The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne novel Chapter 106

The Warrior and The Witch - One: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V. 11 years old

Everything hurt.

The throbbing in my head forced a whimper from my lips, and the cold night air made me shiver as it grazed over my body.

I had never fallen asleep with my window open before. My parents would have killed me if they knew I had managed to pry the nails free of the wood for fresh air. I had always been vigilant in ensuring I only left it open for a few minutes at a time so they would never catch me. Yet, the smell of fresh pine on the breeze told me I had failed tonight.

My body fought against me, wanting to return to my deep slumber where there was no cold or pain. Only my blanket was gone, and my mattress was hard and freezing. My eyes shot open with panic as I felt someone pulling on my leg.

My vision was blurry, and my head spun as I grimaced from the blinding agony that crippled me when I tried to move. The pain only worsened when I attempted to look down, unable to see who was touching me. Very few ever did.

Their rough hands gripped my calf tightly, and I kicked in an attempt to free myself from their hold. Their hands were too large to be my mother's, and my father hadn't ever touched me. I was their cursed child.

He called me the devil.

I was their curse to carry and their secret to bury.

’Stop moving!" A voice snapped, and my head shot back painfully against the solid surface beneath me, hitting an already sensitive spot that I hadn't remembered injuring.

I had an idea of what was happening. My parents used to call in men dressed in black who told me they were there to purge me of the demon in my body. They would tie me to my bed frame, chant and yell while splashing me with water.

But this was different.

The cold metal dug into my skin as the woman clasped the object around my ankle, pulling my leg until it was straight. I blinked several times as the world around me started to become clear. The dark night sky was illuminated by the bright glow of the moon above us, and I froze in a moment of panic when I realized I was outside and not in my bed as I had assumed.

I wasn't allowed outside.

I remembered my mother walking in to tell me it was lights out like she always did, and then there was nothing. No memory of getting ready for bed or lying down under my blanket.

Had I been sleepwalking? Was this to be my punishment for disobeying the rules?

"Joselin, don't worry, sweetie. We're here to make you better." A softer voice said, and I flinched when the old, wrinkled hand moved over my face to tuck my hair behind my ear, prying the strand away that had been stuck to the wetness on my cheek.

I turned my head away, trying to press it into the flat rock beneath me. But I had nowhere to go as she used her thumb to lift my eyelid as far up as she could, exposing the pure white underneath. It was the reason my parents had been seeking help. The lack of color in my eyes was not like theirs. They didn't like that, never mind what I could do... the powers I had.

I wasn't allowed to use them. It was one of the rules. One of the many rules. My parents said it was the most important one. No magic.

The second one was that I was not allowed to leave the house or be seen by anyone. The only people who knew about me were the people who came to fight the demon. They had been in a long losing battle.

I cried out in terror as they cut my clothes from my body. My mother caught my eye as she stood, silently crying, next to my father as she watched another woman grab my head and force me to face the full moon above me.

My limbs pulled and jerked against their restraints as I frantically tried to get to my parents and away from the women surrounding me. "Mommy!"

I didn't understand why I was being punished.

’I followed the rules! Mommy, I followed the rules!" I screamed as the stranger dug the tip of the blade into my skin. "No! Ah!"

Searing pain shot up my arm as the woman dragged the metal across my skin, chanting loudly in a language I didn't understand. My scream echoed into the night for hours, drowning out the women performing their ritual. Until it stopped, and I was left panting and sobbing.

My quiet begging for freedom and forgiveness was ignored as the women placed both hands on my body. I could feel them burrowing and moving through my bloodstream. I didn't like it. I had followed the rules.

My body went numb, blocking out the searing pain that covered almost every inch of my flesh. The only thing I could feel were the string-like tethers stemming from the witches holding and invading my body.

’Don't worry, dear. We are going to get this out of you." The old woman croaked, sounding giddy yet strained as she gripped my arm tighter.

I didn't want them to get it out of me. My parents may have seen my gift as evil, but I loved having it. My powers had been given to me for a reason.

All the men who came to exorcise the demon out of me had never come close. But they had also never done anything like this. They never cut my skin.

But these witches... these witches scared me. They hurt me. I didn't understand why they needed to draw my blood.

I could feel them working their way into my mind and soul. My eyes stayed shut tight as I tried to resist, but it felt like they were a part of me now. No matter how hard I tried to push them away, they only wound deeper into me.