Beauty Never Dies (11 page)

“Now we’re talking.” He said as his eyes turned demonic red. That’s the Dracula I knew.

“Now we’re talking? Where did you even here that? These books will spoil you.” I pulled him out of the room to the hall, where Sleeping Beauty lay.

There was no sound to be heard outside, except of the ticking clocks on the wall. Sleeping Beauty loved to listen to them in her one hundred year sleep. She said she could hear the ticking in the Dreamworld, and it kept her company.

Approaching the bed in the middle of the hall, Dracula looked taken by her beauty. She was lying on her back in an open glass coffin filled with water. She had been floating above the water for years. It’s the way she liked her bed.

The curtains fluttered to a breeze of wind as we approached her coffin.

Dracula couldn’t take his eyes off her. She had her hands rested on her chest, and her eyes closed. Her golden hair floated around her head, just like her white wet dress.

“She is so … “ Dracula shrugged. “Serene and beautiful.”

“Wait until she wakes up.” Hunchy chuckles, reminding me of Dr. Evil in Austen Powers.

“Don’t scare him, Hunchy,” I interrupted. “She is all right.” I assured Draco.

“How long has she been here?”

“What a silly question,” I tilted my head, picking up a white apple floating on the water. “Even if you don’t know about the Brothers Grimm curse, you must have heard about Sleeping Beauty—“

“The princess who was cursed for a hundred years—“ Hunchy felt the need to explain before I shushed him.

“Sleeping Beauty is real?” Dracula estranged.

“We’re not going into that conversation again, are we?” I said. “We’re all real.”

“Think of it,” Hunchy couldn’t stop himself from educating Dracula. “If you are real, then all the characters in books are real.”

“He has a point,” I raised an eyebrow at Dracula. “He is an ugly pain in the butt,
but
this time he is right.”

“Was she cursed by the Grimms as well?”

“Hmm,” I rubbed my chin. “That’s a question I can’t answer. I don’t think I really know what’s going on. All I know is that I like waking her up every one hundred years when we’re allowed to surface back from the Dreamworld.”

“But she isn’t staked,” Dracula wondered. “In order to send vampires to the Dreamworld, they have to be staked in the real world. That’s how you woke me up.”

“He is getting smarter.” Hunchy, the annoying, chuckled.

“Stop it,” I told Hunchy firmly, then turned back to Draco. “That’s right. I think her curse is a little different from ours. Frankly, this curse thing confused me. It’s a long story, really. That’s why we need you.”

“What do you need me for?” Dracula gazed back at her, distracted by her beauty.

“She needs your blood to wake up,” I said. “Actually, she needs you to bite her to wake up.”

“Your blood is Royal blood,” Hunchy explained. “Nothing else can wake her up.”

“I thought Sleeping Beauty woke up with a kiss.” Dracula wondered.

“Well. For one, you are not capable of kissing. We both know that you don’t feel anything when you kiss a girl—“

“Is Dracula gay?” Hunchy wondered.

“No, Hunchy,” I raised my voice a little. It echoed. “Dracula is not gay. He just can’t feel kisses,” I gazed back at Dracula from top to bottom. “You’re not gay, are you?” I had to ask.

“You’ve got any problem with that?” Dracula replied.

“Oh,” I shrugged. My best friend in Neverland was gay, and I loved him. “Of course, not.” I said. Even Hunchy – whom I am not sure about his sexual orientation – raised an eyebrow. I am not sure it was an eyebrow. Hunchy’s features are so cramped up, I don’t know which is which sometimes.

“I was just messing with you,” Dracula laughed. “Can’t you take a joke?”

Playing video games and reading Harry Potter turned out to be useful for Draco after all; a better sense of humor that could really hurt his reputation as a fang-master.

“So what are these?” He pointed at the white apples, reaching for one.

“Don’t touch those,” I stopped him. “They are hers, and they are rare.”

“I’ve never seen white apples before.” He commented.

“You’d call me a liar if I tell you that the lord has created apples white, but then something awful happened in the fairy tale world, and he decided to turn apples red. But that’s another story. So are you ready for her?”

“All I have to do is bite her awake, right?” Dracula brushed her cheek. I felt jealous, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Exactly,” I said as I turned to walk away with Hunchy. “I’ll be in my chamber.”

“You’re not going to be here when I wake her?” Dracula wondered.

“I prefer to wait for you two in my chamber,” I said. “She is kind of feisty when she wakes up, and you too are vampires. You’ll get along.”

Entering my chamber, I sat on my lazy-boy chair – which totally killed the gothic feel of the castle. I leaned back, drinking carrot juice.

“I don’t feel good about bringing her back, Pete.” Hunchy said, looking awfully scared. He couldn’t get his eyes off the oaken double-door, waiting for her to enter any moment.

“Be cool, Hunchy. Why do you fear her that much?”

“She is a brat, Pete. She likes to make a mess for fun. She kills for fun. With no purpose. Just a sixteen-year-old bad girl. Last time she lit my toes on fire when I was asleep.”

I tried to see if Hunchy actually had toes, but I couldn’t make them out. “Sure it was your toes?”

“Ok,” He bowed his head. “It was my … ass. She lit my ass on fire, and it took me two years to heal.”

“You have an ass?” I wondered.

“Not funny, Pete.” He looked hurt, and walked out of the chamber through a back door. It was time for me here all alone, waiting for her when she wakes up.

The truth was that I was a little intimidated. She tended to scare me sometimes. But I loved her. She is my
Darling.

As I a stard at the closed door, I wondered what her childhood was like. What part did the Brothers Grimm alter? All that talk about the spindle, pricking her finger, and the curse. Was it real?

I didn’t know a lot about her previous life, because I met Sleeping Beauty when she was lost in the streets of Paris, just all the other kids I pity and save. I comforted and sent her to work for me in Neverland, so she repays me. But I couldn’t help but fall in love with her chaotic moods. If she were a princess before, then she was one hell of a spoiled brat.

She was different from the rest of the fairy tale crowd, for many reasons. She didn’t have a war or a purpose. She just lived day by day the way she wanted to live. Even when she helped the Queen in trying to get rid of Snow White, she didn’t for the fun of it.

I had no idea why her hundred-year sleep was different from the others. But she was damn special. People thought she was a Brother’s Grimm or Charles Perrault character, but they were wrong. Sleeping Beauty was also a Sir James Mathew Barrie’s character, and her real name was mentioned in my altered story. She was one of the few who were mentioned twice with different names in different books.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden scream behind the door, followed by sounds of chaos of broken glass and vases in the hall. This time it wasn't Deacula making a mess.

She was awake.

That’s why I didn’t want to be in there. I heard Dracula scream. She was feeding on him. I know he was a big boy. He will survive. She tended to be out of control when she was unfed, like a bratty princess demanding a new toy.

The screaming stopped, and I waited for the door to burst open any moment. I stood up, as if to pay my respects. It took some time before the door flung open, and she stood by it.

My God. She was so beautiful. Well, she needed a bath from the blood drooling from her lips. But except that, she was totally all right.

“Pete,” She smiled. Her eyes glittered with silver stars. Her blonde hair danced behind her in the air as if it had a soul of its own. “I missed you.” She said.

“I—“ The smile on my face stole the words from my mouth.

She approached me, barefoot, wet, and seeping blood. Then she threw herself into my arms. I felt alive. Her touch was warm, like an imminent memory you could never forget. I felt as if I didn’t know who I were before she touched me. I blew out a sigh, long and easy.

“I was worried you’d be upset with me and never wake me up again.” She whispered in my ears, her breath all over my neck.

“How could I?” I pulled her tighter. I needed this. Damn this curse. How did I breathe without her for the last hundred years?

“Pete?” She looked into my eyes like a pleading child. “Are we going to have fun this time?”

“Of course we will, Darling.” I said.

“I mean,” She shrugged. “Is she dead?” Even with Sleeping Beauty’s chaotic behavior, she was afraid of
her
. She was talking about Snow White.

“She isn’t exactly dead.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry. The Queen got her. She will not harm us.” I brushed her hair.

“That’s awesome. So we could have real fun. We could bring down the sky, Pete.”

I laughed and hugged her again. “Yes, Darling. We could bring down the sky. Whatever you want.”

Without my permission, she bit my neck. She wanted to taste my blood. It’s been long. Even though I hated that, I let her.

“I love you, Pete.” She whispered in my ears.

“I love you too, Beauty.”

“Don’t say it like that. Say my real name.”

“I love you too, Darling.” I whispered.

“My
full
, real name, Pete. I want to hear my real name on your lips.”

I hesitated for a moment, but then smiled. “I love you too, Wendy Darling.”

End of Prequel #3

Next Prequel #4,

Blood and Apples,

told by Prince Charming

soon

To know more about the first full length book of the Grimm Diaries book 1: Snow White Sorrow, coming out 2012,

please follow the link below:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13557166-snow-white-sorrow