The Beast Within (The Beast Withon Book 1)

by SL Perrine

  Renee stepped in front of the demon-man to protect him from her brother.

  "No, nobody is going to kill him. As of right now he's not a beast he's a human." Their father took the knife from Xander's hand and replaced it back to the butcher block, with a big brown leather book in hand and began mumbling to himself.

  Renee thought her father would spend every hour of every day with his nose in a book, if not for the pesky need to sleep, eat and keep up with proper hygiene.

  "He's not in his normal form." John stated.

  "We already know that dad." Renee chimed in as she stepped back away from Ty. The need for protecting him startled her. She felt like running away, but also felt a need to keep close to Ty, to keep him from harm, but that was something she would have to figure out later.

  The current task at hand was finding out what was going on. It wasn't as if they had a direct line to the dark side. She had already realized the enormity of the situation, because if he was stuck here, then imagine the number of demon men and women who could also be stuck here. The entire world could be in danger. Suddenly Renee felt very small in her little house in the little corner of the earth. How did her mother expect that they would protect something that was so big?

  "What I mean to say, is that he's not in his normal form. The beast...."

  "Actually, we are called Mietitore." He stood looking out the window.

  Xander had reluctantly given him a shirt, jeans and shoes to wear. The jeans would have been the right length if they were four inches longer. Renee could see every ripple of muscle bleeding through the navy blue T-shirt where it was stretched thin. The shoes remained in the corner of the living room; he seemed to prefer to be barefooted than try them on.

  “Well whatever you’re called, here we call you a beast.”

  “Xander give him a break for a minute while we try to figure this out, ok?” Renee let her gaze slip from the man in her brother’s clothes and remembered her father and his book.

  “Dad, you were saying.” She said eager for him to explain what he was thinking.

  "I was saying that if he's not in his form, and the sign of Luce has disappeared from every door, not only in our house, but I'm betting from everywhere. Then maybe there's a magical power outage.”

  “Really, that’s your best guess for why I'm stuck here. A magical power outage is absurd. Our worlds do not exist because of magic. Magic exists because my world exists. You humans do not have magia.” Ty stated in haste.

  “I don't understand, what do you mean?”

  “I mean that in order to have magic here, people from my world must be here. Your people do not have magic, we are born with it.” He sighs and turns his back to them. “Your sigil of Luce hides your bloodline from us, just as our sigil of Buio hides our bloodline from you, and all the other light fighters.”

  “Light fighter? What’s a light fighter?” Xander’s curiosity got the better of him.

  “Don't you see Xander, we’re the light fighters. Is that right?”

  “Not all of you are light fighters, just the women of the accent bloodline. The light fighters have been hunting Mietitore for centuries.”

  “Yes, because you metit...oh whatever, have been coming here to kill us for centuries.” Renee said, and added, “You’re beast-like form is not exactly friendly.” Ty laughed, and turned back to the window.

  “So, what you’re saying is you want kill all our women, before they can kill you? Is that all this is? Kill or be killed? Does anyone even know why?” Xander asks.

  Ty laughed again, still staring out the window. “You people, you get up in the morning, go to school or work to make money to pay bills for things you need to live. Yet, you complain and never get to enjoy the things you pay for. Do you know why? No, that's just how it is.”

  “And how exactly do you beasts live.”

  “In our world, Pylira, we do not look as beasts. We look like this,” he said turning around motioning to his physical appearance.

  “This is how I always look in my world, just as you do.” He turned away then, with almost a sad expression on his face.

  Renee began to relax for the first time since he reanimated. She sagged into the couch beside him and began to wonder something.

  “If there are no sigils, and he looks like his normal self, then does that mean the portal between the two worlds is gone? He has none of his world’s magic here and we would have none there? As in mom has none there?” Renee turned and asked her father who was nose deep in a book.

  “That seems to be an accurate notion.” John closed his book and set it on his desk.

  “Ok, so what do we do now?” Renee asked as her father began rummaging deeper into his stacks of books, which took up half of the living room.

  When he had met his wife in college, John had no idea what her family lineage was. When he proposed, his future wife had sat him down and told him she wouldn’t say yes, until he knew who she really was.

  Karen Germania’s family were the royal equivalent of the Cacciatori di maga; the oldest bloodline of sorceress. The children she would have were to grow up to carry on the traditions of magic, and uphold the family name. Johnathan Foresee was less stunned by this relevance than Karen had thought he would be. As it turned out, he was from a family of maga as well. The women of his family had carried out the same traditions for centeries.

  The men of these families were never blessed with magic, but they became the supporters of their clans. Each family of the old ways worked as a team for as long as the conflict between the worlds had existed. In earlier times the families would betroth their newborns to each other, so that the villages of maga would grow into a strong force for Luce. As the times changed it wasn’t always clear as to which families even still believed. Most had given birth to sceptics, who had wondered away from their family traditions, and throughout the years the families of maga have become diluted.

  “I don’t recall anything like this ever happening before.” John said as he continued to flip through his library. “I just don’t know.” He sat down at the desk and let go of the book he was flipping through.

  “That’s because this has never happened before.”

  “And how do you know that?” Xander asked from behind the refrigerator door.

  “Since the first conflict between us, I have never seen this. That’s how I know.”

  “Wait… how old are you?” Xander let the door slam closed and walked towards the living room.

  I am an immortal in my world, my age is undefined. I have been alive for centuries.

  “Well, you look like your seventeen.” Xander said with a mouth full of food.

  -4-

  “Renee, you’re starring again.” Callie’s teasing interrupted my thoughts of Ty.

  It seems like it was just yesterday. Maybe because he doesn’t look any different, or it could have something to do with the fact that he hadn’t said a word to me since the first day we met almost a year ago. It did not take long for him to settle in; he had taken up residence with others just like him, and moved into a house just four blocks down the street from me. Somehow because of my bloodline, I can tell who is actually a reanimated mietitore. Everyone else in town just thinks they are a new family that just showed up one day.

  In the small town of Cherry Valley, only five of them had gotten stuck here. Two of them were adults, and the other three were children, or at least the human equivalent to teenage children. I remember Ty saying he was centuries old, but the fact that he looks like a 17 year old is probably why his “family” enrolled him into school. In the last year we have only said “hi” to each other passing in the halls. Even though my bloodline says I should hate his kind, I can’t help wondering how he and his family are coping with being in our world. Which more than likely is about the same way my father, brother and me are coping without my mother.

  We looked for her for over six months. Finally my dad said that was enough, that if we did not stop looking, we would n
ever be able to find a way to get her back.

  “Are you gonna eat that?” Callie sat to my right, poised and ready to take my muffin off my tray.

  “Callie, you don’t need the carbs either.” Robin sitting on my left, and captain of the cheerleading squad, felt it was her mission to keep us all on track. We have been on the squad together now for five years, since the 7th grade. At the beginning of now our junior year, Robin was selected captain. I couldn’t tell if it was her no nonsense attitude about school spirit or the brunette Barbie-like figure she had, that had gotten her the position. She has been on an ongoing diet for the last six year.

  Callie on the other hand, had more of a full figure, than cheerleader thin. Even with Robin’s constant mocking, she was still a lover of food, mostly the deep-fried variety. I still thought she was a blonde bombshell.

  “No, I’m not going to eat it.” I said and Callie grabbed the blueberry muffin I had selected as my lunch, before Robin could protest further.

  “Don’t suck your teeth at me Robin, I’m not dieting. I don’t plan on starving myself for anyone.” Callie said as she picked the blueberries from the muffin and ate them.

  “I’m just trying to make sure the squad stays in top shape. Lena graduated and left me the position to carry on the legacy. I have to get us to nationals this year.” She stopped picking at her veggie plate and looked up at Ty and his friends.

  “What’s with them anyway?” She motioned in their general direction. “You’ve been starring at that guy for months now. I don’t see the attraction.”

  “If you like him Ren, you should go talk to him.” Callie pointed out.

  “No, that’s not it.” I pulled my hair over one shoulder and adjust in my seat. The cafeteria is full and noisy as always, but for some reason I could always pick him out in the crowd. “I guess I’m just curious about them.”

  “Well, that’s no wonder. His family did just kind of pop into town one day without notice. I mean when anyone else moves to town we usually have the 411 on them weeks before they know there moving here.” Robin said as she turned in her seat, “with the smallest community ever, it’s hard for anyone to do anything without someone finding out about it. Well, see you in Bio.” With that she left the table, tray in hand and headed for the garbage cans and the exit.

  “She’s right you know.” Callie was always the voice of reason, “nobody in town really knows anything about them. I guess I can see why your curiosity has you staring at him every chance you get.”

  “I do not!”

  “Calm down, I’m just teasing. He’s a good looking guy, I could think of others far worse to look at.” She motioned to a table commonly referred to as a rejects anonymous meeting.

  We disposed of our trays and headed to our next class. Callie, Robin and I have been friends since we were 5. It was our very first day in kindergarten class, we connected over crayons and naptime stuffed animals. Since then we had always found each other in the same classrooms throughout the years, until our freshman year in high school.

  Robin always said as long as she passed and graduated that her parents were fine with whatever grades she got. So she did the bare minimum in class, which would allow her to stay on the squad and participate in every decorative and party planning committee we have ever had. Callie and I have had more classes together than apart, as we are both interested in finding colleges outside of Cherry Valley, and want to make sure our grades will get us to one. The new developments of the last year however have had me distracted from such goals.

  My family history aside, I need to find the answer to the predicament were in. I have got to find my mother, and in order to do that I was sure I need to talk to Ty.

  I find my moment as I tell Callie I have to stop at my locker before our next class. I hurried back to the cafeteria, hoping Ty and his friends have not left yet. I’m pleased to see Ty is still sitting at his table, as the rest of his group had gotten up to head to class.

  “Why are you in high school?” I blurt out as he starts to get up. He looks around, noticing a few stragglers are still in the room, but far enough away to hear us, then he says, “Well hello to you too.”

  “Really, your how old and you’re in high school?”

  “Not sure we should discuss this here Renee.”

  “Then where, because you’ve been here a year and we have not spoken at all.”

  “You can come to me and ask whatever you’d like.”

  “How was I supposed to know that?”

  “I don’t know.” He looks down at his feet. For a centuries old monster he looked more like the innocent 17 year old he has been portraying for the last year.

  He kept his hair long, but not too long that it would fit in a ponytail. He seemed to have a group of friends he hung out with on a daily basis and he even joined the wrestling team. I guess I realized just then that I had never even thought about what his life was like on the other side. Did he even go to school for someone that old?

  “So, after school, would you like me to walk you home? I could answer your questions then.” He shifted his books from hand to hand and uncomfortably stared me in the eye as if he could pick the answer from my mind.

  “Sure, I’ll meet you by the old oak.” He had laughed and walked off before I even realized what I had done.

  The old oak tree that stood on the curb of the school grounds, was were the hookups happened during lunch, study hall and even after school. Ty’s laugh could have only meant he knew that.

  The founders of our town supposedly planted it there when they settled here, not realizing off course that it was an oak tree and not the cherry tree they had all hoped for. Nonetheless, the tree was massive; I would say at least 10 feet wide. The usual couples hid on the side not facing the school, which did not matter anyway because there were no doors or windows on that side of the building. The school housed all the middle and high school students, but still did not need to be an abnormally large building.

  For the rest of the day I kept to myself, and was able to make it through the next few classes without humiliating myself further. Since the teachers had meetings this afternoon, there would be no afterschool programs or cheerleading practice, which was a good thing, since I was not in the mood for it anyway. So making my way to the corner of the building, I made sure not to get too close to the tree. As I waited I thought about all the things I did not know about Ty, and which ones were important enough for me to ask about today. I doubted very much that he’d be willing to share a whole lot with me. After all, we were supposed to be on opposing sides an all.

  As soon as I saw Ty heading my way I began to walk away from the school and in the direction of home. He corrected his path as I hoped he would and fell in line beside me.

  I did not have to think too hard to find my first question, for he had one of his own.

  “Did you ever find your mother?”

  “Why would that interest you?”

  “Really, is that how this is going to go; all hostility from the start?” He stopped me by my arm and turned me to face him. “All pretenses aside, we should probably work together.”

  There we were, face to face after almost a year, standing in the middle of the street, and he had asked the one question that had been on my mind all day, every day from the moment I stood up to protect him that first day. Were we really enemies? Do we have to be against each other?

  “I don’t know. I was kind of hoping we could talk about that too.” I did not know what else to say.

  “I think we should just talk. I have not seen any glimpse of the world’s reconnecting. I’m starting to think this is going to be harder than I had first thought.” He pushed a hand through his hair and motioned to resume walking.

  “I asked about your mom because I’m stuck here in a world I do not know, I have had to learn new things every day, all without either of my parents. So maybe I know a little bit about how it feels to miss a parent. Also, I lost my mother when I was young. So I know ho
w that feels.”

  “Oh no,…” I stopped to think about a small boy missing his mother, “I’m sorry I snapped at you. No, we have not found her. My father spent almost every waking hour looking for her. Since she has not turned up, or even called, he stopped looking.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “He figures his time is better spent on finding a way to reconnect the worlds. He thinks she’s on the other side still.”

  “I see.”

  “Is it different over there? Do you think she’ll be ok, that I’ll see her again?”

  “I think she is from a bloodline of women that adapts well.”

  “I’ve had nightmares every time I had gone to your world. Going through the tunnel reminded me of a horror movie; it was always so hot, and dark, so much so that it made me dizzy.”

  “You really are still learning then? That’s not my world. That’s the tra mondi, the passage between our worlds. “