Dreams and Legends: Aim To Engage Event Entries

She Who Fights Monsters - Day #14 - The Woods

"So then, Red Riding Hood, killer of wolves. Am I the monster or are you?"

I first met Red in the woods. I had been out stalking deer alone, and I was cleaning a kill to share with my siblings when I smelled something different. Silver, velveteen, and sweat.

I followed the scent, laying low and quiet in the brush, until I could see a girl, sitting on the ground on top of a red velveteen cape, a riding hood, though she had no horse. She was eating hard cheese and jerky. She was beautiful, and she smelled like dangerous things. Cordite and silver—all her jewelry was silver; the heavy necklace at her throat and the tight cuff bracelets, the ring on her right hand. She was no werewolf, and she didn't want us near her.

At the small of her back was a pistol. A hunter, and she had come to these woods to hunt us. I crouched to spring, flattening my ears and sinking my weight into my haunches.

Something stopped me. I wanted her, and if I wanted her and I killed her, what kind of monster did that make me? All kinds of monsters roamed these woods, but not that kind.

A risky gambit? Sounded like fun.

I shifted to human form and approached slowly. "Hey Red. I've got meat; I'll share."

She drew her pistol, rolling smoothly to her feet. The wind blew her black hair against deep red lipstick. "Kill it yourself? Is it human?"

"Venison." I could feel my heart thundering under the bead of her gun. "I've got less blood on my hands than you, Red."

"You're not humans. You're less than wolves. Pretenders. Monsters wearing human skin."

"If that's what you have to tell yourself, hunter. I want to make a deal with you."

If I don't kill her, my family will never be safe. And if I kill her, I will never have peace.

"Why should I believe the word of a monster who pretends to be a man?"

"Because if you, Red Riding Hood, killer of wolves, are a killer of men, you are a murderer. And I think if you kill me now, you will always wonder if you are."

Her eyes narrowed, but her pulse flickered faster in her throat. I had her.

"One month in the woods with me. Not my pack, me. If at the end of that month, you think I am a monster, you kill me and stake my body out as a warning to other werewolves." At least they'll see her coming. "If not, you never kill another of my kind again."

"Deal."

Now our time had come to an end. It had been a whirlwind of hunting together, and laying out under the stars talking. But a deal was a deal.

"So, Red Riding Hood, killer of wolves. Am I a monster?"

"It seems to me," she said, "that two monsters deserve each other."

She kissed me.