Shadows and Sunlight
(Disclaimer! Sisters Red and all characters therein are the property of Jackson Pearce. I DO NOT own rights to the novel in any way, shape, or form. Enjoy!)
Chapter One
A crisp, white card burns a whole in my jeans' pocket. I pull my red cloak tighter around my frame and sway my hips a little more enticingly. I glance over my shoulder, my one good eye scans the street for anyone who might be following. A group of men, standing outside the Seven Eleven, are watching me, wolfy grins on their handsome faces. I smile back at them. To them, it might seem flirtatious, but really it's relief. I need this hunt…now more than ever. I have to get the card in my pocket out of my head before I go crazy. Hunting Fenris has always been a good way to get my mind off of things that tick me off.
Follow me. Please. I need to kill you.
The two younger guys cross the street and begin to follow a few feet behind me. I flip my hair, allowing them to get a whiff of my floral perfume and discreetly adjust the strands of hair that fall over my eye patch. I hear cat calls from behind me. They're taking the bait. I'm no where near Rosie's level, but I can still lure out the young and stupid ones, so long as I keep my scars covered. Once again, my mind is torn away from the hunt and settles it's focus on the card. It doesn't take much for that old, familiar mix of happiness and anger to settle itself in my chest. Every time I'm reminded of my little sister, it returns.
Rosie. I miss you. Hunting Fenris just isn't the same without you and Silas. Silas…I secretly hate your guts, but I miss you too.
"Hey, girly. Where you headed?" Asks one of the men.
I stop at the end of the block and wrap my fingers around the handle of my hatchet. I glance back at them briefly. They both appear to be in their early twenties. One, wears a hoodie, the hood drawn over his head and a pair of sunglasses despite the darkness of this moonless night. He must be very knew. The other reminds me of Silas. He has shaggy brown hair and a pleasant looking smile. A plaid jacket hangs on his wiry body over a plain white tee. The real Silas' hair is much shorter now and that smile of his is reserved for Rosie alone. He smiles a lot these days. Rosie warns him that he'll have wrinkles around his eyes and mouth from smiling so much. I guess there are worst ways to get wrinkles. The boy before me looks more like the twenty-one year old Silas, the one that abandoned me to go to California, only to return and take my baby sister from me. I'll enjoy this fight. The grip on my hatchet tightens. I look at their wrists. They're not turning yet. I have to make sure that they're Fenris and not just a pack of jerks. I see the proof on both their wrists, tattoos in the shape of bells. The hair on their arms is starting to thicken.
"Nowhere, you're going." I say with a pleased smile. I pull out the hatchet and throw it as I spin around. The hatchet flips through the air and digs into the hooded one's forehead, snapping the brim of his sunglasses in half. He stands there, stunned, for a moment before exploding into shadows. The Silas look-a-like growls at me with growing fangs. His face shifts into the shape of a muzzle. He lunges at me and knocks me to the ground, his long nails digging into the flesh of my arms. His jaws snap at my throat, but I'm stronger than I look. I hold him at bay and knee him in the crotch. He yelps and rolls off of me. Blood is streaming down my arms as I jump to my feet and reach for the knife at my belt. I take the bone handle in my hand and stare down the twisted monster before me. He's fully transformed now, a soulless beast trapped between being fully wolf and fully human. The Fenris smacks his lips and licks his chops. His ocher eyes are ablaze with hunger. "You might be ugly, but you'll taste divine." He drawles with a gravely voice. "You Red Hoods always do."
Red Hoods?
The Fenris jumps at me again before I have time to register what he's just said. I slash at him with my knife. He dodges the sharp tip, escaping injury. I stab at him with a guttural growl of my own. He darts away from the blade and grabs my wrist. His grip is hard and crushing. He squeezes tighter and I drop the knife. I feel the small bones in my wrist crack. I cry out, despite myself, and he laughs with glee. His eyes look like they're on fire.
Suddenly, something whizzes by my head. The Fenris screams and throws me to the ground. I grip my wrist with my uninjured hand. The wrist is throbbing with pain and already swelling. I'm almost certain something's broken. My eye darts to the Fenris. He's staggering around, clawing at his eye, where an arrow is buried. A blur of red passes between the Fenris and I. A girl in a red cloak raises a wooden bow and pulls another arrow from the quiver on her back. She fires it into the Fenris, striking him in the chest. He's gasping and roaring in agony, but he's still not dead.
Another blur, passes before my darkening vision. A shadow stands before me. I almost scream, thinking it's another Fenris, at first. But then, the shadow turns slightly towards me and I see the lower half of a man's face, most of it hidden beneath a hood. A glimmer of blue shines from where his eyes should be.
"Rosie! Silas! You came back?" I gasp, tears stinging my eyes. I'm so relieved. Maybe the card in my pocket is a tasteless joke. Maybe they came to their senses and called the wedding off. Who cares? It doesn't matter! They're here. My sister and my best friend came back to me at last!
Rosie and Silas don't say anything. Rosie continues to fire arrows into the Fenris. The brute refuses to die. Silas stares at me and I finally begin to notice the scars that run deep across his cheeks, lips and chin. He's not Silas, I realize. I take a second look at Rosie. A short strand of platinum blond hair dances free of her hood as she pulls back the string of her bow. She's not Rosie.
The man turns away from me. The Fenris still refuses to become shadows. In a flash, a pair of long daggers is pulled from the man's cloak. He flings himself at the Fenris and buries the daggers' blades into it's smelly hide. Both find a way into the monster's heart and he finally explodes. Shadows scatter across the grey toned landscape of the Atlanta city street. The girl and the man look at each other questioningly. Their mouths move, but I can't hear what they're saying. My ears are ringing. Their forms blur. The pain shooting up my arm is excruciating. The girl runs up to me and kneels down by my side. The man keeps his distance. He starts to leave, but the girl pleads with him. He is hesitant, but finally he relents. He scoops me up, carrying me as if I were a tiny child who fell asleep on the couch. I notice that he smells like steel, irony and bitter and there's a strong limp in his gate. No…defiantly not Silas.
I think about the card in my pocket once again before I completely pass out from the pain. Rosie and Silas are getting married next Saturday. I love them both. I want them to be happy together, but I also want them to myself. When I saw these two come to my rescue, for the briefest of moments, I thought my selfish wish had actually come true. I was so happy. I'm a terrible person.
Author's Note: I just found this section and I couldn't resist writing a story for Sisters Red. I just finished the novel and it's now on my favorites shelf. Out of the entire book, I loved Scarlett's character the best. I've never felt like a Dragonfly myself so I related to her more than Rosie. I liked how the original book ended, but I'd like for there to be more to Scarlett's life than just hunting. She seemed rather lonely to me in the epilogue. So I got this idea about Scarlett meeting someone who's just as scared and driven to hunt Fenris as she is, but who's taking it way too far.
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