"'Kill the Beast! This monster has not his... its place among us!' No, no, it sounds too hateful, they wouldn't understand... Let's try something else... 'You know how I care for this town... And I tell you, we have to kill the Beast...' No! Now it sounds almost regretful! They're used to their Beast, but not to that point! What to do? What to do?"
The man paced nervously in the room, hands clasped in his back, frowning and chewing his lower lip. His face lightened up suddenly and he exclaimed:
"I know! That's the right way to tell them!"
In the afternoon of that very day, the same man was facing the whole town gathered on the main square. By his side, three other men and a woman who looked rather bored. He took a deep breath and began:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Beast must die."
A general gasp of surprise answered him. He felt a bit nervous in front of all the blank gazes staring at him.
"I know it's here for so long that we don't consider it as a danger anymore. But that is the danger! It's waiting for its moment and then... it will come to attack our homes, to devour our children, to take away our daughters! We can't let it do!"
Some people agreed in the crowd, but the young voice of a little boy protested:
"No, he would never!"
The man ignored it and continued his speech:
"We have the luck to have among us a well-known huntress, used to this kind of monster. May I present you the Venomous Beauty..."
He designated the woman standing near him. She stepped forward and inclined simply the head. As some people were murmuring that a mere woman couldn't do anything against a Beast, she opened her cloak and everybody could see the deadly weapon hanging from her belt. The man paled a bit and she looked at him with an ironical face.
"The Venomous Beauty will kill the Beast for us," he said, "for I know that nobody here would have dared to go to its lair to affront it..."
"Leave him in peace!" shouted the little boy. "He didn't do any harm!"
"It's a question of security," concluded the man. "Venomous Beauty, this security is now in your hands."
Once again she inclined the head in a nod as to accept. Then, not caring a bit for the crowd watching her, she turned on her heels and left. The man muttered something under his breath and left behind her, obviously in a hurry.
The Venomous Beauty was bending down over her saddlebag. She didn't even start when he addressed her with an angry tone:
"What are those manners of yours? You don't leave a whole assembly like that, without a word, without even saying that you are honoured by their trust in you!"
She looked at him with those black eyes of hers and shrugged.
"I'm not honoured by their trust. They don't trust me at all; you took the decision for them, they didn't ask for anything! Their Beast doesn't disturb them at all, for all I could understand."
"They're used to him," said the man. "But they don't fully realise the danger he represents."
"He?" noted the Venomous Beauty.
She had the impression that the man was reddening.
"You know, after quite a time, you begin to consider this Beast as a pet..."
"Sure. That's why you want to kill him. They don't realise the danger, but you do, that's it?"
She threw her saddlebag on her shoulder and prepared to take her leave.
"Where are you going?" the man called her back.
"To carry out my mission!" she retorted.
"But... but you need to have some indications, some pieces of information on the Beast!"
"No need. I know already enough."
And she left. In her head sounded the voice of a little boy in answer to the vengeful sentence 'The Beast must die'. The protestations of the little boy had convinced her there was something strange in that story and she was ready to go straight to the Beast to understand it. As long as she hadn't seen it... him, the mystery couldn't be explained.
Most people had wondered about the Venomous Beauty: she wasn't truly looking like a well-known huntress! Her clothes were quite plain, most certainly fit for hunting, but her long black hair danced freely on her back, except two long locks, dyed in red, which were plaited with black locks and were stroking gently her cheeks at every step she made. A long white feather was hanging from behind her left ear and on her right ear was a long earring looking like a net. She often touched it absent-mindedly, as if it had a special meaning for her.
She left her horse in town and hurried in the forest, her saddlebag on her shoulder, not caring a bit for all the curious gazes looking at her. It was quite easy to follow the Beast's tracks, as if he hadn't cared to hide it. To find him was even easier: he was sleeping peacefully, curled up on himself, his head on his front paws. The Venomous Beauty put her saddlebag on the ground and sat on a rock near the Beast. She looked at him quite lengthily, not once holding out her hand toward her weapon. Then she sighed. She was obviously thinking about something else.
"I met my father today," she said suddenly to the emptiness, with a soft voice, as to not wake up the Beast. "I have never seen him before today; I met him, but he doesn't know I am his daughter. And I have the painful impression that my father is not what one can call an honest man."
She sighed again, still staring at the sleeping Beast.
"And he does hate you," she said then. "I don't know why, but he hates you. I wonder what you did to him to make him hate you so."
As she lowered her gaze, once again the fingers of her right hand touched her earring. In the middle of the net was a small blue stone and she played with it mechanically. Then, as she reported her gaze on the Beast, she noticed that the golden eyes were open.
"There! I knew I would once again talk too much!" she said calmly.
The Beast didn't move; he simply stared at her, blinked once or twice, moved one of his ears and nothing else.
"Why does he so much want you to die?" asked the Venomous Beauty to the Beast, even if she wasn't waiting for any answer.
"So you're the one he chose, Little Beauty," retorted the Beast.
For the first time, the Venomous Beauty lost her calm: she started violently.
"Why do you call me like that? I am..."
"You're the famous Venomous Beauty. I can't understand why venomous, but I fully agree with the beauty."
The girl remained open-mouthed.
"Close the mouth, dear," said gently the Beast. "It's not very polite to look at people like that and I know you had a very fine education."
The Venomous Beauty closed the mouth obediently and then said:
"How is it that you speak?"
The Beast looked surprised.
"Did you ever wonder why you were able to speak?"
"No, but..."
"Ah, I see!" he said rather sadly. "I'm a Beast and beasts aren't supposed to talk. True, I forgot that. But beasts do talk, Little Beauty."
"Don't call me like that. This name is reserved for my mother. If you really don't like 'Venomous Beauty', you can try Venom, for short."
"I do prefer Little Beauty, but since you don't like it, I'll do with Venom. You humans do think that animals are stupid. They aren't stupid at all."
"How did you know who I was?"
"I have ears everywhere, Venom. I knew that your father wanted to kill me long before he told it to the whole town."
Venom thought to the little boy who had stood up for the Beast and, as if he was reading her thoughts, he shook the head - a rather funny movement coming from him.
"No, he's not... guilty... hmm, responsible, I mean. His only fault is to see me like a friend."
"Would you harm him?"
"Why would I do such a thing? I have no reason at all! No, Venom, my ears are the animals. True, I quite frightened them, but when I rest quietly like that, they dare approach near me and tell me the last news. That's how I heard of your arrival."
"And you know why I am here?"
"You're supposed to kill me, I guess. Your reputation is quite grand, you know, and every living beast knows about you. Every mother teaches her cubs to fear you and to run away as soon as you are near."
"Why didn't you run away? You were awake from the very beginning, weren't you?"
"True enough, but I'm not a cub anymore. And you still haven't made a movement toward that dreadful weapon of yours. Are you really willing to kill me?"
"He says you must die."
"I know. Is it your opinion too?"
"Before meeting you, I hadn't any opinion: there was something strange about you that I wanted to clarify before doing anything."
"And now?"
"Now, I don't know anymore," shrugged Venom. "I still don't know why he wants you to be dead, but I understand why the little boy was standing for you."
At those words, the Beast looked worried.
"Poor little one! He will have problems because of that! I told him a thousand times not to care when they were speaking about me with bad thoughts, but he never listened. He's a quite stubborn lad."
"Like you, maybe?" said Venom, crossing quietly her legs.
The Beast curled his lips on what was most probably meant to be a smile, but which revealed long shining fangs. Then for the first time, Venom noticed the razor-sharp claws only half-hidden, the powerful muscles under the fur and the strong jaws.
"Quite frightening, huh?" said the Beast, who didn't lose any of her movements.
Venom didn't answer: true, there were those frightening sides, but there were too the deep sad eyes, the soft voice despite the hoarse accents and his polite manners. The golden eyes especially were beckoning and she almost lost herself in their depths. As if he understood the danger, the Beast closed his eyelids and Venom shook slightly the head. Her white feather stroked her neck while her earring beat against her cheek.
"A dream-catcher?" asked the Beast.
"Yes, to keep away the nightmares and to trap the good dreams."
"Useful?"
Venom shrugged.
"I don't know. I don't remember what I have been dreaming during the night."
The Beast half-nodded, quite understandingly, it seemed, and then inquired:
"Can I stand up or will you immediately reach for your weapon?"
"That's why you are still lying on the ground?" wondered Venom, incredulous.
"Sure. That's not really dignifying, but dignity matters little when one is dead."
"You can stand up," said Venom, not willing to begin a discussion on that subject.
She was quite fascinated when looking at him: he had such feline grace! He was a quite massive Beast, but looked rather like a bit cat, except that he was standing up on his hind legs, looking then like a bear. In fact Venom was totally unable to say which kind of Beast he was. A gleam of light and suddenly he seemed totally different from what he was before. He pushed his long mane in his back with one hand - paw - and it was as if a man had been pushing his hair back. There was something very human in him and yet, it was impossible to forget he was a Beast, impossible to be mistaken.
He looked at her with his golden eyes and she almost forgot her mission.
"Would you accept to be my guest? I hope you won't be too disappointed: most people say I live in an enchanted castle with invisible servants or servants under animal shape. In fact I'm afraid my lair is far from a castle and I don't have any servant at all."
"Why do they imagine that?" asked Venom, rising too and reaching for her saddlebag.
"Because it's much more interesting. I must be someone important, if not why would they care for me?"
Venom threw her saddlebag on her shoulder and fixed him.
"I'm ready to follow you."
The Beast nodded; Venom noticed that he was trying not to smile too much, as to not frighten her, for it was true his smile was not reassuring at all. He turned his back to her, leading the way.
"Do you trust me that much?" she asked, following him.
He understood at once what she was meaning.
"You had all the time you wanted to kill me while I was feigning sleep... if your intentions had ever been to kill me. But you're someone loyal and honest, you wouldn't kill someone in the back."
"That's my job. I'm paid for it," retorted Venom.
The Beast entered a cavern and said, his voice sounding quite strange because of the echo:
"So that's what you are? A mere mercenary?"
"I'm no more a mere mercenary than you are a mere Beast, but..."
"That's what I wanted you to say," the Beast interrupted her. "Even if it's your job, if you feel it's not right, you won't do it, will you?"
"Why do you say that? How can you pretend to know what I am?"
"Because I read it in your eyes. Corporal language is something that Beasts know how to decipher. Here, be careful, it's quite steep and I don't have any light. Would you accept my help without feeling offended?
Venom put her hand on the offered arm without a word. She was playing with fire and she knew it. Till now she had only hunted down wild beasts that were causing damages, so she hadn't had any regret. But then this Beast wasn't behaving like that at all! She knew she was wrong to befriend him, but he intrigued her so much she couldn't help it. Quite disturbed by those thoughts, she touched her earring and her foot slipped. The Beast caught her instantly and he asked anxiously:
"Am I troubling you, Venom? You can wait here if you want and I'll come back with light..."
Venom felt his strong arm round her waist and it wasn't unpleasant at all. She disentangled herself gently, letting her hand on his arm.
"No, it's alright. I was only daydreaming. I promise you I'll be more careful till we arrive."
"Are you sure? It won't take me long..."
"No, really, it's fine. I'm sorry."
The Beast didn't reply, but Venom felt under her fingers that his muscles were quite contracted, ready to react if something happened to her. She wondered if he welcomed all his killers this way.
She saw light at the end of the corridor and she was quite impatient to see what was waiting for her: was it a trap, as when the spider invites the fly in its net or was it meant with no second thought? She felt ashamed, both for mistrusting the Beast and for befriending her prey.
"You know my name," she said suddenly. "Can't I know yours?"
The Beast stopped at once and she knew, without knowing how, that her question distressed him.
"I don't have any name," he replied at last. "You don't give name to every beast you meet."
"My horse has a name," she objected.
"Because he's like your pet. I'm no one's pet."
"But you can't remain without a name!" persisted Venom.
The Beast didn't say a word for a moment and then sighed:
"You humans are quite stubborn with your names. Why do you always want to name everything?"
"Because it's easier to call them."
"I live alone here, so nobody but me will answer your calls."
"Very well, sir," retorted Venom half-vexed.
"'Sir'!" sneered the Beast. "Oh, no, that's not a name for me. If you really want to name a Beast, call it 'Beast', it will be enough."
"Will you not feel... hmm... insulted?"
"Why? That's what I am, after all. Here we are," he added, his tone of voice indicating clearly he didn't want to continue the conversation.
Venom was speechless. The light she had seen just before was a soft light illuminating a maze of corridors of cold stone, but the exterior of the maze was wonderfully decorated.
"It's a bit cold and dark," apologised the Beast, "but I hope you'll make it your home nonetheless for the little time you'll spend here."
"I'll be very honoured," replied Venom, unable to find something else to say.
But she meant those words: for the first time in her life, she really felt honoured.
"Follow me," said the Beast. "I'll show you your rooms."
He guided her through the maze without a word and she was very careful to remember the way. Arrived in front of a closed door, the Beast turned to her and said gently:
"You must be very tired..."
She was about to protest, but her eyelids closed by themselves and she would have collapsed to the ground hadn't the Beast caught her in his arms.
When she woke up, she wondered first at the strange view. She rolled on her back and stared at the ceiling made of stone. Where was she? She straightened up in her bed; she was still fully clothed, a thick blanket on her. Looking at the room brought her memory to her: she was in the Beast's lair, she was his guest. She frowned: how could it be? She was here to kill him, wasn't she? She stood up and tried the door; it wasn't locked. She wasn't a prisoner. But when seeing the maze opening before her eyes, she felt her heart sinking.
She was unable to say how she managed to find the way out but when she saw the light of day outside, she almost burst with relief. It was morning and she wondered how long she had been asleep in that room of stone. She stopped suddenly: there, in front of the cavern, there was a little boy playing with a great Beast. The Beast was lying on the ground, half-curled up on himself like a cat and the little boy was either stroking his long fur or cuddling against him. Even when the boy was kicking him with his little fists - but Venom noticed it was in a playful way - the Beast never showed his fangs, not only once. Venom watched them for quite a long time; she remembered the boy, it was the one who had stood up for the Beast. It was obvious they were friends. Then the little boy lay on the ground too, his head on the Beast's shoulder.
"He wants to kill you," he said softly.
"I know," replied the Beast and his voice was almost like a purr.
Venom knew almost at once that she would never kill the Beast, for she would remember all her life the hurt gaze of a little boy and his deep sorrow. She had a great sigh and was on the point to leave when the little boy looked up and saw her hiding in the shadows of the cavern.
"It's her!" he exclaimed. "Friend, it's her! She's here to kill you!"
Venom stepped forward, in the light, and the Beast said gently:
"She is unarmed, little one."
Venom noticed it for the first time: she had left her saddlebag and her weapon in her room and she thought that this story had really turned her head upside down, for she never forgot her weapon! She sat on the ground near them and remarked calmly:
"He found the right name for you. 'Friend' sounds much better than 'Beast'."
"And 'Little Beauty' does sound better than 'Venom'," retorted the Beast.
The little boy had put his right arm round the Beast's neck as to protect him and together they looked like a normal little boy with his pet the cat near the fire corner, only that the fire corner was missing.
"Everybody is wondering what you are doing," said the little boy to Venom quite aggressively.
"Little one, where are your manners?" asked severely the Beast.
"She's a killer, Friend!" he protested.
"She's not here as a killer, but as a guest. Did you sleep well?" he inquired politely.
"You forced me into sleep," she accused him.
"Yes, I did," he agreed sadly. "I hoped you would have slept later, so you wouldn't have seen my little friend here."
"You know that without him, I would certainly have already killed you."
"Yes, I know, that's why I didn't want you to see him again. That's not fair that his youth and innocence protect me. The dices are already loaded enough like that. I don't want to cheat anymore. We must respect the established rules between the hunter and his prey."
"The rules? There's no rule! The better wins, that's the only rule I know!"
The Beast turned to the little boy.
"Go home, little one. Your mother will begin to worry. And remember: stop standing up for me, it will only bring you problems."
"She will kill you as soon as I won't be there anymore!"
"I promise you she won't do to me anything I'm not agreed with. Now, go on."
The little boy stroked a last time the long mane and left his friend. As soon as he was out of sight, the Beast stood up and Venom was fascinated once again: his movements were so feline and graceful that it was almost painful, because she yearned for such catlike way to move.
He caught her gaze on him and moaned softly:
"Don't look at me like that, Venom! I know what I am..."
She felt sorry for him, for he had misunderstood her gaze, but she was unable to explain him the truth, that is, that she was admiring his way to move and not despising his shape of Beast. Her face became more thoughtful and she said:
"You were willing to let me kill you, when you sent the boy home."
His golden eyes met her gaze and he moved the head, but she was unable to say if he had nodded it or shaken it.
"I was... if you had been willing to kill me."
Venom circled her knees with her arms and looked up at him with troubling intensity.
"Why? Why an order from my father would be for you like the signal to give up your life?"
The Beast sighed and paced around her.
"Because it means that they can't stand me anymore. They think I'm a danger for themselves and their family."
"But you wouldn't harm them, would you?"
"No, but I could, and they know it. Your father just voiced what they thought in secret, that's all."
"I saw their disbelief when he declared it! They were almost shocked!"
"Yes, that's true, but I'm here for quite a long time now and they're used to me. I'm sort of a mascot, a big pet a bit wild..."
"But gentle with children," observed Venom.
"You say that because of the boy? He's a special child; nothing can frighten him, not even a wild Beast howling with pain."
"Why do you say that?"
"The first day we met, I was deeply wounded by a mantrap and I was ready to attack anyone approaching me. It was him and I was unable to attack him."
"Why?" asked Venom.
"He's a child," retorted simply the Beast. "You can't attack a child. Just a cub! Can I know what you plan to do now or is it a secret?"
"I intend to spend quite a long time in your lair, if you don't mind having me around, just to understand a bit more who you really are."
The Beast looked at her with quite a strange air.
"That's not the usual way to act for hunters tracking their preys."
"I'm not a normal hunter and you're not a normal prey. In fact, seeing you gives me the desire to change of prey, but the other candidate is my father..."
The Beast nodded.
"Sure. That's quite hard to decide between a strange Beast and a father," he said quite ironically.
"Yes, it's hard, especially when the father has never tried to know his daughter."
"But you are blood-bounded, you can't deny it, while you can always deny the... hmm... attraction for a Beast. Sorry for the wrong word. No offence meant."
"I think I understand. I'd like it this easy to understand my father too. It seems he lives only for the appearance... and his hatred for you."
"Then you should pity him, for a man who lives only for hatred is really someone to pity. Especially when he has a daughter like you."
"I have nothing special."
"Oh no? That's why you try to stand out of the common people by your clothing, your dyed locks and your jewels? You're a well-known huntress, Venom, and lots of people do envy you."
"How would you know? You're a Beast. What do you understand to human feelings?"
"That's not really nice, lady," the Beast scolded her.
"I never said I was nice. So?"
The Beast sighed.
"That's a story for another time, Venom. It's too early for you to know it."
"Why? So you can keep the secret of your existence?"
"Huh? Sorry, I didn't understand."
"This story tells why you speak, doesn't it? It explains why you're so a strange Beast. Why don't you want to tell it to me? Aren't I worthy of this honour?"
"Shall I recall you that your first aim in coming here was to kill me?"
"That's not nice either," she remarked.
"I'm a Beast, I'm not supposed to be nice," he retorted.
"We're going nowhere."
"I know, but I do like this game. It was quite a long time since I had such a conversation. It's... refreshing."
Venom stood up and came to the Beast, putting her hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I forgot how lonely you must be sometimes."
"How would you have known?" replied the Beast. "You know almost nothing about me, except what a hateful man told you. That's not much."
"No, but someone as clever as you are must be lonely to live like that, in a so wild way."
The Beast remained silent for some time and then sighed:
"I thank you for having used the term 'someone'. You could have had employed the term 'beast' and, believe me, it means a great deal for me to be considered as a human being rather than as a beast, even if I live like a Beast and, most of the time, behave like one. Now, come; I think it's time for you to have a proper lunch."
But if Venom accepted to follow him, she refused the lunch. She sheltered in her room and leaned on the door, trying to order her thoughts. Her brain was like a storm and she was unable to know whom she had to believe. The Beast sounded more than convincing, but then, he was only a Beast, if she could categorise him to that. But there was the little boy who called him 'Friend' and that couldn't be ignored. Faced to the sad gaze of a little boy, the hatred of her father had no weight at all.
Something like ten minutes later the Beast knocked at the door and, receiving no answer, opened it. Venom was lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillow and her shoulders were trembling with choked sobs. The Beast didn't try to call her and didn't even think of leaving and letting her to her sorrow. He crossed the room in two steps, knelt besides her bed and stroked gently her hair, being careful with his razor-sharp claws. His throat produced a soft sound, appeasing, almost like a purr, and Venom calmed progressively under his gentle caress.
"Tell me what's wrong, Beauty," he pleaded almost tenderly.
She turned the head and looked up at him.
"How do you know it's my real name?" she asked quite aggressively.
The Beast looked surprised.
"I didn't know. It just came naturally to my mind, because that's what you are."
She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and sat on the bed.
"I'm the third daughter of a family and my mother called me Beauty because I had only that... My older sister was... is gentle and so graceful that she's called Grace. Everybody likes her. My other sister is so very clever that it's almost disturbing; she sickens half of the people she speaks with," she said, trying to laugh. "But for me, I was neither gentle and graceful, nor clever. My mother called me Beauty hoping I would at least have that."
"Let me guess: you were a willing child, quite stubborn, fearing nothing, always ready for going ahead."
"Yes, quite true."
"With a little bite in the words, perhaps?"
"More than a little," she admitted, laughing for good.
"So that's where the 'Venomous' comes from... Well, let me tell you something: though I do not know your sisters, I know that your mother could have called you Grace or I-don't-what or Beauty or even the three at the same time, because you deserve them all."
She smiled through her last tears and said:
"You're so nice! How can my father be willing to kill you?"
The Beast looked gravely at her.
"When you will go back home, to your mother, you will say to her: 'Cry wolf, cry with me as I'm howling to the dark moon'. And then you'll ask her why your father wants to kill me. She knows the answer."
"My mother knows you?" asked Venom, surprised, as the Beast was standing up, ready to leave the room.
He turned to her before closing the door on him.
"She knows," he repeated simply.
Sometimes after, Venom stood up and left her room. Her weapon was hanging from her belt and her saddlebag was on her shoulder. But this time she was unable to find her way through the maze. Exasperated she called:
"Beast! Beast! I mean... Friend! Where are you?"
The Beast didn't appear immediately but suddenly she felt another presence near her. She turned the head and he was here looking at her with sorrowful eyes.
"You want to leave," he said and it was more an affirmation than a question.
"Yes, I want to talk to my mother and understand all this. I can't decide what to do as long as I don't have all the elements of the story."
The Beast nodded.
"Your mother won't be able to give you all the elements. Your father is probably the most fit for that, but he would never. More than twenty years didn't extinct his hatred for me."
"Twenty years? You mean that my father has tried to kill you during all this time?"
The Beast shook the head.
"No, not really. At first, he used more indirect ways to get rid of me. But as it didn't work, he finally tried something else."
"Why are you so reticent in telling me the truth?"
"Because it's not the role of a stranger to say something about her father to a girl. But a mother can do it. Now go, since you want to go, and seek the truth."
He turned the heels and disappeared in the darkness of his maze; Venom thought that she ought to run after him, to explain to him why she wanted so badly to know the truth, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She remembered then why she had called the Beast and thought that she still didn't know how to go out, but she didn't dare to call the Beast back. She tried to find her way out all by herself and suddenly it was very easy. She suspected the Beast to be able to play on the corridors' topography, so that she would or not find her way.
She discreetly went back to town and, on her way, she met the little boy, probably off to see his friend the Beast.
"You killed him?" he asked immediately, worried.
"No," answered Venom. "Tell me how you became friends."
"He saved my life!" said proudly the little boy.
"He told me you cared for him because he was hurt."
"Oh, that! Yes, that's true, but he was wounded because of me. He fell into the trap instead of me, so I could do nothing less than help him! And I'm sure he knew there was a trap, but hadn't he fallen into it, I would have."
Venom nodded and the little boy added:
"Don't go back to town. They will ask you thousands of questions and ask for a proof he's dead."
"I have to fetch my horse."
"I'll fetch it for you. Can you wait till nightfall?"
"Of course."
"Perfect then. Wait for me here and I'll come with your horse. Will you do that?"
"You're afraid that I may change my mind if I go to town, aren't you?"
"Yes. He's very convincing and he hates Friend."
"Yes, I know. Alright, I'll wait until nightfall, but if you're not here then, I'll go myself to fetch my horse."
"I'll be there," promised the little boy.
So Venom waited till nightfall and the little boy respected his word: hardly had the sun disappeared that he was there, leading her horse fully saddled. She stroked its nostrils and threw her saddlebag on its back. Then she mounted and said to the little boy:
"I'll be back and then, I will know what to do. I hope you won't have to worry, but I can't promise you anything."
"I guess, but you can count on me to prevent you to harm him in any way. I'm not strong, but I'll do my best."
"The man who has you as his friend is a very lucky man. What's your name, little one?"
"My mother calls me Donansian."
"Very well, Donansian. Thanks for the horse."
The little boy watched her leave and prayed deep within that she would never return.
Venom didn't take all her time on the way back home. She hurried her horse and the faithful mount, understanding her will, gave her all its strength. She crossed lots of countries, met number of people, but no one could stop her. Lots of them recognised the huntress known as the Venomous Beauty, for her outfits were quite well-known, especially her red-dyed locks. Passing through little towns, she heard that some girls had imitated her, dying some of their locks in red too, but they weren't that much, for red hair - real red, not the natural colour of hair - had a bad connotation in the land, even if Venom's habits were changing that connotation.
She was dirty and sore when she reached her home. A tall woman went outside the house to see who was the newcomer and she frowned as she recognised her.
"Beauty! What are those outfits of yours? Don't you know the meaning of red hair?"
"Hello, mother. I'm happy to see you too," retorted Venom jumping down her horse.
She patted the faithful beast, took away saddle and bridle, threw her saddlebag on her shoulder and led the horse to the stables. Then coming back face to her mother, she pushed back a black lock and looked at her mother.
"Will you allow me to enter or must I go back to town and ask for a room in an inn?" she asked quite insolently.
"You know you're always welcome here. It's been a long time since you come here."
"Five years?" said Venom casually.
"Ten," corrected her mother. "You're not really my Little Beauty anymore."
Venom shrugged.
"I've made my life on my own. I didn't want to be only beautiful, but Grace has the gentleness and Pearl the cleverness. I had only the stubbornness left."
"And look at yourself! See what you've become!"
"I became the Venomous Beauty," retorted her daughter, putting her saddlebag on the ground and sitting on a bank.
"You are the Venomous Beauty? You?" repeated her mother incredulously.
Venom lifted her deadly weapon.
"See that. That's not a toy for children. That can kill and that already killed, more than once. Yes, I'm the Venomous Beauty. Guess where that name came from."
"You were that disturbed by the names I gave to you and your sisters?"
"Mother, you spent your time repeating to me that I should be lucky if I had beauty!" protested Venom. "But I'm not here for that. Someone told me to tell you that: 'Cry wolf, cry with me as I'm howling to the dark moon'. Does it sound familiar to you?"
She was stupefied by her mother's reaction: she became deadly pale and her long fingers grasped her daughter's.
"Who told you that? Who? Where is he?"
"Why does my father want to kill him?" asked simply Venom in return.
Her mother sighed and let her hand drop by her side.
"Thank the Gods, he's still alive!" she whispered at first, half-closing her eyes. "I guess you want to know the truth about him and about your father too?"
"Yes, I do. My father asked me to kill him!"
"Yes, I suppose he did, because he doesn't know you're his daughter. Nor would I have said that the Venomous Beauty was my daughter only yesterday. Very well... you shall have the truth, but before, you'll go to have a bath, because you stink."
"I know. I had quite a long ride," said Venom, half-laughing and relieved to see her mother was behaving like before.
She stood up and unbuckled her belt to take away her weapon. She put it on the ground besides her saddlebag and ran to the first floor to prepare her bath. Her mother left the room and went into another one where were several homing pigeons. She took two of them, put a message round their leg and let them fly through the window. Then she came back in the first room, heard the water noise and while waiting her daughter, she stared at the deadly weapon lying on the ground. She sighed, her gaze caught by the plays of light on the dreadful blade shining like silver. The cutting edge was very sharp, obviously well looked after.
When Venom went down the stair, she looked much better; her wet hair was tied on the nape of her neck, but the red locks were still quite visible. Her feather was still hanging behind her left ear and her fingers were still playing with her long earring. She sat on her bank, near her weapon and her saddlebag, and looked up at her mother.
"I'm waiting for your story," she said flatly.
Her mother sighed.
"You've become tough, Beauty."
"I didn't have the choice, mother. In the life I chose, the only choice I had was between killing or being killed. You don't have room for gentleness and compassion in that life."
"Very well. But I still have a dim hope, since you refused to kill a man like a hired assassin would have done. You want to know his story before. So listen carefully. When I was young, even younger than you are now, I had two friends, two brothers. The first one, called Ulfr, was perhaps one or two years older than I was; I preferred him to his brother and I wanted to marry him later. The second one, Jina, was two years younger than his brother. When I was fourteen, Ulfr disappeared; his parents explained they had sent him to an old aunt and that he would never come back, for this aunt had a daughter he would marry. I was crushed to the very core but then, Jina was so tender and so assiduous that I began to forget Ulfr. When the right time came, Jina asked me in marriage and I accepted. He's your father, Beauty. At first, we were very happy, for Jina was so gentle with me that what I considered like Ulfr's betrayal didn't matter much anymore to me. Jina loved Grace and would have done anything for her, including stealing, lying or killing. But then, perhaps two years after you were born, Jina wasn't home and I heard a call in the night. The voice was quite familiar to me and the words were even more familiar: 'Cry wolf, cry with me as I'm howling to the dark moon'. I think they are familiar to you too now."
She closed her eyes and added softly:
"It was Ulfr and he told me his sad tale. Never had he left to go to an old aunt, never had he intended to leave me, but his brother, the man I was now married to, had cast a spell on him and he didn't dare anymore to come to me. He had needed ten years to overcome the fear and the shame, it was only to discover that the woman he had never stopped to love had married his torturer. You can't imagine the pain that broke my heart and tore my soul apart! When Jina came back, I enjoined him to explain the whole story. He went berserk with rage and swore that he would get rid definitely of his brother. Because of my anger I had endangered Ulfr again and I couldn't do anything to help him. Jina left and Ulfr disappeared once again too, for I never heard his voice again. And now, you're a woman, you've met your father almost for the first time and the only thing you have to tell me is that he's still trying to kill his brother!"
Venom had remained very quiet during the whole story and she fixed her gaze on her mother.
"I think that now I have all the elements," she said calmly. "And now I know what I have to do."
"What will you do then?" asked her mother with apprehension.
"I'll go back there and talk with a little boy called Donansian, who is Ulfr's only friend now."
"And then?"
But Venom never had the time to reply, because a tall, slim girl entered the room and flung herself to Venom's neck, hugging her tightly.
"My little Beauty! You don't know how I've missed you!"
Venom returned the embrace, but with more restrain, for she wasn't very expansive, but Grace was so loveable that nobody could be cross with her. Grace loved her little sister - in fact, she loved almost everybody, but she had a marked preference for Venom - and she was really very happy to see her. Behind her, smiling lightly, was Pearl. Grace made no remark about Venom's outfits, but Pearl couldn't hold her tongue for so long and she exclaimed:
"Beauty, what the Hell have you done with your hair?"
Venom didn't reply and touched silently her earring, looking straight at her sister; her dark gaze took an adamantine glow and Pearl remembered suddenly that Venom didn't like for people to ask her questions. Venom knew perfectly how her sisters had known of her presence and, quite strangely, didn't reproach it to her mother, who didn't breathe a word of her daughter's new identity.
As her sisters were there, Venom delayed her departure; the following morning of her sisters' arrival, her red locks became black again and her feather behind the left ear disappeared. Wisely Pearl didn't mention it, but her eyes shone with pleasure. The girl was her little Beauty again and not that wild stranger that had stood in front of her the very first day. Grace, gentle and sweet as usual, was caring a lot for her young sister, trying to make her understand how much they had missed her, but she knew deep within that Venom wouldn't stay for long.
As the days passed, the mother noticed that Venom was easily able to match Pearl's cleverness and that her way to move could be comparable to Grace's. When she said to Venom that she was surprised by her grace, Venom had a brief laugh.
"I know someone who has much more grace than I have and compared to him, even Grace would look clumsy. When he moves, your throat tightens because his movements are so graceful that it's almost painful."
Pearl turned quickly the head toward her.
"Who is he?" she asked. "You speak of him as if you were in love with him."
"Me, in love?" retorted wryly Venom. "Be serious, Pearl! I'm not gentle enough, nor clever enough to be in love."
Pearl stared at her with wide eyes.
"But, Beauty, you don't need to be gentle nor clever to be in love! And, by the way, you are clever. Gentle, not very, but clever, yes, definitely! I'm almost jealous! That is, if you were not my sister, I would be jealous..."
In spite of herself, Venom laughed quite heartily.
"Pearl, Pearl!" she exclaimed fondly. "You're not serious at all! You don't even believe what you're saying! Whatever, I'm not in love, that, I can swear it to you. He is... what one can call... a friend, a real friend."
"What's his name?" asked Grace curiously.
"His other acquaintance calls him 'Friend' and I think it's the best name he could ever have, because that's what he really is."
"Tell us of him," said Grace almost imploringly. "You know we would like to know all the persons you are with."
But Venom shook the head.
"No, I don't want to talk of him now. Maybe later."
The conversation ended there, for Grace never insisted.
Venom was home for now three weeks when she appeared with her hair once again dyed. Her sisters started and her mother bit her lower lip, for she understood what it meant. This time, there weren't just two red locks but two white locks too and they were plaited with black locks; her feather was once again hanging from behind her left ear.
"I leave tomorrow," she said.
"Where?" asked impulsively Grace.
"Hush, Grace," intervened Pearl. "She's going back to him."
Venom wasn't the last bit surprised by Pearl's cleverness.
"Yes, you're right," she agreed. "I'm going back to him. He's waiting for me, I can't disappoint him."
"But we didn't see you during ten long years!" objected Grace, tears in her eyes.
It was the first time that Grace had ever objected to something or even protested. Venom raised the eyebrows but didn't say a word. She simply nodded: how could she explain that Ulfr was waiting for her to decide if he could live or not? How could she tell them that he she had called a friend was a monstrous beast with huge fangs and razor-sharp shining claws? How could she ever make them understand that she still hadn't decided yet if she would kill him or let him live? Grace didn't dare to add a word and simply accepted her sister's decision.
The following morning Venom was up with the sun. Pearl went down in the kitchen two minutes after to prepare the breakfast.
"You didn't have to wake up so early, Pearl," said Venom.
"I didn't want to let my little sister go away without a solid breakfast in her stomach. I'm not sure you're eating properly. You're far much too thin."
"Horse-riding keeps in good condition," retorted Venom with a smile.
Pearl looked at her with quite a strange air.
"There are two different persons in you, Beauty," she said slowly, as if she was afraid of saying something silly - an attitude that was hardly compatible with her usual behaviour, since Pearl's cleverness allowed her to avoid all these embarrassing situations. "One is the little Beauty we all know and the other is a stranger to us, a wild stranger... and I feel that this stranger may be dangerous. I would like to believe that this friend of yours would help you, would keep you the Beauty we know, but there's something between you and him that's not guided by friendship and it almost frightens me."
"Don't be afraid, Pearl. This stranger in me will never hurt you, this I can swear it to you."
"Oh! I know it, Beauty, I've always been able to read in you as in a book."
Venom shook the head, smiling.
"Oh, no, dear Pearl. There're so many things you don't know about me and that you will never know!"
"This I know too, Beauty," said Pearl triumphantly. "I had you once again!"
Venom took a small bread and bit in it. Pearl raised the arms to the ceiling.
"Oh no! What are you doing? I'm cooking you a nice breakfast and you're eating bread without anything on it."
"I'm hungry, Pearl, and you take too much time in preparing my breakfast," half-complained Venom, the mouth full.
"Here, eat those eggs and tell me what you think of them!" replied Pearl, putting a plate in front of her sister.
Venom sat and ate her eggs so quickly that Pearl understood that her sister was right when saying she was hungry. Hiding her smile, she put pancakes in front of her sister and bread with jam and butter. Venom didn't say a word, not even 'thank you', but she ate everything her sister put before her. Then, at the end, she pushed back her plate and said:
"Enough! I like your eggs, Pearl. You should give me the recipe."
"You wouldn't be able to cook them," laughed Pearl. "I'm sure you never eat something hot when you're alone on the roads."
Venom stood up.
"Pearl, please!" she whimpered. "You know I hate this! Each time I come here, and that's not frequently, you spend your time reproaching me this and that!"
"Not enough brain for that tongue of mine," muttered Pearl under her breath.
"Too much brain, you mean!" retorted Venom without any gentleness. "Alright, let's go! My horse is waiting for me."
"Nobody is waiting for you, except dusty roads and long, tiring travels."
"A friend is waiting for me at the other end of the road."
Pearl looked curiously at her.
"There's something strange about you and your friend. Something that intrigues me and frightens me at the same time."
"I already told you that you shouldn't be frightened."
"There's something dark around you, Beauty," insisted Pearl.
Venom half-closed her eyes.
"That's my life, Pearl," she said with a firm voice. "And you have nothing to fear for yourself."
"I know! I'm worrying for you, Beauty..."
"That's the stranger in me, Pearl. This stranger is a dark person and now it's time for me to become her again. Fare you well, Pearl, and kiss Grace for me. I'm sure she will be sorry for missing my departure."
She grasped her sister's shoulder and looked straight into her eyes.
"Forget all about this stranger, Pearl, that's the best you can do."
She mounted and her horse left immediately. Pearl waited at the door, but Venom never turned the head.
The Beast knew almost at once that the horse coming near his lair was Venom's. He half-stood up and then changed his mind. He lay on the ground and put his head on his paws, closing his eyes. The horse stopped dead as it saw him.
"Hush, little one!" said Venom. "He's a friend..."
The Beast opened his golden eyes.
"So you're here again, Little Beauty."
"I'm here again."
"Was your family happy to see you again?"
"How do you know I wasn't alone with my mother?"
"Your smell... Three other odours."
"You're too clever for your own good," retorted Venom, half-laughing.
"How did your sisters take the news that you are the Venomous Beauty?"
"Quite well under the circumstances. I would like you to meet my sister Pearl."
"The one so clever that she sickens almost everybody?"
"That very one. Your conversation would be something very interesting."
The Beast lost almost immediately his good mood.
"I would love to meet her too, but I'm afraid that I can't... Tie your horse a bit farther, the poor beast would be far too much afraid if I moved near him."
Venom obeyed and, as she was coming back to him, he was already standing up, turned to his cavern. She looked at him a moment, admiring his graceful movements, and, without thinking, she called:
"Ulfr."
He froze instantly and Venom would have sworn he had closed his eyes, praying that his ears were deceiving him. Then he turned to her and his face showed nothing of his thoughts.
"You decided that 'Friend' wasn't a good name for me, finally?" he asked casually.
"It's a very good name, but it's not your real name."
"Nor is Venom."
"Are you hiding your identity for the same reasons as me?"
He came toward her and only then she noticed that he was almost twice as tall as she was. She raised the chin, willing to still look into his golden eyes. He held out his paw toward her and touched lightly her cheek. She forbade herself to move or to even shiver.
"I'm hiding to keep those I loved away from sorrow. I can bear this sorrow for them. You're not hiding for that. You're hiding because you know that your job is very similar to the one of a hired assassin."
"And?"
"Your family wouldn't approve it."
"Would your family approve to see you like that?"
"My family knows it for quite a long time now."
Venom held back her breath.
"You mean... your family actually knew what really happened to you?"
"Of course they knew. But what could they do? There was nothing to be done."
"And they let Jina marry my mother! They let him!"
"Your mother had nothing to fear. I was the one Jina hated, not your mother. He would never have harmed her."
"But she loved you."
The Beast frowned, as if he was terribly angry.
"And what do you want me to have done? To have gone to her under that very shape and to have said: 'Hello, dear, I still love you, will you marry me?' I couldn't condemn her to that!"
"You should have told her the truth from the very beginning," persisted Venom.
The Beast turned the head away.
"I couldn't speak anymore. I had to learn again," he said very softly.
Impulsively she put her hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry. I'm judging you and... and I don't know anything!"
He pushed her hand away and shook the head.
"You know everything. And now that you are here in front of me, tell me: do I deserve to continue to live or not?"
Venom looked at him with that piercing gaze of hers and said:
"I still think you should have asked my mother before. She would have followed you."
"Would you do it?" retorted the Beast.
She had a movement of surprise.
"Me? I'm the last one who would think of marriage!"
"Think again. Think you're at your mother's place. Would you marry me, even under that very shape, that monstrous shape?"
Venom shook the head and stepped back. The Beast's gaze saddened and he nodded.
"I see... You don't need to answer, I already know the answer. Very well, in this case, I think you better take your dreadful weapon and use it against me."
"That's the only ends you can see to your life: to end it with me or to die?"
"To end it with you would be a new beginning, but it's not to be."
"I still didn't answer," objected Venom.
"Oh yes, you answered: your movements did it for you, better than words would have done."
"I can't answer like my mother would have done! I don't know the man you were before!"
"You can answer better than she would have done, for you're quite used to my current shape and you're not afraid by it, since you're a huntress. She would already have fainted or something like that."
"No! She would have recognised your voice, your eyes, yours manners! She told me she recognised your voice when you first called her in the night..."
"The words were helpful... Now, if you excuse me, since you're not decided to kill me, I'll howl to the dark moon."
He was ready to leave but then, he heard the pace of a horse.
"Someone's coming," he said calmly. "Go away."
"No!" protested Venom. "I won't let you alone!"
"Go away, I told you!" hissed the Beast. "He's probably here to kill me. Do you want him to kill you too?"
"Who's he?"
"Guess..."
A horse appeared in front of them. The rider was well-known of Venom. She nodded.
"I see..."
The horse stepped forward, even if the Beast was standing before it. It was a war-horse and almost nothing could frighten those horses.
"Well, Venomous Beauty, you're not really worthy of your reputation!" said casually the man. "I would have expected you to get rid of him in one or two movements."
"I could have done it, if I have wanted so," replied Venom without missing a beat. "But I didn't want. His conversation is quite interesting."
"He's raving-mad," said the man, shrugging.
"Oh, daddy, that's not a nice way to speak of your brother!" Venom scolded him.
The man's eyes widened.
"Daddy?" he repeated.
"Little Beauty, I'm afraid you didn't choose the right way to present the things," noticed the Beast. "Jina, she's your youngest daughter, Beauty."
"How would you know?" yelled Jina. "She can't be my daughter, she can't! You perverted her, you monster! You took the first girl you met and you taught her everything she had to know to act like would have done my daughter!"
The Beast half-shrugged - in fact, he only made the merest suggestion of the gesture, for his shoulders weren't built in a way to allow him to shrug - and said:
"I had other things to do than give such a silly lesson! Look at her and tell me if she's not from your blood! Look at her, Jina!"
His brother didn't reply; he was obstinately looking away from Venom. Then, with a strangled shout of anger, he pounced on the Beast, a hunting knife clenched in his fist. The Beast made a step backward and blocked his first blow; Venom knew at once he wasn't really ready to fight, because Jina was her father, because perhaps he wanted to die, and she shrieked, her voice suddenly very high by the fear:
"Fight! Oh, by all that's holy, fight! If not for you, fight for me!"
The Beast looked surprised, as if he was wondering if she was really speaking to him. The knife struck his arm and he winced.
"Ulfr!" shouted Venom. "Ulfr, fight!"
There was no doubt: she was really encouraging him and not his father. The Beast found some strength for her and Jina understood quickly that he hadn't a chance against his brother.
"Ulfr, no..."
One swift blow and the supplication died on his lips. The Beast looked at the body lying at his feet and moaned:
"What have I done? Jina, Jina..."
He knelt besides his brother, who transformed into a beast like him. Venom gasped.
"What happened to my father?" she asked.
"I just killed him," replied the Beast with a sorrowful voice.
"Not that! The transformation! Why did he become a beast like you?"
The Beast stood up.
"Because that's what we really are, Jina, my family and I. Beasts, wild beasts, like the very ones you've hunted so often. But we have magic too in our family and we succeeded in becoming humans. Even if we were like humans, we still had the reactions of the beast we were before, so when Jina understood that he was on the point of losing your mother because of me, he recovered his natural jealousy and found the formula to transform me back into what I really am."
"Why didn't you transform again into human shape, since you have magic?" asked Venom, apparently unmoved.
"Only my father knew the spell and he was terrified by Jina. By the way, Jina killed him when your mother discovered everything, to be sure I would never be able to transform again and come to defy him. But now that he's dead, he's back again to his natural shape."
"What must I do now?" said Venom almost helplessly.
"Think of what a daughter must say to her father's murderer," suggested the Beast.
"You were right, he was a bad man?" answered Venom desperately.
"No, no! More something like: 'You just killed my dad! I'll kill you, you monster!' That would be more in the norms, should we say."
"But I can't. You were right in killing him. He did so much harm to you!"
"Beauty," said firmly the Beast, "take your axe and use it a good time for all!"
"No! Ulfr, please, don't force me to do that!"
"Look at me," he said gently. "Look at me, Beauty."
She obeyed and the golden eyes mesmerised her. The Beast added slowly:
"If I fled, so long ago, Beauty, it's because I wanted to avoid that very thing. I didn't want to become a murderer, the murderer of my brother. Now I have become what I feared the most and I still see Jina's blood on my hands... Beauty, the Beast must die. Take your axe, Venomous Beauty, take it and use it against the wild beast standing in front of you!"
Still mesmerised by his golden eyes Beauty obeyed without noticing it; her axe was now in her hands and she swayed it with an ease that spoke more than words.
"Strike, Venom, strike without fear," whispered the Beast. "That's the right thing to do, even if you still don't know it..."
Totally hypnotised Venom lifted her axe and struck. She recovered her senses when the eyelids half-closed on the golden eyes, freeing her of their influence.
"No!" she shouted. "What have I done? What have I done?"
"The right thing, Little Beauty," murmured the Beast. "Farewell, Beauty, farewell..."
The golden eyes closed forever and Venom stood next to him, unable to react nor to move; it was as if she was senseless and the world turned around her. She fell on her knees.
"No... I didn't want, I didn't want... Why did you force me to do it? Ulfr..."
Tears refused to run down her cheeks or even to invade her eyes. She felt them, ready to burst, but she was unable to weep. She clenched her jaw and began to dig a hole in the ground, to bury the Beast. It was the first time she ever did such a thing for one of her victims, but she couldn't leave and let the two bodies behind her. She buried the two brothers side by side, wanting to reunite them at least in death, and then she left without looking behind.
The night was fallen and Venom was sitting by her fire, acting only mechanically, still stunned. A wolf howled in the night and golden eyes appeared between the trees. Venom looked up without shivering and said with a broken voice:
"Cry wolf, cry with me as I'm howling to the dark moon..."
She tipped her head back and actually howled to the sky, shouting the pain that she couldn't express differently. The wolf came out from the darkness and trotted till her fire, tilting its head to one side, looking at her without fear. Venom reached for it blindly and it came at her. She circled its neck with her arms and buried her face in the welcoming fur. Then, at least, her tears ran down. The wolf stood it stoically, seeming to understand the deep sorrow. Between her sobs Venom cried:
"I would have said yes, I would... The recoiling was only because of the idea, not because of you... Ulfr, Ulfr, I miss you so!"
The wolf rubbed its cheek against hers; Venom raised a bit the head and added with a low voice full of tears, eyes looking in the void:
"I love you, Ulfr, I love you... Why did you force me to kill you? Oh, you were right, I'm only a hired assassin, worse than a hired assassin!"
The wolf cocked its ears and Venom listened carefully to the night noises. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand as she heard the soft noise of a pace on the moss. A tall man entered the glade and came toward her.
"Would you say it again if facing him?" he asked quietly.
Venom shrugged and retorted wryly:
"He's dead, first point, and, second point, that's not your problem, sir."
The man smiled and she was surprised by the warmth of this smile. He squatted down and looked at her with wonderful, beckoning golden eyes; his gaze made her throat tighten, for it recalled her of the Beast's.
"Beauty," he said, "that's my problem, you can believe me. Do you really love Ulfr?"
"I don't know who you are, sir, and I'm not used to tell my private life to strangers. You heard my last words, that's too bad for me, but you don't have any right to ask me for more."
The stranger showed the wolf:
"Do you really think your little friend would have let me approach enough to hear you without reacting? Think again, Beauty! Where is your experience as a huntress?"
"No, you're right, he wouldn't have let you. So, how did you hear? He told you, perhaps?"
And in her ears sounded another voice saying:
"My ears are the animals."
The man smiled again.
"Exactly. He called me and told me it was the right moment to appear. Answer me, Beauty, I desperately need your answer..."
"Alright... The wolf accepts you, I'll do the same... Yes, I do love Ulfr, even if I killed him, even if he killed my father, even if he was only a Beast, even if he was in love with my mother! There, are you happy now?"
The stranger reached for her, caressing gently her cheek; she was so surprised she couldn't move.
"Thank you, Beauty, thank you... Look at me, Beauty... Don't you remember me?"
"I never saw you before," replied Venom.
He knelt in front of her and their eyes were now at the same height. His voice was very soft when he asked:
"Will you condemn me then to howl alone to the dark moon, with the wolves only to cry with me?"
The gaze of the golden eyes was very tender and Venom felt a dim glow of hope in her.
"No..." she gasped. "It can't be! It's impossible! I... I killed him... you?"
"Is there something impossible for love?" retorted calmly the stranger.
"Ulfr? Ulfr, is that really you?" she asked, her eyes shining with insane hope.
"Cry wolf, cry with me as I'm howling to the dark moon," replied strangely the man. "Thank you, little friend," he added to the wolf, "I'll take your place now, if you don't mind."
Venom had the impression the wolf nodded and then, the animal left the glade.
"I don't know what's real and what's not. Are you here, are you alive? If yes, how can you be Ulfr? And if you really are Ulfr... why... why do you want so much to know if I love you, when you love my mother?"
"I'm here and I'm alive," the man assured her. "And I'm Ulfr, coming straight from the dead. Thanks to you, I could raise from the dead, but you can send me back there within two words, so please, love, be careful."
"Love?" repeated Venom surprised.
The man - Ulfr - reddened.
"I don't love anymore your mother, Beauty... You are the one I love..."
He closed the eyes, waiting for his condemnation. Instead he felt two slim arms circling his neck and soft lips kissed his.
"I don't know how I can believe you," she whispered, "but I do it nonetheless. How can it be?"
"Do you accept me?"
"Yes, I do. You know I do!"
"You broke the curse on me, Beauty..."
"How?"
"By killing me and by loving me... By killing me, you released the magic caught in my beast shape and your love saved my soul, giving me that new body, quite similar to my old one..."
"But you still have the same eyes as the Beast had," remarked Venom.
"They are my eyes!" protested Ulfr, smiling.
"That's for the better, because I love them. Your gaze is so beckoning, so mesmerising, so expressive!"
He kissed her, stopping the words on her lips; his gaze lightened with joy and he whispered against her neck:
"Be careful, darling, twenty years of love will be unleashed soon and you'll have to deal with that..."
"I'm used to a dangerous life," replied Venom with a large smile.
Ulfr laughed and it was a delighting sound to hear.
"You knew I had to kill you, didn't you?" she said after several minutes of silence.
"The Beast must die," he retorted mysteriously.
"And?"
"The Beast is dead," he shrugged. "And I am alive. I thought it would make you happy, but I'm beginning to wonder if you wouldn't have preferred to marry the Beast instead of me..."
Venom laughed in turn and kissed him.
"I don't know... The huntress in me could have awakened and wondered about this wild Beast next to me. And then I would have thought 'The Beast must die'. Perhaps the reflexes of the hired assassin in me would have taken the better of me."
"The Beast must die," repeated thoughtfully Ulfr. "The Beast is dead, now. Farewell, Jina, we'll see each other again in death's kingdom, when my time will come. The Beast may be dead, but the man in him wants to live!"
"You will have to reassure this poor Donansian, or he will accuse me of having killed his friend."
"He lost him nonetheless, but he's a brave little boy. I expect the best from him and I really believe he has a great fate waiting for him."
"Then it would mean he will be alone."
"Why then?"
"Because people with great fate are always alone," shrugged Venom.
"I do protest! I think I had quite a great fate and I'm not alone..."
"Anymore! You have been alone for more than twenty years!"
"But I'm not alone anymore! The Beast is willing to create a family!"
"Ulfr..." said slowly Venom. "Will our children be humans or... or beasts?"
Ulfr frowned and she almost gasped when noticing how much he looked like the Beast he had been before.
"I don't know," he retorted, shaking the head. "If they are humans, everything will be fine... If not, well, the Beast will be more than happy to have cubs he could teach to flee as soon as they see the Venomous Beauty!" he concluded, laughing.
"And how could I participate to their games if they flee each time they see me?" protested Venom laughing too.
And their combined laughers joined the wolves' complain as they were howling to the moon.
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