Tale As Old As Time: An After Hours FairyTale (Beauty and The Beast) (Gods Series Book 1)

by Elisabeth -

  Alcide looked at Arabella as she smiled and chuckled while looking around the sitting room. He gave her a funny look because he didn’t get why she was acting like this. He pinched her so that she could come back to this moment.

  “Ouch!” She shrieked turning her head to look at Alcide. “What!”

  Aides chuckled,

  “I like her…a little fiery. Ready to talk now instead of avoiding me?” He said to Arabella.

  Arabella cleared her throat and finally looked up at him,

  “What is it that I can help you with mister?”

  “Just call me Aides…Arabella.” A smile full of mischief spread on his face.

  Arabella politely smiled.

  “Okay, Aides.”

  His face instantly grew serious as he asked his next question. Leaning in a bit forward and placing his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands together.

  “Where is your sister?”

  “Scarlett?” Arabella asked with confusion, and then realization hit her. She stood up abruptly. “Wait…she said she was going to meet you. She said she had to go to another city to do it. Why are you looking for her? Where is she?” Arabella asked and started pacing the room.

  Arabella’s panic started to sink in and take over,

  “Did something happen to her?” She softly asked as she stopped in her tracks and looked at him.

  Aides sighed and shook his head.

  “No. Nothing that I can sense happened to her. I just haven’t found her yet.”

  “How would you know she’s fine?”

  “It’s a long story. One I do not need to share with you.” He said as his voice came out rougher than intended.

  “My sister…” Arabella said as she felt a pang in her chest. “Please, find her. She told me she needed to find you and I let her. I called her, and she didn’t get back to me. I thought she was just busy.”

  Aides stood and started walking towards Arabella, but Alcide intercepted and told him to wait.

  ~E~

  Alcide walked over to Arabella and took her trembling body into his. He kissed the top of her head.

  “Baby…Shhh.”

  Aides scoffed and rolled his eyes going back to sit on the couch waiting. You’re dramatic. He said to Alcide.

  Alcide narrowed his eyes at his uncle.

  And you’re annoying yet you’re still here.

  Aides rolled his eyes.

  When Alcide felt like Arabella had calmed down, he trusted himself to ask her.

  “When was the last time you spoke to your sister?”

  Arabella inhaled and exhaled,

  “I spoke to her two days ago, Alci…we have to go find her.” She said as she released herself from his arms.

  Alcide stopped her in her tracks,

  “Uh no, no. you’re not going any damn where. In your state?”

  “My state?” She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

  “Yes, Ari. You’re pregnant, and we don’t know what exactly happened to your sister so you can’t go.”

  “Like hell!” She retorted. She turned and looked at Aides, “Do you know where she is?”

  He looked from her to his nephew and smirked,

  “I might have an inkling. Might have to get that demon mother of hers out of hiding.”

  “Mother?” Arabella froze, she had a feeling that a bomb was about to be dropped.

  “Yes. Her mother.”

  “Our biological mother is dead, and Scarlett was raised with a demon mother? How is that possible?” She inquired.

  “My dear, you might want to take a seat. I’m sure no one has ever shared this part of your life with you.”

  ~E~

  Arabella and Alcide took a seat opposite of Aides. He began to tell them about Arabella and Scarlett’s mother.

  “Your mother was the daughter of Achelous, the river god. He was the ruler of the sea before my idiot brother Poseidon became ruler of the sea. Your mother was a siren who lived for a long, long time until she crossed paths with the wrong god. Sirens are demons to me because they have no proper guidance. They lack finesse.” He shook his head not wanting to venture into useless things. He continued,

  “Contrary to what these idiot mortals believe, Sirens cannot carry full term so when your mother found out she was pregnant with twins…she came to me. She only came to me because she stole one of my precious stones and her punishment was that she had to give me a soul in exchange for me to spare her life. She gave me Scarlett. She begged me to let her give birth and raise you both until it was time for Scarlett to return to me. I allowed it. I made sure she could give birth, and when she did, she left you, Arabella, with your father while she took Scarlett somewhere else.”

  Aides stopped talking for a moment as he saw how hard Arabella sobbed at the mention of her mother leaving her. He didn’t think he could be affected by any mortal’s tears but here this one sat, sobbing in his nephew’s arms and he couldn’t help it as he looked out the window. He looked at the stillness of the sky and felt a twinge of sadness enter his core. He cleared his throat standing up abruptly and walked towards the wall to wall windows. He stared out for a moment, and when he could compose himself, he began again.

  “Your mother raised Scarlett, but she treated her cruelly letting her believe she was insane or always going mad but she wasn’t. Scarlett was perfectly fine. She could see more than everyone around her could, and that plagued her for as long as she lives. Her being in and out of the mental asylum is her mother’s doing so that she could be broken before she comes to me. Your mother killed that boy Tristan to offer his soul to me in exchange for Scarlett’s, but I refused because Tristan was different. He soul could never be redeem because he doesn’t have a soul. Scarlett may be alive and living well on earth, but her soul has always been with me.” Aides stopped there refusing to continue to go on. With his hands in his pockets, he turned spoke to Alcide,

  “When she is ready to look for Scarlett, call me, and I will come.” He said as he vanished without so much as a look in their direction.

  Chapter 18

  Arabella sat there tucked in Alcide’s arms as she took everything in. She had to go look for her sister. She didn’t realize that both of their lives were parallel to each other. They were both abused and hurt by the other parent when they didn’t deserve it. It hurt Arabella, even more, to know that her sister didn’t have a great home while growing up. It hurt her, even more, to know that her mother abandoned her, leaving her with a sick father who tried to make Arabella perfect like the mother who wasn’t deserving.

  “What am I going to do now?” Arabella sobbed. “How could such disgusting people become parents? How could they both abuse us like that? We didn’t deserve any of that.”

  Alcide felt for Arabella as he pulled her into his lap and rubbed her back. He didn’t know what to say to her. He knew that she was hurting and she wouldn’t stop hurting until she knew her sister was safe.

  “Ari…” He called her name out waiting for her to calm down.

  “Yes?” She answered.

  “I promise you that we will find Scarlett and make sure she’s okay. I swear to you.”

  “I have to go find her. I can’t stay back and sit while she could be suffering.”

  “We will go together. I promise, now please stop crying. It hurts me to hear you cry. Please baby.” He begged her.

  Arabella sniffled and wiped her tears. She held on tight as Alcide stood up with her in his arms. He walked to their bedroom and set her down. He laid next to her as they both stared at the ceiling. Alcide snapped his fingers and the night sky appeared in their room. Arabella laid her head on his chest as she heard it rise and fall. They stayed like that for the moment just watching the stars as it rotated on the ceiling while Alcide rubbed her back.

  Arabella thought Alcide had drifted to sleep because of the slow rise and fall of his body, but when he spoke, she knew he had been up the whole time.

  “You know, I’ve never known what real ha
ppiness felt like before. When I was born, I was instantly hated for who my father was. I never even knew about him until I was older. I constantly lived my life on the brink of death having to fight creature after creature. When I met Megara, I thought my life was perfect. Despite every other obstacle, I was able to have love, and that gave me a higher purpose.”

  He sighed as he continued,

  “When my sons were born, everything was about them. I did everything thinking of their future and how great they would become. I never knew… I never once knew what would soon happen. That night before I went mad, I sat down laughing with my sons about something that we killed in the forest. We laughed and laughed because we bonded. We were happy, I was happy, but then the moment, I took that drink. I should’ve tasted that damn elixir on my tongue but I couldn’t. She was my wife, and I trusted her, but she betrayed me all for nothing. She let me kill my sons and let me believe that I killed her too. I lived every day in pure agony. I didn’t deserve to live, and when I tried to move on, I ended up with another foolish woman who felt as though she would keep me with her forever.”

  Arabella’s eyebrows shot up,

  “What happened?” She inquired.

  “I had to die, that’s what happened. She gave me a cloak that was poisonous to me, and when I put it, on, it burned me at a rate that no mortal could have ever survived. I tried, I tried so hard to remove it, but it wouldn’t budge. I know it wasn’t her fault, she thought that I would love her more but what she didn’t understand was that I was plagued, broken even. I couldn’t have ever fully loved her even if I wanted to… That feeling of being burned without end is worse than getting stabbed in the heart. I had people I knew to take me somewhere and kill me. They had to kill me or that pain would never end.”

  “Baby…” Was all Arabella could say as she wrapped an arm around his torso and kissed his jaw.

  He gave a weak smile before continuing wanting to get this off his chest.

  “When I died…that was the first time that I’ve ever felt so free. That was true happiness and I could roam free in the constellations. To see the glory and beauty of the world from my eyes and not everyone else’s but I got tired of it and went to Hades to retrieve my human soul. It wasn’t hard since Cerberus was my gift to him so he freely gave it back to me.”

  ~E~

  “I love you.” Arabella said. She didn’t know what else to say to him but she was happy that he shared this with her.

  Alcide chuckled,

  “I don’t even think you know what that does to me. You know gods want to be worshipped for all that they’ve done and what they haven’t done but me, I simply wanted to be loved. I wanted to be loved as hard as I would love. I wanted someone to love me as the mere mortal not the god. So, when you say that to me, it does things to me. It changes me more than you know.” Alcide continued to chuckle and placed a hand over his face.

  Arabella thought Alcide was just laughing but when she heard the sob, she sat up. She pulled his hand away from his face and his gray eyes spoke to her. She saw the little boy who had to endure hardships from the moment he was out of his mother’s womb. Her heart ached and bled for the little boy who was now a man that faced so much all for a simple thing like love. He endured so much that he didn’t need to. The weight of it all on his shoulders as he took them one step at a time and with each step getting heavier and heavier. Arabella reached out with her hands and wiped his tears.

  She watched him as he sat up gazing into her eyes not wanting to blink even for a moment afraid that she’d miss his eyes. She looked at her handsome man and wondered how she got so lucky. She smiled as she kissed his forehead then his closed eyelids, his cheeks, his nose and she pulled away.

  “I want you to know. I want you to know that you deserve every single part of my love. The way that I love you will never change, if anything, it will get even much more insane. You deserve every kiss, every smile, tear, moan, and even song that I sing to you. No one and nothing will ever take that from you just as long as I breath.”

  A tear escaped Arabella’s eye as she continued ignoring it.

  “You’ve saved me when I didn’t know I needed to be saved. You loved me when I had no idea what that was. You showed me with not only your body but with your mind, your soul and your lips on what it’s like to be loved. So, for as long as life lets me, I will love you and tell you that I love you until everything in me stops. Even after that, I will whisper it to you among the stars, the sea, the moon, and even the air. Every which way the wind blows, you will hear my I love you.”

  ~E~

  Alcide pulled Arabella in for a kiss. He had never heard anyone say those words to him before and he knew why. They would’ve never sounded as amazing as they just did now. He maneuvered them with Arabella ending up on her back and he didn’t break the kiss as he removed his sweats once more, he slowly entered her. He felt his whole universe shift as he made love to Arabella breaking every hurt he’d ever felt and mending his broken spirit, heart, and soul. He poured his love into her with every thrust, every touch of his hand and every kiss that he bestowed upon her lips.

  Nothing else could take him away from this blissful moment. Nothing could change how they both felt as they made love under the stars. Their love would always be known as the love of those who came from brokenness and mended together. They were a personification of love in its truest form as Alcide took Arabella’s hands in his and held on tight. He placed them over her head as he pulled away from their kiss.

  “Look at me Ari…”

  Arabella opened her eyes and stared into his.

  “Marry me and be the Belle to my Beast?” The mere whisper of those words sent them to their climax. “Say yes baby.”

  Arabella kissed him hard before pulling away,

  “Yes, baby. Even if you asked me to go to the end of the world with you, I’d go.”

  “I love you, Ari,” Alcide said as he kissed her deeply as their bodies still craved each other.

  ♫Certain as the sun, rising in the east. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme… Beauty and the Beast♫

  Epilogue

  Arabella looked down at her rose gold cushion cut engagement ring. She couldn’t help but smile as Aides driving, and Alcide sat in the passenger seat. She couldn’t wait to go back and show Bernice this ring. She never even dreamt of a ring thinking she would never get married. She looked up and saw Aides’ curious eyes wander towards hers in the rearview mirror.

  “You look just like her.” He spoke for the first time since they landed in San Francisco.

  “Yeah… I miss her.” Was all Arabella could think to say. She really did miss her sister. She prayed that they would find her in one piece.

  She looked out the window watching the scenery. She wondered why she never came to San Francisco when she lived in L.A. It wasn’t that far but now, she wondered about her mother who only lived 6 hours away from them. Her stomach turned into knots and she felt her daughter kick. She rubbed her hand over her belly as she continued to look at the scenery.

  So many questions were in her mind. What was she going to say to her mother? Was Scarlett okay? Would they get there in time?

  ~E~

  Scarlett screamed wanting to be let out from the prison that she was placed in once more. She knew she shouldn’t have come back here to figure out what really happened. She should’ve stayed with her sister and just loved her. She should’ve tried being happy but she knew she couldn’t be happy without finding out what happened to her brother Tristan. She thrusted her body left and right but nothing happened.

  Her body was met with soft, cushioned walls as she was in a strait jacket. She profusely sweated and her mouth tasted like metallic as she sat on the cushioned floor looking insane to everyone that passed by her. She knew she wasn’t at a normal asylum, this was somewhere else. It was secret and how was she going to get out. She tried calling for every god’s name but nothing. She saw an employee pass by and she screamed again trying to
get someone’s attention but they ignored her instead.

  Scarlett stopped screaming when the door was immediately opened and she pressed her back to the cushioned wall behind her and managed to pull herself up. She tried to make a run for it as she saw the needle that was in one of the orderly’s hand but she was tackled to the ground by the other one. She screamed,

  “LET ME GO!” But no one came to her aide.

  She tried to move her body but she was held still as the prick of a needle entered her tender flesh around her neck and as she was lulled to sleep, she whispered.

  “Aides, save me…” It was a whisper that no one in the facility heard.

  ~E~

  Those whispers traveled like the wind. They were picked up by the wind as they traveled for miles and miles finally entering the car through Arabella’s open window and landing in Aides’ ear.

  “Aides, save me…”

  A shudder ran through Aides’ body and he pulled over. He shut his eyes getting the attention of Alcide and Arabella.

  “What is it?” Alcide asked.

  “It’s her… She’s alive.” He simply said.

  “How do you know?” Arabella asked.

  “She called for me. She wanted me to save her.” He shuddered again.

  Alcide looked at Arabella and then back at his uncle,

  “Do you know where she is?”

  Aides shook his head,

  “Something is blocking her from me. I can’t reach her or see where she is.”

  “We need to find her.” Arabella said.

  Alcide turned and took Arabella’s hand into his.

  “We will. We will find her baby and we’ll bring her back.” He reassured her.

  Arabella gave a weak smile and nodded as she wiped a tear from her eye.

  “All she ever wanted was a home.”

  “I know baby, I know. We’ll make sure she has that.” He said to her and then looked at his uncle.

  Aides stared into Alcide’s gray eyes not knowing what to say. For the first time in his entire existence, he felt helpless. He felt useless because he couldn’t even find the one person he had been waiting for. He felt the rage building inside of him knowing that the moment he captured whoever had her, they would die. He would make sure that they paid for taking what belonged to him and him only. He would make everyone pay for touching a hair on her head, and he knew that he would enjoy personally taking that siren’s soul down to hell and watching as the furies ripped through her damned, wretched soul. His wicked smile returned as he thought of what would inevitably happen.