The Obsidian Pillar

Chapter Eight - The Beast

As the sun began to emerge in the sky, its shades of flaming orange and buttery yellow smudged against the indigo curtain of night, the tower finally came into sight. The beast lethargically flapped his wings while the black blood dripped continuously from his side. He snorted hot air from his nostrils, desperate to keep going rather than fall into the hands of the bloodthirsty villagers on the ground. I should never have left the tower, he thought in his fatigue.

To his surprise, he saw the girl standing on the large balcony of the highest room in the black tower, wavering in his vision like a blurry mirage in the heat of the desert. The wind licked at her hair and carried her sweet scent towards him. I always forget about her... too busy thinking about myself. She is the only beauty in my life now. He pushed on, motivated by the sight of her rosy, innocent face that guided him home.

She looked concerned when he fell clumsily onto the balcony, giving him a wide berth as he clattered to the floor. Her eyes flicked to the rising sun in panic, but she did not rush him. Behind her, inside his chamber, he could see several blankets already laid out, and steam rising from a jug by the bedside. His mouth watered. I haven't eaten.

She reached a hand out to him and he couldn't help but salivate. He bared his teeth unwillingly and she gasped, backing slowly into the chamber, not taking her dark eyes away from his terrifying physique.

He couldn't control himself. He had lost a lot of blood, he was hungry and tired. Just a lick, or a sniff, that's all I need, I won't bite her, I wouldn't do that again. He started to pant in excitement. The girl seemed to be enticing him onwards into the chamber. I've tasted her before, and that is not a flavour that I could forget any time soon.He couldn't allow it to happen again, not without the witch there to restrain him.

'Don't...' she begged softly. Her voice was unusually husky, most likely with fear, but the beast chose to read it as anticipation. He crawled into the chamber after her, his blood painting the stone floor black.

'Come here, Rosa.' His words were calm, but commanding. She was edging towards the doorway of the stone staircase, closer to her freedom. Pain seared in the wound at his side, halting him for a moment, long enough for Rosa to flee the chamber and disappear down the stairwell. He roared in agony and irritation, expelling all of the air out from his lungs until they compressed painfully, reducing his growl to a whimper.

He felt the warmth of the sun as it rose, spilling in through the open balcony doors and bathing him in blistering heat. The transformation was never comfortable. The hot flush crawled up to his face and he began to sweat and pant. Then the queasiness set in; the beast struggled onto his paws to pace the room, but within seconds his joints were aching violently and cracking under the pressure of the change.

She had arrived. That unfeeling smile hovered like a lace veil. The beast could tell that it was her just from the manner in which she leaned against the hinge of the balcony door in ownership of everything: the tower, Rosa and him. That bitch, he thought to himself viciously, as he collapsed onto the floor, and finally let the shroud of darkness ensnare him.