I can only recall ever seeing her scared a small, small handful of times. We soon decided it would be best to get some sleep and search in the morning for whatever creature was out there.
It was around five o'clock a.m. when I woke up to Avalon touching my shoulder. Instantly, the slight stench of old blood in the air hit me. At this moment, our eyes met, and I knew she had been thinking the same thing. We agreed on going out in to the forest, but both of us knew we couldn't go unarmed. We left the loft and headed towards the barn doors, each of us with a way of protecting ourselves. Avalon clutched a sharp little Swiss Army knife that she typically had on her, just in case of coyotes (as they often would walk through the farms in the area). I held a firm grip on a small ax that I kept for cutting off branches that would sometimes grow over the fence of my riding arena. We didn't want to have to use them, but it was good to have them, just in case. With these tools in hand, Avalon and I exited the barn, my brain starting to race a-mile-a-minute with the possible unseen dangers lurking beyond the line of trees.
It had only been twenty-five minutes or so into our search when we glanced down and noticed the dirt had a bit of a reddish tinge to it beside where we were standing. This colour formed a trail that stretched further than the dense clusters of trees allowed us to see. Neither of us said anything, but we were both thinking the same thing; blood. We stopped in our tracks when the branches not too far ahead of us began to snap. My blood began to run cold. Then we saw it. Just a quick glimpse of a muscular, smoky black and white patterned body galloping, and he came back around charging at us. Both of us were able to jump out of the way, but when I turned to see him, all I heard was the snapping of branches once again, and he was out of sight.
That was when I first encountered Azazel.
