Hi ya! Q of the Solar System here! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my new story, "As Red As Blood."
Disclaimer: I don't own Little Red Riding Hood.
Pain
Elpis Couch smiled to herself as she packed a basket for her Grandmother. Okay She thought. Jam check. Bread, check. A small bottle of ale, check. I'm ready to go.
As she walked to the door she threw on the poppy red cloak her Grandmother had given her. It represented protection for her.
It took her fifteen minutes to walk though the forest her Grandmother chose to live in. Soon she saw the familar little cottage with its stone walls and thatched roof, but something wasn't right.. A strange metallic smell filled her nose.
Frightened of what she may find, Elpis continued towards the door. She opened slowly. What she would see next would haunt for the rest of her life.
Body parts thrown all around the one room cottage. In the middle of all this stood a ragged man of about six feet with lifeless green eyes and auburn hair, holding a half chewed arm in his hand. Worst of all, on the center of the table lay her Grandmother's head, her beautiful pitch black eyes now lifeless.
Elpis took one look at this scene and did what any sensible child of eight would do: she ran as fast as she could. The man started to chase after her.
"Luck is with me today," He laughed. "First an easy meal, now child flesh the delcity of delcities."
He changed into a wolf. She gasped mentally. He was shifter!
He had almost caught up to her. He leap though the air to pounce on her. Elpis panicked grabbed an ax left by a woodsman. As he came down she cut off his head.
Blood sprayed everywhere though the afternoon breeze, landing on the grass, trees, flowers, a passing bird, and on Elpis hair and clothes, blending in to her red cloak.
"Who are you?"
The voice startled her. She turned around and saw a man around thirty with blond hair and gray eyes looking at her. He was wearing a brown shirt, a gray vest and green pants. His eyes looked at her worried. There was.. kindness in them.
She collapsed to the ground. He took off his vest and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Did you kill him?"
Elpis nodded.
"Do you want to go home?"
She nodded again, took his hand and started to show him back to her home, still in a state of shock about what had transpired.
Twelve year old Conall wondered impatiently where his father was. Supper would start soon and because of shifter traditions, everyone had to wait for everyone else to come before they could start the meal. Since his father was a shifter lord the rule was doubly important.
He sighed. Not that his father had been fellowing the Shifter traditions himself lately. Going off places doings who knows what. Some of the thing whispered about were not pleasant at all. Such as eating raw meat, eating humans, destroying homes. Still Conall chose not to listen to the rumors. That would be disloyal to his father, and when his big brother Bleddyn had died last year he had made Conall promise to stay loyal to their father. Not that it was always easy.
He heard noise. Two men from the nearby village had came. In their arms they held something. Conall started to walked forward.
When he got close enough to see what it was, he screamed and ran over. It was his father dead.
"So Lycurgus went crazy and killed a human." One of the shifter lords said.
"Makes sense." A voice muttered in the crowd.
Conall couldn't think straight. He may not have agreed with his father all the time or even liked him. Still since his mother and brother died from last year's sickness, he was all that Conall had left. All he had left.
"Who did this?" He asked the villagers. "Was it you?"
"Um, no." One said. "A little girl wearing a red cloak killed him in self defense."
A little girl with a red cloak? Well from that day forth he decided he would not rest till he had revenge on Little Red Riding Hood.
A/N: Sorry for the emoness. Please review!