Red riding hood: ReVamped

Chapter 5: We all need to get along

"Please..please...please don't eat me! I'm begging you."
"Oh dear, if I don't eat you who would keep your poor grandma company."
"Please..please...Nooooo!"
Red wakes up in a cold sweat, she turns over to check the time, 1:30. Red groggy forces herself out of bed, last night was too eventful for her liking. She knew she had to take down Vortex but she didn't really know-how. 'Damn what was that dream' she thinks to herself, she'd had weird dreams like that before but they seemed to be becoming more vivid recently. It was always the same thing, a large dark wolf that was talking to her. It always proceeded to eat her, Red never knew why she kept getting that dream. Over time she just learned to deal with it, although something about it always felt real. She rummages through her closet, trying to decide what to wear today, a more casual look or something more flashy? Red decides to act more human and wear something casual, pulling out some ripped jeans and a black sweatshirt. She threw on her cape and checked herself out in the mirror, she nods once and heads to the door, as she's about to walk outside a realization hits her. "I haven't showered yet!" She turns on her heel and her cheeks flush as she darts back towards the bathroom.

Vortex arrives at the usual meeting place, in broad daylight which was a rarity. After last night's hiss heard around the town, Vortex called an emergency meeting. He lumbers in, seemingly unfazed by the other supernaturals yipping and yapping about the event. He takes one turn towards the crowd and they all go quiet. He staggers to his podium and clears his throat, ready to address the room.
"I'm sure everyone knows why I called you in on short notice." He's stopped by Abraham who walks up to him and whispers in his ear "We're missing Culter, he hasn't answered my calls either." Vortex nods in understanding, he motions Abe to move aside so he can continue his speech. "The vampire hiss from last night was her marking her territory, nothing to concern ourselves with." He lied, he knew a hiss like that was a challenge. He had to assume Red knew a werewolf was in town, he just didn't know why she'd choose to mark her territory unless something riled her up. His mind started to spin with possibilities, mostly consisting of Red knowing he was here and operating his business. His thoughts are interrupted by a concerned Zombie. "Are you fucking kidding me, man? A vampire, a fucking vampire basically just said I run this place. It'll kill us!" Vortex growls, his eyes flash yellow and the zombie shuts up, Vortex roars at the crowd "I will take care of the vampire! Abe will continue our business, with just him smuggling food supplies will be even lower until this situation is figured out." Vortex's statement does not sit well with the supernaturals, all of them being lower class supernaturals though, they weren't going to challenge him. Vortex dismisses the group and they exit awkwardly, trying their best to avoid human detection. Some goblins even elect to stay back as they couldn't disguise themselves as humans.

Abe watches Vortex, noticing the frustration plastered on his face. "That didn't go well." Abe states the obvious and Vortex shoots daggers at him "clearly Abe, they're terrified of her." Abe frowns and hesitated but decided to continue "I don't understand the fear, it's just a vampire." Vortex shakes his head and rubs his tongue over his teeth. "Abe you have to remember most of the supernaturals here are lower rate, goblins zombies. We don't even have a Wendigo or a shapeshifter, these guys don't know how to react to a vampire." Abe shifts his gaze, CherryTown was not a supernatural hot spot. Skinwalkers outnumbered the 'in-control supernaturals, Abe realized that as long as this girl was around that the bottom line would be affected. Vortex puts his hand on Abe's shoulder "I'm asking you for a lot I know but she must be dealt with, she challenged us and I'm not about to let some baby vamp intimidate me." Abe sighs and nods, Vortex smiles with glee and hugs his old friend and mentor. He makes his way out, ready to hunt down Red Riding Hood.

Red was now ready to head out, her grandma offered her a glass of blood before her departure, Red gives an unintended toothy smile and accepts. Her fangs still grew out at the sight of blood, she hadn't figured out how to stop that yet. Red sits down, moving her cape out of the way to not sit on it, her eyes a lighter hue of red. "So dear where are you planning on going?" Her grandmother asked with a frown growing on her face, Red knew what her grandma thought and she immediately put a cork in it. "I'm not hunting, I'm actually trying to figure out something." Red stays intentionally vague, she did not want her grandma disapproving of her hunt for Vortex. Grandma sits back in her chair and motions for Red to wipe her mouth, Red's face flushes in embarrassment and she wipes the blood off her face in one quick motion. "Sorry about that, more thirsty than normal." Red glances at her grandma, who lays a finger under her mouth, pondering something further. Red doesn't like the direction this was heading, her grandma was great at prodding for information. Truly a relentless beast when it came to finding out everything going on in Red's life, Red knew she was going to ask something. "You aren't eating?" Her grandma implies, Red blinks slowly, she knew this was coming. "It's not that it's just this human, he keeps being almost supernatural food. I need to go look for him actually." Red gets up from the table, hoping to sneak away before her grandma asks something else she doesn't feel like answering. Unfortunately, fate wasn't on her side. "Does he know?" Red sighed, she knew exactly what that question meant. She gives a fake smile and darts her eyes across the room, attempting to avoid eye contact. "Wellllll....he doesn't not know." Red starts biting on her thumbnail, anxiously awaiting grandma's response, one sigh and Red knows it's over. "Red at your age are you already getting forgetful to wash their memory." Red has to stop herself from rolling her eyes, she straightens up and quickly defends herself. "I didn't wipe his memory on purpose, I'm on my way to see him because well if he knows about us, he needs to know how to behave. Anyway, I'm going now, bye." Red throws up her first two fingers and waves her grandma goodbye before scattering from the scene, Grandma chuckles and goes to retreat to her room.