Cursed

My feet felt heavy underneath me, my breath was uneven and ragged. The trees blur past me as I attempt to lose the people following my every step. Muttering a spell underneath my breath, an abundance of trees grows up from the ground behind me, distracting the hunters and hopefully confusing them. My baby fusses in my arms as she starts to cry, I stop dead in my tracks and try to calm her down. I can hear the hunters speaking as they follow the sound. Turning right and running until I’ve reached an empty lot, I hold her closer to my chest.

I look at my child in the eyes, she’ll have so many expectations to live up to and I won’t be there to help her. I won’t get to see her first steps or see her first love. All I can do is hope they won’t find her before I get her to safety

Why did I have to yell, why did I have to torment him? If I were silent we wouldn’t have been found. Elliana could be raised with us, to reach her full potential.

I look up at the trees, begging to find a low enough branch to hide. To just climb out of here and somewhere safe. I put her in my shirt, holding her close to my bare skin. My hands are now free to suspend me in the air.

I whisper a spell, my legs slowly hovering above the ground. Although there may be no low branches, I still have a few tricks up my sleeves. Us Fallenbreath’s do not give up at the first sign of trouble.

The hunters run into the field underneath me, they look in every possible direction. But there were no more footprints to follow, I had fucked up. I had to think fast, slowly maneuvering myself fully behind the tree so they couldn’t see me. I try to recount all the spells I’ve ever learned, everything that could help me.

I needed to snap a twig, but how was I going to do that from all the way up here?

“Where did she go?” One hunter asks, his voice low.

“She’s around here somewhere, check the trees.” I can hear the smirk in his voice. “That child needs to die too, we don’t leave any witnesses.”

I hold my child closer to my chest, we can’t wait a thousand more years. She needs to fix this now. Who can live like this? A twig snaps to my left, pulling the hunters away. I turn around to see where they’re going.

The bushes around us rattled with movement, but they kept going further away. As if it was running? I curse under my breath. Adriel.

Every bone in my body wanted to help him, to go to his side and protect him. But I couldn’t. I needed to protect her.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, jumping off the tree. When I look up I come face to face with a hunter, his eyes soften when he sees me.

“What are you doing here?” He asks me, pulling me into his hold. I hold him back, our child fussing in my shirt.

“You have a daughter,” I smile, pulling her out and showing him. She looked like him and had his chin and nose. But her vibrant ice-blue eyes were much like my own.

“You can’t be here, they’ll kill you. They’ll kill her.” He takes her from my hold, kissing her forehead. “I know what to do,”

We ran in the opposite direction, she seemed to be so calm in his arms. Not making a single noise. We reach the edge of the tree line, houses in nice neat rows. I’ve never been this close before, I was always in the safety of the forest.

“You see that house?” He asks me, pointing to the two-story house three houses away from the tree line. It had rose bushes in the front and the greenest grass ever. The windows were bright with artificial lighting. A warm yellow glow.

“Yes?” I question, turning to him.

“They have a son, three years old I believe. Oscar used to be an ex-hunter, but he had to stop.”

“Why would I put her in that house?” I exclaim, that was signing her death note.

“No, no. Wait. Oscar had to stop being a hunter because he tried to save you guys. So they asked him to step down and his family would be left alone. He’ll protect her, he’s one of us.”

“The anti-hunter group?” I ask, pulling our back in my arms. She fusses with a lock of my hair.

“Yes, she’ll be safe.” I nod my head, we break through the forestation and into the street. From a far away enough distance, this would look like we were a couple, something I wished. Just to be normal.

I place her on the steps of a house, pulling a crinkled note from my pocket, softly kiss her name and place it on her chest. I hoped it would be enough. I mutter a spell to subside her powers until she was eighteen, by that time someone will get her. When she’s mature enough to take on the responsibility.

“Good luck, Elliana,” I said softly.

I ring the doorbell and we hide behind a bush, they open the door and as if on cue, Elliana cries. The girl picks her up and the boy reads the note, nodding their heads they agree to take her in. When they turn around Elliana’s eyes land on me, the blue in them fades to a dull grey and I finally know the spell kicked in. She won’t be tormenting them anytime soon. A small tear silently falls down my face, Otho squeezes my hand in reassurance. I lost two of my children today.

“I’ll let Gaia and Torryn know,” He whispers, pulling me closer to him. I put my hand in my pocket and pull out an envelope. “What’s this?” He asks grabbing it.

“Something that will help Elliana,” I unclip my necklace, letting the amulet fall into my hands. A family heirloom I hope to pass down to her. I place it in the envelope, sealing it. “You need to give this to Gaia, make sure she gets it. Okay?”

“You’re not coming?” He asks me, I turn to face him.

“I need to find Adriel, Elliana might be safe, but he isn’t.” What if he was already dead?

“You can’t Fern, they’ll find you.” I hold his cheek in my hand, placing my lips on his for just a small moment. I couldn’t help the salty rivers that fall down my cheeks, leaving a trail of sorrow behind.

“He can’t know about us,” I tell him, pulling away from him even when my body longed to be with his. I wished to be normal just with him. But the world sees it as not fit.

“There you are, well done, Otho.” Someone voices behind us, I turn around and come face to face with the group we tried to lose.

“Edward, you don’t have to..” Otho tries to reason, he looks at the both of us.

“Otho, don’t you tell me. You and this monster?” He asks, the group laughing. He can’t tell them the truth because if he does they’ll know about her.

“No, he saw me running down the street. He captured me. He was about to kill me before you came.” I try to reason with them, Otho looks at me, concern dripping from his eyes.

“Well then, don’t let us stop you.” Ed laughs, I get down on my knees.

“Do it, Otho,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “Just do it, so they won’t hurt you.”

“Fern I, I can’t”

“Otho, do it.” He looks away from me, pulling the gun up to my head.

“I love you,” I whisper, letting the gunshot echo through the air. I felt the pain in my chest, pulling me to the ground. Every breath I took was strained. “Look. after. her.”