Red's Heart

A high pitched squeal awoke me from my slumber, and I stirred groggily at the sound. My bedding was soft, softer than the cave I normally slept in. The bedding had the faint scent of grizzly, though it was old and worn. Still, I shifted uncomfortably.

Sleep had eluded me for seven moons. Ever since the first night I had found Red, I hadn’t been able to shut my eyes. I watched her endlessly. I watched as the man stalked into Red’s home every night, and I snarled viciously to myself as he made her scream. It wasn’t a beautiful scream. Not the song she sang to me. No, this was warped and disgusting. The very sound had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

The first night was the night I had decided that the intruder was going to feel my jaws clamp around his throat and feel as it was torn from his helpless body. I would make him beg for mercy simply for making such a grotesque moan escape from Red’s lips before leaving early the following morning. He was filth and he wasn’t going to touch my Little Red again.

“Do you drink tea? Or coffee, maybe?”

I turned to see Red, her wide onyx eyes questioning me, and her knitted heart dangling above the table as she leaned across it. I growled and snorting before rolling onto my feet and circling around her. As always, the red cape hung loosely over her shoulders. Such an enticing colour.

The pain and fear was beginning to settle into her bones at my presence, though she was getting better at hiding it. Through her steady gaze was a wild tangle of emotions. Mostly fear and sadness but there was more. She was angry, and curious. As her black eyes followed me, she wondered what I was doing here.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

The quiver in her voice threw my mind back into the memory of last night. The mere thought of it had me wondering what she was doing here. The horror in her eyes had made me laugh, my body shuddering in ecstasy as she watched me with those pain filled eyes.

”What are you doing to him?”

She had managed to choke those words out through gasping breathes. I relished the taste of the air that sweated of her scent. I could hear the groan rumble from my throat, my eyes fluttering before I sunk my teeth into the back of the man’s neck, digging my jaw deep as it clamped around bone. With a hard yank, his spine was torn from his body, a bloodied snake ripping itself free of its skin.

Oh, that scream.

Yes, that was it. This filthy man had been doing it all wrong and I savoured the sound that echoed in my ears.

Yes, this was the sound I was waiting for.

“Why is it you wear that heart?” I growled, snapping back to her waiting gaze.

Her fingers subconsciously found the little knitted heart, her palm wrapping around it as if I would bother to take it from her.

“Why do you care?” she answered suspiciously.

I flashed my teeth at her, licking over them before tilting my head to the side in amusement. “It makes me think,” I smirked. “About how delicious your heart will be when I have the luxury of tasting it.”

Her eyes widened a little more and I laughed darkly. How satisfying it was to drag the fear out of her so easily. I watched with a sneer on my face as she tucked the heart within her cloak and crossed her arms over her chest. She was getting faster at pulling her emotions in check.

“What do you want from me?” she muttered.

My mouth stretched slowly into a toothy grin. “I want you, Red,” I answered with a snarl. “You make me a better human.”