Lovers of Myth

In walks gorgeously curvaceous trouble. The only scientist under forty, landing in her mid-thirties. She looked young enough to be a granddaughter to some of these people, and her flawless skin boasted a brilliant self-care routine. Which she didn't have, it was just lucky genetics, to be honest. Which was odd since she came from an abusive, broken home and happened to be raised by a lunatic. Kind of like the overgrown man talking down to her now.

Thick, sweaty fingers trembled as they clung to a clipboard. Two guards stood by a thick stone door, as always. They were meant to be the strongest humans the association could find, but even over seven feet, the men looked like ants compared to the beast in the room behind them. They tried to ignore the yelling of a man at a woman to the side of them. The man wore a navy blue suit, she wore pants and a nice shirt with a lab coat on top. His hands flung the clipboard left and right as his face grew red with anger.

“I’m giving you one month to get that thing in line. Otherwise, we’re putting it down!”

The woman had joined the team recently, regretting it the second she stepped foot in this place. Backing up she wanted nothing more than to stand up for herself, but thought better of it.

Her long blonde hair was always pulled up in a ponytail, long enough to touch her waist even within its elastic confine. Her icy blue eyes were so bright she had startled a few of her coworkers early on. Her skin, paler from being stuck inside so much, looked soft as silk. The curves are what held her boss's attention. Her abundant breasts and backside were driving him crazy as he tried to ignore his manhood for a more professional approach.

He was pissed off now though and she could be the hottest woman in the world and it wouldn't do shit for him. She had never worked in a place like this, been yelled at so much, and seen so many things that should be impossible. In the past three months, she had witnessed things she would never be able to erase from her mind. Inhumane, unforgivable things. Supernatural, unnatural things.

To top it all off she wasn't even meant to be here. After a very in-depth job interview for a government position, she felt confident in her future. Then she was sent here for her orientation and suddenly there was a do-your-job-or-die contract shoved in her face. There was no choice on the table to quit. They had tricked her into this position and now she had no idea what might happen next.

She had been told the research would consist of ancient diseases and medicine. Of course, she thought that meant diseases and old medicinal practices, not a psych ward for the supernatural. Not damned myths and legends come to life. Who the hell would advertise to the public a professional space open for a mad scientist?

She took great offense that they looked at her and her degrees and agreed she was a good fit for this damned hellhole. I mean her dad? Yeah, he would've fit right in. Her? Hell. No.

“Sir, surely you can’t expect him to be able to change a habit he has had for over...”

She looked down at the papers she held, eyes widening a bit. Ok, even she was at a loss as the words slipped from her tongue.

"...two hundred years...overnight?"

The man took a severe step toward her, making her hold the loose papers to her chest like a shield. He practically growled as he spoke, voice almost too deep for her to understand through his thick accent.

“He speaks, or he dies.”

With that, he turned around and left in a huff. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her heart raced as she watched his back like she was under a spell. Dies? She felt sick to her stomach. Was she breathing? How would they even do such a thing? As far as she knew no creature here had ever been able to be killed. Hell, some had been locked away with nothing for sustenance or water for centuries and they looked as if nothing was wrong.

The beast she studied was no different. He had refused all meals until she took her position here apparently. The other scientists wondered what she had done to change him, but she hadn't done a damned thing. If anything she was scared of failing the being and being the reason the higher-ups put him down like a lame horse. It was too much pressure.

“Miss, you ok?”

She looked to her side, dark green eyes locking onto her as if she might faint any second. This was not the job she had wanted. What did she really want? Her family was all dead and gone, she left every friend behind when she moved to this damned castle. Even if she wanted to run away she would have to go into hiding for the rest of her life.

What would that look like? Living on the street, more suffering. Nothing abnormal but also not ideal. What the hell was she even thinking here? Her stomach did a little flip as she thought of her future in this prison. She tried to force a smile across her lips, her head nodding up and down.

“Yes, thank you, Todd.”

Was that his name? The guard smiled back, though it was more of a nervous ‘is this lady crazy’ gesture than anything reassuring. Shit, that probably wasn't his name. She wasn't good with names, or faces. To be honest she just didn't focus on others in that way unless it was someone close to her.

With that she was heading back to her office, walking too fast to seem normal. Gods, she was in for it this time. Even at the thought of the word gods she rolled her eyes and scoffed. Damned creatures just had to be real. Humans just had to capture what they couldn't control and fuck all of humanity in the process. She was just about at her wit's end. Fuck. This.

Inside his stone prison, the scientist's beast sat with his back to the wall beside the door. He heard everything. They planned to kill him? It was laughable. That's not what caught his attention though. It was the sudden shot of jealousy he felt the moment the woman said that guard's name.

It wasn't the mortal's name, even he knew that yet it still prickled against his soul. How dare she call another man's name. He knew he sounded crazy for being envious of her greeting a human by the wrong name.

She didn’t know what she was, or who she really was, that much was clear. He wondered if she ever would. Why was she stuck in a mortal form anyway? Perhaps he should simply tell her? Truthfully though, he wasn’t perfectly sure she was who he was thinking of. What if he spilled the beans and he was wrong? What if she was a simple mortal and he was going insane?

At first, he thought he was going crazy after all these years cooped up, but her presence never dulled. Every time she came to stand before him he felt a jolt of life and lust rush through his veins. It was something only one being could bring out of him.

Now he needed to know who she was. Even if her true identity was found out, would it save him? Did he deserve to be saved?