Beauty and The Savage Beast (closed for slippedhalo and me)

[BadForm]

(OOC) Character: Asiph Darnise qua Nascenti, Earl of Doomsden. The rest speaks for itself.

(IC)

“As always, your majesty, it is my pleasure to serve.”

I cast my hand over the glass of the mirror and let the King’s image fade to nothing. He would follow my advise, he always did. This time, by sending the fourth cavalry to the hills over the Sun River he would cut off the remnants of Caliph Taegarch's army before they could retreat to safety. It would allow him to extend his Eastern provinces significantly, bringing the wealthy trade routes for spice, silks and slaves to our nation. Slaves. I thought about the joys to be had in the arms of a woman with no rights but the unavoidable duty to serve you. Even that was denied me now, though. The magics of my castle stopped me from having any interaction with the outside world save through the mirror in the King’s chamber. I tried to reveal my situation to a monarch over seven decades ago. It sent him mad. I should have expected it. Fairy magic was powerful and because of it my castle had appeared on no map, even made of the local areas alone, for the last three centuries. Such a time, and such loneliness.

I stared out over the gardens behind my castle. Even in fall it was beautiful. The roses in particular had not lost their blush. They never did. Even after so many years they were my prize as much as the lands he conquered were the prize of the King. Each held its beauty, from the ruby red to the spiritual white, from the blue that was deep and soft like the veins of an old woman’s flesh to the yellow that shone like the sun on a glorious day. I loved each one, but none so much as the purple rose beside me that was now reduced to just two petals. That one was life and death.

I saw a movement among the bushes. Looking closer I realized someone was in my garden for the first time in centuries. It was a middle-aged man, a trader if I was any judge. His trespass was something I would forgive for the simple pleasure of seeing someone permitted to enter. Then he spoiled it all by plucking an innocent pink rose.

“Thief!” I screamed, throwing open my bedroom windows.

“THIEF!” I screamed, as I leaped down and landed firmly on my hoofed feet.

“THIEF!!” I screamed as I ran towards the man who stood rooted in terror.

I grabbed his skull in one hand, the claws of my fingers digging deeply into his flesh. “I will kill you, you thief!”


My love of roses had grown over the years as an extension of my need to protect that one, the rose of twenty-thousand petals given to me as part of the fairy’s curse. She revealed herself to me when I was but 18, appearing as a beautiful woman of wealthy and power. Something about her radiance though told me she was more than merely mortal. She seduced me, flattering me on my rugged looks and wild temperament. Where others saw a dangerously cruel man possessed by a malicious spirit, unfit for rulership, she saw a proud and powerful beast of a man who matched her in passions and the ability to bend others to their will.
Our lust was unbridled and I plunged my entire self into taking her to increasing heights of pleasure in the triple worlds of passion, politics and prosecution. It was months that we were together, but then she revealed her true nature. I was powerful, but fairy magic was something nobody would dare touch and I rejected her. She took her revenge in the way of the stories of old, stating that if I would not have her then I would have nobody. The castle was rendered desolate as my family and servants were turned into implements of their craft and hobbies. My father became the world map, our gardeners became spades, trowels, barrows and other implements that kept the gardens pristine. All of them responded to my will and none of them were human any more. I found I could not leave the grounds, and nor did anyone outside ever seem to see my castle. From what I saw in the mirrors, even if I had escaped nobody would have dared look into the monstrous visage that was now mine.
The fairy added one other dimension to the curse: the twenty-thousand petal rose. This gorgeous and unbelievable bloom sat in a vase on a mantle. I was told that so long as it had petals I would live, but if I failed to gain someone’s love for who I truly was before it shed its last petal then I would remain the monstrous freak I had become for all eternity, trapped and alone in my castle. That was three, nearly four hundred years ago. The rose had been losing a petal every week since then. I had tried to kill myself when I realized the curse was so real. I had thrown myself from the highest tower. I had been unhurt, at least physically.


He was stealing a rose. Had it been the most expensive marble statue in the courtyard I would have let him have it freely, but this was a rose. They had become a sacred treasure to me with the curse I lived under. It was that which nearly made me rip his flesh from his bones.

“I will kill you, old man! What do you think you are doing, stealing my roses!”

“P-please, please…” The terror he had at seeing my matted hair and almost leonine face was nothing compared to the terror of being ripped apart. “I beg your pardon, sir, I did not even know this castle was here before now… let alone occupied!”

“Why else would there BE a castle but to occupy, fool! Now answer me, why are you trying to steal my roses?”

“J-just one rose, sir,” he said. Blood was running down his cheeks from where I held him. “It was for my d-daughter, for my youngest. She is but newly a woman and still seeks innocent treasures. Even if someone lived here, I thought they would hardly miss one rose among so many!”

Daughter? If he could penetrate the magical veil that kept the castle shut off from the world then perhaps she could too. If I could have her brought here, show her the pleasures and pains that awaited her… would she fall in love with me? I cast him to the ground and called on the pike that had been the master-at-arms. It flew through the air to be caught easily in one of my giant hands. He looked on in terror as I thrust it point first into the hard mud.

“Very well, old man,” I said. “You may leave with your flower, but only if you promise to bring her to me tomorrow. If she lives with me for one week I will leave you and your family alone.”

“Please, sir,” he coughed, “She’s my daughter. She’s sweet and innocent. Please, if you must have one of my children, take one of the older two, not Belle. They are more… versed in the ways of the world1”

For a second I considered it, but ultimately there was something that fascinated me about taking a woman who was innocent and seeing whether she could be turned to my loving slave. It was a challenge I could not resist, and since my return to normal counted on my success one that wetted my appetite like nothing before. I lay my hand on the shaft of the pike. “Do you want to live, fool? Do you?”

He cowered from me, my seven foot body dwarfing him, my voice a guttural growl. I knew he was too afraid not to answer. I must seem like something between a potent mage and a savage beast. “If you want to live then you had better bring her tomorrow. Fail and I will hunt you down!”

With that I tossed him towards the gate. He landed heavily but staggered to his feet. I carefully picked up the rose he had plucked and tossed it to him, barking an order to give it to her. He would not dare refuse anything I had asked. He obviously did not realize that I could not leave the castle and believed I was powerful enough to make it appear and disappear at will. I could predict that far, but what came afterwards I could not even guess.

 

[slippedhalo]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She sat upon the edge of the water fountain just across from the church, book in her lap, reading voraciously, ignoring the odd stares of the towns-people as they passed who all felt that learning had spoilt her beauty by making her argumentative, dreamy and difficult. Her own older sisters had always told her the same thing arguing that their mother would have been so dissappointed in her and that she'd never find a husband, for all her loveliness, if she was always sitting with her head in a book or arguing politics with the men in the town's square. Her father had always felt differently, though. She was more like him in personality and he recognized it and doted on her for it. Belle missed her father. Hed gone into the next county for business and not returned in so long.

Belle's reading was interrupted again by the oaf standing beside her. Gaston, the son of the town's mayor was nearby, going on about how she could do so much better for herself if she would only marry him. After all, how could she possibly do better than him? He was the best looking, most talented, most wealthy bachelor below the age of thirty in their town. She should be honored that he paid so much attention to her.

She looked up from her book only having half heard Gaston's most recent monologue of vanity and she smiled dreamily, "What makes you think I plan on finding my husband here in this town?"

"Oh, so you imagine you'll leave this place? Tell me, nieve little girl, just where to you think you'll go?" asked Gaston, bristling with the insult that, yet again, Belle was ignoring his obvious lead-up to a proposal.

Belle shrugged, "Oh, I don't know, I just...wish I could...have a reason to go on an adventure. Leave this place, even if only for a little while. I just don't think I belong here." she explained.

But, Gaston had stopped listening, he was watching his reflection in the water, flexing various muscles to his own satisfaction and then noticed her watching him with a look of puzzlement on her face and shook his head in frustration. "Someday, Belle, I'll have given up on you. Then, you'll have no one left to marry, you'll be an old maid with nothing but your foolish dreams and silly books to keep you company." he said, rising to walk away.

Belle didn't know how to reply. She simply watched him go. Maybe he was right. All her sisters, besides the youngest two (Alisse age 12 and Estelle age 14) who were barely teenagers, were already married off and seemed content in their lives. Why should she expect more for herself? But, she'd rather be alone with a book and her pride than have to serve as cook, maid and whore to Gaston and she knew to him that was all a wife was meant to be. Love had nothing to do with his proposal. It was for him all about how attractive a couple they would make and what beautiful children she could produce for him. He wanted strong strapping boys to take out hunting and teach about beer. For this, Belle was simply a means to an end. She would rather die alone.

Belle had always imagined a true companionship in a marriage could be possible if one person valued the spirit and intellect of the other. She would happily service her husband if she felt he was a good man, and who commanded respect with the thoughtful and pasionate way he lived his life, not simply because he told her to. A small part of her wondered what it would be like to be dominated by a man like Gaston...but, no, he was far too conceited and cruel. She'd be treated worse than his dogs if she were his wife. But, she imagined there would be someone out there who could be firm and dominant in the way she found enticing...

She looked around at the passersby, yet again convinced this man she imagined as her perfect fit was certainly no inhabitant of the sleepy little town she lived in.

With a sigh, she rose and carried her book to her small cottage on the edge of the town, just bordering on the forest. Her father had gone off on business and she imagined that he should be back soon. She was beginning to grow a little concerned. He'd been gone longer than usual.

It was when she saw their horse, Felipe, coming running from the woods that Belle felt a cold chill run through her. Papa approached, looking spooked. "Belle, I need you to do something for me..." he said, wild eyed as he stumbled from the horse taking her by the shoulders. He handed her the loveliest pink rose she'd ever seen. "This is your gift, my dear. You have no idea how dearly this rose has cost. So much more than your sister's gifts..."

"It's so beautiful, papa. Thank you...but, what, papa? What's wrong?" she asked, confused.

"Just...get on the horse." he commanded, "Let Felipe take you to where I have just been, a castle on the edge of the forest. He'll find it easily. Here's the map I drew." he placed a bit of leather in her hand with his drawings upon it. "You must leave at once. The man in the castle can explain better than I can but if you do not run this one errand for me your sister's lives and mine may be in danger." he said grimly.

"Oh no, papa! How terrible! How long will I be gone?" she asked, afraid to ask too many questions. Was this the great adventure she'd been fantasizing about?

He shook his head. "Only a week, dearest... Please, no more questions...go now."

"But, I should pack some things..." she began.

"No! Go! The Master of the castle can surely take care of any needs you may have. Go." her father said once more, placing Belle upon the horse and smacking the horse's backside to set him off into the woods again. Belle was breathless with a combination of wonder, excitement, trepidation, fear...what was happening? Papa certainly hadn't explained very well. And he'd looked so frightened, seemed almost desperate to send her off...why?

As she gallped away she thought she might have heard her father's voice call faintly in the background, "I'm so sorry, my child!"

The frightened horse, a little comforted by her familiar presence galloped into the darkened woods and continued on for most of the night and into the morning hours. It was as they turned to a path an unknown direction to Belle that she saw it. A large castle loomed over the forest in moonlight. It was dark inside and appeared abandoned and ill kept. Felipe seemed too spooked to even go further than the gated entrance and Belle had to force the horse to stand still long enough so she could tie him to the outside of it before venturing in.

The heavy stone front door was ajar and she peeked her head inside calling, "Hello? Helloooo?" but there was no answer from the darkness beyond. Belle took a step inside, if at least to get out of the autumn's crisp cold for a few minutes and collect her thoughts but as she walked carefully into the lobby the door shut behind her and she turned, gasping, prepared to see an angry house servant or resident to have to explain her trespass to. But...there was no one around. Inexplicably, the door had shut on it's own. Belle felt a new chill that had nothing to do with the cold night air.

Tentatively, Belle began to explore the seemingly abandoned castle, calling out periodically in the hope that someone would welcome her and explain the situation. But, as she walked the staircase and it wound higher and higher, up to a tower her heart felt as if it were beating in her throat and she felt an ominous sensation of dread. Being unsuperstitious, Belle pushed onward, chiding herself for her girlish foolishness yet something nagged her in the back of her mind. The feeling that she was being watched. She twirled the sweet pink rose between her long fingers nervously as she looked around for the man her father had told her would explain everything. But, so far she saw nothing in the darkness but shadow and scary sillouettes.

 

[BadForm]

Asiph Darnise qua Nascenti, Earl of Doomsden

I watched as she appeared in my gardens, but it was simple as though she had appeared. There was no sign of how or where she had come from. She was a young woman, pleasing to the eye in her way though not the kind of beauty I would once have romanced. Her fashions also seemed odd, although I had hardly seen many of the daughters of the poor and semi wealthy in recent years. My one and only audience had been the monarch of the time. Still, she was here.

She approached my castle with bold steps, perhaps dainty but not the cultured steps of a lady. It struck me again how this was not a woman of finery. Save for the warmth of her flesh I would have assumed her a scholar, shut off in the books of a dusty room with no interest in the people about them. Given my solitude, there was an attraction in that thought.

I commanded the servants, the ones who made up the keys, the ease her passage through the castle, to guide her on towards my tower, and always to close and lock the doors behind her. That way she would be brought to me rather than me coming to her. I do not know why I wanted that, but it felt right. I also found I felt more than a little shy at seeing the woman who would be my wife or my eternal prisoner depending on her response to me. I had no intention of letting this strange beauty leave now.

She continued to call out her hellos as she walked the stairs, but they became softer and interspersed with silence. She was, I was certain, reassuring herself that she would be safe. There were no monsters in the dark, only shadows. Soon she would know how wrong she was.

I stepped into shadow myself as she came closer, and spoke. "You must be the daughter that the merchant spoke of. I see you are indeed an innocent beauty."

"W-who is there?" her voice sounded like she was half afraid of the answer.

I took one step and was beside her, the long shadows making my form even more formidable than it must have seemed to her father. "I am," I growled. "The man your father stole your gift from."

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle watched the shadow,knowing the actual form causing it was behind her. She could feel his warm breath on her neck. She kept focused on the shadow because it was unlike any human shape she could make out and she studied it for a few seconds, realizing this was no human in any traditional sense of the notion. "What...do you want? Why did you tell him to send me here?" she asked, trying to sound unafraid but still dreading seeing what could make such a monsterous shadow.

 

[BadForm]

"A rose for a rose," I said in my softest purr.

I lay my hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn around to face me. She was brave, I had to give her that. She did not faint when she saw me in the half-light of flickering shadows. I stared deeply into her eyes.

"You saw my garden, beauty. You saw the roses within it. They are my most valuable possessions. I tend them carefully, pruning and snipping, harvesting the blooms where appropriate, and keeping them fresh, watered and fed well. You can treat a rose with the harshest of loving control and it will flourish. They never question, and in a castle as alone as mine they show their love in each leaf and bloom... but there is one rose I still require."

Confusion, fear, intrigue all vied for position in her soft features until realization chased each away.

"Yes, my beauty, a human rose. As your father took one of my roses, so I take one of his. You."

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle trembled as she held up the blushing bloom still gripped in her fingers, "Here...take it back...please." she pleaded with as much pride as she still could keep intact while pleading. "I...I can't stay here. Let me go." she said pausing only as he made a movement to touch a strand of hair that had fallen from it's bun and curled down past her shoulder. He moved closer to her face and her eyes widened, thinking he might bite her but it appeared he was inhaling the scent of her hair. This intimate movement repulsed and intrigued her simultaniously and she shivered and pulled away. "Let me go!" she demanded, anger flashing in her green eyes.

 

[BadForm]

Her scent was heavenly after so many years. She was woman, in its form and beauty perfect even if she were not the perfection some blind men sought. Her fear added to the aroma of her body as her pores oozed trickles of sweat. Proud and demanding as she was, she would not yield to her body's desire to flee. Instead she tried to back me down with her demands to let her leave.

"But Beauty, where would you go? Where COULD you go? Do you wish to return to the arrogant peasant boys who taunt you and coerce you, seeking marriage when they really want... more? Would you return to your father and your sisters, living alone and lonely without love in your adulthood? After over three hundred years I feel well prepared to tell you such a life is nought but pain. Would you find a man to marry, to bear his children and be his slave? Believe me, Beauty, there are men equally bestial to me... I merely am open about it."

Am open, or had to be. I remembered the curse full well. If the woman will not love me for who I truly am then I will be cursed to live like this for all time. Still, Beauty's fear had not prepared her for something like the life she would have with me. It was time for her to begin to learn to accept her fate.

"Very well, Beauty, I will let you go. Go now, leave this place and never return. GO! I free you! GO!"

I growled the last words into her face, licking the lengthened canines and premolars that sharpened my grin. Her fear was an aphrodisiac that was hard to resist. I felt myself grow tense within my pants. It took all my control to turn away and begin to walk back up the stairs towards my room. I cast a glance backwards and saw she was still standing there as I had expected.

"Go now." I kept my voice soft, almost sensitive. "If you find you cannot take bear to stay away then you will find me within my room atop this tower, but know things can never be the same now. I offered you a life of love and splendor and you threw it in my face. If you return then you will be giving yourself over to me fully. So return on your hands and knees or never return at all."

Her face looked as much shocked as fearful now.

"GO!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the castle halls. With that, I started to spring up the stairs, taking each twist of the helix in one bound. Behind me, feet echoed downards.

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle left the rose, perched it carefully upon the stone floor, positioned to lean against the wall. Shocked that she was granted her request so easily she turned and slowly made her way back down the steps, reflecting on the lonliness this beast had spoken of. How horrible his imprisonment must have been, so many years with no contact with another human being, seeing yourself looking so ghastly in the mirror, nothing but a rose garden for comfort...she felt sorry for his predicament. He must be so desperate for companionship, for love...Belle shook her head, making her way to the heavy door, it was locked but as she pushed upon it she heard it unlock and it suddenly opened easily, forcing her out with a startling shift of her weight forward and she nearly stumbled out of the castle. It was dark now, and cold and she looked around for the horse, Felipe...Felipe was gone. Someone had let him go. If she wanted to leave now she'd have to take her chances walking alone through the darkened forest. After a moment of considering this, Belle decided this was a sign that she should follow her heart and her curiosity and negotiate with the beast. She'd try staying for one week as he had told her father it would be and if she thought she could stand living with him she'd stay but if he was too cruel, too terrible, then she would leave after that week. This, Belle realized, was indeed the adventure she had been craving.

Turning back, she quickly made her way to the castle again, finding her way more easily the second time. The closed heavy doors swung open on their own as if sensing her arrival and change of heart. She paused and regarded them curiously...she'd have to find out what the deal with the doors was...she walked confidently into the castle and back up the steps. When Belle made a decision she seldom doubted herself. She now had fully decided upon what she wanted to do. She made her way up the stairs, past her rose, further into the castle's dreary darkened depths...he was around somemwhere. She could sense it. "I want a week. A week to get to know you, and to decide...you told my father I would stay here one week. Don't make yourself a liar as well as a beast." she said, her voice strong as she spoke with conviction. "I may decide to remain after this week but if I am miserable here I hope you will let me go at that point. I feel I cannot make an uninformed decision and I don't know enough about you to really know if I should stay with you or not." she announced, certain he could hear her even if she couldn't see where he was.

 

[BadForm]

I sat in my room and looked over the battle map while I waited. It showed the area east of our borders where the King's armies were marching towards the town of Shuk. Less than an hour ago, prior to Beauty's entrance, I had seen the ragtag men who remained alive from the Caliph's army flee for the deserts. It was pleasant to see my plan come to fruition, but I was still distracted. I wondered if Beauty would return. It seemed unlikely, after all she would be returning to a monster who had demonstrated his desires in instructing her to return on hands and knees. Could she ever love so subservient a position? For a headstrong woman it seemed unlikely.

Below me I heard the castle door open and close again. There was only one explanation, she was here. I heard her pace the hallways and begin her ascent of the staircase. I heard her stop in the upper hall before my door and call out her demands. One week. I smiled.

With a simple command, the door to my room opened and the lamplight flooded the hall to guide her inwards. She entered, blinking momentarily in the comparative brilliance after walking the darkened hallways. I looked at her as she stood there and let her grow accustomed to the light.

"You returned, Beauty, but not as I demanded," I said as she managed to focus on my face. "You were to come on your hands and knees or not at all."

I saw the obstinant rebellion on her face. She would never debase herself like that, or so she thought. For now, I would allow her the illusion of choice.

"And the thief's daughter dares to call ME a LIAR?" I laughed softly and beckoned her forwards to where I sat before the map. "I do not lie, Beauty, but how you choose to read the truth of my statements is entirely up to you. Let me show you."

I made a gesture over the map and it changed to show our southern border. Various intricate figures moved slowly across its surface.

"See here, this is a map of our border with Stol, a principality that became a vassal state but five years ago. The Stollians are a rebellious people however, and not all accept our rule readily. See here, a small company of Stollian infantry are marching on our border to seek freedom. Behind them, a minor peasant militia marches to reinforce the army. I suggested to our King that he send a detachment of mixed infantry and archers to the border from his barracks in Oxwood in order to check the infantry. Though I had seen the peasant militia forming, I did not mention them to his Majesty. Now, tell me, did I lie?"

I watched her face and saw she was gazing at the map in intrigue. Likely she had never seen anything like it before, nor would a mere merchant's child have been invited in to a discussion about war and politics. Still, the spark of intellect showed she had some understanding of what I described.

"No," I said before she could speak. "I told him the truth, but not all of the truth. Infact the peasant militia did not bear mentioning. Peasant armies are weak and lack morale. I ensured the army his Majesty dispatched could outmatch the infantry. That meant the peasant militia would see them and be afraid at once. One volley from the archers and the peasants would flee in terror."

I paused to look at her and heard a terrible sound. Softer than a snowflake a petal fell from my rose, leaving but one attatched. My eyes flicked to the rose in momentary horror. I had seven, maybe eight days left if I were lucky. If I failed to win Beauty's love by then I was doomed to remain like this forever. I sat and waited to see what Beauty would say or do rather than filling in the omissions I had made when talking to her father.

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle watched the map in amazement as he explained himself. She then watched his face in the lamplight as he watched a petal fall from a rose protected in a case. It seemed this rose held a great deal of importance to him she could see it in the sadness reflected in his eyes as he watched the petal fall. She turned her back to him and approached the glass case. "This rose is dying." she stated as she looked at it. It was a lovely color, and it looked as if in it's bloom it must have been magnifiscent. She reached out a hand to touch the case enclosing the rose and felt a strong hand grip her wrist roughly before she could dare...
"One week only." she stated obstinately, "And, I wasn't going to harm it, let go of me." she said tonelessly.

 

[BadForm]

I held her wrist tightly as I stared directly into those soft eyes. Yes, there was a fire there that I would douse and stoke, extinguish and relight into a new and powerful flame. I took a chance.

"Beauty," I said, "I am going to trust you to be a woman of your word as I am a man of mine. I wish you to become acquainted with the castle and grounds before you begin your week with me. I would ask your word, therefore, that you will spend one week with me as you stated, but that you allow that time to begin tomorrow eve."

She seemed to be considering her response, working out what could be making me extend the request by a mere day.

"I wish you to know the castle," I said. "But in essence it will still be living just one week WITH me as I shall leave you untroubled to your own devices this night and tomorrow. I will not call on you once, but will answer your call should you need me. For the night and the morrow I will be as your servant as this castle serves me."

She still seemed unconvinced, but with a near leonine face staring at her and a clawed hand gripping her wrist it must have seemed little to ask for the release.

"Very well," she said and I released her hand.

Was she a woman of her word? I was unsure, especially when she realized the trap she had fallen into. Yet again, if this were to work then she must fall in love with me, not some false image. And beside, with a command to the gate guards their spears would prevent her leaving until I commanded otherwise. I opened the case and removed the rose that now bore a single petal. I handed it to her to hold and returned to my seat at the map. Below me, the soldiers moved. Strategies and tactics, plans and counter plans. I had never been fully honest with anyone in my life. Since childhood I had learned to deceive without lying. For once, I decided to tell the truth.

"The rose is dying, sweet one, yes. It is a magical rose and one with power over my destiny. If you can be patient, I shall explain. I was not always the beast you see before you. My form has changed, even as my heart has merely aged. When I was younger, this castle was part of a major Earldom named Doomsdon. I was its liege, but I fell in love with a beautiful woman. We had a fine romance, a powerful passion that would make the history books had the tale not spun out as it did. For one day that woman revealed herself to be fairy. In shock, and in horror, I recoiled from her and turned from her. You know, as I do, that fairies are evil beings I am sure. She cursed me for my abandonment, cursed me to this form I am in now. She cursed me and the castle in which I dwelt, turning all other beings in that castle to tools and implements of their trade. The map you see before you... that is my father."

The horror couldn't have been clearer in her eyes. Yet there was something else there too, fascination perhaps. I could not be sure.

"I was doomed to spend eternity like this unless I could gain the love of a woman for my true self before that rose shed its final petal. It began with twenty thousand petals almost four hundred years ago."

A moment of disbelief crossed her face but she still listened.

"I know it seems unlikely, Beauty, but consider this before you reject my story so far, is my tale more unlikely than the powerful magics you have seen so far? Consider this - how could a castle this size exist in these woodlands so close to you and nobody know of it were it not kept secret through magic? You and your father are the only beings to have crossed my castle gate in all the time since that day, and I have never been able to leave. Yes, for four hundred years almost I have been prisoner here. My magical mirror, my mother infact who loved the court life, has provided my only link to the outside world and that only allows me to communicate with the monarch who believes me to be a demon from a magical mirror of guidance."

I sighed deeply before going on.

"That rose has been losing one petal every week since the fairy cast her spell. Its last last one will fall prior to the evening of a week from tomorrow at which time the castle will never more exist in the world and be an entity unto itself."

Realization dawned as to what she had promised.

"I do not know why the fairy allowed you and your father entrance to my castle, whether it was a final chance for me or whether it was a final taunt, but I do know you have promised to stay beyond the petal's fall. Oh, I will not break my word. I said if you lived here the week then I would leave your father and your family be. Of course, should you choose not fall for me and so trap us both here, then I know full well how loneliness can affect you. I daresay you will soon want me to change my vow and be with you and that, my sweet, is something I will do for you if you ask it."

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle was breathless as she listened and regarded this precious magical rose with it's one remaining petal. She paused for seconds, perhaps a full minute almost not even her heart beat as she took in all that was told to her and considered this fate...slowly, carefully, her hand trembling, Belle returned the rose to it's case. "So...you mean to tell me this week could actually end in eternity for me as well?" she asked, almost fearful of the answer. She could barely look at him now, she was afraid her brave front might break and she'd cry.

 

[BadForm]

"Could?" I said. "No, I would not say this week COULD end in eternity for you, not after your promise to begin the week as of tomorrow eve. Could implies chance. Unless my calculations are wrong, and I have had well over three hundred years to calculate them, then the last petal will fall before the end of your vow. Therefore it WILL end in eternity... of course, there is one chance for us both. That is the one escape that existed in the fairy's spell - could you fall in love with a monster such as I? I do not believe it. I was served by many women when I was human, but loved by none ere the fairy. Now, with my monstrous appearance I doubt any could love me, even her. Certainly not one such as you."

"Beauty, it draws late. Allow me to have one of the attendants escort you to your bedroom. I have had your maid warm your bed already. It should prove adequate for your needs."

Despite all I had said, she seemed surprised when I a tray appeared through the doorway, floating in mid air. I had forgotten over the years just how shocking such magic could be.

"Unless you have aught else to say, and unless you need me before then, I shall call on you tomorrow night. We shall begin our week together then. In the meantime I shall have all the servants of the castle answer to you as the answer to me... save should you try to leave or assault me."

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle had nothing to say. She was just terrified of being forced to spend eternity in this castle with this beast but she also could never imagine falling in love with him. He was not just ugly, he was cruel and cold and Belle hated the way he addressed her. She took the magically floating tray and put it upon her dresser, not at all hungry. She instead slammed the door to what would now be her bedroom and flopped down upon the luxurious bed, barely noticing how nice her room was as she cried into her pillow, and in the morning when she awoke she realized she had cried herself to sleep and that she had not had a horrible dream. This was really her life. She was the beast's prisoner masquerading as a guest. Breakfast came and she refused to eat again, occupying herself instead with crying some more.

 

[BadForm]

The morning wore on and I wondered how Belle was faring. I ordered her breakfast taken to her, but as I'd promised to leave her be I could not know whether she had even eaten or not. As noon approached I found myself becoming more and more impatient. The king had reported the loss of half his archers in the battle to the South. Apparently they had seen the peasant militia approaching and decided they would make a good practice for their rusty sword skills. I told the King that if he could not even control his own men and follow simple instructions then his "demon" would have no more to do with him. It was a foolish statement, but I knew he would call on me later and be apologetic. He needed me almost as much as I'd come to need the monarchs over the centuries.

I passed time as best I could, watching the passage of armies across the map, but it had lost its appeal. All I could think about was the beauty I was going to indoctrinate into the pleasures I could provide. She would resist, I had no doubt of it. Nobody save the very few enjoyed what I would provide in the way of delights. In the end, it wouldn't matter. She was mine whether she wished it or not. If she was the rare individual, she was mine through love. If, as I suspected, she were not that one in a million then she was mine by being within the castle when it was withdrawn from the world.

She was mine.

BUT I WAS IMPATIENT!

How dare the sun have barely reached the meridian yet? How could the sundials show twelve noon? I wanted it to be evening. I wanted Beauty to be MINE!

I couldn't help myself. I grabbed one of the chairs and ripped it apart easily, tossing the pieces against a wall. I threw open my door and bellowed down the stairs loud enough to be heard in the kitchens far away.

"FETCH ME MY LUNCHEON! FETCH ME A FEAST! FETCH ME THE BEST PIG FROM THE STY! RAWWWW!"

It always made me feel calmer to yell at someone when my impatience got the better of me. I merely regretted that the servants were no longer human and so could not be beaten.

As I regained a degree of control I turned to a harp that sat against the wall. Before the curse it had been the Baroness Brundisia, a courtier who had a thing for the wild side but could never have accepted the deepest, darkest side of me.

"You," I commanded. "Go play her some of your music. You know the melodies or sonatas or whatever you call them that speak of love. Go! Play them for her! NOW!"

 

[slippedhalo]

The mound of food upon her dresser was growing as lunch was brought for Belle who still had not consumed last night's supper nor the morning's breakfast. A harp magically rolled into the room on it's own and broke her spell of weeping with a gentle song. After the song finished, she sat up and regarded the strange instrument, it played again, this time a song she vaguely recognized. It was kind of soothing.

A drawer in the desk by the window opened and a book floated out of it, a filled quill-pen shortly thereafter. The book was empty and opened before her to the first page. The quill moved to slide into her hand and tried to pull her hand toward the page, compelling her to write. With a sniffle but no more tears Belle began to write of her feelings, of her experience from the previous day to the present moment while the harp played on, lifting her spirits. With a sigh, she shut the book. It felt better somehow to write it down. As if keeping record would ensure she wasn't crazy. The book would bear witness for her. Feeling a little better, she accepted a cup of tea and decided to explore the castle a little bit before the hour when her true confinement would begin.

Belle found it would be quite easy to get lost in this enormous abode and had to turn back down the same hallways several times to find her way around. One room held particular interest to her but was locked behind glass-paned doors which seemed to taunt her by showing what was inside but not allowing her entry...the library...It was huge, and she saw literally thousands of books. She could spend a lifetime and still never have read all of them. For a bookworm such as herself it was heavenly. The book lender in her town only got something new a few times per year and there was always a long waiting list just to read the novelty. There were less than one hundred of the older books and Belle had read all of them, many several times because there was just nothing else. A library as massive as this one was a fabulous luxury to Belle...but it was locked up. She stood outside the doors for a long time, just staring in, trying to see if she could recognize any of the titles from far away.

 

[BadForm]

I was surprised when I saw the assistant clerk come drifting through the doorway, his pages leafing open before my eye. I wondered what could be happening in order for one of the servants to act without being summoned and in wonder I looked down at what was written. The script was elegant, curving and winding its way along the page like a ballroom danger. When I realized it was Beauty's writing I became all the more intrigued.

She had written of fear and loss, of resentment and hate. She missed her family it was clear and blamed me for taking her from them. That was fair, almost. She had not written that she blamed her father for giving her to such a beast as she felt I was. Yet if her father had been as loving as she seemed to feel then would he not have done anything for her, even face my wrath? Then again, I looked at things with the cynicism of practiced centuries and forced immortality while she saw through eyes of mortal innocense. It was going to be a pleasure destroying that.

I finished perusing her journal and nodded, commanding the clerk to return immediately to her desk. If she believed that her writing was private then there was a good chance I could follow the internal monolog of every step on her journey. Why did people write things down in such a way that they could be understood by the enquiring gaze? Ciphers and codes would at least have forced me to work to understand her writings. Then again, what would a merchants girl know of hidden codes.

My gaze turned back to the map and I imagined its surface changing. Instead of landscapes I saw the contours of her body. Instead of the march and shift of battling armies I saw fingers and hands battling for possession of that body. "Ah, Beauty," I sighed. "You will be an interesting game."

 

[slippedhalo]

The hour was at hand.

Belle was reminded of this by a clock which not only chimed the hour but leapt from it's place on the wall and followed her, chased her even as she ran from it, until she realized she had been herded to the dining room. An elegant room, even despite it's neglect. Two places had been set and as a chair moved back from the table of it's own accord to allow her to take her place, she knew in the pit of her stomach who the other place was set for. It was unavoidable. The beast would come to her once again and she would have no choice but to comply...she had given her word. After almost twenty-four hours with not a morsel, the scents wafting over from the dishes, still covered but set upon the long table, instantly made Belle realize she was famished. Wine poured itself and the doors on the opposite side of the room crashed open.

The beast had come to dine.

 

[BadForm]

Ah, the aroma of it all. Cooking pork and vegetables, gravy stock and sweet deserts, wine and above it all the tender scent of woman and fear. As I threw open the doors and strode inside I saw the first of the waiters arrive laden with food. And there sat my Beauty, resplendent in her simple dress and tear-stained cheeks.

"Ah, good, you are here sweet one," I said and strode forward to sit beside her at the table. "Come, eat, drink, I insist."

I snapped my fingers and at once the knife and fork that had once been human began to carve the pork. and load our plates. Soon after the vegetables and gravy followed until we had a veritable feast on our plates. Beauty still did not eat, at least at first. I quickly reminded her of her vow to live with me, and that living meant she needed food and drink. I said it with a laugh, but though she complied it was with a melancholy air that suggested she saw anything but the humor of the comment.

I watched her as I ate, taking in every line of her silent form. It was evident she had not had a good night or day and yet she had not sampled the experiences that lay in store for her yet. In time I grew tired of her silence and stood from my seat. She looked at me in concern, perhaps wondering what was going to happen. I walked around the table to stand behind her seat and placed my hands on her shoulders. Her muscles went rigid under my touch. I began to knead and massage her softly.

"Ah, Beauty, you seem so sad. Did you dream badly, or was yesterday so troubling to you? I already stated that there is a chance that you will leave the castle again: a slim one, but a chance nontheless. If you should fall for me before the fall of the last petal then the spell will be broken. Even if you do not, you have seen some of the wonders of the castle. Would eternity here truly be so dreadful? Have you not seen wonders that fill you with wonder? Or are you so desperate to be free?"

I bent my head down besides her ear and whispered softly, my voice almost a purr. "Is that it, Beauty, do you wish to be free?"

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle turned her face slightly to watch his profile out of the corner of her eye as he was so close. "You taunt me, sir. That is cruel." she said tonelessly. He had not yet removed his hands, if they could be called hands, from her shoulders yet and he continued to massage. Belle couldn't deny there was some pleasure in his touch but could that and books alone keep her happy? Oh, the books...she had meant to ask about that..."Why is the library locked?" she asked plainly.

 

[BadForm]

"The library?" I said, "The library is full of musty old books and... secrets."

Why would I tell her what was in there? I had closed the library within the first decade of my imprisonment. It was a large collection of books, and one I had read through three times. It also contained the one journal I had ever written, one that spoke of my darkest desires. It spoke of the pain I had inflicted on on my past lovers and the times they had all decided it was too much. It spoke of my relationship with the fairy, and how ultimately I had decided she was too much. It contained works of my poetry and snippets of spells that the court magician had taught me. It spoke of war and passion, power and politic, but most of all it spoke of my heart. To this day I do not know why I wrote it, but it was too earnest a collection of my thoughts from back in the days before imprisonment to allow to be free among the castle. I would read it, remember and... and know some things could never be recovered.

"You are a bookworm, Beauty," I crooned. "You seek knowledge. Do you wish to be allowed inside the library? Do you wish access to the world of books within? I could give you that."

I let my hands slip down past her shoulders to slowly massage her upper arms and back. She felt divine, she was woman and the reality of flesh after so long was greater than my memory allowed.

"But what would you give me in return?"

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle warmed at this suggestion and a smile almost crossed her lips. She would love access to this library...

"But what would you give me in return?" he asked.

Belle's smiled faded and she gasped, "You would use my honesty in expressing a desire to manipulate me?" she asked. "You are much bigger and stronger than me, I'm actually surprised you haven't stolen what you want from me already." she admitted. Belle turned in her seat to face him, wanting him to know that there were still some levels on which she had little fear of him. "You'll have to say it...what you want. I won't be stupid enough to offer up anything until I know how high your expectations are, sir." she answered, feeling wise.

 

[BadForm]

Her eyes held mine in a gaze stronger than I expected. For a second I wondered whether the shock she expressed was real too and voiced as much. "To think, your father stated you were an innocent. I have mentioned nothing of the type of payment I expected and yet you realized immediately."

I placed my hands back on her shoulders and continued to rub them for a while. I knew she wanted me to remove them, despite the pleasure her body shivered with so minutely. If I were to touch her at all, she wished it to be her choice. Objection, however, was not the place of any woman of mine be she free or slave.

"Oh, do not say you could guess because it was so obvious... it was so obvious because of..."

I grasped her more tightly with my left hand to hold her in place. I ran the clawed index finger of my other hand down between the upswelling at the top of her breasts to the knot tying her bodice together. I let my finger curl under the knot and began to cut through it and the fabric below as I spoke.

"the...type...of...woman...you are!"

The bodice fell aside, exposing the fullness of her cleavage. Her now weakened dress looked to strain againt her breasts dangerously.

"What do I want? Why everything, of course. Not just your body as the hidden perversion within you grants, but your mind, your heart and your soul. EVERY aspect of your essence. But let me begin by granting you the freedom I offered, the freedom you accused of being a mere taunt."

I grasped the material of her dress and underclothes and tore them down over her arms to expose her, chest to waist. Her body was as beautiful as her face.

"The freedom, Beauty, from society's ridiculous morality!"

 

[slippedhalo]

Belle's eyes widened and her lip trembled slightly as he ran his claw down her chest, cutting away pat of her dress, Oh no... her attempt at seeming worldly and wise had backfired and now he thought she was taunting him with her body! She was appalled, both at the situation and at the fact that by imitating her oldest sister in order to pretend to seem older and wiser she had actually portrayed herself as wanton (something, quite frankly, she had not considered until this moment, but that her sister was).

She was trembling now and he pulled the final shock in his speech by tearing away her clothing completely from the waist up.

Belle could no longer sit still. She couldn't sit back calmly and let this happen, not for all the books in the world! She got up quickly from her chair, her hip hitting the table and disturbing her wine glass which spilled wine onto her entree. She spun quickly to face the beast, trying in vain to pull back up the torn shards of her clothing to cover her pale breasts...

Finally, she settled upon covering her rosebud pink nipples and some breast with each hand as she backed away from the beast, her face the picture of horror. "No, please....please don't....I don't want to. I can't have it like this..." she couldn't finish the statement, the plea, it caught in her throat as she imagined her marriage bed, the place where her flower was supposed to be plucked, not in some dirty old castle under a spell with some perverted beast, not as a bargaining chip for access to something Belle thought everyone had a right to...

 

[BadForm]

I simply watched. Her alarm was a pheremone, arousing to those who could sense it. I considered taking her then and there, throwing her across the table and ripping away what remained of her clothing. Her terror as I thrust into her would be incredible... but some things, like the finest aged wine, were better savored than swallowed. That was one thing I had learned over the course of my own entrapment. There were times I could have thwarted the King's enemies in one fell swoop and instead chose to draw out their pain and pick them off one by one. Seeing the tide of battle shift was at times more pleasant than seeing our borders flow forwards.

"Ah, Beauty," I said. "You are a strange one. You see books as beautiful and question why I would keep my library covered and closed. Yet here you are, with the very beauty the world gave yourself and you try to keep covered the greatest treasures that exist."

I summoned a dressmaker, the pair of scissors she had become arriving within seconds.

"Search the castle!" I commanded. "Find any piece of female clothing and shred it. Leave none that this beauty could wear intact. I care not if it were my mothers, my aunt's, or a simple peasant's. Shred it all!"

As the dressmaker sped off to comply I turned back to face the frightened woman before me. She still had her hands over her nipples as though it offered some protection. She was learning, I felt. In time she would come to worship my and know her body, nay her very self, was my most divine possession.

"Beauty, do you think you will stay like that forever? How will you eat? How will you bathe? How will you read those precious books? Or do you intend to do none of those things?" My laughter rolled soft and deep. "Know this, Beauty, even should you try to keep yourself covered, your body will demand sleep and you will be exposed then."

I took her wine glass and licked the spilt wine from its side, slowly and luxuriously. Then I stood and moved toward her. I lifted the glass to her lips.

"Drink, Beauty, let the wine refresh you. You should understand that your life can go one of two ways. I want everything that is you, if you can learn to accept that, to revere me as your master, to know your deepest satisfaction is my pleasure, then you will find pleasure awaits. If you should continue the prude, force me to take what I want from you, and resist each step of the way, all you shall find is pain. It matters little to me. I will get what I want either way. Indeed, should you resist I may find breaking you even more pleasant."

Despite my offer of the wine, she refused it. In response I tipped the glass slightly and tricked wine over and between her breasts, watching as it pooled against her fingers and the torn remnants of the dress about her waist.

"Come now, Beauty, do you truly feel I am any the worse than other men out there? Do you know how many wives are brutalized by their husbands? And if you should resist your urge to wed, do you know how many women are taken against their will by men they reject? Have you not already had men sniffing around you like bees around a scented flower? Large men, Beauty, men whose arrogance fills their heads with visions of themselves as gods. Have you rejected them? Have you seen and heard their frustration? Don't pretend, Beauty. Don't pretend that the world out there offers you a better chance for survival than I do. The world is not built to leave a precious flower... unplucked. And in your heart YOU KNOW IT!"