The Beast Inside

19.

I stared at the woman not knowing what to say. She had long curly hair that flowed all the way down to her waist. Her eyes were pitch black. I could see tiny fangs though. My mother?

"I don't have a mother!" I growled.

The woman simply smiled at me.

"Let me tell you a story."

I went to interrupt, but she had already began.

"They say it started at the beginning of time, but I am not quite sure for I was not alive then. A man by the name of Malici George ruled the land. He was ruthless. Evil. He took whatever he wanted without a care of the consequences. He believe it was his right to own everything he wish. He was king, so should he?

He took peoples lands, and made them slaves. He took both willing and unwilling to bed. He used them, then destroyed their reputation, and discared them as if they were trash.

The reason people followed him was because he ruled by fear, instead of trust and loyality. If you disobeyed his orders or laws, you were hung or beheaded. If you did not pay his high amount in taxes, you would either become a slave or die. There were no fair trials. He ruled everything in black and white. It was his way, or no way. " The woman paused for a moment and loocked both me and Natalie over.

"One day a beautiful girl moved to town with her family. Her name was Isabel Claire. He was bewitched by her beauty. He knew he had to have her. He did not want her in just his bed though. He wanted her as his wife. He wanted someone who looked enchanting by his side. She rejected him. He did not take a liking to that, so he decided to play her. He acted as a man that was not himself. He became sweet. He would let the towns people off if they messed up here and there. He smiled instead of sneared. He brough flowers to her house ever day. He even asked to court her.

After a few months passed she realized that maybe he had changed. The kindom was no longer fearful of their king. They were all joyous. Every time Isabel went to town she was congratulated for changing their king into a better man. She decided to give him a chance. He courted her three months. He played the doting boyfriend who cared. He escorted her to every magnificent ball. He bought her beautiful jewelry. He had her wrapped around his finger.

Once the three months ended, he knew he had her under his spell. He took her out to the middle of his kindom and proposed. She was so happy, she threw her arms around him screaming yes at the top of her lungs. The towns people cheered. Excited that she would be their queen. For she was the only woman who had ever changed him.

They got married a month later. That night he took his wife to bed. The next morning Isabel woke up to a nightmare. Malici had kept track of everyone who disobeyed him in that last year, and they were sentenced to death. He laughed at them as they were either hung or beheaded. Isabel tried to get him to stop, but he just slapped her across the face, and told her to go to the room. That he would be taking her to bed again once he was finished with the towns people.

Isabel was furious. She had been tricked. He had played her for a full year all so he could have her as his wife."

She paused again, and I noticed Natalie had tears in her eyes. I wrapped my arm around her bringing her into my side. I was interested in this story now. My only question was, why was she telling me it?

Natalie wrapped her arms tight around me and looked at 'my mother' expectedly.

"Isabel was forced to bed her husband and king that night. That broke her. After he left her, he had dragged another woman in the room, and done the same to her. Isabel decided she was done. Malici had messed with the wrong person this time. The one thing he didn't know about her was that she was a witch. If anyone found out her or her families true identity, they would of been burned alive.

She knew at that instant though that she would rather burn then live her life with him. The next night, she snuck out of the castle and went to her family. They had been very worried about her. She explained to them her plan, and they wholeheartedly agreed. They would happily burn too. Together her and her mother thought of a spell.

Hours later she returned, and found her husband sleeping in bed with yet another woman. She would have no regrets. "

I was starting to get an idea of where this was going.

"She didn't want to wait any longer, and decided she would cast the spell then and there. She started chanting words over and over again until Malici woke.

"What are you doing?" He yelled. "What is happening to me?"

He had buckled over in immense pain, screaming.

"I'm giving you what you deserve. I am turning you into what you truly are. A monster."

He tried to beg and plead as wings started to grow from his back, but Isabel just watched with a smile on her face. Right before his transformation completed she told him the rest.

"This is what you will forver be. A monster of the night. For only true love can break the curse. You will be a beast, but you will also be a man. Your inner beast knows your true love. If you do not accept her by the end of the year you meet her, then your beast will fully take over. He will then take his love and make her one of him. They will forever be happy. They will give birth to a child, and that child will be exactly as you are. Then the process will begin again. The process will never break unless they both truly love one another. They must both say it in order to complete it. Farewell. " She finished before walking out the door.

She didn't reach the outside of the castle before Malici had torn her to shreds then went for her family. He never broke the curse. No one did."

She stopped telling the story, and stared me in the eyes.

"Until you."