A Deceptive Beauty

~ Prologue ~

"This thing has to end. I don't love you. We should part our ways," he decided to be blunt and outright. She froze for a few moments and then stiffened.

"Why?" she quietly demanded, her eyes tearing up. "You said you loved me!" She continued, growing louder and angrier. "You promised that we would would be together - forever!"

"I lied!" he hissed back. Kaiden was a little surprised. The girls would never argue back, they would only cry and beg for him to come back. He usually picked ones that didn't argue back, but clearly, this time was different.

Agatha's eyes turned stony before blazing intensely. Kaiden could see her hands clench into fists.

"How could you! You've fed me lies, and for what reason? Enjoyment? Was my love for you a joke? Was it funny to see me fall for you? Or when you lied to my face the entire time?!" she was furious. "Mother!" she screamed.

Agatha's mother was there in an instant. It was as if she had magically appeared out of thin air. She looked just as furious as her daughter, as if she already knew what had happened.

"He had told me he loved me, but now he admitted that he had been toying with my feelings," Agatha explained. Her finger stabbed the air in his direction. Her mother's expression turned dark as she whirled around to face Kaiden.

Kaiden felt helpless at the moment, like he had when he was acting mindlessly. He didn't know what to do. One angry woman was enough, but two? He could see her mother's eyes blaze with the same fire that Agatha owned.

"You fool with my daughter, you fool with me! And for that, you shall be punished!" she threatened. She turned to her daughter and said, "I will help you with any spell if you need my help."

Kaiden's eyes widened. Spells? Did that mean they were both witches? Was that why he felt like he was being compelled to follow Agatha's orders earlier?

After her mother gave her permission, Agatha began chanting, and cursing him. She stalked around him like she was a predator and he was her prey. He wanted to move but he felt like he was frozen. His eyes were allowed to move back and forth between the two witches. Agatha's mother was the one chanting the spell that made him stay in one place.

Lightning flashing in the sky made it seem more dramatic. The bare branches on the trees seemed to want to pluck him off the ground, adding to that effect. The experience was truly menacing.

As Agatha chanted things in a different tongue, Kaiden felt as if a force was shoving itself into him. Then, it felt like he was being attached to a heavy burden, one that was resilient and unyielding.

"I curse thee to live helplessly, switching into the monster you truly are, with no mercy and emotions, where you can suffer from your lies and the inability to control yourself!" Agatha yelled, making sure Kaiden understood the full extent of the curse. He could feel that it was a powerful curse to cast and one that would not easily be broken.

As if the discomfort from earlier was a prelude, the pain struck him swiftly and without mercy.

Kaiden felt pain tear through his skull. He fell to his knees, clutching his head, trying to will the pain away. Tremors convulsed through his body. Voices started to fill his head, whispering of cruelty. Burning sensations churned within his body. He felt like he was being burned inside out for eternity, even though it was only for a few minutes. He felt himself writhe on the ground, twisting his body.

He finally understood what her curse meant. He could hear his alternate self, the one he knew would be coming soon, and it felt evil and horrible. He heard his new, other self whispering promises of evil to him.

Agatha, still heartbroken, decided to make his pain worse. She knew the only thing that could torture him more was to offer him hope. Hope that she would most definitely crush to pieces, just like what he did to her.

"You can reverse this curse," she began her magic quietly. Her arms waved over him, for dramatic effect. Hope briefly flashed in Kaiden's eyes. Agatha laughed humorlessly on the inside. He had yet to hear the requirements.

"You must find a pure-hearted girl who truly loves both you and the beast, and has to be freely willing to kiss you at the end of this year at midnight," she continued. It seemed easy enough for Kaiden, until Agatha said the rest.

"Oh, and you must love her the same way too: whole-heartledly and devotedly." Agatha smiled cruelly.

Kaiden's heart dropped. Love? He felt destroyed. He can never love, and Agatha now knew that. Pain flashed once again, making Kaiden realize yet another another obstacle. He only had a little under eight months before the end of the year.

"If you don't succeed, you'll just stay a monster the rest of your life," she murmured sweetly into his ear. He flinched away from the sound of her voice. He was feeling strange and light-headed.

Kaiden quickly thought about the curse. What kind of monster would he turn out to be? Would he be able to live with it? What will the monster do?

Questions filled his head before he finally blacked out. His body slumped fully to the ground and stayed still.

"I hope you suffer," Agatha said bitterly to the unconscious man. She dragged him to the horse and magically ordered the horse to bring him back to his castle.

She thought of the two months they had spent together and the love she had developed for him, despite the short amount time that she had known him for. Now that was gone, because of him. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to keep the tears away.

"Farewell, beast."

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Picture of Kaiden on the right :D ====================>

A/N

Harsh right? Actually, maybe not. He kinda deserved that.

Right now it seems pretty similar to the actual story (which it should since its a re-telling) but it WILL be different.

I didn't really bother editing this so ignore the mistakes and grammatical errors. If they're really big/annoying/noticeable then feel free to comment about it.

Please: read/enjoy/comment/vote/fan!!!

:D