Grimm Fantasies: Cinder Princess

Relatives

  On Ashley's thirteenth birthday she woke up to a large commotion, not because everyone was getting ready for it or because they'd planned on going somewhere special to celebrate. The reason behind the uproar of sudden noise and excitement was apparently Mrs. Eleanora's brother, Gerald Bellerose, would be coming to visit them. A tall slender man with years of wrinkles etched onto his face. He extruded a sense of pride and smugness that made Ashley afraid to even look at him for every long. His daughter was no better.

  Mara, Gerald's daughter, was a fiery red head with a personality to fit and pricing green eyes that bore into Ashley with a sharp anger. When Ashley first saw her the first thing she noticed was the scars marking her arms and legs. Ashley made no comment on them but it was clear Mara was pissed that she'd caught Ashley staring.

  Something about the girl though was animalistic, like she was a predator but not at the same time. Kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Ashley watched her as an image of a majestic wolf came to mind, a black one, powerful and strong. Something about Mara set Ashley on edge, almost as if she'd snap and kill everyone in the room at the drop of a hat. Ashley got a caged animal feel from her step cousin.

  Mrs. Eleanora made a huge spectacle of the whole thing and Ashley's birthday was forgotten. It wasn't as if it hadn't happened before but it still hurt. However Ashley hid those feelings, she did so with ease, she'd been doing it for years.

  "Gerald! Stella! It's so good to see you again." Mrs. Eleanora greeted her brother with a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. She then turned to his wife and did the same.

  "I can't stay long." Mrs. Stella said after the niceties had been exchanged. "I've got a few leaches to hunt down in London."

  "Ah yes of 'course." Ashley's father nodded thoughtfully. "I hear they're getting out of hand over there." Mrs. Stella nodded and looked over to Ashley and her two step sisters who were standing by the stairs quietly.

  "These are your children?" She asked.

  "Yes this is Annie and Ella and my late wife's daughter Ashley." Ashley turned her gaze to the floor at that sentence wishing her father has just left out the words 'late wife's'.

  "How old are they?" The shrew woman continued to question.

  "Annie is fifteen and Ella is seventeen and Ashley is...twelve." Mrs. Eleanora said. Ashley bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from correcting Mrs. Eleanora. Mrs. Stella nodded slowly and responded with, "A few years older than my darling Mara." She patted the red head girl's head and smiled lightly. "She's thirteen as of last week."

  "Old enough to begin field training." Ashley's father said with approval. "Congratulations."

  "Mara's already begun field training. She's a bright little girl she'll, be a good leader." Mr. Gerald said smiling proudly. No, it wasn't pride, bile maybe? Ashley watched him more carefully from then on noticing that whenever Mara was brought up he'd visibly tense and suddenly e was clenching his teeth instead of smiling.

  After a few more minutes of needless and boring chatter the adults sent the girls away to go play outside. Ashley followed her step siblings and step cousin outside where Ella launched into a quick speech about being oldest and therefore in charge. Mara looked over to her and raised an eyebrow.

  "Oh really?" Ashley looked over to her step cousin and felt sorry for her. No one dared challenge Ella, ever. Ella looked over to Mara as well and nodded.

  "Yes really," She replied simply. Annie smiled brightly, fawning over her sister.

  "I'll follow you Ella." She said cheerily. Mara crossed her arms and stared at Ella.

  "I don't follow anyone. I lead." Ella laughed at that, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

  "Don't kid yourself kid. You're only thirteen barely old enough to hold a gun. Who would follow you?" After a moment of silence Mara looked over to Ashley who gasped.

  "Me?" Mara looked back over to Ella and smirked smugly, Ashley frowned while Ella glared at her cousin.

  "Ashley doesn't count. She's just a pet, a dog at best." Ella sneered.

  "Yeah, a dog," Annie chimed in.

  "Then I'll have fun with my new pet elsewhere. Come on doggie, let's go." Mara turned and walked away. Ashley hesitated and considered not following but decided getting on Mara's bad side was a horrifying idea. She was already on Ella's bad side and was going to stay there but knew how to handle her just fine. Mara on the other hand was new and something in Ashley screamed alpha when she looked at Mara, again a black wolf came to mind. So she hurried after and ignored Ella's shouts of anger.

  "Hey where in the hell do you think you're going!?"

  After Ella and Annie were out of sight and it was clear they weren't going to give Mara the satisfaction of following Mara stopped and turned to Ashley.

  "How old are you?" Her arms were still crossed across her chest, the scars in plain view. Ashley hesitated, the words not quite leaving her mouth. In the end it came out in a jumbled mess of awkward sounds. Mara frowned at her and sighed. "Come on girl spit it out already."

  "T-thirteen, how did you know that...I wasn't twelve?" Ashley questioned looking down as Mara continued to stare at her with those fierce almost animal eyes of hers.

  "When your mom said you were twelve you'd gone red in the face, so I figured she'd gotten it wrong." Mara explained as she unfolded her arms and placed her hands on her hips and looked around. "What do you do for fun out here in the middle of nowhere anyway?"

  "She's not my mom." Ashley corrected her. Mara looked back to Ashley and tilted her head.

  "Oh right, step mom. How'd your mom die?" She asked as if death was nothing unusual or tragic to her. Ashley paused for a moment and looked Mara up and down.

  "Uh...My father said it was cancer that took her."

  "But you don't believe him." Mara said more as a statement then a question. Ashley furrowed her brow together thoughtfully.

  "That's not true; my dad would never lie to me." Ashley defended.

  "You're lying." Mara called her out quickly and without missing a beat. Ashley floundered for a moment tripping over her words as they spilled out in an embarrassing mess.

  "I-I uh Wai-no, that's not...No I would never- why would you...it's not like I...No it's...like this I-err well-"

  "Lying," Mara interrupted Ashley's nonsensical chatter in a singsong voice.

  "And how do you know?" Ashley demanded getting a bit angry with her step cousin.

  "I smell it on you." Mara said proudly then gasped and covered her mouth quickly. Ashley simply stared at her judgingly. It was Mara's turn to stumble out her words. "W-what I mean is that...I uh...I've been trained to uh sniff out lies...Not really you know no one can literally sniff out lies. It's just that...I can just tell okay?" She turned her gaze away in frustration. Ashley nodded quickly.

  "O-okay, I understand." Mara looked over at her and nodded. Ashley smiled back hopeful she'd found an ally in the house and maybe with Mara's help Ella and Annie might just leave her alone.

  It was a shame Mara's visit was just that, a visit.

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It's Mara! Oh yeah back to her snarky 'I'm better then everyone else' personality. As well as chasing Hunter down and trying to kill him...So a give and take sort of thing. But OH the nostalgia~! But wait! There's more(To come). Don't forget to comment and vote lovies you know you want too. <3 Also I kind of need it, you're opinion on this matter is very important. Do you want to see more of shy little Ashley?