Beasts Of Blackcastle

Chapter Five

Chapter Five; An Unexpected Turn Of Events And a Shed of New Light

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As the princess laid there aglow with her beauty in plain view, a moment came when the night became bold. The night no longer wished to hide and it wished to hold her at last. The princess awaited in displeasure as the night gave in to its madness and with a whoosh of wind it carried her in a tide of blackness.

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A ghost.

Ghost?

If princess Venia had much an easily stroked sense of humour, she would have been caught up in a fit of laughter following the witch Allura's question. Growing up to plenty of tales and the words of the histories, the princess knew of the existence of different races of supernatural creatures thriving within their kingdom and the other realms. She had heard of beasts of the skies that breathe fire and acid, she had heard of the sly Faes and their maniacal goblins, she had heard of wicked witches and their entrusted Slyths, she had heard of hairy, growling beasts that stood taller than the tallest warrior and had an appetite for humanely flesh, she had even heard of the extinct terrifying monsters named Gors which were the only creatures as appallingly vicious as the Beast King. Of all that she had heard, she did not recall any mention of a ghost, thus the question seemed to only require that she lowers her intelligence in order to match its stupidity.

Allura could tell exactly what she was thinking and although the princess bore her eyes into her as though she had asked something absolutely asinine; there was also a conflicting emotion flickering through them; curiosity. As Allura predicted, a question came her way with a sense of promise.

"I do not know what you mean by ghost." The princess drawled, eyeing Vye quickly hoping to receive some form of validation. Vye appeared to be none the wiser as she was far from opposed to the idea. "How would I even do that? And what kind of ghost will it be?" Although it will be a spiritual life- form, princess Venia was still nervous about the appearance of the thing to touch her….

Touch her… would it even be able? She could not imagine a ghost being able to pleasure her. Yes, it was for the sake of freeing herself from the oh so lustful, morbid Beast, but she at least had to get even a tiny bit of enjoyment out of this, even if she would not get to pant and sing like princess Daya.

"There are ancient monsters and there are ancient kings who roam realms as spirits and cannot take any other form. I would not exactly say all of them are of a benevolent nature-"

"What of your ghost?" Princess Venia interjected, she really wished Allura could take a portion of her impatience so she learns the importance of getting to the point. "What is his name?"

Allura opened her mouth to speak but quickly swallowed her words. A deafening silence followed and sparked worry in Vye's eyes.

"I wish I could tell you." The witch's voice pierced through the silence and painted the atmosphere with omnious tension. "Like I mentioned earlier, the spell is dangerous and the danger is in my lack of choice. I cannot choose which king comes forth to answer my summon and neither can you. We can only hope it is not a monster that takes interest in you."

Vye gulped nervously, her face pallid with worry, "What are her odds? Of being chosen by a good, merciful king who knows how to make love to a woman I mean?"

"And what do you mean by monster? Would I know if the spirit is a monster? Will it be hideous and growling?" Princess Venia's misgivings were at an all time high. It appeared she was trying to escape one beast by giving herself to another.

Did magic really have to be so complicated?

Allura called back her hair creature and it spun itself into a nice updo that made her look more like a sophisticated lady than a witchy vixen. "That I cannot predict either, I cannot tell you of your odds, which is why you have a very important decision to make. The spirit might come in any of these three forms; it might the embodiment of wind; invisible but very well felt, it might come as slightly visible mass of smoke or it might come as a liquescent looking form shaped like a man or a monster. For you, I hope for the second form, the others you might find too terrifying to give away your body. As for the monsters, dear, they are every definition of that word and the worst of them were never men in their past lives. Some of the kings were men who could turn into monsters and some were as likeable as your father."

Allura had said a lot and the princess had listened intently. This was the very first time she had a choice, the very first opportunity she had been given to take a risk and the danger of it made her blood sizzle; it was strangely thrilling knowing that she could choose and call upon a horrendous monster that will take her as it wishes and leave her scarred for life. For the first time she felt alive, being in danger at last made her feel and that was her greatest pursuit in life; to feel.

"I will do it. I will lay with the spirit and let him take my virginity." She blurted out without much thinking and left Vye a quivering mess. She was in agony, surely, she had a terrible prediction of how the night ends, princess Venia knew this and silently applauded her for not demanding that they abandon the plan.

Allura's golden eyes darkened to a glaring orange of a flame and she huffed out powerfully and breathed a bottle into her palms. "I had not mentioned the other danger that makes me anxious as well. You see, when I cast the spell, I am going to open a portal and there is a chance that other entities will jump through it from their realms and it is possible that the Beast will possess the spirit that comes through and use its energy and form as his own and once that happens, I might not be able to send the spirit back for it'll be too powerful."

Princess Venia pulled her face and furrowed her brows in confusion. A Beast possessing a spirit! Weren't the ghosts the ones who did the possessing usually? She was not convinced.

"I understand and I have made up my mind." The princess stated decisively, adjusting herself onto the bed and posing in a suggestive manner. "My spirit will be a king who used to be incredibly handsome, I can just feel it. So tell me, how do you think he'd like to find me? I have none a clue how to seduce a ghost."

She was smiling! She was actually smiling and purring like a siren luring a helpless fool; Vye could not believe it! Vye's eyes flickered from the princess' splayed, nude body to Allura's boney hands and the bottle recaptured her fascination.

"And what is that for?" Vye questioned and instead of answering her, Allura walked over to the princess and placed her fingers under her chin, tilting her head up.

"Drink, princess, this potion will protect you. If ever you are in fear, it will make you disappear and you will be safe."

"Wait!" Vye yelled before the princess could drink from the bottle. "Where will she disappear to? How will she return?"

Allura laughed to herself and turned to face Vye with a small smile. "She will vaporize into this very bottle and once the danger is gone I'll breathe her into life."

"Let's not waste time." Princess Venia snatched the bottle from the witch's hands and drank all its powdery contents. Somehow she managed not to cough any of it out and…. Nothing! She felt absolutely nothing. She thought at least something magical will happen to her, but no, she did not feel even slightly enchanted. "Even drinking sand would have felt more special than this." She mumbled under her breath.

Allura gave a strange look before she straightened her back, then she held out both her hands and her eyes came alight.

"I am opening the portal. I know you will not be frightened so the monsters will not be tempted by you. Do not interrupt me while I chant and summon the spirits."

Princess Venia sucked her lips into her mouth, her unblinking gaze fixated on the witch as she began chanting an incantation in the most alien sounding lingo she had ever heard. She was bracing herself for the shock her "visitor" will induce but in the end, a ghost was not the one to startle her.

Vye yelped and flinched in fright as a door appeared out of nothingness and her brothers emerged from it. Prince Eclix, prince Eclair and prince Esgar walked right in as the witch was about to open a portal and she could not ignore their interruption, hence she stopped.

"What's going on here?" Prince Eclair shot the question at the witch, a scowl etched on his handsome.

"Beauty!" Prince Eclix exclaimed, rushing to collect the cloth the princess had discarded and quickly wrapping it around her body. "Why were you naked? You cannot expose yourself like that. Vye," the prince snapped, making the young woman tremble. He had always had a more fiery temper compared to his brothers. "What is the meaning of this? Don't just stand there and stare at me, speak! I know you're behind this."

"So this is why you wanted to know how to reach Allura," Prince Esgar chimed in, his intimidating glare trained on Vye as well, "you have three seconds to explain."

"One." Prince Eclix counted, rising to his feet.

"Two." Prince Eclair counted, taking a threatening step towards the witch.

Before prince Esgar could word the third count, they were alarmed by princess Venia's scream.

"Beauty!" Her brothers came rushing to her side and they examined her. There were no signs of injury, she appeared to be unscathed but she looked like she was fading away.

"What happened, sweetness?" Prince Eclair asked her in the softest voice he could muster, cupping her face and kissing her forehead. "You're all right, beauty, it's okay, we're here."

"Allura!" The princess called for the witch as though she was rooms away. "Something whipped me, I don't know where it went."

"Let me see her," the witch squeezed herself between the princes as they refused to step aside. They were so overprotective when it came to their sister; she could just feel their murderous eyes relaying such a sharp, clear message to her. "Do not worry, princess, what you felt was just the force of the realms suddenly sealing shut and shifting back into place because the spell was interrupted. Somehow it was drawn to you, somehow you absorbed the energy." Allura expressed her fascination, only beings blessed with magic and in control of the forces could magnetise energy like that. The princess was indeed an enigma. "Where did it hit you?"

"Here." Princess Venia pointed to the crook of her neck. She didn't show it, but she was furious that her plans had been ruined. She should be free but after all that effort and time wasted, her circumstances remained as they were.

Allura brought her slender, long fingers to her flesh and she carefully examined the entire structure of her neck, back and collarbone and by the time she pulled away and faced her, she had this ambiguous expression plastered on her face and it grew more strange by the second.

"Prince Esgar, call the king and queen, hurry it is urgent." The witch had everyone intrigued and as much as he had a ton of questions he wanted answered, prince Esgar did as the Allura asked and disturbed the King's and queen's sleep.

"This better be good, Esgar, you know how much I struggle to find sleep again once awakened." Queen Nulika grumbled, stopping in her tracks immediately upon seeing Allura.

"Allura is actually the one who wishes for your company." Prince Esgar cleared his throat, avoiding his father's reprimanding gaze.

"What is the meaning of this, Allura? Who summoned you?" King Thorton inquired, his tone making the witch aware that it'll be best she produces a satisfactory response immediately, otherwise….

"King Thorton, Queen Nulika, your majesties, I cannot believe my eyes but I felt it-"

"What did you feel?" King Thorton cut in impatiently. He did not care that the witch was smiling and in a way, excited, he did not trust her not to ruin his mood.

"Purity. I felt light. Her skin glows, when I touched her back, her skin came alight, do you know what this means? It means darkness cannot touch her without being extinguished, it means she's the very death of darkness. That is not all; her mark is also gone. Completely disappeared. The skin on her neck is as flawless as the skin on the rest of her body. I could not feel it either. Your majesties, princess Venia is free. The Beast no longer has interest in her, he must have marked another and that is why her mark disappeared. All those years you were denied were leading up to this moment, princess."

"Allura, tell me you lie!" Queen Nulika's trembling hand felt Venia's skin and her eyes glistened with tears. "Beauty, you survived! You survived! My love, our daughter survived." The queen hugged her daughter so tightly as though she was afraid she would suddenly disappear into thin air.

"Allura, is it true?" King Thorton had a hard time believing the news, he had to be sure before he could allow himself to be happy.

"Yes." Allura announced in cheer. "I could not believe it myself but it is true. I had only hoped that one day it'll happen but here we are. The Beast will not be coming for your daughter, her burden now rests on the shoulders of another poor girl. I must leave now. I do hope I'll receive an invitation if there is a feast." Just as she came from nothingness, she faded into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

"Darling, I can't believe this!" King Thorton embraced his daughter and after her brothers took turns embracing and showering her with kisses.

"To think you wanted to jump out of a window." Prince Eclix whispered into her ear, giving her cheek a peck, then kissing the top of her hand. "You are finally going to have everything you have always wanted. Do not ever let me deny you."

"Careful, you give me power, I will surely use it." Princess Venia teased. This should've been the happiest moment of her life but she was not experiencing that exhilarating rush of emotions. Plus her neck still ached.

"Eclix, let me speak with her." The prince made way for his father, who sat on the edge of the bed and took the princess' hands. "My darling, I never thought this day would come. I was prepared to fight to live as long as possible, to live long enough to see you sit on the throne. The only time I was this happy was the night you were born. All my dreams are going to come true. Darling, gem of my heart; I know I will cry the day I have to give you away and you know I'm hardened of emotion and never cry, but that day, I will shed tears. Now that your fate has changed, we must quickly find you a husband. I will only pick a man worthy of you and our kingdom. You will be introduced to suitors in the evening and hopefully there you'll accept an engagement. I am extremely elated, I really am, but a part of me worries. We must be quick, even if it means marrying before your brother. By the time that loathsome beast king changes his mind you must long belong to another."

As much as she wanted to, princess Venia dd not object. The evening was in a few hours and she didn't know if she was prepared to give herself to some prince, especially not so quickly. On the bright side, she will finally have someone to romance her, to touch her and give her pleasure.

But at least, at last she was free of the Beast King!