(12th July, 18:11, Full Moon)
Beast and the Beast
Chapter Twenty Seven – Diablo Discovers Her
(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
(Four Days Later)
Baal was alone in the castle as Sakai had gone out of Hell for the day to find food and she promised she would be back by morning after sunrise; it didn't bother him much that she went out because he was convinced she would return; and Diablo said he would he roaming the courtyard until night.
Actually, what was bothering him was Diablo's amazingly good mood, it was as if he had completely forgotten he was demon and turned into a rabbit or something, just happily strolling around their home doing absolutely nothing but smiling and eating.
They hadn't fought about anything, that had only spoken like brothers about problems, thought it seemed that Diablo's find was always on something else; if it wasn't that demons were immune to narcotics he would've sworn his brother was a drug addict due to his happy mood.
He had even greeted Sakai on one occasion that had left her paralyzed on the spot out of surprise of his behavior and when Baal had found out about the greeting he was just as amazed.
Sakai and himself was getting along pretty well lately, he had talked to her four days ago and every day since then about casual events about her life, even if he didn't divulge anything about himself that she didn't know; she had actually started treating him like a sort of 'friend' instead of a warden of some prison. He thought it might've been the fact that he looked more like her kind now, as his previous appearance had seemed to revolt her a bit.
The simple term that explained it all was that they had grown accustomed to each other and he liked it that way; something that was surprising to him though; it was her appearance. The more he looked at her the more human she started to seem to him.
Were her nails always so short? He remembered them being a tad longer and her skin such a light green? She couldn't recall exactly what she looked like when he met her but she seemed so much to him like a human these days.
And the worst part was that he didn't despise it, he actually welcomed it.
x.X.x
Diablo had reached the town and was cloaked in his cape with a hood across his head to hide his demonic eyes, he would wait a short distance from the inn and see if she showed up; so far her scent was not in the village but he was sure she would come, it was a full moon after all.
x.X.x
Sakai was about a mile from Kurast and patiently awaiting her transformation, it would happen any minute now and then she could go to the inn again; last time she had stolen some money and had paid in advance for her room this night so that she had a proper place to live and could eat proper food which she had craved so much the last two weeks.
Thought she didn't hate or fear Hell so much anymore, it seemed her companion was trying to make it comfortable for her because he had come to her at times and spoken to her like he was her friend and it had surprised her at first, but later on she started to welcome it.
What she was most pleased about was her appearance, she was starting to regain some human attributes, her nails were shorter and her fingers were no longer demonic like, they had returned to their human grace; her skin was also starting to pale; the most amazing part was that this meant she was starting to care and she knew it was for her companion; a demon who she had hated.
As she was still in thought she felt the transformation occur, she expected pain to hit her but found it was relatively painless as she was starting to become human in any case; her nails no longer needed to pull in so deeply and her teeth only retracted a short length before becoming normal again and her skin flaked off painlessly as her hair grew at the same time.
Her clothing changes as well to the shirt and pants she was wearing last time.
Once she was done transforming she gave a sigh of relief as she flicked her black hair over her shoulder, one night of normalness was more than welcome in her life, even if Hell wasn't hell for her anymore, more of a home.
x.X.x
Diablo was waiting by a tree about twenty meters from the entrance of the inn when it started to get dark. "Where is she?" He hissed impatiently as he looked towards the moon and saw it was full; did the inn keeper lie to him?
Diablo growled at the insolence as he was about to set off towards the inn to show the keeper exactly what a demon could do to his professional ass when he saw her. He froze on the spot as he watched the woman that had been haunting his days walk into the inn.
x.X.x
Baal suddenly heard a telekinetic message come through to him from someone, he expected to hear the voice of Diablo, but instead the voice of Mephisto penetrated his thought. "I'm done lying for our brother!" Mephisto hissed out and Baal was shocked.
"What do you mean?"
"He lied about where he went Baal, he said he's going out to kill some woman near or in Kurast." He said and Baal immediately froze.
Diablo seemed to have been over the mortal and the only girl that went out tonight was Sakai, did Diablo plot this? Did he plan this all week, was that why he was so happy? Did he plan to go and kill Sakai somewhere in the woods and then claim she probably ran away or disappeared?
"Open the portal! I'm on my way there!" Baal yelled as he started running towards the portal, if Diablo dared lay a finger upon Sakai without his permission there would be Hell! How could his brother do this! Plotting to kill his pet under his nose?
x.X.x
Diablo felt his heart racing as he wasn't sure what to do next; he was so close to her, what if she slipped out from under his nose again? He sniffed the air and immediately her scent assaulted his senses and he felt his body ripple as it begged to transform.
"Forget this subtleness." He hissed as he literally started to run towards the inn, she was so damn close and she would not get away again; not this time, she had eluded him for weeks but now he had her and she had no idea in how much danger she was.
This was his human.
x.X.x
Baal had gotten to the portal and was now bolting out of the temple; he hadn't even taken time to greet his brother and probably only appeared as a blur. God Kurast was still a few minutes away, but he could smell Sakai was going in that direction but instead he followed the trial Diablo left; hopefully he could find him before he found Sakai. He didn't want her to know Diablo was plotting to kill her.
God, he should've known that greeting was too much and taken it up as murderous intent smothered by sweetness.
x.X.x
Sakai was in her room and closed the door, not bothering to lock it as the only people who would come in would be her room service at eight and the cleaners in the morning.
"Finally…" She muttered as she collapsed down on the bed; she needed to take a shower later, she craved to feel the beauty of water soothing her skin instead of the unsatisfactory splatter of nothing but coldness.
She decided she would put aside her sleep and go shower now, the idea intrigued her more than sleep at the moment.
Just as she got up she heard frantic knocking on the door; she was confused for a moment, perhaps there was a problem with the inn or the innkeeper had a problem, he did seem a bit eccentric at times. "It's open!" She yelled and then suddenly the door open, hitting against the wall with a loud bang.
x.X.x
Baal was about a minute away from Kurast when he heard it; a devastating scream that sounded so much like Sakai that it made him cringe and his heart started to race. "I will kill you Diablo! I swear I will kill you!" He screamed as he continued to run, wishing his own legs could carry him faster.
x.X.x
Diablo was standing in front of the woman that had dared embarrass him like that. "Didn't think you'd see me again did you?" He hissed out as he felt his skin flaking off, he stared into her eyes and he was greeted with the fear he had craved to see for so long.
"What do you want from me!" She yelled towards him and a second later she saw the innkeeper run into the room, she was about to warn him to run when Diablo grabbed him by the neck and snapped it instantly, tossing the limp body on the floor. Sakai placed her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming again.
"What do I want from you? Are you daft?" Diablo asked with a manic laugh that made her skin crawl as she backed away from him, towards the window; he growled and was next to her in a second, gripping her arm tightly as he yanked her away from the window and pushed her away from him again while he positioned himself between the door and window; leaving her with nothing but concrete wall as an escape route.
"I did nothing but escape from you!" She yelled towards him and he growled furiously.
"You had the nerve to come into Hell in the first place, you had no right to try and escape!" He yelled as he took a step towards her, feeling as his skin started to flake off and his body mass increase tenfold. "You had no right to embarrass me like that!" He yelled as his clothing started to tear at the seam as it could no longer contain his growing bulk.
Sakai was about to say her last prayers when a very familiar face came running into the room; her companion! Why was he here? She felt panic suddenly, Diablo would rip both of them asunder and he didn't even know who she was!
x.X.x
Baal ran into the room and the first thing he saw was his brother losing control and then he turned towards the source of it and he felt himself freeze over and his heart stop. Staring at him was a mortal woman, the woman that was in the castle by the scent he picked up.
The woman he had imagined Sakai would look like if she was still a mortal by her vague description of herself in their conversations and with a heart that felt like it was ripped apart he realized the woman in front of him was Sakai.
Everything seemed to be going slowly, Diablo turned to him and growled angrily as he directed his attention from Sakai to Baal. "You will not stop me this time! She is mine to murder!" He yelled angrily and all Baal could do was stare as his brother was bringing down a fist towards him that would probably knock him out of action for a minute or two; and he could do nothing.
Instead he turned to Sakai again, staring into her horror stricken eyes as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She was absolutely beautiful in her confusion and the only thing he could think of is why she would lie to him about something like this? Why she would lie that she could still be a mortal when he had craved to see it for some time now.
He continued to watch her, wondering why he was just standing here and doing nothing to stop his brother from hitting him and killing the woman he was started to think was a Goddess in mortal form; why he was going to let Diablo kill his pet.
He thought it could be the lies and the fact that she didn't give a rat's ass about anything he's done for her or given her.
As he continued to stare into her eyes he saw her start to move; was she going to run? Smart girl; at the moment Diablo was distracted with him and she might have enough time to make it passed the door; perhaps if he evaded this blow from Diablo she would be able to get away to some form of safety.
He watched as she ran and it took him a second to realize she was running directly towards Diablo and when she was about a meter from him she stretched her arms out and Baal watched as she pushed him away from him with all the might her human body had.
At that moment time seemed to speed up again as he watched Diablo's fist miss him by an inch as he got pushed back by about an inch. Diablo snapped around and grabbed Sakai by her neck and lifted her into the air.
On that second Baal realized that Sakai hadn't taken anything he had given her for granted, she was just frightened to reveal this to him and she had just tried to save his life from something that was a hundred times more powerful than her because she thought he, Baal, was weaker than him while she could've run for her life.
She had chosen to stay and protect him from something he didn't need protection, she was the one that needed protection and he was about to grant it.
"Diablo, let her go!" Baal yelled as he took a step towards Diablo and took hold of him by his bulky arm, yanking it down to his level and twisting it into a painful grip that made Diablo roar in pain.
"I will kill you! She is mine to murder!" Diablo yelled angrily as Baal twisted his arm further as Sakai was choking in his grip and with each choke she gave Baal got more infuriated by her sufferings; she had no reason to suffer, she was just frightened of their reaction towards her link to the mortal world still.
Baal growled as he pulled back his fist and conjured up every ounce of power he had in his body as he swung it towards Diablo; getting his brother in the stomach. Diablo gasped as he instinctively dropped Sakai out of the pain and within a second Baal was standing in front of her, having pushed her back against the wall.
Sakai choked in the background as Diablo regained his posture with pain and stared at Baal angrily. "You've become a real human lover you know that!" He spat out as he hit the wall, creating a huge hole in the wall, leading to the outside where people had gathered due to the exploding wall; the second they saw the huge beast within the room they started to run.
"First that disgusting little thing you think is your pet and now you're protecting a mortal that feigned her own death!" He yelled angrily, but made no advance to attack.
"You were about to kill her, you forgot that we require her for information, I will return her to the castle, where I expect to see you." Baal hissed out angrily as he was still standing in front of a coughing and confused Sakai.
"The Hell with you! You better bring her and I will kill her once the interrogation has passed!" He yelled as he jumped through the hole he had created in the wall, roaring angrily at all the humans that he could see but made no aggressive move towards them as he ran towards the portal of Hell.
Baal sighed in relief as he turned towards Sakai; he looked at her neck and noticed the blue ring appearing and blood pouring down the parts where Diablo's nails had penetrated her flesh; she looked up at him in fear.
"I won't hurt you." He said and she saw the surprised look on his face. "Sakai." He finished and he watched as her eyes grew much larger than they were meant to be.