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| The Beauty in the Beast |
Released 2/28/12
The Beauty in the Beast
With the death of the former goddess of wisdom and acceptance, another
has been chosen to step up and take the name Wisdom, along with the
responsibilities that come with that title.
It's every minor goddesses dream.
But on her first day in the inner sanctum of the major gods, Wisdom has
a very unpleasant run in with "The Beast" also referred to as Death ,
the god of death and the underworld who also happens to be the crankiest, most
self-important god in the clouds. And
the brother of Time, the leader over all the gods. Though not completely happy with the way he
treats people, she is drawn immediately to his terrifying beauty and demanding
presence.
Death is furious that the beauty he is saddled with talks to him the
way nobody had dared since the day he was cursed by a witch over 100 years ago. He's even less happy when she tries to teach
him manners. But when living souls start
popping up in the underworld, he'll need her help to not only fix the portals
leading to the In-Between, but also to fix him and break the curse.
eBook available at:
Excerpt:
Chapter One
The goddess of love
watched adamantly as the new goddess of wisdom unwisely sat in Death's chair.
Literally. She was lowering her
butt into the god of death and the underworld's chair.
Not a soul warned her
as she wiggled around in the seat in the farthest, darkest corner of the great
room. Love knew she should. Death was quite the bastard. And even though the seats weren't assigned
and there was no name on that one, everybody stayed well away from it. Because honestly, who wanted to piss Death
off?
War slid into the seat
beside Love, smiling his mad ass off.
"What do you think the bastard will do?" She had to force herself to look away from
him and over at Wisdom.
War was something that
not one else had ever been to her, a desperate, lusty need. And she had to stop letting those thoughts
creep into her head...now...now.
"I don't think
he'll kill her." She hoped. It was really the only reason she hadn't
warned the poor little beauty.
"Really?" He moved in closer -- like he always did --
and whispered in her ear. "I
thought he didn't like women."
She struggled -- also
like always -- for her cool composure.
They had never been lovers.
Mostly because they liked and disliked each other in equal parts. But he always came on to her like he was
actually interested -- he wasn't -- and she always tried to pretend like it
didn't make her a little hot -- it did.
"He doesn't like
anyone."
"True. You want to tell her don't you?"
She shifted her eyes
to look at him without actually turning her head. He was beautiful as always. In a really depraved way. Silky black hair always disheveled,
white-blue eyes, sharp features, square jaw loaded with short stubble -- mmm, stubble -- and his body... Well, he was a god after all.
What
was the question?
"Uh...yes!" Love took a deep breath. "Yes.
I mean...a little. He's just such
a dick."
"I kinda like
him...from a distance."
She laughed, shaking
her head.
Finally the door
opened again and Death walked in. He
didn't smile at anyone. He never did. He just walked through the room like nobody
else was in it, because as far as he could see when he looked directly through
them, nobody else was. In his world
nobody was at his level of importance and therefore completely ignorable. Even his brother Time was of little consequence.
If he saw Wisdom
sitting quietly in his chair, bravely meeting the stares of all the gods
watching her, both eager to know a little about her and to see what Death would
do, he didn't even give a sign of it as he lifted the chair, elevating the back
and dumping the tiny beauty on her butt.
There was a moment of
stunned disbelief on her face as the rest of the room burst into laughter, but
that only lasted long enough for the pain in her ass to light the flames of
anger inside her.
Smooth peach colored
skin took on an angry pink glow, soft butterscotch eyes narrowed, soft pink
lips tightened and a huff of indignant air sent a honey colored ringlet out of
her face as she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder toward the
giant that was Death.
She didn't yell or
blast him with her god's anger. Probably
for the best when he was one of the strongest gods in the clouds and could
probably easily crush her with his own.
What she did surprised everybody in the room into a deathly silence.
When Death had
positioned himself in front of the chair, ready to sit down, ignoring everyone
and everything as usual, she waited until he started to lower himself into the
seat before she hooked the leg of the chair with her foot and pulled it right
out from under him.
And he went down.
Hard.
She didn't say a
word. Just rose gracefully to her feet
with a slight smile on her face and brushed the dirt off of her jeans.
Death didn't say
anything either, but the thunderous silence in the room said everything as he rose
from the ground like a billow of smoke and stared hard down at the top and back
of Wisdom's head.
She turned slowly, her
mouth beginning to form words when she faced Death for the first time. And not surprisingly she was stunned into
silence.
Most beings found the
enormous black being terrifying. He
wasn't black in the way that pointed to African ancestry, but black in the
dude-pissed-off-the-wrong-person-and-got-himself-cursed way that made him the
color of ink and shiny like a bug. If
the light was low at all, his features all blended together, making him look
almost like a giant inky shadow. His
bright, lit-from-within amber eyes were a nice and terrifying touch, especially
when they flashed scarlet red when he was angry.
But Wisdom didn't look
disgusted or scared as she looked up into his face. She looked intrigued. And a little flushed.
***
Wisdom wasn't just
stunned silent, she was stunned stupid as she looked into the face of this
terrifyingly beautiful being that had only moments before dumped her right on
her butt on the marble floor.
He didn't say anything
as he glared down at her. In fact,
nobody did. The silent room kind of
disappeared around them.
The anger there in
those eyes as they flashed from a bright amber to a brilliant scarlet should
have scared her, and on any other day it might have, but right then she was
inches away from the most amazing face she had ever seen.
And she wanted to
touch. Bad.
She had heard so many
rumors about "the beast" when she was growing up as a minor goddess
on Everest. He was said to be ugly and
mean and frightening. She'd never seen
him and knew that he had been cursed, but she'd always expected him to actually be ugly. This man standing in front of her was
anything but ugly.
Sure, he had skin so
black and shiny, she thought if she reached out and touched it, it would be
hard and brittle like the husk of a beetle, but he was beautiful in a way no
other being she had ever seen could possibly be. He was unique, and she wanted the freedom to
touch all that smooth shiny skin.
"Now is not the
time to be staring at 'the beast'."
He growled.
"That's probably
true." But she couldn't seem to
look away. Even with those eyes drilling
into her like a laser.
"Are you usually
this stupid then?"
That snapped her out
of her transfixion with his face.
"Not usually! Otherwise I
probably wouldn't have been chosen as the goddess of wisdom and acceptance, now
would I?"
"Wouldn't be the
first time my brother's screwed up."
She probably shouldn't
have said what came out next, but it was the one thing she knew would get under
his interesting skin. "You know all
about screwing up, don't you Prettyboy?"
"Okay!" Suddenly Wisdom was being dragged backwards
by Love.
When Death looked like
he was about to follow so he could rip her head off of her shoulders, War did
possibly the bravest thing a god could do.
He stepped right in Death's path, putting his immortal life at risk to
save her stupid one.
She was placed
non-too-gently in a chair across the room from the one she had initially chosen
so she could watch all the other gods and goddesses to get a feel for things.
"Right now I'm questioning Time's choice too! You purposely goaded the meanest god in the
clouds! Have you lost your mind?"
Wisdom allowed her
eyes to leave those of the angry man across the room -- but only because he had
been forced down into his seat as well and War was now blocking him from her
sight -- to focus on the beautiful goddess of love.
"I won't
apologize. He deserved it. All of it.
And smart or not, I won't let anybody
run right over top of me like I don't matter."
"Okay. But you maybe should avoid that one for a
while. To him you don't matter and I don't think he's stable."
Time, who was known to
occasionally know about events before they actually happened, just sat and
watched the whole thing with a ridiculously bored expression on his face, but
when all were seated again and War was practically sitting in Death's lap so
that he wouldn't come over and kill her, Time started the meeting.
"I see everyone
has now had an introduction in some way, shape or form to the newest goddess of
wisdom and acceptance. And my brother of
course has managed to welcome her into the fold, so let's just get
started."
What was said for the
next fifteen minutes, she honestly couldn't say. All she could seem to focus on were the angry
eyes that never left her face. She met
them, never one to be intimidated by anybody.
Therefore they both continued to glare at each other, barely blinking,
until she was addressed personally.
"Do you think
Wisdom, that you could go to the underworld with my brother and help some of
the wayward souls accept their fate?
Since you two seem to get along so well."
Her name caught her
attention, but her eyes stayed on Death.
And yeah...she smiled. "Of
course Time." She said
sweetly.
***
Death nearly choked as
he watched the evil smile she turned on him.
She was actually enjoying goading him.
Nobody ever tried to anger
him. Not since the dead witch who had
been pissed to learn of her fate cursed him with this terrifyingly hideous
form.
But this beautiful
goddess of wisdom and acceptance who didn't seem to have either of those traits
was purposely pushing him.
Prettyboy!
She'd called him Prettyboy!
When he'd risen from
the ground after she'd pulled his chair out from under him, he'd been amazed at
the beauty of the woman that turned to stare up at him, but the longer she
stared, the more he became conscious of the monster he was now and the more he
became angry at her insensitivity.
The last goddess of
Wisdom spent as much time avoiding him in the underworld as possible, but at
least she didn't stand around and stare at him like he was some kind of
beast. Which he was.
He wasn't something to
be gawked at. He was a living breathing
being too and he deserved to be treated like one.
"Is that really
necessary?" He asked his
brother. "Why can't I just throw
them into their appropriate portal and forget about it?" That's what he had done before the
curse. It had worked just fine for over
300 years before that witch.
And then his brother
sent Wisdom -- the other one -- to live in the underworld with him. Like he needed a freaking baby sitter!
"You of all
people should know why you can't do that."
His brother said with little care.
"Wouldn't want to piss off the wrong person again."
"I find it hard
to believe that the situation could get worse at this point brother."
What could another
pissed off witch do? He was already as
ugly as the underworld itself. And
killing him could hardly be a bad thing after so many years of isolation and
loneliness. If it weren't for his worry
over whether or not he would retain his natural form in the afterlife, he might
have picked a fight with War long ago and just ended it, but he'd lived long
enough with this form and he refused to have his eternal life tainted with it
as well.
"Just do as I say
brother. I'd hate for your sensitivity to the wishes of the newly
dead to start the next Bubonic Plague."
Maybe death wasn't the
worst that could happen after all.
"Fine." Could he sound more like a disgruntled
teenager? Doubtful.
***
Wisdom followed the
cranky god out of the living room, trying hard not to smile at the back of his
seething head. This was obviously going
to be a great working relationship!
"You know. I once had a cat that would get mad at me and
grouch around the house." She moved
up beside him in the hall as he led her to the portal that would take them to
the Underworld. "You know how I
broke her of it?" He just kept walking,
apparently finding her uninteresting.
"I didn't feed her until she stopped throwing her fit. She lasted three whole days. She was a stubborn bitch."
They had almost made
it to the portal, when he turned to glare at her. Gods! He was so beautiful. And so close.
Almost touching.
"What are you
trying to tell me? That you'll starve me
if I don't start being nice to you?"
"Don't be
ridiculous. I can't starve you. Why would you ever jump to that
conclusion?"
"Then what Oh
Wise One will you do?"
"I'll just sit
around and stare at you all day until I get what I want."
"I bet I can
stand it longer than you." Then he
walked through the portal. Leaving her
there to fight the naughty butterflies in her belly.
This was getting
exciting. "I doubt that Death. I really do."
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