Beauty and the Devil ch7 (DMC) Reader/Vergil

Beauty and the Devil
Chapter 7: No Food, No Drinks and The Only Babe Just Left


“We don’t like what we don’t understand; in fact it scares us and this monster is mysterious at least.” –Townspeople (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast ‘The Mob Song’)

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You’re not sure how long you have been trapped, or even when your tears finally ceased. All you know is that you’re violently shivering and that you will, in fact, die down here if you don’t do something. Since that creature locked you in here you haven’t moved from the spot on the floor where you had collapsed with terror. The house is dead silent, as if even it doesn’t dare to make the slightest of sound in fear of enraging the monster that lingers within. You have long since given up hope of anyone coming to save you. Even if they were lucky enough to make it past the creatures in the woods, then they would simply perish to the darker monster within this accursed house. Besides, the only one who knows where you are at is Ann. However her coming to your rescue is highly unlikely. For starters if she managed to get away from Larry’s slimy hands she wouldn’t have a way of getting out here. You had used her car.

A soft groan breaks the deafening silence and your eyes shoot over to the bars your dad is still trapped behind. You frantically crawl over to the bars, eyes locked onto your dad’s form. The dimming beam from your flashlight illuminates the bars of his cage as he wheezes.

“Dad, you’re awake!” A relieved smile unknowingly spreads on your lips. “Are you alright?”

Weakly, he rolls over to face you, still coughing as he does so. “Wh-what are you doing here?” Equal parts surprise and fear mingle in his scratchy voice.

“I came looking for you. On the phone, the line kept breaking up but I was able to make out enough to know you were in trouble. Ann helped me figure out where you were at and lent me her car. I came here as quickly as I could.”

You watch as his eyes widen with dread. “You should not have come here. My dear, this place is cursed- it is the house of the devil himself.”

“So you saw them too? The things in the woods? The monster here in the hou-“ Your words comes to an immediate halt with the sound of old wood creaking loudly beneath the weight of quick footfalls.

You're eyes follow the moaning floor above you in the dim light of Ann's dying flashlight. Dust falls from the hole riddled ceiling, moving with who or whatever is walking above. The swift footfalls make their way to the steps before taping down.

You back against the frozen bars of your dad's prison, wanting to get as far away from the locked door where you saw your last nightmare and protect your weakened father as much as you can from something like that monster.

As the footfalls come to a halt just beyond the locked door, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, fills the room. It doesn't even register that you're holding your breath. Your mind is in a rush. What lurks on the other side of the thick wooden door? Is it one of the monsters from the woods? Perhaps it's the creature that sealed you and your dad within this frozen prison. Or is it yet another, different hellish beast? Your dad's words echo over and over in your mind like a record stuck on repeat and you find, to your horror, that you cannot agree more with him.

This is the devil's house - your hell and no doubt soon-to-be grave.

Claws click against the stone floor just beyond the door accompanied by a light metallic clinking. Whatever it is, it's moving about. Probably looking for a quick and easy meal. What sounds like something metal softly clatters to the floor as the unknown creature moves closer to the door. Your body is shaking, almost violently, though due from your complete and utter horror or from the painfully bitter cold is anyone's guess at this point.

You catch movement of something siding under the locked door.

"I'd get moving if I were you babe, before Mr. Sunshine and rainbows finds out and throws one of his tantrums." A male voice calls out from the other side of the door.

Only when you move Ann's flashlight over to it do you realize that it was an old bronze key that had been pushed under the door. Before you even process that you're moving you find yourself at the door.

"There's something here in the house! I don't know what it is, it's a monster! Pleas-"

"All the more reason for you to get a move on," He interrupts. "The key won't work on the door, but should work on the cage. You should be able to get out through the window if you can pry the boards off it."

"What about you?" Your question is only answered by the stairs creaking. You're not sure if it's the man going up them or the devilish creature coming down them.

Not wasting any time, you swipe the key up from the frozen stone floor. The cold metal burns into your palm but you ignore it. Your eyes focus on your dad's prison. Now that you have a means to set him free, you can get the hell out of this nightmarish place. Once you make it back across the room it doesn't take you long to locate the keyhole and jam the bronze piece of metal into it. A twist and click later, the icy door pushes open with some effort.

Quickly making your way to your dad, you collapse onto your knees next to him and wrap your arms around him. The embrace is short lived. Now that you finally found and freed him, the challenge of getting both of you out of this hell alive presents itself. The devil in the house is one thing, but your real worry is focused on the beasts in the woods. First things first however, that man said something about getting out of the house through a window.

You help your dad stand and support him when his legs wobbled and threatened to give out from underneath him. You scan the walls with your ever dimming flashlight. There, half hidden behind a rickety dusty shelf, is a window. The glass appears to have long since vanished and it’s just wide enough to squeeze through. That’s your ticket out of this hell house.

Walking is more of a chore than you thought it would be. With most of his weight supported by your shoulder you can only walk at a crawling pace. Making through the woods alive maybe even trickier than you first thought and your first thought wasn’t exactly fun sunshine land. By the time you make it to the window and push the shelf away enough to access it you come to a realization that walking back through the woods is out of the question. The two of you would be eaten alive by those shadowy monsters for sure. You’ll have to come up with a plan be and quick before the two of you are eaten or freeze to death. A small part of you wonders which will happen first.

Thanks to a small nearby table getting your dad out the window is a fairly easy task. You balance on the unsteady table and make it halfway out the window before you hear the table toppling over with a clatter. Before you fall back into the basement however you are able to regain your balance and pull yourself out and onto the cold snowy ground.

The blizzard has set in for the long haul it seems. Bone chilling wind whips across the open field, through the iron fence and seemingly pierces your soul itself. It physically hurts to be out in the frigged cold and the coolness that nighttime typically brings with it does nothing to help. You loop your dad’s arm over your shoulder as you stand, once again supporting his weight. Your mind is in a rush trying to think up a plan B since simply walking through the woods is a no go.

“Dad do you still have your keys?” Duh! Your way out of this nightmare was greeting you at the front gate! Now don’t you feel stupid.

“I-I believe so.” He reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out his keys which chime in the wind.

“Perfect!” You take the keys from him with your free hand and start your trek to the front of the house, Ann’s brave little flashlight not only your guide but the only light around for miles.

Before every exposed window you pause and peak in before sneaking by. You don’t want to risk that devilish beast learning about your escape before you make it out of this place, but also you want to keep an eye open for that man that had helped you and your dad out. You would feel horrible leaving him in this hellhole when he’s the only reason why you were able to escape to begin with.

The car, while covered in snow and still missing it’s back bumper, should be able to get through the woods decently, though it maybe a bit of a bumpy ride, even bumpier if those things discover you attempting to flee.

Snow crunches under your weight as you round the car and jam the key into the lock. A soft click later and you pull the passenger door open. You help your dad inside before shutting the door and flat out run around to the driver side. You take a moment to clear off the snow that has piled up on the windshield as best as you are able before unlocking the door and sliding in. As soon as the door is shut you lock it again.

The key is very quickly reunited with the ignition and the car hums to life after two failed attempts. Headlights illuminate the front of the mansion in an eery light. If the thing in the house doesn’t know you escaped by yet it sure does now, which means that it’s only a matter of time before it makes its reappearance. You waste no time putting it in reverse and hitting the gas. You back out of the gate, swing the car around and make for the woods as fast as you are able.

You don’t look. You don’t need to. You can feel it watching you from the shadows of the ghostly house. Oh, it knows.

You drive quickly through the trees, yet know you have to be cautious of more than just monsters and beasts. Driving in these woods on normal conditions would be hard enough with all the trees and roots. Add to that a snowstorm in the middle of the night onto that and hungry things that shouldn’t exist trying to chase you down and eat you. Needless to say, you didn’t think running for your life would be this hard when you’re locked inside a nice metal car.

The headlights pierce the darkness and weave through the tall dark pines making shadows that your imagination loves to play with to torture you. So far there have been no signs of the creatures, but you know that there’s out there somewhere. It’s only a matter of time until you’ll have to face your fear and them. The tires crunch through the snow and break any sticks that were unfortunate enough to have fallen in your path. Your head keeps swiveling around so fast on the lookout that you start to get dizzy.

You take a glance over to your dad and worry crease your brow. He’s not doing good. You have to get him to a hospital and soon. The exposure to the cold must have done more damage than what you first thought. He’s wheezing and shivering almost violently. Determined to get him to some help, you step on the gas.

Your heart leaps up into your throat when you see something move just outside your window. Or at least, you thought you saw something move. It’s hard to tell with the low visibility. For all you know it could have been a large snowflake that caught the light of the headlights. You want to believe that it was just that, snow. However you know better than to let down your guard in a place like this.

Time seems to come to a standstill when you spot beyond the blur of snow a set of red eyes staring at you in your side mirror. A second later, another set and another appear with the first. You knew they would find you, you just had hoped you could have covered more ground before they did. Like something out of a bad horror film more appear behind you. They get closer and closer and you can make out the black inky bulk of their huge bearlike bodies. Their gaping mouths open and your tail lights illuminate their seemingly countless pointed teeth. You can hear their large clawed feet hit the ground hard as they chase after you.

Swerving to the left, you only just miss crashing into a tree. Your victory however is very shortly lived when one of the beasts slams into the back side of the car causing you to lose control. The car spins out of control before crashing into a large fallen log causing it to topple over and roll violently.

Slowly your senses start to return to you. The first thing you realize is that you are no longer in the car. Snow underneath of you seeps through your clothing and chills you to the bone. A faint noise is muffled in your ears. You will your eyes to open but they don’t seem to cooperate and close again almost immediately. When you finally win the fight and they remain open the world around you seems to be fuzzy and spinning. Everything seems to have slowed down.

It takes you a moment to realize that the noise you keep hearing is the car dinging to alert that a door is open. A few feet away you find the car, or what remains of it. It’s flipped upside down and completely totaled. The headlights are still on however and they shine towards you giving you light to better see your surroundings.

Your eyes move slowly and their constraint focusing and unfocusing only makes your head hurt worse. After a few moments you are able to make out the silhouette of your dad resting limply in snow a few yards away.

You squeeze your eyes shut when the dizziness becomes too much to handle and your stomach threatens to release what little it contains. Snow crunches under weight within the darkness of the now silent and still woods. A growl echoes through the trees and you will your eyes to open once more.

You can see them. Right there only a few yards away. Red hellfire eyes locked onto your unmoving form. You watch as the creatures slowly close in. The light revealing them as the monsters you knew they were. Their lower half is very much like a bear. Large, and powerful paws tipped with razor sharp claws. However their upper half is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. The best way you could describe it would be if someone combines a tadpole with a bear. Thick jet black fur covers it from head to claw. Their large rounded heads dominate the front of their bodies with what seems like no neck. A thick tail with three spikes at the tip thumps and drags on the ground behind them. The one feature that dominates them are their mouths which take up most of their head. If they were made for a single reason it would be to eat and crush anything they catch with their jaws. Which now includes you and your dad.

You try to move but your body doesn’t budge an inch. You can’t even will your finger to move. You can only watch as the monsters draw ever closer. You don’t take your eyes off their crimson ones as tears run down your cheeks at the realization that you and your dad will die out here and not a single soul will know what happened. Images of the corpse you found last time you were in this forest flash through your mind. You will end up just like that poor soul. Left as a warning to anyone else who foolishly enters this hell.

Your mind grows fuzzier and your eyes give up trying to stay in focus. You stare blindly into the darkness, tears freezing on your cheeks. The creatures come to a sudden hault. They smell the air and look around alert. Without warning they dart off into the trees as fast as they are able. Your mind doesn’t even register that they have fled nor does it try and consider why they fled when so close to a meal.

The forest is silent, not even the wind dares to howl its wrathful tune. You only hear the silence as the snow continues to fall heavily. Then you see it. In the darkness. You only stare numbingly at it, as your mind starts to fade. Neon blue eyes are locked onto you as it approaches without so much as a sound.

If this is hell then it seems the devil has come to collect. It stops just within the headlights reach. The light illuminating its silver horns. Your eyes move over its black and blue leathery skin to meet its soul stealing eyes.

Tears still fall from your eyes as you stare at the devil. You didn’t want this. You only wanted to save your dad. You only wanted him to be happy and to finally get what he deserves out of life. You wanted to get him out of that shit neighborhood and into a nice house instead of that crap apartment. You wanted to move to someplace nice where neither of you would have to see or deal with Larry ever again. You wanted him to stop thinking that he’s a bad dad because of where you had to live; trying to scrape by one day at a time. You just wanted to help him. He deserves as much. But you failed. You failed your mom and now you failed your dad as well.

As the world fades away from you, you don’t even register the words you whisper.

“...s-supposed to...save h-him…”