Chapter 1 : Murderer.
DISCLAMER, i do not own Beauty and the Beast of course, this is just a work of fiction based on the character and the show.
A/N : Big thank you to Ksana who not only push me and inspire me, but also was my beta reader for this. She is amazing, I keep harrasing her with my crappy writing and she had been SO helpful.
"You brought her in, she's your problem". Darius heart was racing, what that was supposed to mean he did not dare imagine. The man on his right released the pressure on his arm and put a gun in his hand as Darius was staring at Heather's conscienceless body. How foolish of him to take her to the club, he knew they were coming to collect and yet he still came with her. And now she was lying on the ground, defenceless. Everything was his fault.
The bald man smirked as he kept on talking "She's gonna talk about us, it's all gonna come back to you and your hero brother is going to know what a real loser you are". Dammit ! He chose the right words, Darius heart was beating so fast, breathing was getting hard and his mind was racing. He could not let Joe know, oh how disapointed he would be, how ashamed he would feel if he knew how exactly his precious little brother got so successfull ! But Heather was innocent, beautiful and fragile, he could not do that, and yet it felt like he didn't have much of a choice. It seemed obvious that if he was not doing it himself, they would take care of her and they might even get rid of him as well.
"It's your finger on the trigger". Darius' eye notice on the corner the bald man was aiming a gun at him, he had thought right, they would see no problem in getting rid of him, and they probably had many other people to scare to get their money back anyway. It was too late for her already. The guilt, the fear, the shame, all those feeling could read on his face. His finger was getting close to the trigger as tears were rolling down his cheeks. From now on his life would be hell; he would have to live knowing he had killed this innocent woman to cowardly save his own skin. Just one more movement with his finger and she would be dead, one more…
Vincent had left the bar, he was confused. He loved Catherine so much, just thinking of being far from her was unbearable. He would not imagine not seeing her beautiful frame, not smelling her delicious fragrance, not hearing her soft voice and her laugh, not touching her delicate hands, not feeling her silky hair between his fingers, not being a constant witness of her strength, her stubbornnessand her kindness… The thought itself was painful, the man in love would not dare imagining how devastating it would be for him to really be away from her. But he knew that he was only bringing trouble to Catherine's life and anyone that was important to her, the only thing worse than not being with her was to be the cause of her pain. Heather could become a victim of Muirfield and Vincent knew all too well the grief of losing siblings and how difficult it was to go on with life. He had already failed at saving Catherine's mother, he could not be the reason she would lose her younger sister. It was out of the question, he would never be able to live with himself.
As he was thinking about Heather he heard her voice screaming, "My sister's a cop". Instinctively Vincent followed her voice and stopped on the roof just above the alley to observe the scene. Darius, Joe's brother was holding a gun, and men, probably those from the black SUV Catherine had mentioned earlier, were pressuring him into shooting Heather down. He wouldn't, would he? He liked Heather, he was dating her and she was innocent, so why would he pull the trigger? Vincent was ready to interfere any second. All his senses were alert. He concentrated on the sound of Darius' breathing, and stared at his finger so dangerously close to the trigger. Everything was confusing, he heard the men talking Darius into firing, but he did not really listen to them - he focused all his attention on the gun, and Heather. But Darius' finger trembling too close to the trigger to risk it any longer, Heather's life was at stake, the young woman was helpless, he had to interfere before it would be too late.
Vincent jumped and the beast was already there taking his place, grunting. He pushed Darius away with so much strength... He did not even realise how violent his push was when Darius' body hit a dumpster. The other guys were surprised and as one dared going after the beast, the other was not that bold. It did not matter; the beast was fast and took the first down while his accomplice managed to escape. It had all gone so fast, few bullets flying, yet Vincent seemed very focused despite not being totally himself. As the danger was finally gone the ex-soldier was standing in the alley shaking the beast away and taking back his breath. The air felt dry as it entered and exited his lungs, yet he managed to regain his calm. It only lasted a second, soon came the realisation that Heather was unconscious on the ground. "Heather" he called out, "Heather" he breathed her name as his focus went to her heartbeat. He heard it, it was normal, but he still felt the need to kneel to her side for a second, just to make sure she was not hurt. She seemed fine considering the situation, but another thought went through his mind… Darius! Vincent ran to the motionless body, trying to hear his heart as he was getting close to him, but there was nothing to hear, and touching Darius's neck he could not feel a pulse... "Noo", only a being with supersenses could have heard those words coming out his mouth.
It could not be! He could not believe he had just killed Darius. His thoughts were racing… Vincent had taken away Joe's brother and he knew exactly how Joe would feel once he'll learn about his brother's death… Joe would strive for revenge and who could blame him? Vincent's heart was pounding in his chest, when suddenly he heard the sound of police cars getting closer, he had been so focused on Darius and his thoughts that he did not even hear them at first.
There was nothing he could do except to run, run as fast as he could. But before he left, he check briefly one last time on Heather. At least, I saved her, he thought. But that was far from comforting.
The beast he was had killed, again. The monster he was had taken a life, again.
Catherine was reassured. Muirfield was not after Heather, it seemed like JT took the picture down too quickly for them to recognize Vincent and track her overenthusiastic sister. She was heading back home, worrying about her sister had taken most of her energy, she needed some rest. On the way to her apartment Catherine thought of how giddy Heather looked when she mentioned seeing her dance with Vincent at the wedding. That made Catherine smile. Oh, the wedding, that dance, it had felt like such a fairy tale, but not any fairy tale, theirs. How she wished she could go back to that moment. So much had happen since, Alex and ... She tried to stop thinking about all that had gone wrong lately. Everything was going back to fine now. Heather was having fun with Darius, and even though Catherine's relationship with Vincent had been fake-ended she felt like new things were possible for the two of them. Just thinking of him made her feel so much better. Catherine could not wait to see him again, they needed to discuss so many things, she had to talk sense into that man and make him understand that he belonged with her… but she felt like she would convince him easily.
She unlocked the door of her apartment and walked in slowly with a sigh of relief while the door closed itself and her keys fell on the kitchen counter. The wedding, she though, the pictures... Catherine headed straight to grab them, not even taking the time to take off her coat. Here they were, looking so happy, like nothing was on their way, like everything was easy. She took one of the pictures and walked back into the living room, staring at it as a smile lightened up her beautiful face. But as she took her eyes off the photograph she saw Vincent. Catherine was glad to see him… but something was off. He was sitting near the window, looking down, not saying a word, clearly not happy to be there. Something must have gone wrong, his face read I'm sorry.
"Vincent?" Catherine slowed down and her smile faded, "what's wrong?" she asked. But nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to hear. He looked up at her, straight in her eyes. Guilt, pain, shame, she did not know what it was, but his eyes were red, watery even.
"I killed him" he said. Indeed she was not ready for such a news, she though he was here to break up with her, or something silly like that. Yet his expression should have indicated her that this was bigger than that. "Who?" she asked him, shaking her head still confused and tying to gather herself, she did not want him to see her worry, she felt like she had to be strong for him. "Darius" he said. Breathing was suddenly difficult, yet she left out a bit of air, but her face remained quite composed. Dammit, a few seconds ago everything was fine and now… Joe's brother was dead, but he was with Heather, where was Heather, was she ok? All those questions rushed in her mind in a fraction of second and it was getting harder to keep a straight face.
"Catherine, he had a gun and he was gonna shoot Heather", he had barely said it when Catherine almost fell apart, "Oh my G-, is she ok?" she asked immediately. Catherine tried to stay strong, but the fear of losing Heather was taking over.
Vincent tried to explain what had happened, the gun, the men threatening Darius. His voice was shaking, he did what he could to hide the panic in his words, but that was useless. Vincent could not pretend, not even for a little time to fill Catherine in. She heard him but it was like his voice was far away, it was so hard to focus on the words Vincent was saying. All the guilt, the monster, the killing machine that he was made his eyes red with sadness and disgust for what he was, not who ... what.
In front of him, her face was changing at every word that came out of his mouth… Catherine had gone from worrying for him… to fear of finding her sister injured… to guilt. And he could read it all just by looking into her eyes. She should have been with Heather, she could have defended her sister, Catherine knew how to fight, she was not afraid, she was able to deal with guys like that, her sister could not. Heather must have been so scared, Catherine was picturing this scene in her mind and it only made things worse for Vincent. Seeing the fear and the pain in Catherine's beautiful hazel eyes was like feeling a knife in his heart, twisting, and the pain was real. They both got interrupted in their train of thoughts by the phone ringing… Catherine picked up in a fraction of second and had just the time to read "Heather" on it before she put it to her ear.
'Heather? Are you alright? I'll be right there, ok? Ok." The panic, the fear in her voice was breaking his heart. Heather was fine and Catherine was still so scared for her, how would she feel if Heather was ..., Vincent could not dare thinking about it. Everything was his fault, if he had not been with Catherine, they would not have a fight and Heather would have never felt the need to leave with Darius. It was always his fault; every problem in Catherine's life was his could not help but blame himself for everything.
Catherine hang up the phone and stared at Vincent, his eyes were pleading her to believe that he did not mean to kill Darius, that he wished he could have controlled the beast, save them both. Catherine knew that, but he did not realize it, Vincent always doubted himself, she had to reassure him… but Heather was waiting, and right now that had to be her priority. Catherine hoped that he could read in her eyes how thankful she was that Vincent had been there for Heather and that, of course, she knew he never meant to hurt Joe's brother. She gave him a quick squeeze on his shoulder before grabbing her keys and ran through the door, rushed to her car to go take care of her sister.
Vincent stayed alone in the empty, cold apartment. I should go to the warehouse he though, but he could not. Yet he had to fill JT in, to tell him what had happen. He could call, but telling Catherine had already been hard enough for him, he could not say those words again. Instead he decided to text his friend, "Tried to protect Heather got Darius killed she is fine". That was short, but straight to the point, he had not the strengh to get into details, he just wanted JT to know.
Vincent felt the need to go back there, he did not know why but he had to. He left the apartment and went there, to the crime scene.
They say the murderer always comes back to the scene of his crimes, they are right, he does, at least, the Beast does.
A/N : So what do you think so far ? This time I plan on writing much more ...