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Sonya had no idea where the train had left her. All she knew was the train station had been creepy as hell, and she had wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. After wandering into a deserted village that looked as if it were stuck in the 18th century, she had run into a traveling merchant. The man had surprised her. Other than her father, she hadn’t met another traveling merchant. Though in that day and time she figured they were something like a traveling salesman. It was an outdated and almost extinct occupation that had somehow managed to survive the turn of the century.

“You seem like you’re lost.” The man’s voice was hoarse and somewhat creepy.

Her first thought had been to ignore him and keep walking. But then her thoughts drifted to the map she had in her pocket. Given how isolated and deserted the town was, she doubted there would be anyone within a hundred miles that could help her. Against her better judgment, Sonya reached into her front pocket and asked, “Can you help me read this map?” Cautiously, she presented him her neatly folded paper.

She was grateful for the slow setting of the sun as she quietly studied the merchant as he looked over the map. His appearance was somewhat predictable and reminded her of something she saw in a movie. He was a short and stumpy man, with a harsh face that seemed to be set in a permanent scowl. The stress lines that lined his forehead and the large bags under his eyes suggested he hadn’t slept in days. There was also a tired weariness surrounding him that made her wonder just how long he had been wandering around the town. He wore old clothes that she was sure could use a round or two in a washing machine. A few feet away from them was his cart, which looked as if it was ready to tip over from its oversized load.

Sonya wondered what he was selling and if there was anyone in town who would buy it.

“This is…” He brought his dark gaze to her, and she frowned. “Who gave this to you?” he asked. She shrieked when one of his scarred hands gripped her by the wrist.

“Let go of me.” She struggled to break free of his hold, which was surprisingly strong for a man whose face looked to be in his late seventies. “You’re hurting me!” She pulled against his hold once more, and this time he released her.

Rubbing her wrist, Sonya took several steps away from the man.

“The place you seek is just past this village. At the edge of town, there’s a trail. Follow that trail until the end. There you will find the place you’re looking for,” the man said as he offered her back her map. “Take it.”

When she made no move to take what he offered, an annoyed look came to his face. “You are wasting time.” He grumbled as he took two steps closer. In response, she took two steps back. “Whoever you are going to see is waiting for you.” With that, he tossed the map at her, which she caught before it could hit the ground, and hobbled off towards his cart.

“It would be wise for you to stay away from that place.” She heard him say as he began to rummage through the junk on his cart.

Holding the map tightly in her hand, Sonya continued on her path. “I have no choice.” She said a silent prayer that fate was on her side.

Just as the merchant had said, when she reached the edge of town, she found a trail a few feet away. Taking a deep breath and praying that no wild animal thought she would make a good meal, Sonya headed up the trail.

She walked the trail for what seemed like hours. Yet, no matter how long or how far she walked, she didn’t see anything but the thickness of the forest around her.

“Shit.” She cursed as she twisted her ankle in a small ditch. Happy the hole wasn’t any deeper or else she would have broken her ankle, Sonya quickly caught her balance while a slight sting of pain made its way through her body. A pain she ignored; she had to keep moving. The sudden uneasiness that picked at the hairs on the back of her neck doubled her speed. In the back of her mind was a nagging feeling that she was too late. Add to that the fact that the sun had set a long time ago and an eerie quiet had settled around the forest as she walked through the darkness with nothing more than the flashlight on her cell phone, Sonya knew she needed to get out of the forest as quickly as she could.

There was a rustle from the shrubs beside her, and she jumped as a very large creature scurried past her in a shadowed blur of fur.

“Damn it, I have to get out of here.” She told herself as she once again picked up her pace till she was doing a light jog through the forest. There was another rustle, and her jog turned into a dead run. Her heart pounded as she pushed herself, fear and anxiety driving her forward. She didn’t dare look behind her as the rustling sound of the trees worked on her imagination. At some point during her run, she even tossed her bag, as it was slowing her down. She would cry about its contents later. Right then, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being chased, and that’s what propelled her forward.

Gradually, her strides slowed as fatigue caught up with her. Huffing, she continued to push herself. Until she felt she was no longer in danger, she would not stop, even if she had to drag her exhausted body the rest of the way. However, it seemed, luck was on her side. In the distance, she saw tall iron gates. Excitement gave her the energy she needed, and she sprinted at top speed the rest of the way to the iron gates. She was running so fast that when she broke free of the forest she struggled to slow down before she collided with the old iron gates. She stopped just before she slammed into the gates.

Running up to the gates she pulled at them. Slowly they opened for her, and Sonya slipped through the small opening. Quickly she closed the gates. Huffing, dizzy, and feeling like she was going to pass out, her eyes frantically scanned the forest on the other side of the gates, searching for whatever had been after her. She saw nothing and instantly felt like an idiot. Her fears were playing dirty tricks on her, and she had stupidly given into them. Still, she wearily eyed the forest.

She couldn’t have seriously imagined that type of feeling, could she?

“It’s fine now,” she told herself as she turned and looked at her surroundings. When she laid eyes on the castle off in the distance, her eyes grew wide and her heart stopped beating for a second.

“Impossible.” She stumbled backward until she fell against the gates of the castle. When the cold iron touched her back, she jumped and took several steps forward.

“This is impossible.” Even as she said the words, she couldn’t deny what was before her. The very castle she had seen in her dreams was before her in all its dark and menacing glory. The same gargoyle statues sat on top of the castle peaks, staring down, promising death to any who dared enter their home without permission. In the background, the full moon illuminated the castle in a soft glow that only added to the dark feel of the castle.

Jacks…

Was he real too then? If she entered that castle, would she find some horrible and hideous creature waiting for her? She looked back to the iron gates a few feet away from her. It was too late to turn back. She was here because of her father. He needed her, and she would save him.

Walking up to the castle doors, which seemed larger in person than in her dreams, she raised her hand to push on the door only to have the door open of its own accord. Jerking back her hands, Sonya swallowed hard as she walked through the doors of the castle and into a reality she didn’t want to be in.

Stepping into the lit hallway of the castle, a small scream escaped her as the doors slammed shut… then her jaw hit the floor.

While the outside of the castle looked the same as the one from her dreams, the inside was much different. Brightly lit, she could see the expert craftsmanship of the white and gray marble that created the walls and floors of the castle. Above her, large chandeliers hung. Clearly worth more money than she could hope to make in several lifetimes, they seemed to stretch down a seemingly never-ending hallway.

“Beautiful,” she whispered, and her voice echoed all around her. Awed, she could do nothing but stare as she walked down the hall. Large mosaic windows lined the castle halls. Following the flow of the windows, she took in the story the beautiful windows told. A man and a woman tangled in an enchanting embrace, their tale of love and loss told with each passing window. Sonya walked until she came to a window with the two lovers sitting on golden thrones, holding hands as their subjects bowed down to them.

It truly was a magnificent thing to behold. Without words, the crafter of these windows told a story of love so pure that it moved Sonya’s broken heart.

“A beautiful sight, isn’t it,” came a voice from behind her.

Quickly turning around, Sonya didn’t expect to come face to face with the man that had started her on her journey. Her fear kicked back up as he eyed her with a look she couldn’t quite place. How had he gotten here before she did? Hadn’t she left him back at her house?

“Aw,” he said as a sly smile spread across his face, “don’t look at me like that.” He took a step towards her, and she backed away.

“Who… who are you?” She hated the way her voice cracked, but there was nothing she could do about it.

He waved off her question. “Why are you asking me questions? Aren’t you here to save your precious, thieving father?” He spat the word thieving out like it was venom, and Sonya stiffened.

How dare he talk bad about her father? Her father might be many things, but he had never been a thief.

“My father is no thief,” she said with conviction, even though the way the man’s eyes narrowed had her wanting to turn tail and run to the nearest room and lock herself away.

“Is that so?” he said a hint of anger in his tone. “Why not go find out just who your father really is?” He raised his hand, and Sonya flinched. A low growl echoed from him, and she took several steps back. “Take the hallway to the left, go up the stairs, and then down the end of the hall to the throne room. There is where you will find your beloved father atoning for his sins.”

Just like that, he was gone. For a second, Sonya stared at the spot he had been in, trying to comprehend what she had just seen, but then she was off racing to her father. Her legs screamed in protest as she ran up a twisting staircase and down the hall until she reached another pair of large double doors. Before she pushed open the doors, she pressed her ear to the door, hoping to hear something. When she heard nothing, dread weighed her down. She didn’t know what was worse, expecting to hear her father's cries of pain as he was punished or the deafening silence she had that hinted that she was too late.

Father…

She prayed to whoever was listening before she took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “Please be okay.” With that, she pushed open the doors in front of her.

When they opened, the first thing she saw was her father’s body lying on the castle floor. Without a second thought or care for who might have been in the room with her, she rushed to his side. Dropping to her knees, she gathered his head into her lap.

“Daddy,” she called out to him. The low grunt she received had relief washing over her. She had sworn the moment she had seen him lying on the floor that she hadn’t made it in time. Fear that the only man she loved had been taken from her had turned her blood to ice, but the warmth of his breath against the hairs of her forearm was the greatest gift she had ever received.

Resting her forehead against his, ignoring the dried blood from the dash on his head, Sonya whispered, “Who would do this to you?”

“I would.” The deep voice startled her, and her gaze quickly went to the throne and then rested on the elevated platform before her.

Before she could stop herself, she screamed, a petrified and horrific sound as she took in the monster that sat in its throne watching her with narrowed eyes.

“Shut up,” the creature growled and rose from its seat. Instantly her screams stopped.

It was at that moment that Sonya knew true terror. As she watched the creature rise to its full towering height, her heart rate tripled, and she held her father closer to her. The creature towered over her on a pair of legs that were better suited for a goat than a man. His torso was ripped with unnatural muscles, and his body was covered in a coat of short black fur. It stepped down from the platform, its paws shaking the ground beneath her. Yellow eyes were set in a skull that looked as if it belonged on the body of a wolf. Yet it was its long fangs that poked out from under its black lips and large horns that curved on top its head that truly terrified her. There was no doubt in her mind that if it wanted it could eat her in just two bites, snuffing out her life, pathetic as it was.

Only when he came to stand over her did she notice that the beast was naked and that its large cock hung limply a few inches away from her face. Quickly, with her heart racing so fast she was sure she was going to go into cardiac arrest at any moment, Sonya rested her head against her father. A small relief that his breathing had improved was cut short when images of what the monster could truly do assaulted her. She flinched as if she had been touched. The fearful tears she had fought so hard to hold back flowed freely down her face and dripped onto her father’s bloodstained cheek.

“It seems.” The creature’s voice was like a dark rumble, something that shook her all the way to her core and then some.

Seeing one of his large claws reaching for her, she tried to scoot away. But before she could move, the creature had grabbed hold of her father’s shirt collar.

“This has you distracted.” With a forceful pull, her father was snatched away from her. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to think about grabbing him.

“NO!” she screamed and reached for her now struggling father, only to have the creature step back on the platform and out of her reach. Hopelessness filled her as every hope she had of saving both herself and her father vanished right before her eyes. All she could see was her father’s struggling form gasping for air as some nightmarish monster dangled him in front of her.

“Good, now that I have your full attention.” The satisfaction in the beast’s tone didn’t go unnoticed.

Only when her father took a gasp for air did she realize that the hold around his neck had loosened.

“What do you want?”

Yellow eyes once again narrowed before the creature spoke. “I want you.”

“Ex…excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He looked to be smiling as he spoke to her. “You in exchange for your father’s life.”

For a moment, she stared at him with wide, teary eyes and contemplated her sanity. She had to be in some hellish nightmare, and at any moment she was going to wake up.

“This can’t be real,” she whispered. “I’ll wake up at any moment.”

“No, you won’t.” The creature snarled angrily. “This is no dream. Now, I asked you a question.”

Her gaze went from the creature to her father, who now watched her with one eye open.

“Beauty, the…” Her father tried to speak, but his voice came out as a strangled whisper. “Don’t.”

“Quiet,” the beast growled with a forceful jerk.

Sobs choked her as the beast’s gaze never wavered, daring her, challenging her to surrender everything she held dear.

“Tell me, Beauty, what will your choice be?” Another half-smile, half snarl spread across the creature’s face. “Freedom over the life of your father.” He paused. “Or a place in my bed… either way I will have satisfaction.”

Hearing his words, her heart stopped, and images of her fate assaulted her. Images of her limbs tangled with his, his clawed hands scarring her sensitive flesh, sharp teeth ripping at her skin as she was forced to endure something worse than death. As much as she wanted to turn and run, one glance at her badly beaten father and she knew—she would sell her soul to the devil if it meant saving him.

He had done so much for her, loved her when no one else would, took her in when the world was falling apart…for that alone, she owed him her life and so much more.

Maybe it won’t be that bad… Yeah and she would magically gain the power to wish her and her father far away. Away from this monster and his dark castle, away from her ungrateful, spoiled sisters…

She took another look at the monster, who patiently awaited her answer.

“Choose now.” Another snarl.

“Please.” She sobbed, her body shaking as she struggled to control her anguish. She crawled her way to the platform and touched the creature’s paw, speaking the words that sealed her fate. “I’ll stay.”

There was a dark rumble from above her. Too afraid to look back up and see her father hanging in the creature’s grasp, she kept her gaze to the floor.

“What was that? Say it louder so your trespassing father can hear you.” How a creature like him managed to sound so smug was beyond her, but it irked her nonetheless. “Let him know that his greedy actions have damned you for the rest of your life.”

Choking on another sob, she spoke again, this time louder than before, “I will—”

“No,” the beast growled. His sudden anger caused her to shake harder. “Look at him. Look into his face and let him see your sorrow.”

When she made no move to do as he said, he stomped his foot. Shirking, Sonya inched away from him. Large eyes, red from her tears, went back to the massive beast that stood before her.

“I said to tell him.” Again he growled, and she swore she saw steam coming from its snout. “Tell him!” To convey his message, he extended one of his claws and pressed its sharp tip against her father’s temple until he drew blood. Her father’s groan of pain broke her heart.

“No,” she whispered, the salty taste of her tears stained her lips.

“Say it.”

Taking a deep breath, Sonya stared into her father’s one good eye.

“Daddy, I’m so sorry.” She choked back a sob. “I chose to stay with him.”

She saw the single tear that slid down her father’s swollen cheek and heard his low grunt of despair.

“Well done.” The beast’s voice drew her. The satisfaction she saw in his narrowed gaze heated her blood. Hate coursed through her, quickly replacing the fear she had.

“Now say goodbye.”

“Wai—” Before she could utter another word, her father was gone, seemingly vanishing into thin air right before her eyes. It took several moments and two or three long blinks before her world shattered into pieces.

“Daddy?” Panicked, Sonya looked around, her gaze wild and darting all around the room, searching for something she knew wasn’t there.

“Now…” the beast once again stepped off the platform, the ground shaking beneath his feet. She couldn’t be sure if the shaking was entirely him or her own body, nor did she care. All she wanted was to be free of the creature who seemed to take great pleasure in her misfortune.

“Welcome to your new home.”

She heard him say the words, but suddenly there was a buzzing in her ears. She swayed, caught herself as exhaustion took hold of her. Before she knew it, her vision was failing, and she felt herself fall. Just before darkness could claim her, she prayed for the strength to endure whatever was in store for her.

Someone… anyone… help me.

Then it was lights out.