Werewolf Bride

The End of You

Carlos stayed quiet and slept after our little conversation.

Instead of sleep, I chose to sit quietly, partly praying that he believed me when I said that I was essentially surrendering peacefully. I'm sure the Beast will know soon enough that that is what Carlos believes if not already.

They'll set me free hopefully, letting us continue the way things were before my delirious scream for my own husband's help...and I am looking forward to escaping when they least suspect it...though my heart has never hurt more.

Part of me wonders obsessive if Carlos truly believed me or was just planted here to find out information on the Beast's behalf. Part of me can't stop thinking about whether or not his offer to kill of the Beast with me was genuine or just a ploy to trick me.

I don't even know if he loves me.

How could he? He hasn't even been a free person for years or possibly his entire life! The biggest question is whether or not there even is a Carlos in there, or if he is simply a puppet like all the rest of them, just as I may become a puppet.

The idea is horrifying.

They won't take me alive. I don't care how hard they try to pry their way into my head. I don't care if they force me to meet with the Beast and he looks me in the eyes with all the force in the world, trying to control me and take over my mind.

It won't work. I won't let it work!

But-

Most of me feels so tirelessly foolish thinking that the simple superpower of stubbornness will save me from his mind-control. Surely, someone has tried that before! I can't be the first rebel he had to force through the process and I won't be last unless I do something.

I can submit, run away and save myself, or desperately try to find a way to take him down once and for all.

It's simply a matter of deciding what role I want to play in my own novel.

I roll my eyes at the thought. So much book reading has corrupted my realism. There's no way I can take down a practical God...he's starting to feel just as powerful as one. A creator of this entire village anyways! And this Kingdom! Mind-control! Supersize and super strength no doubt! What power do I possibly possess?

Nothing.

I stare at the cold cement wall as the sadness overcomes me...sadness and utter hopelessness. It feels like one of those terrible moments when the reality finally hits you...you are just a tiny little being in a big, big world that controls itself. You don't have any control over it, nor any power to change it. There is no altering what is too big to possibly attempt changing.

After a while, I finally begin to drift for what might have been fifteen minutes at most.

Only to awake to the booming quake of massive feet stomping down the stone floor. I can practically hear it cracking beneath the monsters weight...just as my heart tremors with the same force.

Carlos shifts in his cell as I curl up in the farthest corner.

A tremor of fear convulses through me as my eyes turn up to meet with the glaring, slitted eyes of the Beast himself, even more fearsome than I imagined.

I wonder if he will allow me to remember this moment...

"Charlotte." His deep voice grunts, distaste evident in his tone. "You're the troublemaker of the century, aren't you?"

"I-if you call fighting for basic human rights t-troublesome." I answer stubbornly but nervously.

He scoffs in fake amusement. "Unbelievable. Human rights are something one loses when they lose the right to call themselves that." He shakes his head. "That ship has sailed, little, foolish one."

I nearly growl, but that would only add to his claim that I was now inhuman...which is true. My first instinct is to pounce on him and rip out his throat despite knowing I would never succeed.

"You, little one, are going to submit yourself to my rule. You are going to follow what is required of you and keep your little mouth shut. You will do your duty and earn your freedom like everyone else." He leans nice and close the bars as I lean against the cold wall behind me. "I am no monster. I will release you, and your beloved for you to have a pleasant and free existence for all eternity if you wish. All you have to do is serve me until I am done with you. Fifty years is all I ask for eternal happiness to follow." He smiles menacingly as if there was no better deal that could be offered.

"Are you so idiotic to believe that we still believe you will let us go? You'll still spinning that rash claim?" I growl defiantly. "You don't set us free. You only use us elsewhere doing who knows what...you sick, sick freak. What else do you have up your sleeve? What else is waiting for us beyond our time here? Slavery? Breeding? Come on, there has to be something. An eternity of freedom is far too generous for you to give in return for a measly fifty years." I sneer.

He peers down at me in annoyance. "Watch your words, foul, little, useless girl."

I run up to the bars, my rational mind long gone and my protective mind taking over.

I cannot rely on Carlos to take my side and safe me. I can't even hate him for being vulnerable. He was raised into this terrible tradition, brainwashed from the very beginning of childhood for all I know.

No one but me can save myself, and him...and oh, I have never felt so viciously protective over anyone.

I grip the cold bars as the Beast growls down at me, bearing his massive teeth. I only lean closer as he attempts to intimidate me.

And from there, the words only fly out of my mouth.

"I will be the last rebel you will face, tyrant!" I growl. "I will be the end of you, and I will rip out your throat."

He backs away, nearly smiling at my threat. He reaches towards me with one claw-like hand until it was nearly an inch from my face.

I wait, my heart pounding angrily in anticipation of his retaliation.

He snaps his fingers, causing the blackness to take me.