Claws tearing, jaws ripping and the insatiable taste of blood in her throat.

"No, no, please!" the woman screamed as she approached, "No! No! NO!"

Growling she lunged forward and just before she sunk her teeth into her neck, she shook her head and screamed her name.

"RED! PLEASE!"

Jerking awake, Red sat upright in the bed gasping for air as the nightmare continued to run through her mind, her Grams' screams echoing in her ears and her terrified face made her feel terrible. "I didn't kill her," she whispered, her head in her hands, "I didn't….kill her."

"That's good to know."

She looked up to see Colin standing in the doorway looking at her curiously, "Oh hi," she said quietly "I was just-"

"Having a nightmare, I know," the pig said "luckily you weren't whimpering when Bigby was here or else he'd never have left you alone."

Red frowned; Bigby wasn't here? "Where's he gone too?" she asked hesitantly.

"Snow White came to the door, said there was an emergency. That's all I managed to hear in my hiding place," he raised an eyebrow "I'm supposed to be on the Farm."

Red closed her eyes in relief, Bigby hadn't reported her to Crane. She was safe…for now. "Hey, Colin is it? You hungry?" she got up and pulled on her jeans again, "I'm starving."

"Well, I hope you got money," he said walking away, "big bad wolf hasn't gone grocery shopping in weeks."

The thought of going shopping and meeting other Fables at the minute didn't make Red feel comfortable and she sighed, "Know any good takeaways?"

About an hour later her and Colin were sitting on the floor eating some Chinese when Bigby came through the door looking exhausted, "Sorry, forgot there wasn't any food in," he said lighting another cigarette "how much was it?"

Red shook her head, "You're letting me stay, I can pay for this," even though she didn't have much money left now after buying it, she knew she'd have to find a job, "I got you one too, it's sitting in the kitchen."

Bigby gave her a small smile before heading through and she heard him get it out the fridge and rummage for a fork, Colin shot her a grin and waggled his eyebrows at her, "Want me to leave?" he mouthed and Red snorted and finished the last of her meal.

"So what's happening in Fabletown?" Colin asked Bigby as he sat in his chair and began to eat, putting his cigarette down "Snow didn't sound too happy earlier."

Bigby sighed, "There was…." He glanced at Red who gave him a look that said 'I'm-not-a-little-girl' "a head lying out in front of the building. Someone murdered a Fable."

Red gasped and shook her head, "Oh god, who was it?"

"We don't know yet, Snow and Bufkin are looking into it and then I'm gonna go look at her apartment. See if there's any clues as to why someone wanted her dead."

"First my Grams and now…this girl?" Red sighed "that's two Fables murdered in less than a day of each other."

"I'm gonna find who did it," Bigby said firmly, "and they're gonna suffer for what they've done."

Red suddenly got a whiff of something and she sniffed the air, ignoring Bigby and Colin's confused looks, standing up she looked at the door and frowned. "Who the hell is that?" she asked.

Bigby sniffed the air as well and then raised his eyebrows, "It's Snow," he said also getting up, "you were able to smell her?"

"I just got the scent of something," her now yellow eyes looked at him worryingly "is this my…wolf side coming out?"

"I think so," Bigby looked a little uneasy, "listen, how about you go hide, I haven't told Sn-"

There was a knock on the door, "Bigby, open up. I know who you have in there," Snow sounded annoyed and Red sighed as Bigby opened the door and a pissed off looking Snow White came through and frowned at her.

"Hey there," Red rubbed her arms uneasily, aware Snow could see the scratches, "been a while, huh?"

"Why didn't you report to the Business Office when you arrived?" Snow asked her, folding her arms, "Fables need to let us know when they're back in town."

Red frowned "I don't need to report to anyone," She said a little angrily and Bigby sensed a change in the air.

"I see that your eyes have changed colour," Snow said narrowing her eyes "and your grandmother hasn't returned from her visit to you. Care to explain?"

Taking a step forward, Red looked furious and her eyes got even lighter "Are you accusing me of something, Miss White?" she hissed.

"Alrigh' enough!" Bigby snapped stepping between the two women, "Red, calm it, Snow's on your side. Snow, she did report in to me and that's good enough, now how did you know she was here?"

"We found out who the girl was," Snow said looking away from Red "her name was Faith and she has an apartment in the Bronx with her husband. I looked in the mirror to see where you were and saw…Miss Hood and decided to come over rather than phone."

"Lucky us," Red muttered and Colin snorted making Snow glare at her.

"What's the address? I'll check it out in the morning and tell the husband," Bigby said, rubbing his face, "he needs to be notified."

Snow brought out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it over, "I'd rather you didn't wait till morning, the sooner he's told the better," she said sadly "it just delays the pain of him finding out."

"Bigby's hardly slept," Colin pointed out, "and its 3am, a couple of hours sleep for him isn't gonna make this girl any less dead."

"I'll go now," Bigby said tiredly, "thanks Snow, I'll tell you how it goes."

"Thank you Bigby, it means a lot," she raised an eyebrow at Colin, "I hope for your sake that you're going to return to the Farm, you haven't got a glamour on."

Colin ignored her and finished the rest of his Chinese noisily and Snow sighed, "Get this sorted fast Bigby," she said and Red knew she wasn't talking about the dead girl, "we have enough problems. You can find me in the Business Office when you're done."

Red waited until she had left before making an angry noise, "Who the hell does she think she is?" she fumed, "talking to me like that, last time I checked she was the Deputy Mayor's Assistant not the Mayor."

"Obviously she still thinks she's royalty like the rest of the Woodlands," Colin muttered, "they don't care about the other non-royalty Fables."

"She's just stressed out with this murder, and Crane doesn't exactly do a good job of running this place," Bigby sighed and then rubbed his face, "we better get some shut-eye, early start tomorrow."

"We?" Red asked a little confused.

Bigby nodded and sat back down in his chair, "You're eyes got even more yellow and I could smell the fight in you, this wolf side of you is coming out more and more," his eyes softened at her pained expression, "it's not your fault, Red, I'm gonna keep you safe and at the same time, hopefully teach you how to control that side of you."

"I suppose you're the best for the job," Red smiled although the smile didn't reach her eyes.

Bigby nodded and pointed to the bedroom, "Get some sleep, I'll wake you up in the morning."

Red nodded and then gave him a smile "I usually wake up more with some coffee," she hinted.

"I'll make sure there's coffee," he smiled closing his eyes, "night Red."

"More like morning," she joked and closed the bedroom door behind her.

"This coffee is actually okay," Red said taking a grateful sip as they walked down the street towards Faith and Prince Lawrence's apartment.

"You don't need to pretend to like it," Bigby said, lighting a cigarette "I don't even like it myself."

"I didn't want to offend you."

"So it's bad?"

"It's pretty bad."

They reached the building and Bigby glanced around, it was just another run down building on a dodgy street, he hated to think about poor Faith having to come back here after her job but suddenly a vile stench hit his nose and he stopped.

"Oh god," Red said in a disgusted tone, catching onto the same scent "what the hell is that smell?"

Bigby looked around and frowned "Something's not right here," he said walking towards the door and banging on it, "Lawrence, you in there?" he waited for a moment before taking a step back.

"Don't kick the door in!" Red hissed, "You'll get the Mundie's suspicious!"

Shooting her an annoyed look, Bigby sighed "So what do you propose we do?" he asked sarcastically, "sit and wait until his Highness opens the door?"

Red rolled her eyes but glanced at the window that was open a little, "Go through here," she said quickly and pushed it up. Bigby put a hand on her shoulder and she looked around to see a police car drive by.

"I'll give you a boost through," Bigby said quietly, and knelt down and clasped his hands. Red squeezed through the window and then stood up in the apartment, covering her nose and mouth at the disgusting smell. It was dark, dank and flies flew about, their buzzing louder in her ears then they were before.

Bigby came in after her and shut the window again, "Holy shit," he said walking over to the body that Red hadn't noticed, "I think this is Lawrence."

"Is he…dead?" Red asked hesitantly not wanting to do nearer.

"I don't know," Bigby said looking around at the apartment, "but we need to figure out what happened here."