A/N: I am so incredibly sorry that this chapter was unreadable earlier. I don't know what on Earth caused it but I it's fixed now! Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE LUNAR CHRONICLES.
Scarlet cracked the trunk of her beat up car. She looked over the carefully organized display of weapons before her. Shotguns and crossbows, rifles and scythes, a single katana and a colorful display of poisonous bolts. Jars of dead man's blood were nestled in the corner alongside crucifixes and machetes alike. Boxes of bullets were stacked high, all of them filled with pure silver. Scarlet tugged at the silver cross around her neck and selected a large, double barreled shotgun. She filled her backpack with bullets, dead man's blood, and salt. She strapped a silver plated dagger to her hip and filled a flask with holy water. She double checked her supplies and then slammed her trunk closed. Climbing into the driver's seat, she checked her reflection in the mirror.
Tall girl with dark red hair and cold brown eyes. Red leather jacket and tall black boots. Various scars and scratches across her arms. Angry frown. She tore her eyes away from the mirror and kicked the car into motion. She drove about fifteen miles outside of town and came to a stop next to a gnarled oak tree. She would walk the remaining mile from here.
She had been paid a large sum by the town's mayor to take care of the wolf living beyond the border. It had already stolen three children from the village. Scarlet was more than happy to take care of the problem. When she came to the location, she paused. It was an old abandoned barn, faded and falling down. She loaded her shotgun and crept to the door. It was dark now, and the moon offered little light. That was good. The creature would be fully awake and moving now. She heard rustling inside, and the sickening sound of crunching bones.
Scarlet took a deep breath, held it, counted to three and kicked the door open. The werewolf's head jerked towards her. It was in its halfway form, large and hunched. It stood on human legs but it had arms like wolf claws, a snout protruded from the face and its back was covered in dusty gray fur. Mangled ears flattened against the head and the tail swished threateningly. The wolf sank into an attack position and snarled but before it could launch itself, Scarlet pulled the trigger. The bullets slammed into wolf's leg, knocking it sideways. Scarlet took the opportunity to reload her gun as the wolf howled in pain. She fired again into the same spot. The wolf would not be walking againShe stood over the writhing creature. It tried to swipe at her, but she used her dagger to stab straight through the wolf's arm into the ground. She stomped down onto the knife handle, driving it further into the ground and snapping the bones in the wolf's arm.
It howled in agony and Scarlet's lips quirked into a smile.
"You know who I am," she said in a low voice.
The wolf glared at her with cold yellow eyes.
"You've been naughty, stealing all those children." She circled the wolf, teasing it. "You should have known this would be coming."
"It hissed at her. "Then finish it." It growled in an inhuman voice.
"Oh, don't worry, I intend to. But first..." She unscrewed the jar of dead man's blood. The wolf's eyes widened as it realized what was happening. She poured the holy water into the blood and shook the jar.
"You have killed children and for that you deserve to die. But I came here for information."
She dumped the contents of the jar over the wolf's chest. The howl was deafening. The blood smoldered and burned against the werewolf's skin. It shrank back to its human form, a lanky man with ash blond hair.
"What do you want?" He screamed.
Scarlet grabbed another knife from her pack and used it to pin down his other arm. He screamed again.
"I want to know where your pack took my grandmother and why."
To her surprise, the werewolf started laughing. Manic, wild, pain strewn laughter.
"You're asking me to give up my pack, little girl." He spit. "You humans just don't understand. It doesn't matter what you do to matter, loyalty is more important."
"Doesn't matter, huh," Scarlet whispered.
She stood up, leveled her shotgun with the wolf's face and squeezed the trigger. His head exploded in a burst of blood and brain. With a sigh, she knelt down to retrieve her knives and check the wolf for anything of use. Just as she was getting ready to burn the body, she heard someone drop down lightly from the hay loft. She whirled around, bringing her gun up in a smooth arc. She aimed frantically into the shadows. There was only supposed to be one wolf here!
From the darkness, she saw a pair of glowing jewel green eyes. A young man stepped forward, his face and body scarred. His hair was black as were his clothes, which made him look as if he had materialized from the shadows themselves.
"I know where your grandmother is."
"You do?" Scarlet asked, keeping her gun steady.
"Yes."
A/N: I am soooo sorry about the screw up with this chapter earlier. I hope you guys still enjoy it! Let me know what you think!