Beast in Shining Armor (25 page)

She
spared him a furious look.  “I will kill you if anything happens to him!”

“You’ll
forget about the Beast soon enough.”  Peter promised.  He dragged Lancelot
closer to Excalibur, folding the knight’s limp hand around the sword’s hilt and
trying to pull it free.  “Once you and I are married, you’ll see that this was
all for the best.”

He
didn’t even matter enough to punch.  Not when Avenant needed her.

Belle
edged closer to her True Love, afraid he might bolt from the room.  The Beast
gave a roar of warning as she drew near, fangs flashing.  Belle ignored it.  This
man wasn’t a threat to her, no matter what form he was in.  “Avenant, look at
me.”  She ordered.  “
Look at me! 
You and the Beast are the same
person.  He isn’t Bad and neither are you.  Accept him or this will break you
both.”

He
didn’t seem to hear her.  His arctic exterior was fracturing right before her
eyes.  She could see the fissures and feel the blast of cold coming off of
him.  Avenant was going to kill himself if he didn’t stop.  The Beast was
already free and he’d die before he was caged again.

No.

Belle’s
jaw firmed in determination.  She would
not
lose this fight.  “Avenant,
I love you.”  She said simply.

The
Beast started to roar out in savage ferocity, but her words had him hesitating.

Electric
blue eyes suddenly burned into hers.

Belle
kept going.  “I’ve been in love with you since the first day of kindergarten,
too.  You pilfered my brand new box of thirty-six crayons and you said ‘
I’m
the
prince and
I
want these.’  Then, I pushed you off your chair and you
started crying.”

The
Beast tilted his head, studying her face with something like recognition.  He
remembered that day.  Of course he did.  He was Avenant.

“So,
I told you we could share the crayons to get you to stop bawling.”  Belle
continued.  “And you ignored me all day.  But, right before we went home, you
drew a picture of a yellow rose and you shoved it at me as you ran out the
door.  And I knew right then you were the going to be the most important person
in my life.”  She gave him a small smile.  “I looked at you and I just… knew.”

He
stared at her, hypnotized.

“I
still have the drawing.  I’ll show it to you when we get home, if you just stay
with me.”  She coaxed.  “Stop fighting yourself and fight for
me
.  Fight
for our future.”  She waved a hand at Peter.  “Are you really going to let that
fucking idiot beat us?”

“I’ve
already won.”  Peter insisted.  “I have Excalibur, so I own the Northlands and
you have to do what I say.  I’m your prince and you’re my princess and…”  He
tugged at the sword, but it didn’t budge.  “Goddamn it.”  He repositioned
Lancelot’s fingers and tried again.  “What’s wrong with this thing?  This guy
has royal blood, so it should be coming out.”

“You
didn’t read the directions, you prick.”  Belle snapped, not even looking his
way.

Peter’s
gaze cut over to her.  “You
did
something, didn’t you?”  He accused
wrathfully.  “You did something so it wouldn’t come free.”

“Lancelot
doesn’t have what it takes to claim that sword and neither do you.”  She said
smugly.  “You will
never
steal our kingdom.”

The
Beast gave a low growl of pleasure at her words.  Avenant always loved it when
she was a bitch.

Peter
didn’t share that sentiment.  “What have you done?”  He futilely yanked on the
hilt.  “Tell me why this isn’t working.  It’s supposed to
work!
”

Belle
ignored him, all her focus trained on her True Love.  Avenant was trying to
regain control, but he was still battling with his two halves.  It wasn’t going
to work unless he let go.  “Don’t try to chain the Beast, again.”  She
ordered.  “You can’t shove him away, this time.  Let him be free and find a
balance between the two of…
shit!
”  Her words ended with a cry of alarm
as Peter grabbed her from behind.

“How
do I get the sword out?!”  He spun Belle around and shook her hard enough to
rattle her teeth.  “Tell me!”

That
was probably the stupidest thing he could’ve done.

Avenant
and the Beast stopped struggling against each other and turned their attention
to Peter.  Belle barely saw him move, but suddenly she was free of Peter and
her True Love had launched himself at the smaller man.  The two combatants hit
the opposite side of the cavern in an explosion of violence and screaming and
fangs.

She
cringed at the frenzy and headed forward.  “Avenant, wait!  Don’t…”

The
gunshots cut her off mid-word.  Peter still had the revolver.  He tried to
shoot Avenant and missed, the bullets ricocheting off the rock walls as he
desperately fired.  The Beast wasn’t impressed with his efforts.  Bones cracked
as he crushed Peter’s wounded hand.  Peter screeched in pain.  The mirror fell,
landing glass side up at their feet.  He forced Peter’s head down so he was
looking right into it.

Peter’s
own reflection shined back at him.

He
let out a bellow pure terror at what he saw.  No one who’d killed so many
people wanted to peer inside themselves.  The darkness began to consume him and
Peter flailed backward in an uncoordinated scrambled.  “No!  No! 
NOOOO!
”

The
Beast let him go, satisfied that he’d won.

Peter
was out of his mind with fear and panic.  He blindly ran for the cavern’s
entrance, fumbling with the gun.  “Don’t make me see it!  Don’t let me see it! 
I don’t want to see…!”

They
all knew what was going to happen.

Belle
flinched at the final gunshot.  The mirror had killed him, just as it had the
others.  But, it wouldn’t take her husband.

“Avenant.” 
She hurried to his side.  He was still struggling, clawing at his skull, again. 
Both sides of him needed to calm down or he wasn’t going to make it.  There was
only one way she could think of to break through to him
fast
.  Belle unzipped
her jacket and yanked open her shirt.  “Focus on something else.”  She
unclasped the front of her bra.  “Focus on
me
.”

The
Beast started to jerk away from her… then his glowing blue eyes flickered to
her breasts.

He
blinked.

“I
thought that would get your attention.”  Belle seized his wrist and brought it
up to cover one of the soft globes.  The frigid temperature of his skin had her
nipple beading into an erotic point.  She jolted, but kept talking.  “You know
me, don’t you?  Who am I?”

The
Beast couldn’t look away from her.  His free hand came up to cover her other
breast, his grip tightening.  “Mine.”  It was an animalistic rasp.

He
squeezed her flesh and she swallowed down a whimper of pleasure.  Obviously, he
wasn’t as disappointed in her cup size as she’d feared.  “I’m yours.”  She agreed,
pushing her small curves deeper into his palms.  “I belong to both of you.  To
all
of you.  And you belong to me.”

“Yours.”
 He rumbled.  She sensed the tension draining from him as he caressed her skin.

“Who
am I, Avenant?”  She asked again.

Awareness
began to return.  “Bella.”  He murmured in something like reverence.

She
smiled, trying not to cry.  “That’s right.”  The Beast and Avenant were both
looking at her, now.  Just as she’d thought, they could be one in the same. 
They
were
one in the same.  They just had to find a balance.  “Please
stop fighting yourself.  I’m scared and I need you.”

“Don’t
want to hurt you.”

“The
Beast is just another part of you, Avenant.”  She wrapped her arms around him. 
“You would never hurt me.  But, if you destroy him, you destroy yourself.  And
if you destroy yourself,
that’s
what will hurt me.  You need to find a
balance.  For me.  Please.”

He
swallowed, his forehead coming to rest on her shoulder.  She could feel him
shaking.  “I’m sorry I’m Bad.”  He whispered.

She
held him tight.  “You
aren’t
.  At least, no more than anyone else is.  If
you were Bad all the way through, you wouldn’t be able to hang on like this. 
You’d be like Peter or Cleo or Mr. Pumpkin-Eater and shatter into nothing. 
But, your Good side is stronger than the darkness.”

“My
Good side is you.”  His voice was beginning to sound normal again.  “Everything
I am is you.”  His grip on her got stronger.  “I love you so much there aren’t
words.”

“You’ll
just have to spend the rest of ever-after showing me, then.”

Time
passed and his skin grew warmer.

“Have
I mentioned I hate mirrors?”  Avenant finally muttered.

Belle
pulled back to look at his face and smiled when she saw his normal features cautiously
staring back her.  “Good news.  You’re handsome, again.”

“I’m
a monster.”  Avenant sounded broken.  “It’s still inside of me, only now it’s
not caged.  It’s part of me.”

“Luckily,
I love all the parts of you.”

He
shook his head, looking morose.  “Nobody would ever want a Beast.”

“I
do, dummy.”

Avenant
hadn’t been expecting that easy response.  “You… do?”

“Yep.” 
She leaned forward to kiss him, feeling overwhelming happiness.  “I think the
Beast is probably the easiest facet of your personality to deal with, actually.
 I had him wrapped around my little finger in no time.  Handsome-you took a lot
longer to tame.”

Avenant
frowned.  “You’re insane.”  He told her, but his mouth was beginning to curve
upward at one corner.

“Don’t
be jealous.  I love you both.”

He
still didn’t look convinced.  “Why?”

“Because,”
she reached up to touch his face, “all the bits of me that are missing,
you
have.  We fit together.  Without you, I’m incomplete.  You have to feel that
way, too, right?”

“I
do, but…”

“You’re
my best friend.”

“And
you’re mine, except…

“And
we’re True Loves, aren’t we?

“Yes! 
Only…”

She
cut him off.  “What’s with all the qualifiers?  You already said you’d marry me,
Avenant.  Are you trying to back out of that or something?  Because, I should
warn you, I know where to get a sword.”

“No,
of course I’m not backing out.  I just want you to be sure.”

“Good,
because I want a big wedding as soon as possible.  With a dress, and rings, and
a cake…”

Avenant
surrendered.  “
Chocolate
cake.”  He said softly, his eyes tracing over
her face.

“Chocolate
cake.”  Belle agreed and gave him a quick kiss.

He
swallowed.  “I have longed for you my whole life.  There is nothing in this
world or any other that I want more than to be with you, Belle.  But, are you
sure you want to tie yourself to a Beast?”

She
arched a brow.  “Are you trying to be selfless?  That’s such a
knight-in-shining-armor-y thing to do.”

“Don’t
be too impressed.  If you actually took me up on my offer and tried to forget
about me, I’d just do something crazy to get your attention, again.”

“I
don’t doubt it.”  She zipped up her coat.  “I mean, that’s probably why watching
you turn into a Beast didn’t bother me.  I’ve seen you do
way
worse
things.”

“Like
what?”

“You
redrew the royal processional route so it went straight through my front yard. 
Every day.  At six am.”

He
winced.  “I forgot about that one.”

“Really? 
It sure sticks out in my memory.  Especially the trumpeters.”

“Well,
you know, you’ve done some underhanded stuff, too.”  He retorted.  “When the
palace released my authorized biography, you put it in the comedic fiction
section of your bookstore.”

“Oh,
that’s where it belonged and you know it.”

“Then
you had clowns come and do readings of the chapters in funny voices.”

Belle
tried not to laugh at that memory, but it was hard.  The book had been nothing
but a pack of poorly ghostwritten lies, but the clown readings proved very
popular.  “The part where you invented pancakes was just hilarious after we
added the balloon animals.”  She gave a muffled snort when he glared at her.  “Sorry.”

“I
did
invent pancakes.”

“If
you say so, honey.”  Belle patted his arm.  “Come on.  Let’s go claim our
kingdom.”  She headed for Excalibur, stepping over Lancelot’s splayed body. 
“Hey, do you think your cousin will be okay?”

“He’s
fine.”  Avenant crushed the sliver mirror with his shoe, careful not to look at
it again.  The blue glow of magic winked out, its power fading.  “Hell, I don’t
even think enspelled Lancelot was so different than normal whiny him, anyway.” 
He moved to stand next to her, studying the sword.  “So, are you ready to tell
me why Peter couldn’t pull this thing free, even though Lancelot has royal
blood?”