The Beast and Beauty

Chapter 16: All is not as it seems

Lucifer

F.uck, I forgot just how hot Hecate was, it took everything in my willpower to not react to the sight of her, I don’t think Belle would have been too impressed considering she was leaning against me.

I stood up and climbed out of the bath while keeping my hand on her back just in case, if she felt offended by my overprotectiveness she didn’t show it.

I picked her up, so that she was cradled in my arms and walked over to the towels and towel robes. I picked a simple white towel robe and told her to pick it up for me, she did so and then I carried her to my bed.

I felt her anxiety, and it increased tenfold when I lay her on the bed completely naked and vulnerable, she covered her chest with her arms and hands and I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to suddenly mount you like some uncontrollable demon in heat.”

My words only made her blush even harder.

I meant what I said earlier us demons did not think like human males, I had no interest in her body and right now, my mind was preoccupied with Hecate’s anyway, I knew she’d want to do more than just talk later.

I laid the robe out on the bed and lifted Belle up and gently lay her on it, I helped her slip her arms in, but she slapped me away. “I don’t need you to dress me like a baby.” She gave me a guilty look and added, “but thank you.”

“Sure.” I backed up and gave her the space she needed. I was looking through my drawers for clean clothes when she called out meekly, “sorry, can you help me get to my wheelchair?”

Frowning, I turned to look at her. “Why do you need your wheelchair, aren’t you tired?”

“It’s still daytime, isn’t it?” She laughed.

“Yes, but you humans always seem so tired.” I went and got her wheelchair, my bed was pretty high up, so she needed my help getting in.

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I lifted her, and for a moment, she looked into my eyes with an expression that she hid so fast I didn’t have time to read what it meant. I put her in the chair and Dagon came rushing in next.

“King, f.uck, you actually got away?”

“Thanks to Belle, yes.”

Dagon looked at Belle and grinned, “hey, beauty.”

She blushed and couldn’t meet his eyes, and I knew it would only make him tease her more.

“Hi Dagon,” she said quietly.

“So you want to sleep with me tonight? I promise I’m less scary than Lucifer.” He winked at her and I watched as she struggled to control the heat in her cheeks, I didn’t know how long a fairy tale princess like Belle could handle a place like hell for, but it was clear she was not used to males flirting with her.

“F.uck off, Dagon, leave her alone.”

He held his arms out wide, “what? I’m just giving her options.”

I rolled my eyes, “sure you are, as if you’re going to sleep soundly beside her.”

“Hey, I aim to Please, if the lady wishes me to provide pleasure than I shall do so.”

Belle covered her hand with her mouth and I decided to change the subject before she had a heart attack. “You’ve been running this place fine without me?”

“Of course. So, are we going to go after that b.itch?”

I looked to Belle and saw her face fill with worry. “Not right now. Can you bring Belle some food.” I thought about how scary everything must be for her and how vulnerable she must be feeling, I figured me not allowing her to be somewhat independent must be hard, and I doubted she’d want to feel like a prisoner, so I stopped Dagon and asked Belle, “do you want to eat in here or in the dinner hall?”

She looked at me wide-eyed and asked, “you have a dinner hall?”

Both me and Dagon failed not to smirk at her question. “Uh yes, why? Were you thinking it was all brimstone and fire?”

She looked sheepishly at us and mumbled, “well, kind of.”

We couldn’t contain ourselves anymore and one look to Dagon, and we burst into laughter.

She was not impressed, but towards the end there was a hint of a smile on her face. We took her down the white marble hallway, and made a few turns. It was difficult to describe my realm, in a way, it was a world of its own, my castle was huge, and I don’t mean in normal terms, I mean as in it was the size of a city inside.

I had parts of the castle that was everything to do with the dead and their eternal t.orture, hey, someone had to do it and I guess it fell on me, don’t worry your little cotton socks though only the worst of the worst ever came here when they died.

The parts of my hell that had traumatised Belle were not even the worst parts, you wouldn’t believe the depravities of some humans, and they required extreme punishment and pain for their crimes. It wasn’t like the rest of my castle, there were no marble floors or pretty paintings, those places were in dark cavernous places that were adjoined to my castle but not quite a part of it. It was all too complicated to explain.

Dagon got the double arched doors and opened them up, we went inside and Belle looked around in awe and delight. The floors and walls were all made from marble, light gold veins running through in various patterns.

Engraved on some of the walls were magnificent artwork of angels and demons during the Great War in heaven, apparently I couldn’t completely let go of my past. She took in the long rows of tables made from wood that had flecks of pure gold running through, the benches were the same.

As we walked further in, her smile slowly faded away, she pulled her robe tighter around her and I saw her visibly shrink in on herself. I had never seen her this self-conscious before and couldn’t understand why until I looked up. Right. She was having the same insecurities that a lot of humans felt when they first came here, us demons, whether I liked it or not, had once been angels, we still had pure and beautiful perfect looks, and it could be unnerving and difficult for some humans.

I leaned down to Belles ear and murmured, “don’t be shy, no one here will judge you, we’ve seen all there is to see, and it does not faze us, we don’t think like humans nor judge like them. Looks don’t mean all that much to us.”

Belle actually scoffed at that and whispered, “I saw the way you looked at Hecate.”

I sighed, “fine, we can be attracted to people, but the human body has not much meaning to us, it’s your souls that are beautiful, more so than us.”

She snapped her head up to look at me. “Our souls are more beautiful than you angels?”

I nodded, and she asked, “how is such a thing even possible?”

“My creator is difficult to explain, but basically, he is beyond beautiful to look upon, he used a tiny piece of himself to create your souls so that you all carry a literal tiny piece of him within you.”

When she just stared at me, I muttered, “trust me. I’d explain, but there just are no words to describe it in a way your human brain could understand.”

“My human brain?” She asked defensively.

“Never mind.” I wheeled her over to a quieter table, knowing she’d prefer that. The bench was one long beam that ran all along, so using magic I waved my hand over part of it creating a gap big enough for her wheelchair to fit.

She gasped in surprise, like actually gasped.

“Why do you seem so surprised? Aren’t you used to seeing your witch b.itch stepmother use magic?”

“No, she never liked me knowing what she was up to, she would use me for her rituals, but then I’d be told to leave. The curse is the only real magic I’ve seen up close.”

“Huh.” I turned to Dagon, who came back with a plate of roast chicken, vegetables, potatoes, the usual and alongside that he placed a bowl of fruit salad down and two jugs of both water and pure orange juice.

Her eyes grew wide, and I grinned, “you really were expecting bloody and fleshly things weren’t you?”

She looked at me with an apologetic face. “Oh, no! Of course not! Well, perhaps just a little bit. I’m sorry.” I laughed and shook my head.

She looked back at the big plateful of food and smiled like it was Christmas. “It looks wonderful, I’ve never seen so much food prepared for me before.”

“Yeah, well, anything’s better than your terrible porridge and stews.”

She smiled at me and replied, “now, now, Lucifer, be nice.” Was she teasing me? I wasn’t expecting her to be playful, but I chose not to become defensive and start being mean again, she knew my feelings for Hecate and I knew she was not a woman to try and get in between two people.

I didn’t mind being her friend perhaps, though friend sounded strange, I don’t think I’d ever had a human friend before.