Beauty's Cursed Beast

by Mary E. Twomey

  All the noise of the chaos floated away, leaving her with a shell-shocked sensation of somehow rising above the cacophony. Her hand lifted, and with an anger she couldn’t put a cap on, she summoned the nearest cop’s gun right out of his hand.

  In school as a girl, she’d learned the basics – how to use her Pulse, how to levitate objects, how to slightly alter their color, and innocuous things of that nature. It was the elite that could rip an object from a person’s hand. Some of her professors hadn’t even been able to perform such a task.

  The gun didn’t come all the way to her, but it leapt out of its owner’s grip and flopped on the floor.

  That was all the encouragement she needed to give herself over to Remus’ words of wisdom. At once, she believed in the impossible with all her heart, and refused to look on Adam’s plight as something that wasn’t mendable.

  Belle summoned the gun again, and this time the object slid to her unfettered, laying at her feet like an obedient pet.

  When her gaze climbed to the fray that was partially in the room and partially out in the hall, she gasped. More shocking than the handful of downed cops that were all bleeding out on the hardwood floor was the antique clock that hopped atop one of the men and stabbed him through with a kitchen knife.

  “Bosworth?” she called, though she couldn’t hear her own voice. Too many shots rang out. Too many men cussed out of both fear and pain. Belle didn’t understand how the curse was beginning to crumble, allowing the staff to animate in front of outsiders, but she took the advantage without questioning it. She charged forward with nothing but a letter opener in her fist and jammed it through the jugular of one of the crooked cops who’d tried to take away everything that was precious to her. She fought without reservation or conscience, throwing her oath of “do no harm” out the window. Not one of them had stood up to the sheriff, so Belle didn’t hold back in her tirade to rid the intruders from castle. The magic mirror had dubbed it as her home, and she defended it as such.

  Vivienne flew in, using her handle to jab the men in the eyes, cackling with abandon that she was freed from her constrictions enough to fight for her home.

  Lucien’s usually joyful laugh turned wicked as he blew into his thumbs to turn his candles up to full blast. Fire shot out three feet in the air, lighting a few of their polyester uniforms ablaze.

  The fight was mostly out in the hall now, except for Adam, who dragged Gabe back into the bedroom, his deadly claws sinking into the meat of the sheriff’s shoulder. He was hunched, his nose elongating and looking more like a wolf’s than a man’s. His legs were furrier, but still human, so Belle held onto hope as she ran toward them.

  Adam was limping, a trail of blood coming from his right leg, but his gaze burned with determination to finish off the man who’d stalked the woman he loved. If his last human moments were spent ridding the world of Sheriff Aston’s evil, it would be counted as a victory.

  34

  The Final Battle

  Gabe Aston’s blood-soaked fingers were shaking as he cocked his gun, shouting in agony as he twisted in Adam’s fanged grip to aim his weapon at the beast.

  “No!” Belle screamed, reaching him just before the shot went off. She kicked his hands, and the bullet missed its mark as the gun fell from Gabe’s grip. The bullet shattered the tall glass door that led to the balcony, introducing a gust of freezing air to the castle.

  Belle didn’t have time to shudder at the cold; she wanted Gabe finished.

  Adam was just as determined to defend the lady of the house to the death. He dragged Gabe over the glass, cutting his own hands in the process as he heaved the sheriff out onto the stone balcony. There were two gargoyles perched on either end of the terrace, each staring out at the world, silently asking it how everything had spun so out of control.

  Belle watched as Adam dropped his grip on Gabe, wound up and let his fist fly across Gabe’s dimpled jaw over and over again. The punishment was unforgiving, and meant to be a wound the crooked sheriff wouldn’t easily recover from.

  Belle stiffened, and Adam paused his second punch when they heard a band of wolves calling out in the night.

  “It’s time,” he growled to Belle, falling back to sit on his butt, exhausted.

  Belle kicked Gabe in the temple with her boot on her way over to Adam, falling down at her love’s side. “No! No! I won’t let this happen!”

  “It’s too late.” He clutched his chest and screwed up his face, letting out a roar as he fell backward, lying supine on the balcony. His torso twisted violently, and his legs kicked out as they prepared to change into those of a wolf. Belle tried to hold eye contact, but the pain of the transition made his words come out choked as his lashes fluttered. “At least I got to see you one last time.”

  Belle’s hands fluttered over his chest, her vision clouding as tears fell down on his shirt. “This isn’t how this ends! I can fix all of it!”

  She didn’t expect Gabe to stumble around her, nor for him to have the wherewithal to clutch a shard of glass with steadiness enough to ram it into Adam’s side. He stood with a weary triumph at Adam’s guttural howl, but stumbled under the weight of the many blows he’d sustained.

  Fury flooded Belle from head to toe. She was tired of the constant bullying by Gabe, and even the wolves who came by to howl at night and remind Adam of his doom. For all the weaponry and shattered glass strewn about, Belle didn’t bother with any of it. She leapt over Adam’s body with a cry that resounded from the very depths of her soul. It wasn’t a call for help or even mercy. It was a thunderous pronouncement that she would endure the tyranny no more.

  It was as simple as a push to his chest, but that was all it took. Gabe screamed as he toppled over the railing on the stone balcony, managing to catch himself on the ledge. The howls from the Lupine below widened his eyes in fear. “Belle! Belle! Help me up!”

  Belle glared down at him, her resolve feeling colder than the snow that cascaded around her. “Beg me, tasty cakes.” Then before he could get in another word, Belle kicked at his fingers, releasing him from the ledge.

  Gabe fell three stories, landing with an unnatural thud on the frozen earth. He didn’t move – couldn’t move – as the Lupine closed in on the fresh kill they hadn’t had to work for. One of them howled up at her in thanks while the others made quick work of tearing flesh from bone.

  35

  Adam’s Transition

  Belle staggered back, falling down on her butt as the shock of the horrible deeds she was capable of rocked her core beliefs about how to be a good person in the world. The snow drifted without hurry, unperturbed that Belle had once held certain truths in high regard, but now had forsaken even the most basic rules.

  She’d killed a man and fed his body to the wolves. Belle was frozen in her shock, wondering how it was she’d fallen so far from the woman she’d dreamed she’d become when she was just a girl.

  Adam’s ragged breathing snapped her back to herself, and she turned to crawl to his side. “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe now because we’re together.”

  “I should’ve kissed you,” he choked out, a tear sliding down his face that was slowly mutating, the fur on his cheeks thickening and moving in closer to his eyes.

  Though his fangs were long and frightening now, Belle longed to taste his lips. There were so many things she owed to Adam, and the gratitude swelled inside of her, making her wish for lifetimes of memories with him.

  “I love you,” she whispered, combing her fingers through his hair, and lifting his head slightly.

  She laid him back when his body started to tremble to the pitch of almost a seizure. Dread coursed through her when she realized how little time there was left – if any. Even if the counter-curse wouldn’t work because he was mid-transition, she had to try.

  “Go, Belle. I don’t want you to see this!” Adam growled through the pain as his legs began to jerk. The bones cracked to re-form into something far less human, ripping a fresh howl from Adam’s
throat.

  Belle gathered up a smear of blood from his side and painted it on her tongue. Leaning over his body, she covered him in a hug so he knew that no matter what, he wouldn’t be alone. She didn’t let go as he yelled into her bosom. She didn’t let go when he gripped her hard, gritting his teeth through the agony as his bones continued to break.

  She didn’t let go as she started to chant the spell Remus had taught her. Though she was scared, she kept her words even and her diction overly crisp, willing the love she had for Adam to be enough to break something as uncrushable as a decade-old curse. Malaura’s magic was strong, but Belle knew the love she had for Adam was stronger. Remus had explained that Malaura never understood love, so her curses weren’t set up to counter it.

  The transition seemed to slow while she uttered the ancient words, coming to a halt when she worked through the last sentence with a shout of determination. She nearly screamed her frustration before she reached the end.

  It was then that she noticed the smallest movement that held the greatest impact. Inside the glass case on the desk in the center of the study, the final petal drifted off the stem, landing with great irrevocability as she shouted the last syllable into the night. She made sure she kept her love for Adam in the forefront of her mind, keeping an image of him laughing at one of her jokes locked tight in her heart.

  She expected… something. Lightning striking perhaps. Rainbows and moonbeams coming from his skin to signify that yes, love did save the day, and their connection could conquer all.

  But nothing happened. Adam was unconscious in her arms, motionless and stuck mid-transformation. His mouth was partially elongated, and his legs were still human, but bent and broken in dreadful angles. His fur was thick now, and covered his entire body. His claws were long and sharp to match his fangs.

  Belle looked up, taking in the empty study. The cops had fled when the trinkets came to life and began talking and attacking, but she only just noticed the silence that meant the fight was over. She heard the wolves munching below, but as her hearing began to come back to her, she listened in for other sounds.

  “Lucien?” she called quietly through her tears. “Audra?”

  She could see the candelabra and the teapot sitting in the study on the floor, but they didn’t come to life to speak to her. They were trinkets – useless objects that brought no life or laughter to the castle. She would’ve given anything to hear Bosworth’s bravado, but the one time she wished he would speak for hours, he remained utterly silent.

  Belle held Adam in her arms, checking his heartrate with shaking fingers and coming up empty. Death could’ve been caused by anything, really. The gunshot wound to his shoulder, the glass stabbed into his side, the mess of the brawl, or the agony of his broken bones that marked the transition he hadn’t made it through.

  Belle swallowed the last of his blood that had coated her tongue, holding him to her chest as her tears peppered his motionless face. She touched her trembling lips to his, wishing more than anything that their first kiss wasn’t also their last. Then she whispered the resounding truth of her heart. “I love you.”

  Belle wept for all she’d lost, holding him tight to her breast as the snow slowly floated down around them.

  Then there was silence. A complete and utter nothing that floated down and blanketed the castle with her heartbreak. The quietness in the castle was quite the opposite of the war that had broken out on her insides, mourning, crying and wailing in her heart for the loss she knew she would never survive.

  She couldn’t let go of him, motionless though he was. Part of him had belonged to her, and even now, she refused to give up her hold on all that they were to each other.

  The wind warned her of the cold night that might never leave her now, but she paid the iciness no mind. The cold inside her chest felt set in deep, taking up residence where the glow from Adam’s warmth should’ve been.

  A breath broke the void, shaking Belle’s very existence. Fear and wonder crackled through her when Adam’s lips parted with purpose, as if he meant to say something. She cried out in shock when Adam’s chest began to move on its own.

  She paid no attention to the boots she heard tromping up down the hallway. She saw only Adam, felt only his body as real heat began to spread through his core.

  When his eyes opened, Belle nearly fainted. “Adam? Adam?” she called his name, slapping his cheek, and then combing her fingers through the fur that had taken over the area.

  “Get back!” came a loud voice from inside the study. It wasn’t until solid arms pulled her away from balcony that she fully grasped someone else was in the castle.

  Prince Henry righted her and stumbled several feet back, bringing her into the bedroom just as beams of light shot out from Adam’s chest, erupting a silent cry from his mouth that shook Belle to her very core.

  36

  Magic at Work

  Prince Henry held tight to Belle amid the destroyed bedroom, while a man she didn’t immediately recognize stood in front of them like a shield, his arms extended. “What happened?” Henry shouted as the castle walls started to shake.

  “I performed the counter-curse, but Adam died before I could finish. Then he came back to life! Let me go, Henry! Adam needs me!”

  “Stay back,” ordered the mid-forties man in front of them. He wore gray slacks and a pink dress shirt, his black hair cropped in a clean, modern cut. “Adam’s body needs space to figure out what it’s going to do.”

  When the man turned his head to the side, Belle finally recognized him from photos in the paper. It was the great Remus Johnstone, in the flesh. He was the only one who’d been able to successfully pull off the counter-curse before – Malaura’s student coming out to storm the master.

  Belle was astonished he’d come to see it all play out. Remus’ arms were raised toward Adam, and he began to mutter a string of Latin that Belle could only pick out bits and pieces of.

  Pure light emanated from Adam as his body lifted and turned, so that he was vertical in the air. It was as if Remus was making him levitate – a thing that was far beyond a person’s abilities. At most, Belle had seen someone at a traveling show that came to her school levitate a bowling ball. It was so impressive, the entire school cheered the accomplishment. To levitate a whole person, much less someone as large as Adam, was an impossibility Belle couldn’t wrap her mind around. She began to understand Remus’ advice about ignoring the traditional rules of magic.

  A harsh breeze that seemed to exist only around his body whipped in a swirl. The concentrated wind grew at an alarming velocity. It blew his fur so hard that a peppering of hair ripped off his skin and was caught up in the growing tornado that was rapidly gaining momentum.

  Henry let out a noise of distress when Adam shouted through the pain of his bones going through yet more breaking, his body contorting midair. Adam’s eyes weren’t closed due to unconsciousness, but instead scrunched in agony, his mouth open through his distress.

  Belle wanted to get to him, to ease his pain somehow, but as the tornado encased the man she loved, she knew this was lightyears beyond her level of study. All the schooling she’d undergone for both nursing and magic felt like a joke as she drank in things she’d never before witnessed, or even heard of.

  Wolves were howling below, some scattering and leaving the fresh kill behind at the sight of the tornado. In the backdrop, far enough away from the scene to be part of it, Belle’s gaze caught on a flash of red. Her eyes widened at the sight of the woman in the red cape.

  The woman seemed to say a great many things without even opening her mouth as she took in Adam’s agony. Next to her was the enormous pure white wolf, who was almost invisible, surrounded by snow as he was. Her hand rested atop his head, not to pet him, but as if to unite herself with him as they studied the rare bit of magic.

  Belle held tight to Henry, whose fingers were digging deep into her ribs. He’d started out holding her back from the chaos, but now it was him who needed someone t
o hold him through his best friend’s pain.

  Belle watched Adam as his body started to slowly turn as if on a spit, moving in conjunction with Remus’ rotating hand motions. Adam’s fur flung off in chunks, carried away by the wind, who seemed to know what it was doing. Nature had a plan for Adam, but Belle was still teetering on the edge of betting whether nature would be kind or cruel.

  Remus’ arm reached behind him so he could tug Belle forward. “This is your magic at work, Belle. Hold your hands out and repeat after me.”

  Belle found herself standing in between Remus’ outstretched arms, her back pressed to his chest. He was one of the elite – the Chancellor’s brother whose extensive understanding of magic saved Rory. He had a seat on the council and was the successful CFO of the Foundation that had granted Belle her scholarship.

  Belle swallowed hard and tried to make-believe she belonged on the playground with the big kids, swinging for the homerun as if she knew what she was doing.

  Belle held her head high, extended her arms to press against the inside of Remus’ reach so he could guide her. She held her love for Adam tight in her breast as she repeated the string of syllables as crisply as she could manage. Without meaning to, the last few words welled up inside of her and came out with a ferocious punch that echoed out across the castle grounds, as if the words had been waiting for her to set them free. “Caritas est fortior!”

  Belle felt suddenly weak with a sensation of carbonation popping over her skin and fizzling in her esophagus until it bubbled and snapped in her chest. Her left knee buckled, but she didn’t fall.