She senses his presence, not his intention, so from the shadows of the dark castle's depths, she pleads with him to leave before the creature catches him.

He ignores it. "Give me the locket, and I'll be on my way."

"Leave now, before it's too late!" Her voice echoes in the massive room, seemingly coming from all around. "If you value living, LEAVE!"

Brandishing a sword from its sheath, he laughs. Confidence in his abilities cause him to remain in his place, undeterred by the warning. "I'm not leaving without it."

Fear consumes her. She lets out an agonizing scream, the beast speaking once it dies out. "THEN YOU WON'T LEAVE AT ALL!"

The voice was no longer that of a woman pleading for the thief to leave. It was instead animalistic, a low growl lacing each word. Descending from the darkness of the rafters above, the beast's form loomed over DJ. The growl and glowing crimson eyes made his heart quicken its beats. Stance faltering, fear replacing his confidence gave him away.

The beast lunged at him, slashing across his torso with its claws. With a loud clatter, the sword skidded across the stone floor. Remaining under the beast of the castle, he could see the locket dangling from its neck. He reached upward and took it in his hands.

The beast let out a strangled roar. He closed his eyes as he tugged on the locket, expecting to be gutted by the huge claws. When that didn't come, and instead the weight above him lessened, he opened his eyes.

A young woman, hooded cloak concealing most features from sight, taking deep breaths greeted him. She opened her eyes, still glowing red, and stared at the thief below her.

"Don't take the locket." She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Please, it's all I have to keep my humanity."

Confused and only ignoring his injuries with the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he looked between the locket in his grasp and the woman pleading with him. "You're...You're the beast?"

She nodded. "Please go before I lose control again. I don't want it to kill again." She added the last part with a whisper.

In a split second, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. The thief's free hand held the steel hilt of a dagger, deeply embedded. She choked on air, attempting to recoil back, but his grip on the locket kept her close to him.

Removing the dagger, he lifted it toward the chain around her neck, blood dripping down the blade as he attempted to break the thin metal. The resistance and lack of breakage caused him to frown.

A clawed hand, somewhere between human and beast, gripped the thief's forearm hard. DJ flicked his gaze up to what had been the woman's face, but now the only recognizable sight were the glowing red eyes.

"YOU CANNOT KILL ME. YOU WILL NOT TAKE WHAT IS MINE."

He let go of the locket and began crawling backwards to put distance between himself and the shifting beast. Picking himself up off the ground, especially hurried, sent searing pain through his torso. The four bloody slashes didn't deter him from attempting to flee. Sprinting down the corridors, he hoped his memory of the entry would lead him to a fast exit. A loud roar echoed around him. Refusing his impulse to turn around, to look at the distance between him and the beast trying to kill him, he did his best to pick up the pace.

The beast pursued, the gap closing as it lunged forward. The miss was narrow, and the large wooden doors at the entry were near his reach. The beast stopped, watching him.

His hands reached for a handle, yanking hard to pull the heavy door open. Nearly out of breath and bleeding profusely, he sprinted into the cold winter air, down the steps of the castle and out onto the path leading away. With the realization that the sounds of his approaching doom had disappeared, he turned around and looked back toward the castle. Standing just outside the doorway, a small figure stood on the snow powdered steps. The figure of the woman, not the beast. Turning back around, DJ kept going.

The more he sprinted, his adrenaline faded. Pain coursed through him, and he could feel how wet the tattered cloth over his chest and stomach had become. Blowing through the trees, chilly wind sent shivers through his body.

There's no way I can make it back like this...

His pace slowed, exhaustion catching up to his struggling body. Collapsing to his knees, dark spots in his vision started floating around.

I'm going to die here, aren't I?

No longer having the strength to continue, he fell to the side against the snow. Crimson began to stain the white. His eyes stared ahead of him, and he realized the tall stone pillars of the castle walls were still in the distance ahead of him.

If that beast-woman doesn't come out and kill me first, I hope blood loss or freezing does.

His open eyes grew tired. Shutting them, he accepted his fate. There wasn't a soul that would come to try and save him. Without his return, they would consider him a dead man anyway.

What was the point of fighting it?

Growing colder in the snow and wind, he began going in and out of consciousness. Eventually, he lost it and laid unmoving.