Bittersweet

True Enemies

The prince slowly leaned his head down towards the girl, hesitant, checking if it was appropriate thing to do. The girl's eyelids drooped, giving her an innocent but unintentional sultry appearance. She looked to her feet and grinned. She gave a small giggle, and she hooked her arms around his neck.

"I don't think daddy would like this very much," she said with another giggle. The prince let out a small chuckle, his breath fanning the girl's face before he closed the gap between them.

"I don't think he'd like this very much at all," the prince confirmed with a smirk when he backed away.

Through the grand palace window you could glimpse the sun about to set. The prince noticed it too, and he turned to the petite girl in front of him with a weak smile. "A beautiful sunset, but unfortunately, my last," the prince acknowledged. The girl looked away, flipping her styled light brown hair from one shoulder to the other. The prince stepped back, releasing the maiden's gloved hand, and he went to the window. The prince's eyes shone golden with the orange glow coming from beyond.

He looked away, his eyes turning dark, before the light that once shone in his eyes engulfed him. The light throbbed powerfully once before it disappeared all together, as if being sucked into a black hole. The prince looked down at his figure, and his eyes widened in surprise. He held up his hand in front of his face, convinced he was dreaming. Not hairy, not scary, not beast-like. He had not turned into the beast that witch cursed him to remain every night. The prince turned to the girl in front of him, glee written all over his face.

"That- that must mean you're my true love!" the exclaimed to the girl, but his smile fell when he observed the girl with a smug smile on her face.

"Or you're true enemy," the girl added in a smooth, collected voice. The girl picked up the wilted rose from it's pedestal on the table, and she twirled it between her long, painted nails. "Ten to 23, the prince will grow. Day to night, the prince will shed light. Beauty to beast, till he calls upon one of his one trues. An act of a kiss from one of his trues, then, only then, will the curse undue. At 23, on the birth of the curse, the prince will remain forever beast, should he not receive truth. True love or enemy, which would he choose?"

"I'm quite sorry, but I'm not your true love, quite the opposite in fact," the girl proclaimed, making a face of disgust. "Do you know how hard it was to giggle every time you talked? I considered quitting, and just chopping your head off. That would've been a lot easier. I would've at least I would've gotten the bounty from town, but alas, I was made for much greater things than money.

"You thought you knew everything about your curse, prince, but whom am I to judge? I am your caster's apprentice after all." The girl grinned crudely and plucked a rose petal from the once enchanted rose; normal now that the spell had been reversed.

The prince backed to the window in shock, and he simply watched as the blood red petal drifted to the floor before disappearing in a burst of flames.

"Here's the tipper, prince," the girl continued, twirling the rose with her dainty fingers and looking as if she were selecting which one to pluck next. "You kiss your true love, great. The curse is reversed, you live happily ever after, blah... blah... blah." The girl ripped out another petal with vigor. "You kiss your true enemy? That's a different story. You kiss your true enemy?" the girl let out a cold laugh that echoed around the room. "Your screwed, because you kiss your true enemy and your enemy gets the curse. Here's the catch though, because we're all waiting for it... you kiss your true enemy, your true enemy gets the curse, but the enemy can control it, shift whenever they want. They're a new beast, and there's nothing to stop them from killing you right that instant."

The room became dead silent. All the two could hear was the heavy breathing of the prince, and how it hitched when the girl said kill.

The girl advanced closer to the prince, who coward by the window. Her heels clicked against the tile floor.

"I love you, I love you not." The girl plucked the remaining rose petals one by one. " I love you, I love you not." The petals incinerated upon contact to the polished floor, creating a growing pile of ash. "I love you, I love you not." The girl stood right in front of the prince who was backed into the corner, trying to get as far away from the villainous mastermind of a witch the girl was. "I love you... I love you not." The last rose petal burnt on the ground, and the girl looked up at the prince with a sinister smile.

Nails turned to claws, skin to fur, pupils to slits. Royal blood was splatter on the floor, as red as the sunset, and mage blood held no regret. The ash of a curse was carried by the wind through an open window that a monster escaped.