I wish I were blind, oblivious to the world.

Where I have always been the brave one, today I was anything but that. Even looking at myself in the mirror almost made me cringe. The fire in my eyes had been lost the moment they put me on a wedding dress.

"You look so beautiful, Emie."

"Do I?" I fingered the sleeves of the black satin floor-length wedding gown with a scowl. Considering it was more of a sacrifice rather than a wedding, it was a bit ironic that they wanted me to look delicate.

Beautiful.

As if there was any beauty in bleeding flesh.

Belle's smile vanished instantly. If I squinted too hard, I could even see the disappointment in her eyes. "You don't believe me."

"Believe you?" I wanted to laugh. "I believed you once, Belle, not again."

"Stop calling me Belle! I'm your mother."

Bitterness had crawled its way inside me a long time ago and still, I have learned to ignore its presence. But now? Now I wanted to feast on it. "Not a real one. Mr. Sullivan and you proved it over and over again that trusting either of you is a mistake."

"Look at me, hun. I know you're ready, you can do this." Despite my anger over everything, she clutched my hands tightly as if it was her lifeline. "I don't like this either. But do I have a choice? No, none of us do."

"Let me run. You can do that for me. Just let me run." If I wasn't bound to this territory I didn't even have to beg like this!

"I can't do that. Not after last time." Of course, merely asking for anything in this clan wasn't going to work. What was I even expecting? "You look very upset-"

"You see this?" For emphasis, I rolled over my sleeves to reveal the triangle mark on my arm. "For years, I've been banned from casting any spells or learning them in the first place. Why me? What have I ever done to the clan? Why do I have to marry a man, oh, no, wait, a dead man who has been lying in a grave for God knows how many years? A Darkness!"

I could remember how I was in awe of the things they could do with their powers back when I was still a child. But the moment I tried to do the same thing, I was gifted with a mark that would never allow me to do magic.

Giving me a weak smile, she cleared her throat. "Emie, hun, we've been over this already. We need a pure soul to harness every bit of Darkness's powers. This is a sacrifice worth dying for."

Pure soul...I didn't think of myself as a pure soul. Not when it cost my life.

"Would you say the same thing if I were your real child?" I wondered aloud, not caring the way she flinched.

A tear rolled down her cheeks at my admission. As much as I hated my step-parents, I couldn't deny that Belle could almost pull off being a mother. Especially when she choked up. "Conrad may seem like he hates you but, know that, if he didn't saw the scroll himself, he would never let it go so far. As for me, I love you as my own."

My pretense slipped only for a second. "Not enough to save me."

"I saved you once! And what did we get in return? People dying, disappearing, and all the bad things that could happen to us. The prophecy is real, we've all seen the consequences of ignoring it before. This whole year we've suffered because I stopped them from taking you. The nearby clans are breathing down our neck. You know that! Any moment they will attack and without Darkness's help, we will all die."

My chest tightened to the point that I couldn't see through all the chaos around me. Nineteen years was hardly enough for me. I wanted to live...maybe even make a family of my own. And more of all, I wanted to cry out at the injustice happening to me but something held me back. I wanted to show them that they were wrong. Despite walking toward my death, I wasn't weak. I was the strongest of them all.

I wanted them to know that breaking me was futile.

You can't break someone who is already broken.

***

"Bring her." Mr. Sullivan's voice echoed through the cold haunted cemetery and immediately a chill went through my bones. I was thankful for the almighty that my whole body was supported by Belle as I could feel my knees buckle under my legs.

"Etsu ka ta ekram." I heard the High Priest whisper before snatching a talisman from his latest companion. Somewhere around the circle, one witch was making sure that the angry spirits stayed away from our business, and honestly, I wanted nothing more than to watch them get free just so these idiots could learn some lessons.

Wishful thinking...

Gathering some soils that have been tainted with mortal blood, Mr. Sullivan turned to the old witch. "Madam Florence, how much time till the wedding?"

Madam Florence, whose hair was brighter than my future only laughed in return. "Patience, my dear. We still need crow's blood to soak the ground, here-" Before I could blink, the poor crow's neck was snapped in half and added to the other ingredients they've managed to find from God knew where. "Now we can all proceed."

At once, everyone's eyes rolled over and even I was unable to stop the transformation. A quick look at the sky explained why. The witching hour was here.

It's time.

"Emeline, come closer." I glanced at Mr. Sullivan who looked anything but remorseful. He couldn't bother to see that my hands were trembling. No, my stepfather didn't think about me at all. 

"It's time to break her pledge from us, from the Red clan, from our God." His voice didn't waver at once, his steps confident when picking up the knife from the High Priest to make a cut on his palm.

"Do you, Emeline Sullivan, the daughter of the clan leader, Conrad Sullivan, agree to break your pledge to the Red clan willingly?"

"Yes," My icy response could have frozen the whole clan.

Nodding, he handed me the knife for me to shed some blood. Mixing my blood with his, I broke the pledge by chanting the vow. "In birth, in life, and in death. Now I, Emeline Deshayes, willingly break the pledge to honor and be loyal to my afterlife."

Immediately, I could feel both the effect of that namesake and the emptiness engulfing my heart, confirming that I've done something they didn't expect me to do.

"Emeline!" Mr. Sullivan grabbed my hand in warning. "Don't ever speak of that name."

I found myself staring at him, this man, who had always been a stranger to me. People might fear him for being a clan leader but there was someone who they feared more.

Me.

My bloodline.

"Let go, Conrad. She's a child." Despite knowing that she was embarrassing Mr. Sullivan, Belle spoke up with a hesitant smile on her face.

"She's right. Besides, Emeline's free from our clan. We all feel it. Just get to the wedding part already." Where Belle's smile was real, the High Priest's smile was a practiced one. I would know cause that's how he looked at me when he draped the talisman on my neck.

"Fine. Start the wedding." I didn't know what was more annoying. The fact that Mr. Sullivan left an ugly mark on my hands or the High Priest's hungry eyes looking over his grimoire.

Before I could scoff at both of them, the High Priest finally closed the book on his hands, seemingly found what he was looking for. "Everyone, take their place. Emeline, listen to me carefully. Do you, the clan leader's daughter Emeline Sullivan, take this grave's owner, the darkest soul, also known as the King of Shadows, Darkness, as your lawfully wedded husband?"

There was it.

I knew it was coming.

Yet something unsettling crept into my mind as I looked around. Would it be too painful? Or would I be erased from the earth just like that?

God, I hoped at least my spirit was harder to get rid of. That way I could just haunt the cemetery and be a pain in their ass. With that thought in my mind, I flashed them a wicked grin. "I do."

The smile on the High Priest's lips brightened. "Now do you, Darkness, the King of Shadows, take Emeline to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

A low hum followed, everyone's call for Darkness bouncing off the circle I was in. The words didn't terrify me as much as the knife in Mr. Sullivan's hands did.

I remembered vividly the rumors they used to spread about how the pure soul would be handed over to the Darkness, the sleepless nights I spent hearing about the strange knife. Only this time it wasn't a rumor but a reality. A shiver went through me seeing him come closer without a care in the world.

"Shh...Just relax and let it happen." Mr. Sullivan whispered in my ears, positioning me in a way that one small push was enough to make me stumble into the grave. I wanted nothing but to crane my neck and stop him from slowly bringing the knife to my throat. What would he even do with it? Cut me? Nip only? Closing my eyes, I waited for the pain to come.

But it never did.

Just when I was about to open my eyes in confusion, a loud buzz filled my ears and I hissed. What the hell? Looking down, I noticed thick red blood drops making their way to the valley of my breasts, making my dress wet with it but still, there was no pain.

What's happening?

My confusion didn't linger much longer as the pain exploded everywhere in my body, making me scream. Even trying to inhale and exhale felt tiring. Loud chanting filled the air around me, making it worse. Like rain, the blood kept soaking me where I could barely recognize myself.

Make it stop! My whole body screamed in agony.

Out of nowhere, I could hear a loud animistic snarl which startled me to the point of making me push whoever was holding me. All I could hear were cries and grunts. I might not be still connected to them but I could feel the pain and agony in their voices.

Somewhere in the middle of this massacre, I must have dropped on the ground as I felt someone trying to shake me. From what I could see with my blurred vision, I noticed it was Belle, blood covering half of her face.

"Run, Emie, run."

Despite the pain, I forced my feet to move forward. My black satin wedding dress was torn in the process but I didn't look back. I couldn't even if I wanted to. After a while, I could feel exhaustion creep in, making my eyes close against my will.

If only I knew what was waiting for me when I woke up...I'd prefer to fulfill the prophecy than dealing with the casualties of my failure.