I set out through the woods, armed with my red string and golden amulet. My mother, a strong believer in the fae decided I had to protect myself with those two items. To ward off faeries of course. At seventeen years old I no longer believed in those stories my mother had told me. No faerie had ever come to abduct me while I wandered through the forest and none would now. Not only did they not exist, but they were only interested in children, which I was not.

The house my mother and I occupied sat at the edge of the thick forest. No matter the weather or time of day the thick evergreens would give the forest a nighttime effect, making the land seem more mystical and far more dangerous. As a child I could imagine worlds existing just beyond the tall trees. Tiny, magical worlds filled with faeries that I could play with.

"How foolish." I muttered aloud as I stepped over a fallen branch. I held a basket on my left arm which was filled with small snacks and herbal medicines for my grandmother who insisted upon living deep in the forest, away from other humans. A hermit is what the towns people called her. She rarely left her house and if she did it would only be to hang her dresses.

My mother had tied the red string very tightly, so much so that I began to lose feeling in it. I gave the string a small glance. Was I really so afraid of something that doesn't exist? I asked myself, appalled at my hesitation. With one last sigh I placed my basket on the forest floor and untied the pretty bow, letting the string fall to the ground before dismissively walking over it. This day I would prove that they don't exist. Not just to my mother but to everyone.

Patches of light still managed to break through the trees and they touched the ground like rays of heaven, shimmering in the surrounding darkness. It was almost magical. And within these rays vibrant flowers would bloom. Flowers which always tempted me as though they had a 'pick me' sign before them. Mother always warned me to stay on the path so as not to get lost, but this flower didn't grow very far from where I stood.

"Just one." I promised myself.

I couldn't recall the names of flowers but this one stood out as too beautiful to pass. I knelt down and plucked the flower, but when I stood I let out squeak of surprise.

"Wh-who're you?" I stuttered, my heart felt like it would explode within my chest. My lungs struggled to keep up.

"That wasn't very nice you know." He was taller than me, but only by a few inches. He had dark brown hair that fell messily into his eyes but I couldn't quite describe their colour, just that they had an almost undetectable glow. His clothing wasn't too odd. He wore a vest made of a scratchy fabric with a likeness to hay and his pants which were a dirty brown and went only to his calves. A typical poor boy. Except he was barefoot. His honey coloured skin stained with earth and grass. His face was surprisingly handsome. Very symmetrical with high cheek bones and soft looking, pink lips. I didn't recall ever meeting someone like him in town.

"What wasn't nice?" I asked, my brows furrowed in confusion. I hated how my voice naturally raised in pitch the moment I realized my attraction.

"You never asked if you could take her flower." Oh. He must believe in those faeries too. Immediately my infatuation with him disappeared and was replaced with annoyance.

"There's no way I could have asked a dumb flower if I could take it." I snapped as I turned back to my basket to carefully fit the flower in with the rest of my items. With my back turned, I missed the fury in his eyes. 

"You're either very brave or incredibly stupid." He grumbled.

I had begun walking back on my path. "Nope!" I called over my shoulder. "I'm just the first to realize that faeries don't exist."

He walked beside me and raised both eyebrows questioningly. "Oh?"

"Yes. We blame all of these children's disappearances on faeries but in reality they just die in the woods."

"And curses?" He inquired, clearly interested. I took notice of how he avoided spots where the sun could reach. Odd.

"Just bad luck." I answered as I skipped over a twig.

"Ah..." He trailed off. I thought he'd finally had enough of my unbelieving ways but instead he turned to me, an impossibly red fruit in his hand. "Apple?"

Warning signs flashed in the back of my mind and I smiled sheepishly at him. "No thank you."

"Suit yourself." He shrugged and took a bite of the fruit, immediately making me feel foolish. Faeries don't exist.

"Where are you headed little red?" He asked as he chewed on a piece of apple. I flushed at the pet name.

"Don't call me little red! And... I'm going to my grandmothers." It didn't take long for me to decide it was safe to pass on that information. It wasn't much anyway.

"This deep in the woods?" He questioned, looking truly surprised.

"My grandmother doesn't like people. She lives at the end of this path because she claims that it's 'safe'."

"Safe..."

"From faeries." I explained. He turned his head away from me as he nodded. He was such a suspicious character.

"I know nothing about you. What's your name?" I quickly interjected before he could ask another question.

"V." He replied, a sickly sweet smile on his face.

Who in their right mind would name a child V? There's no way it's his real name. He was too suspicious. And I knew for certain now that he didn't come from my town. I would have known.

"Is that really your name?" I challenged, skeptical.

"One of them."

My mouth hung open stupidly as I struggled to find a reply. My mind ticked as I questioned just how certain I was that fae didn't exist. Perhaps he was one. They would never tell someone their real name, they would avoid direct sunlight, and they would offer you fruit from their own tree just to curse you. There's no way a human would survive in the woods with no shelter or shoes.

I stared at him as I took one slow step back but he quickly caught on, stepping forward and digging his calloused fingers into my shoulders. When I looked into his eyes at this angle I could see their colour. A swirling array of green shades, much too bright to be human.

Before I could react, he'd pressed his lips to mine. They were surprisingly soft and I was so shocked that my arms hung limply at my sides and my eyes remained open. He took advantage of my shock, slipping his tongue into my mouth.

He tasted sweet like nectar, causing my stomach to ache with the sweet tang of... apple?

The sweet syrup poured into my mouth and down my throat despite my struggle. My arms jumped to action, attempting to escape his steel grip.

But he released me and I stumbled back. I could still feel his sweet taste in my mouth but that no longer worried me.

I could feel an itch deep within my body that I couldn't possibly scratch and my skin began to heat to impossible temperatures.

Subconsciously, my hands moved to my arms, scratching the skin until it bled. I could barely breath now as sweat poured down my face.

"What did you do!?" I cried, my voice had deepened to a growl as thick, gray hair's pushed through the torn flesh of my arms.

His grin widened, his facial expression that of a predator.

"Whatever do you mean, Red?"

My mind was lost, incoherent thoughts turned my brain to mush as my hands moved to rip off the suffocating fabric of my clothes. I didn't have the thought process to realize the impropriety of my act.

​​​​​​"You're a faerie!" I growled as I heard a deafening snap. Pain rushed through my body as I collapsed to the forest floor. My leg was broken. I let out a pained howl.

"I thought you didn't believe in faeries." His malicious grin remained on his face as his eyes swam with erse joy.

My bones broke and reshaped themselves, my red cloak the only clothing that remained on my body. My black hair fell from my scalp as gray fur rushed to replace it. My face reformed into a snout, eyes changing colour to a yellowish brown.

"Why..." I whined, the words no longer intelligible.

He leaned in close to my fur covered ears. They twitched when his breath brushed against them.

"Because I can."

The last bone reformed, the last joint twisted and I sat in the grass, a wolf. That was when the hunger set in. A new pain, twisting my stomach excruciatingly. I whimpered as I stumbled onto my feet.

​​​​​​"Run on home, little red." He said sweetly. Before his feet lay my golden necklace. If only I'd thought to use it. It was too late now. My human mind gone, the only thoughts were that of a starving wolf. 

I dashed towards the humble house at the end of the path, towards my first meal.

I'm sorry grandmother...

---

I kind of forgot to put in a quick authors note! Oops! So, this short story is something I'd had in my head for a while and I chose V because I feel like he'd be really good at acting evil... also, this story is loosely (very loosely) based on the faeries that people in my province believe in. Some faeries are believed to be evil but the general belief is that they won't bother you as long as you don't bother them. They like kids though so most people will use red string tied around a pinkie (the kids pinkie) to ward off faeries as well as gold chains (or any gold object really) because some faeries are very weak when it comes to gold (because some lack the ability to enter sunlight and gold is considered to be a piece of the sun). I'm not the best at explaining this, but yeah, that's pretty much it! I hope you liked this story!!