Red Riding Hood

Chapter Nine

The next morning the knock on the door had Mum and I curious yet for different reasons. Speaking to her, she seemed to have no recollection of last nights meeting with Margaret. Her words were still on mind and having sat awake during the night trying to open my mind up to this whole 'wolf' thing, I had started noticing minor changes already. My hearing for one seemed more developed. I decided to open the door; if it were Parker again I wouldn't want her to be the one to face him. Instead a large bouquet of red roses covered the face of a small skinny teenager.

"Livraison de Madame Lowell" he practically yelled, awkwardly passing me the bouquet before thrusting the clipboard in front of me. I guess that meant delivery and I ignored the scowl on his face as I stared blankly at him.

"Signature" he commanded. Quickly scribbling on the page he disappeared and I went back to the kitchen.

"For you Madame" I announced, putting them before Mum on the dinning table. She gasped and quickly searched through the stems for the tiny card. Je vais vous chercher pour dîner à sept heures ma belle.

"What does that say?" I asked, she smiled like a schoolgirl.

"Its him from the dance, Monsieur Fournier. I will pick you up for dinner at seven my beautiful." She practically swooned, gently leaning into the bouquet and inhaling their scent. It was good to see her happy, it had been a couple of years now since Dad had gone, she deserved it.

We decided to go into Nice for the day so she could find something new to wear. I wanted to head to a library and see about finding more information on werewolves so once parked, Mum took James in one direction and I headed in another. A pair of shoes in a window display distracted me and I went into the store. 'You don't need to find a book, look outside' the voice startled me and I dropped my credit card as I went to purchase the studded back black heels. Looking Eric stood was on the opposite side of the road. His behavior was curious; he seemed to lift his head and concentrate, as if sniffing the breeze. He quickly crossed the road so he was in front of the store, still looking he lingered by the entrance, and I turned but watched him from the reflection of the mirror behind the till. He saw me, smiled and walked on. I dropped the receipt in the bag and dashed outside, looking around I caught a glimpse of disappearing into another store. Deciding to test out my following theory I walked to the opposite side of the road, a few meters down moved again and then into a perfumery. I grabbed the closest bottle to the entrance, sprayed it over me and went down to the road, crossing it to the next block and went inside the bookstore.

Hidden from view but able to see the outside, I watched. Sure enough he appeared out the store as I got positioned. He did his sniff thing again and he zigzagged across the road. I let out a little giggle, ignoring the weird look another customer gave me. Around the perfume shop he froze. I could almost feel his frustration as he tried to find my scent. The gardenia strong around me even now, I didn't like it. But it worked. He ran his hands through his hair, frowning he desperately started to move from corner to corner. He walked past the store I was in and I quickly followed him. He headed towards the Chanel store at the end of the street, all the while his head kept adjusting the cool breeze that flowed past. The idea of the prey stalking the predator crossed my mind and as he gave out a frustrated growl causing the few people around to avoid him. Once close enough I tapped his shoulder, he spun around defensively and seeing me he looked completely shocked.

"Beth?" he said softly as I could see his mind working in over time as to how I had managed to sneak up on him.

"Fancy seeing you here Eric. Do you come here often?" I asked innocently, looking up at him curiously. Doubt seemed to flash across his eyes as he was obviously in his own inner debate.

"You knew I was watching you?" he finally asked. I nodded.

"Good thing you can be human, your wolf would probably starve if you hunted like that;" I laughed. He didn't find it amusing as anger flashed on his face, a growl rumbling within his chest.