Broken Beauty and the Beastly Vampire Prince

Madness Creeping In

Third Person POV

He stared out the window feeling as though he was slowly going insane, the moon overhead, full and shining brightly. A constant reminder and mockery of what he could no longer walk underneath. He stared off into the distance, feeling morose and angry. He blinked; certain that he was seeing things. For a moment, he had been certain he had seen the sorceress Selene, or was it Selena? He could no longer remember, walking in the distance, a cloak trailing around her as she wandered in the forest. She had been staring up at him, her eyes fixed on the very window he had been staring out of. It was her; he was sure of it. He let out a growl of fury as she disappeared and banged on the window, frustrated beyond belief that he couldn't go after her, trapped in the castle by the very curse that she had created.

“f*****g b***h” he roared, “Come back here” he screamed, his voice echoing throughout the corridors and making the nearby servants cringe as they heard him.

He sounded mad, they all thought, hiding and rushing past his room as fast as they could.

He tore a painting off of the wall and shredded it with his long fingernails. It was a picture of him and Everly together, dressed in their wedding clothes and smiling at the camera. It should have been destroyed long ago, but he’d kept it, for who knew what reason, and now it served only to piss him off further. Another reminder of his painful past. He gouged out her eyes and broke the frame into splintered pieces, tossing everything out of the window and watching it fall to the ground, panting heavily. His rage increased even further, overwhelming him and getting out of control.

He grabbed another photo, one of himself, and threw it across the room, listening to the sound of the glass breaking with a sense of triumph and satisfaction. His nails dragged across the walls of the room, gouging deep tears into them. He pounded the walls with his bare fists until they were bruised and bloody, cursing the fact he was a vampire and he healed incredibly quickly. The pain was a welcome distraction. He wanted to hurt. Wanted to be in pain. Anything was better than what he felt on the inside. The emotional torment that never ceased to haunt him.

He roared, tearing his door off its hinges and sending it crashing into the hallway as it bounced off the wall and fell to the ground. His eyes were red and glowing. He heard a low whistle as Damon came out of the shadows his lips downturned. “Have you finished your temper tantrum yet?” he said shaking his head in disgust.

Lucian snarled at him. He clenched his fists. Damon raised an eyebrow, unaffected and unfazed. “Are you wanting to fight?” he asked “Would that make you feel better?” he snarled.

Lucian was tempted. He wanted to hit something, someone. His nails dug into his skin, drawing blood and he licked it, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight. The only thing saving Damon from being beaten right now was their friendship.

“She was here” he hissed as Damon stiffened, a look of confusion coming onto his face.

“Who was here?” asked Damon slowly, c*****g his head and regarding Lucian with careful eyes.

“That b***h Sorceress. I saw her. She was in the forest” growled Lucian, pointing through the window, "I know it was her" he growled "I will never forget that face for as long as I live."

Damon hesitated. This could be a figment of Lucian’s imagination. But if it wasn't, what was the sorceress doing here? He drew his shoulders back, thoughts flooding through his mind. If she was here, maybe she could be persuaded to break the curse, he thought grimly. “Wait here, I’ll be back” he hissed and took off running, grateful for his vampire speed. He was fast, but would he be fast enough?

He raced out the front entrance and towards the forest that surrounded the old castle. His feet pounded on the ground, his eyes sweeping the trees and the darkness for the merest hint of somebody out there. He couldn’t discern anything, but he made off in the direction Lucian had pointed. Nothing. Not even a trace that somebody had been out there. No footprints, no strange smell or scent, no broken twigs or branches, no disturbed ground or grass. It had to have been Lucian’s imagination. Damon kicked a twig in annoyance. Wouldn’t the sorceress be dead by now anyway? Surely, she wouldn’t live forever or would she? He had no clue, they were different from witches who had a limited lifespan. He scowled, feeling exasperated. Was Lucian going insane from being confined in the castle day after day? Lucian wanted to believe that he had made a genuine mistake, but there was nothing here, no signs that anybody had even ventured out here in the last day or so. He gave a resigned sigh. Lucian would not be pleased when Damon returned to give him the bad news.

Selena watched from her position high up in the nearby tree, feeling amused. She had come to check on the man she had cursed over a hundred years ago, not surprised to find he hadn’t changed one bit. If anything he had become more of a monster, a beast to the townspeople, if the rumours were to be believed. As time had moved on, the vampires from the castle had progressed to creating more vampires and forming their own packs throughout the country, while King Julian and Queen Isabelle remained the King and Queen of their people. She sighed, deeply troubled. The lesson that Everly had wanted Lucian to learn had yet to surface within his mind. Initially, Everly had claimed she wanted Lucian to find love, even as she cursed him. However, Selena believed that was no longer the case. In fact, she suspected that Everly had lied to her. It wouldn't have been the first time. The woman was as cunning and manipulative as they came. But Selena privately thought this man could be redeemed. That is if he wasn't biting off everybody's head. The man was stubborn, fighting against the merest hint of affection and kindness. She frowned. This simply would not do.

“I will have to get a bit creative I think” she murmured to herself, confident that the young vampire male, currently pacing back and forth underneath her would not be able to hear her “and find someone who has a pure heart and soul that even a beast of a vampire cannot taint.”

Not to mention never let on that she alone would put in the motions for it to happen. If Everly ever found out she put this plan in motion, she shook her head not wanting to know what kind of reaction the woman would have. But Selena felt like this man had gone through enough punishment and warranted a way out of the curse she had placed on him. She liked to see people change and better themselves. This man was capable of it, he just didn't realize it. Not yet. But he would.

She sat on the branch, swinging her legs back and forth, watching Damon as he scowled and ran a hand through his hair. So Lucian had seen her, she thought with a chuckle, for that brief moment when she had dropped her invisibility to gaze her eyes upon him. Such a shame he couldn’t leave the castle, she mused, because if he had, there was no doubt in her mind that he would have immediately put his hands on her and killed her through sheer willpower alone. She had sensed his anger and rage, not that she blamed him. But she thought it might have faded even a little after a hundred years. She sighed. Maybe she was being unfair, expecting so much from him. If she was cursed, no doubt she would take it badly as well.

Damon scowled and then kicked a pebble, watching it hit a nearby tree and bounce off. “Damnit Lucian there’s no one here” he muttered with frustration, whirling around and stomping back to the castle. "He's bloody gone insane" he grumbled to himself.

His friend was beginning to lose his mind. Or he was becoming paranoid. Or both. He met Lucian back in his bedroom, his friend’s eyes still glowing red, Lucian pacing back and forth, a look of impatience on his face. He whirled around to face Damon, his eyes narrowing as he spotted his friend coming back alone.

“Well,” demanded Lucian “did you find her?” he hissed.

Damon shook his head impatiently “She wasn’t there Lucian. I think it must have been a trick of the light” he said softly, trying to soften the blow, so to speak.

Lucian hissed. “It was no trick. I saw her clear as day. That b***h seeks to torment me but I won’t let her. Mark my words, I will kill her, even if it takes me to the end of my days, for what she has done" he spat, his hands shaking as he clenched them.

Damon wisely kept his opinion to himself. His friend was in no state to listen to platitudes right now. He sighed. “Is there anything you need my friend?” he asked, deciding that he needed some s****l relief and soon.

Perhaps that pretty maid Damon spotted earlier, would be up for some fun between the bedsheets? He licked his lips, thinking about it, his mind elsewhere, even as Lucian let out a strangled sound.

Lucian smacked his lips together, looking half-crazed, anger on his face. “I am thirsty” he snarled “but it is of no matter, I can fetch the blood myself. I’m not a complete invalid you know” he roared "or an i***t. I am fully capable of helping myself" he snarled.

Damon held up his hands in surrender. "I never said you weren't," he said quietly, being honest.

He really did just want to help his friend. Damn, Lucian for being so bloody stubborn and pigheaded.

Lucian eyed him and snorted, storming off, his footsteps fading down the hall as Damon listened, wondering where exactly he was going. It didn't exactly sound as though he was heading in the direction of the kitchen.

He didn’t anticipate what Lucian was about to do. If he had, he would have moved to stop him. Only seconds later a woman screamed, a high-pitched sound that had all the servants running and Damon wincing in pain, and then Lucian came back, blood all over his mouth and teeth, a sickening grin on his face. “See” he snapped "I told you I could get my own blood," he said with a biting tone and then headed into the bedroom opposite his own, slamming the door behind him as Damon gaped at him in disbelief. He couldn't believe his friend had just harmed a servant girl because he was in a bad temper. Lucian was growing worse by the day, thought Damon as he slowly began to leave the room, looking towards the room Lucian had confined himself too, with a sad shake of his head, and Damon didn't know if he could pull his friend back before he went too far and did something that was far too heinous and cruel to ever be forgiven by the townspeople or the people of the castle. If he incited a riot, thought Damon, walking down the hallways, his head bowed down in defeat, there was very little Damon could do to intervene, let alone save him from his own actions. The beastly vampire Prince would discover for himself, that actions had consequences, prince or not, but Damon hoped it didn't come to that.