“What year is it?” He looked up at me. “I used to keep track, but after a while there wasn’t a reason to bother—eternity didn’t need a calendar.”
“When I left home, it was 2017—although it was early December, so it may already be 2018.” It suddenly hit me that I had likely missed Christmas with my family.
“I guess it’s been seventeen years.” He let out a sigh. “Some days it feels like it has been a hundred.”
“You still have family out there...” I looked towards the door. “There are people that probably miss you.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Or maybe everyone has forgotten all about Randall Davis.”
“Wait a minute.” My eyebrows shot in surprise. “You’re—Randall Davis—you had that cooking show on television! Oh my god, everyone thinks you’re dead!”
“It isn’t that far off from the truth, I’m afraid.” He lifted the cup to his lips.
“I’m not old enough to remember the details, but I think they even made an episode of Unsolved Mysteries about your disappearance.” My mouth hung open in shock as I started putting the pieces together.
“That makes sense...” He nodded. “If only they had a way to actually solve it and save me from this nightmare. Seventeen years—my daughter is probably married by now with children of her own.”
Chapter 10: Randall
I wasn’t really an asshole, but I played one on television very well. I lost my temper one time with a girl in the kitchen while were filming a show and it was all people talked about. The producers said I had to build on it, lose my temper on a regular basis, and even though it wasn’t who I really was, I played their game. The show was hardly being watched up until that point, but once I became known as the asshole chef, people just suddenly started to love me. I tried using prop actors and actresses for a while, but the emotions were never authentic. My cooking show that was mostly educational turned into a reality competition show where contestants cooked food, so I could abuse them for their terrible decisions. Some of the dishes were actually good, but I smashed their pride with my face turning red on command, so my rage would come across the screen and into the living room of everybody who wanted more. I should have known I couldn’t serve the devil forever without facing the consequences.
“Mr. Davis.” One of the producers ran up to me with a clipboard in his hand. “One of the contestants you were going to have on the show canceled—we’re trying to find a replacement.”
“Well fucking find me a new contestant then, dumb-ass!” I had been attacking everyone for the slightest mistake for so long it was almost second nature, even when I wasn’t in front of the camera.
“Yes sir. Right away sir!” He turned away and ran out of my kitchen.
I walked over to the table and started cutting up the ingredients for the show. Even though I had people to do that for me, there was something calming about holding a knife and diving back into what used to be the only thing that made me happy. I learned that I liked cooking at a young age, but I didn’t like having to go to the grocery story to find withered ingredients for my recipes. I grew my own vegetables as a teenager and when I was old enough to start hunting, I brought down as many bucks as my freezer could hold. My parents certainly didn’t seem to mind, although they didn’t see much of a future in what I loved to do. I saved every penny I could and when I was twenty years old, I left home and started my quest to make my living as a chef at a culinary school in New York. I attended classes during the day and waited tables at night. No matter how exhausted I was, I still enjoyed going home at the end of the night and making a meal just for myself.
“Okay sir, we found a replacement.” It had only been ten minutes, but the producer was already back.
“You haven’t had time to check credentials or figure out if they can even boil some fucking water! What did you do, grab a fucking schoolgirl off the street?” I spun around with the knife in my hand.
“Yes—I mean—no sir. We’ll keep looking!” He turned and darted out of the kitchen again.
I let out a sigh as I returned to cutting my way through the ingredients. In the back of my mind, I was already eying retirement and a peaceful life where I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t—the problem was that I just didn’t know how to turn that version of myself off anymore. I married a beautiful woman and she only stuck around for a year because she was pregnant with our child. Once our darling Maria was born, she left me alone in my bitterness. I didn’t want Maria to grow up seeing the man I had become on television. I was always kind to her and never let that version of myself show itself when I was with her on our weekend visits, but she was getting older. At some point she would find one of my shows on television and wonder who the strange man was that looked like her father—once she realized it was really me, she wouldn’t understand it was all for show. I wasn’t sure how I could feasibly hide it from her. My face was on television, on the Internet, and even in magazines.
“Okay, I swear we’ve got someone now.” The producer rushed back into the kitchen. “She has a recipe book, a YouTube channel, and she’s even gotten a couple of awards for her cooking.”
“Thank god you finally learned how to stop being incompetent.” I slammed the knife into the cutting board and walked towards the back of the kitchen which was set up as my dressing room. “Get the camera monkeys in here, we got a show to put on, dumb-ass.”
“Yes sir!” He nodded and ran back out of the kitchen.
The show had two men and one woman. I knew from the minute I walked in that the larger man with the tough scowl on his face would be the winner. He was the only one who didn’t have an ounce of fear in his eyes when he looked at me. It didn’t matter if his food was good or served to me raw, I had to give the world a show that would pop the ratings. I laid out the dish I wanted them to prepare and sent them on their way to make it. I also spent time near the camera while they were cooking, occasionally scowling or shaking my head with disbelief when one of the contestants got an ingredient wrong.
The girl was definitely the most skilled of the three. She didn’t miss anything even though she had only had a couple of minutes to look at the recipe. The larger man put salt into the recipe where it called for garlic and the other man messed up the spices. Both of their dishes would be horrible. The time ticked on as the camera crew filmed different angles that they would use in post-production. It was a boring process for me, but I needed to be there and pretend like I was supervising.
“Mr. Davis, the contestants are ready for you to try their meals.” The producer walked over and pointed towards the table.
“Of course, they’re ready—I have a pair of eyes.” I turned to him in disbelief and walked towards the table.
I went after the smaller man first. I stuffed his food into my mouth and it was truly horrible—an absolute abomination. I laid into him with a tirade of profanity that would have to be bleeped on air but showed uncut on my YouTube channel where a lot of my revenue came from. The dejection in his eyes got heavier as I kept stuffing the putrid mess into my mouth and telling him how awful he was, how he would never be a chef, and he should go work at a fucking fast food restaurant or cook for pigs. He managed to avoid tears, but he finally carried his verbally beaten carcass away from the table with both feet dragging. Since the girl had to lose, I decided to make her last. I made a show of washing my mouth out, spitting the water in the sink, and feigning disgust before returning to the table to taste the larger man’s food. He didn’t show any emotion so beating up on him was pointless. I gave him a shrug and didn’t spit it out, even though it wasn’t very good.
“You’ve got a good presentation. Do you think it is as good as it looks?” I winked at the camera as I looked at the girl’s plate.
“It is delicious, I promise!” She smiled and stood on her toes with a glimmer of hope in her eyes—that would be extinguished.
“Horrible! Absolutely fucking horrible!” I made a gagging sound as I pushed her
food into my mouth. The reality was that it was amazing, but I had to keep up my act.
“What?” She blinked and I saw every drop of hope fade from her face. “I made it perfect—it is perfect.”
“It is an abomination!” My catch-phrase echoed through the room.
“It is not!” She squealed, tears coming to the edge of her eyes.
“Sorry, I guess you win.” I turned to the guy and waved at him before walking to my dressing room so the cameras could get a good look at the girl’s horrified face.
I had no idea that would be the last show I ever did. My retirement was forced, regardless of whether I wanted it or not. When the lights in the studio were dim and I walked outside the make-shift kitchen set up for my reality show, I was face to face with the emerald eyed devil everyone else described. I woke up alone in the snow, guided only by the light in front of me. I found five beasts that were dwelling in a pit of misery, barely able to feed themselves, and getting by on scraps.
My skills were useful and my years of hunting and growing vegetables were quickly able to return some sense of civility to the torment they were suffering. I built a greenhouse using some materials I found in the castle and started growing vegetables from seeds that were gathering dust in the pantry. I made a bow, fashioned arrows from stone, and started hunting. I found solace in the kitchen where I could cook, create, and keep the group fed. Three of them were extremely happy, but the twins were not. They liked the savage nature they had learned in the castle and they were unwilling to reclaim the piece of humanity I offered.
“SO WAIT...” ANABELLE wrinkled her nose and tilted her head as she contemplated my story. “You’re telling me that the woman on your show was the witch?”
“No.” He shook his head back and forth. “The woman on my show apparently purchased a potion from the witch that would make her food better than it appeared.”
“She cheated...” Anabelle looked down at her cup of water. “She cheated and the witch punished you for it?”
“I don’t claim to understand the nature of the witch, but she viewed what I did as a personal insult and sentenced me to suffer for eternity—all for doing what I was paid to do.” I let out a sigh. “I lost everything because I became the man people wanted me to be.”
“This witch has to be stopped...” Anabelle picked up her cup and took a sip of water. “I can understand why she punished Alexander—I get why she was angry at Boone—I can even connect the dots between a woman scorned and her decision to punish Gill. But you? You don’t deserve this at all.”
“She’s an immortal demon who takes pleasure in sending people to suffer for eternity—I don’t think she really cares why she does it.” I shrugged and sipped my water.
“If there was a way to stop her, we could possibly save Alexander’s life.” Anabelle put her cup down. “I’m going to the library.”
Chapter 11: Anabelle
I don’t know what I expected to find in the mass of old dusty books adorning lavish bookshelves that looked like they were craved from marble. The library was enormous and there did not seem to be a method to the organization. I spent most of the day combing through tomes, but a lot of them were written in Latin, so they were useless to me. The ones I could read appeared to be fiction, ancient versions of fairy tales I knew—and a lot I had never heard. The one thing I did learn was that the castle was very old. The books were clearly from an era long before I was born, and long before Alexander would have been a gleam in his mother’s eye. The castle had to be over a thousand years old when he was born.
Based on what I had heard from the beasts, I didn’t think the witch would have waited so long to cast her first spell on someone who wronged her. I also didn’t think Alexander was the first beast to be punished by the witch; he was just the oldest one there. If there were others, they could have found a way to escape. I read until my eyes were tired and then returned to the kitchen where I found all four of them waiting for me.
“Did you find anything?” Alexander looked up as I entered the room. “Randall filled us in on what you said.”
“I’m afraid not.” I sat down at the table and sighed as I looked at Alexander’s withering rose. “I’m not going to stop though. I’m going to figure this out.”
“I tried.” Alexander nodded to Randall when he started passing out plates. “I spent years in that library, but I never found anything useful.”
“Did you see any signs of others when you arrived? Do you think you were the first one here?” I pulled my plate close and dug into my food.
“It’s been so long...” He tilted his head in consideration. “I know someone lived in the castle. The rooms are filled with their things. Who they were and whether or not they were cursed like we were? I’m not sure.”
“Were there other roses on the vine?” I picked up my cup of water and sipped it.
“Yeah.” Boone nodded. “When I arrived, there were several.”
“So maybe that is the key. If someone found a way to escape, and their rose didn’t die...” My words trailed off.
We were living on Alexander’s borrowed time, but I was too exhausted to return to the library once the meal was done. I also wanted to help Boone and Randall the way I had helped Alexander and Gill. They set up the bath again and after spending a considerable amount of time taking care of me, massaging me, and helping me bathe, I was able to start on Boone. He was happy when I was done with him, and I could tell he was eager to take me to bed, but I quelled him with a kiss before I started working on Randall. He was the easiest since he didn’t have quite as many years on his face. When I leaned back to admire my work, I was shocked to see that he hadn’t aged a day from any of the pictures I had seen of him on television. The others I took at face value, just based on what they told me, but Randall was proof that the castle was preserving their life in some way. I finished with Randall and before I could even get balance on my feet once I stood, Alexander was behind me with his arms around my waist.
“A bit eager are you?” I could feel his cock getting hard as he held me close.
“What can I say?” He leaned down and kissed my neck. “You’ve tamed the beast in me and the man is alive again.”
Gill joined Alexander and started kissing along the other side of my neck. Boone and Randall were timid at first, but when they saw what was happening, they came over and started caressing my body and exploring it with their hands. Boone knelt in front of me and started kissing along my abdomen while Randall knelt behind me and let his tongue move along my back. Boone didn’t tease me with his tongue as much as Alexander did. He kissed until his lips were against my clitoris and he started to quickly move his tongue in a circle around the tight bundle of nerves. My pussy was so wet that I was ready for one of them to be inside of me, but the excitement of having all four of them stimulating my body with their lips and eager tongues was so distracting I couldn’t focus on anything else. Randall kissed along the bottom of my ass and then he moved his tongue between my legs as well, plunging it into my wetness while Boone circled my clitoris. The combination of two tongues on my pussy at the same time caused me to start moaning with pleasure.
“Are you sure you can handle all four of us tonight?” Alexander let his tongue drift across my earlobe.
“Yes.” I nodded quickly.
“Good, because that is what you’re going to get.” Boone licked my other earlobe and sent shivers down my spine.
My body was ready, even if the reality of it was something I would have never considered before I came to the castle. Randall kept his tongue buried inside of my pussy for several minutes before pushing me over slightly and moving to my anus. He circled it with the same intensity that Boone was concentrating on my clitoris and I felt a new sensation swirl around inside of me. The feeling was incredible and after a couple of minutes, I could feel an orgasm starting to build. Randall covered my anus with his saliva and then I felt a finger starting to slide inside it. There was a level of discomfort as he
pushed into the tight hole that had never been penetrated before, but it felt good. When he stretched it out enough to slide a second inside, I realized that he intended to use it for his pleasure. The thought caused the orgasm to build at a rapid pace and my moans were only silenced by Alexander’s hungry lips as he slid his tongue into my mouth and caused an explosion of passion to erupt within me.
It’s almost too much to handle—all of them at once with their desires colliding with mine.
“I think it’s time we moved this to bed.” Gill pressed his lips to my neck.
“I agree.” Alexander pulled his lips from mine and I nodded in agreement.
The four of us went to the bed and Boone was the first to lie down. I straddled him with his hard cock pressing against my wetness. Randall was the next one to join us, and he immediately crawled between Boone’s legs and positioned his cock against my anus. I started to push down and Boone lifted, shoving himself between my labia as Randall started to stretch my anus with his glans entering me quickly. Alexander and Gill stood to the side, stroking their cocks as they watched the other two men start to penetrate me.
The feeling of Boone slowly going inside my pussy felt good, but there was pain accompanying it as Randall continued to push himself into my anus. Randall had to pull back and push several times, stretching a little more each time. As much as I wanted to start riding Boone’s cock so I could feel the pleasure of him going deep inside my pussy, I had to wait and let Randall take his time penetrating my anus. Each time he got a little further inside, I slid down Boone’s dick a little more, causing him to gasp with pleasure. The process was slow, but after several minutes, I felt Randall’s hips against my ass and I was able to fully descend on Boone’s enormous shaft.
“God, that feels so good.” A loud moan was followed an even louder sigh of pure pleasure when I felt both of them at the deepest point they could get.
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