This is my submission to Frightful Fairy Tales Contest. Beauty and the Beast.

Word count: 996

~*~*~

"I'm so sorry, Belle!" the old bookseller kept repeating as he pushed his only daughter to the awaiting carriage.

She didn't have any idea what was going on. Father had gone missing a week ago, only to return in the middle of the night aboard a carriage that moved on its own, with no beast of burden to pull it. "At least tell me why! Please!"

The door of the carriage locked on its own as she stepped inside. She grasped the bars in the small window, desperate to look at her father one more time.

"I'm sorry. I was rescued from certain death by a beast that lives in a hidden castle...And he demanded that I pay that debt of gratitude by handing over you. If only I hadn't told him how wonderful daughter I have..."

Without warning, the carriage lurched forward before finding a steady pace.

"I love you!" the old man shouted after her.

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she was carried to her unknown future. She had dreamed of leaving their small town for a long time, but not like this. Not without as much as a chance to say proper goodbyes.

~*~*~

The castle was more like a palace the likeness of which she had only seen in the fairytales she read in the books of her father's store. It was located deep in the woods, but it still had to be hidden with magic. How else would nobody have ever noticed it?

The carriage stopped at the front and let her out. She quickly hurried to the door made of beautifully engraved wood. The evening sky looked like there would be a downpour any moment. She was a little frightened of meeting this "beast", but her sense of logic didn't allow her to run away. She'd only get soaked and lost. And...it would cause trouble for her father too.

The door opened before she could knock. A man dressed in fine clothes fit for an aristocrat bowed and gestured her inside. Except he was not a man at all. His hands were covered in brown fur, his face looked like someone had mixed a mountain lion with a human being, and large black horns adorned his mane of hair.

"Are you...the Beast?" she asked carefully.

He nodded. "Yes, that is what I have come to be called. Please, come in. The dinner is waiting."

"Thank you." He didn't seem that bad. He certainly had good manners and apparently gentle demeanor despite his looks. Maybe...he was actually a cursed prince.

She jumped slightly as a wispy apparition brushed past her.

"Ah, pay them no mind," the Beast told her. "There are some restless spirits roaming the castle. They're harmless." He held out his arm to her. "Shall we go?"

~*~*~

Belle soon found out that the Beast was a very intriguing person. In addition to being a perfect gentleman, he was very learned, had an extensive library and practiced alchemy. Unlike all the young men in town who had only swooned over her looks, he actually was interested in what she thought about anything and everything.

He was also happy to teach her anything she wanted to know about his experiments. Except one...the one that had made him look like that. She assured him that his looks didn't matter to her, but he only shook his head and requested that she not ask him again.

With all the everyday chores tended to by invisible servants and her own days filled with intellectual pursuits, she could say that she was genuinely happy. And...maybe she was growing fond of her new companion too.

"Go away." She waved her hand a little to shoo away the ghost of a young woman following her again. Her mouth was opening and closing like she was saying something, but Belle couldn't hear the words.

Then two more ghosts joined them. Ignoring them like the Beast had instructed suddenly became a lot harder as their hands tugged at her clothes in something akin to desperation.

"What is it? What do you want? I can't hear you."

One of them flew to the nearby wall and pushed her hands against it. Suddenly a part of the mosaic on it slid aside to reveal a door.

Belle knew that she shouldn't snoop around without the Beast's permission. But her curiosity got the better of her when the ghosts opened the door for her, and she stepped inside.

Ethereal lights lit up around her, casting wild shadows in the small room. One of the walls was covered by a huge painting of a rose bush. The flowers blooming in it were the most beautiful she had ever seen. Red like blood and so detailed that she was certain she could feel the texture of the petals under her fingers is she touched them.

Then her gaze fell to the bottom of the painting. It wasn't soil the bushes were growing on. It was human bodies.

She swallowed. It was just a painting. A very life-like painting done in incredibly bad taste, but still just a painting. So why were the ghosts so frantic that she see it? And why were they all...young women?

Her imagination was definitely getting the better of her.

Furry hands gently encased her wrists. "Belle, Belle..." the Beast, standing behind her, whispered to her ear. "Everything was so perfect. Why did you have to destroy it all?"

She didn't move. "What is this?! The ghosts...This painting..."

"The secret of eternal life. The visage of a beast is a small price to pay for forever, isn't it?" He pulled one of her hands to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it. "I had truly wished to share it with someone, but I see that I misjudged you. Just like I misjudged all those other girls over the years."

He guided her hand to touch one of the roses in the painting. "Goodbye, Belle..."