A/N: I just want to tell everyone that I am a avid reader of Mills and Boons....the writing style is different from the contemporary one, the paragraphs are going to be long....its a style. Characters are introduced in a  random priority order. Plz dont comment saying the chapters are long and characters don't seem relevant.  I AM the writer and I know how I WANT to write my story.  Thanks, enjoy!

|| Prologue. ||

|A rich countryside-Britain.|

Third person's point of view.

13th June 1857.

Foreboding sounds, echoed in a thunderstorm.... A loud roar of wind and rain came crashing on the forest land. Dark forest trees, guarded  a secret like Thor as the young night aged, aged and aged into late midnight.  Deafening howls of rain and wind haunted the unexplainably cold almost blood-curdling cold; the nature mourned- for a child of hers was soon to fade. Dared no nocturnal to disturb the sudden eeriness. But one wet, hunched owl angrily sitting on a brittle oak branch and staring through the window across the tree. Glaring at the bride with utmost hatred, the owl snapped his beak-issuing a final warning to the groom to back off.

A man and a lassie- celebrating their wedding night after a traditional English wedding ceremony in a rich countryside estate- sat completely oblivious to the owl's fair warning.

"Do you also believe in the rumors, Athena?" the groom asked when the bride didn't reply Bishop-the groom smiled shaking his head and continued.

"The first woman to be married to the first-born son of our family is supposed to be sacrificed to the demon that cursed this family. Do you believe such a thing exists?" the question was left hanging in the air.

_~*~_

"Aye, it exists!" The question was answered by a maid on the other side of the door.  Four old, maids were sneaking peaks at the pretty bride through a keyhole and gossiping.

"Ah, she is so beautiful! The lassie is just seventeen winters old!" said a maid to another.

"Just like an angel! So ripe and young." Replied the other maid.

"But what a shame, she won't even make it till the sunrise." The third maid piped in, pity laced her voice.

"Why would you say that!" The second maid asked nosily.

"Haven't you heard? The Sawyer clan has been cursed! The first wife of the first born son will always die right after the wedding. The family is haunted by a beautiful woman ghost who forces the life out of the new bride to maintain her eternal beauty. She was an Indian lassie who was brought to the kingdom of Korosol as a coming of age gift for His Royal Highness King Easton (Bishop's father) from the Indian colony. They had a short-lived affaire de Coeur. She was very beautiful; her black hair hang beautifully past her waist, ruby red lips, a voluptuous body. She cursed his family and every first-born child." Replied the third maid. And a chorus of 'oh-ah' was heard.

"Our last cook, I've heard that on one fateful night he had gone to the lavatory late in the hours. He was coming back from the outhouse when he saw a strange woman sitting in the common room as if she owned the house. There was no way she was a guest visiting at the ungodly hour. So when he asked her who she was, she stood up and yelled at him, 'I am the mistress of this manor! How dare ye question me!' with that, she disappeared into thin air before him! Then he was found dead in the kitchen, surrounded by his bloody vomit, eyes wide open and his tongue was lying next to him. And the strange thing is no one heard his scream. I've heard that she cut his tongue for he had questioned her." The first maid piped in.

"Then there are others who have seen her. She has an hourglass body, the way her beauty reflects in the moon... As she comes sweeping in and suck out all the life out of the new bride! They say it's her secret to maintaining her eternal beauty." She continued.

"No wonder she looks so young and beautiful! I've felt the curtains move as if someone was playing with it. I've heard creepy noises too." the first maid said and the maids continued the stories. Each narrator had something new to add.

_~*~_

Inside the wedding suite, Athena-the bride looked scared as the harsh rain belted down her instinct, of running away as far as possible. It was wrath of God in rawest form, Athena knew. Lord Bishop Sawyer- made a stiff drink before proceeding with the wedding consummation.

Bishop kissed his lassie's neck dotingly. He smiled at her in a lazy way with lust filled eyes. She slightly nodded worrying for her dear life. Before he could get her clothes off, he was hit with a wave of dizziness. He shook his head ignoring it. With his brows furrowed, he pulled open the strings of the corset. He was about to kiss the exposed shoulder blade when the second wave of dizziness struck him with full force. He pulled away from her and looked at her questioningly and finally the third and last wave hit him and he slowly passed out and a creepy gust of wind blew.

The candles started flickering and a cold gust of wind blew in making weird noises. It began with hissing whispers in the dark.

Saam Daam Dand Bhed...

 Saam Daam Dand Bhed...

Saam Daam Dand Bhed...

Saam Daam Dand Bhed...

Saam Daam Dand Bhed...

Athena's breath hitched her throat. The hair on her neck stood up. She subconsciously recognized the danger. Her breathing echoed in the now a cold room. There was a knock on the main door of the suite, in the mere span of minutes; the simple knocks became violent as if someone was trying to force the door open. the chants gained intensity as they raised octaves. Her heart painfully slammed against her ribs and sweat beaded her skin. When she was about to get up; the door swung open! Her eyes went wide; she could make out a dark shadow slowly peaking in. The dark whispering chants took shadowy shape, the uncertain and blur human figure reeked of dark power, elegance and superiority. A dangerous mix.

A ghostly specter seemed to enter the room, the dark fog covered the ground and it scared Athena.

"Please don't kill me!" she pleaded, desperately crawling away from her unconscious husband, and started crying.

"Saam Daam Dand Bhed... " A disembodied voice was heard before an evil laughter of a woman boomed. The bride hastily gathered her gown and scurried out of the suite.

Thunderclouds shrouded her grave, Athena was sure, tears swiftly camouflaged with roaring rain that pierced her skin. Athena ran and ran without looking back. she had heard the rumours... and now she only prayed for them to be false.

The bride ran away through the dark forest for an escape with something seemingly chasing her. The gown tightly gathered in her fists, tears frantically rolling down and she prayed for her life. The lass prayed to the holy God up in the heaven. Her blond hair stuck to her sweaty face and neck, as she constantly kept looking back. She ran oblivious to the jutting rock in her path and fell.  She quickly looked back.

Where the trees once stood, a dark fog covers their grounds- A path through lost lives.

Her eyes widened as the black smoke appeared closer. Her laboured breathing hung heavy in the menacing atmosphere.

The silent nature suddenly became alive. The crickets made loud sounds, and every animal made noise as if trying to muffle her pain-filled shrills that will be heard in due time. The ominous owl hissed at the running bride as if it loathed her and scattered away.

The now awake groom led family retainers to search for his missing bride. Hearing their voices the lass quickly stood up, in pain, probably twisted her ankle. Running as fast as she could she reached a cliff, looking behind she saw herself being cornered at the edge of the cliff and screams in fear as the fog figure form  got close to her. And soon she crumbled on the ground. An invisible force held the bride by her neck, and as the clock ticked the pressure increased; breathing became difficult. Slowly her body was elevated from the ground and the pressure seemed to be decreasing.

"P-p-please ...d-don't k-kill me..." the bride choked. Her tiny hands tried to pry the invisible force from her neck. Tears rolled from her eyes as she begged.

"P-please..." She sobbed and begged again when she felt something slither up her leg, something as big as a cobra. And when it hissed she was sure of it. It slowly slithered up and closer to her waist, curling tightly around her. Scared out of her wits, she slowly glanced down only for the snake to suddenly spring up into the air and directly in front of her. and a thunder struck illuminating the wet snake.

The snake was black massive and huge with sun-yellow cross bands down the length of the body. The belly is cream or pale yellow, and the scales were smooth.  The head was quite huge in appearance with its flared hood.

Her eyes widened with fear as the snake hissed. the hissing was a lower pitched and hence sounded more like a growl. She started praying to Lord Michael, the Archangel.

"Holy Michael, the Archangel ...de-defend us in battl-le. Be our safe-safeguard against the wickedness an-and snares o-of the devil... May God rebuke him...." The bride was sobbing painfully as she prayed.

A raspy thick voice was heard before it shouted, "Your GOD is dead....I don't bow before your God. Shaitan Zindabad!" A disembodied voice was heard as the dark fog came closer and closer to the bride , until joust one foot away. And the chant started again.

Saam.

The snake menacingly flared his iconic hood. His forked tongue flicked out sensing the fear rolling off Athena.

Daam.

The snake raised one-third of his body so as to tower over Athena and hissed showing his fangs.

Dand.

"P-please..." Athena pleaded looking up at the snake in the eye.

Bhed.

The fiercely aggressive snake emitted a bone chilling hiss almost like a growling dog, for a final time. The snake tilted its extend hood and went for her face, sinking in his fangs in her cheek and realizing the venom and pulled back. Then back for Athena's neck, instead of realizing, this time the snake held on as Athena thrashed and screamed in the grip.

A renewed scream pierced the atmosphere and the forest again went dead as if mourning but the owl, he howled in triumph.  The snake let go of Athena and her body fell limp. The snake extended his jaw to swallow its large prey in one go.

Somewhere in the distance Lord Bishop heard the lass, followed by a sound of something falling into sea- more precisely a bride, his bride.

_~*~_