A/N: So this has also been in my drafts for months and a few days ago I finally decided to finish it. Today I got inspired from seeing those gorgeous pictures for the new BATB movie so I decided to post this. This chapter is Version 1 of 2 Beauty and the Beast AU's I'm planning for this story. This one is where Enzo is the "beauty" and Bonnie is "the beast". Version 2 will be the other way around. So far I have more ideas for version 1 so I'll be updating more chapters of that as for right now. Anyways, as always hope you enjoy and tell me what you think :D
Chapter 1
Enzo St. John, abandoned at age three to live with his uncle and cousins to grow up to become a farm hand, had dreamt about traveling the world and going on adventures ever since he could remember. The closest he had ever gotten was traveling to the next town over during the annual festival to help sell the farm's goods. As he got older he started to save up so he can finally leave his little town when he was older. All of his efforts went away, however, when his uncle had died, leaving the farm to him and Enzo's little cousins to look after. Enzo's dream suddenly looked impossible to come true but he never stopped dreaming of one day taking his cousins with him and leaving the ratchet town for good. But he knew the odds of that were slim to none.
That all changed, however, on one fateful night when two of his cousins had come running toward him while he was grooming one of their horses. It was festival time and Enzo had reluctantly sent the girls to the festival first since he needed to finish packing the goods. He knew the risks but he also knew that if they stayed on the right path they'd be safe.
They apparently didn't stay on the path.
Alexandria and Virginia had come running toward him the fastest pace he had ever seen them run. Their once braided hair were now knotty messes with leaves and trigs stuck on top. Their dresses that Enzo had worked hard on buying for them were now soaked with mud. Enzo's heart stopped at the sight of them.
"Virginia, Alex, where is Yvette?" He asked running toward them.
"She's gone." Virginia said with despair.
"She is not gone." Alex replied fiercely. She then turned to Enzo with pleading eyes. "Yvette's stuck in the abandoned castle."
Enzo's eyes widened in shock. "I thought I specifically told you three to stay on the path."
Virginia said, "We were, but then Yvette remembered the stories about the old abandoned castle and wanted to see it herself."
"So you just let her go?"
"We didn't let her, she wouldn't listen to us and was already leaving the carriage to go so we went after her to make sure nothing happened to her." Alexandria said.
"But something did happen to her?" Enzo asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
"She went in the castle and never came back. I was going to go in but Virginia didn't want to be alone and we agreed to get you instead."
Enzo sighed, "Okay let's go."
BEBEBEBE
The entire trip to the abandoned castle was nerve wrecking. What if Yvette was captured or worse… dead? Enzo couldn't live with himself if anything happened to her. They were under his care and he just let them go by themselves. Well they weren't by themselves, they had escorts, unreliable ones that is since they apparently abandoned the girls so they wouldn't go to the "haunted" castle. Some gentleman they were.
Once he reached the towering building, he got off his trusty horse and let out a low whistle. The tall ominous towers soared high in the sky that at this angle looked like they were never ending. Enzo was glad he told the girls to stay at the farm. The place sent chills down his spine. No wonder no one he knew or heard of had ever came here.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the old, rusted gate and started walking toward the main door with confidence and determination. Once reaching it, he slowly opened the door.
"Hello?" Enzo asked, sending echoes throughout the main room. He looked around the gigantic, empty room. "Yvette?"
Besides the opened door that was sending a ray of the moon's light, the place was pitch black. It seemed like no one had been there in years with the dusty cobwebs covered every inch of what he saw. Once he reached the far hallway, he suddenly ran into something.
Or rather, someone. Stepping back, Enzo focused on the woman in front of him.
She wasn't Yvette.
She had light skin with what seemed to be golden curls. Her eyes widened shock.
"You." She squeaked. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Yes well I'm looking for my cousin, Yvette. The last someone saw her was here. I didn't know anyone lived here."
"Blondie what are you doing? Stefan's looking for you." A man said coming from behind her. He stopped and his gaze fell on Enzo. His eyes also widened in shock. This time, however, he smiled. "Wow, two people in one day. That's a record. We haven't had anyone come here in years and now it's like they're coming out of the woodwork."
She slapped his arm, "Damon this is serious. We can't take someone else."
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Enzo asked in anger. Did they take Yvette?
The blonde turned to him, giving him a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry but we have to keep your cousin. It's out of our control."
"Wait what?!" He shouted in outrage, causing echoes across the room and hallway.
"I'm sorry but will you keep it down? I don't want to anger her again. I just got her to calm down." The blonde said.
Enzo gave her an incredulous look, "I don't care who is angry. I demand to see my cousin."
Suddenly the room began to shake as smoke appeared out of nowhere. Once it started to clear, it revealed a woman. "Caroline? Damon? What the hell is going on?"
"Now, Bon don't get angry..." The blonde began to say.
The woman turned around and caught Enzo's gaze.
She was breathtaking.
And scary.
"Who the hell are you?" Her low voice echoed throughout the front room and halls, causing Enzo's skin to crawl. He ignored it and glared at her defiantly.
"My name is Enzo St. John and I'm looking for my cousin Yvette."
Her glaring face softened, "Oh." She shook her head, "I'm so sorry but your cousin can't leave this place."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" He roared.
The woman gave him a sympathetic look, "This house is cursed. Anyone who cross this threshold or the one upstairs they're spelled to stay here forever."
Enzo blinked at her. Was she serious? Yes he knew that magic existed so it wasn't that far fetched. However, he couldn't just let his cousin stay here forever just because a stranger told him to.
"Let's pretend for a moment that what you're saying is true, if so then shouldn't there be a loophole or something? I don't care what you say I'm bringing my cousin out of this place."
The woman looked at him for a few moments before responding, "Your cousin, is she family by blood?"
He nodded, "Yes. Why?"
"Well, there is one thing you can do however you're going to have to make a sacrifice."
"Anything." He responded without hesitation.
She studied him for a moment before saying, "I actually believe that. Now then, here's the deal. Anyone who enters this castle is stuck here forever. However, since you and Yvette are blood related I think I can do a spell to trade her place in this castle with you. However that means you will have to stay here indefinitely."
Enzo tensed. He couldn't just give up his whole life to stay here forever, could he? He had the girls and the farm to look after. Who would look after them? There was no way he was abandoning them. However that would be exactly what he'd be doing if he just let Yvette stay in this abnormal castle for the rest of her life. Enzo couldn't do that to Yvette. After several moments of pondering it over, he finally made a decision.
"Fine. You have a deal."
"Yvette you have to promise me you will keep each other safe." Enzo said, holding his crying cousin in his arms as she sobbed on his chest.
"We won't be safe without you." She cried, tilting her head to look at him.
Enzo sighed. It killed him that he had to do this but it was the only way. He couldn't let Yvette live in this castle with these strange people who would do Lord knows what with her. The girls were friends with practically everyone in town, unlike Enzo. They would be fine. At least that was what he was trying to convince himself of.
"Yes you will. You have the entire town to take care of you. You can do this. As long as you remember everything your parents and I have taught you, you will be fine."
Yvette shook her head, "You're abandoning us!"
"It's the only way I can save you." He pleaded with her.
She parted away from his grasp, giving him a hard look, "Fine. But know this cousin. I will never forgive you for this." She then turned around and started to run.
"Yvette! Wait!" He started to run after her and then suddenly hit what felt like a wall that flew him backwards.
The woman, who seemed to be the head of the house, placed a cold hand on his shoulders that made him flinch and turn to look at her. She immediately drew her hand away as she cleared her throat, "The spell is done. You cannot cross that threshold anymore."
Enzo sighed looking at the empty space his youngest cousin was just moments prior. "She hates me."
"She is afraid. There's a difference."
He stood up and looked at her straight into her eyes, "Yes well, know this, whatever-your-name-is, I am not afraid of you but I do hate you for what you've done to my family."
She visibly flinched, turning away.
The blonde, who was standing behind her and the guy from earlier and another guy, glared at him, "Hey, this isn't her fault! She's just a victim as you are. This whole thing is Kai's fault."
"Caroline!" The woman shouted, making the halls echo.
Everyone flinched.
She sighed, "That's enough." She then turned back to Enzo. "Stefan and Damon will show you to your new room. Now if you'll excuse me, I should go."
"Wait!" Enzo stopped her, grabbing her arm. "Who are you?"
The woman's piercing green eyes shined even in the dark-lit room as she said, "Bonnie. They call me, Bonnie. I really am sorry Enzo." Smoke then appeared and then she was gone.
The man from earlier clasped his hands, "Well then let's show you around the new home, shall we? How does a ground tour sound?"
"Damon," the other man warned, "Bonnie specifically told us to take him to his room. That's it."
"Stefan's right. Bon's already in a mood. We all know you just love to poke the bear but it's been a long night so please save us all the trouble and don't be you."
"It's just giving him a tour, what's the harm in that?"
The two protesters looked at each other being sighing. "Fine." Caroline said. "But just a quick tour on the way to his room."
This 'Damon' fellow rolled his eyes, "Fine. Whatever." He then put an arm around Enzo's shoulder and said, "Come on."
And so Enzo walked with him as the others walked behind them, hand-in-hand. They walked through the hallway as it became more and more lighter. They then ended up at the bottom of what seemed to be very grand and beautiful entrance room with two stair cases.
"Wow." Enzo said as they walked toward one of the stair cases. "Is the entire castle like this?"
"Most of it." Damon replied.
"Why isn't it like this in the front? This seems like a room that would be in the entrance."
"It was. You see this castle was very beautiful, but when we got cursed Bon-Bon didn't want others to be cursed like us so she made the front and outside look as scary as possible. It's worked… for the most part that is."
"So what are you lot to this 'Bonnie'?"
"Friends." Caroline said.
"And servants." Damon also said, which earned him a glare from the blonde.
Stefan chimed in, "Have you heard about that village that just "disappeared"?" Enzo nodded. "Well, that was us. You see Bonnie was the village's main witch. She did everything for us. It happened to get…out of hand. Her lover, Kai, saw this and wanted her to run away with him but she chose to stay. This made him angry and attack our village. He saw that she was even willing to kill him for people who always just "used her". And so he cursed her and the entire village to his family's castle. We are now her servants and are magically inclined to serve her at every need."
"Which drives her crazy." Caroline said.
"So basically Bonnie did everything for others and that ended up getting her cursed?" Enzo asked, trying to get a grasp of the situation.
"Yep." They all said at once.
"Huh." Was all he could say, feeling like he was starting to understand her. He too knew what it was like to always help. Granted, he did it more begrudgingly and did make time for his own self. He didn't know why, but something told him that that wasn't the case for Bonnie.
"Has she tried to break this curse?"
Damon snorted while Caroline rolled her eyes. Stefan said, "She has. She's been searching for years to break it with no such luck."
"Well there is one way we know of." Caroline muttered.
The two men gave her warning looks, which made her close her mouth.
"What's the one way?"
"Nothing interesting. Just something that we've tried in different ways but hasn't worked. It could only work one way but we can't use it that way."
"Sounds interesting to me. What is it?"
All three looked at each other with uncertainty.
"Never mind that." Damon said. "Let's continue on the tour, shall we?"
Enzo tried to protest but noticed the warning in the man's look, so he backed off. For now, at least. Because Enzo was damn sure he was going to find a way out of here and get back to the only family he'd ever known.