/N: Thank you, thank you all of you who reviewed and read my first chapter! Heh, I didn't realize I didn't specify a particular time period nor place, so I edited it in the first chapter to say it takes place during Medieval times in England. When Edward first met her back in chapter one, he was just 19, and Bella just 10. But as of now, eight years passed, making Edward 27 and Bella 18. I did make up the name of the town, in case you are wondering. This is All human! Edward is a sort of creature of darkness. Well we shall see if he is man, or beast?
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or the book "The Bride and the Beast"
Chapter Two
-II-
Eight Years Later...
Loud bloodcurdling screams echoed in the night air as people ran for their lives. The large town was ablaze with smoke and flames rising from the roofs of houses.
Mothers grabbed their children and dashed to safety as beams of flaming wood came smashing down in the streets. They begged God for mercy, but their prayers wouldn't be answered. It was too late for prayer; it was time for penitence.
The moon vanished before the clouds of black smoke, blocking out the moon and the stars, thus producing a thick and heavy darkness. The flames were the sole hellish light.
This wasn't the first village that has been set aflame and burnt to the ground, nor would it be the last.
There were some who would swear that it was a dragon that breathed its hell fire on their village. Its wings, they said, spread across the sky and submerged the village in its dark shadow.
They accused the Black Dragon for the blood bath. He was portrayed as an accursed and demonic beast whose lust was the kill. They couldn't have been any more correct in their deductions.
The Black Dragon wasn't too far away from the smoldering town. He was standing on a hill overlooking the town being drowned in flames. His ebony black cloak fell heavy around him and his black armor gleamed in from the light of the flames. He took a deep lungful of the smoky and ash filled air and a sardonic smile crept on his mouth. The Black Dragon tightened his firm grip on the hilt of the sword and observed the stiff iron blade. He noticed the metal was bathed in blood and was beginning to dry in its dark scarlet color on the blade. He glimpsed his reflection in the blade where there was no blood and saw briefly the monster within himself. He knew he had many names that were given by his victims; in the vein of demon, devil, beast, monster, fiend, and dragon. No one alive truly knows that the dragon is an actual living man. Yes, he had a name that was given to him at birth. In any case, that name died a long time ago and no longer mattered. Now, he had no mercy, for none can atone for the sins they had committed against him so long ago. No, it's far too late for forgiveness.
His eyes darted up from the blade and were sternly gazing at the crimson scene before his eyes.
He was pleased at this little entertainment performed right before him; after all, it was there fault for not abiding by his demands this time. Regardless, he hungered for more, so much more.
Nothing could satisfy his appetite. He knew he craved for revenge, power, wealth, and fear, yet he starved for something that he did not know the name for. He truly did not know what he was unconsciously hunting for.
The moon hung brightly in the darkness of the night. Slowly, dark clouds drifted across the moon, shielding the moonlight and casting the town into complete night. A small town below the mountains slept serenely. It was a small little village that seemed to be tucked away from the rest of the world. It was considered to be apart of theKingdom, yet, conveniently located in a rather forbidding part of the country. For the most part, there weren't many outsiders who visited the small town. The little town was known as Drayanr.
A dog began to whine and bark near the large wooden gate of the town. The dog saw something that he was frightened of, for he was shivering and his tail was in between his legs. It continued it's barking and whining, pressing for attention.
A young woman hurried out from a small little thatched house carrying a lit candlestick. Her face glowed warmly from the illuminated candle as she raised her arm to better see into the night. With her other hand, she tightened her cloak around her shoulders to keep out the chill in the air. She heard another whine from the dog and walked towards the sound. Her brunette hair bounced behind her as she walked briskly towards the dog. Her feet crunched the straw on the ground.
"Be quite! It's the dead of night for Heaven's sake! We don't want the whole town awake," muttered sleepily the young woman kneeling besides the frightened dog.
She stroked the back of the dog, trying to calm it down, but the dog just shook and whined.
"What's the matter?" The young woman said continuing to stroke the dog's fur coat that trembled.
The young woman raised the candle up over her head to look around to see the source of the dog's worry. She couldn't really see anything further from an arm's reach, because there was no moonlight casting it's aura over the ground.
She suddenly heard the wooden gate's doors bang against the stone walls due to the wind drifting against them, indicating that they were wide open.
"Why are the gates open? They are always locked shut after dusk," whispered the young woman to no one in particular. She was growing scared, because she could see little from where she knelt.
The young woman stood up and walked slowly with her candle raised high towards the wooden gate. Her hand was outstretched as she hazarded forward, waiting to touch wooden door.
Her heart was beating fast, for the reason that she knew that outside those doors was unknown to her. She didn't know what could be waiting right outside of that passage. It was never safe outside the town's walls after nightfall. Her mind wandered to what horrors lay in the darkness in front of her. She was like a child, afraid of the dark and her imaginary monsters.
She could feel the rough timber under her palm and she felt for the edge of the door to pull it shut. She found the edge and struggled to pull one of the doors shut with her free hand and her body leaning against the door. The young woman breathed heavily because it was no easy task. Once that was accomplished, she walked towards the other door and shoved it shut as well.
The young woman leaned against the closed wooden doors and thanked God that He was watching over her. She had reason to be afraid, for the reason why no one visited her town was due to the fact it was dangerous territory in the dark forest and mountains. The town was the only safe haven from the horrors that lay outside its doors. Her thoughts scattered once she heard the dog bark again.
She groaned and walked quickly towards the barking dog.
"Come' on," whispered the young woman, grabbing a tuff of fur at the neck of the dog with her free hand, directing it back to the house.
An older man drowsily stepped out from the thatched house and called out, "Bella, is that you out there? You shouldn't be out at this hour, child! Get back inside and shush up that dog for goodness sake!"
"Coming, father," Bella spoke hastily and quickened her pace towards the house. The dog let out a meek whine and tilted its head around to gaze through the darkness at the wooden gate.
The sound of the monastery bell tolled over the small town at the break of dawn. Bella's eyes slowly fluttered open at the booming bell that echoed in the small house. She groaned at the annoying sound and shut her eyes firmly, hoping to block out the noise.
Yet, to her dismay, she was unable to go back to sleep. As consciousness slowly drifted into Bella's mind as she was waking up, she realized that the church bell never rings in the morning. It always rings on the Lord's Day of Rest to call for prayer and only when there is danger. It wasn't the Lord's Day of Rest.
Bella quickly hopped up from her makeshift bed of a woolen blanket and straw and made way for the door.
"Father!" Bella yelled with worry in her voice. She looked around the small room of the house and saw no sign of him. She thought that he may be already out in front of the church. Her dog was lying at the threshold of the door and picked up its head seeing Bella.
The dog let out a soft bark and wagged its tail, which made a thumping sound on the floor.
Bella just stepped over the dog and pushed open the thick wooden door open of the house. She could see the sun seeping up over the mountains, spilling bright light into the town. She swiftly picked up the skirts of her dress and ran towards the other townspeople.
They were all huddled together arguing over themselves. There voices were tinged with fear, yet over-powered with anger.
Bella squeezed through the people and searched for her father. As she weaved around people she overheard the conversations of the townspeople.
"What are we going to do? We can even barely make ends meet here!" a stout well-rounded woman shrilled as she cradled her baby.
"I don't know… whichever way, we are going to die," the man besides her responded grimly.
Bella grew worried on the meaning of calling everyone together. It must be something severe, because the last time the bell rung like this; it was the attack on the kingdom eight years ago. It was the day that the king and his family were murdered.
She finally caught sight of her father near the front of the whole commotion. He was talking to the other elders of the town.
"Father!" Bella yelled, darting towards him.
Her father's face didn't greet Bella with a warm smile, but rather, a solemn grim.
She walked up to him and asked hesitantly, "What's the matter? What has happened-?"
Bella's question was cut off, as one of the men yelled out for everyone to be quiet, for the elders were about to speak.
The loud chatter died down to dead silence as they waited fervently for the elder's speech. Bella stood there impatiently, waiting for what was about to be said.
"Thank you everyone for gathering here so swiftly, for something dire and ill-omened has occurred," The old monk spoke slowly and paused a moment before going on. "It was discovered this morning that a letter was pinned to the wooden gate by an arrow."
A wave of whispers circulated through the people, but was hushed down by the monk continuing his speech.
"I have here the letter and shall read it's contents," the monk spoke and took the parchment by a man standing by him. He slowly unrolled the parchment with his hands shaking, because they refused to work properly in a state of fear. He cleared his voice and began to read the blood red scrawled words.
"To the good people of Drayanr,
I require the following items:
Freshly caught meat, preferably of boar or deer,
A large barrel of wine,
Thirty sacks of wheat,
And lastly, 1,000 shillings.
If you would, leave these demands at the stone gate in the north at the top of the hill two sunsets from this morning.
Failure to comply with my request shall result in the most unpleasant events.
I would obey if I were you.
-The Black Dragon"
The hands of the monk shook at the end of the letter. He scrolled the parchment back up and directed his eyes up towards the townspeople. He scanned the pale and blank emotions etched on the people's faces.
Silence lengthened over everyone, afraid and bewildered at these ludicrous demands proposed by this Black Dragon.
"What are we going to do?" yelled one man in the crowd gruffly breaking the silence, "I have never even seen more than two shillings in all of my life!"
People began to murmur to each other in hurried voices, trying to find the answer to what they were going to do.
"That's why we are here to discuss," replied one of the elder's in the front in a dominate voice. "Obviously, we are not able to fulfill any of these requests-"
"How do we even know if this Black Dragon exists? What if it's a hoax?" shrieked one old woman; she was shaking her cane up in the air.
"I know there were attacks at the closest town to us not too long ago! They said it was a monstrous dragon that had wings black as night and breathed hell fire from it's jaws!" yelled a young man.
This caused more people to talk and grow even more frightened.
"But why would a dragon demand such things? Not even that, how can the bloody thing write!" retorted a bald man growing furious each moment. "Don't they lurk in caves surrounded by their treasure! This is all rubbish, that's what I say!"
"What if it's a man that can shift forms to a dragon? Hmm?" answered a middle-aged man in the crowd.
"Did not ye' hear the curse when the king died! In his dieing breath, he said the whole kingdom would be cursed by the dragon!" shouted another man.
"Was not the black dragon the king's family crest?" the middle aged man questioned.
"Regardless," boomed an elder cutting over the loud chatter, "We have to think what's best for the people of this town. It's quite certain that this Black Dragon does exist and has already wrecked havoc over several towns. We can not implement his demands and we neither have the force to defend ourselves against his assault. We must think of other things that may be of value to this dragon."
The townspeople murmured over themselves, thinking of what can satisfy this dragon's appetite.
"A sacrifice!" shouted a young man in the back of the crowd animatedly, "Isn't that the proper offering?"
The townspeople responded with a loud "aye!"
"It can't be just any sacrifice, dimwit! It has to be of value," yelled an old man, making his way through the crowd, trying to get people's attention.
"Of what value?" questioned a middle aged woman, looking at the man confused.
"It must be a woman who is a virgin. Isn't that the most prized sacrifice?" responded the old man.
The monk quickly spoke, trying to stop this type of action, "Now, now, this can't be-"
"I think there is truth to what they say. We have nothing that can be afforded to be given in the town, and we are unable to protect ourselves. Wouldn't it be best if someone became a martyr for everyone's sake?" an elder quickly asserted to the monk.
"This is blasphemy! You just don't want yourself killed!" yelled the monk, before the elder quickly cut in. "I've had enough, take him away! Shut him back up in the monastery!"
A group of men grabbed the monk's arms and dragged him away. The monk's shouting slowly drifted off as they dragged him off.
"Now, we have established a proper offering is a virgin sacrifice. The question is now, do we know who is a virgin?" the elder spoke over the crowd, looking away from the monk being dragged away.
No one answered. Most of the woman had their virginity taken, were married and had plenty of children, except for one…
A young man then shouted out a name, "Bella! She hasn't been with any of the men here!"
Bella froze still, not able to comprehend being the one to be sacrificed. Bella was trying to protest against the idea, but her voice became dry and she was terrified.
Bella's father quickly shouted, "No! I will have none of this! She is my only daughter and I will not give her to some damned creature!" He grabbed Bella's shoulder firmly, showing that he would protect her.
"Listen to reason, Charles!" The elder insisted, "She is the only hope for the whole town's survival. It has to be her!"
The townspeople began to chime in with the demand that she must be the sacrifice. They were just scared for their own lives, and couldn't care less for Bella. She has always been the one to be rejected from society, and for no reason in particular. It all began when she was little, being teased and bullied, and it just grew. No one bothered with her anymore. She was labeled as too plain by all of the men in the town and they just preferred other women over her. In addition, the still continued to tease and bully her.
While the townspeople talked, Bella's father whispered softly and earnestly into Bella's ear, "Run, you have to run as fast as you can and far away from here. Do you here me?"
Bella nodded her head slightly and she slowly began to drift away from her father and broke out in a rapid run. So many thoughts raced through her mind. 'What is going to happen to me?' 'Where am I going to run to?' 'Who's going to take care of father?'
Bella never ran so fast in all of her life; all those years of running away from being teased never amounted up to this. She swiftly dodged through the crowd before the realized that she was getting away.
A young man, the same one that used to bully Bella, screamed out, "She's running away! Hurry, catch her!"
That game echoed through Bella's mind "Catch Bella". Horrible memories of running out into the woods and climbing up trees to escape their torment. Would she have to do the same now? Yes.
Bella picked up her pace and didn't dare look behind her, for she knew what would be chasing after her.
The townspeople began to yell and the men began to dash after Bella.
Bella actually believed that she could make it out of town without being caught. She could see the wooden gates coming closer and closer. She was almost there until she tripped over a simple stone and fell forcefully down to the ground.
Her hands were scratched and bloodied by the rocks, but hastily picked herself back up. Before she could start her run, a pair of hot sweaty hands grabbed her wrist and jerked her back, sending her to fall back down.
She hit her head hardly against the stones on the ground, which caused her to drift into unconsciousness. They had won this game.
A/N: Thank you all for reading and do please continue to. Hoped you enjoyed it! Reviews always, always welcomed! :D