A/N- Thank you for the reviews I have received thus far. They mean oodles

Just for future reference, I am in Australia, and here "color" is spelled "colour" and "center" is "centre". Hopefully those are the only spelling mistakes you guys will see.

On Father's name: I was not going to give him one, at first. But I decided to name him William, as you will see in this chapter. I modified chapter one to show that this is his new name. And I've named th country this story takes place in Avi

On the other site that I have this story posted on, it was brought to my attention that Celine seems dull. Hopefully no one here agrees, but I have to admit she isn't as colourful yet as she will be later. Right now she's in sort of a... well, she's depressed and doesn't know it. She's got a mother that used her, sisters that continue to do so, a Father that could stand to love her more, and a fiance that she hardly knows but can sense isn't kind. She dubs herself a little distressed when really she's just plain sad. And anyone who's been through depression knows that ya tend to lose a little of your personality through it.

But fear not! The beast will draw out her true potential later!

Chapter 3

William was entranced by the man descending the stairs before him. If ever there were to be a being to come close to Celine's beauty, it was this man. His skin was only so darkened by the sun as to give him a healthy glow, and his lips were evenly full and perfectly formed, like that of the mythical gods of ancient worlds.

Father fought to find his voice. A man of inhumane allure stood where he expected a simple accountant. "What is your name?" he asked after a spell.

"Zuriel" came the reply. This man was named like a god as well.

And this "Zuriel" was apparently bothered and amused by Father's presence, though the reason was unknown. He had said something just now about Father being foolish... now what was it? Ah, yes, because it was Celine's engagement tonight.

"Are you the accountant?" Father asked.

Zuriel raised a golden eyebrow.

"You are senile".

William felt taken aback. First foolish, now senile? But he was innocent! He could hardly see the foolishness in coming here so quickly, even if it meant missing his daughter's ball. He felt no remorse for his decision. This silly, handsome man should be thankful that Father had not kept him waiting! After all, the letter had said to come quickly.

As if reading his thoughts, Zuriel began to speak again. "O yes yes, you now feel as if I demanded you here. But I did not. You had the choice to wait a day. Money does not grow legs and walk off. You know very well you have no other relatives that could come and claim the treasure mentioned in the notice I sent to you." His voice dripped with very regal sounding sarcasm. William was beginning to feel inferior.

"But-"

"'But' what, old man? Hmm?" Zuriel interrupted, and waited for William to resume speech again.

William cleared his throat nervously. But nothing. He had no idea how to argue with Zuriel. Only now was he beginning to feel that this was not such a good idea after all, as Zuriel, currently at the bottom of the grand staircase, began to walk towards him in a sinister fashion.

"Why have you come here?" asked Zuriel softly. His broad shoulders swayed slightly as he walked.

The old man hesitated. "Riches?".

Zuriel raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. Well at least Celine's father was honest to others, if not himself. This was truly the only positive character attribute that Zuriel could find in him. How… sad. Pathetically so.

"No. Not for riches. For narcissistic love. You left your own daughter in the clutches of an obvious abuser, had you eyes to see with. And then you raced off to gather more money for none other than yourself.

"Tell me, little idiot, did you think of using the money to spoil your other two already spoilt daughters to make the wretches happy, or to make them appreciate your more?"

William was silent.

And Zuriel chilling his very bones.

'Sire.. please, let him keep enough of his sanity to make it back". A womanly voice came out of nowhere. William turned around, startled by the sound but relieved that he was not alone with Zuriel, who held to his hand as if to quiet the voice.

William looked in the direction of Zuriel's silencing command. And…. There was no one there.

William blinked. Madness. He turned frantically, first to the left and then to the right.

No one.

He took a step back and bumped into something soft and fleshy. Ah, a woman, no doubt. The source of the voice!

He turned around to face her. Still, no one was there.

Another voice sounded, masculine this time. "He is beginning to panic, sire. Shall we show him out?"

William's breathing quickened. Where were these blasted voices coming from? Was this a joke? Surely not…

"No" replied Zuriel. "Not until he knows my orders".

To William, whom he had yet to take his eyes off of, he spoke again.

"You will return to your daughter, this very night. You will tell her she must come to me or it will be the death of you". Zuriel's voice was commanding but soft as ever. His order was simple and lacked any ounce of remorse.

His stare bore into William, adding more motivation to carry out his command. He ordered men about like a king, yet for all William knew he was simply wealthy.

Or perhaps the current king was not the true king at all, and Zuriel was the rightful one.

Why else would a man of such power, mental power, be residing in an enormous, unknown castle in the middle of the densest forest known in the kingdom?

But William had no time to think of such things now. He had to go… Zuriel commanded that it be done…

"How will Celine know the way?" he asked. Surely Zuriel did not expect him to accompany his daughter back to this perilous place.

Zuriel snorted. "She is an intelligent girl. She can easily find her own way".

William nodded. As he pivoted on his toes to leave, he bumped into another soft something, and let out a scream as he did so. What was this madness? Voices and bodies that were not really there?! This was not possible.

He had to go!

William ran to the closed doors he had just come through, but Zuriel's voice distracted him. Heturned to look at the man, afraid to stop for anything, and tripped over his own feet in the process.

"One other thing, you lothesome louse". Zuriel watched him fall. The sound of William's breath being knocked out of him upon impact to the stone floor had no effect of Zuriel's mercy-or lack thereof.

He threw three shiny stones at William's feet. They were large, almost half the size of Father's fist. Without looking at them, the old man scrambled to pick them up so that he could be out of the castle all the sooner. He rose unsteadily to his feet and raced to the barely opening entry doors of the castle.

He had to get to Celine. She would save him.

Celine looked fixedly at the bruise that all but graced her wrist. It had formed fairly quickly, her fair skin darkening to pale, and now dark purple the moment Roland had released her hand.

In hopes of restoring any good opinion of Roland that she once had to the inner workings of her mind, Celine told herself that perhaps he did not realize it when he hurt her like he did. He had a fairly burly physique, after all. He did not know his own strength.

The night was hardly drawing to a close. A few guests were still arriving, which meant she would have to find Roland each time this happened and go greet them with him. She spoke with perfect etiquette and finesse, much to the delight of the lords and ladies that she entertained.

Now used to the subtle creaking of the doors of the front hall creaking to let newcomers inside, the loud thud they made now as they flew open threw the entire ball's populace into silence. The Huisshers shouted after the man who had flung the doors open.

"Stop, you!" yelled one, forgetting that there were so many people watching.

Still, the man ran forth, towards Celine. It took her a moment to realize who it was.

"Father?" she cried, shocked. His cape was torn and his face was scraped and bloodied, seemingly by branches. Why had he been riding so carelessly?

His eyes were what drew her attention, however. They looked crazed.

"Y-y-you must go, Celine!" he cried as he fell to the floor at her feet and grasped at her gown. "Now! I beg you! He will follow me… I know it! I-"

Celine cut him off before he could draw any more attention to himself.

"Hush, Father" she said gently, and helped him up. He was heavy, and it took a great amount of her strength, which was hardly vast, to do so.

"William- what is the matter" said Roland harshly, as he smiled at his guests to urge them to continue on with their merry-making.

"Everything is fine, darling. I will return in a moment" said Celine on Father's behalf, not wanting him to be embarrassed. Roland shot her a fiery look, to which Celine smiled at in reply. She gave him a reassuring look and helped her father from the ball room and outside. The Huisshers glared at her as she passed, but she ignored them.

Breathing heavily from lugging her father's weight so far, Celine could hardly breathe as she helped him sit on the front steps of Colne Manor's entrance. The night air was cool and helped her clear her mind enough to listen to Father's maniacal speech.

She beckoned forth the footman of the carriage that had brought she and her sisters here with her finger. He cam forth quickly and sacrificed his cloak that Father may be the warmer. She thanked him quietly, embarrassed that she had no cloak to give, and turned back to her father.

"Tell me what ails you. What is wrong?" she enquired soothingly. She smoothed the short gray hairs from Father's forehead and waited for him to speak.

"The place. With the riches. It lied! He lied! He will kill me, Celine, you must believe me! Go to him!" His sentences, incomplete and frantic, melded into one another. Still, Celine tried her best to make sense of it all.

Father grabbed the neckline of Celine's gown. "Go. To. Him" he commanded.

Celine felt panic rising again. Father had never behaved this way before, and she was terrified of this man her father was telling her she must go to. Images formed of a dark-haired, beastly man that towered above her, ready to take her life if she went to wherever Father was telling her to go to.

She fought to breathe evenly.

Agnes and Amelie were coming now. They screamed for Father, asking if he was alright and pushing Celine away, as if they could provide better comfort for the old man.

"Are you stupid?" demanded Amelie when Father went on speaking in the same manner to her. The comment was directed at Celine. "You look so scared. He is only tired, after all" she scoffed.

A few of the guests were coming their way. They looked concerned.

"My lady! Is your father alright?" asked a young man, hurrying towards her.

Celine, shaken, looked up at him. "I am not sure" she replied honestly.

Father had to be referring to this place he had said he was going to. This Aunt Fiona's…

Celine carefully dug through Father's pant pocket to find the notice and map to the place. Her hands scraped against something very hard. She gasped and pulled out the offending object. It was a gem, and barely fit in the palm of her hand. It shown blood red. A ruby?

Agnes gasped and grabbed the ruby from Celine's hand. Shocked, Celine reached back into Father's pocket and extracted two more jewels. One was a diamond, the other a sapphire. These had to be worth a fortune. Amelie looked up and grabbed those, too. The two sisters were amazed, and Father was, for the moment, forgotten.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Celine searched again for the map. Finding it within seconds, she unfolded and read it carefully again. She saw nothing suspicious or threatening about it.

Still, strange as Father had always been, this behaviour was clearly not an act, and she believed his words, confusing as they were.

By this time the few guests gathered around Father were more sceptical than sympathetic.

"He is raving mad" whispered one. So they had not noticed the jewels.

"Poor girl, Celine is, to live with such a fellow".

Celine ignored the cutting remarks. They were painful, as she loved her father very much. She looked around for his horse, hoping the animal had not run off in the commotion.

She spotted the beast not far off from the line-up of carriages behind Lord Colne's carriage that he had sent to her. Ignoring her sister's demands for knowledge of where she was headed, she mounted the beast, praying Roland would not miss her presence and follow her.

___­­­_____

Zuriel paced through his library, his stress levels affecting him more than he had anticipated they would.

The library had always given him peace. He found rest in knowing his knowledge was ever increasing. Humanity was such a pathetic breed. He prided himself on advancing forth with more zeal than any human could ever imagine. He studied everything. Medicine, literature, mythology, ethics, history, mathematics…

But now, surrounded by his towering bookshelves, he found no solace.

"Sire, please, rest for awhile. This day has been most tiresome, I am sure". It was Amara, his best cook and most motherly servant. Her gray hair was swept up into a delicate bun. A few wrinkles graced the corners of her eyes, but other than this, nothing gave her age away. Her figure, thought plump, was pretty as ever, and her eyes, blue in hue, sparkled with youth.

Zuriel ceased his pacing for a moment.

"Ten years I have prepared for this! No matter how long I lived before I laid eyes on Celine, it has seemed to be an eternity to wait for her to age.". He spoke with passion and began pacing again. He had waited so long. He prayed his plan would work. He saw no other way to get Celine to come to him. He would have waited longer, and devised a more plausible scheme, but Roland's damned untimely proposal had left him with no other choice.

And he had stolen Celine's first kiss…. Zuriel had spent so long protecting those lips, only to have them molested all in one day.

But he would deal with that later. For now, he had nothing to do but wait for his love. He had much to teach her. There was so much she needed to know…

Another feminine voice, younger this time, interrupted his thoughts.

"O do leave him alone, Amara. The ass will settle down in his own time". It was Emily, his feistiest servant. He sighed and stopped his pacing once more.

"Out!" he shouted, and pointed towards the exit of the library.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Bloody beast. Ordering me around after all these years of covering his hide.." Still she followed orders and left, mumbling under her breath. Amara was in tow.

Zuriel raised an eyebrow. He would put Emily back in her place later. She was lucky he found the girl to be amusing, or he would have kicked her out of the castle long ago.

He strode forward and took a seat at the desk in the middle of the large room. His servants footsteps echoed as they left the room and shut the door behind them. The library was three stories high, as were the doors to them. Emily and Amara were only able to open and closed them after years of experience with such heavy tasks.

He stared around, trying again to appreciate the beauty of the library. The ceiling itself was painted with mythical creatures like vampires, fairies, and mermaids. His entire castle was decorated with replicas of such creatures. Because of what he was, he liked to hope that other creatures too existed. It made existing much less lonely of a task.

The bookshelves wound around every wall of the library, even and flowing. Two staircases lead to the second floor of the library, which was open to the rest of it. The second and third floors consisted of nothing but small walkways, which attached to the bookshelves. This rid the library of use for ladders to reach the books on the higher bookshelves.

More than once he had caught the children of his servants playing hide and seek amongst the complicated walkways here.

He knew Celine loved to read. Thus, he knew she would love this library as much as he did. It was mostly designed for her in the first place.

He prayed she would hurry. He had waited so long for this day, even if it was not coming about how he had planned. He would make Celine love him. She would see..