I'm your wife!

Chapter one

The moon emerged slowly from behind the grey dense cloud, stretching it's silvery light over the dark alley. 

Karma trudged on, her boot trailing muck and mud over the silent path to the mansion. Her hair, brown and matted all over her head, was dripping with cold water from the rain. 

Her pink suit was stained with mud and blood, and she coughed delicately into a handkerchief. 

It came out stained with droplets of blood.

She tilted her head into the gloomy night sky and wanted to wail at the unfairness of it all. 

Why must everything she's worked claw and teeth for, be snatched away from her? Even her miserly life has been torn away, a tiny thread by thread. 

She shrugged her shoulders wetly and strengthened her resolve, her legs steady but cold. 

She finally reached the gigantic mansion and a slight shudder ran through her skull at the eerie feeling. 

The mansion was modern in its structure, its white walls sleek and sturdy. 

The thick bush of pink and purple rhododendrons lined the pathway, contrary to the darkness that lurked within. 

Karma wiped her dripping face and shivered but not from the cold. She longed to run away, not stopping until she was safely ensconced under her blanket. 

But she couldn't do that. Her trembling lips firmed, she marched with determined steps to her destiny. 

Hatred was a strange feeling, cold and hot in one. It blazed with intensity that seemed to burn her heart, and it lent her the courage to raise her knuckle to the beautifully carved door. 

She stared at the brass tiger head tawny eyes, and knocked. 

She received no reply, just the silent whispering of the bush swaying in the night breeze. 

The door swung open soundlessly, revealing a tastefully furnished passageway. 

Different colorful murals depict scenes of war, it was agonizingly beautiful and sorrowful. 

There was a feeling of imminent darkness. It was in the way the shadow subtly flickered around the edges. 

It made the hair on her nape stood with fear. 

She threaded carefully on the gleaming linoleum floor. It was no use. Her muddy boot left a trail of mud, at least she'll be able to trace her way back to the door. 

That is if she by miracle survived the outcome of what she was about to do. 

She reached the living room, painted white and gold. The brown couch looked comfortable enough, and the light glittered from the chandeliers, casting a deceptively soft glow on everything. 

She was here now, and she might as well sit. 

No sooner than her wet behind touched the couch, a deep velvet voice spoke from her back. 

"I can smell the scent of death on you from a mile away. It's pungent and disgusting." The voice was smooth and dark, laced with polite yet deadly. 

Karma's first instinct was to scream bloody murder, but this was a thousand years old demon she was dealing with.

Her heart slammed against her ribcage, but she pasted a wobbly smile on her face and turned to meet the owner of the voice. 

At first, her eyes collided with a thick slab of muscles, and she slowly trailed her eyes to the face of the bearer of the voice. 

Breath left her lungs with a painful whoosh. His face was the most beautiful she'd ever seen. 

Eyes the color of rainforest, vivid and captivating. His jaw was sharp and square, full pink lips and thick glossy locks of raven black hair. 

All this while, he regarded her with nothing more than slight curiosity. His eyes were blank and cold. 

So cold she fought the urge to make the sign of the cross. 

"Can I help you?" He said sardonically. 

"I'm dying." Karma blurted out. 

Her eyes roved over the huge living room, spotless without a speck of dust. 

He regarded her as one of those patients in the psychiatric ward. His nose sniffed disdainfully as his green eyes raked over her from head to toe.

"so?" His voice had lost all their polite interest. His eyes were hard and unforgiving. 

But Karma was more scared of death than this demon. She was dying, three days left on the surface of this precious earth.

While her stepsister was going to take everything that was supposed to belong to her. 

"My step sister is pregnant with my fiance and all my father's property is probably going to her. I want.." she swallowed against the painful lump that formed in her throat, "I need to get what is mine back." 

Desperation was making her reckless, she grabbed his hands, to both of their surprise. He burned hotter than coal. 

But she didn't let go.

"I've been poisoned you see! I only have a week or less to live. I don't want to die..I don't want to die being this miserable person that I am." She spoke fervently, earnestly. 

He snatched his hand as if scorched and laughed scornfully. The sound sent shards of broken glasses twisting into Karma's heart. 

She wiped the hot liquid furiously from her face and stared squarely at him. She waited until his scornful laughter was over. 

"I'm going to marry you." She declared, her voice rang clear and steady. 

She was going to marry this thousand year old demon no matter what. She had to!

He looked at her with such incredulity she almost laughed.

"Young miss," he began in a patronizing voice but Karma wasn't having none of it. 

She yanked at the button of her suit, revealing the leather purse she hid there. 

She placed the purse on the mahogany table and withdrew a sheaf of papers. 

"Here's our marriage certificate." She removed another paper, this one was thick and binded. 

"This right here," she smirked, satisfied with the surprise she saw in his eyes, "is a contract." 

"We're already married you see." Karma informed him gleefully.