Hazel let out a piercing scream that tore through the night echoing through the entire forest as her captor increased the pressure on her hair.Her heart was ramming as she stared into his face. She never thought this could happen.He pulled at her hair again and Hazel couldn't stop the scream that escaped her lips.Her captor only chuckled with her hair wrapped around his hand."No matter how much you scream, no one will hear you." He reminded her and Hazel knew it was true.As she stared into eyes so blue, her heart ran wild with fear as instead of the beauty she had once seen in them, she only saw anger."I'm sorry," she whimpered.Her neck was aching with the way he was bending her head backward and she felt like he was going to rip out her hair from her head as he pulled mercilessly."No!" He roared, shaking his head, "You are not sorry. But I promise you, you will be when I am done with you," He threatened.Hazel believed his threat as she saw it in his eyes. The anger in his ey
Hazel woke up the next day disoriented and confused as to where she was.Her head hurt like crazy and her body felt as if she had been run over by an elephant.She tried to move but realized it was not possible as all her limbs were tied off.Then all of a sudden, she recalled the events of last night."Help! Someone, please help me!" Hazel shouted at the top of her lungs.She could remember the look of danger on Sam's face yesterday and she was sure she did not want to see it again.She was sure she was at his house because the room looked nothing like a prison cell. She had to find a way to get out of there. Her presence in the town was not good and could lead her into more serious trouble.She pulled at the ropes holding her hands to the bedpost in a bid to cut them off but the only thing she got in return was excruciating pain as the ropes tore into her wrists.Not knowing what to do, she lay down on the bed crying."Raglan?" She called out.She shut her eyes tight as she called
"Make sure you take good care of her. Treat any wounds you would find," Sam instructed his maid, "And there should be no funny business," Sam warned."Erm... Master? How am I going to clean her up when she is tied up Sir?" The maid asked.Sam pondered on the maid's words for a while. He looked at the maid, then back at Hazel."You have a point. You can undo the ties but I have to warn you again, no funny business," He commanded. "She is very cunning."He started to walk out of the room but then stopped in his tracks and turned to admonish the maid once more."If she escapes, you will take her place."Hazel saw the visible shiver that went through the maid's body and she knew that any plan she had to try to cajole the maid into helping her out was not going to work.But she was going to find a way, by hook or by crook. Sam walked out of the room and Hazel listened to his receding footsteps as a glimmer of hope rose in her. She had been hoping he would leave the door open. She knew sh
Hazel cried out in pain as the water touched her skin.She had gotten little cuts that were not easily visible and the water had irritated them thereby causing her pain."It is okay. Just calm down, " Mary consoled her.Hazel stood still for a while to get accustomed to the pain before gently lowering herself into the tub of water very gently.She sighed as she finally relaxed inside the tub laying her back as best as she could.She closed her eyes as she let the warm scented water soothe her aching body and wash away the pain of yesterday.She took deep breaths as she tried to calm her mind and spirit.She was happy she was getting all these treatments that would help her regain her energy for her flight later.Escaping Sam would not be easy but she knew she was going to do all that she could to escape.Hazel suddenly jerked and threw her eyes open as she felt hands on her hair.She turned to see Mary, kneeling by her head. She had a bottle of shampoo in one of her hands, while the o
An ear-piercing, panic-stricken, primal scream rang out and echoed all over the house, shaking it from its roots.On hearing it, Mary went quiet as fear overcame her. She could only wonder what had let out such a scream.She put her ears to the door to try and listen to what was going on outside."No! No!" Cries of pain that sounded as if someone was being gutted by the fire followed the scream.Mary's eyes widened in fear and she took steps back into the bathroom trying as much as possible to get far away from whatever it was that was causing those screams."Help me! Someone! Help me!" The voice rang out but this time, the voice sounded more human –more like Hazel's voice.On the other side of the door, Hazel was red with frustration as she let out another scream.She banged her fists against the door in a fit of rage, frustration, and anger.She had run to the door with her hopes high and her emotions soaring but all of that had been shattered as when she reached for the handle and
Hazel felt its presence before she saw it. It had been strangely lurking around but she could not see it —till she did.An image began to form in her eyes. The image had extra long hands which were longer than its legs and were scraggly.Its head was a misshapen square with eyes that had no eyelids and brows. As if that was not enough horror, the appearance had a mouth that had teeth poking out with no lips, a nose that seemed to be missing half the flesh on its left nostril, and hair which were mere wisps.It stood staring at her and her at him. It was her first time meeting with her sleep paralysis demon and it was something she hoped would never happen again. She tried to run away. She tried to run far from her dreams and into the real world but it was as if she had been glued there.With every passing moment that Hazel looked at the creature before her, her fear grew.Slowly, it lifted its hands and reached them out toward Hazel.Hazel had never faced any terror as great as what
At that point, Hazel could see the sympathy all over Mary's face as she paid keen attention.It looked so genuine that Hazel felt so bad she was lying to her."On the third day of my being here, I was starting to lose hope and was getting desperate," Hazel retold with a fake sniffle.It wasn't even hard to call the tears to her eyes. All she had to do was remember her true story and the tears would come whether they were of anger or pain."I knew there was no way I was going back home without some money to help my sister. And at that point, I was willing to do anything. Luckily for me, before I was able to start selling my body off, I met this man," I said in a weak voice, making sure she was buying my lies."He was so nice to me... He bought me food and took me to watch a play," as Hazel spoke about the day she met Sam, she had a distant look on her face as she reminisced on the good time she had with Sam that day."He was a real gentleman. He was kind, gentle, funny, and attentive.
The sweet aroma of fried eggs and bacon dragged Hazel out of the throes of sleep.She woke up to a tray of food being delivered to her by Mary.Hazel's belly grumbled in joy and anticipation of what lay before it.When was the last time she had a decent meal? It felt like decades ago!"My mum always said no one could say no to a good plate of bacon and eggs and so I told the chef to make you a plate," Mary said as she got closer to Hazel with the tray.Hazel had to agree with Mary's mother as her mouth overflows with saliva from the smell of the food. She said not a single word as she eyed the tray on the table.Mary walked over to Hazel on the bed and helped her get up into a sitting position.Hazel's body did not actively hurt as much as it had earlier that day but most of her body ached and she still felt numb.When she was properly seated, Mary went and brought over the tray and set it down on Hazel's lap.Hazel was like a little kid who had been given candy.She eyed the food wit
"No!" Hazel's screams resonated through the walls of the midwives' workshop. Against their will, the midwives had lain Hazel on the worktable and had tied her limbs down to the table. One of the midwives took a cloth and started to stuff it into Hazel's mouth to muffle her screams. "Leave her mouth free. I want to listen to her screams," Raglan's cold voice echoed in the room, stopping the midwife. "Please Raglan! You can take my life but let this child live! He is innocent! Please!" Hazel pleaded with Raglan. "I should let the bastard child live?" Raglan chuckled. "I am putting an end to the lives of all the bastards in that family. Including the whore that dared bear him a child," Raglan said with such contempt his face contorted with disgust. Tears spilled down Hazel's face. She couldn't breathe. She knew this was likely going to be her end, but she had hoped she could escape. But she refused to give up on her son. Hazel continued to beg, offering her life in exchange for
Days had passed and Hazel was getting better and better in her skills as a princess of death but it wasn't as fast as she would have wanted it.Her baby would soon be out and she knew that the moment that happened, it was going to be the end of her.She worked harder in the small room she had created for herself, hoping to be able to restore her life to earth before the baby came. But all of these were difficult for her, especially since she had to avoid Raglan's mother by all means.Hazel had tried her possible best to steer clear of her. She knew that she hated her and she made sure she never had anything to do with her.But Raglan's mother made it her duty to be in Hazel's business. She found excuses to be around Hazel and to be part of her life and though Hazel tried her best to avoid her, it was not possible.As she finished her training with her instructor that day, Hazel slowly made her way to her room to rest but as she took the final bend, Raglan's mother immediately appeared
"What?!" Hazel squeaked, her face confused as to what she had just heard.Raglan held her by the shoulders his face lit up with a joy that she never believed could exist in the realm of darkness.He shook her as if to wake her from something."Hazel! We are in love! We now have a child on the way! All that's left is for us to get married!" Raglan said trying to connect some imaginary dots.Hazel knew she could not do this. She had endured the past weeks pretending to like him. Getting married to Raglan was going to the extreme and she was not sure she could survive it.With the same speed with which his face had lit up, the joy on his face dimmed out and a sadness replaced the light."You don't want me?" Raglan asked his voice pricking Hazel with the amount of pain that was in it.Hazel sighed.She knew this was not going to be easy. For her to secure what was hers, it was required of her to make certain sacrifices and this was one of them.With a weak smile that did not even touch he
Over the next few days, Hazel and Raglan's relationship blossomed.Raglan was so happy and he made sure everyone knew about him and Hazel –including his mother.Hazel was still trying to wrap her mind around how she became a girlfriend to the prince of death. The person who had taken away the joy from her life.Hazel had not factored a relationship between her and Raglan into her plans. She had envisioned a totally different trajectory for her plan and she was not happy with the way things were going.Raglan made sure she spent half of her day with him. He tried to make her move to his room but Hazel refused.Staying with Raglan meant she would have to have sex with him and that was something she dreaded happening.She however had been forced to be intimate with him.They cuddled in bed together before bedtime, and they kissed quite a lot –although she tried to find ways to avoid kissing him there was only so much she could refuse for her plan to really work.She did everything intend
Hazel spent the next twenty minutes thinking and rethinking her plan. 'What if it fails?' she asked herself. She knew that was a useless question to ask herself. She knew exactly what would happen if her plan failed. But there was no way she was going to back down. She placed her hands on her belly, rubbing it. She had to take the risk for the child's sake and his father's. With that in mind, Hazel got up and marched to the bed where Raglan lay lost to the world. He looked much more beautiful in sleep and he looked much less like the evil bastard that he was. Hazel looked at the left side of his chest. She knew he had no heart but she wished he had one so that she would have the satisfaction of impaling his heart just as how he had made her do so to all those Alpha's just for his selfish reason. Raglan was lucky she did not know how to send him to hell, she would have done it there and then. Rather, she got on the bed and started to try and take off his black tunic. It was no
She stood before the master of ceremony her entire body weak with fear.The master of ceremony turned back to face the crowd and then he rose both of his hands up into the air and then announced in a low voice, "It is time."As if on cue, the whole room erupted in a terrifying chant.The master of ceremony hurriedly walked away leaving Hazel standing in the middle tears running down her face as she witnessed the ritual happening around her.She could not move as she knew doing so will be fruitless. There was no possible way she was ever going to be able to make it out of the place without being caught moreover she was stuck there in fear.The blood that had been running past her legs started to flow faster.The chants from the demons grew frantic and the symbols on her body started to grow brighter and brighter making her body look like it had been set on fire.Hazel could feel a terrible presence in the room one which was more terrible than all the demons put together. This was follo
"When you said the entire realm would be present did you mean it?" Hazel asked Raglan as soon as Persia landed in front of the four walls.Raglan turned and looked at her dropping the reins. He could see fear spread all over her face."No, I didn't mean it literally," Raglan said to her. "Those who will be in attendance at the banquet are only royalty and those who matter. The rest will be celebrating it at other places."Hazel nodded, her anxiety was a tad bit relieved by his explanation."Shall we?" Raglan asked and he held out his free hand.Hazel nodded then took her hands off the chariot where she had been holding tightly for her dear life.Her legs were still wobbly from her experience but she willed herself to stand steady.The ride had been a bumpy one and many times, Hazel's stomach threatened to hurl out the contents of her stomach but she fought to keep it down.She clasped her hands once more in front of her and Raglan took ahold of her elbow guiding her down the chariot.
"You look so beautiful," Raglan said looking at her with eyes that were full of admiration."Thank you," Hazel said with a warm smile."So do you," She added and her comments were more than just mere flattery. Raglan looked really handsome even though he was dressed in intimidating attire. He had swapped his usual cloak for a tunic, black as night. Underneath the tunic, he wore what looked like chain mail armor, and in his left hand was a scepter that was shaped like a scythe, one very similar to the grim reaper's.There was something in Raglan's eyes as she looked at him. It was a look she had seen before but not on Raglan and it was weird that he had that look in his eyes as he looked at her.Her heart made a little flutter and she had to caution herself to keep her cheeks from reddening. She had to stay focused. The life of her child depended on it.Raglan also tried his best not to look into her eyes. That was very strange as he had never for once been timid before her or anyone
Hazel had lost track of time as she lay on the bed while her body was tattooed with a bunch of symbols she could not decipher.She had spent the time drifting in and out of sleep and when she woke up the last time, she was shocked to see that they had only even covered the front her neck to chest area, and her arms.It was now she understood the maid's issue about time.She wondered why just drawing figures will take so much time.She decided to glance down at what they were doing so she tilted her head down.When she did, she felt a sense of foreboding come over her.Something in her grew cold as a strong feeling of fear seized herAlthough she could not decipher the symbols drawn on her body, she knew that they were something extremely evil."What are these?" Hazel asked her voice more of a whisper."These are the truths of ancient times," The maid said, her voice very quiet as if in reverence to the symbols.Hazel did not know what she said but she did not ask further.She moved a