The Beast By Samreen Shah Novels & Stories

As we walked to perform what we had recently rehearsed, I felt my heart pound rapidly. Suddenly, the premonition of what happened, flashed violently into my head. The killings of 300 people in total. I knew it was indeed survival of the fittest. I looked around, with my chin held up high in pride. Good thing we weren’t given any rules in this round of dance for the beast. Cause I had plans of my own. I needed a change. “I have to attract the beast at all costs,” -------

Nobody is here, so I'll just take a quick look around. My fingers brushed apart the beads, and just like Alice in Wonderland, I fell headfirst down the rabbit hole and straight into a BDSM playroom. “Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?” A disembodied female voice from yonder called out from God knows where. I stood as still as a statue, embarrassed to be caught gawking at all the heavy BDSM equipment in the chamber. I spun around startled, letting the beads fall back into place with a clatter. Then I came face to face with a beautiful, mature woman with raven-colored hair and steely gray eyes.

But losing to someone who was his exact opposite—sharp where Henry was warm, unpredictable where Henry was disciplined—must’ve burned like hell. I barely had time to breathe before someone’s shadow stretched over me. Three girls. The famous ones. The pretty ones. The ones who looked like they were carved out of I*******m filters and glitter. Jessica. Mara. Ally. Queen Bees of the “you don’t belong here” club. Jessica crossed her arms, looking me up and down like I was a stain on the ice. “Why was Henry hugging you?” My mouth dried. Here we go. “He wasn’t hugging me,” I lied, gripping the clipboard tighter. “He was just—”

“Go, Mirabel.” She pushed the door open and vanished into the shadows of the servant’s corridor. I stood in the middle of the room, clutching the book to my chest. I was alone again. But as I looked at the bite on my neck in the mirror, I realized that for the first time, the "beast" wasn't the thing I was most afraid of. It was the people who were supposed to love me and the fact that even if I survived pretending I wouldn't survive when it came to actually fulfilling my duties as a mate.

“And it smells… beautiful.” Kaerith’s teeth pressed together as her hands clenched into fists in her lap, forcing a trembling breath out. Even as Rhazien spoke, Kaerith felt something far worse watching from beyond the dark. She felt a pulse. A hunger. It wasn’t Rhazien. It was the other one—the one they called the Beast. His shadow stretched across the chamber as he stood, his armor creaking. “To the court,” he snapped. The Woundmaidens seized Kaerith’s chain and dragged her toward the door, through the twisting tunnels of Murnokh, past rusted gates and bone lanterns.

I asked for something safe—pasta with roasted vegetables—while Damon ordered steak and wine like he came here often. As the waiter walked away, he leaned his elbows on the table and said, “So, Elena… what’s your story?” “Oh, you know,” I replied, trying to sound casual, “just a perfectly normal girl who nearly got run over by a truck, only to be saved by a man whose dog has a sixth sense for tragedy. Totally standard stuff.” He laughed, a deep, rich sound that made my heart weirdly ache. “Okay, fair. But what else? What do you do? What brings you to that part of town walking like a ghost?”

Safer. There stood a woman- Innara. She stood barefoot in the kitchen, hair loosely braided over one shoulder, humming under her breath as she stirred a pot on the stove. The smell of simmering milk and cardamom filled the space, warm and comforting. She moved with ease of routine now, hands confident, body relaxed- so different from the woman who had once trembled in hospital sheets, afraid to breathe too loudly.

Shame fills me when I see the state that he is in because of me. My breathing starts to pick up as the thought of what I was about to do to Ajax before I regained control seeps in. I am scared. I am dangerous. ‘Belle, I am fine.’ Ajax insist when he notices that I was panicking. ‘No. Everything is not fine!’ I let out. My growl frightens Holly, making her fall to the ground when her knees buckles. ‘I…I am a monster. I can’t be here!’ ‘BELLE!’

The beast resembled a Hyde—the kind she had seen in pictures in books……but what was standing in front of her right now? She had never seen anything like it in her entire life. The beast stood still, his eyes fixed on Akira, and she wondered why. But she didn't move; she didn't say a word. The only one she could have been talking to was stirring inside her head and had refused to speak, so she chose to remain mute. The beast finally moved, taking another step toward her, and once it did, Akira froze, her breath caught in her throat. What the hell is Lord Ragnar waiting for?

Did the beasts come from the zoo? "I told you, but you didn't believe me and laughed at me instead, ha, what are you going to believe now?" Stephen who was now staring and facing Sami who didn't even ask Stephen a question. Sami looked confused and looked at the people who were working. "Well tell me now, why do you think that it was done by a beast, huh?" asked Sami who was now narrowing her eyes. "Because it was done by a beast, why are you so hard to tell, I've been telling you that it was done by an immoral beast!" said Sami, very sternly with her hands folded in front of her chest.