Beauty and the Beast
At that moment, Candace had changed out of her red outfit and back into the brown bag dress that the Princes hated. After such an action-filled morning, she was more than ready to immerse herself within the calming atmosphere of antiquities.
She was standing on one of the tall attached ladders, looking at a grouping of scrolls on one of the top shelves when the servant came in.
"Your Grace." The servant bowed his head. "Please, may I have a few moments of your time?"
Candi turned to him.
"What is it?"
"Your Grace. Prince Dante…"
She dropped everything and bounded off the ladder.
"What's going on with Dante? Take me to him!" She commanded.
They both took off running.
The War Room was quite a distance away from the Library Museum, but it did not take long for Candace to reach the War Room doorway.
The servant indicated the doorway with nervous eyes.
Candi gave him a steady look and pushed the door in. Whatever happened, she could not allow Dante to be by himself.
As soon as she stepped into the War Room, Candace realized why it was called the War Room.
It looked as if a war had been fought within its walls!
The stench of fire was everywhere, mixed with the smell of fresh blood.
There were terrible claw marks on the walls and ceilings as if a demon had rampaged through the place. Someone had also taken a torch to the place because scorch marks were everywhere.
The large heavy oak table had been kicked into the far wall by some superhuman strength and was now partially embedded into the sheet rock and broken into shards.
Heavy oak chairs had been tossed around, mangled beyond repair. The console tables and side chairs no longer even looked like furniture, they had been ravaged so badly.
Lights on the ceiling were broken, and the wood floors had gouges on them that looked as if a dinosaur had ripped up the floor boards with claws the size of harvesting scythes.
In one corner was the quivering mass of leathery wings and matted fur, battered and bloody from the intensity of his rage.
"Oh honey…" she whispered and ran to him. "I'm right here."
Uncaring of his physical transformation, Candi gathered him into her arms and held him, even as he inadvertently recoiled from her touch.
The smell of fresh blood was coming from Dante.
He was bleeding from cuts on his body that looked as if they were inadvertent, from the violent wanton carnage he'd wrought to the War Room.
His quivering body was so heavy, but she held on as he leaned against her, drawing strength from her embrace.
His face was turned away from her, but Candi rubbed his poor sweat-drenched head and murmured sweet nothings to bring him back from the precipice of chaos.
"I've failed you." He whispered, his voice gravelly and difficult to understand.
"Oh Honey, you didn't fail me at all. I'm perfectly fine, and I'm sitting right here with you."
But Dante wasn't listening to her. He shook his head violently.
"You nearly died because I failed to protect you." He ground out, nearly choking with emotions.
She shushed him and kissed the top of his head.
"No, no, no. Dante, Honey. I'm much more resilient than you think. We're both here and are perfectly safe," she murmured gently as she sat there rocking his body.
He shook his head, unable to respond.
"You don't have to struggle so hard." She whispered as she continued rubbing his back. "You're doing an amazing job and I'm so very proud of you."
The Dante that was a beast turned to her with heavy-lidded red-rimmed eyes. His face had lost much of what was human about him and had turned beastly. His mouth was fearsome, with large fangs that had grown many times its normal size.
If she didn't know him well and had seen how much he cared about her, Candi would have been frightened out of her mind.
But she could still recognize Dante shining through clearly from soulful eyes that still managed to retain the bright green of the Dante she knew.
The windows of his soul were clear and unmistakable, allowing her to look past the visual of his terrifying appearance and recognizing Dante for who he was.
He breathed deeply, the sweet scent of her body and convulsed with something akin pain.
"Turn your eyes away. Don't look at me."
"Why not?" She searched his bloodshot green eyes, looking for the answers. Perhaps he was shy because he had turned into a human bat…
"Would it help you if I closed my eyes?" She suggested hopefully.
He reached out with his wickedly curved razor sharp claws and paled as he realized he was about to touch her face with something that could rip her flawless soft cheeks to shreds.
In one swift motion, his claws retracted, once again revealing his pale human hand.
He sighed with hopeless despair and reached out once again to touch her face with tender fingers.
"I'm not fit to be in your presence at this time." He whispered throatily. "Stay away from me Candace."
"I'm not going anywhere." Candi ground out. She turned into his hand and kissed his palm. "Don't be afraid. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
Dante turned away, into the wall.
He was too weak to even push her away and it wasn't because he didn't have the physical strength. It was because his soul was so hungry for the nearness of this woman that he could not bring himself to push her away.
He was starving to death for her love.
In response, Candi jammed her body in between the wall and Dante. She was perched in such a precarious position that he had to reach out and grab her so she would not fall.
"Don't touch me. I'm grotesque right now and unworthy of being in your presence." He growled, barely able to speak with any clarity due to the large fangs that had grown out of his mouth.
"It's okay." Candi whispered. "It doesn't matter how you change or what you look like. You're always going to be my precious Dante."
She leaned into him and gently kissed his beast mouth.
Within seconds, his face began to change back to the Dante that she recognized.
He fell backwards, onto the floor as his wings retracted, taking her with him.
As he was lying on the floor looking up into her warm hazel eyes and her long honey blonde hair falling all around him, Dante felt as if an angel had plucked him from hell and pulled him up into the bright glorious heavens.
Thank God she was not hurt. He was so grateful that nothing horrible had happened to her.
He shuddered as he relived the moments when he realized the six assassins where converging in on Candace. It was the same horrible feeling that he had felt when he ran through the starship Raptor 437 looking for her the day she was kidnapped.
That panicked horrifying feeling that she might be badly hurt and he was unable to reach her or to save her—it was the most terrifying feeling he had ever felt.
At that moment, Dante finally understood why he was so terrified. Tears began streaming from his bright green eyes as the answer came to him like a bolt of thunder and lightning.
HE WAS COMPLETELY AND HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH HER!