Beauty’s Beast

by Black, Stasia

  Daphne

  It’s cool outside, and gods it feels good. Strains of music float above my head. I’m at the foot of a large staircase, the twin to the one I entered at the front of the Parthenon. This one leads to a balcony where guests can gather. Unlike inside, there are no stars in this sky. But a path of tiny twinkling lights leads to my destination.

  The labyrinth.

  The maze is made of towering hedges, shaped into thick walls of dark green. But at least the elaborate decorations mean that standing light sconces are set up every five feet or so, so I can see in spite of the dark, moonless night. Evening mist floats along the ground.

  Creepy much? I shiver and wrap my arms around the soft bark of my costume’s waist.

  I look down at the rose clutched in my hand. I held it so hard in the darkness, the thorns pricked my hand and there are two dots of blood on my palm. I wipe them against the dark bark of my bodice. So much for not getting anything on my dress. I glance down the labyrinth.

  The future of Belladonna depends on it. What does that mean? Our precarious position isn’t a secret. My father is ill, leaving me at the helm. Even with the Ubeli Foundation’s generous donations, Belladonna is sucking through money. The possible merger with Archer Industries is a lifeline.

  This invitation is probably a prank. Armand or Adam or someone is playing a joke.

  But if it’s one of them, then that means they know the secret of the rose. My secret admirer.

  I clutch the rose like a talisman and blunder forward, entering the labyrinth. Immediately, the noise and music of the party becomes muted. A shiver creeps its way up my spine at the sudden quiet.

  The box hedges stand about two feet above my head on both sides and up ahead the path forks left and right. Which way to go? Then I remember what Armand said. Keep turning right. That’s easy enough to remember.

  But then another shiver runs through me as I look around and stumble a little. Dang, I really should have eaten something. I blink a few times, trying to think. I giggle. Usually it’s not this hard to think. But then I frown and try hard.

  Because what if it isn’t Armand or Adam? Sure Armand gave me the rose but is he really the most trustworthy? It’s not like I know the guy, not really. Am I really just going to wander blindly out into the dark to meet some stranger dangling my company’s survival out in front of my nose?

  If this was a horror movie, I’d definitely be the first to die. Dumb girl walking out into the dark alone. Then again, I’m a virgin. Don’t they kill the virgins last?

  I clap a hand over my mouth to keep in another hysterical giggle. Dear gods, I should just go back to the party. I stop in my tracks and look over my shoulder.

  But the harder I listen, the more I actually can hear voices and the occasional laugh somewhere around me, probably others also exploring the labyrinth.

  I scrub a hand down my face. This is not a freaking horror movie. I’m just being silly and letting myself get freaked out. There are people around everywhere and the security at a party like this has to be insane.

  No one would try anything while we were in a public place and literally all I’d have to do is scream. I mean, the party is being thrown by Cora Ubeli and her husband was supposed to be a big bad mob boss—and that’s not even taking into account the rumors about Mrs. Ubeli herself.

  No one’s dumb enough to try to screw with any of the Ubeli’s guests.

  I blink hard to reorient myself, then turn right at the fork and head further into the labyrinth. Chill bumps race down my arms, both from the cold night air and the dark night. And I do really want to know who’s been sending the roses all these years. It’s never felt like someone malicious.

  Strings of lights are woven into the hedges here and there, along with the occasional standing sconce, but it’s only barely enough to see where I’m going.

  So pretty. I sigh and trace my fingertips along the lights.

  Pretty lights in the dark night. Haha! I trip again.

  Whoops! I barely catch myself and frown down at the mist covering the ground.

  Well, that’s why I’m tripping. I can barely see my feet. Ooh look, another fork in the path. Another right turn. More twinkly lights.

  But the lights seem to blink in and out, and for a second I can’t make out anything at all. The mist is especially heavy here for some reason, like someone’s blown a fog machine over the garden.

  “Hello?” I call out, waving a hand uselessly at the mist to try to see.

  I blink hard and take another step down the path. My step stumbles though and the path spins crazily.

  Whoa, I don’t feel so good. I blink again and reach out for balance. My hand brushes against shrubbery but I can’t get a good grip and stumble again.

  Shit. When was the last time I ate? I have a bad habit of working through meals and today I don’t think I even grabbed anything from the snack machines, I was so anxious about the newest round of experiments.

  And then there was the champagne… The world slants sideways for a moment, mists and hedges and ground all becoming distorted in front of me like a funhouse mirror.

  What the—?

  I stumble forward and finally make it all the way down the path.

  It’s a dead end.

  There’s no one waiting for me.

  I frown and grab my dizzy head. Is this all some joke? Someone’s funny idea of screwing with me? Or did I take a wrong turn and not realize it? I’m really not feeling so good.

  I hold a hand out to the sculpted branches of the box hedge for balance. I really need to get back to the party. Have to— Have to eat something before I pass out.

  I turn around to head back—

  And scream.

  In front of me, blocking the path back into the rest of the maze, is a monster. Huge. Horns sticking out of his head. A freaking demon monster! Heading through the mists towards me.

  I scream and stumble backwards into the hedge. Dark-leafed branches scratch at me.

  “You’re hallucinating,” I whisper frantically to myself. “Someone spiked the punch.” I’ve heard of that happening before. People spiking punch with party drugs so that parties turn into, like, orgies. And whatever they put in this time is hitting me way, way wrong.

  The scary demon monster takes another step towards me.

  I whimper, blinking over and over as it comes in and out of focus, swathed in mist.

  Not real. He isn’t real.

  But he sure as hell looks real, all six massive feet of him. Chest like a champion wrestler with huge, oversized muscles, barely constrained by a dress shirt, no jacket.

  As he comes closer, dark eyes glare down at me from a bronzed demon face. He’s a— A monster.

  “What do you want from me?” I whisper, fear cinching my chest tight. I should scream. I need to scream people so can come help me. But my vocal cords are frozen like my legs.

  He grins and I frown. Wait, his mouth, it’s different. I blink repeatedly. Is he— Is he wearing a mask?

  “What do I want from you?” His voice is a low, brutal growl. “Everything, little girl.”

  Oh shit. Run. I need to run.

  But he’s backed me into a corner. There’s nowhere to go where he won’t catch me.

  “I’m going to take everything from you and—” he growled.

  But I never hear the end of his threat because right then, I pass the fuck out.

  Five

  Daphne

  I blink my eyes blearily and lift a hand to my head. What the— That was the craziest dream. I scrub my hand down my face and sit up.

  And then shriek, because where the hell am I?

  I jump out of the fancy four poster bed—a bed that isn’t mine—and my feet hit a cold stone floor. The whole room’s made of stone. There’s a giant empty fireplace with a snarling beast head. It reminds me of the creature the night before.

  Shit. Shit shit shit. This is bad. I blink hard and shake my pounding head. I have a headache from hell. Was I
drugged? Oh my gods, I was drugged and then kidnapped. I’m not wearing my tree costume, just the nude-colored camisole and slip I was wearing underneath. Holy shit. Holy shit.

  I run to the window. The glass is old, thickened at the edges. The stone still is freezing to touch. Outside is a several-story drop down a worn stone face to a lawn below. Mist swirls over the trimmed grass and hedges, obscuring the road and the forest beyond. Not that I can see much far off detail without my contact lenses.

  I swing back and look around the room again. Weapon. I need a weapon. Shit! In all those years of schooling I took, how did I never take a self-defense class? There’s a lamp in the corner that looks heavy.

  But right as I head towards it, the huge wooden door opens. I clap a hand over my mouth to hold in a shriek when a man—oh gods, the same one from last night, bits and pieces are starting to come back—comes into the room.

  “You’re awake,” he says in his low baritone. Even without my glasses, I see the truth. He’s wearing a mask. Not the same as last night. There aren’t horns this time—maybe that was part of the drugged hallucinations?

  This mask is smooth and covers only the left half of his face, including most of his nose. I’m too distracted by the mask and, ya know, the fact that I’ve been kidnapped by a most likely psycho killer to pay too much attention to the other half of his face, other than to note that he’s young, maybe in his thirties.

  I scramble backwards up against the windowsill. “Please don’t hurt me,” I whisper, my heart pounding a thousand miles a minute.

  “You’re not safe,” he says, standing still as stone in the doorway. “Someone tried to drug you.”

  I’m frozen as well, only able to stare at him. Uh, duh, someone not only tried to drug me, they did—Him. Before he brought me back to his creepy lair.

  “Please let me go.”

  “Not until I’m sure you’re safe. Who would’ve drugged you?”

  Is he serious right now? “No one that I know.”

  He shakes his head, a bitter smile curving his lips. “You don’t see them for what they are.”

  “You’re the one wearing a mask.”

  He takes a step into the room and I flatten myself back against the window even though I know it’s useless as he stalks closer. His foot falls in time with my heartbeat: boom. Boom. Boom.

  “In New Olympus, evil doesn’t have to wear a mask. It parades around, looking beautiful, for all to see. But underneath it’s rotten to the core.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I touch my face, frowning when I don’t feel my glasses there. “Please just let me go.”

  “What? Didn’t you like your rose? Your mother did so love them.”

  He pulls his hand from behind his back and produces a perfect red rose. I can smell it from here. It’s the same hybrid from last night. And the one on my desk. And every year since I was eighteen…

  “You?” I gasp. “Who are you?”

  He takes another step closer and runs the blush of the rose petals down my cheek. My first instinct is to jerk back but instead I straighten my spine and look him in the eye. He drags the silken petals down the side of my cheek, along my throat and down along my exposed collarbones. It raises involuntary goosebumps but I don’t look away.

  I’m not going to cower from this man, no matter the fact that I’m scared out of my pants. If only I were wearing pants. I’m suddenly very aware of just how little I’m wearing.

  His eyes are a dark, stormy chocolate. And gods, does he have to be so large? The huge span of his chest blocks out almost my entire vision. I’ve never been so near anyone so…masculine. I ought to be terrified, and I am, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not going to cower in fear in front of him.

  “The question is, Dr. Daphne Laurel, who are you? Are you as corrupt as the rest of them?”

  I frown. “Corrupt? I don’t underst—”

  “Stop playing innocent,” he suddenly booms, grabbing my upper arm in an unrelenting grip.

  I shriek and he lets go but his eyes are thunderous as he looms over me. “You will be tested. Are you an innocent girl just trying to find the cure for the disease that took her mother’s life? Or are you a money-grubbing business executive like your father?”

  “What are you talking about? My father isn’t—”

  “Your father,” he practically spits, “talked a good game. But as soon as he could, he traded his ideals for a fortune. I guess making money from beauty creams is better than trying to cure the incurable?”

  “It’s not incurable!” I shout, shoving at his chest. “We’re close. And who the hell are you to judge me? Belladonna had to diversify or we wouldn’t have had enough money to continue our research. The research that will save lives one day!”

  He grabs both of my wrists, easily subduing me. “So passionate for your cause,” he smirks. “Or like daddy, lying is just second nature to you by this point.”

  “Let go of me, you son of a bitch.” I yank to get away from him but it’s like trying to wrestle a bear. He’s too strong and his grip is like iron. But he doesn’t do anything other than hold my wrist in the shackle of his hands. He just stands there patiently until I finally stop struggling. Furious, I huff hair out of my face and glare at him.

  “I know I can’t trust a word from your pretty mouth. But that’s all right. Ever since you dropped into my lap last night, I’ve been thinking. I was going to just destroy your father’s company and revel in watching it burn. But then…” He pauses and frowns. “Then there’s you.”

  What does that mean? I feel my mouth drop open slightly. This entire thing is insane. This man is obviously insane.

  “Who are you? What did we ever do to you?”

  “All that matters is what you choose to do now. I’m going to give you a chance to save your company, little girl. It’s the only offer you’re going to get, so pay attention.”

  “You don’t have any power over—”

  “But I do. I own the future of Belladonna, in point of fact.”

  I laugh. But then I sober. Maybe I should just play along with the delusional man. If I play along, will he actually let me go?

  But he sees right through me. “You don’t believe me.” He smiles and leans in. “Go ask Daddy dearest. Ask him how he got out of debt six years ago when the company was in trouble. Then again, I doubt he’ll tell you the truth so I’ll save you the trouble. He sold all his patents. To me.”

  “No,” I laugh. “He would never do that.”

  But the man in front of me isn’t laughing.

  I just keep shaking my head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. What patents?”

  “All of them, Daphne. Every bit of research, every right to bring your findings to market—it all belongs to me.”

  “You’re lying,” I whisper. Dad would never, ever, sell the patents. We’d have no company without them. Our research wouldn’t be our research anymore. “Dad would never…”

  “He thought it was temporary. That he’d be able to buy them back when times were better. I leased them back to Belladonna for a time. But time’s run out.” He smirks. “Belladonna owns nothing. Your father can’t worm his way out of his mistakes this time. It’s time for his sins to finally catch up with him.”

  “Why are you so hateful?” I jerk back from him and he finally lets go of my wrists. “You’re a monster!”

  He tilts his head at me, the black half-mask making his face blank and creepy as hell. “Maybe. I am what they made me. The question is, what have they made you?”

  “They haven’t made me anything. I’m my own woman.”

  “We’ll see. We’ll see, Daphne.” The way he says my name…it’s so familiar, like he knows me, not like we’re strangers that just met in the worst of circumstances. Gods, how long has he been stalking me? How long has he been fantasizing this non-existent relationship between us? The roses have been coming for years and years. Has it really been him this whole time? And why is he so f
ixated on my family?

  “I’ve decided I want to give you a chance, Daphne. I want you to submit to me, let me break you down, crack you open, and see your truths. This is the only way I’ll consider saving Belladonna.”

  “You’re crazy,” I choke out.

  “I’m merciful.” His jaw hardens. “Something your father knows nothing about. But I won’t force anything on you. I’ll even let you take a day to think about it.” He walks back to the door, and to my shock, opens it wide.

  I start to hurry towards it but before I can run through it, he grabs my arm. “But rest assured, if you aren’t back tomorrow by sunset, I’ll move forward with my plans to bring Belladonna to its knees and then break open the bottle of Chateau Margaux I’ve been saving while I scatter the ashes.”

  Our eyes lock and I search his eyes, looking for madness, looking for some indication that this entire thing is some sort of fever dream. But all I see is…warmth? Like he’s hoping for something? And determination. He’ll follow through on his threat.

  I’m so confused. None of this makes any sense.

  “There’s a taxi waiting out front. He’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

  Then he releases my arm and I flee out the room, down the hall and down the elegant central stairway and out the front door.

  * * *

  I stumble out into the sunshine, looking back over my shoulder as I go, sure it’s some twisted trick. He’s going to drag me back any second, laughing at my foolishness believing he’d ever let me go.

  But no, he remains a dark, forbidding shadow in the doorway. I’m not going to take another moment second-guessing my good-fortune. I turn and this time I don’t look back. I sprint towards the taxi, yank open the back door, and slam it behind me.

  “Drive!” I shout at the elderly cabbie.

  “Where, miss?”

  “Anywhere! Just get me out of here.”

  He puts the car in gear and we pull forward on the circular drive that surrounds an elaborate fountain. Only when we’re almost out of the driveway do I look back. What the hell is this place?