by L M Wilson
“Fine. But you must agree to be mine, heart and soul before the fourth or their lives are forfeit.”
“Agreed.” Forgive me for what I must do for love.
The Beast’s hand gestures in a flourish, bringing the mirror of truth to this realm. “They are free and no longer bound by their curses.”
I know this is nothing more than a trick but a sigh of relief washes over me anyway as I peer at the guys through the glass in my hands. Bryant is smiling as he runs his hand through his hair. He’s standing in what looks like a bar. His focus is on a long wooden stick that he’s hitting brightly coloured balls with. He takes his turn, then hands the stick off to Kalum, who is also smiling. Kalum’s golden eyes shine with mirth as he knocks several balls into the pockets. Fader, however, is standing with his back to the wall, staring at the table, his eyes glazed as though he’s stuck in a trance.
“Four hundred years and these three mortals are what finally brings you back to me. If I’d have known you had a soft spot for mortals, I would have sent a few your way sooner.”
“Go fuck yourself.” I mutter as I continue to watch my guys. I steel myself for what comes next, I just need to live in the lie for a second longer.
Beast’s cackle of laughter brings my eyes back to him. He snaps his fingers and Bryant, Kalum and Fader appear, kneeling on the steps just below him. Every nerve in my body is strung tight with the need to go to them but the second I take a step the Beast snaps his fingers again and chains appear around each of my guys wrists. “I have a few conditions of my own, dear Rose.” The Beast holds his hand up, showing four fingers.
I sigh, roll my eyes to the darkening sky, and wait. I knew he’d never go for the easy route.
“These three will lose their memories of you.” The Beast begins, ticking the first thing off on his finger.
“No!” The three guys shout at the same time. I give them a look to tell them to keep quiet. Pleading with them to trust me.
“Fine, next.” My voice quavers but for the three men before me, I would do anything. I close the distance between me and the steps. Fader’s hypnotic blue eyes catch mine and I wink.
“You will be my bride before midnight on the fourth.” Again, The Beast ticks the condition off on his fingers. With only two fingers still held aloft, my body begins to shake with fright as I take another step towards him.
Stay strong Rose, what more could he ask for? I climb two more steps.
“You will bear my child into this world.”
My body begins to rebel against the pain of night. All the deaths I’ve had to endure wracking every nerve in my body. I fight the darkness, determined to end this once and for all. “Remove the curses on myself, Kalum, Bryant and Forest.” I demand. This is the part where I need him more than he needs me. If he balks with this all my plans will be for naught.
“It is done.”
I know he’s telling the truth the moment the pain of so many deaths recedes. “And the last thing?” I ask in a small voice, barely containing my nerves as I climb the last step between the Beast and me.
“You will love me and only me.” While he speaks, I withdraw the dagger from its hidden place within my sleeve. The cold metal slips smoothly into my hand and I grip the handle tightly.
His final condition is impossible. My heart is already taken. “You can have my soul.” I begin, taking a small step closer. “You can have my body.” I wave my left hand across my body to draw his eyes away from my next move. “But my heart will never be yours.” Before he can do anything more than rear his head back in shock, I plunge the cursed dagger through his heart. I know the blow will not kill him, but I need the dagger to be touching his heart.
“I bind you to the vessel you inhabit. I bind you to this place. Should you step foot outside the bounds of this place, you will feel the death of every being whose life you have taken.”
The Beast falls to his knees, a look of pure horror on his face. Loki used the exact same dagger to curse me, the only difference between my curse and Loki’s is that he bound me to relive every death he, Loki caused, I have cursed the beast to relive every death he has caused, which considering he is the devil, that would be too many deaths to survive the pain of, even for a creature such as him.
I knew what would come next, I prepared myself for it. I just never expected it to happen like this.
My knees hit the ground as the Beast begins to laugh. “You stupid girl, did you really think a curse like that could be cast without a sacrifice?”
My own laugh is stuttering and filled with pain, but it wipes the look of joy off the Beast’s face. “I know the cost and I pay it freely.” The second the words are out of my mouth, the curse locks into place, binding the Beast to this place forever.
My body writhes as the curse pulls from me the only thing I had left to give. A curse like this doesn’t require a death, it doesn’t need pain or a soul, no it costs something far more valuable.
My immortality.
With my final breath I whisper a loophole because unlike the beast before me, I believe every soul can be saved. “If you ever learn to love another, your curse will be broken.”
A new beginning: Rose
Bryant and Kalum hold my hand as we walk along the street, Fader’s warmth against my back reminds me of just how vulnerable I am now. The three of them are acting like over-protective guards, but I understand their concern.
None of us know how long I have left to live. It could be days, weeks, months maybe even years but none of us are willing to let a single day go by without being together. The music in the centre of town grows steadily louder. It’s almost time for the fireworks. I laugh and pick up the pace.
“Come on, we’ll miss them if we don’t hurry.” I tug on the guy’s hands and we all begin to run.
We may be the guardians of a secret, but we’ll make the most of the time we have.
We reach the huge oval in the centre of town just as the first firework explodes into the air. Fader wraps his arms around me, pulling me in for a kiss. The kiss is nothing like any of the other kisses we’ve had before. This one is filled with all the love we have for each other.
Kalum chuckles lightly then pulls me away from Fader, sealing his own lips to mine. Kalum’s kiss is just as full of love but underneath it lies a passion we have yet to explore. Before we get very far, Bryant pulls me out of Kalum’s hold, crashing his lips eagerly to mine. Fireworks go off above us but none of us are really seeing them. Fader and Kalum close the small gap between us.
I’m surrounded by warm, strong men, men who love me despite the cursed life I have lived.
“I love you all.” I whisper as the last of the fourth of July fireworks go off around us.
Three voices fill the sudden silence, “And we love you, with all our hearts.”
With a smile and hope filling my heart, I look towards the castle at the other end of the field. The Beast hasn’t been seen since he was bound to the place, but I know he’s there.
I just hope that one day, he too will learn to love.
For love is the only thing capable of releasing him from his curse.
To love again: Narrator
While Rose and her three heroes lived a long and happy life, the beast remained trapped within his castle. His curse allowed him to leave during the day, much like it did with Rose. He lived alone for decades before he finally tried to find love.
Years pass as they are bound to do, and the time of Rose and her men came to an end. Their children continued to tell her story until it became twisted and warped beyond recognition.
The town that Rose grew up in fell into despair and became nothing more than a ghost town. The forests surrounding the town slowly began to regrow, filling in the lands and hiding the beast’s castle from view.
More than a hundred years pass before the town sees another soul. For everyone knows that if you go into the Devil’s Glade, you’ll be eaten by the Beast.
But what they don’t know, is
that sometimes, things are not what they appear.
Turn the page to find out what became of the Beast.
Be warned though, for not all stories are as filled with love as Rose’s story. Sometimes one heart can be enough, but more often than not a pair of hearts can make the story so much better.
Briar's Beast
LM Wilson
Copyright © 2019 by LM Wilson. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by Lynne-Marie Wilson
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LM Wilson
Visit my website at www.lmwilson.com.au
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The Dud: Loki
I watch the only hope I have of breaking the curse walk away. Rose doesn’t know what she’s done; not only has she trapped me in this body, but she’s trapped me within the confines of the castle at night. I’m royally screwed with no way out. I can’t kill my vessel, some stupid child named Augustus, not that his name matters to me. I’ll always be Loki Bromamere, no matter who’s body I’m possessing.
That last body was great, his name was Lucas Townsend. An aristocrat who had enough money to own this damned castle and the title to go with it, it’s a real shame that he had to die. The vessel has never really meant much to me, just a means to an end. As a full blood demon, I can’t sustain my form in the human realm, but I can possess the weak minded.
If it hadn’t been for the prophecy that stated my offspring would be powerful enough to sustain the devil’s new body, I’d have been nothing more than a third tier demon, someone who is used to entice gullible humans into giving up their souls or giving them the key to creating immortal bodies capable of extending their lives for centuries.
The prophecy that led me to Rose Belladonna, the woman who is supposedly capable of surviving the birth of the female offspring of a demon. Most demons are only capable of producing male offspring, I have no idea why that is, but the prophecy states that I will produce the female child who will one day bring hell to the human realm and Rose was supposed to be the mother of that child, but she made it an impossible feat, even after I cursed her to remain hidden away from the world.
Somehow, she wound up meeting other souls I had cursed over the centuries and together they were able to turn those curses back on me, trapping me not only in this body, but in this castle.
After nearly eighty years of living with this curse, I met a woman who I thought would be a suitable replacement for Rose, but after five years with her, I finally managed to impregnate her with a male child. A male! A dud. Useless for anything other than killing. The woman died during the birth leaving me with a bawling brat that just wouldn’t shut up. I had no choice but to get rid of him, only when I tried, he too showed signs of having the same curse I do.
I’m still not sure how that happened, but with no other option, I hired a nanny, an old woman named Henrietta Pottstein. She cared for the child until he was ten. I’d have kept her longer, but the old bat found out about my true nature and had to be disposed of.
After another six years of trying to instruct the child, (who the nanny named Lathum, stupid name if you ask me, but who cares.) I tried to teach the child to be more demonic, but he kept bawling his eyes out every time I tried to get him to kill someone. He did manage to kill a few of the victims I provided him with, but I had to convince him they were bad people who did bad things. Talk about a pathetic soul.
I gave up after the child turned sixteen, he refused to kill anymore, and I needed a way out. I heard a rumour that Rose Belladonna had given birth to a female child, my hope spiked that the child would be a good secondary option to Rose herself.
Searching for the child was the last thing I ever did. I couldn’t make it back before nightfall and the worst part is that I couldn’t even find the child.
As I write this, my life’s blood is spilling onto the sand not ten feet from the door to the castle. I can’t even hop bodies, this one’s made me too weak. My own offspring is just standing there in the dorrway, watching me die. I guess I raised him to be ruthless after all.
◆◆◆
Alone: Lathum
Watching my father die is probably the worst and best moment of my life. I’m not stupid enough to help him. If I were to leave this doorway, I’d be dead too. I just hope the beast that lives within him, will die when he does.
He never knew that I had learned the truth about him. I never let on that I’d figured out from reading my mother’s journal that he was not human. My mother may not have lived to see me come into this world, but she has taught me a lot. She detailed everything she had witnessed over the five or so years she spent as a prisoner to my father.
Everything from his obsession with the Belladonna family, the family that cursed ours, to the curse itself. Mother even thought she had found a cure to the curse, but not anywhere in her journal did she elaborate on said cure.
I spent the next few years looking after myself. Thankfully everything my father owned was left to me in his will. My guess is the beast inside him had hoped to one day possess my body and thus inherit everything himself, but he’s right there, dying on the very sand where he was first cursed. A fitting end to a monster as far as I’m concerned.
Not that everything about him was evil, there were times when I was convinced that Loki Bromamere was actually a decent person. Like the times when he had taught me to kick a ball or the time that he tried to teach me how to ride a bike or drive the car. Somewhere inside of him was a human, that human is the man I know to be my father, not the beast inside of him.
◆◆◆
A couple of years after my father died, I discovered a man who had been stealing from me. I watched him over the course of a few months. He would stumble up to the castle and take thigs of value, mumbling about needing more to pay off his debts and that no one would miss the trinkets he took.
But then he went and discovered my stash of diamonds. I couldn’t let that kind of theft slide.
“Hey!” I shout as I step out from behind the doorframe.
“Who… Who are you?” The man stutters.
“Lathum Bromamere, owner of the property you’re stealing from.” I put on the most haughty look I can muster and lift my chin so it seems like I’m looking down on him.
“But you’re just a kid.”
He just had to go there. “Kid or not, you stole my diamonds.” I pull the useless phone from my pocket and wave it towards him. “And that means I need to call the police.”
“No, don’t call them, they’ll lock me away. I’ll never see my daughter again.” At the mention of a daughter my curiosity is peaked. I lift my lips at the corner, giving the old man a smirk befitting of a spoiled rich kid.
“Tell you what, you give me a hand with something, and I’ll let you keep one of those gems.” The stupid greedy old man nods like he’d do anything for another dollar. I lead him down the hallway to the basement door, where I pause and wait, he’s stupid enough to actually follow me down the stairs and into the cell, where I lock him inside.
“I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with you yet, so you can just stay in here until I decide.”
The Beast: Briar
Five weeks earlier…
Life always changes, but no one ever warned me just how much my life would change. If I had known then what I do now, I’d have tried harder to stop the changes from happening, but alas here I am, standing by the grave of my beloved mother. She died a little over a week ago, hit by a car that was being driven by a man to
o drunk to be behind the wheel. She didn’t deserve to have her life cut so short. Nor did I deserve to lose my mother before she got to see me grow into a woman. But as with all things in life, we take what we are given and be grateful for what we have left.
The civil officiant who presided over mum’s funeral read out all of my mother’s achievements. Everything from giving birth to me, to the books she had written. My mother was a children’s novelist who wrote about magic and fantasy. She brought joy to the lives of everyone she met and always went out of her way to help others.
What I love most about her though, is the fact that she taught me to never give up. “No matter how hard things get, there will always be a way to get through and come out the other side.” I wish I could say that I took those words to heart, but I really can’t see how we’re going to get through anything without her, she was the glue that held our misfit family together. She always made sure that we remembered to clean up after ourselves, that my father didn't gamble and that I had everything I needed. My mother was my best friend, I'm lost without her.
After the funeral my father and I went back home where we held a wake, and everyone talked about who my mother was and what she was like. They told funny stories and sad stories about things my mother did. All I could do was sit there and listen to them, because even talking was enough to break my heart.
◆◆◆
The weeks after the funeral pass in a blur of sadness, but as time does, it moves on and although I still miss my mother dearly every day, I know she wouldn't want me to live my life always being sad.