Most of the furniture was ripped apart except for the stand that held the rose. I heard the howls again and I looked up at the window, I thought my heart stopped at the sight. A large beast that looked completely unnatural with bent wings, a body that looked like a mix of man and demon, and horns that looked longer than my arm. When it howled at the moonlight, it sounded so sad and something compelled me to walk towards it. I didn’t realize that I was crying until one of the tears hit the flame and caused a spark to hit me.

“Ow!” I hissed out before dropping the candle.

The beast turned towards me and I started to back away from it as it walked towards me. I felt a sharp pain as I hit the wall, I pulled up my hand and saw that I got a small piece of glass stuck in it and I was bleeding profusely. A large shadow covered my view as a large clawed hand grabbed wrist to bring it up to its face. Its tongue started to lightly lick the blood off, as gross as it was, it was a little sweet. After it was done, I felt the tongue licking the tears away.

“Why do you cry?” It asked and I realized that the monster was Dimitri.

“You look so sad in this form.”

I looked up and I saw the bright blue eyes of Dimitri’s that were always filled with pain and sadness.

“Stay?” I was surprised at the one word.

“Yes.”

I was afraid that he was going to crush me when he hugged me, but he tried not to hurt me with his strength. I yawned and my eyes started to flutter close, and then he slowly lowered me to a clean spot on the ground. He howled one last time before my eyes fully closed.

‘He sounds happy now,’ was my last thought before I fell asleep.

I was tempted to find a gun to shoot the birds chirping in the window and disturbing my sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and felt my pillow moving.

‘Pillows aren’t supposed to move.’ I thought as I looked up and saw that I was laying on Dimitri’s shirtless chest. ‘What?! How did I get here?!’

I started to back away but his grip around my waist stopped me from moving. His blue eyes opened and looked directly at me.

“Are you scared of me now?”

I couldn’t stop the laugh from coming out and he looked so confused.

“I’m sorry, but when you say that after being that giant creature last night.” I said between laughs. “How can I be scared of you when you ask me like that?”

‘He can be so mean, but I could tell he is also sweet.’

“I guess I owe you an explanation, long ago I met a fellow lord, and I got mad at him because he had a beautiful girlfriend. I stole his girlfriend and broke her heart just because I could. He cursed me to turn into a full monster every full moon and to have my life tied to a glass rose. Now both my castle and I look like monsters from the old tales.” I pulled him to me and he tried to push me away. “I regret what I did but I can’t turn back time to fix it. He never told me how to break the curse.”

“As I learned growing up, don’t try living in the past. Live life day by day.”

He smiled and I realized his temper was used to keep people from getting close to him. He grabbed my hand before standing up and pulled me up with him.

“Come with me, I want to show you something.”

I followed him down the halls to a part of the castle that I never seen before. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

‘This must be his bedroom! I wonder why he brought me here.’ My face must have been red from some of the thoughts.

He walked over to a small table and picked up a mirror with strange knobs on it.

“You said earlier that you missed your father. If you twist the knobs and speak his name, you can see him.” He reached out and wiped away a tear from my face. “Are you sad?”

“No! It’s just the thought that I could see my father’s face again makes me happy.”

He handed the mirror to me and I turned the dials to turn it on. I started to smile when I saw my father, then the mirror pulled away and I saw that he was sick in bed. Dmitri grabbed the mirror before it hit the ground. He took one look at the mirror and his eyes widen in shock.

“Look, you can go see him for a week,” I watched as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. “But you have to come back when the week is over.”

“Yes, I promise that I will return.”

He smiled at me at before he sent me to my room to get ready to leave.

‘I don’t want to leave him alone but I don’t want my father to die.’

I heard a jangling sound near my ear and I jumped up in surprise. I heard Dmitri’s laugh as I turned around to see him holding a set of keys.

“Since your father took your ride, I am offering my bike.”

I grabbed the keys from him.

“Thank you, I will keep it in perfect condition! I’ll see you next week!”

Without realizing it, I quickly kissed his cheek before running down the hall. Halfway to the bike, I stopped when I realized what I did.

‘I can’t believe that I kissed his cheek!” I touched my lips lightly. ‘At least it wasn’t his lips!’

I turned down the hall and found where his motorcycle was. I heard something clang in my bag, it was the special mirror. I guess he snuck it in so I could check on him while I am gone. I smiled as I put the helmet on my head, then I turned the bike on. I looked back at the castle, as I entered the forest, and I saw his shadow standing by one of the windows. I waved at him before turning to face the road. The feeling of the wind brushing against my clothes made me feel as if I am flying and I almost missed the speed because it was rare for me to drive before all of this. I pulled up into the driveway and took off the helmet before running into the house.

“Father! I am home! Father? Where are you?”

“Up in my room.” I heard him whisper.

I ran up and saw my five siblings next to his bed and he looked so weak laying there.

“Oh look it’s the baby, he’s finally back.” Sara said as I grabbed Father’s hand.

“Briar, is that really you? I thought that you died.”

“Yes father, it’s me. I came back as soon as I heard that you were sick. However, I cannot stay for long. I promised the lord of the castle that I would return in a week.” I started to wipe away his tears. “But, I will promise that I will try to see you again if he allows me.”

“I’m happy as long as you are here right now. He must not have been that bad if he lets you see your sick father.”

For five days straight, I was the one that nursed him back to health. He told me how worried he was for me while I was gone and I told him about the sweet side of Dmitri.

“Is he treating you right?”

“Yes father, he may have a dark side but I don’t care.”

“Then I will be happy for you even though he is a guy and a demon.”

I felt so happy and I hugged him.

“Thank you father.”

“Briar! I have some food and drink for you! Let Father Rest, both of you need your energy to help him recover.” Samuel told me as I got up to follow him.

“Thank you Sammy!”

It was weird that he was being nice to me after all of the years of bullying me. I guess he finally grew up while I was gone. I started to dig into the food and then I started to feel hot and feverish. The drink was causing my throat to close up and I could not breathe. I shoved the food off of the table as I tried to get up, but my legs got weak and I fell to the ground.

“How dare you be the happy one? You are the youngest but Father cares for you more than us!” He said as my vision darken. “I hope you never get to see your stupid prince again!”

I fully blacked out at his last words and my body felt heavy. My dreams were filled with changing lights and my body switching from hot to cold to hot again. It felt as if my eyes was weighted down by heavy irons. I do not know if it been hours or days when my eyes finally fluttered open and my body felt so weak. I turned my head and saw that my calendar was marked for the day after the time I was supposed to be back to him. I slowly sat up and reached into my bag to pull out the mirror. I had to stop moving because of a coughing fit.

‘Was my own siblings trying to poison me?’

“Dmitri,” I whispered as I turned the knobs.

I saw him pacing around his room before he walked out.

“If he hates me so much to stay away from me, I don’t want to live with this curse anymore.” I saw him mouth the words while holding his chest.

‘He’s going to break the rose!’

I got dressed as fast as I could with coughing fits stopping me every few minutes. I grabbed the keys to Dmitri’s bike and ran down the stairs. Jake stopped me at the front door and I tried to move around him.

“Going to see your demon prince, you’ll die before you even reach him.”

I pushed him out of the way and climbed onto the bike. Another coughing fit stopped me and I saw blood covering my hands.

‘I do not have that long.’ I thought before starting the bike. ‘But I refuse to die before I see his face.’

I slipped out of the driveway and started racing toward the forest as if death was on my tail. I almost crashed three times due to the coughing fits but I made it to the castle. I ran to the rose room while ignoring the stabbing pain in my chest. I opened the door and saw Dmitri about to smash the rose with a table.

“Don’t!” I yelled out to him.

He stopped as soon as he heard my voice.

“Briar?”

“Please don’t smash the rose; I don’t want you to die.”

I felt so weak and I had to lean against the wall to stay up.

“I thought that you saw only the monster in me. I believed that you hated me.”

I shook my head and I felt dizzy from the movement.

“No, I saw only you and I knew that the monster was just a part of you.” I decided to say the words on my mind ever since I saw that he was about to die. “Dmitri, I love you.”

He smiled at me before moving closer to me.

“Briar, I love you too.” He said as he laid his hand on my warm cheek.

He pulled me into a full kiss on the lips. A large sound of shattering glass caused us to break the kiss. We looked over and saw the rose breaking apart into tiny pieces. I saw his lips move before I blacked out in his arms.

I felt something heavy on my chest as I gained consciousness. I opened my eyes and I saw Dmitri’s head on my chest.

“I need to stop blacking out.” I said to no one.

I felt laughter on my chest before he sat up. He smiled and I saw his tail move like a happy dog when he saw me observing him.

“You’re awake! I thought you died for a short while. I was so worried! I didn’t want to lose you right after I got to confess to you!”

I pulled him into a hug.

“Nope, your boyfriend is a bit stronger than allowing death to get me.” I remembered that he was trying to tell me something earlier. “What were you saying after the rose broke?”

“That you broke the curse. You saved me, my love.”

When he called me that, I felt a type of happiness that I have never felt before.

“I thought that you were supposed to lose the demonic features?”

“I guess that it is stuck with me as a reminder for how long it took to break the curse.”

“Good, I like how the horns look on you.”

He started laughing so I pulled him into a kiss. It was amazing to see such a bright smile on his face.

The rest of the castle turned back to a normal castle even though Dmitri never changed fully back. The haunting full moon nights stopped and now he spends them curled up with me. As the days passed by, I told my father about his other children trying to kill me and he kicked them out of the house until they can earn his forgiveness. Dmitri was the happiest I have ever seen him and he made sure that I was happy as well. I guess if this was ever a fairytale, I got a happy ever after.

The End