Love Is Never Ugly

Chapter 31

He was not sad this time. This time he was happy, sincerely happy. The way he smiled and the softness in his eyes said it all, which in turn made her happy as well. Although considering where they were and what they were doing how could they possibly feel any emotion other than joy? The two of them were sitting together on the soft green grass underneath the warm sunshine with his arms securely around her waist, holding her as she was the most precious treasure in all the world. She raised her hand to run her fingers through his brown locks and turned her face to kiss his tanned cheek. Oh how beautiful she made him feel.

"You seem so happy today."  She told him observantly. "I wonder why that is?"

He shrugged for he himself did not know why either.

"Well it doesn't matter." She decided. "As long as you're happy. I hate to see you sad because you are always so kind and dear to me."

She looked upon him with such adoration that it made his heart flutter. There was no else who could possibly make him feel this way. Only her.

Eventually they decided that they had rested enough and wanted to stretch their legs. They stood up and walked down by a stream hand in hand. They stopped to skip some rocks across the river's surface and later when he tried to kiss her she dodged his lips and coquettishly ran away from him. He chased after her and tried to steal a kiss but she was always much too fast for him. Suddenly his foot slipped and he went tumbling down a grass hill. She immediately followed down after him. They rolled and rolled and rolled until they finally reached the bottom of the hill.

They laid down there and she laughed herself silly. While she was distracted with her laughter he slid closer to her side and propped his head up to where he was hovering over her. God have mercy she was beautiful. So beautiful that it made his heart hurt. She noticed how close he had gotten to her and started to blush. She always blushed when he looked at her that way. He leaned in and kissed her rose red lips just as he had done many times before. She responded  tenderly to the kiss as always and caressed his cheeks with her delicate white hands.

She couldn't understand why he made her feel this way. He was a stranger yet from the moment they met she felt that she belonged with him. That somehow they were fated to meet. Fated to be together. She wondered if he felt the same. She wondered if...If...If the circumstances were different would they be married? She had never considered marriage before. She felt that her father needed her too much and really there was no man in her life that she felt she could spend the rest of her life with but now...

Now...

...

Alastor was awakened from his dream by the sound of someone knocking at his door. At first he was irritated that such a wonderful dream had been interrupted but he quickly realized that it was for the best. After all dreams were nothing more than tricks that the mind played on you once you had fallen asleep and what tricks did his mind play. Cruel tricks.

He had been having dreams like that ever since she arrived here. On her first day here he had spent the entire night before on an unsuccessful hunt for dinner and when he came back he decided to take brief slumber before feasting on the mortal coming to see him. That's when the dreams started, there he was looking like a human man. No red fur, no ash-gray skin, no fangs, no claws, no antlers, a slightly shorter height but still tall by human standards. He had a regular human complexion, hands, fingers, thick brown hair, normal teeth, even his eyes were different. But what shocked him the most was that his facial structure was not only normal but handsome. He never thought that he would ever look handsome, not even in his dreams.

Next thing he knew he had set eyes on the loveliest woman there ever was. A woman who glowed in gentleness and compassion yet so afraid at the moment. He had no inkling of who that woman was but suddenly he became overwhelmed with an unfamiliar desire to hold her, to kiss her, to ease her fears. So that's what he did. Imagine his surprise when he woke from that dream, went to devour his newest prey only to discover that his prey of choice was the very same woman from his dream. What did it all mean? Why was he so drawn to this beauty? What power did she have over him that he lost the want to devour her?