The curse

The heavy breeze made Hilaria miss a step making her stumble and fall. Picking up herself, she sighed and continued to walk in the direction of her home. Her blonde hair danced alongside the wind and everyone she passed that evening couldn't help but notice her as hate passed through their eyes.

Without notice, the rain began and Hilaria knew she had to double her steps or maybe run home. She doubted the latter would favor her and with slight hesitation, she hid in a kiosk.

Her blue eyes darted to her hand where she had received fresh bruises early that morning. It wasn't like she didn't receive them every day, but today was worse where her kind almost burnt her alive. Pressing her lips together, she waited for the rain to stop and as soon as it did, she began to walk back to her house.

"Aria, my dear," her mother pulled her in for a tight hug immediately after she entered the living room and she couldn't help but reciprocate. "I was worried"

The woman let her thoughts known to her daughter even though worry could be seen flashing through her black eyes.

"You need not be, mama. I'm totally fine"

Hilaria pulled back and dropped the basket of food items she had gone to buy. Even though she had responded to her mother, the elderly woman wasn't convinced.

"I smell the faint blood from your hand, Aria. What happened?"

Aria had her back facing her mother and hearing the question, it made her eyes prick with the urge of crying.

"It-It's nothing to worry about, mama. I'm doing great"

The elderly woman could sense that her daughter was broken and didn't want to speak about anything right away. So deciding to let her be, Mrs.Theresa said,

"Go freshen up. I'll quickly make dinner out of what you purchased"

Hilaria walked to her room and instead of going to freshen up as her mother had suggested, she lay on her bed facing the ceiling.

The words from that morning flashed through her mind and for some reason or the other, she felt her time on the earth was limited.

'Burn her. The cursed witch,' a woman had said.

'I see no reason why she should be kept alive. A product of a witch and a merman'

'No one cares if she's the product of a witch and the devil himself. Her silly mother is the reason why a forever curse has been on our children and even the unborn ones'

'True,' the First Lady to speak agreed.

'And now, we'll never be able to reproduce unless the curse is broken... No future for our kind'

The woman's voice cracked in the end. Before Hilaria could move from the gossip of the villagers, a stone hit her back and she fell to the ground. The impact was so harsh that a good amount of blood made its way out of her mouth. Another hit her again and soon, the vile villagers began to stone her without an apparent care in the world. Finally getting up, a stone flew right to her forehead which ended up creating a bump.

'Let m-me go.. I have n-not-nothing to do with whatever my mother did'

Aria tried to plead with the villagers, yet they paid deaf ears. From the three women who were gossiping, a large number of people now gathered, each holding a stone.

'Keep shut you brat. I wonder why we are stoning. Get the fuel and a match let's burn her'

'Burning your own kind. That's unfair. Please let's-"

Aria tried to plead her way but stopped when a stone but her chest making her fall to the ground. Right now, she had been surrounded and there was no way to escape. She cursed her fate for being the daughter of the infamous witch who by mistake had placed a curse on the entire lineage of witches.

In no time, a warm liquid poured on her back with the villagers cheering. Tears began to flow out of her eyes and she wondered if this was how she would die. No, not wonder. There was definitely no escape this time.

'Burn the silly thing'

The cheering continued while whoever was pouring the fuel continued to pour happily. Just a strike of the match and Aria was doomed.

'Enough of the mistreatment. Get off her,' a masculine voice ordered and for a second, everything stopped.

'Prince William, my honorable greetings'

'To yourself, get back to your respective homes and never lay your hands on her again,' the man ordered and half of the crowd scurried away while some remained.

'We won't. Are you aware you wouldn't be able to reproduce? Like never? This girl's mother tapped into the dark magic which has put an end to fertility'

'Are you aware you are taking laws into your hands?' the man responded in a hushed tone. 'I'm the prince if you do not know. A deserving punishment would be given to this lady and her mother even if it is death. For now, go back to your daily life'

And like chickens, the women and some men who were there walked away while some glared at the prince. He gave a helping hand to Hilaria who was too weak to reply.

'Hilaria Fernando. Get up'

Hilaria heard the voice and mustered all the energy she could. Placing her hand on his, he pulled her up and led her to his carriage.

'That was a close death call. I'll be taking you to a nearby washroom where you can wash this smell of fuel off yourself and maybe change your clothes'

Hilaria had no response except muttering a thank you which she did.

Nodding his head, the carriage rode from there.

Hilaria's train of thought we're quickly interrupted by the knock on her room door.

"Aria darling. Aren't you done freshening up? It's been fifteen minutes, I think"

"I was tidying some things, mama. Five minutes more," Aria lied and her mother left her door to do whatever she was doing.

Dragging herself, Aria couldn't help but thank her stars for the kind stranger that saved her life. Not just saving her life, he gave her exquisite treatment and got her a new gown which she wore home.

Thanks to him again, his personal guard bought from the market everything she needed without her going herself and ending up being stoned. If she bought low-quality meals as that was what they could afford, Prince William got her the best. Her mother didn't even take notice of the new cloth she had on, maybe worry had overshadowed the cloth.

Finally freshening up, Hilaria walked to the dining room where food had been served and her mother waited for her.

Taking her seat, she was questioned immediately,

"Child, I'm very much older than you. Lying to me would be of no use," Mrs. Theresa Fernando began. "I can see the slight swelling on your forehead. Don't think I didn't notice the new clothing you wore in. Not just new, one of a very decent fabric"

Hilaria looked into her mother's eyes. Even though the woman tried to look angry so Aria could talk, she was also curious about what had happened to her daughter. Sighing, Aria began to explain all that happened, and when she was done, a deafening silence prevailed.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that for me," Mrs. Theresa apologized with a gloomy look on her face. "After eating, we'll go inside and I'll treat the wounds. Okay?"

Hilaria ignored her mother's statement and began to eat.

"Why did you do it, mama? He was there to save me today. The villagers are so vile that we could be asleep one night in peace while not knowing they had set our house on fire"

The woman looked terribly guilty and her lips quivered even though she tried to keep a strong face in front of her daughter.

"It was years ago. Some of us witches decided to have an association. We were about ten and our aim was to come out far stronger than our rivals, the vampires. The only way to achieve that was to tap into the dark magic," the woman paused before continuing, "For the love I had for the sisterhood, I made the sacrifice of being the one to tap into it. I never knew it would have such a side effect. Maybe I didn't do it well or..."

Mrs Theresa paused her lips and Aria finally understood what was going on. This part of the world was ruled by witches and the other part, by vampires. Any human found by mistake would be turned into the ones who laid their hands on them. In the land of witches, few had a meeting on how to eventually come out stronger than the vampires. As loving as her mother could be, she volunteered and now that everything didn't turn out good, they had ganged up against them to make life very miserable for the mother and daughter.

"Is there no way to break the curse?" Aria curiously asked and her mother sighed.

"I've been working on it. There's something I found and I'm sure it's going to work. Well just eighty five percent sure though," Aria listened to her mother carefully, not wanting to miss any information that would spill. It was true that the villagers hated her mother and herself but never had they once tried to hurt them. But today had been something else, any cure that could help them from being outcasts in their own land, Aria was ready to embark on it.

"The curse only prevails over the witches. I mean, if a witch mates with another kind which would obviously be a vampire or a merman as those are the only two species apart from witches, a child would be born. Once that happens, I guess the curse is broken. I would have done it myself with a merman, but they have gone extinct. I was so lucky to have you with your father before they went extinct"

Aria pressed her lips together. Mating with a vampire, their sworn enemies? But what other option did they have?

"Don't even dare think of it. A vampire? Once they set eyes on a witch, they kill. Same thing with us. Let's just hope one day, the curse would fade away. Aside from that, there is no cure"