Catherine and Vincent were in love, but cursed by the evil Bishop of Aquila to forever be apart. She had spurned his blasphemous advances, and though thought to be the faithful servant of the Holy Pope, he in fact was in league with dark and sinister forces.

He discovered her affair with Vincent, Captain of the King’s Guard, a relationship forbade her due to her royal blood, and so with His Majesty’s blessings, a powerful spell born in Hell forever changed the man Vincent was into a huge, ferocious beast.

“Oh, sure. You want it now. Can’t you wait until we get to the cabin? In case you haven’t noticed, its freezing.”

Come on, Baby. Don’t be like that. You’re just mad because I was hibernating with those other bears.”

“I noticed how you had your eye on the large female.”

“Greta means nothing to me. You know that. I have to keep up appearances. If they suspect I’m not really a bear, they’ll tear me apart.”

“Is that what you told Greta?”

“It’s not that cold out, and you always liked making it in the snow when I was a man.”

He peeled her dress down so it barely covered her ample breasts.

“Yes, I enjoy the forbidden, the dangerous.”

“There’s nothing more forbidden and dangerous than me. Don’t worry about the snow. I’ve got enough fur to keep us both warm, that is, until we both get really hot.”

“You always knew how to charm me, my handsome beast.”

“And you will always be my beautiful love. Now strip.”

“You really are a brute,” she cooed. “My brute.”

I wrote this for Photo Challenge #211 hosted at Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. Today, anyone who wants to participate should use the image above to craft a poem, short story, or other creative work.

I mined a film and television show from the 1980s to create this. The first is the 1985 film Ladyhawke starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer, and the second being the television series adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990), starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. You can click the links for more context.

I just thought it would be fun to illustrate that having one of the lovers being a beast wouldn’t necessarily inhibit the relationship, depending on how flexible they were willing to be.