Love thorn

Marian felt dizzy and surprised as she looked at the man who was fighting all the lecherous werewolves who came up after her. He wasn't armed other than his sword but he didn't just fight for himself alone, he fought to also save Marian.

She heard another horse coming towards them which made all the werewolves run away. It was Reagan and that was the last thing that she remembered but something on the neck of this stranger made her heart beat faster. He had a pendant which looked just like hers. She reached out for hers on her neck and discovered it wasn't there anymore.

She remembered who alone had that pendant so was this what she was thinking?

_ _ _

Eight years ago, Marian was still a little child who got maltreated day and night. She had no friends, she was just alone even though she had family around her. One evening, she was very hungry and wandered into the thick forest which had the border to the neighboring world, the human world.

There was a little boy who was playing the flute under a big mango tree. Not knowing that this was a forbidden border to cross, Marian was taken away by the sweet sound of the instrument. She walked towards where the young boy was playing it and admired him.

After a while, the boy stopped playing as he noticed a girl watching him. When Marian saw that he had seen her, she tried to run but he stopped her.

"Don't run, I won't hurt you." He said to her,

"What is your name?" The young boy asked. He was nice and kind to Marian but she didn't say anything as she clutched her belly which groaned noisily and he smiled.

"You must be hungry. Come, I have some fruits with me. Come and sit down, let's eat." The boy offered as he gave out his hand to Marian but she refused to take it and just walked past him to where he was sitting before.

The young boy gave Marian some mango and she ate them so fast out of hunger. The boy was amazed and they plucked some more together. He climbed the tree while she picked them up from the ground and they had fun throwing the seeds at each other when they were satisfied.

"What is your name?" The young boy asked her again.

"Marian." She replied.

"I am Alec. How old are you?" He asked her with a smile as he got to know her more.

"Nine." She replied with her front teeth opened.

"I am twelve. You have red eyes, which world are you from? Vampires?" The boy asked as he noticed the difference in their eye colors. His own was pure blue which indicated that he was from the human world.

Marian just bowed her head as she listened to him.

"We can't be friends otherwise they will punish us. I can't go into your world and neither can you. Let's meet at the top of the mountain side, not here. Is that okay with you?" He asked her cautiously.

"Yes." She nodded.

Few weeks later, they kept seeing each other more often at the mountain side and weeks turned to months, and months turned to years until one fateful night on her way back home from visiting Alec, she saw her sister also coming back from the same mountain.

"What are you doing here?" Tania asked her as she was curious to see her.

"N- Nothing. I came to get some fresh air." Marian lied as she scratched the back of her head.

"I see. So the air in your father's compound is not enough that you had to walk so far to look for air, right? If you are lying to me I'll find out." Tania accused but Marian was silent.

"Where are you going?" She asked Marian as she eyed her closely.

"I'm going home." Marian answered.

"Let's go but I'll have to report you to your father." She threatened and Marian's cheeks turned red. She knew what that meant to her, more trouble, more pain and more torture.

"On one condition I will not do that." Tania finally broke the silence that enveloped between the two sisters. Marian raised her head to look at her sister in anticipation and anxiety.

"You will do whatever I ask you to and give me all of your food in the house." Tania replied.

"But… What will I be eating then and are you asking me to be your slave?" Marian spoke out with a large chunk of anger in her throat.

"Well then, what were you before? A saint? A daughter? A queen? An angel? What? You are nothing but a mixed blooded bastard and very soon father will have to get rid of you so if you don't want to hasten your leave, you'll have to do exactly as I tell you henceforth and as to what you will be eating, you don't need to worry about that because very soon you'll be out of the house so take this as a way of repaying for your bitch if a mother's sin of cheating on father and having you with a stupid human." She concluded and burst out into a wicked laughter.

"..." Marian sighed as her sister waited for her to seal their deal after which they went home.

At night, Marian pondered on what would happen to her. How did she blindly sign a contract with the devil? How will she keep surviving all of that now and how will she eat? Wait, how did she… Tania was also coming back from the mountain so what took her there too? How on earth did she not ask her what she was also doing there and allow that sly fox to pick on her? Holy cow!