Disclaimer: I only own Ned, Bob and Fred and none of the others.

Ch 4 bribery and the mob

Ned and Fred spent many hours talking about the attack and how Bob had managed to survive. They wanted to try and figure out why the Creature had come after them, or Bob in particular. They were certainly no different than the other people in the village, in fact there were far better people to choose. They could not understand why he had chosen them.

They also briefly discussed what Bob and the handsome man were doing. Fred had vaguely recognised the man as one of the people who had been campaigning to kill the monster that lived in the castle and Fred was surprised that Bob hadn't recognised him as well. She was pretty sure that if she had they would not be together, after all Bob was against killing the Creature. Although after last night Fred couldn't blame her if she changed her mind.

**

Back in the village the man was making Bob an offer she couldn't refuse.

"The Creature wants you. He came here searching for you. You may be the only way to catch him before he attacks anyone else like he did you tonight. Surely you want to help your people. I can assure you that the rewards for helping me in this matter will be great."

"How do you mean?" Bob asked warily.

"You will marry me and live in my house. You will never have to work for your food again and you will be a respectable member of this village. I will take care of you forever if you do this one thing for me."

"What do I have to do?"

"It is very simple Roberta. All you must do is act as bait for one night. When we catch the Creature then you will have your reward."

"Wait. You want me to act as bait so you can catch this thing? Are you really serious? What if it gets to me first? What good will your money be to me then?"

"Roberta. I will not allow you to get caught. I am an experienced hunter and will not allow anything bad to happen to you. Do you not trust me? Come. You will never have to do anything again and you will have a marvellous husband. Is that not what you have wanted your entire life?"

"Yes, but."

"But what? There is nothing bad about this offer. Both of us get what we want and you will be completely safe from the Creatures grasp." He smiled as he said this as if through encouragement.

"Safe apart from the fact that you will be putting me on a hook as bait. I do not call that safe. And what about my friends? I cannot possibly leave them here alone. We have lived together our whole lives I could not just leave them now even for all the money in the world."

"Do you not care for your friends' safety? For if you do not take my offer and aid me in destroying this monster your friends might be the next to suffer at the wrath of this Creature. You would not want to see your friends murdered now would you?"

Bob thought about this for a minute. He had a point, she could not allow them to be killed and the Creature had killed many others in the village and it was only a matter of time before it struck again.

"If you think that I can help you kill the Creature then I will do everything I can." Bob finally agreed.

**

After a while Ned and Fred returned to their house to find a hoard of men holding torches and knifes. They were hunting for something.

Fred spotted Bob in amongst the crowd. She seemed to be dripping with blood. Fred's first thought was that something bad had happened to her friend. She ran over and stopped suddenly when she saw that a man was tipping buckets of blood over her. Fred didn't understand and stood in front of her friend through protection but she also got covered in blood that the man was throwing at Bob.

Fred immediately shouted at the man causing Ned to come running over and see what was happening.

"What's going on? What are you doing to them? They are no witches." She shouted.

Fred suddenly realised what was going on, the torches the weapons, the angry mob,

"And the bait." She said aloud.

Bob looked up and was about to say sorry when Fred started shouting at her.

"You are going to act as bait to catch the Creature aren't you? How could you do that? After everything you told us about not killing something that could be innocent. You always said that we couldn't hurt it because we didn't know what it was. So what changed your mind?"

Just as Fred was about to repeat this last question the man they had met last night stepped in front of Bob.

"I should have known. A hunter. Tracking down innocent people and accusing them of witchcraft. Was it really so easy to persuade her?"

"Actually yes. All it took was the offer of marriage, money and a home. Something that I see that you do not yet have fait maiden." He bowed sarcastically and smiled at her.

"You accepted money?"

"I'm sorry Fred. I had no choice; you saw what that thing did to me last night. It deserves to die."

Fred turned away and walked towards the field from where she had just come.

"Fred, please." Bob pleaded but Fred did not answer.

"Ned. You know I'm only trying to help." Bob tried on Ned but she turned away as well.

"How could you sell your soul for such a small price?" She said before walking away in the direction Fred left. Bob wanted to go after them but the man stood there and held her.

He lifted his torch in the air and instructed that he was ready to leave. The mob began to march in the direction of the castle.