The Wolf

Belmont

The end of my life started when I chose to run away.

I ran faster than I had ever run before, and my muscles screamed with every step. It wasn't the first time I'd ran from someone, as a low-life criminal, a nineteen-year-old who stole whatever I came across. I was used to being hunted. But never, never had I ever been so scared as I was right now.

The forest was dense, full of roots and rocks and I stumbled my way forward. Branches whipped me in the face, hit me over the arms and chest, but no matter how bad it hurt I couldn't slow down.

"What the hell was I thinking?" All I'd wanted was to earn some extra cash. For once I'd wanted to do something good, to help someone. But as usual I'd dug myself a hole, everything had gone wrong, so terribly wrong.

Memories and thoughts swirled around like a chaotic whirlwind inside my confused head.

A while back I had found out that my Dad owed the wrong people a lot of money and I knew they'd take the garage from him and beat him unconscious while they were at it. So when I saw my chance to help him I took it without hesitation. How the f**k could I've known the guy belonged to Gaston's gang.

It had been a simple theft, I was quite the pickpocket and the pills were in my hands in no time. The problems came later, when I tried to sell it all.

One thing led to another, a dense forest, a chilly f*****g pitch black night, and there I was running like a hunted animal to try and get away from the seven older guys, with no good attitudes and blunt weapons that they intended to use on me.

I fell, crawled in the moss, staggered up just to fall again. A throbbing pain cut through my ankle and I sat up in despair to examine my leg. "f**k!" No broken bones, but it still hurt like hell.

In panic I looked around, catching the sounds of feet and whispering voices as they were closing in on me. I began to crawl forward, as quietly as I could, hidden by the darkness. A little further on, I could see a hole hidden under the roots of a tree.

It was my best chance, I could certainly try to crawl inside and hide, I thought. But would that be enough? Would they run past me and keep looking elsewhere? They were all pretty daft, but I couldn't be sure.

So I had two choices, run or hide.

The panic started to build up inside me, yet again, as I heard the voices closing in. But they were still too far away for me to hear what they were saying.

"Come on Bel, make up your damn mind!" I hissed to myself, trying to find the slightest amount of courage in my tired aching body.

After five long seconds of deliberation, I made a decision and I crawled towards the hole. My forearms throbbed and my shoulders began to ache from all the crawling. But what choice did I have?

The closer I got to the hole, the more hopeless everything felt and I soon realised that I was just too big to fit inside. "Damn." I hissed low and looked around hopelessly. My eyes combed the forest.

Far away, everything looked so peaceful, the moonlight shone down over the tops of the pine trees and made the dewy white moss sparkle. But there was something else that caught my attention. Close by, something protruded from the ground, something sharp.

Better than nothing, I thought, limping towards my newfound, makeshift weapon.

However, my staggering steps were too loud, and annoyed I realised that my pursuers would discover me any minute now.

I heard them running after me and I moved as fast as I could. That was when the first pistol shot came past me. It was close, it almost touched my thigh, but hit a tree instead.

It felt like my heart would leave my chest, my mouth filling up with the taste of iron and tears began to flow down my cheeks. I can't die now, Dad needs me..

As they drew closer I discovered more of the sharp objects that seemed to make some sort of a pattern in the moss. "Iron spears?" I mumbled in surprise and carefully took a step across them and was just about to bend down and try to pull one out of the ground when they suddenly started shaking.

The voices came closer, I moved hesitantly backwards, not sure where to go.

I saw them now, clearly, walking between the trees with their superior attitudes, matching leather jackets and big grins. "Gaston wants him alive." I glanced at the guy who'd opened his mouth, LeFou was a jerk. Gaston's stupid henchman who always chased after him and obeyed his every wish.

I threw an eye at the iron rods sticking out of the ground in front of me. Surprised, I realised that they were vibrating and there was no chance that I could pull one up now.

I cursed to myself, they had been my last chance to die a little more gloriously, but all I could do now was steel myself for the torture that was to come.

The seven boys moved slowly, they were apparently in no hurry to catch me now that I was in sight. Two of them were just about to step over the strange iron pipes, one of them hesitating but in the end they both took a step across.

Then iron suddenly shot up from the ground. A three meter high fence of solid iron and no gate in sight. The two boys flew up into the air, pierced on the sharp iron and now they both hung lifeless with blood running down the fence.

I saw my chance and crawled to my feet, ignored the pain in my ankle and ran.

Something must be here, I thought desperately and it did not take long before I easily realised that I was right. With a jerk, I stopped in front of a small stone staircase, adorned with dragon-like statues, all showing grotesque faces. A shiver spread through my body but I couldn't turn back now, there was no way in hell.

The small staircase led up to a garden -like place where beautiful flowers and rose bushes once grew. But now everything was withered and the fountain in the middle was empty of water and full of old rotten leaves and algae.

Through the garden there was another staircase and more statues and I couldn't help but think that the place must have been beautiful once.

Full of adrenaline, I threw myself forward, still aware that I could be persecuted. But what suddenly appeared in front of me made me swallow my breath and I stopped abruptly.

How the hell could there be a castle here, in the middle of the forest? I eyed the enormous building towering in front of me, a stone building with pinnacles and towers, the kind you usually see in cartoons.

Something told me I should leave, find another way. But hey, nothing could be worse than being dragged away to Gaston?

With a lot of effort and strong will, I soon arrived at a wooden gate despite my aching ankle. Should I knock? The place looked abandoned. My hand approached the large handle and I gently felt the door. It slid up slowly and without a sound.

"Of course, who would break into an abandoned, scary, old, haunted castle?" I muttered to myself to ease the tension "just an i***t like me."

I inhaled a calming breath before stepping through the c***k in the door. It led into a dark hallway adorned with a lot of old portraits, a large luxurious rug lay neatly on the gray marble floor and to my great surprise there was not an ounce of dust or dirt inside.

I had been wrong. Someone lived in the castle, it was clear. But what was the worst thing that could happen? Nothing in the world could be worse than the revenge Gaston would expose me to. Nothing. So whatever it was, living here in the castle, I'd rather meet it than the man who ruled the town.

"I would be careful inside the castle if I were you, my lord is not fond of guests." The sound of an amused voice echoed through the bare room and I spun around in circles before I finally met the gaze of a tall slender man with sparkling eyes studying me from a dark corner.

"Your lord?"

"The owner of the castle" he clarified and chuckled. "Never mind, you look cold and we should take care of your wounds. "

Hesitant but without need of further persuasion, the blond stranger led me into a candle lit room with a large armchair in front of a warming fire.

I looked around curiously, but it was not until my eyes fell on the strange man's cunning smile that an unpleasant feeling spread through my body. The feeling that I've made a terrible mistake.

***

The room was decorated like I've been pulled into an old Marlon Brando movie.

Thick red velvet curtains hung down from the high ceiling and covered the huge windows rising from the floor and towering up towards the top.

The wallpaper had large squiggly patterns, the furniture was luxurious but old-fashioned. The paintings had thick gold frames and they depicted different men in their best clothes, and everywhere I turned I saw objects that were usually seen in museums.

The floor was covered with thick carpets that overlapped each other and it smelled old, like my grandfather's attic. However, the fire lifted the mood and it felt homely in some strange way, it warmed nicely and I was just about to relax when the blond man came back with hot tea and a box of bandaids.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, but it did not help. There was something about the guy that made my hair stand on end.

As if he knew how I felt, he broke the ice by chatting a little. "What's your name?"

"Belmont, but you can call me Bel."

"Call me Lu, short for Lumiere." He answered briefly with a sarcastic undertone.

My gaze slid over the guy sitting in front of me, examining my sore ankle. His skin was unusually pale, his body long and slender, but somehow he still felt strong. His smile felt unnatural when his ice blue eyes pierced through me.

I shuddered as he pulled off my sock and the long narrow fingers slid over my swollen skin. "Do you live here?"

"Yes."

"Strange, I've been to these parts before but I've never seen this place," I mumbled.

"Mmhm, that is truly strange," he replied with an amused smile.

"Do you work here? You said you had a master? You mean your boss? Or are you some kind of butler?"

"Tsk, tsk... so many questions." He snickered coyly.

I shrugged, "Sorry, this is my first time inside a castle."

He slipped the sock back on my foot before raising his gaze "A sprain. You can rest here until you feel better."

"But, your lord?"

"He's busy, do not worry about it. I will inform him of your arrival."

I sank deeper into the chair and took a sip of the warming tea and tried to persuade myself to relax. I almost succeeded when someone suddenly stormed into the room with a voice so loud, I jumped up in the armchair.

"Lu! What the hell?!" A man yelled and I felt his frustration all the way back to me, "You know he hates guests, you'll get us both in trouble for this!"

The blond man sighed when he met the eyes of the other. I tried to catch a glimpse of him but the only thing I noticed from my seat was a large tattoo of an old-fashioned watch on one of his forearms. "Take it easy, Clocksworth, I know what I'm doing" the pale man cooed.

The tattooed man did not seem happy with the answer and pulled Lu to a corner where I could clearly see them both discussing my arrival, but not hearing a single word.

He looked like Lu's total opposite, broad-shouldered and muscular with dark curly shoulder length hair and tanned skin, he was clearly more hot-tempered than Lumiere, who stood quietly listening with his arms crossed over his chest, while the other gestured heavily and hissed things low enough so that I would not hear them.

I sighed heavily and pulled my fingers through my long dark hair, the situation was clearly complicated. But so much better than being tortured and used as a bribe to make dad give up his life's work.

Damn what a f*****g mess I've ended up in!