Rebirth: Mated to the Prince of Darkness

She held on to the only thing that mattered to her for her dear life, the only thing she cared about. Like a protective mother, keeping her child from harm, away from predators and lurking eyes.

"JUMP."

The voice sounded more fierce, full of anger and hate. She was startled, as she held on to her precious books and hugged them tightly.

"Are you deaf? Jump!"

"But...if I jump, I will die. I don't want to die."

There were still lots of things that she wanted to do, as she thought about the volumes of her favourite novel she was holding tight right now. Who will her favourite character end up with? Who is going to be his mate? She would have taken her life a long time ago, but the only thing keeping her alive was this book that was clutched tightly to her chest.

"The world wouldn't make any difference if you do, you ugly piece of shit. Fucking jump. Who gives a damn if someone like you dies?"

She finally raised her head, and was able to look them eye to eye, but her eyes dropped when she saw him there. The love of her life, the only person she ever thought she could trust, and the same reason she was here in the first place, on the cold and damp rooftop of their school.

"You stinking bitch. I saw you now. I saw you look at my boyfriend." She gnashed her teeth and lunged forward towards her and violently pulled her hair. "You whore. You can't have my boyfriend. You will never have him."

They all grinned, they all laughed and mocked Leila. They all found this scene funny and entertaining, and so did he. Leila was in pains, she was heartbroken. How dare he do this to her? How could he lie that he was in love with her? How naïve and pathetic was she for believing his words? She knew better that the both of them were dating, so why did she trust him?

Leila screamed from the pain she felt as Tasha pulled hard on her hair, dragging her to the edge of the stairs with the malicious plan of pushing her off the edge. Their faces went stiff as they realized Tasha was definitely going to push her off the edge. They realized Tasha was being serious about this.

His face went blank too as he watched his girlfriend drag Leila to the edge. His smile froze, and his body went numb. He didn't mean for this to happen, he didn't think this through.

"Tasha, what do you think you are doing? If you continue to do that she will fall and die." One of her minions said.

"That's the plan. Let her die." Tasha heaved heavily as Leila struggled to get out of her grip. "What are you guys doing there? Help me."

"You have gone insane, we can't help you kill someone. Stop this madness Tasha."

"Madness? You guys are now in on this, the moment we started bullying her for our satisfaction, you have been in on this. I see. You want to make me the bad guy when you guys have done even far worse than I did. Lucy, can you remind me who added snake venom to her drink? Oh.YOU! Or have you forgotten? You didn't know she could have died from that? And you, Tracey, do you remember that time you leaked a fake sex video of her? And it was even recently you did that. Who brought up the idea? Who edited the video and made it look like she was the one? YOUUUUU!"

They all went silent as Tasha recounted all the horrible things they did to her and poor Leila couldn't help but shed tears. Why was this happening to her? Why didn't she end her life that other day? Why was she even born? All these things she thought to herself as she stood there lifeless, with little will left in her to fight to save her life.

"Ewwwww. You got hot and sticky tears on my hand." Tasha finally let go of the struggling Leila and she fell butt hard on the floor.

Suddenly, a loud smack echoed on the roof, the sound of Tasha smacking Leila's face hard.

"Tch. I even had to touch her disgusting face."

"Babe? I think we have tortured her enough. Let her go." Everett; Tasha's boyfriend pleaded.

Tasha stepped away from her as she walked to get the knife and cutlass they planned on "playing with Leila" soon. She picked up the cutlass and like the wind, she cut off her own hand, the one she used in smacking Leila. Everyone went silent as they couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. Her blood gushed and stained the floor and she couldn't give a damn about what she had just done to herself.

She walked to her shaken friends and grinned at them. They were all stunned, speechless even as to what they had just witnessed.

"Tasha..." Everett screamed, "...oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. What the fuck have you done?"

"Stop the bleeding." She commanded, completely ignoring Everett. With shaky hands, one of them tied a clothe around her hand until the bleeding stopped.

"You bitch. Can you see what you've done? You made me cut my own self. That's how much I despise you. I don't want to have you infect me with your ugliness." She spat at her as she stared at her with spite.

Leila was still on the floor, and Tasha's minions feared for their lives as well. No one was safe anymore, Tasha has gone mad.

"Big sis..." Leila called out for Tasha in a low voice but one that was still audible enough to be heard. She raised her eyes to look at her, tears dripping down her face, and catarrh running down her nose. Her face was a mess.

"Big sis? I thought I told you not to call me that?" Tasha lunged forward with a knife in her hand, ready to stab her darling little sister.

"Leila, you have such pretty hair, are you ever going to dye it or cut it?"

Leila twisted her hair in her fingers as she thought hard about that question. She was never going to cut it off, this was her identity. This was what made her even way prettier that she could be said to be the prettiest girl in the entire school. Her pearl blonde hair which was quite rare, always sparkled and made her stand out. She looked just like royalty. Like a princess from a faraway kingdom, so unreal, so magical and beautiful.

"I don't think I will ever do that. My hair is perfect just the way it is." She finally replied the person with a huge smile imprinted on her face.

*******

"Hold her down. Don't let her escape."

She ran as fast as she could, even though she was running out of breath, even though she was about to collapse, she ran and ran just so she could avoid them.

"Get out of the way, you lowlifes!" Her pursuers screamed at the people blocking their path. Leila was getting further away from them. She was almost there, even though she was aware she couldn't escape them the next day, or the day after that, if she escaped her bullies today, she could consider herself victorious.

"Hey, no running in the hallway." A teacher shouted at them but this didn't make them stop. Instead, they ran faster. They were catching up to her as she struggled to keep a distance between them.

Leila was almost there, just a little further and she will be free for the day. Just one more step to go. She smiled broadly as the ray of sunlight hit her face. Her smile turned into disappointment as she hit her leg and eventually lost balance. She fell on the floor and when she tried to get up to continue running, she crouched down from the sharp pain she felt in her ankle. She couldn't run anymore, and neither could she escape what was about to happen next.

She stood up slowly as soon as she saw the bullies. She ran like her life depended on it because it actually did. She limped her way forward with her broken leg, but she was no match for them as they eventually outran her. They were four in number, and they all surrounded her preventing her from escaping. They were all breathing fast, including Leila as she plotted a new way to escape them.

"You fucking bitch..." Lucy said amidst her heavy breathing.

"There is nowhere you can run to now, you have been fucking surrounded by the four of us." Tasha said as she walked to her with a smirk on her face. Tasha grabbed Leila and pulled her hair painfully which caused Leila to scream.

"Oh my gosh. The princess is in danger."

They laughed at Leila as Tasha tortured her the more.

"You look pathetic, disgusting even. What hair? What royalty? YOU ARE JUST A FUCKING LOSER!"

They all snickered.

"I don't think I will ever do that. My hair is perfect just the way it is." Tracey mimicked Leila. "Perfect indeed. Let's see what happens when I cut off your perfect hair, miss Royalty."

"Tasha you are hurting me. Please let me go. I didn't do anything." Leila pleaded.

"Oh shut up. You don't have to do anything, you just merely existing is enough for me to despise you. Why don't you just die already? You sicken me." Tasha said as she stared down at her with pure disgust and hatred.

"Here you go, Tasha." Mei said as she handed Tasha a pair of scissors.

"Hold her down." Tasha commanded and her "minions" obeyed as they lunged forward and held the struggling Leila. Even after all the pleading and tears, they refused to let her go.

"Stay still or you will get hurt. Well, it's not like I care if you do." Tasha said to the teary Leila as she took a handful of her hair and she chopped it with the scissors. She felt happy as she did, not even caring about the weeping Leila in front of her.

After she was done, she threw the scissors at her and they all laughed, mocking Leila. Leila stared at them, anger written all over her face. She couldn't do anything to them. She was too cowardly to even raise her voice at them. Her words were lumped in her throat as she stared down at her hair that was once on her head.

"Do you know my aunt is an hairdresser?" Mei said to Leila. "Of course you didn't know. We are not done here." She brought out what looked like a hair dye from her pocket and they proceeded to holding her again.

"No, let me go. Let me go. I'm begging you let me go. Helppppp! HELPPPPP ME! Let me go." Leila screamed for her life but no one was there to help her. Even though anyone was there, they wouldn't dare mess with those quartet. No one likes being bullied.

"No one is coming to help you, princess. So shut your fucking mouth up."

"No, let me go. Let me go. Tasha, please let me go. Please Tasha. I'll do anything, anything you ask me to do. I'll scrub your shoes, lick your feet but don't touch my hair. Not the hair." Leila pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"Ewwwww. I don't want you licking my feet, that is just disgusting and creepy as fuck." Tasha said as she gagged at the idea. "Anything? Hmmm, let's see. Why don't you just fucking die? Kill yourself right now."

Leila gasped. It was impossible. She couldn't do it, she could grow out her hair back or even change the hair color back to normal, but she wouldn't be able to do any of that if she was dead.

"No, Tasha. I can't do that." She cried and begged for her life.

"Do something. I can't stand her pathetic noise." Tasha said and Lucy gave her a chop on her neck which rendered her quiet and unconscious.

"Finally. Some silence. Nice job, black belt Lucy." Tracey praised her.

"I shouldn't really misuse my skills but we had no choice." Lucy said as she felt proud about what she had just done.

"Now then, time to get to work."

They sat the unconscious Leila on the floor as Lucy poured the hair dye on her hair. It was messy, but that didn't stop her pearl blonde hair from changing colour. She was eventually waking up and when she opened her eyes, she was met with a mirror in front of her and she stared at her reflection. Her once long and perfect hair was now gone. She now had a black hair and she looked absolutely terrible. She didn't know how to react to this sudden change, she just stared at her reflection in disbelief and silence.

"Now you look like what you are. A perfect LOSER." Tasha sang and her minions laughed with her. There was silence all of a sudden as they all looked serious. "If anyone asks you what happened, I am sure you know what to say, don't you LOSER?!" Tasha said in a hushed tone which was intimidating.

Leila looked away from the mirror and stared at them, tears forming in her eyes.

"Yes, Tasha. No one must know what happened here." She agreed. She was drained, she felt hopeless and weak.

"Good. The fool understands. Enjoy your day or not, loser." Tasha laughed. "And don't you even dare try to grow it longer or dye it. The time you do, you will go bald." She cackled and left with her minions.

Leila remained on the floor, as she held her hair in her hands. Her pearl blonde hair were a complete contrast to the black hair she has now. She wept silently, unable to voice out her emotions. What has she done to deserve this?

The next day when she came to school with a perfectly trimmed hair, the entire school was left speechless. Didn't she say she was never going to cut or dye her hair? So why did she do that now?

She could hear their whispers, but no one was bold enough to ask her what happened.

"What happened to your hair, Leila?" Someone finally asked.

"Oh this? I-i..." she stuttered. "...I have been wearing a wig this whole time. Sorry guys, this is my real hair." She held back her tears as she faked a smile. Everyone gasped from the shocking news.

Every since that day, they all hated her. The girl they once adored was now whom they despised. A liar, a jerk, a fraud, a nobody, and a ugly piece of shit. It was going exactly as how Tasha and her minions wanted.

******

She came back to reality as she stared at her hair in the mirror. She picked up her face cap and put it on. That was a very bad memory she wished to forget, but any time she looks into the mirror, that memory of them cutting her hair and destroying her highschool life always resurfaced. How pathetic she was, and how she let it just happen.

"LEILA. COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST." Her mother screamed. "No amount of makeup will be able to fix that face of yours, so just get down here and eat, you godforsaken child."

She was already used to this kind of treatment. Hated by her mother, and hated in school. She could swear that almost everyone hated her. She was already used to this kind of treatment, so why was she crying?

She wiped her tears and went out of her room and was met with her angry mother.

"Morning, mama." Leila greeted.

"How can you take so long to freshen up but you still come out looking like a rotten potato? The irony." Her mother said.

She forced a smile as she sat on the dining table for breakfast.

"Where is your sister? Go call her down to eat."

Leila rolled her eyes. Her mother scolded her for taking too long, while "her favourite daughter" wasn't even here. Even if she was, she wouldn't have said anything terrible to her.

"She went to school early." Leila replied.

"I see. That is very good of her. Unlike someone else that I know of."

It was obvious her mother was referring to her. She picked up her school bag and stood up hurriedly from the dining chair.

"I'm going to be late for school. Thanks for the food."

She didn't even wait for her mother's reply before she slammed the door and left for school. She had had enough of this. The name calling, the body shaming, everything happened because of them. Ever since that day, her manageable life turned upside down. Her own mother has always scorned her all her life, she had always made her life miserable. Her school was her solace, her friends were her peace of mind but ever since that incident, she knew better that she was wrong.

Leila felt a sharp pain in her heart. She could sense the incoming danger. Her sister left for school quite early today, something was definitely not right. What was she planning on doing now? Should she turn back home? Or go to the bookstore to clear her head? That wasn't possible, her teachers were going to call her mom and she wasn't prepared for what was going to happen when she gets back home.

She let out a big sigh as she took a bus to school reluctantly.

Leila got to school and she felt all eyes on her or was it just her imagination? She could hear their whispers and she could have sworn that she heard someone talk about her butt. Was there something on it? Did she perhaps sit down in a dirty place? Or was she stained from period blood? But it wasn't supposed to come today, or did she miscalculate the date?

She ran to the toilet to check it out as she couldn't ask anyone to help her check if she was stained. She looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and saw how pale and terrible she looked. Leila couldn't care about that now as she went into the toilet to check out her underwear. She heaved a sigh of relief on finding out that she wasn't stained.

"I can't believe she would do such a thing."

She heard someone say when she was about to leave the restroom, so she decided to stay and listen in on their conversation. Also, it felt like the right thing to do. After that incident, she ended up with social anxiety that she couldn't even look at people.

"What a fucking whore. I always knew she wasn't up to any good."

"Well I kinda feel bad for her though. Girl has been through lots of shit since forever. Besides she is human, there is no way she won't feel horny."

Who were they talking about? Her legs were crampy and she wanted to leave so bad but couldn't. It wasn't going to be nice if they found out someone has been eavesdropping on their conversation. Also, she was curious as to who this person was.

"Do you remember the time we thought she was a goddess? A princess? Girl was nothing but a fraud. I can't believe I used to admire her."

They both laughed and for what felt like an eternity, they left the restroom laughing. Leila couldn't understand what they were talking about, but she had a gut feeling that it was about her. Who else would they have admired and thought was a princess? Definitely her.

She got out of the toilet and washed her hands in the sink and dried them. She readjusted her face cap and went to her classroom. Oh no, she was going to be late for class.

As soon as she entered the classroom, all heads turned to her direction and the whispering began. She felt uncomfortable.

"Here she is. You are weirdly late today." The class bully, Jenny mocked. She was blonde. Of course she is a blonde, most movies she watches, the bullies are most times blonde. Although she wasn't in the same category of bullying as Tasha and her minions, she still considered her a bully cause she made life miserable for her in class.

"Oh. I had to run quickly to a store called mind your own business." Leila said and the entire class let out a mocking remark to Jenny.

Jenny was different from Tasha. She wasn't afraid of speaking back at Jenny, she didn't fear her like she did Tasha.

"The dog is barking guys." Jenny made a comeback and the whole class laughed.

"Not interested in giving you attention today, Jenny. Go count the strands of your hair or whatever, I honestly don't care." Leila said as she made way to her desk.

"Like the one your mother failed to give you? Yeah right. Like as if I would want attention from a loser like you. You're just a girl with daddy and mummy issues, a pick me who clearly wants attention, a fucking whore and a loser."

"Slut slut slut slut slut!" Her classmates echoed.

Jenny folded her arms feeling proud of what she had just said, and Leila was furious. She could take being called a loser and every other thing but a pick me? Jenny was the biggest pick me girl and everyone was aware of that. And she crossed the line by calling her a whore.

"Did you just call me a whore?" Leila stood up in a fleet of anger.

"Oh yes I did." She stood up too and they faced each other as though they were about to have a faceoff.

"Say that one more time. I dare you to."

"Ahhh. Fuck me. Yes, yes daddy I love your huge cock inside my sweet and slutty wet pussy. Fuck me, daddy." Jenny moaned.

The whole class laughed while Leila was left confused, her eyebrows raised in concern and disgust as she stared at Jenny.

"Are you okay? Don't do that, it is disgusting. Go to the restroom to wank or something." Leila said.

"Wank? Such a big mouth for someone who wanks with a dildo and calls it daddy. I understand you are lonely and you need someone to touch you, but please no one wants to see your slutty wet pussy."

"I want to see." All the boys chanted at the same time and this left Leila more confused. What were they talking about?

"Why would you use a freaking dildo when you have real dicks right here. Taste me baby girl and you will come crawling back for more of this daddy cock just the way you want it." One of the boys said.

"I will let you suck my dick. Your sweet sweet moans have been playing in my head all day." Another said.

"I can satisfy your needs baby girl. I thought you were just a good for nothing but now that I have seen what that pussy and mouth can do, I guess you are not all useless after all."

"Oh my gosh. You guys are so gross." Jenny laughed as they mocked Leila.

"What are you guys doing? What are you talking about?" Leila felt irritated. These guys hated her so much and now they suddenly want to hit? What was going on?

A guy walked up to her and stood in front of her. He held her face like he was about to kiss her, while caressing her body and almost touched her boobs. Leila flicked his hand away and he chuckled. He came closer to her and whispered in her ears.

"Don't be shy, baby girl. Now that I look closely at your face, you're not one ugly bitch after all."

Leila instinctively pushed him away, took her bag and left the classroom. Who does he think he is? She should have smacked the living hell out of him. Hit? Whore? What exactly was going on? Fuck school, fuck them. She didn't care how her mother would scold her if she skipped school, she didn't care what would happen, she just wanted to leave this asylum. Yes, it was an asylum because everyone of them were crazy. Every single one of them.

She managed to get out of the school building without bumping into someone as she thought about where to go to next. She was definitely not going home, her mother would kill her.

She finally decided to go to the bookstore to find new books to read and kill time.

"Leila? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" The bookkeeper was shocked to see her.

"Good morning to you too, Amy." Leila said as she ignored her questions.

"Morning, Leila. You look paler than usual, what happened?"

"Well school happened. Everyone was acting weird than usual which is weird. And my classmates are jerks."

"Was it...?"

"No, I don't think so. Haven't seen her since morning which I'm afraid is a bad thing." Leila said.

"You poor thing. Knock yourself out but don't stay here too long."

Leila smiled, "thank you Amy," she said happily and skipped to the bookshelf, looking for what to read.

"What is this?" She asked Amy when her eyes caught a rather interesting book.

"Ah. That is one of my favorite." Amy said when Leila gave her the book.

"Vampires? Fantasy and paranormal? Is this nice?"

"You will love it. The men there are hot and sexy. Makes any teenage girl salivate." Any teased.

"Amyyyyy. Fine then I will take it."

Leila wasn't sure about the book, but she took it anyways since Amy recommended them.

"Yay. I'll go get the rest."

"The rest? What rest?" Leila asked.

"It has other volumes, that is just volume three you have in your hands. I'll go get volume one and two." Amy skipped excitedly and came back later with two other novels.

"Whoa. I'm not sure if I can read all of this, but since you said it was worth it. I will probably give it a shot."

Amy nodded with a smile on her face. She was extremely happy that Leila took the novel she recommended.

"I should get going. It is already late." Leila said as she carefully put the books in her bag.

She had lost track of time and before she knew it, it had passed the closing hour. She couldn't understand how she spent almost five hours just looking for books. She waved goodbye to Amy and hurried back home.

She decided to take a shortcut home and then made a turn at a narrow street. Her instincts told her to turn back and just pass the normal and longer route but as she thought about how her mother would yell at her, she gathered all the courage in her and walked in hurried steps.

There was an old abandoned house in that road, and it was believed to be haunted. It was also rumored that lots of terrible things happen on that path so people barely pass there, but she was in a hurry. She didn't care about what could happen. Besides, they were all rumors.

"Fuck. She is so sexy."

Her heart almost dropped when she heard voices. Were they talking about her? It wasn't too late to turn back, right?

"Her boobs, her butt, I knew she was a goddess. I always knew she wasn't real. She is too perfect to be real."

"I envy that dildo. Wish that was me fucking the living hell out of her." Another person said.

"Heyyyyy! We all want our chances with her, but she is way above our league. She wouldn't even breath the same air as us rather than even sucking our dicks."

She listened closely and wondered what kind of sick people would talk like that.

"I wouldn't mind if she treated me like trash. If she use me, abuse me, treats me like a nobody, I'll be more than glad."

"Same." They all chanted and Leila took this as a sign to escape. She couldn't turn back now, she was half way to the end of the road. Just few more steps to go.

As she silently tiptoed to freedom, she mistakenly stepped on a stupid twig which brought attention to herself and made the boys silent.

"Who is there?" Someone said harshly. Her heart raced so fast and she was confused. She began to run as fast as she could for fear of her life.

The boys ran after her trying desperately to catch up to her which they eventually did. They were five in number, and they were all her school mates.

Leila's heart thumped hard in her chest as a wave of PTSD washed over her. This reminded her of the day she lost everything, her hair and her life.

"Leila? What are you doing here?" A guy in glasses asked.

"Thomas, hey." Leila panted, as she was relieved to see someone she knew.

He grinned and they all started laughing.

"I can't believe how lucky we are to be graced with our goddess." Another said.

Goddess? The person they were talking about was her? It was too late for her to turn back now.

"C-c-can I have a taste of you, my princess?"

"I have to go guys." Leila said causally as she moved a step back but they came closer to her and closed the gap between them.

"You're not going anywhere, princess. You guys, hold her and take her into the building."

Leila was scared as she kicked the air and screamed for her life but no one was going to help her, just like that day. She was about to be raped and no one was there to save her.