No Revolution For You

Chapter 6

By Linda J.

Denise and the Mastroe exited the cave side by side. The bright sunlight still stung Forte's eyes and made him wince as he reached his hand up to give his squinting eyes some shade. "Ah!", he exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Forte?" Denise asked sincerely.

Forte had already figured out the many, many years he had spent in the dark had made his eyes super sensitive to the rays of the sun, but why miss a chance to screw with someone's head? Remembering all the taunting remarks Cogsworth and others had made insinuating he was some kind of vampire, it only seemed to be a perfect fit for the occasion.

"Oh dear child," he nearly cooed. "Don't you know we vampires can't bear the sun?"

Denise's eyes flew wide open. "You, you're a vampire?", she asked half scared.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" he continued the game.

"Look," he opened his mouth and used his tongue to point out his canine teeth. "A rather fetching set of fangs don't you think?"

Denise quickly turned her head to look forward and in stunned silence as they slowly continued their way back to the castle. Forte relished in the uncomfortable moment of silence between them. Finally, Denise gathered the courage to ask him, "You don't drink people's blood do you?"

Forte practically threw his head back with a devilish chuckle. "Good heavens! Do you believe in every fairytale you hear? That blood drinking nonsense is to scare little children so they'll stay in bed at night while their parents can have some peace and quiet. No, vampires like myself don't suck blood, we merely suck the life out of people. You know," he began to list. "Their energy, their happiness... their optimism…" He grumbled under his breath, "Their will to live, or so I've been told."

"Why would you spend your life being so dreary?" Denise asked in a mildly distressed tone. The old man stopped in his tracks and paused, then turned around prepared to find some snarky answer when he noticed the Princess sitting on the ground like a large dog scratching herself with her back paw.

"You're certainly adapting to this transformation of yours rather quickly," he dryly mused satisfied to change the subject. "I don't recall ever seeing your father quite so content to embrace his beastly nature."

"I never knew that," she smiled with a bit of wonderment. "You know what?"

Forte rolled his eyes, "Again with these guessing games!" he huffed as if he was exhausted. "What?"

"Sometimes," she looked off dreamily. "I wish my father had stayed a beast."

"Trust me, your highness, you would reconsider your wish had you actually known him back then," Forte assured her impatiently.

Denise gave him a bewildered look. "Why?"

"In all those times you were told of your parents' timeless love story, weren't you ever told how awful he was?" Forte seemed surprised. "The benevolent and soft-spoken man you call, 'Papa' now, was nothing but a miserable, lonely and pathetic beast." Suddenly, a pang of guilt hit the madman's soul. 'And I was willing to leave him that way.'

He took a deep breath as if the pressure of the air in his lungs would stuff his guilt back into a deep dark trunk, just like the one he used for his compositions.

Just then, Cogsworth came rushing towards them with a blanket in hand. "You highness!" he exclaimed out of breath and began to scold. "You should know better not to run off that way. Heavens knows what could happen to you!"

He quickly threw the blanket over the female beast's body but she only wriggled uncomfortably trying shrug it off.

"I'm getting hot under here," she complained as the three of them began their way back to the castle.

"Well, you can take this off once you get back inside and find suitable clothing." Cogsworth insisted. "We can't have a princess running about without proper attire, can we your highness?"

"I guess not," Denise mumbled unhappily.

"Oh, and as for you, Mister Forte," Cogsworth spoke in an unpleasing tone. "I must insist you learn to be more, oh how shall I phrase this?" Cogsworth earnestly searched for the proper words. "More pleasant to your fellow servants?"

Forte seemed stunned by this. "More pleasant? I'm offended by this!"

Cogsworth slightly rolled his eyes, "Fine then. Just try to be…" he took a deep breath as yet again he searched for the right words. "Less like yourself. There. Better?"

"Oh yes, so much better," It was Forte's turn to roll his eyes as he sneered in a contemptuous manner. "Now, can you please tell me what the devil you are talking about?"

"Before I came out here, I ran into your old protege Maestro Fife and he seemed quite upset at something you had said to him." Cogsworth scolded.

"Oh, that." Forte sounded somewhat shocked and not sure what to say next.

"Now, I understand you've been living… elsewhere all this time." Cogsworth's tone seemed to soften up for a rare moment. "I'm aware you did not have the opportunity to see your fellow servants grow and change as they have. Fife has matured since you two... were… close but, he's still young and…"

"Naive?" Forte interrupted smugly.

"No," Cogsworth seemed frustrated. "Sensitive. He and his wife took were just devastated by the loss of their first pregnancy. The poor man is a bundle of nerves right now."

Forte was starting to feel like a bit of a heel right now. "Hmm, I see," he murmured quietly as he looked down at his feet as they began to make it up the castle's main entryway.

"You know, Forte," Cogsworth added. "If you want to, mmm, borrow the orchestra any time soon, I suggest a little kindness might get you better results."

Forte sighed, "Oh, I suppose I do owe the bastard an apology."

"Mister Forte! Watch your language, please!" Cogsworth angrily retorted his inferior.

"We are in the presence of a young child not to mention a member of the roy…" he turned around, expecting to see the Princess right behind them, but all he saw was the blanket he had given her, laying on the ground a few feet away from them. "Denise?"

Both men stopped dead in their tracks and looked around. "Oh, where the bloody hell did she run off to now?" Cogsworth seemed beside himself.

"Mister Cogsworth," Forte dully mocked. "Watch your language, please."