Red Hooded Secrets
A Red Riding Hood Fanfiction
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 3: A Night To Remember
Taking the red riding hood off of the hook next to the door, Valerie folded up her beloved cloak and placed it in the trunk that sat at the end of the bed. She looked up at Peter. "Behave tonight," she demanded of him.
"Henry's my closest friend; you don't need to tell me to behave." Valerie looked up at him, pursing her lips and giving him a look that said Really, Peter? Really? "Yes, yes, I know. Prudence. No rude comments."
"No rude comments, looks, anything. I know you hate her, but—"
Peter cut her off. "She's a little harlot, and besides, she thinks you're... you're a.."
"Witch," Valerie finished for him. "It's okay, it's okay. She can think what she wants. We are having them over because they are our friends so we must act like friends, Peter." Peter knelt down and began to tend to the fire. "It'll be fine. Plus, afterwards, we can laugh at how unbelievably dull she is."
"It'll be fine," he repeated, reassuring both Valerie and himself. Just then, there was a light knock on the door. "Showtime," Peter muttered. Valerie rolled her eyes just before opening the front door to face Henry and his new fiancé, Prudence.
The night went smoothly. A few "looks" passed between Peter and Valerie when Prudence said something that, in any other occasion, was utterly laughable. They kept their comments to themselves, however, until after the couple left.
Peter stood up to once again tend to the fire. Shoving his sleeves gently up his arms, he revealed the everlasting scar. At this moment, Henry glanced in the fire's direction, his eyes skimming over the scar and moving on. Quickly, though, his eyes returned to the scar that marked the inside of Peter's wrist.
"Peter," Henry began, "Let me help you go outside to retrieve more firewood." He stood up, Peter following. They both made their way outside, but as soon as the door was shut, Henry spoke up. "Peter, what's on your arm?"
Peter stuttered, "Um uh my what? Nothing." He pulled his sleeve down, attempting to conceal the secret.
"No," Henry said. "There's a scar on your arm." He paused, grabbing peter's arm and pushing back the sleeve to get a closer look. "Almost a bite." Looking up at Peter, Henry locked eyes with him. Peter immediately pulled away and began to pick up firewood. "Peter!" Henry said sternly. He could tell that Peter had begun to slightly shake with nervousness. "Peter!" Henry's voice was rising with still no reply from Peter. "What the hell, Peter? Answer me."
"It's nothing," he finally replied. "It's just a scar."
"It's a bite."
"Yes, from, uh uh a dog." Peter's stammering continued as his nerves rose.
"A dog bite would not be shaped like that." A pause. "It's the size of a human mouth, Peter. Goodness, what are you and Valerie doing in this cabin of yours?"
"It's a... Look..." He glanced around them, back and forth, almost as if he was expecting someone to be listening in on their conversation. "The girls are going to get suspicious if we don't return soon. I'll meet you tomorrow, midday, in the clearing just north of the tower." And with that, Peter turned around, going back into the house, leaving Henry extremely confused but at the same time curious of what Peter had to tell him.
"See? It wasn't as bad as you though it was going to be," Valerie said after Henry and Prudence left.
"Yeah, not as bad." But it was. It was worse.
The next day Peter made his way to the clearing, going over a thousand different explanations in his head. I bit myself was the stupidest of them all. There was I cut myself on accident on day a few years ago. There was also I tripped and fell, cutting my am in the process. His favorite, though, was It's a love bite from Val.
But Henry would not buy one of these, not one. Peter wasn't even sure if he would believe the true story. He hadn't mentioned the encounter to Valerie after Henry had left; Valerie would overact and panic. Peter was perfectly capable of handling this himself.
When Peter arrived at the clearing just North of the tower, Henry was already there, sitting on a large rock at the base of a tree. He looked up at Peter, not moving his head but his eyes. "Why couldn't you just tell me last night? It's a scar; it can't have that long of a story."
"Oh, but it does," Peter replied, leaning against a tree not far from Henry's perch. "But... You have to promise me, swear to me, that this stays with you and will go nowhere else. You have to swear to me that you will let me fully explain everything before you react or say anything."
"I," Henry began, but stopped himself, thinking. "Fine, I swear, Peter. I will sit here in silence until you are finished."
"And it will never leave you...?" Peter reassured.
"Never leave me."
So he told him, Peter told him everything. He began with breaking it to him that Valerie's own father was the werewolf that murdered so many people just six years prior. He told him how both Peter and Valerie had worked together to kill him. He told him how, out of fear for Valerie's life, they had sunk the body in the lake.
At this point, Henry rested his head in his hands, trying to take everything in without reacting harshly.
Peter then told him how, before Valerie's father died, he bit Peter. Henry raised his head a little bit at this, remembering what Father Solomon had stressed: A man bitten is a man cursed.
Then peter went on to explain his two-year disappearance, something that Henry had wondered about himself. Most of the town came to the conclusion that he went into the city to find work. He told Henry that this was to train himself, to learn to control his instincts. This calmed Henry quite a bit. "And then, to be safe, I leave every full moon to keep Valerie and the rest of Daggerhorn safe. It's a curse, Henry, it is a curse, and I hate it. I would have killed myself a long time ago if it wasn't for Valerie."
Henry swallowed once and then asked, "Have you killed a human, Peter?"
"No, I have not, and I do not plan on ever killing a human."
This put Henry at ease for the next few minutes while he thought. Peter had basically given credit of his existence to Valerie—this caused a sharp pang of guilt to hit Henry.
Finally, he looked up at Peter. "It stays with me," Henry said. "And... Let Valerie know that I know now, that if, when you're gone, if she needs anything, to come to me."
Peter nodded once. "Thank you. I will."
They both said goodbye to one another and went on their way: Peter back to work and Henry back to his shop. Things still seemed at ease in Daggerhorn, but how long would they stay this way?
A/N—not sure if I want to continue this story or not... let me know what you think!
