What Scared A Werewolf

A Beauty and the Beast Retelling

by: Ariebelle

Author's Note: I know the title is lame. It's extremely lame. I don't like it. But I like the story, to some degree. I wrote it quite a while ago but I haven't ever posted it on I don't think. I hope you'll enjoy it at least somewhat. If not, please send constructive critcism, not a flame. I don't appreciate or tolerate those. Now I'll shut up and let you read the story. Toodles!


I looked over my shoulder. There was something following me. I dashed down a dark alleyway, hoping against hope that the thing, whatever it was, would not follow. Big mistake. I came to a dead end, a back lot with a few trashcans. The light of the full moon poured down on me. I could feel my body beginning to change shape as my monthly nightmare began in earnest.

A minute later I was no longer a young woman in a red dress but a huge wolf with shreds of red silk on the ground at my feet. And even as a wolf I could still sense the thing that was after me. It was coming down the alleyway. I was trapped. As it got closer I could see a glimpse of something shining silvery-white in the moonlight. I raised my head and howled. The thing carried a knife. A silver knife. If I didn't get out of there soon I was a goner.

I ran past the thing. (I still couldn't tell what it was but it sure wasn't a human. I knew that smell very well.) It gave a roar of fury and dashed after me. But it only had two feet. I had four.

I made it to the forest on the edge of the town, the thing hot on my tail. I went into the forest, running with all my might, hoping that I would be able to reach the castle, and safety, before sunrise.

"Come here, Amaya my sweet!" came a voice from behind me. "I won't hurt you. Much. I only want to let you feel the pain I felt the night I lost you."

Warren! It couldn't be. I had killed him! I had destroyed him, buried him deep in the ground and left him there to rot. How could he be coming after me now? I ran faster. The castle was just ahead. I could make it if I just kept running. Once I was inside the servants would close the gates. Warren wouldn't be able to get in. I would be safe.

"If you think you killed me, Amaya, you're wrong! You can't kill a sorcerer like me. There are things that delight in reviving the dead. Do you know what they're called?"

I couldn't answer. If I could have I wouldn't. I knew what he meant. Necromancers. They brought back the dead and then the dead worked for them. Unless the dead were stronger than the necromancer. Then the necromancer worked for the revived thing.

The castle was just ahead. I howled to let the servants know I was coming. The gates swung open and I rushed in, a blur of brown fur. The gates swung shut and I heard a cry of pain as I went towards the castle. Warren must have gotten hit by the gate.

"I'll come back, Amaya! You can't run away from me forever! And the next time we meet I'll make sure it's on a night when there's no moon so you can't possibly get away!"

I admit it. I was scared. Not only of the knife, which would have killed me immediately, but also of Warren. He had a necromancer friend, a powerful one most likely. If he had managed to kill me he would have had me brought back to life by that necromancer and I would have been a puppet. His puppet.

I became a human again at sunrise and stumbled into the castle. My lady-in-waiting, Alysia, helped me to my rooms and dressed me. Then I collapsed on the bed and slept until a soft knock on the door awoke me.

"Amaya? Are you in there? It's Jon. May I come in?"

I sat up in bed. Jon was a young man who had come to stay at the castle several months ago. He had been my prisoner but as the months passed he became my friend. But that's another story for another time. At this point in the story I'm telling Jon was knocking on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said. "I'm awake."

The door opened and my black-haired friend came in. His face was lined with worry as he looked at me.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "Where were you last night?"

"Sit down," I said, motioning at an armchair near the foot of the bed. "I'm fine. Last night was the full moon. I decided to go into the town, thinking I could avoid the moonlight. But an old friend followed me and I was forced to run into a place where the moon shone clearly. I transformed and he chased me all the way back here. I think I collapsed on the grounds just after I got through the gates."

Jon sat in the armchair, looking more worried than ever.

"Why would a friend chase you?" he asked.

"Did I say friend? I meant lover. An old lover that I rejected was after me for revenge. Does it make sense now?"

"Yes. But how could he have killed you? Unless…"

His voice trailed off and I knew he was thinking, correctly of course, that my attacker had had something made of silver.

"Unless he had silver. He did. He had a silver knife. He also had powers. He was a sorcerer."

"A sorcerer?" exclaimed Jon. "You used to be in love with a sorcerer? You never told me that!"

I sighed. I hadn't told him much of my past. He hadn't told me much of his past either. We didn't talk about ourselves much. In fact, the only time we had was the night that he had figured out that I was a werewolf. I had explained to him that someone had cursed me and that I would remain a werewolf until someone broke the spell. What I hadn't told him was that someone had tried to break the spell and failed. That someone had been Warren.

"No, I didn't used to be in love with a sorcerer. He used to be in love with me. I hated him because he was cruel. But he tried to break the spell. He just failed because I didn't love him back. So when he declared his undying love for me nothing happened. He said he had never felt pain like that before. I don't think anyone had ever rejected him for anything before. After that night he became cruel with me too. So one night, in werewolf form, I crept up on him and tore him to shreds. When I became myself again I buried him deep in the ground and forgot about him. But Warren was never able to forget. He found a necromancer who brought him back to life and last night he found me again."

Jon stood up and strode to the bed. He took my hand in his and looked me straight in the eye.

"Amaya, I want you to promise me that you will never, ever go out of the castle grounds, even on the nights of your transformations. I'll stay safe in the castle and you can roam the grounds. But promise me you'll never go out again. This Warren will come after you again. I know he will."

I had never heard him so commanding before nor had I ever seen that look in his eyes. I was afraid. I had seen something akin to that look in Warren's eyes the night he had declared his love for me. It had scared me then. It scared me now.

I pulled my hand away and turned my face from his.

"Jon, I know you want to protect me but this isn't your fight. It's mine. Warren will find me even if I do stay on the castle grounds. He'll find a way to slip in. I'll do as you say but please, don't interfere. If he does come, if he kills me—"

"HE WON'T KILL YOU!" roared Jon. "I won't let him. He won't get near you, ever. I promise you that."

"Do you remember that part of the rose garden where nothing grows?" I asked quietly. " The part where there's just a mound of earth?"

He nodded.

"That's Warren's grave. That's where I buried him. He will come back and he will try to kill me. He will kill anyone who tries to stop him. You can't get in the way. I'll send you home first."

"Amaya, you can't—you wouldn't send me home. I need to stay here with you. I l--"

"Don't say it! Don't say you love me. That's what started this whole business with Warren. He confessed his love and I didn't return it. Then he got angry and it just cresendoed from there. I told you that just minutes ago. Go away. Please. Just go away."

Jon looked hurt. He left the room, letting the door close silently behind him. I buried my face in my pillow and wept.

The next few days were silent. I stayed in my room and Jon stayed in his. Then, three days after we had last spoken he came to me, his bags in his hands.

"I'm leaving," he said. "You don't want me here so I'm going home. I'm going to stay with my mother. She needs me anyways. She's been sick for weeks. I saw it in that magic mirror of yours. Goodbye, Amaya."

He turned to go. I jumped up and caught his arm. He shook me off.

"Jon, please! That's not what I meant!"

"I said goodbye."

He left the room and began walking to the front doors. He really was leaving me. I would be alone again and I wouldn't be able to bear it. I loved him. If he left I would let Warren come and kill me. I would rather be a necromancer's puppet than a werewolf, alone and without my true love. I followed him to the doors.

"You need to take care of your mother," I said. "But please, come back when she's well. I'll have the servants fill your saddlebags with all the supplies you'll need. It should only take a month. Please come back. If you don't, if I don't see you after a month, I'll let Warren take me and you'll lose me forever. Goodbye."

Jon didn't look at me, just opened the doors and left. I collapsed on the floor in tears.

The servants filled his saddlebags with healing supplies and he set off in the early evening. I watched him from my window, hoping against hope that he would return.

A month passed. I ate and drank only enough to stay alive and I spent most of my time in the rose garden, Jon's favorite place. I kept my magic mirror with me at all times so that I could watch him. He took good care of his mother and she grew steadily better but as the end of the month grew nearer he didn't show any sign of getting ready to come back.

My transformation that month happened just as the month was ending. In my despair I didn't even search for food. I bit, tore, and scratched at myself. When sunrise came I dragged myself to Warren's grave. It was the last day of the month and Jon had not returned. I would fulfill my promise to him now and give myself to Warren. Jon was never coming back.

"Warren!" I shouted as loudly as I could. "You win. Come and take me. I don't care anymore."

"I thought you'd give in eventually," said Warren's voice as his twisted black form rose out of the grave. "Your Jonathon is never coming back. He doesn't care for you. Not like I do."

"Wanna bet?"

Whoosh. An arrow flew through the air and hit Warren in the forehead. It didn't do any damage but the archer didn't seem to care. He strung another arrow to his bow and aimed again. It was Jon!

Warren looked at Jon and laughed, a high cruel laugh that only a creature such as himself could produce.

"Foolish boy. Your arrows cannot harm me. Go away. Amaya, my pet, come with me."

I stood up, shaking from weakness and from anger.

"Never," I said, my teeth clenched. "You will never take me."

I walked slowly to Jon's side. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. I was grateful for it. I was still shaking and if it hadn't been for his hand I might have fallen over.

Warren looked at us with eyes like burning coals.

"You fools. You can't defeat me just by standing there. You can't defeat me at all. Amaya is mine!"

"No I'm not," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "And you can't kill me. I belong to Jon now. Leave and never come back."

Jon looked at me, puzzled.

"You belong to me? What does that mean?"

I turned on him in frustration. He might be the love of my life but he was pretty stupid sometimes.

"Must I spell it out for you? I am yours. I love you."

He looked at me, his eyes filled with that same look he had worn a month ago, and pulled me close to him.

"And I love you, Amaya. I love you with all my heart."

He kissed me on the mouth. I felt myself changing. I was more free than I had been for years. The wolf inside me was gone. Jon had broken the spell.

"Jon you did it! You broke the spell! You did it!"

Before Jon could reply there came a terrible scream from Warren. I looked away from my lover to see him melting into nothingness.

"Amaya," he rasped. "You broke my spell. You and that fool of a lover. You broke my spe--"

He disappeared completely and so did the mound of dirt that had been his grave. Roses of all colors and sizes sprang up over it and sunlight burst through the clouds above. Jon led me back to the castle, where all of the servants were becoming visible again, and brought me to my room. He laid me gently on the bed and sat beside me.

"Why did you come back?" I whispered.

"I never said I wouldn't," he said. "At first I didn't plan to. I thought you didn't love me and if you didn't love me I didn't want to be with you. But as Mother got better I began longing for you. I couldn't bear to be without you. And today I felt an urge to come back as quickly as I could."

"You arrived just in time," I said. "Even if I hadn't given myself up to Warren I would have died. I hadn't been eating very well and I lost blood last night."

"Shh. Rest now. You've been through a lot. We'll talk about this and much more when you've recovered. Sleep now, my love."

His voice was soft and hypnotic. His fingers gently traced my face. I slept.

We were married a month later. Jon'sfamilycame to live with us at the palace and I explained everything to them in detail. We're living happily now and expecting our second child in a few months. I had been a werewolf for most of my life but I had also loved reading fairy tales. There was one called Beauty and the Beast that seems to be very close to my story. So I guess you could say I lived a backwards fairy tale. Or you could say that I lived a new fairy tale. But however you say it the ending of the fairy tale is the same. We all lived happily ever after.

THE END