Chapter Two

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The craftsmanship of his costume was amazing! He was huge and his skin was covered with short tawny fur. He had shoulder-length golden hair with two cat ears. His face was vaguely human in shape, his nose was formed like a cats, his snout smooth down to his chin. Short fine almost white hairs covered his face. The details were amazing. She’d almost thought it real, if not for the far too human ice-blue eyes that peered at her so smugly. She was also astonished by how fluidly and gracefully the man moved through the woods. Not a sound was made as he walked. She’d expected more clumsiness from a man in a ape-suit.

He was shaped like a man from the waist up as far as she could tell. Very well shaped, too. He wore a simple white T-shirt that defined his massive musculature. The difference was in his lower half. His legs bent more like a dog or cats under the loose black pants. She tried to envision how the effect was achieved. Obviously the man was involved in movie effects. That gave her something of a clue to his identity.

She shivered as they moved and soon her teeth were chattering rather loudly. She stared in wonder as one of the cat ears swiveled towards her. A pang of doubt assailed her. From what she knew, such effects were usually controlled by remote from outside the body. She looked around for a lurking man with a control unit and saw nothing. She shuddered in between shivering and her teeth chattered loudly. He stopped and turned and looked at her.

"You are very loud." He said, annoyed. She saw his grimace reveal sharp canines among human teeth. She shook herself.

"Its winter and I fell in a stream. I’m cold." She snapped. He blinked and seemed to look at her for the first time. His eyes dragged over her body almost tangibly and she tightened her hold on her own shoulders. He returned his blue gaze to her face and nodded thoughtfully. She didn’t even see him move before he’d flung her over his shoulder and suddenly the world blackened and brightened again. They were indoors.

She froze as she struggled and stared at the room around her. She looked down at her captor’s back and saw how up close, the fur was most definitely real. She hung limply as he lowered her onto a soft bed. She stared around her, pale with shock. The room was not too large, with warm burgundy walls and a crackling fireplace with a white mantel in one corner. The bed was a huge four-poster with white pillows and comforter. The carpet was deep burgundy shag. A small oak stand stood beside the bed and across from it, next to the fireplace was a matching oak dresser. On the other side of the bed was a huge oak wardrobe.

She suddenly became aware again of the creature that was not a man that stood before her, watching her. She looked up at him again and felt her mouth go dry. "What are you?" She whispered. He ignored the question.

"There is dry clothing in the wardrobe. This will be your room." He crossed his arms and she noticed suddenly that the room had no door. She stared at him, fear making her colder. "You will dress for dinner." He vanished into thin air. She fell backward onto her new bed, trying not to hyperventilate.

"What-the-fuck-what-the-fuck-what-the-fuck-what-the-fuck…" She muttered as she lay there shivering. Somehow through the strangeness she managed to catch her breath. "Well I don’t really have a choice." She murmured to herself. She hauled herself across the bed and hopped down in front of the wardrobe. She pulled open the doors and found a collection of gowns there. "Woo. Nice collection." She muttered, reaching in and yanking out a gown at random. "This’ll work."

She stripped quickly, chilled and trying not to worry about spies. She pulled the silken green gown over her head and zipped it up. It fit perfectly as if it’d been designed for her specifically. She shook off that thought and combed her fingers through her hair. She’d sat down, wondering how in the hell she was to go to dinner if there was no door. She thought of her entrance and the beast’s exit and shivered.

She sat waiting until she fell asleep curled on the bed.

Suddenly the bed disappeared from beneath her and she fell on her ass in a small room furnished with a small oak table and chairs and a fireplace. She sat on her bruised ass and stared around her in the dimly lit room. Her captor stood beside the fire and glanced over at her. She scowled at him to cover her shock and fear. What was he? A sorcerer yeti? He offered a furry, hand that was almost a paw to help her up. She just stared at him dumbly. He twitched his eyes pointedly at her and she realized that she was sitting with her legs flung apart and her gown hiked up to mid-thigh. She scrambled to her feet, trying not to blush.

"Not very lady-like, are you?" He rumbled dryly. She glowered at him as he offered her a seat at the table with a flourish. She considered jerking out her own chair but decided that offending eight foot men with fangs was unwise. She sat awkwardly and he pushed the chair in to the table.

"I never claimed to be a lady." He snorted and sat across from her. She glared at him. "Who are you? What are you? How do you do that thing with the rooms? What do you want from me? When can I leave?" She assaulted him with questions and then yelped as a place setting appeared in front of her with food on the plate. One had appeared in front of him as well and he reached for a crystal glass of red wine.

"I am called Leo. I am a powerful sorcerer and you are here because I am under a curse." Bel blinked.

"What curse?" She asked quietly, poking at a steak and vegetables with her fork. Oooookay. Twilight Zone. She thought, glancing up at him. He watched her closely.

"I was once a man and now I am a beast. I have been for four hundred years and I will continue to be so until the curse is broken." Bel leaned back in her chair, not pretending to eat any more. Being a SCI-FI/fantasy buff and the owner of an extensive imagination, she allowed herself to consider it for a few moments.

"And how do you break the curse?" She asked picking at her nails idly, flicking her green gaze at him every few moments. He sipped his wine.

"I must bed a willing virgin." Bel blinked. She involuntarily crossed her legs under the table. Leo caught the movement and smiled to his wineglass. "You needn’t fear that, m’lady. You obviously cannot break the curse and you do not meet the requirements. You are here merely because I am bored and this place can become a trifle lonely." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What requirements don’t I meet?" She asked icily. He blink at her, dubious.

"You said yourself that you are no lady." He said, setting down his glass and picking up his silverware.

"I said I wasn’t a lady, that doesn’t mean I’m a whore!" She snarled at him. In a cool corner of her brain she wondered why she was defending her eligibility to him. He stared at her, blue eyes wide.

"I-I apologize, m’lady. I did not mean to offend you." He stammered. He growled to himself. He’d done more stammering today than he’d done since he was cursed. Infuriating girl kept catching him off guard. "Do you mean that you would like to break my curse for me?" Her glare turned suddenly to a look of confusion, then she looked horrified.

"No!" She practically shouted. He winced involuntarily.

"Alas, I am a repulsive beast." He murmured. She blinked at him and the sudden despair in his eyes. She reached across the table and touched his hand without thinking.

"You’re behavior is beastly, not your appearance." She said, wondering why she reassured him. True, his features were alien and animal, but she’d seen enough Disney movies and read enough in her time to believe wholeheartedly that beauty is on the inside. Hell she’d even had a crush on Worf, the Klingon from Star Trek. "If you’d approach a girl in civilized manner, without kidnapping her or her father, you might break your curse." She said stoutly. He simply stared at the small pale hand that rested on his furred wrist.

He hadn’t been touched in far too long and the contact set him tingling. What was this girl who treated his differences as if they were nothing. He could crush her with a thought and she’d insulted him and reassured him at the same time. All too soon, she’d reclaimed her hand and used it to fork some carrots and broccoli into her mouth. He watched her move, stared at her full lips as she chewed, the motion of her slender white neck as she swallowed. It had been far too long. He growled deep in his throat.

She froze, paling, her eyes wide, and the fork halfway between her mouth and plate. She trembled minutely and he realized that he’d been staring intensely at her and growling angrily. He probably looked as though he’d leap over the table and devour her. He considered leaping over the table and devouring those trembling lips, but relaxed instead and went back to his meal. After a tense moment she returned to her food, still glancing at him fearfully.

They finished their meals in silence and then he sat and studied he as she stared awkwardly at her empty plate, jumping silently and he made the plate vanish. She looked up at him over the empty table, questioningly. "So…" She started timidly. "What exactly do you expect me to do here?" He smiled ferally at her and she shifted in her chair.

"You will keep me company." He said simply and rose to his feet. Suddenly the room vanished and Bel thudded onto her already sore ass again. The room had been replaced by a smaller, candlelit study with dark mahogany bookshelves lining the walls and a roaring fire across from a mahogany desk covered with books. In front of the fire were two heavily padded chairs. She sprawled across the floor behind a chair and groaned in pain.

"Stop doing that!" She hissed at him. He chuckled at her as she lay, dress hitched up around her waist, hair falling in her face. He offered his hand to her again, commanding himself not to look at her long bare legs. She took his hand and he pulled her lightly to her feet then gestured for her to sit.

She rubbed her rear, scowling at him and settled gingerly in the seat. He settled in the other chair and sat watching her squirm around, trying to be comfortable. "So what exactly did you do to deserve a curse?" She asked suddenly. He frowned. She was far too curious.

"None of you business." He growled. She smirked at him.

"Then I bet it was really stupid. You cheat on your sorceress wife or something?" She pushed. He growled and suddenly she was on her rump again on the floor of her bedroom and alone. She scrambled to her feet, rubbing her bruised rear end. "Touchy." She slumped onto the bed and lie wondering what was happening in the real world. Was she in a coma in the hospital and dreaming all this? Was she delusional? She wished she could see out a window at least. For all she knew, It was six p.m. She didn’t know how long her nap had lasted. She yawned.

"Why’m I so tired?" She asked the bedstead. It merely offered a pillow. She settled down and was soon asleep.

***

~

Do you ever talk to your bed? I talk to my bed all the time. It’s kinda rude though. Usually tells me to sleep or shut the hell up. *sniff* the nerve.

Well what do you think so far? Does it suck? I’m afraid to read my older writings because they’re frequently depressing because of the level of suckiness in them. Review me so I know whether or not to continue postage.