“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.