Witch's Curse

✔Chapter 9

Maize was tossing and turning as she attempted to sleep. Her right hand, for some reason, was in pain again, only much more severely now, and she was trying to ignore it. However, the pain wasn't letting up and only seemed to be getting worse by the second.

She eventually woke up and looked down at her hand to see these strange markings the colour of black ink swirling around her fingers, up her hand and all the way to her wrist where it seemed to stop.

Maize was clenching her teeth as tears of pain pricked at the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall. She did her best to hold back her sounds of pain, but her heavy breathing was fairly loud as were the whimpers of pain that passed her lips every now and then. She thought the pain would stop now the marking has stopped spreading, but it only seemed to get worse and it was becoming harder for her to hold in her pained sounds.

Vlad was soon woken up and he frowned in concern as he looked over at his best friend who was sitting by her bed hunched over in pain.

"Maize? What's wrong?" He asked in concern as he flipped the covers off himself and rushed to her side.

He crouched down in front of her and was about to say something else when he noticed her hand.

"What is that? Maize, what's happening to you?" Vlad asked as he put his hands on her shoulders.

She was shaking and trying not to cry as pain coursed through her hand like a wildfire in a forest. She opened her mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a pained shout as another jolt of pain ran through her hand.

Vlad tried to get her to talk to him a few more times until his dad, having heard the her yelps of pain, appeared in the room.

"What exactly is going on in here?" The Count announced his entrance.

"Maize is in pain and there's these weird markings on her hand." Vlad explained.

This made The Count frown in slight concern.

"Markings? What sort of markings?" He asked as he approached his son's side to assess her hand himself.

Once he saw the state of her right hand his frown seemed to deepen and he flinched at the sight.

"Well... That's not good." He muttered. "No need to worry, Vladimir. The pain will pass and the markings will disappear soon after."

"But what is it?" Vlad asked.

The Count said nothing as he seemed to be in thought.

"Dad, she's in pain." Vlad said.

"There's a bit of a story behind it, but long story short... It's a curse." The Count revealed. "A Witch's Curse."

"What's going on?" Ingrid asked as she entered the room.

She felt slight concern creep into her undead heart when she saw the state the Maize was in.

"A curse?" Vlad said, ignoring Ingrid as his concern for his best friend's health grew.

"Who's cursed?" Ingrid asked.

"Maize, if you really must know." The Count replied rather casually.

"What did she do to get herself cursed? When did this even happen?" Vlad asked his father.

"Well, like I said, there's a bit of a story behind it." The Count replied.

"So start talking." Ingrid told him in slight annoyance.

The Count sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I shall tell you the story of how she was cursed." The Count said as he stood up and slowly started pacing.

"While her mother was still pregnant with her, she and her father managed to upset another Witch who placed a curse on her parents that, as soon as their child was born, they would die. A second curse was placed on their unborn child, that would eventually kill her when she turns twenty years old." The Count revealed.

"What?!" Both Ingrid and Vlad shouted in surprise.

"Shh! Just let me finish!" The Count hissed at his shocked children.

"You knew this all along and you never told us?" Ingrid said.

"I said shush!" The Count replied. "Where was I... Oh, yes! See, her father, the Witch of the parents, did what he could to try and remove the curse. Sadly, nothing worked as the Witch that placed the curse was much more powerful than he was. That's actually how she came into my... Care."

"Her mother managed to convince me to promise to take care of their baby and I... Begrudgingly... Agreed to right before she died right in front of me, leaving me with a baby girl." The Count explained.

The pain Maize had been previously feeling had died down part way through The Count's storytelling and the markings had just about disappeared as she simply leaned against Vlad's shoulder tiredly as they listened to The Count speak.

"I'll admit, I at first resented the idea of another girl in the house, but soon grew to... Tolerate... Her after finding out that she and my son and heir were Soulbound." The Count said.

This woke Maize up a little as she frowned in confusion.

"Soulbound?" She repeated. "What does that mean?"

"Well, Maize, it means you two are Mates." The Count replied. "It's a rarity, even in the supernatural world, for one to have a Mate. But it's not impossible as it has happened to a few others before."

"Mates?" Vlad asked.

The Count nodded.

"Us?" Maize asked as pointed between herself and Vlad.

He nodded once more.

The shared a glance and couldn't help blushing as they knew that them being Mates meant that they're supposed to be lovers.

"Oh, this will be good." Ingrid smirked. "Now I have something to tease you about."

They both turned to her with a menacing glare which she felt a little intimidated by, though she would never admit it.

Ingrid rolled her eyes to cover it up.

"Whatever." She said, before she left the room.

A/N: Another chapter for my lovely readers! Just a short one, but interesting none the less. I hope😅 Anyways, hope you all Enjoy! P.S. Ideas for how the curse is broken are appreciated!