He made his deal with Alexandra on the first night of the full moon, by the second night, he'd already determined how to handle the issue of her husband, a foolproof way to be sure that Alexandra was never looked at with suspicion for killing him. For once, he was fairly certain that not even he would take the blame for this brilliance. But the second night of the full moon meant that he had to act quickly, and that meant that he had to have the upper hand with an individual he had not met nor discussed or even studied. The Seer refused to give him help, though he attempted to use her, she showed him no visions and whispered no words in his ears, which meant he had to do this the old-fashioned way. He had to be prepared for multiple outcomes. So, as much as he wanted to hold the teacup he'd taken between his hands and concentrate so he might understand the feeling he got from it, he set his desire aside. Instead, he stayed in his tower and began his crafting and plotting. By the time night fell he had five different potions made, one cloak with a strong enchantment that would last hundreds of years, a curse, and three spells. He couldn't imagine anything else he might do, couldn't imagine any scenario he wasn't prepared for. All that was left was the bait.
He took the blood of a chicken from Alexandra's hometown and ventured out into the woods. Finding the beast wasn't difficult. It was the full moon, after all, it was as simple as following the howls of the creature and the shouts of the party hunting it. He rolled his eyes at the noise they made. No wonder they never caught anything, people these days…they didn't have half the intelligence he'd had in his youth. It took a few educated guesses, but eventually, he managed to transport himself ahead of the crowd. He popped the top off the vial of blood he had ready and sprinkled it in the fresh blanket of snow, then waited. It didn't take long, the monster had been close. He supposed that in his human form, coming face to face with a creature like this would have scared him. But after coming face to face with ogres, trolls, and wife-stealing pirates, he was well prepared for the animal and well aware of what needed to be done.
The wolf was covered in black fur and large, so very large. A single paw was the size of a dinner plate, and the beast's head rose up to his shoulders, at least, and he bore his teeth in a growl that had saliva dripping from his mouth. His nose worked, smelling the blood and drawn to it, but unable to locate the dinner he sought, his eyes zeroed in on him.
Rumpelstiltskin only smiled with satisfaction at how well this plan was working so well. Now to be able to deal with the poor creature.
"My, my, my, we can't have a conversation like that I'm afraid. Come a little closer!" Though he knew the wolf wouldn't understand a word of what he'd said in that form, crazed and untrained as he appeared, he acted as though he had and charged. Rumpelstiltskin held his ground, waited until the wolf was going too fast to stop, then disappeared and reappeared behind the canine just in time to hear the thud of his head colliding with the tree. The creature stepped back and shook itself. It was dazed from the blow but was still very obviously on all four paws. Shame.
"Oh Dearie!" he called, making the wolf glance back around to find him. "Over here now! Be quick about it this time!"
And so he was, as if it had never happened the creature growled then bounded after him with a loud bark and growl.
Once more, Rumpelstiltskin waited until the last second and appeared somewhere else in the clearing as the wolf hit its head on another tree. He whimpered and cried out in pain, but it wasn't good enough. He couldn't work with something still standing, and even worse, in the distant woods, he could hear the hunting party coming closer.
Besides the place he was standing, he spied another tree, bigger and thicker than the other two he'd let the wolf crash into. If that didn't do it…
"Come on!" he cried, moving in front of it. "Once more you foul, filthy, wretched animal!"
The creature lifted its head and howled as if it was insulted, then dug it's paws into the snow and leaped. This time, after he stood aside and watched the wolf make contact, he saw it sway as it whimpered. It shook it's head once, turned to face him, and then let out a breath and crashed into the snow, nothing but dead weight.
"That's it," he growled approaching to make sure it was well and truly incapacitated. It was. On the ground, it lay slumbering, a small dent in its head that he was able to heal easily, but at the moment, his injuries were the least of their problems.
"This way!"
"I heard it not one minute ago!"
"Follow the tracks!"
"Tonight we kill the beast!"
The hunting party was coming, and no doubt it had Alexandra's husband in it. Ordinarily, he'd be happy to take responsibility for his cunning plans, but considering the circumstances…
Quickly he pulled the hood of his cloak up and over his head, hiding his face. And from the folds of his own cloak he revealed the garment, woven with thread of his own making, that he'd spent most of the day constructing. It was a red cloak, he'd meant it to be gold with the thread he'd used but attached to it he'd woven a very special, very complicated and powerful enchantment. He'd sewn the magic into it, and the moment he had the cloak had become a brilliant shade of red that would endure so long as the magic endured. The moment he lay that cloak over the wolf's body, he watched as it shimmered with magic and what lay before him now was…a girl!
"Well, what do we have here…" he muttered in shock as he looked her small, unsuspecting form over. Long hair, just as dark as her wolf, short and curvy, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, and…he moved the cloak aside to get a proper glimpse of something white on her arm. It was a scar. A very particular scar that really shouldn't have surprised him for it was only the bloodthirsty ones, those who held no control over themselves that possessed such a scar.
"Bitten…made not born…"
Overwise, she'd have had parents to show her how to be what she was so that she didn't attract attention instead of being out on her own killing indiscriminately. Fortunately for him, killing indiscriminately was what he was banking on. It would serve his purposes.
At that moment, light lit up the small clearing, and noise exploded in his ears. He knelt down closer to the girl, shielding her from view, and shook his shoulders.
"Oh! Oh, my daughter! The monster has slaughtered her! Quickly! It went that way! Quickly! Quickly! Quickly! Avenge her!" he cried in a shrill voice. The hoard didn't stop to console him, merely raised their weapons, gave a great cry, and stormed into the forest in the direction that he'd pointed. He sat up and watched them go, knowing that the solution was only temporary. It wasn't long until they would figure out the tracks stopped. Now that they had trampled through the tracks the she-wolf had made, it would be as though the creature had just vanished, which was precisely what he intended to do.
Oh my goodness, it's a girl! Yes, many of you guessed right after the last chapter, so I feel no guilt in spoiling this for you. The werewolf in this episode is Granny and because she is about eighteen years old we will not meet her daughter or her granddaughter yet. This is a story just for her, a story that explains the "complicated relationship" that Rumple has with her. By the end of this I hope that you're going to agree it's a good explanation!
Thank you MerlockVonBaron, Enomisje, Grace5231973, MissAmande, and Jennifer Baratta for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm so sorry this chapter is so short, I meant to put it with the next one but the next chapter was clearly one of it's own. Keep on reading to catch a glimpse at a non-granny Granny! Peace and Happy Reading!
