A/N: Don't hate me people! This is just here because I want to try my hand at writing again, and I need something that I can work on…slowly. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!
Breathe in. Breathe out. Pause...think...try to understand...Remember to breathe in. Remember to breathe out.
The shallow breaths were coming from a girl, a teenager, a young lady really. She was shaking slightly, struggling to comprehend the situation. She knew the graveness of it. She knew what this was going to mean for her. But no matter how much...knowledge, how much...comprehension she had, nothing had prepared her for this.
It was a reaping of sorts. It had been thrown together in just three short months, and it had...carefully selected one, single female. She had to be of the right age, and pure in spirit. A dutiful attendant to the church, and beautiful. Someone who had never been in a relationship before, and a girl not promised to another. There were so many different rules, categories, and ways to single out the specific, special, and honored person.
She didn't feel special though. She didn't feel honored. She had been an outcast in society for the past week of her readying time. Truly, it was merely the beginning of her exile. Her life was about to...end.
For a religious city, they were very superstitious. They were chasing her off, forbidding her to return for eternity over a legend. A myth. A lie concocted by whatever kind of witches were left since the church moved in...just to spread fear.
There was a soft knock at her door. A masculine voice reached out to her, barely above a whisper. "Amanda?" She shuddered. It was time.
Slowly cracking her thin, wooden bedroom door, Amanda bowed her head. "Yes brother."
He easily pushed himself in, his muscles rippling under his white cotton shirt. He wasn't dressed as anything fancy, as he didn't even want to acknowledge what was going on. Grabbing her arms, possibly a little too forcefully, he tried to smile. "I will come and get you. I will bring you back."
Amanda sighed. "I cannot come back...you know this, Stefan. We have been over this. I must move on...somewhere far away from this dreary place."
"But winter is coming."
"I know. Don't worry, I'll be okay. Just...please...Stef please be ready in the spring..." Amanda was desperate. She wasn't going to be locked away for the rest of her life. She couldn't do it. She would go insane.
"I promise," Stefan almost growled it out. "You have my word."
He pulled her close. So close...it would be the last time...she wanted to cry. She wanted to so badly. But she was empty...she had sobbed herself to sleep every single night for the past seven days, and now...now she couldn't do it. She tried to put on her bravest face...she would try for her family's sake...
Slowly, she and Stefan climbed down the stairs. Her parents...God bless their souls, stood down there waiting for them. Her mother's own tear-stricken face looked up at her, and she seemed so old...her father's weary body stretched out over her, stroking her hair. "You look beautiful," He choked out.
She hardly could take it. Anybody could do anything to her...she could be strong...but hurt her family? The people that raised her? The ones that loved her, cared for her, and nurtured her? You didn't do that to them...no one could. She wouldn't allow it.
Holding her head tall, she stepped out of her home boldly. The crowd had already gathered, wishing her off. There was no happiness, even though it was supposed to be a celebration. It was supposed to be ending a curse. But she could see it on their faces...they were imagine that she was their daughters. Many knew her and her family, some were close family friends. But they couldn't do anything about this...they had been trying, only to be revoked by the highest power.
Speak of the devil, she told herself as a man walked up holding a jeweled cross. He was supposed to be a priest, but she believed him something more...she had no evidence, but no man of God should allow this.
He quoted a prayer to her in Latin, and she recognized some of the different words. By extending his hands, he signaled for her to move to her destination.
So she did. She rode on a gallant white steed, making him walk as slow as possible to prolong her torment. She needed people. She hadn't done anything wrong...not anything that deserved this form of punishment.
However, nothing could stop the inevitable. The fortress...a castle transformed into an abbey...slowly came into view with its menacing grey, stone walls. The baron who had ruled over their township had died with no heirs, and since he did not want his precious land to fall into the hands of his enemies, he placed it in the possession of the church, over five decades previously. And so...that was there it remained.
There was an eeriness to it though. It had been abandoned twelve years earlier when the baron's rival's descendants tried to take over. They had not been successful, but they murdered the priests and nuns in cold blood.
Despite the horror of the spilled innocence, there something much worse. When the people had come to find any survivors, they discovered a much more gruesome sight. The attackers were killed...slain by something else. It was not by their own hand, and rumors spread.
At first it was said to be the baron's spirit. He was avenging those who did him wrong. But as sightings began...the truth was petrifying.
The local necromancer said that when the pure blood poured from the bodies, it collected together and called out for vengeance. Vengeance was given, but in the form of one of the fallen. And now that he was there...he would be there to stay.
Amanda scoffed. She did not believe that God would send an angel who had committed sins against him to take the lives of those who had sent his followers home. No...she did not believe there was anything there at all except for an empty building. Winds and man's own illusions had created the creature, but she couldn't convince them otherwise. And now...with the supposed rise in sightings, confrontations, and even a death, she had been chosen to satisfy the insatiable hunger of the wicked's imagination.
"You will treat it like you would if you loved it. It must be convinced, even unto your death. You are the sacrifice that has been sent to save us," The priest bowed his head, placing his hand on her forehead. She could smell incense on him, and it made her cough.
The people began touching her. She was their gift from the Savior to protect them from the fallen's wrath. Whatever sin they bore with them would now be erased, taken by her to be served to it.
She shook her head, nausea overcoming her. She pushed away the urge to throw up while the priest said prayers, blessings, or...something.
Looking down, he smiled at her. It was...something sinister. "My dear," His smooth voice was sickening. "You are now wed. Present yourself to your husband, and bring us peace."
She could do nothing else but nod. Her feet carried her to a place she did not want to go, and she took one last look at the ones behind her. The silence was deafening, and she shook as she grabbed the large, metal handles. With all of her might, she pulled, and the thick door opened. She slipped inside, not knowing what to expect.