Shorter first chapter than I'd prefer, but I feel that cutting it off here adds to the suspense and I'm thinking I'll try my hand at a more suspenseful/mysterious approach than I've used for other fics.
Set directly after Child of the Moon.
"Could you call Granny and have her get Belle? I may have left her chained up in the library."
David nodded, taking the cloak as Ruby held it out. "Sure. Where are you going?"
Ruby smiled as she opened the door. "I'm going to do something I haven't done for a very long time: run."
Ruby's speed increased rapidly as she sped down Main Street, first on two legs but quickly onto four. People jumped out of her way as the wolf made her way to the forest.
Ruby, lucid, mused "I don't seem to do as much damage when out of control in Storybrooke as I did in the other land. Not that I'm complaining."
Granny made her way up the steps of the library, muttering to herself. 'That girl, she's lucky this didn't turn out like it did with Peter. No foresight, she has. And so unwilling to let anyone help her." She paused in the entryway of the library to let her eyes adjust to the very low light, most of which was from the open doorway, and the streetlight cast an eerie yellow-orange across the rows of dusty bookshelves. The deep shadows unsettled her somewhat as she rushed to free Belle.
She felt out light switches as she moved through the darkened library to where they had placed the chains. The boarded-up windows afforded little illumination in her search, and more than once Granny bumped some book cart or reading chair with a muttered expletive.
"Sorry about Ruby, dear!" she called out to Belle. "She did intend to protect you. You'll be glad to know that it really wasn't our Ruby who killed that poor boy; it was Charming's… adoptive father?"
Granny shook her head as she swung open the door to the room where Belle was chained. A shiver ran down her spine as the musty scent of long-unread books assaulted her. She fumbled for the light switch, shaking off her heebie-jeebies after she heard the foreboding jingle and scrape of chains against a concrete floor accompanied by the whap-a-whap of a dog shaking itself.
"Anyway, the good new is that everyone is safe and s-"
Granny cut off mid sentence as she was interrupted by a warning growl.
David was quiet as he entered the apartment, not wanting to wake Henry. He placed the cloak on the living room sofa as he passed and headed towards the stairs in the quiet apartment lit only by moonlight. He watched his steps closely on the stairs to avoid a telltale creak. As he neared Henry's room he heard low, even breathing that gave him a small paternal smile.
His smile dissipated and his heart rate sped when he leveled with Henry's door and was able to make out two distinct breathing patterns. He wished to believe that the second pattern belonged to Regina, who may have decided to watch over Henry until David returned, but he knew that the mayor would never wheeze like that. The accompanying soft snort was inconceivable for the woman as well.
Moonlight through the window cast a bluish tint across the highly shadowed room as he gently pushed open the door with a hand on his empty holster. He froze as the door swung open a few more inches with a long, drawn-out creak and the snuffling of the second breathing pattern abruptly ceased.
David's eyes searched the shadows until the outline of a canine head raised and luminous amber eyes met his as a low growl sent a surge of adrenaline through his cardiovascular system.