Ultimate Temptation

~Chapter 2~

Years later..

Trudging down a stony path leadingaway from the beach, Aris grumbled as the wind from the ocean whipped her hair about her face, totally blocking her vision. She had just tripped on a rock with jarred edges which had ripped her trousers at the knees. The steady trickle of blood had begun to seep into the materials of her jeans.

"f**k!" She cursed before gasping as her eyes darted around the bushes surrounding her path.

Thankfully, her only companions were the birds and insects which went about their business oblivious to the teenager who angrily kicked a rock.

She was late for class and was definitely in trouble. She had only sought out an escape from the taunts and jeers her classmates usually threw at her. The bell had just rung for break over. Now she couldn't even increase her pace without her injured leg throbbing in protest.

She let out another curse word, this time uncaring if anyone heard her. She was already going to be punished for coming late, the punishment for cursing as a teenager was nothing compared to what she was going to face at the hands of those boys if she got punished for lateness.

Finally after limping at snail's pace she arrived at the school premises. The school halls which was usually filled with students was almost deafening with silence.

Classes had already resumed.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she knocked on her class door before sheepishly limping inside, making sure to make her gait as wobbly as possible.

"Where are you coming from miss?" Asked Miss Macklemore, looking down her glasses at the young girl. The glasses she wore made her eyes seem two times bigger, almost like an insect's and Aris resisted the urge to chuckle as the woman looked her up and down, her large hair taking in her appearance.

She could imagine what Miss Macklemore saw. A skinny girl with her black curls half out of the ponytail she had tied them in, over-sized grey sweater and dirty jeans ripped at the knees. Her combat boots were caked in dirt and she was sure she had unintentionally smeared some on her face.

What a dishevelled sight she must be.

"I went to the beach for fresh air then stumbled on my way back. I couldn't hurry back as I had injured my leg and I had to limp all the way back" Aris explains clutching her leg as she fell on the floor, scrunched up her face in exaggerated pain.

She scrunched up her face,hoping to exaggerated her pain to get out of punishment but instead she looked like she was constipated earning hoots and laughter from her onlooking classmates.

"Hush now, young miss. Its nothing more than a scratch. Get yourself patched up in the medbay after the class. Off to your seat", The spell teacher said shooing her from the away with a wave of her hand.

Groaning all the way to her seat at the back of the class, Aris finally sat down. She couldn't believe it had worked, she was free from punishment! The punishment for getting late was-

"Aris?" Miss Macklemore called, snapping her from her happy thoughts.

"Yes, mistress?" Aris asked.

"Injury or not, you still came late and the rules are the rules. You're to stay after closing hours to clean the school compound" Miss Macklemore states, her lips twitching. "You can't escape the law"

Vile witch! Aris cursed inwardly.

The remaining hours of school flew by with Arya absentmindedly scribbling in her notebook.

After school hours in the school premises was one of things she dreased the most. There would be no teachers around as everyone would have hurried to their respective cabin, finally done with the day's work.

"...and this is where we shall end today's class. Our next class will be only practical." Mrs Macklemore says beaming at the class. Her flat face and large eyes making her look like an owl.

Aris looked at her notebook, she had hardly jotted down a thing, scratch that. The only thing she had written was the date and today's topic.

Advanced protection spell I. She noted the topic in her textbook, folding the page in two. She would revisit it when she got to her cabin.

"Aris, don't forget you have detention." Miss Macklemore reminded before heading out the door.

Yanking open her locker door, Aris dumped in her books in annoyance before heading to the broom closet. Pulling her large hoodie over her head, she kept to the one side of the corridor, keeping her head low as students streamed past her towards the entrance of the school. In few minutes, the school will be almost empty with only offenders and the porters left.

There was always extra cleaning materials in the broom closet because the porters knew there was no end to school rule breakers and offenders.

Grabbing a broom, packer and mop with its bucket, she strode in the direction of the bathroom located at the back of the school. It was the least used toilet and would hardly be dirty. After that, she'll go dump few baskets of trash, show it to Mr Pete, the head porter or any porter around to approve of her hardwork, only then she can go home.

Stopping abruptly, she c***s her ears as she picks up whispers from the direction of the female bathroom.

"That freak got detention today. She would come here" said a voice.

"How are you so sure?" replied another.

"When you're on detention, which toilet would you come clean? The neatest, duh." said the first voice.

"I guess you're right"

"Don't guess. I am right" The voice bickers smugly. "The half-breed will be here soon"

Half breed..

She needed no one to tell her that they were referring to her. She was the only half breed in the school.

Hell, she was the only half breed in the whole island where she schooled and the only one of her kind in the whole of the three kingdoms. Silently thanking her dad for her heightened hearing, she began backing away slowly not wanting to alert them to her presence.

Turning on her heels when she was out of

hearing range, she crashes into a hard body, smashing her nose in the process. Her still throbbing leg wobbles and she falls on her ass. Hard.

Clutching her smarting nose as her tears sprang to her eyes.

"What are the two globes in your skull for? Fracking watch where you're going!" She shouts but it comes out muffled and in a nasal snarl. Glaring up to continue shouting profanities at him, her next words died in her mouth.

"You have a large dirty mouth, do you know? I thought we taught you better" The guy she crashed into says.

"Hi Vincent, I didn't see you there. How have you been?" Aris greets with fake cheerfulness, picking herself from the floor while subtly glancing behind her.

"Did you see others, Freak?" He asks me as he looks me up and down.

"Yeah. They are over there, I'll be on my way" Aris says limping past him as fast as her knees could allow.

She barely makes it past him when she is jerked back and slammed against the wall.

"Kai, Zach, Drew! She's over here" Vincent hollers at the top of his voice holding her in place. Soon rapid footsteps are heard and three teenagers run over to them.

"Look who we have here. Its the nature freak" Drew says in a mocking tone and the rest break out in sniggers.

Aris couldn't help rolling her eyes at their stupidity.

Was that supposed to hurt or something?

"Was that an eyeroll?" Kai asks suddenly.

"No" Aris immediately says, looking blankly at him. "I wouldn't dare"

Kai takes a fistful of my hoodie and slams me on the wall again. He yanks the hood of hoodie off my head, exposing my five inch black horns.

"You remind me of the devil" He sneers into my face.

Like you've seen him before you dumb coward, Aris scoff inwardly.

Instead she says nothing as she is tossed around like a sack of potatoes till her world became a blur. Dizzy, she stumbles to the floor and sprays the contents of her stomach on the trouser of Kai and Zach.

Shrieks and screams of disgust echoes through the corridor making Aris ears ring, upsetting her stomach even more. Turning away from Kai and Zack, she heaves in the other direction and sprays Vincent and Drew the remaining contents of her stomach.

Weak, she sags against the wall as they keep screeching.

"Yuck!"

"What the f**k?!"

"You're disgusting!"

"Let's get away from them" Drew says. Ushering them in the direction of the bathroom as they ran to clean up.

From her position on the floor, Aris couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of her. It was so hilarious, the look of horror and disgust on their faces.

Still chuckling to herself, she pushes herself off the wall and looks at the mess around her.

More work for her.

Why couldn't they just leave her alone. Its not like she did anything to warrant this. Sighing, she picks the mop and begins cleaning up the mess she made.

She wanted to be out of this corridor before they came back from cleaning themselves and get revenge. It was better not to get on their nerves. That way, she could be rid of them quickly. This group had been pestering her ever since the day a new rule had been made.

Years when she had first come to the island, her parents, the king and Queen of the three kingdoms had accompanied her.

Yes, she was a princess. The princess of the three kingdoms and the only heir to the throne, higher in rank than these bullies.

In her early years at the school, she had no friends. Probably because they were afraid of her and didn't want to get on her bad side so they avoided her instead.

It was later she found out why she had no friends. She was..unusual.

Being half demon, half witch, she was a combination of two strong creatures with the advantages of both sides. Heightened hearing, sight and speed from her father's demon side and ability to use spells, teleport, unfathomable power and other perks that came with being a witch. The obsidian blade which could kill a demon could only hurt but not kill her and her lifespan is believed to be longer than a witch's.

Agnes the leader of the witches on the island and principal of School for Magic and Craft, also a close friend of her parents had been worried about her lack of social circle and had implored the King to make a rule.

Every one who lived on the island were all equal irrespective of social status. That way no one would be scared to approach her.

Instead of Aris making new friends as expected, the kids her age began to show their true colours and the reason why they had kept to themselves.

It had first started with name calling behind her back; Abnormality, freak, mixed blood, tainted blood.

Gradually they began saying it to her face, then they graduated to stoning stuff at her, then it became full on bullying. They rarely hit her, she was only jostled about, the fear of her parents holding them back.

But she didn't plan on reporting them and had decided to put up with it all this years because of her unstable powers. Once in a while, she lost control but she made sure she was far away from anyone. She was scared that if her parents knew, they would remove her from the island and would then have to isolate her. She just had to endure their 'pestering' for two more years while perfecting how to have full control of her powers. By 18, she'll be graduating from the school and will be back in her giant room back in Demonia Castle.

A year more and then she can be sure she can use her magic for attack without killing anyone.

Just two more years till freedom.