****Readers**** THANK YOU SO MUCH for your continued support and incredible patience as I work through the editing process of BB! I know that it's extremely frustrating to go weeks, even months, without receiving an update and for that, I genuinely apologize. I hope that you'll continue to support me in this endeavor despite this, and just know that my delays are due to my ever increasing desire to provide you the VERY best! You guys are what motivate me and encourage me to pursue my passion, and for that, I thank you! I hope you are enjoying BB as much as I am writing it.
With that being said, which of my characters are your favorite and least favorite?? Use the following hashtags to comment below: #beastlybeau #damselelle #serafiend #darthveda #ladylucy
Love you guys!!! <3
Vivid green eyes, much like the lush grasslands that comprised England, skewered him with flagrant hostility. Thick, auburn waves fell in an undulating sheen of red and gold accents, emphasized by the shuddering firelight; fencing a face carved of high cheekbones and a sharp, prominent nose dusted with freckles. Garbed heavily in a cotton cloak, nothing could be made of her indistinct shape, save for her remarkable height that cast a lean silhouette against the wall.
If not for that intensely cold and wounding gaze, she would have otherwise struck a genteel and comely vision, but those compelling eyes with their disturbing light, rendered them unseemly, and all but ... misplaced, amid such captivating features.
With a cursory sweep of the cavernous room, "Where are your men?" Don demanded, displeasure steeling his tone as his eyes swung back around to clash with hers.
The woman offered a passable grin that failed to reach her enigmatic eyes. "I have dismissed my hounds for the time being."
Eyes narrowing, Don regarded the woman with mounting unease. "Hounds?"
Wry, emerald humor glittered back at him, "You need not worry about them. They are under strict command to be on their best behavior – lest I instruct otherwise."
Casting sidelong glances about the room, half expecting her "hounds" to slink from the shadows, he queried in a cynical tone, "And who are you?"
Braced at the end of the sturdy and lengthy table, her dark eyes canvassed his person, and although he stood fully robed with his hood upright, he felt as though that uncanny gaze could see every unsightly and gruesome feature in their unhurried perusal of him.
Amid her unsettling scrutiny, the air seemed to grow thicker, the shadows more ominous as they wedged closer to the occupants in the room, particularly his mysterious and unwanted guest.
"I'll not ask again." Don warned.
Wine-colored lips drew into a self-assured sneer and something akin to sardonic pleasure flickered in the shrewd green of her stare, the gesture all but alluding to the cunning mind behind those knowing eyes, before it was fleetly replaced by a far more dark and unfathomable emotion.
Raising a slender hand between them, Don observed in soaring fractions of alarm and incredulity as the table began to quiver. The emptied mugs from the night before clattered and rolled to the floor, and the slab of wood that served as a surface groaned in splintering grievance before cracking down the middle. A gentle teetering sounded a caveat before the adjoining chairs were wrenched from their rightful places, crashing against their adjacent walls.
A bone-chilling sensation filched the breath from his lungs and his heart did a tremulous pitch. The intangible power fashioned from those slender hands was an energy he was only too familiar with, and it sent a touch of dread to crawl down his spine – for he was in every way convinced, despite the strange and unfamiliar face, that he shared the air with a de Ceville witch.
"I can see your thoughts turning ..." dropping her hands, she started around the felled table, her steps likened to a graceful predator. "Regrettably, I am not privy to them." She arched an auburn brow, "Might I weigh in on your speculating notions?"
A burning festered in his heart as her every word kindled his wrath. "Have you at last come to kill me then, Veda?"
Halting in her slow advancement, green eyes glimmering, she threw back her variegated head of red and gold, and pealed with laughter, the sound wanting of warmth as it rang throughout the empty room. "Veda?" She all but hissed. "My spineless sister has failed me in that regard, would you not agree?"
Muscles tensing and the blood rushing to his ears, Don gaped with an admixture of shock and disbelief, instantly rejecting the likeliness that she could be – nay, it couldn't – Don argued, and yet, he found himself exhaling on a ragged breath, "I killed you."
Sera's grin wavered and her dark eyes flashed with a moment's rage, before it was readily exchanged for dry humor. "Your efforts, albeit commendable, were in vain. It appears even death would not have me."
"I shoved a blade through your heart." He muttered as if to argue her death, inclined to believe her an illusion of some kind. "I watched you die."
"Aye," She snarled, green eyes snapping. "You need not remind me of your betrayal to me."
"My betrayal!" Anger rising, Don took an aggressive step towards her. "It was you who betrayed me!"
The flare fled her gaze and she waved a hand dismissively in the air with an almost blasé shrug. "It is water under the bridge. I am willing to pardon your wrongdoings against me."
Hands curling at his sides, he forced the vicious words through his gnashed teeth, "How are you not rotting in hell?"
Her green eyes blazed anew, alighting upon him with that mercurial rage. "When you kill a de Ceville witch, best ensure you kill the other."
"Is that it, then? Veda brought you back?"
She gave a slow, imperceptible nod.
Mouth twisting with disgust, "Your sister did the world a disservice in reviving you."
Her expression hardened, "Be that as it may, I have no intention of dying anytime soon."
Incensed, Don nearly roared at the injustice of having his vengeance stolen, as the sight of her engendered all the unpleasant memories and feelings he had fought to subdue over the past decade. Even now, he felt the pull of her darkness as it called upon his baser self, summoning parts of him that had once drove his every thought and gesture to violence. Her presence catapulted his mind into his horrific past, thus meting out immeasurable pain and grief. It reminded him of all he had lost, of those he had failed, and her betrayal that had subsequently left him disfigured and cursed in her yawning death.
An image of large doe eyes adorned with warm amber, and hair so dark, it shimmered with threads of blue, suddenly materialized before his afflictions.
Elle.
She was a vision that, with all quickness, brought his reminiscing pain to a grinding halt, and promptly cooled the flames beneath his skin, filling his lungs with feasible breath.
Inhaling deeply of said air, Don's gaze clashed with that perceptive green one. "Something has changed in you," Sera remarked, eyes squinting. "I haven't quite determined what it is yet."
"It matters not," Don seethed, his inflection hardening. "You'll not live long enough to discern it."
Nudging her chin to a higher angle, "Your unflinching confidence and savagery is invigorating, nonetheless, you forget that I possess the finesse to influence your darker emotions. I could simply make you into a mindless dog much like those lapping at my heels, but where is the fun in that?" Her mouth widened into a sinister grin, "Nay, where you're concerned, I would rather have your full discretion moving forward."
"Lost the knack for compulsion, then?" Don retorted.
"You coax my anger." Sera cautioned.
Gazing at the witch more intently, he noticed aspects to her physical appearance that had initially escaped him. For what he had earlier perceived as a wolfish approach, was in sooth, the mobility of one carting fragile bones. Her green eyes, despite their unusual brightness, exhibited a grim and exhausted quality that deepened the lines bracketing her eyes and thin mouth. With a hand pressed to the small of her back, she seemed to favor the area as if it pained her.
With a questioning frown, "How did you acquire this body?"
She smirked, "Ah, I would much rather engage your curiosity than your rage." Edging closer to him, "We both know what ensues when forced to contend with the beast."
His rage became a scalding fury as he fought to quell those violent, underlining impulses that encroached on his reasoning, "That being said, do you think it wise to incite my anger?"
"I merely jest." She quipped.
"How are you in this body?" Don demanded testily.
She had paused just shy a few steps from where he loomed, her face assuming a grave expression, her mockery and taunts forgotten. "This body, alike many others I have inhabited, is temporary."
Brows furrowing, "I don't understand."
"When Veda restored me to life, my body was not ... operable." Green eyes fixed pointedly at him. "You saw to that when you stabbed me." She inched closer, "The power I have garnered since that time is far too great for mere mortal bodies to withstand, nor am I successful in maintaining its intensity for long, as they deteriorate at a rapid rate."
"So, what?" Don hurled back, "You dispatch of those whose bodies you ravage, all for the sake of preserving your fickle power?"
Green eyes tapered with a trace of irritation, "Until I collect what I am seeking, aye, I am forced to do just that."
"What are you seeking?" Don urged, a scowl tugging at the scar that split his lip, its reminder further intensifying his ire. "What has lured you coincidentally back to me after all this time?"
"I endeavor to find what is called the elemental host. It is believed to be the only vessel of flesh and bone strong enough to sustain the power of all four elements ... and it will not expire." Her emerald eyes took on an almost desperate gleam. "It is quintessential to my survival and conducive to procuring greater power."
"Ah, so your objective now is to achieve unequivocal power in lieu of avenging your mother's wrongful death?"
Sera grinned, "If I recall, you leveled that score."
Don stiffened, bristling with a bone-ingrained fury. "You tricked me, and you know it."
She heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes heavenward, "I haven't the patience, nor the time to account for bygone days, as this body withers with our discourse."
A sudden thought struck him, "For what purpose do you intend to use this power? Have you secured all four elements? Even the element of water?"
Clearing her throat, she averted her eyes but not before he discerned the visible flinch in her composure. "The latter would imply that I kill Veda."
"And will you?"
"Of course not!" Sera snapped, her eyes shooting daggers. "In fact, my clever and clairvoyant sister vanished shortly after my resurrection. Never to be seen or heard from again."
Don snickered, "I should suspect that she glimpsed her future and could foresee your plans to syphon her element. Your sister restores you to life and you return the favor by robbing her of hers?"
"Just her power – not her life!" Sera exclaimed, green eyes igniting hotly. "It is a forfeit she should be willing to make for deserting me!"
"Yet, she continues to evade you." Don pointed out. "Have you acquired the other elements, then? Earth, air, and fire?"
"I had possessed one element long before my ... premature death." She declared, "Even in my own body, I hadn't the strength to utilize it, therefore it lay dormant. I certainly cannot wield any element in this ..." she motioned angrily to her person with a deep scowl, "Brittle body!"
"Which element?" Don inquired, seeking to glean as much information that could possibly be used against her in the near future.
Straightening away from him, Sera flashed a grin. "I haven't quite determined if I can trust you and for that, I'm not feeling very garrulous anymore." After putting a few paces between them, she circled back around to face him. "I will impart this much – I possess one element, and have need of the residual three, but I cannot harness them until I inhabit the elemental host. The latter is my most pressing concern."
"And you believe it is here, this elemental host?"
Her deceptive mien of elegance and beauty darkened with a brief exhibition of frustration and anger. "I can sense it here, it is what lured me back to you, but its exact whereabouts are ... unclear." Her emerald eyes flitted about the room, searching. "I can locate each element with ease, apart from my elusive sister, extracting them will be another matter entirely and a quandary I see fit to face at hand, but the host ... the host is simply untraceable."
"Did you think it would be effortless? You will not find it here, likewise, you are most unwelcome."
Flicking a lock of auburn hair over her shoulder, "I gathered as much, nonetheless, I am enlisting your aid in this."
Body tensing, Don impaled her with a piercing glare of undisguised hatred. "It would be a cold day in hell before I lifted a hand to help you."
Brows arching, her mouth twisted with misshapen humor. "I could summon the underworld if that would somehow persuade you?" Green eyes caressed the breadth of his shoulders and brushed heatedly across his chest, shocking him as a glimmer of desire emerged there. "You would fit right in ... your scars are most becoming."
He grew rigid – could she see beneath his cloak to the scars underneath?
"I am not moved to tender sentiments," Don growled, seeking to extinguish that heady gleam. "You destroyed whatever heart I had to give and if you think to find affection and a warm reception from me, you are grossly mistaken."
"Then we are in likeness, bereft of functioning hearts." Sera purred, "That would make us well matched, my dark one. Mayhap you should abet your equal in her pursuit of power?"
"I was never your equal, and I would sooner sever an extremity than become your instrument of destruction again."
Her grin dissolved into a harsh, unforgiving line. "Then I shall have to force your compliance. What say you? Shall I start with that lovely maiden you have hidden away in your chambers?"
Despite the anger burning red-hot beneath his flesh and his muscles tensing in preparation for violence, Don managed to appear unaffected as her threat hung in the air. Those artful eyes sought a reaction from him, but he would give her none where Elle was concerned.
Issuing as much indifference into his hard timbre, "The woman means nothing to me. She is here to settle her father's debt."
"Consider it done."
A deep, guttural growl rumbled up from his throat. "You have no authority here!"
Raising both of her hands, Sera unfurled her fingers and flexed them wide. Her green eyes spilled over with that menacing black as the stone walls began to tremble and quake. "Then we are at an impasse."
Don knew that the witch would use any means possible to gain his surrender. It would prove foolish and futile on his part to resist her, pending an approach to her imminent demise, and he would find a way to ensure her death this time, but when and how remained undecided and fell secondary to Elle's well-being. He would not risk the only woman to have stirred his soul, by drawing attention to his feelings for her. Sera was ruthless, her tactics even more so. It was her familiar and dark craft that had cursed him over a decade ago. Even now, the parts of him riddled with scars seemed to burn in stinging awareness to their creator – and it was this lingering sensation that formed a hopeful notion.
"If I help you," Don started with feigned resignation. "Will you release me from your curse?"
Dark, emerald eyes glinted with stark satisfaction. "When I have ownership of the elemental host, I shall relieve you of your curse." Her mouth then pulled into a wide, devious grin. "But first, a necessary practice to attest to your loyalty to me."
An ear-shattering scream rent the air.