"When I was drowning in the hollow silence of my own depression, buried under the crushing weight of the dark, I found a light I never expected," Liza began, her voice a fragile thread in the quiet hut. "I found Jacob. He was... a beautiful anomaly. A normal human man, warm as a summer hearth and possessed of a kindness that felt like a sanctuary. When I first saw him while exploring the forest, something sparked deep within my soul—a forbidden fire. But I ran. I fled from the very sight of him because a monster like me has no right to love. I knew that if I let someone precious into my world, the world would find a way to destroy them. So, for the sake of his life, I chose to be a coward."
Liza's eyes grew distant, a sad, nostalgic smile playing on her lips. "But my Jacob... he was never one to be deterred. He chased me through the thickets, his boots thumping against the earth as he shouted for me to stop. 'Wait! Just hear me out!' he cried. And for the first time in my life, I listened to my heart instead of my fear. I stopped running. I turned to face the consequences, whatever they might be."
When he finally reached her, he was breathless, his chest heaving. Liza stood trembling, her hands shaking with a terror she couldn't mask, yet her eyes remained fixed on him with a desperate bravery.
"I don't even know your name," Jacob gasped, his voice a warm, pleasant melody that felt like a proposal of the soul. "I don't know why, but when I see you, the rest of the world just... fades to gray. I've been addicted to the memory of you since I first saw you in the market. I couldn't think of anything else. I wasn't just passing by; I was looking for you. I've spent two weeks searching for the girl in the black cloak."
Liza felt the air leave her lungs. The darkness she had lived in for so long was suddenly pierced by a light so bright it hurt. "The market? How?" she whispered, her voice a mix of joy and the lingering fear that this was all some cruel, elaborate trap.
"You were buying bread," he said, a radiant happiness breaking across his face. "Your hood slipped for just a second, and I caught a glimpse of a beauty so majestic it felt like a sin to look away. I've chased that glimpse for fourteen days, and now that I've found you, I feel like I can finally breathe again."
Liza began to sob—not out of sorrow, but because the sheer sincerity of his love was a weight she had never been allowed to carry. She cried like a child, her tears washing away years of isolation.
"How can you love me?" she wailed. "You don't even know what I am!"
Jacob stepped closer, his presence a gentle warmth. "I don't need to know everything today. We have a lifetime to learn about each other. I'll come back tomorrow, and the day after that. Even if you don't love me yet, I will spend every sun and moon making you fall for me. I just want to be the reason you never have to cry like this again—unless they are happy tears."
"No," Liza gasped, grabbing his sleeve. "Don't go. Stay. These are happy tears. No one has ever cared if I lived or died until this moment."
She took a deep breath, her expression turning somber, a heart-breaking honesty settling over her. "Jacob, listen to me. I won't start our life on a lie. There is a truth about me that will make you want to run, and if you leave after you hear it, I will let you go. I promise I won't hurt you."
She told him everything. She laid bare her origin, the blood she had been forced to drink, the devilry in her veins, and the "crossbreed" mark upon her soul. She waited for the disgust, for the fear, for the sound of him retreating into the forest.
But Jacob didn't run. He stood in a stunned, heavy silence, his eyes welling with tears of his own. With a sudden, desperate rush, he pulled her into a hug. It was the first time Liza had ever felt the heat of another human's embrace, a physical sensation of being "home."
"My poor, brave girl," he choked out, holding her so tightly she could feel his heart hammering against her own. "Why didn't I find you sooner? If I had been there, you wouldn't have had to suffer a single second of that nightmare. I will be your shield, Liza. I will protect you from the world, always."
"It's alright," she whispered into his chest, her world finally blooming into color. "Perhaps destiny made me wait just so I could appreciate you more. Just stay. Just love me."
For a time, they lived a life of stolen bliss in their small hut, hidden deep within the verdant forest. But paradise is a fragile thing.
Unbeknownst to them, the shadows were closing in. Jacob's family and friends had discovered the truth of his "monstrous" bride. On a night when the sky was torn apart by a violent, howling storm, they struck. Liza was heavily pregnant then, her body weary and her instincts screaming that something was wrong when Jacob didn't return from his errand.
Shivering with an intense, bone-deep dread, she staggered out into the torrential rain. Thunder shook the earth, and lightning illuminated the forest in jagged, strobing flashes of white.
She heard it—the rhythmic, sickening clink of metal. She crept toward the sound, hiding behind the gnarled trunk of an ancient tree. Her breath hitched, her body shaking so violently she could barely stand. There, drenched in mud and gore, was the lifeless body of Jacob. His "friends" and family stood over him, their faces twisted in a self-righteous zeal as they continued to stab his corpse, long after the life had left his eyes.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
The scream that tore from Liza's throat was not human. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated agony and demonic rage. As she marched forward out of the shadows, her aura flared with a terrifying power. Jacob's killers, seeing the "monster" they so feared truly awakened, fled into the night like rats.
Liza didn't chase them. She collapsed into the blood-stained mud, pulling Jacob's cold, limp body into her lap. "Jacob... Jacob, wake up..." she sobbed, her heart suffocating under the weight of her grief.
As the thunder roared above, echoing the scream in her soul, Liza looked up at the weeping sky. Her eyes burned with a new, lethal light. "I will kill them," she vowed, her voice a low, vibrating promise that shook the forest more than the storm ever could. "Every single one of them. I will bathe this forest in their blood!"