There are two types of calm in the world. The first is where everything is blissful and right with the world, the other is the calm before a storm. It's when you know something bad is coming your way, but you can't figure out what or when it would arrive. Lucas was plagued by the latter of the two. A feeling of dread had burrowed its way into his chest two days before and set up home there.

It was almost time for the sun to set, and he had locked himself in his study with a glass of brandy. It had once been his father's study and one of the rooms in the castle he hated the most. It was dark, depressing, and cold, but it was also one of the few places no one would dare disturb him.

The alcohol wouldn't stop the pain that was coming, but it did help numb his feelings.

No one else at castle seemed to share his feelings that something terrible was going to happen.

They were all in annoyingly positive moods. His servants had convinced themselves that after eighty long, agonizing years that Helena was the one that would set them all free. He couldn't see any difference between her or any of the others that had stayed at the castle.

A soft knock on the door, pulled Lucas out of wallowing.

"I'm going up to my room now," Helena called through the door. "See you in the morning". Her voice sounded clearer than it should. He hadn't given Fred any orders to stop putting cymatilis into her food.

He was about to call out when a wave agony hit him. It could feel the change coming and just hoped that she was in her bedroom and drifting off to sleep when it finally happened.

~~~~~

The beast felt exhilarated.

The night air smelt of dirt and leaves as he ran through the grounds trying to catch a pixie separated from his group. He loved the thrill of the chase, knowing that just out of his reach was his prey, he would to have to use every bit of speed and cunning he had to capture it.

The human inside tells him that the pixie is Sam the gardener, a good man who loved to play pranks and liked to sing while he worked. But the beast didn't care.

All the beast can see is his prey running for his life as fast his legs little legs could take him.

If he were to lunge forward, he was sure he could catch the pixie but then the hunt would end and he wasn't ready for that yet.

He chased the small creature to an old oak tree. It'd been there long before the castle was built.

Lucas had hated that tree ever since he was a child, but could never force himself to order for it to be torn down. His mother had loved to sketch in the summer while he filled his stomach with sandwiches and jam tarts.

The beast had been clawing at it for years in an attempt to bring it down. It never worked and in the morning his claw marks were gone.

It was the bright lights coming from the other pixies that caught his attention then her. Helena, standing there in her nightdress. Her cheeks red from the gentle night breeze.

"Mr. Kanefire is coming," Sam screamed, running towards them.

The beast's yellow eyes met hers. She didn't flinch, scream or run she just stared at him.

"Lucas?" Helena asked, there was a trace of uncertainty but no fear.

He snarled in response. The pixies ran to hide behind her for protection. An inner battle was taking place. The human part of him desperately trying and failing to take control before he did something he regret.

"It's okay. He won't hurt me," Helena told the creatures behind her. The human inside mentally snorted.

She took a step closer then crouched down so they were eye level. He was growling with his teeth barred.

He could hear her heart beating faster and faster.

"So this is what you have been hiding from me," Helena whispered, none of the girls before had ever gotten this close to him in this form. The beast didn't know how to react, part of him wanted to pounce and tear her apart while the other wanted company.

"Please step back!" One of the pixies pleaded.

"The loneliest beast is the werewolf. Damned forever to walk alone in the moonlight while desperate for a companion to share its agony," Helena told him, her eyes never leaving his. He recognized the words, it was from a poem called the lonely beast. "Neither a man or monster, but trapped in two worlds and belonging to neither".

He let out howl. He wasn't sure he wanted her to continue or run away from him. But she took it as a sign to continue.

"The beast just wanted to belong to one world. The world of men and women. To be free from the howling beast that was set free from moonlight and cages by sunlight".

Author Note

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I enjoyed writing it and would have been posted sooner, but my wifi went all weird. This chapter is a little shorter than previous chapters, but I promise you, the rest will be longer.

For those wondering who Fred is I altered a little bit of Be Our Guest just a tiny bit at the end because it

My new beautiful cover was done by geminigraphics

Here is a beautiful bit of fanart for The Kanefire Curse done by VictoriaRobinson64

All fanart for this story will be featured both in this story and my graphics book.