Once upon a time, a beautiful man and a powerful king had a kingdom and lived happily with his family, until one fateful day, when he was cursed by a powerful Elyndrian witch to be bound to his own city as a beast who lives on the souls of men with no way of breaking the curse. He has lived for a millenia, searching for a curse for this curse, only to be met with failure. While he now lives undercover in the city, he has now given up and has become the cruellest, most heartless being alive. Until he meets Zora Beaumont, an investigative journalist. Little does he know that she is a direct descendant of the Elyndrian bloodline, which he has sworn to eliminate as long as he lives. And little does she know of her true identity. However, she is totally oblivious to the true nature of the beast. What will she do when she finds out that the man she eventually fell in love with is not a man but a beast and a monster? What will Darcel do when he finds out that Zora Beaumont is an Elyndrian princess and the key to unlocking his curse and freeing his burdened soul?
It didn't just rain heavily, it poured wickedly. The streets were practically empty and only alive through the violent splatters of the rainfall. The night was darker than what the darkness of night usually represented. The alleyway that this man took as he headed for the bar called The BrewClub Bar seemed to look like a literal black hole from afar. Was it him? As he walked, the little squared heel on his shoe hit the ground, and the sound of splattered water from the ground resounded on this dreaded night. He kept walking. He was almost there.
He had his hands in his pockets and the hood of his coat, which collected his entire face, seemed to grow an extra 5 inches of cloth to even hide his face, complexion, or even reflection, such that it was as though the night itself wore clothes.
He was at the entrance of the bar now, the arrogant echoes of men's laughter and rowdy noises that emanated as he pulled the door open, disgusted him. It irritated him. It angered him. Men, laughing, jesting at themselves as they confessed their wicked, selfish deeds to themselves and made humor from it. He didn't mind that he didn't care. He just hated the noises and the stench of the sorrows, greed, and evil of these low lives which hovered around them, drawing him, calling him, that he could not freely feed on without prejudice.
What prejudice? You would ask. Soon, he thought the world would know.
Just then, a pot-bellied, ugly looking man dumped half of his upper body on the bar table, ordering 2 large glasses of dry, hard gin. The tired, old man, who was the bartender, pushed the man's order sluggishly towards him, and as he carelessly carried them, gleefully peering at his glass cups as he gulped them down, The man in black, without turning to look or even giving an ounce of attention, watched everything even more than those who had eyes. Oh, gods. The stench. The attractive, dirty stench of a man covered in guilt and regret and suicidal settings. The man wanted his soul.
"It's a wicked night, innit?" The bartender beckoned. The man in black made no comment or reply or acknowledgment whatsoever.
"What poison would befit you tonight, sir?" He asked. And the man in black still said nothing. Rather, he made a very deep grunt and tapped his gloved fingers on the bar table.
"Well, then..." The bartender proceeded to attend to another scruffy looking young man who had just thrown himself at the bar table, before his shuddering, hoarse voice came out. "Whiskey."
The bartender turned to him immediately. His voice was compelling. It wasn't loud, it wasn't screaming, it wasn't happy, it was rather still, yet it commanded, demanded. The bartender proceeded to take a Jim Beam bottle and pour its containment into the set glass.
"What the heck was that?" The young drunk man suddenly spoke aloud, as he stared at the man in black who never turned to him.
" I'm talking to you, Hey!!!" He said again, beckoning him.
"I saw what you did. What's that? What did you say or do to the Bar guy just now? What's the smoke that came out when you spoke?"
The man asked as he hit his hand on the table. The strange man sighed. Indeed, it was true that when a man was so drunk, to the point that he has lost a great portion of his worldly senses and morality, his identity in the spirit begins to wake, and it is a struggle, though it wasn't so usual. Now, this man certainly could not live to see tomorrow.
"Johnny! Stupid. Just get your vodka and come over here, you've beat up enough asses today." A man shouted from the background and a group of men laughed along.
"Yo, Sean, Jack, come on you've got to see this" 'Johnny' said.
"You should listen to your friends, John." The man in black said, but Johnny could have sworn that this man never said a word. "What the hell, he's in my freaking head!!" And yes, he was.
" What, do you hear this guy? " Sean said to Jack and they both laughed heavily.
"He's drunk as hell" Jack said.
The man in black had already gulped down the first glass which the bartender had given him while all this went on. Suddenly, Johnny pulled the man's hoodie from his head aggressively, to reveal his face.
And suddenly, Johnny's eyes widened more than they ever had.
"Whoa!, now that is one handsome negro!" Sean clapped and laughed again.
" Sean? Do you not see what I'm seeing? Are you drunk??
Sean and Jack just kept laughing. While Johnny was staring point-blank at a true, breathing monster, his pal, Sean, was looking at the most beautiful man in the world. Poor Johnny, poor Sean.
"You have seen my true being and now, your end will come. All of you." Johnny suddenly began to stagger backwards and stutter.
"No... no... please... what... what..."
Just then, the quiet man in black drew his bench backwards and proceeded to face the other two men. At that instant, his face began to stretch and unstretch until his true face sat and the two men who had been laughing nonsensically, were stuck to the ground in shock.
"What.... are you?" One asked.
And in the glimpse of an eye, the man raised his right hand, and claws almost 5 inches long cut through his glove and, in a single slash, severed Johnny's head from his body. The man the. Walked towards the body, raised the kneeling lifeless body and sniffed the part where his hand had left, and a white, see-through essence seemed to follow, as the man sucked it into his own body.
Jack subsequently took control of his body and proceeded immediately to the door. Relief seemed to bore out of his expression when he was an inch away from the door. And then, he bumped into the man who appeared from nowhere. Jack looked back, confused.
"How...." he was about to say, but the man opened his mouth and, a red, unearthly fire, came out of it, and engulfed poor Jack, as he screamed and the man joyously inhaled Jack's sweet, sweet essence. And when he had savored Jack's soul, and his screams died into the very extinction of this unearthly fire, he then proceeded to Sean.
Sean hurriedly ran, taking a bar stool and running towards the man, in an attempt to hit him..... But as he neared the man, no less than three inches, his aura itself seemed to create a barrier of which poor Sean could not get through, and suddenly, with no force from the strange man, Sean began to elevate in the air, and he screamed, not out of pain, but out of fear. Yes. This was what the man enjoyed. It teased him...excited him.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, please wait...." Sean begged. It was genuine.
"Yes", the man spoke.
"What, what manner of man are you...?" Sean asked.
Oh. This question! He didn't walk towards him. He didn't raise his voice, but to Sean, his voice echoed with so much bass in his head when he answered.
"I...am not a man" he said, and with that, in the air, the bones that made up Sean's joints began to break, his elbows and knees, pointing intensely in the opposite direction. His entire waist turned 360 degrees, as did his neck, and with the screams of a man experiencing the torture of death, died into a silence while the man, who was not a man, sucked his soul and his lifeless, broken body, fell to the floor.
"Thank you. I am glad." He said finally, as he turned towards the door and exited. As soon as he left and the doors clicked, it was as though a god's finger had snapped, and an invincible veil had been lifted. The bartender and every other individual seemed to be on about it, not noticing that something was wrong or something had just happened, until a scream echoed that brought everyone to the broken body on the floor, and the severed head and headless body.
The real question on every mind present was, "when in heaven's name did this happen?"
The man-or whatever he was - stopped for a second in front of the door, eyes closed, as he heard the bold screams that emanated from inside, and once again, he stepped his left leg into the pathway, and began walking again, disrupting the music of the noisy splattering the rain had developed, with the drumming and splashing caused by his boots from walking.
Lightning struck, but he was unperturbed.
Aria kept running; she thought it was surprising yet amazing how fast he measured up with her. Even though he was a wolf, she was supposed to be faster; she was not just any hunter.... Just then, Aria felt a strong force grab her and pin her back hard against a tree bark. She groaned in pain as she struggled to break free with different moves, which he blocked. "Stop fighting, I'm stronger than you. Stop running, I'm faster than you." He said, his voice, a low, angry growl between clenched teeth, made her belly rumble and sent a twisting chill down her spine. "There is really no need to brag," she said, as she finally stopped struggling. "Who the f**k are you?" "The girl who will sever your head from your body and bring it to my people, to pour our wine in it and drink in celebration." Maverick angrily punched into the tree, less than an inch from where Aria's head was, and she dodged in fright, her eyes widening. "And I'm the man that will f**k you, make you my slave, and when I'm irritated much more than I am by your presence, give you to my soldiers to mate and enjoy..." He brought his face to her neck and sniffed her. "Hmmm. The treacherous blood of a Nighthunter moves in your veins. It will be my pleasure to spill and drain it out of you." He said, and Aria, who thought she was brave only a few minutes ago, began to sink inside, and even Maverick noticed it. Suddenly, the mighty strength Aria thought she had vanished into thin air, and her legs withered as Maverick's strong hand pressed against her chest. What had she gotten herself into? She thought she could handle him; she thought she would finally bring this trophy to her family. She was wrong.
Sawyer, the world's top arms dealer, stunned everyone by falling for Maren—the worthless girl no one respected. People scoffed. Why chase a useless pretty face? But when powerful elites began gathering around her, jaws dropped. "She's not even married to him yet—already cashing in on his power?" they assumed. Curious eyes dug into Maren's past... only to find she was a scientific genius, a world-renowned medical expert, and heiress to a mafia empire. Later, Sawyer posted online. "My wife treats me like the enemy. Any advice?"
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.
In the previous life, Maggie Johnson was so cowardly, gullible and stupid that she was coaxed by her fiance and stepsister and then broke her legs and lost everything including her fortune, love and even life. However, she was so lucky that she was reborn in the year before everything happened. Since her life restarted, how could she repeat a previous tragedy? Therefore, in this life, she took the opportunity to improve herself and take revenge on the ones who had ever insulted her. Facing the people who had humiliated her previously, she became smart and experienced to break their frames and tricks that had caused her to hurt in the previous life. Finally, no one could stop her pace to amaze the world any more.
It's true what they say about marriage: one partner's always happier than the other. ~~~ Julie's world is shattered when her husband, Ryan, reveals that he wants an open marriage. His reason: he needs a child as they've been unable to have one. Julie reluctantly agrees to save her marriage. The next day, Ryan returns home with his secretary, confirming Julie's long-held suspicion that their affair was taking place behind her back. Julie, heartbroken and enraged, seeks solace in a bar, where she meets a fascinating stranger named Luke, who changes the game. Julie confides in Luke over drinks, and he proposes a risky plan: he will act as her "boyfriend" to turn the tables on Ryan. Julie agrees, setting off a chain of events that will challenge everything she thought she knew about love, loyalty, and herself.
"Miss Brown, I am the butler here at your service," the butler replied. "My master wants to buy the baby in your belly." "What?!" Does that mean the abortion didn't take place? Did they kidnap her from the operating table just to buy the baby? But why her? "You..." Alice was about to ask a question, but the man in front of her calmly continued, as if he had expected her question, "You're pregnant with his child, and he needs a child. That's all I can tell you." Alice was forced to sign a surrogacy contract and eight months later gave birth to two healthy babies. Fortunately, the man was unaware of her daughter's existence. It wasn't until five years later that fate brought them together again...
In her previous life, Kimberly endured the betrayal of her husband, the cruel machinations of an evil woman, and the endless tyranny of her in-laws. It culminated in the bankruptcy of her family, and ultimately, her death. After being reborn, she resolved to seek retribution against those who had wronged her, and ensure her family's prosperity. To her shock, the most unattainable man from her past suddenly set his sights on her. "You may have overlooked me before, but I shall capture your heart this time around."