Wife

The First Gift

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Briella scrambled to her feet to face the woman, feeling very unsafe sitting down. "Daddy..." She whispered out to the man, but she didn't dare turn her gaze from the woman to look at him. Something was in the air, something sinister. That was the one word that popped into her mind, not evil but sinister.

Danger. She was in danger, every part of her screamed.

"Y-You're early," Donte stammered. "I-I didn't get to explain things to her good enough yet."

"From what I heard, you explained things quite well, Donte." The woman cooed. The woman's dull green eyes seemed to take Briella in. "Good enough for him," she clicked her tongue. "Come now, girl. I would like to be back home before morning."

"I-I'm not going anywhere with you." Briella snapped. She wasn't sure what kind of mess her father had gotten himself into, but she wasn't about to be...to be sold like a t-shirt at the flea market. "I don't know who you think you are bu-"

"Briella, please," her father begged for her to be quiet. She heard him moving around the desk. She saw him join her side out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, Briella, please." The woman mocked. "Do not be difficult. Actually," The woman cracked a smile, a hungry one that made her face seem twisted, "do." She moaned. "Pain is my favorite flavor," she licked her lips like some kind of demented villain from a movie.

Briella shivered. She finally looked away from the woman, to her father. She felt...betrayed. "Y-you're really afraid of this woman?" She questioned.

Her father noticeably swallowed. "Normal things aren't at work here, Briella. I-I didn't intend on doing this to you-"

"Didn't you?" The woman interrupted. She sounded bored but eager to inflict pain. "I am curious. What made you pick this daughter? I didn't specify which, either would have been good enough for him." Her father's lips parted but then they closed. "Do you love this one less?" She questioned with a short laugh. "I understand, Donte. Some children you just wish you would've drowned at birth." She smiled.

"No!" Her father denied. He turned to Briella, who was staring at the woman with disturbed eyes. "Its because you're older, Briella. I didn't want it to be either of you... I just... please don't hate me for this."

Don't hate him for this? She...She didn't know what she felt. Afraid. She felt afraid. She wasn't apart of the things her father did, she didn't understand any of this. She didn't understand, so how could she feel anything. It was all happening too quickly.

"I really have to go with this woman?" She asked with raw throat. "There are no other options?"

Her father looked away. "He won't hurt her, will he?" He turned to the woman.

The woman looked even more uninterested now, her eyes half-lidded and gaze on her nails. "He is a beast, so who knows." The woman shrugged. "He may treasure her. He may destroy her." She shrugged. "It matters little to me."

Her father frowned, clearly not put at ease, but there wasn't like there was anything he could do about it. Briella shuddered and her mind whirled. There had to be a way out of this. "Briella," her father spoke, bringing her out of her thoughts, "g-go with this woman, please."

(W)

They hadn't ever given him anything before. He had not one thing that could be called his own, really. But finally, his mutter was going to give him something, a reward for his diligence in his mind – a wife. His brother had been Entwined (it is something similar to marriage but for their kind) recently, and now had his own wife. Osiris hadn't ever been given something his brother also had.

This was his first gift, or at least the first one he could remember.

That was why he hurried through his job in his rush to be back at the manor. His assassinations were usually quick and brutal, he didn't like to waste time and his mutter usual gave time limits for such things. But he did this one in less the time. It was supposed to look like a hiking accident, as if his target was mulled by some type of wild animal. So, he had shed his human skin for the skin he preferred most, hunted and had his targets blood between his teeth in less than eleven hours.

He was there before the first new lights of a new day lit the sky. His mutter waited for him in the entertainment room, her slim frame a glow in the light coming from the hearth. He stopped in the threshold; his heart was pounding. He had ran the length of two states without rest.

"Oh, you eager boy." His mutter clicked her tongue. She brought a glass of red wine to her lips, her gaze seemingly stuck on the fire. "You're so happy – I can smell it." Her delicate lip twisted upwards in disgust.

Osiris simply stood there, face blank and muscular frame as unthreatening and submissive as he could make it. He could not afford to upset his mutter and have her take her gift away before he even had a chance to see it. He knew his mutter hated his happiness, but he couldn't help to feel the emotion.

"Thank you, mutter." He whispered and bowed his head.

She finally looked at him, with a simple turn of her head and eyes. Her expression was cold and filled with hatred, she did not look at his brother with those eyes.

"I could have changed my mind. Decided you didn't deserve such a thing such as a wife." He froze as fear filled him – fear that all his hope and happiness had been for nothing. He felt a spark of rage, he hadn't meant to let it slip out, but it just had. The large and old home began to tremble.

"Are you threatening me, flith?" His mutter spat. She took a step towards him, the fire snuffed out in the hearth and the floor underneath her foot splintered. The room quickly descended into darkness.

"No!" He denied quickly, struggling to reign it all back in, all his rage. The feeling of unfairness. He knew better than to let his emotions control him. The house stopped shaking and the air became less thick. "I am sorry. My disappointment an-"

"Hush," the light returned to the room as the hearth was once again lit. "I know you are of lesser flesh and cannot control yourself." Her hard eyes were on him. Still blue, so her anger wasn't too great. "I do hope you can control it better around the human I have given you. I would hate for you to break the one thing that is finally yours."

He knew deep down his mutter couldn't love anything more than for that to happen. But he wouldn't let his control slip with his gift, there was no telling when or if he would ever receive another.

"I expect thankfulness and a harder work ethic from you now." He said nothing. His blood was rushing, and the eagerness had returned. Now that his mutter wasn't suppressing the scent, he could smell her – the human. His wife. His human. He hadn't too much experience with the kind, if one didn't count the many of their lives he had taken. Personally, he hadn't delt with a human on a personal level before.

"I am thankful, mutter."

His mutter, Esmeralda, made a sound that could have been a laugh, he wasn't sure. "Of course," she shook her head. "You do not deserve an Entwined, so are to be given the human equivalency – a wife. She will not love you. So, do not for one second think you've finally gotten something your brother has. Your brother has been Entwined and his Mate loves him. Your wife will only fear you."

Osiris did not care. He finally had something that was to be his.

"Go," she finally dismissed, sounding displeased. "Go meet your wife. She is where you reside and waiting."

He did not have to be told twice.