The Demon’s Bride

Elise pushed herself from the door to stand up. Her eyes then looked at the snakes from Vella. Coming to her side, Vella touched her arm that was wounded but Elise quickly pulled her hand away, not wanting to touch or harm anyone, "Are you okay?" asked Vella.

"I am," Elise answered, her head was in pain and she looked at Carmen who had began to pushed herself to stand up. 

"Carmen please stop this." Vella pleaded. She hoped there was still the kind Carmen she knew inside her now.

"No!" Carmen instantly rejected. "Don't get in my way Vella! Move or I will have to kill you with her!"

It was drastic of how Carmen changed to a person she didn't know. Elise saw her with regret in her eyes. She regretted the fact that she couldn't be there for Carmen and for her to knew the person who had sent her the letter.

"Can't you understand that there is no way for your family to ever come back?" Vella questioned.

"What is going on?" Elise asked, she managed to understand bits of it that Carmen tried to kills her to bring back her family but that was impossible, "Who is getting back to life? Your family?"

"Carmen was assigned by the letter to kill you and the Lord. If she managed to kill you two, the sender of the letter promised she would meet her family again," Vella looked at Elise before adding, "Alive."

"That's not possible," whispered Elise, her brows pulled. For a person to come back to life from dead never happened before. It was a miracle— something that human could never do.

"It is!" Carmen wouldn't lend an ear to the words Elise or Vella said. "I saw it already, there were people who died came back alive. You should know this better than me Elise, you've been there to Saltige and everyone there manage to bring back people to life." 

Elise shook her head, "That never happen. People die there, I've seen it before, no one came back alive." She didn't understand what Carmen meant. Had Carmen been lied to and force to take the murder? There was no way people who had died could come back alive.

"Which mean you haven't seen it yet, but I did," Carmen stood up despite the poison in her system. She looked dizzy but still able to stand. Her hands were positioned ready to fight where her fingernails turn sharper. "There was a woman who was trampled to death by a carriage horse. The priest was about to put her to coffin when they brought her back."

While Carmen spoke, Elise took one step away and her hand quickly touched the door, hoping it would rot and it did. But before Elise was able to push the door Carmen bolted and plunge her hand forward. Yet before her body reached Vella who stood before Elise, she staggered and fell on her knees.

"What's happening?" Carmen asked in denial. Her head was spinning and the view was turning harder to see. It took Carmen minutes to realize what was happening in her, "Poison. No, poison shouldn't work to me, a vampire!"

"It did," Vella said, her hair had turned back to black locks. "Vampires could never be affected with poison but that's wrong. It was just the fact vampires haven't been able to find poison that could hurt them, but they didn't know a snake's venom is deadly for them," while explaining, there was no happiness or a sense of achievement was over Vella's face, but only pity and guilt, "I'm sorry," she whispered but her voice was left unheard as Carmen's red eyes turned lifeless.

At the same time Ian had came back, Elise left from the storage room with her shoulders and hand steadying to help Vella leave the room. Ian's body appeared from a red mist and when he saw Elise with her face bleeding, his red eyes turned brighter. The clear white surface of his eyes had turned black. 

When Elise saw Ian coming closer and his hand was about to touch her, she took a few steps back. "No," was the only word that came from Elise.

Vella had stepped out from the room and sat on the ground with the bleeding she received. "Maroon take care of that girl and the other one inside," Ian ordered. He took another step to corner Elise before taking her off from her feet. 

"Please let me down," Elise said, tears rolled from her cheeks with the death she saw. She didn't want to touch Ian, she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want to hurt anyone any longer.

"If you could do that, try it," Ian replied. His lips were set in a straight line where his eyes turned fierce. Taking one step forward, the next moment they had arrived inside Elise's room. Ian bent down to place her on the bed. Taking a look of her body, he saw the wounds appearing on her face and arm, her knees were scraped. 

The flowers inside Elise's room had long turned to dust when it came contact to the angered air Ian held. He didn't say anything but the anger was clear on the silence that ensued inside the room.

Ian sat on the bed and took his hand over Elise's cheeks. In a touch all wounds and pain she felt disappeared from the magic. "I'm sorry," Elise whispered in the silence.

"What are you apologizing for?" despite his anger, his words came as gentle when he asked her. His eyes trailed on her arm, "You were wounded all over," Ian frowned while saying this. With his magic, all the wound and scar had leave no trace on his body but the image of how Elise was wounded burnt to his memory and no magic could erase it from his mind.

He touched her hand, on the back of her palm as Elise didn't want touch him for fear of her own power. "It should be me to apologize for not coming sooner. Someone used a black magic to put illusion on Maroon that he was late to appear to my side. It shouldn't work on him, but this was black magic they used."

"Is he alright?" Elise questioned and Ian replied with a nod, not telling her further on Maroon's condition, "What about Vella?" Vella suffered worse wounds than her.

"She didn't seem to be injured in her vital area, it's just the blood making her seem to be in a worse state, she'll manage. Don't care about others now, what about you?" Ian questioned and Elise shook her head.

She pursed her lips before her eyes looked down on her clothes that had turn in tater and dirty with mud accumulating all over, "I think I'm alright," she wasn't sure as her body condition felt odd to herself. 

Ian moved closer, pushing his hand on the bed surface to come close to her. He leaned forward to kiss his hand on her hand, letting his lips press longer on the knuckles of her fingers, "Did you know how much you frightened me? I thought it was too late."

Humans were born weak in constitution. From the loss of blood, and illness a simple wound could even kill them. When Ian saw Elise for the first time his rage couldn't be controlled. It was much more stronger than every anger he ever felt before. To see blood from her body was as if all hell broke loose.

"I'm sorry," Elise whispered again. She looked at Ian, taking a better look at his face to feel her heart getting calmer from the pain she felt emotionally.