The Demon Lycan's Huntress

Chapter 6

~Wysteria POV~

"You ungrateful little b***h!"

Mr. Mcguire hauled my arms. He had me dragged down the stairs to the cellar. The rancid air and sounds of rats running around made me shrivel.

"I ought to disown you today. Marrying you off to the one and only family willing to pay such a heft sum of copper as dowry."

He shoved me down the stairs. My body landed on the cold and damp ground with a loud thud that pained my head.

"You should be glad I didn't sell you off to the slave traders,"

I snapped my head up.

"You dare glare at me now!" A loud pang rang in the air with my face snapped to the side with a burning cheek.

"The blessing ceremony did you bad. God must have taken your mind away that make you glare and dare betray me."

His crackled voice that used to make me cower in terror did no such thing now. Seeing me unflinching, he gripped my collar, and another pang echoed in the air.

"Father! Please, don't."

Elena's sobbing from the door angered her father more. She stepped onto the stairs but stop when Mr. McGuire snapped his head up.

"Y o u..." Mr. Mcguire's deep voice cracked up at Elena.

"Elena!"

Ser Leen's figure appeared by the door. She slid her arms around Elena's tiny arm and dragged her out. The door was left open and the sounds of Elena sobbing were coherent from down here.

"Tch,"

Mr. Mcguire released his grip. I sucked in a deep air in relief but it was cut too soon.

Blood splurted out of my mouth when a solid kick landed on my gut. Once, twice and more till my back hit the back wall of the cellar.

The door slammed and clicked.

I fluttered open my eyes and rested my throbbing head on the cold ground. The rats squeaking from a distance accompanied me for the rest of the night.

Darkness took over me.

Lullaby rang in the air and I saw that image again. My body was up in the sky with a tomb protruding out.

My feelings now were a void of nothingness.

It felt strange that I am seeing myself dead. The shadows of God's Servants around me didn't bother me because I knew what had happened to them.

"The wrathful angel had blessed them with white flame,"

But the question is, how did I come to be here? And what happened before I die? What was I doing?

"Do I have a family waiting for me?"

A cold splash of water jolted me awake. Ser Leen's green eyes looked down at me as she held the empty basin.

"Get up!"

She threw the basin to my back. Nearly hit my head and turned away. Her heels clicked as she climbed the stairs with cursings running through her red lips.

"Oi! Do you need a second of dirty water or what?!"

I scampered to follow her lead leading back to my room in the attic. The wardrobe's door was parted and I took in the space inside.

"Get the hell away from here,"

With those words, Ser Leen kicked a bag onto my feet which was full of my clothes.

I quickly washed up with icy cold water.

"You are a freak," A towel landed on my head. The clothes I wore before were kicked aside by a sneering Ser Leen.

The door creaked closed and I took in a glimpse of my reflection in the small mirror I hid behind the door. Not a smear of bruises and scars was visible on my skin.

The only gore sight about me was the skin and bones.

Once I slid on the white shirt and pants placed on the bed, I quickly make my way down.

"I had paid you half the dowry. You should know what that meant or-"

"Yes, yes."

Mr. Mcguire rubbed around his clasped fist. He then eyed me and gave a silent gesture to Lady Mcguire. She let out a hard breath and pulled me down.

"She is all yours now,"

Mr. Mcguire snatched me away from the back and hold me by his side. Izak's eyes darkened when he saw Mr. Mcguire's grip on my arm.

"Let her go,"

"Yes, yes. Pardon me." Blood flowed through my arm at the release. "The remaining dowry?"

I snapped my head at Mr. Mcguire. The feeling of wanting to pull his tongue out and gauge his googly eyes staring at Izak irked me.

A hard breath escaped Izak's nose.

"Remember our deal," Izak tossed a pouch filled with coins into Lady Mcguire's arm. She stammered at the catch and before I could see more, Izak had pulled me out.

"Let's go,"

A carriage awaits in front of the house. Izak hurriedly pushed me inside and I took in my bag and his sitting side by side.

Without waiting any seconds longer, the reinsman pulled the reign and the horse rocked the carriage down the rocky path. The forest blurred through the windows.

Strangely, I felt a nonexistent weight disappear from my heart.

We had journeyed for a day and stayed a night out in the open sky. During the journey, Izak didn't talk much but his fingers remained locked with mine.

That was all calm until this...

"What is the meaning of this?"

A stern male voice whom I recognized as Izak's father said from beyond the carriage's door. His hard breathing was followed by a few stomps on the ground.

"I had one-sidedly pushed a marriage upon Wysteria. Forgive me, father."

"What?" Izak's father nearly shouted. A deep growling was directed at Izak with a soft metal sound being unsheathed.

"Young man,"

"I ought to free her from the wretched house. The place itself is a confinement to her."

Izak answered smoothly. His back rested on the carriage's door and I placed my palm on it. Providing little comfort in knowing I am here listening.

"Tell me your plan, young man. Before your mother got heart attacks again." Sounds of a sword being sheathed back made me swallow hard the lump in my throat. "You ought to explain to your mother about this. Face to face. Not with some stupid note on her table."

"I wish to bring her to the capital as my wife but since the wedding is off..."

Izak trailed off. His fingers scratched his head. A gesture he made while thinking and sorting things out.

"A fiance, maybe?"

"Such a half-ass plan you had there. You ran away from the academy then brought back a wife, thinking it might solve everything..."

Izak's father trailed off.

"Foolish but..." Izak's father turned low. "...brilliant."

Silence befalls the air. The warmth behind the door remained and moments later, Izak finally spoke up.

"You were listening weren't you?"

I knocked twice. A code meant Yes while a single knock meant No. It is our way of communicating things without words.

"I am sorry."

I let out a long breath and rested my head on the wall. Izak walked away from the carriage and my ears picked up an incoherent conversation between him and his father.

"..."

I shut my eyes and listened to my heart. Calling out to the voice inside of me that felt nonexistent.

I was dead or should I say, I am dead?

The carriage rocked. Tumbling over uneven roads and soft snoring came from my side where Izak had his head swaying right and left.

I lightly pressed my fingers across his face and placed him on my shoulder.

O dear the rumbling souls,

I ought to eat you sooner,

Before my kids awake,

I mend the sky together,

A dais...

"That's dark," I chuckled softly. Finding it true.

Izak rustled his head on my shoulder as his hand gripped my hand. Intertwining our fingers and running his thumb on the back of my hand.

"Izak. Truth be told, I had no recollection of what happened after the blessing ceremony?"

Izak snapped his head at me. His eyes became relentless and after a few seconds, he facepalmed.

"God, that explained why you ran away. Why didn't you tell me sooner? And this," Izak gestured around. "This journey. Do you remember anything about it?"

Slowly I shook my head.

Izak let out a long sigh as he slumped down with his head buried into his fist.

We both went into the details of what happened after the blessing ceremony. Izak said that I was down with a sudden fever for three days and he got me into marrying him on the fourth.

Which concluded that I ran away on the fifth day which goes against the plan.

"So tell me, what else did the blessing ceremony do to you?" Izak gave me a side glance from in between his fingers while I calculated my words.

"Some images-"

"Young master," A male said, at the same time the carriage skidded to a halt. "We will be stopping at this site for the night." The reinsman knocked the carriage wall with intonation.

A secret code.

"Let's get some fresh air," Izak pushed open the carriage door and stepped out. He offered his hand I took it.

The cold breeze tickled my senses. I took in the foreign surroundings and the small clearing that was set up with tents and a fireplace.

"Come. Father is calling."

I followed Izak's steps and looked over his shoulder. His father, Sir Aaron Neil was waving his hand at us while patting the empty seat beside him with another.

"Wysteria, how had you been?"

"Never better,"

We exchanged words during dinner. Sharing stories where necessary but mostly I was doing the listening.

"How's Aunt Darshiny?"

Uncle Aaron choked on his drink and then burst out into a peel of laughter. He gulped down one glass of beer before answering my question as if it was a killer to talk about her.

The words were ready to slip out of Uncle Aaron's mouth until...

"Bandits! Sire! There are bandits surrounding us!"