TITLE: Bloody Locks
AUTHOR: Sanguinary
COPYRIGHT: Friday, Sept. 28 /01
DISCLAIMER: Dru doesn't belong to me. I suppose Bloody Locks belongs partly to me, partly
to Joss so if Joss wants him, he'll have to share.
DISTRUIBUTION: Ask first. I won't say no.
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: Fairy-tale/Horror
FEEDBACK: Makes me dance the happy dance. Send it to Sanguinary_515@hotmail.com
SUMMARY: A fairy-tale with a Spike twist.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Was reading the original Little Red Riding Hood (She gets eaten by the wolf)
and I decided to write a story based loosely on it.

~~

Once upon a time (for this is how most fairy tales being), there lived a peasant couple in a
village. This village lived in mortal fear of the Big Bad Wolf, a fierce monster that prowled
the woods, taking little children and devouring them.

Now, this couple was one of the few couples that did not fear having a child taken from them by
the Big Bad Wolf. So, one cold December morning, the peasant woman gave birth to a child.

A little boy was born, with hair and skin as white as the snow and eyes the pale blue of a
winter's sky. The village fell in love with him at first sight and christened him William.

William was a bright young boy, but he was small for his age. He was carefully guarded, never
allowed out at night, never allowed near the dark forest. They didn't want to lose this little
treasure in the forest and find him, torn to bits.

When he was four, his parents decided (against the village's protests) to take him on a picnic
in the forest. It was a bright sunny day when they left, promising to be back before the sun
started to set.

But the sun set and they did not return. The village waited in silence for the family to come
home, but they never did.

Early the next morning, the bravest men the village gathered up their tools and weapons and
entered the forest.

In the twisted trees above them, birds flew and twittered as if nothing was wrong. But the men
could smell the fresh sent of blood among the trees. Carefully, they combing though the forest
for William and his parents. The hounds that they had brought to pick up the sent and locate
the bodies refused to enter the forest. Instead, they waited outside, baying and howling.
Deeper and deeper into the forest they went, searching for the three. The search party had
just about given up hope when they found them.

Or, rather, what was left of them.

It's said that what the men saw was the most terrible sight that these warriors had ever seen.
Some of the men had been to war, had seen their own best friend killed or decapitated right in
front of them. Yet this was worse of all.

The bodies had been torn apart. In the middle of the clearing, the picnic basket lay there,
unopened and untouched. The blanket was covered with blood and entrails. The eyes-less heads
of William's parents sat on the end of the blanket, bloody sockets staring at something only
they could see. Fingers and toes were everywhere, mixed with grass and chunks of flesh.

But, worse of all, was little William. He was alive, which was a relief to the men, but he lay
asleep, sheltered by the ribs and spines of his parents. William's face was clean of blood but
his hair was coated in it.

The men gathered little William in their arms and left the remains of his parents in that
clearing. The forest was proclaimed off limits and William was given to his aunt to raise.
From that day forward, William was no longer known as William, but as Little Red Bloody Locks.

Little Red Bloody Locks grew taller and stronger every day. And, when he turned eighteen, the
village smiled at their child. His hair had grown whiter and his skin, paler. He had grown
beautiful, so beautiful that people would forget what they were thinking about when he walked
into the room.

At the age of eighteen, he was a man and his Aunt began to have him do her chores for him.
Finally, the day came that his aunt was too old and too tired to walk around the woods to
bring her weekly basket of food and wine to her mother.

"William," She said (She refused to call him Little Red Bloody Locks, believing that it was
improper), "Please take this basket to your grandmother. I am too tired to do it anymore and
you are a strong, young man."

"Yes Aunt," He said, containing his excitement. He had always wanted to go back into the
forest, ever since he could remember hearing tales of what had happened to his parents. He was
determined to find the Big Bad Wolf and kill it.

So, kissing his Aunt on the cheek, he took the basket in his hand and walked down the beaten
path leading to the main road.

"Be careful!" She called out after him, "And don't go near the forest!"

Little Red Bloody Locks happily set off down the road. In his pocket, hidden from his Aunt's
prying eyes, was a dagger and Bloody Locks touched it, feeling happy. Today, he would find the
Big Bad Wolf and kill it, revenging his parent's death.

He was happily walking along the road when he heard a voice whisper to him.

"Hello."

Bloody Locks towards the forest, where the voice had come from. And he saw the woman.

She was more beautiful than any other woman that he had ever seen. Her skin was pale as
polished porcelain and her hair was black as the night sky. She had soft, warm eyes and she
was wearing a indigo dress that cascaded down her body.

"Hello," Bloody Locks said back, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." She said and smile, showing off her exceptionally white teeth. "What are you
doing here?"

"I'm going to visit my Grandmother on the other side of the forest and give her this basket of
goodies."

"Oh!" The woman said, "That sounds wonderful! May I come with you?"

"If you wish," Bloody Locks held out his arm. "Come and join me."

"Oh no," The woman said sadly, "I cannot leave the forest. The sun will burn me, for it is too
bright." She pointed towards the bright circle of light that beat down upon the road. The
forest was dark and cool.

"And I cannot enter it," Blood Locks said sadly, "I am forbidden to enter the forest."

"What a shame," She said. "Why don't I just meet you at your Grandmother's house?"

"You know where it is?"

"There is only one house on the other side of the forest. I'll go there and wait for you."

"All right." He smiled at the woman, "I'll see you there."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

And they split company, the woman disappearing into the shadows, and Bloody Locks walking down
the road.

As the day wore on, Bloody Locks grew more and more tired. More than once, he was tempted to
ignore his Aunt's advice and enter the dark woods. But the knowledge that the Big Bad Wolf was
in the forest still stopped his advance towards the woods.

Finally, as the sun went down, he arrived at his Grandmother's house. He looked around the
forest, searching for the woman, but she was nowhere to been seen. He entered the house, sad
that she was gone.

"Is that you Blood Locks?" His grandmother's voice croaked out. The old woman was lying in
bed, her comfortor pulled up to her head.

"Yes Grandmother." He walked towards the bed and sat at its end. "I've brought you some food
and drink from Aunty." He set the basket on the woman's night table.

"My dear," She asked, "Has the sun set yet?"

"Yes Grandmother." He said, "It set just as I entered the house."

"You tardier late somewhere along the way my boy," She said. "No matter. You can use the guest
bed and stay the night. Your Aunt would not like to see you roaming the forest at night, and
neither would I. You may sleep her but you must know this..."

As these words, his Grandmother sat up, her long blond hair falling around her wizen shoulders.
"You will hear strange sounds in the night. The voices of a man and a woman calling to you. Or
maybe a knock at the door. You are to ignore these things, they will only cause trouble or
heartbreak. They may even cost you your life."

"Yes Grandmother," Bloody Locks said, "I'll do as you wish."

"Good," She smiled, "Now, let us speak."

He told her about the newest events in the village and the latest gossip. His grandmother hung
onto his every word, laughing with delight in all the right places.

Finally, she grew tired and fell asleep. Bloody Locks tucked the quilt around her shoulders
and blew out the candle beside her bed. As he walked to his bed, he heard the sound of
giggling. Remembering his Grandmother's advice, he ignored it and rolled out the guest bed.

He was about to settle in to the bed when he heard the knock at the door. He was about to
ignore it when he heard a voice.

"Hello?" It was the voice of the beautiful woman who he had met in the forest. "Is the man
that I talked to today living here? I got delayed in the forest and I need to come in."

A male voice giggled from the forest and the woman's voice became more frantic, "Please, I
need to come in!"

Bloody Locks couldn't stand it anymore. He ran to the door and opened it. The woman stood just
outside, shaking with fear. He grasped her arm and tried to pull her in but she wouldn't come.

"Come in!" He cried and suddenly she fell though the doorway into his arms. She sighed with
relief. Outside, the male voice giggled once again. Bloody Locks slammed the door shut. "Are
you ok?"

The lady nodded her head. Bloody Locks realized that he had fallen in love with her. "Thank
you."

He guided her over to where his bed lay on the floor. "What is you name?"

"Drusilla," She said.

"I'm William," He said, "But I'd rather that you call me Bloody Locks."

"Why are you named Bloody Locks?" Drusilla asked.

Bloody Locks told her the tail of how his parents had been killed when he was a child and how
he had been found in the forest with blood in his hair.

The giggle came again from outside. Bloody Locks looked towards the doorway.

"Don't worry," Drusilla said, "He can't come in unless you invite him in." She smiled, and
Bloody Locks suddenly realized that her face had changed. Her eyes were yellow, her face was
bumpy and her teeth were long.

"Drusilla," He said, "What great yellow eyes you have got."

"All the better to see you with my dear," She said as she crept closer.

"Drusilla," Bloody Locks said as he moved away from her, "What great long nails you have got."

She flexed her nails, which were long and dangerously shape. "All the better to grasp you with
my dear." Drusilla reached out and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him close.

"Drusilla," Bloody Locks whispered, "Why great long teeth you have got.

She smiled and said, "All the better to eat you with my dear."

His eyes got big and round. "You... you...you're the Big Bad Wolf."

She shook her head. "No, I'm just a Wolf."

"I'm the Big Bad Wolf." Bloody Locks turned his head towards the door and saw a big man with a
face like Drusilla standing there. His voice had a pleasant Irish lilt to it, but the
expression on his face was anything by pleasant. "And so you'll be a Wolf, just like Drusilla."

Before Bloody Locks could say anything more, Drusilla plunged her fangs into his shoulders and
pulled the blood from his body. As pain filled him, he felt something we pressed to his lips.

"Drink," The Big Bad Wolf said, "And when you awake, you'll be a Wolf, just like us."

He drank it, not knowing what it was. And, the boy whom the villagers had called Bloody Locks,
died in the embrace of the Wolf called Drusilla, at the foot of his Grandmother's bed.

We must leave now. I can only tell you so much before we start another story. And another
story is for another day. But I can tell you this; Bloody Locks destroyed the village and to
this day not one living person dares go near its cursed ground. As for Bloody Locks and the
rest, they still live in the day in age. But now they leave the forest occasionally to hunt
for food and look for others to make into Wolfs. So, if you hear a knock at the door at night,
or the voices of two men and a woman calling your name from the darkness, ignore them.

Unless you want to find yourself on the other end of a sharp pair of fangs.

~End~