(17th June, 16:11, Full Moon)

Beast and the Beast

Chapter Nineteen – Almost Time to Change

(Please note this story has vast similarities to Beauty and the Beast, yet I claim no ownership over Beauty and the Beast, only my inspiration is stolen from the movie/book.)

x.X.x

Baal was satisfied with the conversation he had with Diablo, they had gone over the problem strategically and Diablo no longer thought it was the end of the world now that the angels found an unguarded way into Heaven. It was purely because Baal could handle almost any angel, Diablo wasn't as lucky as some angels matched him in strength and a few could overpower him.

They would be forming their army soon anyway, if the angels came they wouldn't just have to deal with two brothers of the three prime evil's, they would have to deal with every demon in Hell and that would be too much for them to handle; that was why it was imperative to organize his army as soon as possible.

The scattered demons around Hell would help little in a fight, Diablo would have to go to the Plains of Despair and recruit the Pit Lords and lesser demons, Pit Lords made great captains and the lesser demons would be the pawns.

Everything was going perfectly, much better than he expected and it actually put him in a good mood, something he rarely found himself in. There was no reason to be joyous, he wasn't even particularly overwhelmed when he was released, only relieved and being free.

He sometimes felt completely devoid of emotion and it was perfect for him, the fewer emotions he bore within his soul the stronger he was; though he had to admit he had a soft spot for his brothers, they were, after all, his flesh and blood.

He gave a smile as he started to descend the stairs, he was almost at his room; he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it looked like, though he was at least positive that the roof didn't cave in as it was still intact when he left Diablo to his own devices; something that wasn't always the smartest thing to do as his brother had a strange hyper streak in him.

He faintly remembered the anger that had beset him when he thought his brother had assaulted the mortal girl and it confused him a bit as he thought about it; she had run her course by releasing Diablo so why was he keeping her alive or why did aggression take hold of him when he considered the prospect of Diablo harming her for the cape?

The shrugged it off as he finally reached his room and entered it, immediately he was greeted by a smoky atmosphere, almost like that of a tavern where everyone smoked, though it was obvious all the dust had settled, only that which were disturbed by his entrance floated in front of his face.

He searched for Sakai and saw she was asleep on the bed, without her cape and for the first time he actually saw her appearance in full. She looked almost exactly like a reptile; she had no hair, though he assumed she had when she was a human.

He walked to in front of her and looked down at her; she looked pained in her sleep and he wondered whether it was because of her transformation, it couldn't have been easy for her to step into Hell as a prior human and try to take up the role as a demon.

He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Wake up." He said with a feeling of sympathy for her that he couldn't place and wasn't sure he wanted to; because if he knew where it came from it might continue and he didn't want to feel sorry for a person, let alone a human; regardless of the situation she was in.

She didn't open her eyes so he gave her a slight shake and immediately they snapped open and stared at Baal and just as quickly as they snapped open they looked away from him. "What's the time?" Was the first thing she asked and Baal looked towards the window, it was almost impossible to tell time in Hell.

"Probably around noon." He said and she didn't say much as she sat up slowly, examining the room and herself, she was covered in dust as it had come to settle on her.

"Aren't you surprised at the condition of your room?" She asked and Baal gave a smirk and his eyes gleamed, almost kindly, but mostly because of amusement. She still hadn't put the pieces together to come to the conclusion of what he was, who he was.

"Not really, I know of what happened." He said and she gave a nod as she finally pulled herself off the bed, shaking the dust from her to reveal her glimmering green skin once more; she realized she preferred it gray; gray was closer to a human than green was.

"What exactly happened?" She asked as she was finally off the bed and remotely cleaned from the dust; staring intently at her companion now and once more she noticed more of the flesh growing on his skin, she decided she was going to ask about it as soon as she got the chance.

Baal stared at her for a few seconds before turning away. "Just a minor argument." He said as he started to walk towards the bed.

Sakai followed him with her eyes until she lost sight of him and then she turned, staring as he went to sit down on the bed, unfazed by the dust on the bed. "Sounded like more than an argument." She said and Baal snapped his head up.

"What did you hear?" He asked quickly, did she know who he was?

"Not much, just something about Diablo destroying his room; I ran outside then." She said and Baal almost gave a sigh of relief at her words; she didn't know. He wasn't even sure why he wanted to keep it secret from her; though he felt it was the right thing to do.

"I see." He said as she lay down on the bed. "I'm going to rest now; you can do whatever you want, except disturb me." He said and she gave a nod as she just stood still.

"Oh GOD!" Sakai suddenly yelled in horror, startling Baal as he sat up quickly, expecting to see the thing that horrified her; but found nothing as she continued to stare ahead with a blank expression on her face and then she turned to Baal, gave a smile towards him and suddenly bolted from the room.

Baal stared on in confusion; what did he just miss?

x.X.x

Sakai was down in the castle hall and was looking desperately for a place she could hide. It was a full moon! She would soon transform and here she was going to just stay around her companion! She didn't want to imagine his reaction if she did transform in front of him.

She continued to run around the room until she found a door; yanking it open she found an old abandoned cleaning cabinet. "Perfect." She muttered as she ran inside, closing the door behind her after making sure no one saw her going in.

She leaned against the wall and gave a sigh of relief; she couldn't afford that anyone found out about her; they would kill her on the spot or drag her to this Baal and he would probably murder her or torture her. The thought made her cringe as she hugged her arms around her body.

She hoped no one came looking for her until dawn at least because she couldn't think of a reasonable excuse for her disappearance. It was also a good thing her companion had woken her up when he did; imagine if he came two hours later and discovered a human sleeping in his bed? She cringed once more; she would not forget the next time she would transform.

She gave a weak smile; at least she would have the entire night to figure out what excuse to give if anyone asked about her disappearance.

x.X.x

Baal continued to stare at the spot she had been standing a minute before; why had she run like that? It wasn't out of fear that she ran and it was confusing him immensely.

"God… Woman…" He muttered as he lay his head back down on the pillow; he would ask her when he woke up and she knew better than to deny him an answer so he had nothing to worry about; except maybe the problem with the angels.

They were trying to pinpoint the location of the gate that the angel was using that wasn't guarded and that they didn't know about; it was frustrated as Hell was huge and they had to scourge every inch to find a portal.

He groaned; he had thought enough for one day, he needed to sleep to recuperate his energy and mind.