A Beauty So Beastly

by RaShelle Workman

  “Try thinking about something that makes you really happy.” Cole was trying to fix the cot.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Just get a good grip on the edge of the Chinese star, think of something that really gets your heart racing in a good way and pull.”

  I turned back to the star, closed my eyes and thought about Adam. The desire in his eyes. The determination in his voice. His lips had been so soft, yet hungry. With every touch I knew he wanted my lips on his. Then I thought about the kiss, the way it made my body come alive. After it was over, he’d caressed my bottom lip. I shivered at the memory.

  My fingers grew and extended. There was a pop. I opened my eyes. The Chinese star was in my hand. “Oh, yeah, I did it,” I shouted, doing a dance on the table.

  Cole stood and turned, putting his hands on his hips. He was laughing at me, but I didn’t care. “See? It isn’t so hard.” He turned back to the bed, took the frame in his hands and bent it back into alignment with a single shove.

  “Show-off,” I said, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. There was no doubt Cole and I would be life long friends.

  Unlike Any Human

  Fifteen

  Cole and I spent the better part of the next hour pulling weapons out of the walls and the ceiling. Sometimes thinking happy thoughts worked and other times it didn’t. Overall, I was happy with the success I had.

  And Cole was a great guy. In a short time I felt like we’d become friends. We’d told each other a lot. I’d told him about life in Utah, and what I’d learned from the book my parents had written. He got to hear about my party and what I’d done to Will. I’d also told him about the curse, or rather the reverse curse.

  Then Cole told me about some of his life growing up. He was a year younger than me and his parents had left him on the side of the road when he was five. He’d been in and out of foster homes for years until Professor Pops found him.

  I could tell he had a lot of respect for the man. Seeing the way he spoke of Professor Pops made me like him all the more.

  “Why does everyone call him Professor Pops?” I asked, setting the last knife on the table.

  Cole was shoving hooks into place to rehang the katana and some of the other swords. “He is a Professor of Religion over at Harvard though now he’s mostly retired.”

  “Oh, so it’s his actual title.”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s cool.” I picked up my phone and casually checked for messages. There weren’t any new ones. “Should we go into the museum and see if there’s anything else we can salvage?”

  “Sure.” Cole and I tried to walk through the opening at the same time and we bumped into each other. His skin was rock solid. I wanted to ask him more about himself but door clicked and Professor Pops came in followed by Troy.

  “How’s it going?” Troy asked. He carried several large black bags—like body bags. Professor Pops followed, carrying more.

  “Fine,” I said. “Are those body bags?”

  Professor Pops nodded. “They are.”

  A rush of fear immobilized my body.

  They are going to kill me, stuff me, and put me on a pedestal, I thought.

  And my body began to shift. It felt like my blood boiled and moved in fast-forward. My eyesight changed and I felt my face morph, followed by the rest of my body. I heard myself roar as I dropped to all fours.

  Professor Pops and Cole dropped the bags in unison. Troy tripped into Professor Pops, who caught him. “This is going to be good,” Troy said. He seemed excited about my change.

  I licked my lips, feeling my razor sharp teeth. My whole being focused on the over exuberant boy. His heart raced. I expected to smell fear but he had a strange scent, which became more prominent in my Vaktare form. It was unlike any human I’d smelled.

  Not that it mattered. He was human. I didn’t eat humans.

  I changed my focus from Troy to Professor Pops. There was a hint of alarm in his scent and his features, but mostly he seemed curious. He had his hands up. They shook slightly.

  “It’s okay. You’re fine, Beatrice. No one is going to hurt you.” The voice was Cole’s. He had no scent at all. I saw he’d changed as well. His shirt had ripped in places. Same with his pants. His pale skin was now stark white and marbled with black veins. His black hair had changed to glaring white and his gray eyes were black as coal. Cole touched my arm tenderly. His fingers were rock hard and cold as ice.

  A peculiar sensation crawled along my arm. It radiated from his touch. My ears flicked and my whiskers twitched, as did my tail. A tail? That was new, and weird.

  “Beatrice?” Cole clamped down on my arm more tightly. The fur all around where he touched turned gray. I yanked my arm from his grasp, the hair near my neck and along my back stood on end.

  Cole glanced at his fingers. “I—It’s okay. Sorry. I’m so sorry.” Cole’s eyes went from black to gray and his hair turned from white to black. The black marble on his skin vanished. “The bags are for these bodies.” He indicated the supernatural creature all over the floor. The ones I’d knocked over, shredded, and decapitated. He smiled. “Your werecat form is awesome, by the way.” His eyes roamed over my body. “I mean seriously, I thought the werewolf was cool, but he wasn’t even close to you.”

  “Really?” I hadn’t tried to talk while in my Vaktare form yet. It was difficult. The shape of my mouth was different and it felt odd. I touched my face and scratched myself.

  “Yes.” Cole came toward me. I realized I’d backed myself into a corner. He stuck out his hand. “May I?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want him to pet me. I wasn’t an animal.

  Well, actually, yes you are. You’ve got the paws to prove it.

  “Come on, please.” He reached out a hand.

  I batted it away with my paw.

  He laughed. Then sat down in front of me. Was that a show of submission or at least a sign that I had nothing to fear? Either way, it helped.

  Professor Pops and Troy were quiet but they also approached slowly.

  It made me feel weird, like how an animal in a zoo might feel. Yeah, come check out the werecat. She’s soft and fluffy and may just purr if you pet her. I roared and hissed, showing my teeth, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand.

  Professor Pops and Troy froze.

  Cole moved closer. “You can’t hurt me, Beatrice. If you’re angry or scared, take it out on me.” His eyes turned a darker gray.

  “Who do you think would win in a fight between a werecat and a gargoyle?” I asked, timidly.

  Cole laughed. “A gargoyle, for sure.”

  I chuffed, a noise that sounded like a cat.

  Troy seemed to perk up at the prospect of a fight.

  “Should we find out? Test your strength?” Cole asked. He still sat cross-legged on the floor.

  Professor Pops chuckled. “I think we’ll need a bigger room.” He went over to the back wall. The dragon had covered most of it, but with the head gone and the awkward way the rest of its body was turned, he had at least some access. He pressed an area on the wall a little above his head and a door popped open.

  “What’s in there?” Troy asked, his interest causing him to forget how close he was to me. I batted at him with one of my paws. His skin turned a strange color for the briefest second. Troy glanced at his arm and then me. “Sorry, Bea.” He backed away.

  Professor Pops called Cole and me over. “Let’s go.”

  Cole went first and I followed him, swishing my tail. I decided I liked it. It helped me feel the vibrations of moving objects.

  Troy and Professor Pops had already disappeared through the door. Cole stopped at the door. I peered inside and noticed it led to set of stairs. More stairs, I thought, uncomfortable with the prospect of going further down.

  “You want to go down there?”

  I smacked him on the back with my tail. “Might as well.”

  There was room enough that Cole and I walked down side by side. Cole r
ested a hand on my back. My first instinct was to attack and my body tensed. But then he ran his fingers through my fur. It felt amazing. I lifted my body into his hand.

  “Your fur is really soft. The werewolf fur in Professor Pops’ museum was wiry and tough. Prickly.”

  “Maybe it’s a cat thing? The Locanis may have prickly fur.”

  “That’s possible.”

  We reached the bottom on the stairs. There was a door but it was propped open. We went in. The room was vast, like, bigger than a football field. The ceiling was really high, probably thirty feet.

  “How deep underground are we?” I asked.

  “I have no idea. I didn’t even know this room existed.” Cole still stroked my fur. It felt really, really good. I actually caught myself almost purring twice. That was annoying, but I liked the way it felt too much to make him stop.

  I needed him to though. It was hard to focus on anything but his hand. So I stepped out of his reach.

  “Awww,” Cole said.

  “I won’t have you beat me because I can’t concentrate.”

  “Understood.”

  The floor was a strange material. It was cool against my paws, like concrete, but it had more give. The walls were covered in paintings of supernatural creatures. There was a large dragon, several vampires, a troll, a black unicorn, an elf, and other creatures I hadn’t ever seen, including a human-looking girl with black wings. The ceiling appeared to be made of concrete and was covered in dozens of large fluorescent lights.

  “This is amazing,” Cole said.

  “I know, right,” Troy agreed. He and Professor Pops were tossing a football back and forth. “Why didn’t you tell us this was here?”

  “I have my reasons,” Professor Pops said, chucking the football at Troy.

  Troy caught it and tossed it back.

  “We used this for training. No one’s been down here in a very long time.” Professor Pops caught the football and tossed it to Cole. “I think it’s time to open it up again. Don’t you?”

  “It’s an amazing space,” Cole said. I detected a hint of worry in his voice. What was he nervous about?

  Troy clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Who’s going to make the first move?” His eyes sparkled with excitement. If I hadn’t known what was going on, I would’ve assumed Troy was talking about Cole and me making out.

  Cole snickered, giving me a half-smile, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. “I don’t think we should do this. Who knows when you’ll change back and I . . .” He stopped, tugging on his ear.

  “You are worried you’ll hurt me.”

  “Yes.”

  Professor Pops heard the interchange. “Hang on.” He jogged over to one of the walls, pushed and the wall opened.

  “Another room?” Cole asked.

  “It’s where we kept weapons and where I found that football.” Professor Pops turned on the light. There were a few swords, a couple of sticks, and some free weights. “Darn, nothing in here will work.”

  “I can’t hold a weapon anyway. I have paws.” I stood on my back legs and stuck out my paws.

  “Okay, well how about Rocky turns himself to stone and we see if Beatrice can scratch it?” Troy said, frustrated that Cole and I weren’t just going at it.

  Cole shrugged. “I can do that.” He obviously wanted to make Troy happy. In the blink of an eye he went from Cole with black hair and gray eyes to Cole with white hair and black eyes. “Go ahead, try to scratch me.”

  I walked over. In my werecat form I was taller than Cole. He gave me a once-over. “You’re seriously impressive.”

  I tried to smile, but my lips felt weird against my giant, sharp teeth.

  “Do it. As hard as you can.”

  I took a swipe at his arm. It was like striking rock. “There,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Again and this time mean it. Who are you angry at?”

  My Adam’s face came into view. It seemed he held my happiest memory as well as my angriest. I swiped at Cole again, this time putting my legs into it. Cole went flying, landing on the ground. He quickly got up, unhurt.

  “Nice,” Troy shouted.

  Professor Pops remained quiet.

  “Now, Rocky, go after her.”

  Cole came closer. The black lines across his face pulsed furiously. His eyes glared, pitch black. “Rocky, huh?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Yeah.” He tapped his knuckles against his head. Smiling maliciously, he said, “My turn.” Before I realized what was happening, his fist slammed into my head.

  I shook back and forth as a strange sound left my throat. His fist against my face hadn’t hurt, but it’d made me momentarily dizzy.

  “Again,” Troy shouted.

  Cole punched me in the face with his other hand. This time I moved slightly. But something unexplainable happened within. All of my feelings and needs took a back seat to one thing. Instinct. I jumped on Cole, trying to tear out his throat. But I wasn’t prepared for how hard his skin would be and I wasn’t able to grab hold. He punched me in the stomach and used his feet to send me flying over his head. I flipped and landed on my feet with a thud, my claws scraping into the ground.

  Cole’s features were twisted and furious.

  “Control your rage,” I heard Professor Pops shout.

  I didn’t think he was talking to me. My emotions simmered in the background, but my instinct had full control.

  Cole’s eyes blinked and I knew the professor was talking to him. He turned away and walked to the door.

  “Cole,” I called. But he disappeared up the steps.

  Now that the fight was over, my instincts took a back seat to the other feelings. I was sad. I hadn’t meant to make him mad. I didn’t want our friendship to end the same day it began. I noticed something else. My body was about to shift. And then I’d be naked.

  “Oh no.”

  I glanced at Professor Pops and then I ran. Across the field made of strange concrete, through the door, and up, up, up the stairs. My face already felt human. I burst through the opening to the Museum for the Supernatural, slamming the door into the dragon body, knocking it over. My body changed as I stepped through to the weapon’s room.

  “This whole naked thing is not cool,” I whispered, opening the drawers and grabbing clothes. I’d have to replenish the workout clothes before I left. When I was dressed I sat on the cot. It groaned and I remembered that I’d broken it. “Dammit.” Tears stung my lashes. I knew it was because I was sad about Cole, but I was also frustrated with Adam. Why hadn’t he texted me?

  “I need some freaking food and water.”

  “Sorry about that, Beatrice. Sometimes I can be insensitive.” Professor Pops stood in the opening to the weapons room. “You must be starving.”

  I nodded, swiftly wiping at the tears.

  Troy shut the door. He studied the dragon body. For the tiniest second Troy’s body seemed to change from tanned skin to dragon scales that matched that of the destroyed one in front of him. I blinked, not sure I’d seen what I thought I saw. His skin was back to normal.

  “Next time, there’ll be a feast before the fight so you can keep up your energy,” Troy said, patting me on the shoulder.

  “Where’s Cole?” I asked. Professor Pops said he was the only one with the key.

  Professor Pops glanced around the room. “Did you check the bathroom?”

  I hadn’t.

  Professor Pops took the key from around his neck and handed it to Troy. “Take Beatrice upstairs and cook her some breakfast.”

  Steak A La Raw

  Sixteen

  Troy opened his mouth, probably ready to complain, but Professor Pops’ eyes flashed red.

  “Fine.” Troy unlocked the door. I followed him as he stomped up the stairs, his shoulders tense. He didn’t speak until we reached the kitchen. “I’m like the maid. Sure, I’m the hottest damn maid you’ve ever seen, but still a maid.” He put on a masculine brown apron, went to the refrig
erator, and pulled out a steak wrapped in paper. He tossed it on the counter. Next he got a pan out of the drawer under the oven and slammed it on the stove burner.

  I sat on one of the barstools and watched, working hard not to smile. He had no idea how difficult actually being a maid could be. “Totally hot,” I said, working to keep a straight face.

  He swore and kept working, but took the time to flash me a heart-stopping smile.

  I decided to give him a minute to calm down. The kitchen was homey. The appliances were stainless steel. White curtains hung in the windows. Climbing ivy grew all along the wall near the back door. There was a bowl of fruit in the center of the counter. The granite was tan with flecks in brown, pearl, red, and black. The cupboards were painted an off white, making the room appear huge and bright.

  “At least Professor Pops is nice to you,” I said when he’d stopped slamming cupboards and drawers.

  “You call this nice?” Troy took a butter knife, sliced some butter, and plopped it into the pan. He opened the paper around the steak. Between the smell of melting butter and the steak, my mouth started watering. Troy sprinkled salt and pepper on the steak, rubbed it in and then slapped it into the pan. The meat immediately began to sizzle.

  “You seem like a pro and it smells delicious.” I crossed my arms, wondering if I should tell him that I liked the meat almost raw.

  After a minute, Troy picked up a pair of tongs and flipped the steak over. “Yeah, well I have to be the pro because I’m the only one who cooks. If I didn’t no one would eat anything but peanut butter and jelly.” He removed a plate from the cupboard next to the refrigerator, placed it on the counter then grabbed a bottle of what I guessed was olive oil and drizzled a little over the plate. When he finished, he took some fresh basil, gave it a rough chop, sprinkled it over the olive oil and finished by slapping the meat on it. “There you go, Steak a’ la Raw.”

  I couldn’t hold the laugh in any longer, but I covered my mouth to stifle it.