Life's Blood

This is another image by Anne Stokes called 'Life's Blood'.

This picture somewhat reminds me of the old Celtic myths of the banshee. A beautiful young woman with silver blond hair, her screech warning of imminent death. As this image looks somewhat more sinister than the typical banshee fable, as she almost looks like she has mugged a Grim reaper. It could be either that she is a hybrid or she is a banshee spirit called forth out of anger for the purpose of revenge... Or something like that.
On the other-hand, there are legends that suggest that if you are the one to see the banshee then you are the one destined to die, meaning that the depiction of the banshee or even the grim reaper could have been misinterpreted as they are the ravings of those marked by death. Perhaps banshee's act the part of the reaper for those they scream for.

Only Love Remains

This Piece is called 'Only Love Remains' by Anne Stokes (She's one of my favourite gothic artists).

The white hair, wings and garb reminds me of purity and innocence... But usually there is darkness lurking behind such a face. Whether is is a tragic past, a shameful dark 'gift' or a terrible secret; there will be something causing a glimmer of sadness in those eyes.
Moreover, even though she may posses a gift that would make her deadly to others, she is of a weak constitution and has a bleeding heart, meaning that she would've had to have been protected by someone stronger than her. Because of her gentle nature through, she would refuse the support of others in order to protect them, meaning that this person would need to be someone that she loves and feels that she cannot refuse. This introduces the idea of a sister. To be able to protect her I believe that the sister would need to be older and more ferocious; this doesn't however fit with my white innocence image though, so although the two will have similar features the older sister will have jet black hair and sharper eyes with fire and barely controlled violence simmering behind them.