HE IS LUCIFER

My father had just sold me off. Bartered my body to erase his debt to

the very devil himself.

A Beast of a man. Literally.

A creature whispered about amongst the villagers, feared by all, and

known to have immense wealth and power that no one could ever

conceivably stand up against.

I knew only a handful had ever seen him, but I heard the rumors of his

appearance.

A beastly visage at three times the size of a man, and his monstrously

huge body covered in fur. His eyes held an unearthly red glow, and his

pawlike hands were tipped with claws. Then there were his fangs, ones that I

wondered if he used to tear into flesh.

I visibly shivered at the image my mind conjured up.

I held in my tears as I clenched my hands tightly into fists. Anger, fear,

and shock waged war in me.

“Don’t look at me like that, Belle. I didn’t have a choice.”

I had to give my father credit… he at least looked heartbroken.

“You always have a choice. How could you just give me away like that?

And to him?” I hissed out the last part.

His shoulders sagged and he dropped his head, exhaling as if it were his

life that was being ruined.

“We would have lost everything. The little land we own, our home, the

livestock…” He looked at me. “We would have been penniless and out in the

streets.”

“It would have been better than marrying that… that Beast.” I turned

from my father, unable to look at him anymore.

It was no secret in the village that my father had a gambling addiction. He

owed too many people money. He had far too many debts to ever be repaid in

our lifetime.

And it finally caught up with him.

“Gaston wouldn’t wait for me to pay him back this time, Belle,” my

father pleaded, trying to pull on my heartstrings.

Not this time. There had been too many instances where I’d had to bend

over backward to fix his mistakes, where I had to use the little savings I had

to pay off the debtors who’d come by.

I’d had to work extra at the village seamstress to make a few additional