Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a tiny village near the forest. Her name was Bonnie, but whenever she visited her grandma, she would wear a blood-red cloak which earned her the name Red Riding Hood.

The girl was a gorgeous 18 year-old, with mysterious green eyes shadowed by long lashes. The young woman had many suitors, but she wasn't interested in any of them. In each one of them she would find a flaw; one had a face which resembled that of a rat, one was only calling her when he needed something, and so on.

Besides, her mom was very strict and wouldn't allow her daughter to date until she was at least twenty, or so she said.

In this small village named Fell's Church, the girl was sitting at a table, arguing with a seemingly much older woman.

"But, mom, why can't I go anymore?" Bonnie waved her hands around. "I haven't seen grandma in weeks!" She let out an exasperated sigh.

"I told you dear, it's dangerous. There are rumors of an animal tearing people to shreds." Her mother, Abby, sat in front of her with her arms crossed.

"How do you know that's true? Nobody died in our village." Bonnie crossed her arms too, too stubborn to listen to her mother.

"It's just what I heard. Now be a good girl and listen to your mother." Abby went back to washing the dishes, making it clear the conversation was over.

"Ugh, fine." The daughter angrily made her way upstairs.

A good girl. That's how everyone in the village described Bonnie, including her friends. A nice, timid girl who you can always count on to make you feel better. But today was different. She was tired of playing the good girl, it wouldn't do any harm to be naughty just for one day, right?

Bonnie stared through her window. The sun was about to set, so she had to hurry if she wanted to do this. She looked out the window to see how far was the ground. It was a little far, but nothing a sheet tied to her bed wouldn't fix.

She made a tight knot to make sure she wouldn't fall along with her sheet, and jumped through the window. With one hand she was tightly gripping the sheet, while her right hand held onto her beloved red cloak, which was a gift from her grandmother, Sheila. When Bonnie was little, Sheila used to tell her that the cloak will protect her from evil, and she never let go of that piece of clothing ever since.

Bonnie made sure to make as little noise as possible when her feet made contact with the green grass.

The walk to her grandmother's house was usually short, since Bonnie made a shortcut through the woods that surrounded her backyard. Into the forest, Bonnie would follow a man-made path straight to Sheila's home, who lived in the middle of the woods.

As soon as Red Riding Hood entered the foreboding forest, she felt a chill run down her spine. The leaves were blowing in the wind and it was harder and harder to follow the path with the fog starting to cover the whole forest as the sun was about to set.

Bonnie tried to hurry to her grandmother's house, but her steps came to a halt when she heard something crackling behind her.

She slowly turned around and mentally cursed herself for not listening to her mother's advice. She meant well after all. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Bonnie looked behind her, half-expecting a big bad wolf to jump on her and tear her to shreds.

But all she saw when she turned around was an innocent squirrel that was trying to climb a huge tree. She sighed in relief and almost laughed at herself for believing in her mother's words for a split second.

Bonnie continued down the same path, and even though she was much calmer than before, an ominous feeling was still looming over her. She had the feeling of being watched. As the girl shook her head to dismiss this ridiculous idea, Bonnie barely noticed she was already standing on the welcome mat of Sheila's house. She knocked on her door three times and the grandmother was quick to open the door.

"Bonnie, my dear, I'm so happy to see you!" Sheila said, but the enthusiasm these words had didn't show on her face. She looked oddly sick.

"Grandma, I missed you so much!" The girl wrapped her arms around the woman's waist in a quick hug, and then took a step back to see her face more clearly. "But what happened? Are you sick? You don't look too well."

"I must've caught a cold." Sheila smiled. "It's nothing serious."

"How can you say it's not serious?" Bonnie quickly made her way into the woman's kitchen and opened the fridge. "Go to bed. I'll make you something to eat."

The older woman obliged and did what her granddaughter told her. After a while, Bonnie came out of the kitchen with a bowl of hot soup, careful not to spill it.

"Here, grams." She handed the bowl over to the woman laying in bed, and took a seat near her. "By the way, today I felt quite odd in the forest. I mean, I didn't feel as safe as I used to."

"Oh, I'm sure it's just your imagination, child. The forest has always been safe." Sheila was unbothered as she blew on the hot soup.

Bonnie smiled as she looked at her grandmother in silence. She wasn't sure if she believed her grandmother this time, but maybe she was right, maybe she was a little bit paranoid.

"Well," Bonnie suddenly stood up, " I have to go home before mom notices that I'm not in my room. But I'll visit you everyday, until you get better, deal?"

Her grandmother opened her mouth in protest, but Bonnie grabbed her cloak and dashed out the door before words could come out of her mouth.

Bonnie found herself running this time, since it was already dark and the forest creepier than ever.

It was even harder to see the path since the whole forest was covered in mist now, but she followed her senses.

She felt movement behind her, so she turned around again in panic, as she began running faster, only this time she collided with something in front of her.

As she lost her balance, she took a few steps back to see what she crashed into, most likely a tree. But as Bonnie looked up, all she saw was a handsome man, with crystal grey eyes staring at her.

"Are you lost?" The strange man smiled at her.

"Uh, no. Sorry, I'm in a hurry to get home." Bonnie took several steps back. Her mother always told her to be wary of strangers.

"I could walk you there if you'd like. It's dangerous to be here alone at night." The man said casually, with an enigmatic grin on his face.

"Who are you anyway?"

"Oh, sorry, manners. I'm Kai." He pointed at himself. "And you are?" His gaze was so intense it sent shivers down her spine, but she managed to respond anyway.

"I'm Bonnie." She cleared her voice. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in a forest at night?"

"I'm the new hunter." He put his hands in his pockets. "After the last one died, someone had to take his place. I usually stay this late to be sure nobody gets attacked by an animal or something." He laughed saying the last sentence as if he was telling a joke.

Bonnie thought him to be a serial killer of some sorts, but turns out he was just a hunter and she was paranoid. Well then, there was no harm in letting him escort her home, since she was already spooked by this haunted forest.

As Kai walked her home, she found herself enjoying his company. Unlike in the other guys, in this one she couldn't find any flaws yet. He was attractive, strong, charismatic, and smart.

Only her grandmother knew of her and Kai, and she seemed weirdly supportive. Nevertheless, Red Riding Hood was happy.

And so, she made it a habit. Everyday, she would sneak out to visit her grandma, and after leaving she would meet Kai in the woods. Today was one of those days. Or nights.

The moonlight shone trough the abyss of trees. Kai pinned Bonnie against one, holding her wrists above her head. He began kissing her lips, her jaw, her neck, where he left a mark.

Bonnie made an offended look. "I told you to stop doing that! What excuse will I give my mom now?"

Kai looked up at her with dilated pupils as a smirk crept up on his face. "Can't stop myself."

They both smiled as they kissed once more. They never went further than that.

"Can I take your cloak off?" Kai asked innocently. Bonnie looked at him with suspicion in her eyes.

"Why?"

He bit his lip and smiled again. " Never seen you without it."

"Fine." She put her hands up. "But just the cloak!"

Kai nodded and as his fingers grazed the red cloak, he suddenly stepped back and held his hand, acting as if the cloak were made of fire.

Bonnie didn't know what just happened, so she took one step closer to Kai and tried to see his expression.

What she saw was frightening. Dark veins crept under Kai's eyes, and something that looked like fangs threatened to reveal themselves. Bonnie quickly stepped back in fear, not recognizing the man in front of her anymore.

"Kai..?" She asked with a tremor in her voice.

Kai was shocked to see Bonnie being scared of him. He didn't expect her fear to affect him this much.

"No, Bon, don't be afraid." Kai tried to retract his fangs, to do something for his face to return to normal.

"What are you?" Tears threatened to spill from Bonnie's beautiful eyes. "You are the one who people are afraid of, aren't you?" Her lips quivered.

"I can explain!" Kai made gentle movements so as not to scare her. " I didn't kill people. These rumours started because I feed from animals, and people discovered their mangled bodies. I...I'm not a monster, Bon." He stuttered.

"I asked you, what are you?" She almost shouted. Kai had a pleading look in his eyes.

" I'm a vampire." He whispered in a tiny voice and bowed his head as if he were ashamed.

"No, that's..that's impossible." Bonnie shook her head, hot tears streaming down her cheeks, thinking all of this to be a bad dream. Kai let out a humorless laugh.

"It is possible. You just saw me. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want you to think I'm a monster." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I didn't want to lose you." Kai enunciated every word carefully.

His fangs disappeared, and his eyes returned to normal once again. Bonnie saw again the man she fell in love with, and even if he was an abominable creature, she couldn't help but love him still.

He thought she might run away, but she hugged him instead, crying into his shoulder. Relief washed over Kai, and he wrapped his warms around her, careful not to directly touch her cloak.

Bonnie broke the silence after several minutes, still being wrapped in his arms.

"So, you have to drink blood?"

Kai rested his chin on top of Bonnie's head and smiled. "That's right."

"Animal blood?"

"Preferably human, but as I've said, I'm not a monster." He smiled again looking at her.

"You can drink mine."

Kai looked down at her with furrowed brows. "What?"

"You can have a little of my blood." She was not making eye contact. "So you don't have to kill innocent animals again."

He shook his head. "I don't know-"

Bonnie took his face in her palms and looked him straight in the eyes. "Let me do this. Please?"

Kai stared at her for a few seconds with awe in his eyes. He could never say no to her.

" Fine." Kai pointed at Bonnie's cloak. "But you have to take that off. Someone put a spell on it, I can't touch it or my hand will burn to a crisp."

"A spell? Witches exist too?" She tilted her head in disbelief.

"Yes, and you are one of them, but I'm pretty sure that's a conversation you have to have with your mother." Kai said in a sarcastic manner.

Bonnie touched her cloak. "This was a gift from grams. I'm sure she wanted to protect me from evil creatures." She said proudly. Kai felt a little hurt hearing her refer to him as 'evil creature' but he stayed quiet. She accepted him and that's all that mattered.

Bonnie took the red cloak off, and exposed her neck to the vampire in front of her. The same dark veins appeared on Kai's face, twisting his handsome features into something grotesque.

His eyes looked hazy with lust as he stared at Bonnie's neck, and heard her heartbeat going faster than usual.

As Bonnie backed into the tree, he lowered his lips to her neck and gently licked the spot until he suddenly sank his

fangs in her. Bonnie's scream drowned in her throat as she held tightly onto Kai's shoulders.

——

The next day, Bonnie did her usual routine. After helping her mother do the chores, she made sure not to be seen as she made her way to Sheila's house, thinking about meeting Kai after she's done taking care of her grandmother.

Bonnie slowly went up the stairs leading to the entrance, and as she did, she noticed a little note stuck under the welcome mat. She picked it up, confused, and judging by the appearance of that note, it seemed to be at least a few weeks old.

The note read 'My dear Bonnie, a friend of mine needs my urgent help so I will be away for a few months. I can't explain it to you yet but you will understand when I get back. That cloak will keep you safe. Love, Sheila.'

Bonnie stared at the note dumbfounded. If her grandmother was away, then who was she taking care of all this time? She gripped her cloak tighter. Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind her.

As she turned around, she noticed that Kai was in front of her with a serious look on his face. She was relieved to see that her lover is here with her, as she was really worried. But her relief didn't last long, as Kai spoke.

"I really wish you hadn't seen that."

All Bonnie remembers is that her vision faded to black...