Chapter One: How Rude!

***

When the Software mogul of Southern California didn’t arrive home as planned late one stormy night in midwinter, his three daughters were slow to become alarmed. The eldest daughter, Karah was holed up in the stables of the family estate, Rosewood Acres, with a favorite stablehand. The middle daughter, Belinda, was engrossed in a computer game that her father’s company was still testing. The youngest, Kellyn was hosting a slumber party with five of her friends.

***

The daughters, while loving towards their widowed father and each other, had long since grown unmindful of his business comings and goings. When he was there, he was there and they were a family. When he was gone, he was gone and they continued their lives separately.

It was two days later that it was noticed that he was missing. Belinda discovered his absence first, as it was her birthday and customarily her father liked to be the first to greet the girls on these days.

When Belinda woke up that morning, fully expecting her father to appear with the traditional tray of eggs and bacon with orange juice and a vase with a rose in it, just as he had for the last eighteen years; Belinda saw only her empty room. Shocked, she leapt from her bed and into her robe and raced to his bedroom, priming herself to tease him for sleeping in from his advanced years. Only when she threw open his double doors, his immense bed was empty and made up.

She started to grow angry. It was unthinkable! For the first time since their mothers death, her father had missed a birthday! Belinda stomped down the hall to Kellyn’s chamber and knocked. Kellyn opened her door a moment later and hugged her enthusiastically with birthday greetings. Kellyn’s scowl put her off though.

"What could possibly be wrong, Belly?" She asked, concerned for her older sisters fuming. Belinda was not quick to anger, but when she did it was for good reason and the resultant storms were often terrifying.

"Dad’s not here!" She growled and stormed into the room to flop on her sister’s bed. She heard Karah’s cheerful voice calling from the winding staircase at the end of the hall and Kellyn scampered out to fetch the eldest. Soon all three sat in confusion on Kellyn’s bed. "I’ll call his cell." Belinda suddenly hissed and grabbed up Kellyn’s phone off her desk. She dialed her father’s cell phone number and waited impatiently.

The voice that answered was not her father’s. "Who is this?!" It demanded. Belinda blinked. She took a startled breath, a glimmer of fear for her father finally insinuating itself in her in the form of a shiver.

"Is Rafferty there?" She asked timidly. She heard a growl on the other end and felt the hair on her arms and neck stand up.

"Who is asking?" The voice snarled. Bel, not as brave and confident as Karah, but not so frail as Kellyn, took a second to latch onto her pride and anger.

"His daughter. Let me speak with him." She demanded. He growled again and she heard her father’s voice in the background, calling out in fear. She froze. She ignored her sister’s concerned whispers as she heard her father yelling. "Let me speak to my father!" She yelled, surprised by her own firmness.

"Listen closely, my dear. You will leave your home and walk into the woods to the North of your estate alone. If you do not, your father will die. If anyone else is with you, he will die." She heard her father moaning in the background.

"How much ransom do you want?" She asked quietly, seeing her sisters’ blanche. She felt cold and numb. The voice rumbled in laughter that made her shudder.

"Only you, m’dear. Only you." Belinda felt frosty fingers of terror move up and down her spine. "You will not be harmed and your father will be returned in your place. You have an hour." She dropped the phone and sat staring numbly at her sisters. Kellyn grabbed up the phone but heard only a dial tone.

"What’s happened, Bel? What’s going on?!" Karah asked, clutching at Bel’s hands as the girl stared at the wall.

"Dad’s been kidnapped." She whispered. Kellyn burst into tears and Karah swallowed loudly and grabbed up the phone, dialing 9-1-1. Belinda recovered herself a little, tearing her eyes away from a small pink rose pattern on Kellyn’s wallpaper. She pulled the phone from her sister’s trembling hands and with a calm detachment, spoke with the emergency services. She told him what the man had said.

The man on the line told her to remain calm and to wait for the police to arrive. Belinda nodded numbly before remembering that the man couldn’t hear gestures. "I’ll wait. Thank you." She hung up and looked at the kitten-shaped clock. It read ten o’clock exactly. Five minutes had passed. Fifty-five minutes before the man expected her.

Kellyn continued to sniffle.

***

Belinda stepped slowly into the clearing and blinked. Having grown up on the nearby estate, she’d traveled these woods enough on childish quests and adventures. As far as she could remember, there should be no clearing. She looked around, confused. She knew that the police swat team were supposed to be filling the woods to protect her while she played bait, but she felt extremely alone.

The sunlight filtered into the clearing through the tall pines around the small grassy meadow. She stepped blindly forward and fell sputtering to her knees in an ice cold stream that most certainly should not have been there. She sat for a moment in the freezing water and let the shock of it travel though her body in a shudder. She finally shoved herself to her feet, feeling foolish for falling and shivering at her soaking jeans shirt sleeves.

***

Leo pushed back a feeling of pity as he watched the girl fall in the stream. He knew she would not expect aid and would be wary of it. He regretted having to treat so fiercely with her and her father. The old man was not at fault for stumbling upon his castle and Leo was foolish to offer aid to such a man.

Leo had tended to his comfort well enough until the greedy man had tried to take the rose from the vase on his dining table.

The man had pleaded against Leo’s fury, saying he’d meant to give the rose to his daughter on her birthday. Leo had been intrigued. A daughter? Out of fear, the man had shown him a picture of the girl from his wallet. She had been fair as any maid, Leo thought. She’d waist-length chestnut hair and bright green eyes and porcelain skin. It had been over forty years since Leo had last been in contact with a woman. He sighed at the thought. It’d been over four hundred years since he’d felt a woman’s skin. He’d probably forgotten how... Then he shook himself bodily and growled. He’d best not think such thoughts. No woman would ever want a man cursed as he. It’d been proved time and again throughout his cursed days.

He continued his way through the enchanted wood that he’d drawn the girl into and wondered why he’d forced the girl to come here. He knew that he would only be freed from his curse if a woman could come to love him, but he also knew from experience that all women who saw him responded with horror and fainted away. He’d not managed a conversation with one since he’d been cursed Four hundred years before. Why would this girl be any different than the others he’d brought here?

He growled at the memories. All weak women who sobbed and fainted and made themselves sick with terror. When he’d first fallen under the curse he’d drawn a woman into his enchanted castle grounds once every ten years, hoping he’d find his true love and that his curse would be broken. Soon enough he’d learned that none of the frail things he’d drawn into his grasp would love him and he loved none of them. They were disgusting in their frailty. He’d given up his search for a curse-breaker and had left those of the weaker sex alone. He had instead found escape from despair in books and in hunting in his monstrous form.

The young woman stumbled through the wood towards the castle, her arms wrapped around herself. She shook and he peered at her at one point, disgusted that she shook. She was probably terrified and sobbing. She stared around her wide-eyed.

***

He’d hardly noticed when she’d halted. He slid to a halt in the brush on his four paws and looked back at her. She seemed to be staring straight at him. He shuddered involuntarily. "Um. Whoever you are, will you please come out where I can see you? I can hear you, so you might as well." She called. Then she continued as if to herself. "Unless of course you’re a wolf or a bear or a leprechaun, then I’d just as soon you’d stay hidden." She shifted all her weight to one hip and stared at his bushes, obviously settled in to wait.

He sighed and straightened up, stepping into the light. He figured he might as well get the fainting and the screaming over with. He stared down at her from ten feet away. He watched her as she dragged her eyes from his chest where a normal man’s head would be, and then looked up further to his head at eight feet. She stared straight into his eyes and he crossed his arms patiently, waiting for the scream. Her green eyes widened in shock. If she goes into hysterics, I might as well send her right back home. He thought idly.

"What in the flaming hell? Are you a Sasquatch?" She asked. He raised an eyebrow. She didn’t look hysterical.

"Do Sasquatch wear clothes?" He rumbled absently. She moved her wet arms to her curved hips and scowled.

"I recognize that voice. Where is my father?!" She demanded angrily. He blinked at her. She didn’t even scream? "Tell me where he is or I’ll rip you limb from limb!" She hissed. Off-balance, he could only stare at her. She took a step forward that would have been threatening if she hadn’t been hardly half his size.

"Y-your father is safe at home." He managed. She stared him in the eyes as if studying them for the truth. She seemed to believe him after a moment and her body relaxed visibly.

"Fine, then. What do you want with me?" She asked, trying to suppress a shiver. It was cold. He saw her shiver and mistook it for fear.

"Merely your company m’dear. You needn’t fear me." He said, trying to make his rumbling voice reassuring. She looked doubtful.

"Why?" She asked. He bowed low to her.

"Because I require your exquisite beauty as I do the air, m’lady." He said gallantly. She burst out laughing.

"No, really. Why?" He straightened up and studied her, puzzled. She wasn’t impressed. She wasn’t afraid at all. Just dryly amused. This was new. He didn’t know what to make of this girl "You must be either dull or courageous beyond sanity." He growled. She shivered again, rubbing her sleeved forearms.

"Follow me." He ordered and set out at a great lumbering stride through the trees toward the castle. She followed him slowly, a puzzled look on her face.

***

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OoooOoOOOOooOooooo…..what’s gonna happen? Where’re they going? Is anyone even reading this? Soooo many questions and since its such an overdone story, I’m sure you all know the answers. Anyhooo…………………