Vadim paced through the foyer, his paws laving faint scratching noises against the marble floor. The time until midnight counted down in his head, echoed by each click of the clock hands across the hall from him. With ears as large as his, he could hear the tick-tock of each clock all through the house. This close to the hour, they seemed to taunt him. At midnight, all his pain would come to an end for at least a short while, his horrid curse lifted. At midnight, he got one day to be human.

The great clock struck. Vadim shivered, his eyes slipping closed unbidden. Just with the first chime, he already felt his body shifting. His hunched back popped, reeling him backwards and downward at the same time to a smaller height, his frame strong but surprisingly young looking next to the grizzled grey and dark brown fur of the beast. His hair was dark like the beast’s fur, but his eyes were bright and blue in color. The only thing that marked a similarity between them was the severity of his gaze as the maroon coat still hung around his shoulders by a cord. Keeping that as recognition for who he was, he dressed in his finest clothes and burst out the front door almost before the clock finished its twelve chimes. The stables stood to the left side of the manor, overgrown by vines with no servants to keep it clean. Vadim took care of his few horses himself and now threw the saddle over his fastest and took off.

It had already been days since the couple stole his roses, but he’d followed the scent of blood and heavy horse tracks in the dirt, caused by the creature’s limp. In the darkness where no one could see him, he watched over the house and the tiny figure he could see through a curtained window. What awaited him? He dared no show himself before, but in this form, he could walk in the daylight without worry. Finally, he could see what lay beyond the window curtain.

Morning light already lit the road well by the time he made it out of the woods. From there, it was a straight shot. Before long, he found himself at the home of the human couple and their daughter. He went to the door, fixing his clothes with what could almost be described as nervousness, then knocked, his back rigidly straight.